The Old Ironworks

Nowadays the metallurgical plant in Nizhny Tagil in the Urals is a museum of history of ferrous metallurgy.

Photo: Alexander Solo

This old ironworks in Nizhny Tagil is called “Old Demidov’s plant”. It was founded in 1725 by Demidov dynasty. In the 18th and 19th century production of the plant has been known in Europe and America under the brand name “Old Sable”. The plant has experienced three epochs: the age of steam, water and electricity.

In October 1987, the plant gave the latest melting and was stopped: modernization of production was not profitable because of developing Nizhnetagilskij metallurgical combine — the other industrial giant. Over 14 million tons of pig iron were smelted during 262 years of work.