Moscow under the Romanovs On the 400th anniversary of the royal dynasty

Alexander Lavrov First Tyutchev Jubilee (1903)

2013 is the year of the 400th anniversary of the accession to the Russian throne of the Romanov dynasty and the revival of Russian statehood. For many years, the echoes of the "Time of Troubles" were reflected in the fate of individual peasant families in Zaonezhie, which stood at the origins of the birth of historical events. The involvement of local residents in political affairs that took place in Moscow was associated with the imprisonment of the mother of the future Tsar Mikhail Romanov (1613–1645) in the ancient village of Tolvuya.

Nun Marfa Ivanovna, exiled by Tsar Boris Godunov to the distant Zaonezhsky region, spent five years here (1601-1605), which became an early example of a kind of political exile to Karelia. Helping the disgraced noblewoman in difficult times of general devastation in Russia, the inhabitants of Tolvuy showed their disinterestedness, not fearing punishment. Subsequently, life adequately rewarded them for these services.

Events developed rapidly. On March 27, 1613, in Kostroma, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Ipatiev Monastery, her son, Mikhail Romanov, received the scepter of the Russian tsars from the Moscow embassy.

After the liberation of Moscow from the Poles, the North of Russia also suffered from the "Lithuanian ruin". Cherkasy (Cossacks) rampaged here: they destroyed villages, robbed, killed people; defiled the churches... The Tolvuy and Kizhi peasants called by her to Moscow with the priest Yermolai Gerasimov told about this.

In 1614, “at the begging” of his mother, grateful to the Zaonezhans for their great services to her during her imprisonment and touched by their plight, Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich awarded them personal letters of commendation for land and benefits.

The letter reported: “Priest Yermolai and his son Isak, im and their children and grandchildren, immovably in their family” were granted a palace parish in the Cholmuzhsky Petrovsky churchyard, rivers for fishing ... and a vast expanse of land near Cholmuzh, equal to 10 144 tithes 452 fathoms. The peasants also received estates, but 12 times less than one Fr. Yermolai and his son ... All estates were declared free from entry by boyars, governors and clerks, as well as from duties, taxes and taxes, “are protected from insults, under the fear of the great Tsar and Sovereign, disgrace to those who learn to do through the royal charters and peasants hurt."

Thus, Zaonezhane were royally awarded. They came to Moscow as poor, but left as free, free estates with the conviction that "prayer is for God, and service for the Tsar will not be lost."

Nominal letters of commendation with state hanging seals of red wax were signed by the Tsar himself: "Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhailo Fedorovich of All Russia."

Soon, only 6 years passed, a new favor from the Great Empress followed. Father Yermolai Gerasimov and his son Isak were again summoned to Moscow. Father Yermolai - a simple churchyard "priest" - was appointed the dean of the Kremlin Archangel Cathedral, and his son - the dean - clerk of the Kazan Palace. Father Yermolai Gerasimov held the honorary position of Arkhangelsk keykeeper until his death in 1627.

In 1631, Tsarina Marfa Ivanovna introduced herself and was buried in the tomb of the Romanov family in the Novospassky Monastery. But with her death, the signs of royal gratitude to their Zaonezhsky subjects did not stop. The charters granted by Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich were confirmed by subsequent Sovereigns up to Peter the Great.

The category of white peasants was eliminated after the revolutionary events of 1917. In ancient times, white land was called land without dues, for which the owner did not pay dues to the treasury, which was his property.

The private peasants and estates of the Olonets province served as living historical monuments of the gratitude of the Russian tsars to their subjects for their merits. By 1892, the Klyucharevs had 19 men and 29 women among the Klyucharevs; in total - 48 souls. They lived in the village of Isakovskaya, Povenets district, in 11 houses. They owned manor, arable, hay land, forest, land under roads, under lakes, rivers, streams and bays, under a moss swamp.

Until 1861, there were 80 souls of both sexes in serfdom.

In 1892, according to the police, there were only 1164 souls of both sexes living in the counties of Petrozavodsk - 407 men, 431 women; Povenetsky - 19, 29; Vytegorsk - 138, 137. Total: 564, 500.

The public administration of the private peasants was entrusted only to the village elders. In the Petrozavodsk district, white houses were approved by the police. Here they were exempted from military service and from all monetary and in-kind duties.

Whitewashed land was initially quite sufficient with a small number of people, and the economic situation of whitewashed land could arouse envy in neighbors. But at the end of the 17th century, it was noted that the Zaonezhsky white houses “… although they do not pay any taxes, they are in extreme poverty. Being freed from all duties for a long time, they got used to laziness, to vodka and do not know how to work seriously.

The main reasons for the impoverishment of the obelnye was their gradual loss of their benefits, which eventually led to submission to taxation, which equalized them with the rest of the peasant mass. The lack of granted land during the reproduction of offspring, the sale or mortgage without return of the land by the ancestors made them fuss about strengthening the land position. The rights of the white houses were regularly confirmed by laws in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire until 1837.

It is paradoxical that the Cholmuzh peasants called themselves "boyars", the descendants of real boyars in connection with the mention in 1375 of the Cholmuzh boyar Grigory Semyonovich, Novgorod posadnik.

The descendants of the priest Klyucharev, who lived in Cholmuzh of the Petrovsky churchyard, unlike others, had extensive possessions. They lived in the same village with the state peasants, who envied them and tried to harm them: by harassing mowing, stealing hay, breaking fences ... The landlords were afraid to complain for fear of revenge. Previously, among the estates of the Klyucharevs, the forest was considered a profitable item, but it was cut down long ago. There were few livestock: they had one or two cows. Bread grew poorly without the introduction of fertilizer, for the purchase of which there was not enough money. Most of the votchinniks became impoverished. Drunkenness, laziness and negligence are noticed among them. The mouth of the river was rented out to fishermen who, with stabs and nets, blocked the access of fish to the river, which caused the votchinniks to lose their former good income. It is known that Cholmuzh whitefish were distinguished by their unusual taste, they were served at the royal table, sent to England and France.

In 1894, the disastrous condition of the white houses was confirmed: "... they live very poorly, their economy is running." In Cholmuzh, the houses are wretched, and the whole village gives the impression of wretchedness.

The Klyucharyovs kept ancient portraits of nun Marfa Ivanovna and Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The portraits were purchased for the Olonets natural-industrial and ethnographic museum in Petrozavodsk.

In the church of the Cholmuzhsky churchyard, “... a narrow and long (½ x 1½ arshin) icon with two rows of sacred images has been preserved: at the top of the Twelve Feasts, and at the bottom of the Savior sitting on the throne, the Mother of God, John the Baptist, the Holy Apostle Peter and Paul and other saints. The icon was donated by Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, and the following inscription at the bottom testifies to this: “This God-saving holy icon was granted from the Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich of All Russia, in the summer of March 7122, 8 days, of the Obonezh Pyatina, to the Tolvui priest Germolai Gerasimov, the palace key-keeper to own in their family” . An icon without a riza, its letter is ancient.

Having such a disposition on the part of the tsarist authorities, the Klyucharev family of votchinniks used the power of their charter for many years. And in a special case, when the elders of the Paleostrovsky monastery took possession of some of the lands of the Klyucharevs, the grandson of Ganka Klyucharev beat the Great Sovereign Peter the Great with his brow. By decree of Peter in 1696, it was further "... commanded to own Ganka Klyucharev and his relatives the lands granted to them by Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich."

On the Sidorovs' letter of commendation, a later royal inscription has been preserved: “I confirm this, Peter. This confirmation was made at the Petrovsky Plants on February 28, 1719.

Thus, the valiant services of the Zaonezhan ancestors, shown selflessly and disinterestedly, not for fear, but for conscience in difficult times for Russia, devastation and hard times, were duly appreciated by the tsarist authorities.

