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The city of Sverdlovsk oblast.
Nizhny Tagil is the second largest city in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia, one of the biggest and oldest mining and metallurgical centers in the country. It is one of the most important industrial and cultural center of the Urals.
The population of Nizhny Tagil is about 340,700 (2022), the area - 297 sq. km.
The phone code - +7 3435, the postal codes - 622000-622051.
Nizhny Tagil was founded by Tula industrialists Akinfiy Demidov and Nikita Demidov in 1722. The town became the capital of their “iron kingdom”, the largest center of metallurgy in the Russian Empire. October 8, 1722 - the day of putting into operation of Vyisky copper smelter - was the birthday of the mining village of Nizhny Tagil. And three years later, an iron foundry and ironworks were built.
Vysokaya Mountain became a symbol of the wealth of mineral resources of Nizhny Tagil area - iron and copper, gold and platinum, malachite. The iron produced by local factories was well known in England, France, and other Western European countries. In the 19th century, it constantly received awards at international exhibitions.
In the first half of the 19th century, Nizhny Tagil growth was linked first of all with the developing copper, gold, and platinum industry which was one of the leading industries in the Urals at that time.
Industrial orientation of the town defined not only its industrial character, way of life, but also the culture, the development of handicrafts associated with the processing of metal and wood. Made from a thin “soft” iron, brightly painted by very durable “crystal” varnish, Nizhny Tagil trays had great success.
Tagil became the focus of people’s creative thoughts and technical progress. The first in the Russian Empire steam locomotive was made by father and son Cherepanov. By the middle of the 19th century, there were a lot of buildings in the town that later became the monuments of architecture. The population of the town was more than 31 thousand people.
Although Tagil didn’t have the official status of the town, it was in fact a pretty big town with factories, hospitals, schools, its own museum and theater. Nizhny Tagil outnumbered a lot of towns in the Russian Empire; in Permskaya gubernia it was the third largest settlement after Perm and Yekaterinburg.
Nizhny Tagil became a town officially in 1919. The intensive industrial development of the town in the 1930s was predetermined by objectives of building a new coal and metallurgical base in the east of the country. The whole area to the east of the old town turned into one huge construction site. By 1941, along with traditional mining, gold, and metallurgical production the city had developed engineering and chemical industries. During the Second World War, most of the T-34 tanks of the Red Army were produced in Nizhny Tagil.
In the 1940s-1960s, the city’s population rose sharply. During the war years - due to the evacuees, many of whom found a second home here, in the postwar period - due to the large influx of young professionals and workers who arrived on local enterprises and construction sites from all over the Soviet Union.
Today, Nizhny Tagil continues to develop and strengthen the defense and industrial power of Russia. The largest international exhibition of arms is traditionally held here.
Nizhny Tagil street view
Nizhny Tagil city street
Nizhny Tagil view
The city is located on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, in the valley of the Tagil River, about 20-25 km from the border of Europe and Asia at a height of 200 meters above sea level.
Nizhny Tagil is located in the zone of moderate continental climate characterized by sharp variability of weather conditions, well-defined seasons. The average temperature in January is minus 14.5 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 17.8 degrees Celsius.
There is a myth saying that Nizhny Tagil copper was used in the construction of the Statue of Liberty in New York. According to it, the award-winning sheet copper produced by Upper Vyisky factory was bought by the creator of the monument, the sculptor F. Bartholdi who used it to manufacture the outer shell of the statue.
Nizhny Tagil is the largest industrial and transport center in the Middle Urals. Heavy industry plants are leading in the local economy, light and food industries are developing too. Nizhny Tagil metallurgical plant and Uralvagonzavod are the main plants in the city. Tanks T-90 are produced in the city (“Uralvagonzavod”).
Since 1999, Nizhny Tagil hosts arms exhibitions on the basis of the Nizhny Tagil Institute of Metal Testing. The international exhibition of arms, munitions, and military equipment “Russian Expo Arms” and the international exhibition “Russian Defence Expo” are held alternately in early July. Also, every two years, in early September, the Ural exhibition-fair of railway, special vehicles and road construction machinery “Magistral” is held in the city.
In 2015, for the participants of the events, a hotel of the international hotel network Park Inn by Radisson was opened. It is located on the banks of Nizhny Tagil pond (this is the first hotel of this level in the city).
The main symbol of Nizhny Tagil is Lisya (Fox) Mountain - a small mountain with a watchtower on top, located near Tagil pond. This tower is an architectural monument and objects of cultural heritage of Russia.
Nizhny Tagil Museum of Local History, “Cherepanov’s House”, and the Museum of Crafts (“Demidov’s House”) have a lot of interesting exhibits of the era of industrial development of the Urals.
The Factory-Museum of the History of Mining Equipment located under the open sky has an exhibition highlighting the main steps of metallurgical production. The museum is established in the territory of the metallurgical plant that had been founded in the 18th century and operated until 1987.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Nizhny Tagil has the largest collection of paintings made by Hudoyarov. Also it has a small collection of engravings made by the famous German artist Albrecht Durer and one of the most famous paintings in the world, “The Holy Family” of the great Italian artist Raphael Santi.
In Nizhny Tagil there are a lot of urban sculptures, especially in the city center. The city has four theaters, a circus, a philharmonic hall with jazz, folk, and symphonic orchestras, five movie theaters.
Ferris wheel in Nizhny Tagil
Tram in Nizhny Tagil
Administration of Nizhny Tagil
The most interesting museums of Nizhny Tagil:
Drama Theater in Nizhny Tagil
Factory-Museum in Nizhny Tagil
Cherepanov House-Museum in Nizhny Tagil
Monument to the first members of Komsomol in Nizhny Tagil
Lenin Monument in Nizhny Tagil
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Nizhny Tagil
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