The History of the Rescue of the Monument of Industrial Heritage «Severskaya Domna» in the 1960-1980s

The article reconstructs the struggle of the inhabitants of two Ural cities — Sverdlovsk and Polevskoy — for the preservation of a unique monument of industrial heritage — the Severskaya blast furnace — in the 1960s–1980s. The sources for the study were unpublished archival materials, as well as information from the periodical press. The author analyzes the reasons that served as an impetus for this activity, which included a number of stages. The main actors of blast furnace museumification are considered. The author comes to the conclusion that the activities for the preservation of monuments of industrial heritage in the 1960s-1980s. was non-systematic, representing a network of inconsistent actions of different actors. Among the latter, the following should be singled out: representatives of the scientific community, educational institutions, members of the public organization «All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments», local authorities, representatives of party cells, workers and veterans of the Seversky Pipe Plant. During the specified chronological period, the unique monument of the Sverdlovsk region was museumified twice, with a break for a fierce struggle for its preservation in the 1980s. By the beginning of the 1990s. it became only the second industrial site to undergo serious conservation work within the largest old industrial region of our country.