But, unfortunately, even at the beginning of the 20th century, it was recognized that this little-studied page of the story about the imprisonment of the ancestor of the Romanov dynasty in Zaonezhye was known only to a few local residents and those who were specially engaged in national history. Nevertheless, such a significant event should become a common property.

From the beginning of the 17th century, the fate of the Zaonezhsky obelny peasants has been a historical memory associated with this particular period of history.

To this end, for the upcoming 300th anniversary of the Royal House of Romanov in the summer of 1910, the Olonets Statistical Committee, composed of the chairman - the Olonets governor N.V. Protasyev, a lover of his native antiquity; Secretary of the Committee I. I. Blagoveshchensky, I. G. Lazuk and N. S. Shayzhina were sent to Zaonezhye to identify information about the surviving monuments of antiquity of the 17th century. and earlier times, as well as objects associated with the name of the nun Marfa Ivanovna.

At the end of 1912, a report was made by the provincial government on preparations for a significant event. The provincial assembly decided:

• To build a special building in Petrozavodsk - the "House of the Romanovs", in which to place the existing historical-ethnographic and church-archaeological museum and the future zemstvo handicraft museum. It was planned to allocate a place for the building in the city center. The plan and facade of the building, in accordance with its idea and purpose, were supposed to be developed by the society of architects.
• Allocate for the production of the address - 500 rubles.
• Purchase up to 800 copies of N. S. Shayzhin's pamphlets "Zaonezhskaya sharpener Queen Martha" - for distribution to public libraries.
• Organize readings for students and the people in order to explain the meaning of the triumph and services to Russia of the Romanov dynasty.
• At readings, provide for the distribution of pamphlets, leaflets and portraits to the people and in schools.
• To petition the Imperial Archaeological Commission for an architect to be sent to the village of Cholmuzhi to supervise the reconstruction of the Cholmuzh temple.

A deputation of 10 persons was elected to present the address. It was proposed to make a cover for the addressee from Karelian birch with inlay in the old Russian style.

In the "Journal ..." it was mentioned that back in 1909, the Olonets provincial zemstvo handed over 1000 rubles for the installation of a monument in Kostroma.

At the place of nun Marfa's imprisonment in the village of Tolvui, it was proposed to build a prayer house, an almshouse for the orphans and the poor, or build a chapel. The place for the construction of an almshouse could also be the ancient village of Cholmuzhi, next to the Church of the Epiphany, built 305 years ago and preserved from the time of the stay of the nun Martha in the Tolvui churchyard.

For this church, Emperor Nicholas II granted the icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker and Saint Michael Malein, made in Moscow with the inscription: “This icon was granted by His Majesty Nikolai Alexandrovich in 1912.”

A year earlier, in 1911, the Povenets Zemstvo, in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty, before the restoration of the Cholmuzhskaya Church, informed the Sovereign Emperor about this. The tsar replied: “I thank the Povenets Zemstvo for their prayers and for the good deed they are doing.”

Anxiety caused by the destruction of archaeological antiquities in the process of repair and restoration work, taking place without the supervision of the architect, was excluded by the example of the church in the village of Cholmuzhi. The reconstruction of the temple and its consecration on the day of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was supposed to be carried out under the supervision of the architect Mileev.

For valiant merits and for loyal love, shown fearlessly in difficult times for Russia, Zaonezhans for many years gained attention and care from the reigning Romanov dynasty. In this case, life seemed to confirm the well-known words: “Prayer is for God, but service for the Tsar will not be lost.”

Ancestors of Zaonezhie have made their contribution to historical events, being at their source and enriching the memory of the history of the legendary Zaonezhie.

At present, the fate of Zaonezhye, with its rich history, but with poorly developed infrastructure - the lack of roads, electricity, housing, new tourist facilities - is alarming. The development prospect of Zaonezhye provides for the identification of objects of cultural and historical heritage and their inclusion in the sphere of cultural and educational tourism.

This material supplements the amount of information about historical events related to the revival of Russian statehood after the hard times of the Time of Troubles.

Literature used in the preparation of the material: Shayzhin N.S. Zaonezhskaya sharpener Great Empress nun Marfa Ivanovna, noblewoman Xenia Ivanovna in the world, mother of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich. To the 300th anniversary of the Royal House of Romanov. // Petrozavodsk. 1912. S. 20. Obelnye peasants and votchinniki in the Olonets province. // Olonets collection. Issue. 3. Petrozavodsk. 1894. S.8-9. Blagoveshchensky I.I. The memory of the ancestors of the reigning House of Romanov in Zaonezhye. // Proceedings of the Society for the Study of the Olonets province. Petrozavodsk. 1913. S.59-60. Journals of the Olonets Provincial Zemstvo Assembly ... P.183. Proceedings of the Society for the Study of the Olonets province ... S. 61-62. Poets and kings. // Literary newspaper. 2012. March 14-20.

Viola GUSCHINA, Art. n. employee of the department of history and ethnography

Alexander Anatolievich Vaskin

Moscow under the Romanovs

To the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty

The capital city of Moscow - the birthplace of the royal Romanov dynasty

Not a single royal house began as unusually as the house of the Romanovs began. Its beginning was already a feat of love. The last and lowest subject in the state offered and laid down his life in order to give us a king, and with this pure sacrifice he already linked the sovereign inseparably with his subject. Love has entered our blood, and we all have a blood relationship with the king. And so the ruler merged and became one with the subject, that we all now see a general misfortune - whether the sovereign forgets his subject and renounces him, or the subject forgets his sovereign and renounces him. How clearly it also turns out to be the will of God - to choose for this the name of the Romanovs, and not another! How incomprehensible is this enthronement of an unknown youth!

N.V. Gogol, "On the lyricism of our poets"

The year 1613 was not only the beginning of the reign of a new Russian dynasty. The significance of this fact is much more significant and goes beyond the boundaries of a specific historical period, turning it into a turning point in the entire HISTORY of Russia. In fact,

The Romanovs became the first truly Muscovite dynasty. After all, let's not forget that Prince Rurik Varangian, whose descendants ruled in Russia since 862, was of a completely different, non-Russian, foreign origin (and the exact place of his birth is completely unknown). What can not be said about the Romanovs - not even this or that estate or monastery, but ancient Moscow itself was their ancestral patrimony. The first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, and his son Alexei Mikhailovich, and his crowned grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Sophia, Fedor, Ivan, Peter, Elizabeth, Alexander, were born in the Mother See.

The calling of the boyar family of the Romanovs to the kingdom, as opposed to those who in 1613 again tried to put the Varangians on the Kremlin throne, meant the final self-determination of the various elites of Russian power, who demonstrated their determination to sacrifice their personal parochial interests in order to stop the bloody turmoil and the final "gathering" of the country. It was about salvation states.

One can only imagine what a heavy burden fell on the shoulders of sixteen-year-old Mikhail Romanov, who in 1613 was endowed not only with the attributes of royal power (among which were the Monomakh's hat and the orb with a scepter), but also took on a huge responsibility for the sake of reviving the devastated country. There was another important circumstance: the first steps of the young tsar were to restore confidence in the Moscow authorities, lost during the years of the Time of Troubles, when one after another impostors of all stripes made claims to power - False Dmitry I, II, III ...

In that distant 1613, Mikhail Romanov was to become the head of the dynasty, which was destined to rule over the next three centuries. Russia experienced many victories and defeats under the royal crown of the Romanovs. But these three centuries turned the Muscovite kingdom into the Russian Empire - a powerful state with the largest territory in the world, capable of protecting not only its own population, but also the fraternal Slavic peoples. And by 1913, Russia had become the strongest economic power.

