Nevyansk Leaning Tower

The Demidovs, who ran the Urals iron industry from the early eighteenth century, built this tower beside their Nevyansk works in the 1720s. It is about 57 metres high and leans roughly two metres off vertical - the lower part apparently tilted during construction and the upper storeys were built adjusted, so it curves rather than simply leaning. Inside is an English clock with chimes, bought in London in the 1730s for a sum said to have exceeded the cost of building the tower, still working. One room has an acoustic quirk: a whisper into a corner is heard clearly in the opposite corner, which has attracted stories about the Demidovs eavesdropping on visitors. Others concern the basement, and whether coins were struck there illegally and the workers drowned when inspectors came - a persistent local legend for which there is no proof. The roof carries one of the earliest lightning rods anywhere, predating Franklin's publication.

History

Nikita Demidov and then his son Akinfiy paid for the tower, built by an unknown architect sometime between 1721 and 1745; it is 57.5 metres high on a 9.5-metre base, and its top leans about 3 degrees. Its tented roof was the world's first cast-iron cupola, and the spiked gilded sphere on top has been interpreted as lightning rods 28 years older than Benjamin Franklin's explanation of them (Wikipedia, Leaning Tower of Nevyansk).

What to look for

• The lean - about two metres off vertical, and curved rather than straight.
• The London clock - an English chiming clock of the 1730s, still running.
• The whispering room - a chamber where a whisper carries corner to corner.
• The early lightning rod - a rod on the roof predating Franklin's published work.

When to go

May to September. Two hours. Ascent is by guided group at set times.

Practical notes

You can only go up with a guide, in Russian, on timed tickets that sell out on summer weekends. The stairs are narrow and steep. The basement legends are legends and the guides say so. Nevyansk itself is a small industrial town with little else.

Nearby

Nizhny Tagil is north; Yekaterinburg is about an hour and a half south.

Key facts