The museum’s exhibition presents the Demidov Column on a scale of 1:50. It is a Doric column on a rectangular high pedestal. The wide steps of the pedestal are made of white and gray marble, the plinth and the pedestal itself are made of red granite, while decorative cornices and the base of the column are cast from bronze. The column itself is made of steel with a dark bronze-like finish. The column is crowned with a decorative top: on a base of red granite is a metal sphere of intertwined hoops, on top of which a double-headed eagle is fixed.

The model is mounted on a low rectangular wooden stand covered with green cloth. Around the steps of the column pedestal there is a decorative fence — low posts connected by chains. The model depicts a real-life monument to Pavel Demidov, the founder of the Yaroslavl Demidov School of Higher Sciences. The monument was erected on Paradnaya Square in Yaroslavl at the expense of the city residents and other voluntary donors. The monument was a Doric bronze column of 17 arshin (12 meters) high on a granite pedestal.

Before the revolution, it was the only monument in the city. In 1885, the city head Ivan Vakhromeev laid out a garden around the column, which eventually became known as Demidovsky Garden. After the February Revolution the symbol of autocracy — the double-headed eagle and the celestial sphere — were removed from the monument, and in 1931 it was completely destroyed. In 2004, the restoration of the Demidov Column was initiated by the Museum of the History of Yaroslavl, the idea was supported by the mayor of the city Viktor Volonchunas. The monument was restored in its original place with funds from the city budget in 2005. The ceremonial unveiling took place on December 9, 2005.

Pavel Grigorievich Demidov was a natural scientist and full State Councilor, patron of the arts, and founder of the Yaroslavl School of Higher Sciences. In 1802, a manifesto on the establishment of ministries was issued, which included an appeal for donations for the cause of education in Russia. Demidov was one of the first to respond to it. In 1803, the Demidov School of Higher Sciences was founded in Yaroslavl on his donations, which existed in different forms until 1924, bearing his name until 1919.