But what about Moscow? What role did our ancient city play in this story? Moscow absorbed the very essence of the state-forming processes of the Romanov reign, sacrificing its capital vocation for the sake of the progressive development of the country. The fateful milestones in the creation of the Russian Empire were reflected in Moscow immediately and extremely strongly. Thus, the reforms of Peter the Great led to the fact that a new city arose on the banks of the Neva, proclaimed the capital of the empire. But even the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg did not break the blood ties of the Romanovs with Moscow. This connection became even stronger, acquiring a metaphysical character. Not St. Petersburg, but Moscow was the real heart of the empire, which the enemies of Russia repeatedly tried to hit (it was not for nothing that Napoleon moved his army to Moscow).

The book intersects two main lines of narration: the role of Moscow in the fate of the Romanov imperial house and the participation of the royal dynasty in the development and construction of the Mother See.

Hood. G.I. Gloomy.

Not later than 1800

In the Moscow Kremlin. Hood. A.M. Vasnetsov

The origins of the dynasty: it all began with the Mare ...

The noblest families among us - where?

Where are the princes of Sitsk, where are the Shestunovs,

Romanovs, the hope of the fatherland?

Imprisoned, tortured into exile.

A. S. Pushkin, "Boris Godunov"

Starting the story of more than three hundred years of the Romanovs in power, we will briefly talk about where their family came from, especially since they could well have taken the throne much earlier - immediately after the death of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the last of the Rurik dynasty, the owner of the highest power in the Moscow kingdom. But first things first.

The Moscow boyars Romanovs traced their lineage to Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, close associate of Ivan Kalita. An even more ancient ancestor was considered to be the noble ruler of the Prussian Gland Kambil. Until the beginning of the 16th century, the Romanovs were called Koshkins (from the nickname of the fifth son of Andrei Kobyla - Fyodor Koshka), then Zakharyins and Yuryevs. The Romanov-Yuriev clan was known among the princely nobility as “thin-born”.

The Romanovs (one way or another) have always been close to power, but this does not mean that they were destined to reign in Russia by fate. Bringing dishes to the table of the sovereign is one thing, but deciding the fate of the state behind the back of the king is quite another. And besides, there were always a lot of such hunters around the royal throne.

For example, one of the representatives of the family, Mikhail Zakharyin, was a member of the board of trustees under the minor Ivan IV, trying to influence him. But besides Zakharyin, there were other ambitious guardians - Vorontsov, Shuisky, Glinsky and others ...

A happy occasion came when young Ivan IV decided to get married, for which brides from all over the country were brought to an organized competition. As a result, to the surprise of many, the tsar chose as his wife the prominent and stately Anastasia Zakharyina, already familiar to him from childhood, the niece of that same Mikhail Zakharyin and the daughter of the devious Roman Zakharyin. The wedding took place in February 1547.

“Not nobility, but the personal virtues of the bride justified this choice, and contemporaries, depicting her properties, attribute to her all the feminine virtues for which they only found a name in the Russian language: chastity, humility, piety, sensitivity, goodness, combined with a solid mind; they don’t talk about beauty: for it was already considered a necessary accessory for a happy Tsar’s bride, ”wrote Nikolai Karamzin.

And after all, what is remarkable, the well-born boyars greeted the choice of the tsar with hostility, regarding it as an insult: they say, “the sovereign does not favor them all (great-born boyars), he dishonors great families, but brings young people closer to him, and we (boyars) are crowded by them, Yes, and by that he pressed us, because he married a boyar from his (Zakharyin) daughter, he understood his servant, and how should we serve our sister?

The undercover struggle between the risen Romanovs and the former entourage of Ivan the Terrible did not stop. And it is not surprising that poisoning is called one of the reasons for the early death of Empress Anastasia in 1560, as the tsar himself thought: “And you separated me from my wife? If only my juniors were not taken away from me, otherwise there would be no Kronov sacrifice, ”he wrote to Kurbsky.

For the first time in the last hundred years, a book is published on such an important topic in the history of Russia as "Moscow and the Romanovs". The influence of the tsars and emperors from the Romanov dynasty on the development of Moscow can hardly be overestimated. At the same time, the Mother See also played a decisive role in the fate of the Romanovs themselves, becoming, in fact, their ancestral patrimony. The first tsar of the dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, was born and married here, then his son Alexei Mikhailovich, and then his crowned descendants - Fedor, Peter, Elizabeth, Alexander ... All the Romanov autocrats were crowned in Moscow, and a number of them found their last refuge here . The reader will learn the most interesting historical details: how Mikhail Fedorovich was elected to the kingdom, for which Peter I deprived Moscow of the status of the capital, how the enlightened era of Catherine II affected Moscow, what was the policy of Alexander I towards Moscow in 1812, how Nicholas I tried to extinguish the opposition of Moscow and how the Third Branch looked at the city, how the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated, etc. The book also tells about iconic Moscow buildings and sights associated with the Romanov dynasty, and there are many of them: the Assumption Cathedral, the Novospassky Monastery, the boyar chambers on Varvarka, the Arc de Triomphe, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow University, the Bolshoi Theater, the Noble Assembly, the English Club, the Nikolaevsky Station, the Alexander III Museum of Fine Arts, the Manege and much more ... The book is written based on the study of a large number of historical sources and is equipped name index. The author is the famous writer and historian Alexander Vaskin.

* * *

The following excerpt from the book Moscow under the Romanovs. To the 400th anniversary of the royal Romanov dynasty (A. A. Vaskin, 2013) provided by our book partner - the company LitRes.

Izmailovo: "How famous was this patrimony once!"

In the difficult, blood-red year of 1918, while still in Moscow, Ivan Bunin wrote:

“On a hot day, at the end of April, I went to the village of Izmailovo, the patrimony of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

Leaving the city, he did not know which way to go. The oncoming man said: “This must be where the church with the blue dome is.”

Walked for a long time, very tired. But spring, warmth, joy - it was surprisingly good. I finally saw an ancient cathedral, with green domes, which the peasant called blue - as the peasants often call green blue - I saw a spring through forest, and in the forest walls, an ancient tower, a gate and the temple of Ioasaph, gently shining in the sky among the bare trees gilding, patterns, green domes - in the sky, which was especially beautiful from the blue and azure clouds that stood in it in some places ...

Now here is the barracks named after Bauman. Some restructuring is underway, something is being broken inside the towers, from which clouds of lime dust sometimes escape. The temple is also broken. The windows are empty, their frames have been torn out, the floor is littered with rubbish, these frames, and broken glass. The golden iconostasis is gaping with holes here and there - some icons have been taken out. When I entered, sparrows soared in a shower from the floor, from the garbage, and strewn the iconostasis through the holes and over the protrusions of the robes over the faces of the saints ... And how famous this patrimony was once!

We put Bunin's last phrase in the title, and here's why: today, four centuries after that historic day when the first autocrat from the Romanov dynasty ascended the royal throne, we can only recreate bit by bit the image of Izmailov, who literally became the cradle of the last monarchy of Russia. Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich matured here, and Peter, still quite young and small, learned to manage a small boat found in a local barn. Anna Ioannovna gathered her ministers in Izmailovo, and Elizaveta Petrovna hunted in the nearby forest bushes. And the grandson of Catherine II, Nicholas I, founded a military almshouse here for veterans participating in the Patriotic War of 1812 ...

