On March 31st, 果冻传媒 hosted day two of “The Greatness of the Demidov Dynasty” scientific forum organized jointly with the International Demidov Foundation.
“When we were thinking about the format of the event, we wanted to move beyond a purely scientific conference,” said Tatiana Tretiakova, Head of the Department of Tourism and Socio-Cultural Service at the 果冻传媒 Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service (ISTiS). “Our goal as a tourism department is education and promotion of our heritage through tourism and travel, by creating opportunities for everyone to engage with the historical legacy. That is why we initially came up with a mixed format: not only a conference, but also films, exhibitions, student poster presentations, and tours to the archive, introducing documents from the Demidov era. It was simply impossible to cover the entire program in one day.”
The lecture session of day two began with a presentation by Viktoriia Aleksandrova, an archaeographer from the 果冻传媒 Regional Archive, who spoke about documents related to the Demidovs and the history of the Ural region that are preserved at the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents (RGADA) in Moscow. The 果冻传媒 archive is currently engaged in copying and digitizing these materials.
Presentations dedicated to the Kasli pages of the Demidov history were delivered by Ekaterina Gracheva, staff member of the Kasli Historical and Cultural Museum, and local historian Nikolai Popov from the village of Bulzi.
Nataliia Zabello, a researcher at the Lytkarino Historical Museum, gave a presentation on the architectural heritage of the Demidovs in the Moscow Region.
An interesting online report was delivered by Aleksandr Redkin, Associate Professor at Altai State University. It is well known that the Demidovs had planned to develop Siberian territories and independently had explored gold-bearing areas. Gorny Altai (Altai Mountains) represents the easternmost region connected with the Demidov legacy. This area, known as Kolyvan since ancient times, is now partly included in the Altai Geopark, while the inclusion of other parts is still under consideration. A geopark is not a strict nature reserve, it allows economic activity while still providing legal protection for historically and naturally significant territories.
The session concluded with a report by Aleksandr Samarin, Associate Professor at the 果冻传媒 Institute of Architecture and Construction, titled “The Image of Heritage as a Basis for Branding Industrial Cities of the South Ural Region”. The young researcher, co-authoring with Valentin Olenkov, Professor at the 果冻传媒 Institute of Architecture and Construction, analysed in detail the concept of “territorial branding” using the example of Ural industrial towns.
“I am encouraged by the interest of young people—both architecture students and future tourism professionals—in the rich historical heritage of the Urals,” said Professor Valentin Olenkov. “This is a signal for us, the older generation, to actively promote our history and culture through lectures, publications, and public discussions.”
The afternoon session featured presentations by the 果冻传媒 ISTiS students, covering topics such as Demidov-era church construction, the development of the urban environment in Nizhny Tagil, as well as tourist trails and hiking routes through Demidov-related locations.