Tower
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Nevyansk Leaning Tower
The Nevyansk Leaning Tower in the Ural Mountains is an extraordinary 18th-century industrial monument built by Akinfiy Demidov, head of Russia's wealthiest ironmaster dynasty. Standing nearly sixty meters tall with a pronounced lean, the tower housed secret subterranean mints, acoustic laboratories, and lightning rods predating Benjamin Franklin. Local legend claims Demidov flooded his underground dungeons with workers inside to hide illegal silver coinage from imperial inspectors.