We love to compare ourselves with foreign countries, and not in our favor. And we took over from them, and that. For whatever you take - everywhere there is a continuous admiration for the West. Here is a similar situation with Moscow estates. Whatever country estate of the Russian nobility is discussed, it is often said that it is, they say, the Russian Versailles or the Russian Fontainebleau. And there are just a bunch of such "Versailles" in Moscow and its environs. Starting with Arkhangelsk, continuing with Maly Vyazemy, and even many others, and ending with Voronov, which its owner Count Fyodor Rostopchin personally set on fire in 1812. Calling this or that estate “Russian Versailles”, they mean, as a rule, that its owner tried to do everything in a Western manner, imitating the country residence of the French king Louis XIV, nicknamed “The Sun King” by his contemporaries. And they completely forget that we once had a wonderful role model, which Versailles and Fontainebleau were no match for - yes, this is Izmailovo, which amazed foreigners who came to Russia with its magnificence.

It was in 1705, under Peter I. Moscow ambassadors returned to Russia from abroad, headed by the close okolnichi and Yaroslavl governor Andrei Artemovich Matveev. An original report on the trip was the “Archive, or Article List of the Moscow Embassy, ​​which was in France; from Holland incognito in the past, 1705, on the 5th day of September. Moscow ambassadors visited many cities and villages. We saw Paris, Versailles, Fontainebleau.

And this is what we find in this report: “Description of the royal village of Fontainebleau. This village of Fontainebleau and its place is very similar to the village of Izmailov of His Royal Majesty, which is near Moscow, except for the stone mountains. The royal house in a certain ravine has its own position, consisting of many small palaces and irregular architecture, built one after the other in a fit. Lovitva (meaning hunting, from the word “to catch” - A.V.) is the radiant beauty of this village in a forest so slender, as if planted on purpose, and so many roads have been cut through that it is not possible to believe that human hands could do this and align. The connection of those catching roads is called the stars, because they are made by this kind. In these stone mountains there are many wild boars, deer and wolves, which amuses the king greatly.

The Moscow ambassador, seeing for the first time one of the residences of the French king, did not hesitate, but found something to compare with, and this comparison turned out to be more than flattering for our Fatherland. Like, and we have no worse ...

And after all, what is interesting: both Louis XIV and our Alexei Mikhailovich began to create Versailles with Izmailov at the same time, in the early 1660s. But this is only the first coincidence, of which there are many in the history of both residences. Here's one more thing - before becoming royal estates, both Izmailovo and Versailles were used exclusively for hunting. As a result of the long efforts of many people, royal estates grew out of unpretentious and small hunting chambers and castles, striking contemporaries with their scope and originality.

During their reign, both sovereigns attach great importance to the transformation of the nature surrounding their palaces into a paradise, for which gardens unprecedented in diversity are broken up, new ponds and reservoirs are arranged. To ensure a decent life for the monarchs, both in Izmailovo and Versailles, the latest technical innovations are being introduced, and the best methods of organizing and managing the economy are being used. Gradually, the residences acquire the significance of a center of sole power, where the most important state decisions are born and announced and the heirs to the throne are born.

But if the French Versailles appears today in all its glory, embodying the history of the French monarchy of the 17th-18th centuries, then there are mere crumbs left from the Russian Izmailov. And the four hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the reign of the Romanov dynasty, celebrated this year, is an occasion to remember and tell about how Izmailovo was created, which served as the family nest of the Romanovs for many years.

There is no district in Moscow more closely connected with the Romanov monarchy, and hence the history of Russia, than Izmailovo. And although the attention of the royal house to Izmailov, as well as to all of Moscow, somewhat diminished after the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, every Russian autocrat considered it his duty to come here, one way or another contributing to the continuation of his glorious history.

The very fact of the existence of Izmailov, the fact that this name did not disappear into the darkness of centuries, but has survived to this day and today designates one of the usual Moscow districts, is of great importance. After all, there are still many versions of the origin of its name - either from the name, or from the name of the boyar who owned these lands in ancient times, and perhaps from alien people who once moved here.

For us, in connection with the celebrated anniversary, the significance of Izmailov lies in the fact that it symbolizes the continuity of the transfer of power from the Rurikovichs to the Romanovs. After all, even before the accession of the Romanovs, in 1571, Izmailovo was donated by Ivan the Terrible himself to his "relative", boyar Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuriev.

In the year when Nikita Zakharyin-Yuriev became the owner of Izmailov, Moscow experienced a devastating attack by the Tatars and Nagais led by Khan Devlet-Giray. It was the infamous Crimean campaign against Moscow in 1571, after which Ivan the Terrible became preoccupied with the need to build a wall encircling the White City.

It was the descendants of Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuriev who began to be written as the Romanovs. And already after his death in 1586, Izmailovo passed to his son - Ivan Nikitovich Romanov, the one whom False Dmitry I gave the nickname Kasha.

Ivan Kasha erected a wooden three-hipped church in Izmailovo in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, and under him the property grew in nearby lands. By 1623, in Izmailovo there were a boyar yard, a hunting yard, 5 yards of beggars and 10 peasant and bobyl yards (29 people). And by 1646, there were already 32 peasant households in the village.

Ivan Kasha died in 1640, after which Izmailovo passed to his third son Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, who is considered to be the last representative of the non-royal line of the Romanovs.

With his passions in life, Nikita Ivanovich Romanov was somewhat similar to Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, a favorite of Tsarina Sophia and an adherent of everything foreign. Nikita Romanov's house was filled with curiosities - huge globes, clocks with several dials, rare folios. The only difference is that with his habits he surprised his contemporaries much earlier than Golitsyn. In addition, the number of foreign guests coming to Moscow under the new tsar (from 1645) Alexei Mikhailovich only increased. Scientists, doctors, builders, merchants, and, of course, diplomats came to Russia.

Adam Olearius wrote: “A certain prince named Nikita Ivanovich Romanov lives in Moscow. After the king, this is the noblest and richest person, besides, he is a close relative of the king. This is a cheerful gentleman and lover of German music. He not only likes very much foreigners, especially Germans, but also feels a great inclination towards their costumes. Therefore, he ordered more than once to sew Polish and German clothes for them, and sometimes, for the sake of pleasure, he put it on and went hunting in it, despite the fact that the patriarch objected to such attire. This boyar, however, sometimes in religious matters, as it seems, annoyed the patriarch by answering him briefly, but stubbornly.

However, in the end, the patriarch still lured the suits from him by cunning and forced them to be abandoned.

Let us explain the story of the Holstein ambassador: Nikita Ivanovich Romanov not only wore foreign outfits himself, but also dressed his servants in them. Once the patriarch asked him for one of the outfits, allegedly in order to dress his servant in it. Having received the costume, the patriarch ordered that it be cut into pieces, thereby trying to get Romanov to refuse to wear such clothes.

Under Nikita Ivanovich, Izmailovo flourished. With surprise, not only their own, but also foreigners looked at the hunting ground arranged by Romanov in Izmailovo, saying that they had not seen anything like this in Versailles either. Special people and dogs were expertly trained to hunt animals (bulldogs, hounds and other breeds), and the Wolf Yard was kept with foxes, hares, bears and wild boars. Often visited the hunting grounds of his uncle and the young Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who later became a passionate hunter.

To sail along the local rivers, Nikita Ivanovich ordered a boat from English merchants - the same one that young Peter I would later find here in a linen barn. barns, where the remains of the house of grandfather Nikita Ivanovich Romanov lay, between which I saw a foreign ship, I asked Franz Timerman, what kind of ship? He said that the bot is English. I asked: where is it used? He said that with ships, for driving and carting. I again asked: what advantage does he have over our courts (before I saw him in image and strength better than ours)? He told me that he sails not only with the wind, but also against the wind; which word brought me great surprise and allegedly incredibly.

The boat was called "Saint Nicholas". To bring it to a floating state, they found an old Dutchman Karshten-Brant, a comrade of the ship's gunner. It was this gunner who repaired the boat, capable of sailing against the wind, by placing a mast and a sail on it. And Peter began to learn how to manage the first ship in his life on the Yauza. However, this river soon became too small for the ambitious young king. And the boat was again returned to Izmailovo, to Millet Pond: “But even there I found a little avant-garde,” Peter will write later, “and the hunt began to increase from time to time.”

