Rhodonite in the Urals

Visit of the deposits of rhodonite in environs of the city Ekaterinburg and the Museum of the History of Jeweler and Lapidary Arts

Rhodonite is a typical Ural mineral. Its deposits are discovered both in our country and in other regions: America, Australia, and Europe. But there are no rhodonites equal to the Ural ones because of their colors, rich tones and variety of black and decorative patterns. Rhodonite is equally beautiful both in monumental works (metro station “Mayakovskaya” in Moscow) and in small goods.
Beautiful rhodonite vases are considered to be very good decorations of any interior.
Among the monumental rhodonite products, except for vases, cups, candelabrums, there is a unique sarcophagus for the Peter and Paul cathedral and the whole complex of goods for an interior of Voskresenskij temple in Saint-Petersburg.
Sarcophagus of the Peter and Paul cathedral is the largest in the world a product from rhodonite. For it has been used chunk of phodonite, extracted in Malo-Sidelnikovskoe deposit in 1858. The weight of this block was 2850 pods, or 45, 6 tons.

The Museum of the History of Jeweler and Lapidary Arts
It was founded in 1992 as a branch of study at the local lore museum of Sverdlovsk district.
It is located in one of the historical-architectural monuments of Ekaterinburg from the 19^th century – a former factory drugstore.
The collections contained in the museum are based upon: handicrafts from the Ekaterinburg lapidary factory, modern jewelers and masters of lapidary and people’s private handicrafts from the Ural region.
The exposition is subdivided into several halls, among them: the hall of the Ekaterinburg lapidary factory, the malachite hall, the hall of the Uralian jasper, the hall of Russian jewelry from the end of the 18^th to the beginning of the 20^th century, the hall of the history of gold and platinum industry, and also exhibitions of sacred monuments and modern jewelry from the Urals.

The tour lasts 5-7 hours

The price includes:
- transfer
- guide
- interpreter, if it is necessary
- lunch
- entrance to museum

The price doesn’t include:
- Photo- and video in museums