Krasnoturyinsk: Museums and Historic Sites

In Krasnoturyinsk, geological history, the development of the former settlement of Turinskiye Rudniki, and personal and public places of remembrance coexist. Museums, a church, a chapel and a memorial complex each add their own perspective. You can shape your stay around a particular theme: geology and mining, city history, or architecture and remembrance.

Museums Between Geology and Local History

The Fedorov Geological Museum was founded in 1894 by Yevgraf Stepanovich Fedorov and Alexander Andreyevich Auerbach in Turinskiye Rudniki, now Krasnoturinsk. It was the first geological museum in Russia with a practical focus. Its original purpose was to collect materials on the geological structure of the Bogoslovsky Mining District. Its founding is therefore closely linked to the study of the area, whose mining history forms an important part of the local context.

The museum’s early development is also clearly dated: it opened to the general public in 1898 and received the official name “Fedorovsky Geological Museum” in 1899. Its mineralogical cabinets held rock and mineral samples as well as their thin sections. These historic collections illustrate the museum’s geological focus: its holdings centered on materials relating to the geology of the mining district.

The Krasnoturinsk Local History Museum has a different focus. Its exhibitions introduce the origins of Turinskiye Rudniki and display everyday objects used by the settlement’s residents. The city of Krasnoturinsk grew out of this settlement. The two museums thus direct attention to different questions: the Fedorov Geological Museum focuses on the geological structure of the mining district and its historic collections, while the local history museum explores the city’s origins and the daily lives of its former residents.

The local history museum offers bus and walking tours to historic sites in the city and region. If you are planning to join one, check current availability before your trip.

Alexander Popov: House and Monument

The A. S. Popov Memorial House Museum is located in a wooden house dating from the mid-19th century at 70 Popov Street. Alexander Popov was born there and spent his childhood there from 1859 to 1867. The connection to the house is thus specific to his biography: it spans his birth and childhood years.

Another monument to A. S. Popov stands on Lenin Street in front of the building of the Ural Federal University branch. The house museum and monument represent different forms of remembrance: the house is linked to Popov’s early years, while the monument commemorates him in a public space.

Stone Buildings and Memorial Sites

The stone Church of St. Maximus the Confessor was built from 1844 to 1851 and restored from 2000 to 2006. The construction and later restoration mark two different periods in its history. For the stone Alexander Nevsky Chapel, by contrast, the reason for its construction is central: it was built in the 1870s to commemorate the emancipation of the peasants from serfdom. Together, the buildings offer insight into different aspects of the local religious heritage—the history of a church building and a clearly stated reason for a memorial.

The memorial complex to the residents of Krasnoturinsk who fell on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 opened on May 9, 1979. It commemorates the city’s residents who died in the war. This place of remembrance complements the biographical connections to Popov and the building history of the church and chapel with a collective memorial.

For a thematic overview, a simple distinction may help: the museums tell the story of geology and the settlement’s development; the Popov sites focus on an individual biography; and the church, chapel and memorial complex each offer their own architectural and commemorative perspective.

Discover more destinations: Tavda, Reftinsky, Troitskiy, Asbest, Samotsvet, Nevyansk, Verkhny Tagil, Malaya Belonosova

For the broader travel overview: Sverdlovsk Oblast.