This boat, rightfully called the "grandfather of the Russian fleet", is exhibited today in the halls of the Central Naval Museum in St. Petersburg.

During the Salt Riot of 1648, Nikita Romanov acted as a kind of mediator between the angry crowd gathered in the Kremlin and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The people demanded that the perpetrators, self-interested people, money-grubbers who lined their pockets due to the exorbitant increase in taxes on salt, be handed over for reprisal.

Adam Olearius recalled: “His Royal Majesty sent his cousin, the great and praiseworthy nobleman Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, whom the people, for the sake of his good fame, loved very much; he had to try to soften angry minds and restore calm. With his head bare, he went out to the people (who treated him very respectfully and called him their father) and touchingly described how his royal majesty sadly felt all these disasters, especially since he had promised the people the previous day to diligently consider all these matters and give them the most gracious satisfaction. He reported; that his royal majesty again orders all these words to be repeated, and promises to do everything for the people, and, undoubtedly, will keep his promise; so they could meanwhile calm down and keep the peace. To this the people replied: they are very pleased with his royal majesty, willingly ready to calm down, but not before his royal majesty gives them the perpetrators of this disaster, namely the boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov, Levonty Stepanovich Pleshcheev and Pyotr Tikhonovich Trakhaniotov, so that these faces, before our eyes the people suffered a well-deserved punishment. Nikita thanked for the answer and for the fact that they were faithful to his royal majesty, and spoke in the sense that one could agree with them and duly report on their demand for these three persons. However, he swore before them that Morozov and Pyotr Tikhonovich were no longer in the Kremlin, and that they had fled. Then they asked that Pleshcheev be immediately handed over to them in this case. Nikita then said goodbye to the people and drove back to the Kremlin. News was soon received from the Kremlin that His Tsarist Majesty had decided to immediately extradite Pleshcheev and agreed to his execution in front of the people; but if there are others, let them be dealt with justly. It was ordered to bring the executioner to the place for execution. The people, without delay, hastily brought the executioner with his servants to the gate, and they were immediately let in.

As a result, Pleshcheev, who was handed over to the people, was torn to pieces right there, without even having time to bring him to the place of execution. The authority of Nikita Ivanovich was even more strengthened in the eyes of both the people and his tsar.

Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, upon his death from the plague in 1654, left no children, and therefore, due to the lack of direct heirs, Izmailovo passed into the Order of the Grand Palace as an escheat estate, in other words, into the treasury. And Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who had taken a liking to Izmailov from his youth, decided to turn it into a garden city.

Mikhail Pylyaev writes: “The suburbs of Moscow were famous for their gardens and nurseries of fruit trees. So, in the ancestral patrimony of the Romanovs, the village of Izmailovo, the garden was known for its medicinal and economic plants. Along the bank of the Serebrovka River, opposite the wooden palace, a “regular garden” stretched for thirty-three sazhens, from which only traces were bushes of wild rose, barberry, gooseberry and lilac. Behind the palace, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich also planted a "vine garden" on the space of a whole verst, where grape vines were bred, and different varieties of apple trees, pears, blows, plums, cherries and other overseas trees also grew. Back in the fifties, there was a linden alley here, planted, according to legend, by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, under the shade of which Peter I liked to walk in his youth with his mentors. Subsequently, there was a station there (in the 18th century, stations for entertainment and concerts were called stations - A.V.), where brilliant meetings used to be. The Izmailovsky gardens served as nurseries for other gardens in Russia; of these, the fruits were delivered for the sovereign's use, and healing herbs and roots were sent to the Aptekarsky order, the rest went on sale.

Izmailov's horticulture also included hop growing; the best hops were bred there on the slopes and near the canals. Hoppers annually delivered from 500 to 800 pounds of hops not only for the palace brewery, but also for sale. Flowering meadows, orchards and orchards in Izmailovo also contributed to the reproduction of beekeeping. In 1677 they delivered 179 pounds of honey and the same amount of wax.

And Alexei Mikhailovich also hoped to acclimatize exclusively heat-loving crops on Moscow lands - mulberry trees, grapes, walnuts, watermelons, date trees, almonds, Astrakhan peppers, and Caucasian dogwood, and even cotton, called paper tree, grew in greenhouses and hotbeds. The sovereign conducted his selection experiments in the gardens laid out in Izmailovo, of which there were at least 15!

Pear, Plum, Cherry orchards. What only did not grow in Izmailovo - it is better to ask what was not. The Pharmaceutical Garden was traditional, supplying medicinal plants to the royal healers. And in the pleasure garden "Babylon" it was no wonder to get lost - it was separated by a labyrinth of paths, in which the Courland diplomat Reitenfels almost got lost. And the Millet and Grape Gardens, in addition to the green spaces themselves, were also decorated with artistic murals. The Amusing and Island Gardens entertained the king. Another garden was strange - Mulberry. True, nothing came of the idea of ​​breeding silkworms. For which some historians still scold Alexei Mikhailovich.

Here, in particular, is one of the arguments with which I would like to argue: “The Tsar, having a penchant for experimentation and childishly loving everything“ outlandish ”, is trying to start many southern plants in the Moscow region, including even grapes, even cotton, and even Mulberry tree. Of course, these ventures failed - such crops as Shemakha and Astrakhan watermelons, date trees, almonds and Hungarian doulas did not want to grow in the Moscow region. However, the tsar was extremely stubborn in his undertakings and tormented his subordinates with his “projects” until the end of his life. All this is very similar to the undertakings of a spoiled barchuk - "undergrowth", who is not denied anything. The idea of ​​starting sericulture near Moscow haunts the tsar. The king offers the German gardener Indrik to do "the most secret thing" - to plant on the apple tree "all the fruits that God has." The bewildered gardener did not lie: "All the fruits, sir, cannot be grafted." But the king was, as you know, stubborn and ordered to proceed with a secret experiment.

The point was, of course, not in the experiment and not in the "childhood" of the king. Apparently, Alexei Mikhailovich hoped to turn the production of silk (it was brought to Russia from abroad) into one of the profitable items of the state treasury, as well as the breeding of other crops that had not been popular until then. After all, the economic situation in the country left much to be desired - the Copper Riot and the war with Poland bled Russia dry.

As for the grafting of apple trees, the rare piety of the king, for whom the apple tree was a special tree, a biblical symbol of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, affected. And Apple Spas has always been a particularly revered holiday for Alexei Mikhailovich. Therefore, apple orchards were fragrant all over Moscow, starting from the Kremlin, and, of course, in Izmailovo. Much attention was also paid to the development of new varieties.

As for the piety of the sovereign, in the art of fasting and praying, he could compete with any monk: during fasting weeks he ate once a day, and, moreover, cabbage, milk mushrooms and berries. And on other days he didn’t drink at all, and didn’t eat at all. For six hours in a row he defended in the church, measuring one and a half thousand prostrations. “He was a devout ancient Russian pilgrimage, who harmoniously and wholeheartedly combined bodily labor with the tension of religious feeling in the feat of spiritual salvation,” Klyuchevsky assessed the sovereign.

Another "sacred" fruit for Alexei Mikhailovich was grapes, which in his royal mind was associated with the image of Jesus Christ. An interesting fact is that in 1665 grape bushes were planted in Izmailovo, brought to Moscow by a gardener from Astrakhan, Vasily Nikitin. Several difficult years passed, or rather, harsh winters, and now, to the joy of the king, tenacious vines of blessed and rooted grapes twined around the arbors in one of the Izmaylovo gardens, which became the village of Grapes. This is how this southern fruit was born in Moscow.

