Mining museums in Ural before the Revolution

The development of factories and mines in the Urals in the XIX century required the study of mineralogical wealth of the region. Numerous studies had led to the emergence of rich mineral collections. These collections finally turned into museums. Most of these collections were accumulated in mining factories and mines. The most significant collections were in Nizhny Tagil, Zlatoust and Kishtim as well as in the Museum of Professor Fedorov. The museum in Nizhny Tagil was opened in 1841. Its creation had been preceded by the factory exhibition organized in honor of the visit to the Tagil factories by Crown Prince Alexander II in1837. The exhibits factory products and models. The second oldest museum in the Urals is the Yekaterinburg mining museum opened in 1834. The basis for its appearance was research and collecting started in the 1720s and1730s by Tatishchev and de Gennin and later extended by scientists, travelers and collectors. The collection of Fedorov’s geological museum was started as a result of geological research conducted by the academician in the Bogoslovsky mining district. The results of the exploration needed to be processed, so the collection began to require a separate building. The choice fell on the building of the orphanage; half of its first floorwas taken by the museum in 1894. The formation of Zlatoust in the county museum network dates back to the first half of the XIX century. The letter of the Vienna court naturalist Jacob Mora in the main office of the factory Chrysostom dates back to 1812. The official date of birth of the museum in Kyshtym is July 29, 1899, the day when Mendeleev, head of the committee of experts conducting a survey of Urals mining industry on behalf of the Minister of Finance Sergei Witte, visited Kyshtym. Less significant museums were opened in the Urals, too. Despite the appearance at the end of the XIX century of large natural history museums, factory museums continued to work until 1917.

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