The cross on display in the exhibition of the Historical and Memorial Museum of the Demidovs was found in the Demidov family tomb in the Nicholas-Zaretsky Church in Tula along with other objects, including crosses, dating from the 17th–18th centuries.

The cross and the Christian faith came to Russia more than a thousand years ago from the Byzantine Empire. The cross is a sacred symbol in Christianity, an object of religious veneration, that symbolizes the instrument of execution of Jesus Christ. Crosses intended to be worn on the chest are objects of personal piety and testify to a person’s Christian faith. They have been known since the first centuries of Christianity. In Russia, however, where the attitude to the cross is most reverent, such crosses became especially widespread and worshiped. Of course, the forms and features of crosses have changed over time, and not only in Russian, but in other places as well. These changes largely reflect the transformations of theological views and aesthetic tastes in Christian art.

Images of the cross on which Christ was crucified have been known since the 4th century, after Saint Helena recovered the True Cross. The 5th century saw the spread of the four-pointed cross of two types: the Greek cross with arms of equal length and the Latin cross with a longer descending arm. The eight-pointed cross gained prominence in the 6th century, and was later adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In Russia, crosses were an obligatory accessory of every Christian, so they were one of the most mass-produced and at the same time the most ancient type of products. There were many kinds of crosses and each served a particular purpose. There were wayside crosses made of stone or wood usually located at intersections or near roadside chapels, and sometimes churches; memorial and tombstone crosses, in the middle of which copper icons were often inserted; altar and analogion crosses, intended for church services; baptismal and pectoral crosses, which make up the largest group.

Every Christian receives a cross when they are baptized. The cross is worn under the clothes on the chest (a common and still practiced custom). They are usually made of gold, silver, brass and copper alloys, and sometimes wood (for example, cypress) or stone (for example, amber).