It was difficult for grapes to take root in Russia. But, despite the obvious difficulties, Alexei Mikhailovich did not leave the idea of ​​its widespread breeding. According to the idea of ​​the Duma clerk Averky Kirillov, gooseberries, nicknamed northern grapes, were to serve as a substitute for heat-loving grapes. And yet, in other years, the grape harvest in Izmailovo was not bad, they even made local wine from it.

And what were the flower gardens in Izmailovo! No worse than in Versailles and Fontainebleau. In addition to the flowers that grew in our Central Russian zone, tulips, lilies, and carnations were bred. For this purpose, again, Dutch flower growers were invited. It looked like a botanical garden. Vast and densely planted, bright flower beds framed fountains with figures of bizarre animals, from whose mouths water gushed.

Izmailovo turned into a favorite summer residence of Alexei Mikhailovich, where the tsar brought foreigners to demonstrate the successes of domestic agriculture. “Under Alexei Mikhailovich, Izmailovo was famous as a vast and well-maintained agricultural farm. To expand arable land and hayfields, a lot of forest was cleared. In the fields, “watchmen” were set up - wooden towers to monitor the peasants working in the fields,” writes P. Sytin.

Palm Sunday in Moscow under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Procession of the Patriarch on a donkey. Hood. V.G. Schwartz. 1865

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with boyars falconry near Moscow.

Hood. NOT. Sverchkov. 1873

The implementation of these large-scale innovations required the involvement of a considerable number of workers, for which, at the behest of Alexei Mikhailovich, the resettlement of peasants from different parts of the country began in Izmailovo. Cattlemen were brought from Little Russia, gardeners from the Lower Volga region, flax growers from the Pskov region, and watermelon growers from Astrakhan.

An archival certificate from three hundred years ago reads: “Peasants were brought from many palace villages and volosts and from purchased estates, and other branes from all ranks of people ... and others were called Lithuanian immigrants, and other branes for serving in the yards of all ranks of people from townspeople taxable people and palace villages are peasants and peasant children, and others are bought.

Where did such a number of newcomers settle? For this purpose, nearby lands were assigned to Izmailovo, as a result of which the borders of the Izmailovo estate in the 1660s extended from modern Cherkizovo in the north to Kuskov in the south. The votchina was supposed to be populated with 548 yards of arable peasants and 216 yards of “trading and craft people”. There were even drawings of the location of the roads, as evidenced by the preserved handwritten plans of the Izmailovo possessions dated to the second half of the 17th century.

But the peasants did not always justify the hopes placed on them. Many settlers, having not really settled down, sharpened their skis back: the burden of developing new lands, which were not particularly fertile, turned out to be too heavy. The soil here, on the edge of the Meshcherskaya lowland, was clayey, with high humidity. So the whole families of peasants left Izmailovo. Statisticians of that time calculated that out of 664 peasant families resettled to Izmailovo lands, 481 fled.

But for such a variety of work, outlined by Alexei Mikhailovich, experienced people were required - animal breeders, fur-farmers, tanners, cheese farmers, winegrowers, gardeners, beekeepers. According to managers, “peasants. they act disobedient at work.” So I had to specially hire people from outside, and at a high price. Researchers also name the names of foreigners who lived and worked in Izmailovo: mill foreman Yakov Yanov, gardener Valentin David, artist Peter Englis.

In general, Izmailovo has become a kind of exhibition of the achievements of the "national economy" of Russia in the second half of the 17th century. On its territory, not only the results of the introduction of advanced agricultural science were demonstrated, but also modern industrial enterprises. A glass factory that produced glass of the highest quality, corresponding to the best European standards, no worse than Venetian, a brick factory, a distillery ...

There were not only fruit and berry curiosities, but also mechanical ones - a “clockwork machine”, a machine for threshing grain with water, invented by master Andrei Krik, whose threshing samples were made by watchmaker Moses Terentyev. In general, there was something to see for both the king and his guests.

The rapid rise of agriculture within the boundaries of a single royal estate did not overshadow for Alexei Mikhailovich one of the most important amusements in his life - hunting. The Izmailov Animal Court was still rich in entertainment. One of the foreigners was amazed at what he saw "the incredible size of a polar bear, leopards, lynxes and many other animals that are only to be looked at." And there were also moose, deer, tours. Alexey Mikhailovich liked to come to his menagerie to watch a bear fight with dogs or even with a hunter with only one horn. Today, only the names of two streets and lanes of the Izmailovsky menagerie remain from the Animal Court.

And “on the rivers flowing along Izmailov - Izmailovka (Serebryanka) and Pekhorka - about 20 ponds were dug and water mills were installed. In all ponds, fish were bred (sterlet, sturgeon, beluga, etc.). There were also special ponds, for example, Leech, in which leeches were bred for medicinal purposes; Glass, serving the glass factory; Zverinetsky, who served the menagerie. There was an island on the Round Pond, on which Alexei Mikhailovich built himself a wooden palace, surrounded along the banks of the pond by stone walls with a gate tower. In addition to wooden services, 53 stone chambers stood inside the walls to serve the palace and store supplies, and five cellars were dug. And there were Lebedyansky, Deer and Dog ponds.

The wooden palace and stone chambers are a too modest designation of the architectural ensemble created in Izmailovo, which amazed contemporaries with its beauty, which became the embodiment of the ambitious plans of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, overflowing with seething energy. He chose Izmailovsky Island as a place for the construction of his residence, for which the local river Izmailovka was dammed up and a large Silver-Grape Pond was created around the island.

Izmailovsky Island was connected to the rest of the land by a large white-stone bridge of fourteen spans, built in 1671–1674. The bridge was connected by two towers - at the entrance and at the exit. The tower, located on the island, also served as the bell tower of the Intercession Cathedral. The bell tower had three floors, archers lived in the guardhouse below, and above them there was a chamber for meetings of the Boyar Duma, for this reason the tower was called not only Bridge, but also Duma.

The peasants were evicted from the island, the yards were removed, thus clearing the land for large-scale construction. The Sovereign's Court was planned on the island, divided into two parts - official and economic. The embodiment of the first was the wooden royal palace with three floors, the construction of which began in 1676 and lasted for two years. The palace consisted of seven separate log cabins, united among themselves by vestibules and passages. As usual in Russia, the first floor was occupied by kitchens and pantries. The royal quarters were arranged on the second floor - Alexei Mikhailovich himself settled here, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna (second wife, from 1671), the royal children.

The king was no stranger to the art of painting, and therefore the interior of the chambers was decorated with canvases on biblical themes, from the life of the ancient kings Artaxerxes and Constantine.

In the economic part of the Sovereign's court there were services involved in the uninterrupted provision of the life of the tsar and his family, who came to Izmailovo. For this, they built the chambers of the Sytny, Khlebny and Kormovy yards, a coal chamber, dug cellars and equipped glaciers.

The peace and security of the royal family was guarded by the archers, who settled in the chambers that stood close to the Front and Back gates of the Sovereign's court.

Izmailovo was decorated with stone temples. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the construction of the majestic Pokrovsky Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos began, and under his son Fyodor Alekseevich. According to a beautiful legend, the tsar planned to build a cathedral in stone on the site of the former wooden one on the occasion of the birth of his son Peter in 1672. According to one version, the reformer of Russia himself was also born in Izmailovo (his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, fell in love with Izmailovo with all her heart).

The cathedral, which has survived to this day, was erected by 1679 by the famous Russian architect Ivan Kuznechik and the Kostroma masons Grigory and Fyodor Medvedev (the same stone master Kuznechik built rigs, mills and dams in Izmailovo, he also built by order of the tsar and the temple that has survived to our time Gregory of Neocaesarea on Bolshaya Polyanka).

