The Demidov Pillar is an obelisk erected in honor of the 100th anniversary of mining in Altai. It was laid down in the center of Demidovskaya Square on June 18, 1825 and was finally installed in 1839.

12 blocks, of which the monument is laid out, were carved and processed in the village of Vedovskoy Kolyvan volost. Then they were floated on rafts down the Charysh and Ob to Barnaul. The height of the pillar is 14 meters. The base of the rod rests on 4 cast iron supports, which in turn rest on a high granite pedestal. A cast-iron bas-relief with a portrait of Afanasy Demidov (the founder of the factories that gave the development of Barnaul) was previously on the obelisk, now it is kept in the Altai Museum of Local Lore.

The Demidov Pillar is installed on the square that received the same name, created in the immediate vicinity of the Barnaul Silver Smelting Plant. This is one of the few monuments in Russia that immortalized the name of Akinfiy Demidov, as well as the formation and development of mining in Altai, which provided the treasury of the Russian Empire with silver in the 18th - 19th centuries.

Photo: Valery Stepanyuk