Galina Efimova

Larisa Burim

The Izhorsky Works, one of the older industrial enterprises of the Russian Federation, is located in Kolpino, a suburb of St. Petersburg. Founded in 1722, for almost two centuries the factory worked on the Russian fleet, supplying armor for commissioned ships, steam engines and mechanisms, anchors and anchor chains, navigational instruments, and many other devices. During the Soviet period, the Izhor factory produced equip ment for heavy industry and the chemical industry, shipbuilding, and nuclear ener gy. The history of nearly three centuries at the Izhorsky Works is displayed at the factory’s own museum, opened in 1967. This essay describes the exhibits and collections of the museum, with a particular focus on the life and activities of engineer-general Aleksandr Yakovlevich Wilson, chief of the Izhorsky Admiralty Works from 1806 to 1856, and Anatoly Nikanorovich Farfurin, a metallurgical engineer who made important contributions to the development of armor manu facturing.