The builders were given the following task: “To make a stone church in the old village of Izmailovo against the model of the cathedral church in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, without basements, nine sazhens long between the walls, the same diameter, and the height of the church and the altar as needed, and around that church to make three steps as it happens, and we do that church stone work, as the apprentice instructs.

Pokrovsky (later Trinity) Cathedral of the Alexander Sloboda served as a model for architects not by chance, because the settlement has long been a suburban residence of Moscow rulers - starting with Grand Duke Vasily III, not to mention Ivan the Terrible. But it turned out to be a completely different cathedral, more similar to the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

According to art critics, the Intercession Cathedral has become one of the most grandiose for its time. Already its height alone spoke of the scale - almost 60 meters! And its five huge onion heads from afar indicated the path to the royal residence. Craftsmen from the Kremlin Armory – Fyodor Zubov, Semyon Rozhkov, Vasily Poznansky and Karp Zolotarev were involved in the creation of the five-tiered iconostasis of the cathedral. The author of the tiles is Stepan Polubes.

Under Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (ruled 1676–1682), by 1676, a stone church of the Nativity of Christ with side altars of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in the style of Russian patterning. This temple was built in the settlement, where settled peasant settlers. It pleases the eye of Muscovites today.

In general, under Fyodor Alekseevich, Izmailovo is losing its significance as an experimental platform for introducing the best achievements of agricultural science, turning more and more into a country, summer residence. But still, the legacy left by Alexei Mikhailovich was huge, as evidenced by the census of that time:

Groves 115 acres. Groves, number 5, reserved. Grove heron, where the herons lived. Menagerie. Fruit orchards, number 32, pharmaceutical gardens. Regular garden. Grape garden. Wolf yard. Zhitny yard with 20 granaries. Linen yard for crushing flax. Animal farm, there are 903 bulls, 128 cows, 190 heifers and 82 calves, 82 rams, 284 pigs. The stable yard, there are 701 pacers, horses, mares and geldings. Ox yard. Grape mill. Brewery, meadery, malt house, oil mill. Poultry yard, in it are swans, peacocks, ducks and hunting hens of many genera. The flour mill has 7 mills. Glass factory. 3 stone churches, 2 wooden churches, 5 clergy yards and 11 clerks. Voxal for brilliant performances. A bridge paved with oak beams ... 27 ponds, in one pike, in the other sterlet, to which pike the princesses hung gold earrings and clicked into silver bells.

The attention of the tsarist authorities to Izmailov did not weaken even with the beginning of the period of the regency of Princess Sophia under two young tsars - Peter I and Ivan V, which lasted from 1782 to 1789. This attention was expressed in the rebuilding of Sophia's diligence in 1688 of the house church of Joasaph Prince of India. This church was known for the fact that under its vaults in 1680 Simeon of Polotsk himself read his verses to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich and his family listening to him. Under Sophia, the church received a finished look in the Naryshkin baroque style, becoming one of the first examples of this purely Moscow style. The restructuring of the two-tiered temple was led by Vasily Golitsyn, a favorite of the princess, who ordered to connect the temple with her mansions with a special passage. There was also a bell tower. Interestingly, according to legend, after the suppression of the Streltsy rebellion, Peter I at first ordered Sophia to be kept in Izmailovo, so beloved by her, and only then she was transferred to the Novodevichy Convent. The temple of Joasaph was demolished from 1936–1937.

Curious notes about the life of Izmailov under Sophia were left by the sailing master, the Dutchman Jan Streis: “On January 19, 1669, we. drove to a village at a distance of half a mile from Moscow. There lived the sister of his royal majesty in a huge palace, built of only one tree, but very beautiful and in a foreign way. At the palace there was a vast place for fighting animals, and we were lucky to see the persecution of bears and wolves, to which His Majesty and the highest nobility arrived in a sleigh. This place was fenced off with large logs, so that it was more convenient for the spectators, who were innumerable in number, to watch standing. Before the persecution, we saw about two hundred wolves and bears next to a huge pack of dogs. Wild animals were brought in strong cages on sledges. His majesty and nobles stood in the gallery of the palace to watch the spectacle. At a sign, several wolves and bears were released, dogs rushed at them, and a scuffle began; some fell dead, others wounded. Muscovites were among the animals, they guided them and took those who had been squabbling for a long time back to the cage. And the ferocious beasts, which had just been terribly raging, allowed themselves to behave like lambs.

Orphaned after the fall of the royal sister, Izmailovo briefly passed to Peter's brother and his co-ruler Ivan V. The foreigner Jiri David wrote: “Izmailovo, a mile from Moscow, is a very convenient place to relax due to the proximity of green groves. There is a glass factory here, where the Germans produce glass for the needs of the royal court. The Tsar's palace is wooden here too, and next to it is a stone church, which Tsar Ivan is now restoring. There is a garden, large and well kept.

After the imminent death of Ivan Alekseevich in 1696, Izmailovo went to his widow Praskovya Fedorovna with three daughters. Here in Izmailovo, the young years of the niece of Peter I and the future Empress Anna Ioannovna, the youngest of the three daughters of Ivan V, passed. And her sister, Catherine, was the mother of Anna Leopoldovna, who was regent under the young Ioann Antonovich, who reigned on the throne for only a year.

Anna Ioannovna also fell in love with Izmailovo, especially interested in her theater. “In the village of Izmailovo, the daughter of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich herself directed the performances behind the scenes. Fools, fools, clowns with crackers appeared at this court theater during intermissions and amused the audience by dancing to the sound of a horn with refrains or various farces. There was, according to the proverb of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, “time for work, and hour for fun,” wrote Mikhail Pylyaev.

Extremely interesting evidence of his stay in Izmailovo in 1702 was left by the famous Dutch painter and traveler Cornelis de Bruyne. During his trip to Russia, he became closely acquainted with Tsar Peter, who asked the artist to capture his nieces in portraits:

“The tsar, having learned that I was skilled in painting, wished me to take portraits of three young small princesses, the daughters of his brother, Tsar Ivan Alekseevich, who reigned with him until his death, which followed on January 29, 1696. This, in fact, was the main reason, he added, for which I am now invited to the court. I accepted this honor with pleasure and went to the queen, their mother, to one amusing palace of his majesty, called Izmailov, lying one hour from Moscow, with the intention of seeing the princesses before starting my work. When I approached the queen, she asked me if I knew Russian, to which Prince Alexander (A.D. Menshikov - A.V.) answered in the negative for me and continued to talk with her for some time. Then the queen ordered to fill a small glass of vodka, which she brought with her own hand to the prince, and the prince, having drunk, gave the glass to one of the court maidens who were here, who again filled the glass, and the queen gave it to me in exactly the same way, and I, in my turn , emptied it. She also treated us to a glass of wine, which the three young princesses also did. Then a large glass of beer was poured, which the tsarina again handed to Prince Alexander with her own hands, and this one, having drunk a little, gave the glass to the court maiden. The same thing happened to me, and I only raised the glass to my mouth, because at court it is considered indecent to drink to the bottom the last glass of beer brought to the bottom. After that, I talked about portraits with Prince Alexander, who understood Dutch quite well, and when we were about to leave, the queen and her three daughters, princesses, let us kiss their right hands. This is the greatest honor that can be received here.”

The artist set to work. Peter hurried him, asking him to finish the portraits as quickly as possible. Cornelis de Bruyne portrayed the royal nieces in full growth, "in German dresses, in which they usually appeared in society", but with an "antique" hairstyle. Drawing from life, the painter could also examine the girls in detail: “The eldest, Ekaterina Ivanovna, is twelve years old, the second, Anna Ivanovna, is ten, and the youngest, Praskovya Ivanovna, is eight years old. They are all beautifully put together. The average blond, has an extremely delicate and white complexion, the other two are beautiful dark-skinned girls. The youngest was distinguished by a special natural liveliness, and all three were generally charming and charming.

