The Gridins «In the family circle» Intellectual Museum

In the 18th century in Altai, mining production was founded by Akinfiy Demidov. Kolyvan and Barnaul copper smelters were built there. The officers from the nobles served there, then, having received military ranks and salaries, soon became known as the mining engineers. The «In the family circle» Intellectual Museum of the Gridins presents several rooms that form a picture of the way of life for one family through different historical eras and connecting generations.

The Gridins « In the family circle « Intellectual Museum consists of three showrooms. On the second floor, we recreated the workshop of the mining tailor Pavel Frolov, the grandfather of Valentina Gridina. We also reconstructed the hut, in which there is a Russian stove. During the tour, visitors are told where many Russian expressions came from, like: «I Reached the handle», «I Rolled my lip», and so on. The Gridins hall is furnished with interior and household items from the Soviet era.

A collection of items from different eras is presented in the three halls of the Museum. In the hall that is dedicated to Pavel Frolov, you can see a collection of sewing machines – from the first «Zingers» to the modern ones, a uniform of a mining engineer, an old dressing table, in which the tailor’s visitors could look at their reflection, chests, in which different things were stored, and so on. The hall that is dedicated to the Russian hut boasts collections of spinning wheels from different times, mortars and cast iron from different times, tools and utensils used in peasant life, and pot-bellied medal samovars.