Demidovsky Pillar

The Demidovsky Pillar is a modern obelisk on Demidov Square in the Central District of Barnaul, Russia. It is a memorial to 100 years of mining in the Altai Krai. It was begun on the initiative of Pyotr Kozmitch Frolov, with the first stone being laid on 18 June 1825 and completed in 1839. The prototype for the Demidov Pillar was the Rumyantsev Obelisk in honour of the victories of Count PA Rumyantsev, established at the end of the 18th century on Vasilevsky Island in Saint Petersburg. Initial designs for the Demidovsky Pillar were for it to be 21m high (close to the height of the Rumyantsev Obelisk), but during construction under architect Jakob Nikolayevich Popov the height was significantly reduced, to 14m. It is made of 12 grey granite blocks, cut and processed in the Kolyvanskoy township and floated down the Tcharych and Ob to Barnaul on rafts. The base rests on four iron pillars underpinning the granite pedestal, and on that pedestal is a cast bronze plaque reading: centenary of the Kolyvano Bockreseskex plants, in the reign of Alexander I, the summer of 1825. Entered the property of Her Imperial Majesty in the reign of Empress Elizabeth in 1747. Also on the pedestal was a cast-iron oval bas-relief with a portrait of Akinfiy Demidov produced at the Guriev plant. In 1918 it was decided to dismantle and re-locate the obelisk as a monument to those who had died for the Rev

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