The famous Ural historian and writer Igor Shakinko published his book called “The Tower of Nevyansk” in 1989. It was the result of his years-long research of the history of the tower and a significant contribution to making this famous monument of industrial architecture popular.
Igor Mikhailovich Shakinko was born into a teacher’s family in Tobolsk in 1930. He graduated from the Faculty of History at the Tomsk University, then he completed training courses for social sciences teachers. For two years he taught the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the Tomsk Pedagogical Institute.
In 1956, Igor Mikhailovich Shakinko moved to Sverdlovsk. He worked as a student in geological exploration workshops, a junior researcher in a local history museum, and an editor in the Middle Ural book publishing house. During those years, the young historian developed an interest in the past of the Urals. He began collecting material about the history of the region, started working in archives, museums, and libraries.
The 1960s was the time when he started writing books. In the 1960s and 1970s, he co-authored his first books: “By Order of the Revolution”, “‘Russian Gems’ Factory”, “Ural Gems”. The 1970s–1980s became a period of his creative maturity. Shakinko published several books on historical topics: “His Underground Nickname was Mikhail”, “The Mystery of the Ural Emerald”, and “Vasily Tatishchev”. “The Tower of Nevyansk” was particularly popular among readers — the research was dedicated to the famous architectural monument of the Urals, the history of which had always fascinated the writer. In this book Shakinko summarized all known information about the Leaning Tower, undertook a series of archival research, tried to give a new interpretation to already known facts, and gave his assessment of the famous legends associated with the Demidov Tower. His historical story “The Architect” also centered on the history of the Tower of Nevyansk and the personality of its unknown architect.
Shakinko was much interested in the history of the Nevyansk plant, which became the first industrial enterprise of a new type in the Ural region. The writer visited Nevyansk on several occasions and was going to devote a separate book to Nevyansk history, but this intention did not come true.
Shakinko’s books were invariably loved by the readers; they sold out instantly in bookstores. The writer had a rare gift — the ability to encourage readers to think and even argue with the author.