Let us explain that the Dutchman saw a new royal palace, built in the summer of 1702 to replace the worn-out old one. The artist also witnessed one of the most important events in the life of Izmailov - the consecration of this palace. We also know the date when this event took place - December 19th. On this day, Cornelis de Bruyne went to Izmailovo to show the ceremonial portraits of Peter's nieces painted by him to Tsarina Praskovya Feodorovna:

“It was the day on which the new palace was consecrated before the court entered it. After reporting myself, I was ordered to wait in the first room, where I found a lot of court maidens. The floor was covered with hay in this room, and on the right side of it was a large table, laden with large and small loaves, and on some of these loaves lay handfuls of salt, and on others - silver salt shakers full of salt. According to the custom of Russians, relatives and acquaintances of those who moved to a new house, as it were, consecrate it in some way with salt, and even for several days in a row. This offering of salt and bread was at the same time a sign of all the success desired by the new tenants, the desire that they never need any of the necessities of life. Even when Russians change their dwelling, they leave hay and bread on the floor in the house from which they leave, as if as a sign of the blessings they wish for those who will live in this house after them. The walls of the room in which I was waiting were decorated above the doors and windows with seventeen different images in Greek writing, on which were represented the most important saints of the Russians, whom they usually place in the first room. This, however, does not prevent these images from being in other inner chambers.

And here is how the consecration of the Izmailovo Palace itself took place: “The tsarina’s brother (Vasily Fedorovich Saltykov, Peter I’s kravchiy - A.V.) stood at the entrance to the second rest, along with many other gentlemen and several priests, who, also standing, held books and sang spiritual songs. The queen, surrounded by several boyars, was in the third chamber during the entire time of the service, which lasted a good half an hour. When the service was over, I was taken to one spacious chamber to wait there, where this empress soon entered, to whom I wished every well-being through an interpreter who was beside me. She took my hand and said: "I want to show you some rooms," with such charming kindness, which I never noticed in the person of her rank. Then she ordered one court maiden to pour me a small golden cup of vodka, which she served me herself, then doing me the honor of allowing me to kiss her hand, which the young princesses, who were also here, honored me with. After that, the queen released me, ordering me to come to her in three days; then I left. Since the feast of the Nativity of Christ was approaching, I took the liberty of presenting as a gift to the queen an image of the Nativity of Jesus Christ that I had made and a few rosaries that I had taken from Jerusalem, and I asked her to accept both instead of bread and salt. (I also brought the rosary to the young Grand Duchesses.) She seemed to be very pleased and thanked me, making me, in turn, an expensive gift for me - a ring, and ordered me to take the rosary for the young princesses to the princesses myself. I found these latter at a table in another room, where I gave them my gift and then returned again to the queen's chamber. One of the princesses came there after me and brought me a small glass of vodka, and then a large glass of wine, after which I left, thanking them the lowest.

In January, Cornelis de Bruyne was again invited to Izmailovo: “On the 20th, the tsar sent an order to the most important Russian gentlemen, ladies and many other persons, including three hundred people, to appear in Izmailovo at 9 o'clock in the morning. The same was prescribed for foreign ambassadors, most of the merchants and their spouses; in this way, up to five hundred people were to gather, each of whom was invited to bring the queen a gift with her congratulations. These gifts usually consisted of various elegant gizmos and rare items, gold and silver, magnificent medals and the like, depending on the desire of each. But before presenting gifts, they were written down in a book, with the name of each person who brought the gift, and then they were handed into the hands of one of the young princesses, who then allowed the bringer to kiss her hand. Most of the boyars and boyars, who presented their gifts at first, went home, while the rest were invited to dinner. After dinner there were dances and fun until midnight, after which they already dispersed.

What impression did Moscow make on the artist? The most beautiful. But this was not his first trip, before coming to Russia, he saw many beautiful cities: Rome, Venice, Jerusalem ... He was one of the first who managed to create a panorama of the ancient Russian capital, whose hospitality he remembered for the rest of his life : “The courtesies that were shown to me at this court during the whole time when I worked there portraits were extraordinary. Every morning I was invariably treated to various drinks and other refreshments, often also left to dine, and beef and fish were always served, despite the fact that it was during Great Lent - an attentiveness that amazed me. During the day I was served plenty of wine and beer. In a word, I do not think that there is another court in the world like this, in which a private person would be treated with such favor, for which I will keep deep gratitude for the rest of my life.

And the portraits of the nieces of Peter I, painted by the Dutchman, were sent by order of the tsar to foreign suitors with whom the sovereign-reformer so wanted to intermarry, which largely led to such a pernicious dominance of foreigners on the Russian throne. That is why the tsar hurried the artist in such a hurry.

The royal nieces, indulging in entertainment, lived in Izmailovo almost until the end of the first decade of the 18th century, then moving, along with the entire royal court, to the new, northern capital.

But the royal court did not forget the old patrimony of the Romanovs. So, in 1703, Peter I, in a letter to Streshnev, ordered “from the village of Izmailovo to send in the fall to Azov the roots of all kinds of potions, and especially the strawberry, and two gardeners, in order to propagate them there.” And in 1704, Peter ordered “to send to St. Petersburg, without wasting time, all sorts of flowers from Izmailovo, and more of those that smell,” writes Pylyaev.

Almost every year Praskovya Feodorovna came to Moscow with her daughters: “Rumors came from Moscow that the widowed wife of Tsar Ivan, Praskovia, with her three daughters (of which the eldest Anna was also already the widow of the Duke of Courland, and the middle one later married the Duke of Mecklenburg) received an order to leave her pleasure dacha, which she inherited as a widow's inheritance - Izmailovo, which lies 3 miles from Moscow, and come to St. Petersburg, ”wrote the German diplomat Weber in 1715.

Izmailovo was an indispensable place for visiting foreigners. Izmailovo is repeatedly mentioned in the diary of Friedrich Wilhelm Berchholtz, a chamber junker from the retinue of the Holstein Duke Karl-Friedrich. In January 1723, Berchholtz witnessed a theatrical performance in the royal palace:

“When we arrived at the house where the performance was scheduled, we were led into some kind of kennel, no more spacious and no better than a booth of marionettes in Germany; there were only a few foreign ladies and very few respectable gentlemen. The comedy was represented by young people who are studying in the hospital of surgery and anatomy under Dr. Bidloo and who, of course, have never seen a real comedy. They acted out in person the "History of Tsar Alexander and Tsar Darius", divided by them into 18 actions, of which 9 were given on the first day and 9 on the next. Each action was followed by a cheerful interlude. But all these sideshows were very bad and always ended in a brawl. The comedy, although serious in itself, was also played out as badly as possible; in a word, everything was bad. His Highness gave the young people 20 rubles, and the emperor, as they said, granted them 30 the other day.

And here is another performance, the spectator of which turned out to be a chamber junker:

“When the time came for the performance, Princess Praskovia came and announced why Her Majesty soon ordered the maids and two or three servants to carry themselves into the hall on her chair with wheels. The princess was also extraordinarily merciful to us, took us with her and took great care that we sat down well. In the hall of the performance we found a large company of local ladies and gentlemen; but of the foreigners, except for Bonde and me, there was none. At 5 o'clock the curtain was raised and the comedy began. The stage was not badly arranged, but the costumes of the actors were not distinguished by elegance. The Duchess of Mecklenburg herself was in charge of everything, although the performance consisted of nothing but trifles. At the end of it, she again went out into the hall to the guests; however, after talking a little with the ladies who were there, she soon went to her room and ordered Count Bond and me to follow her.

The mentioned Duchess of Mecklenburg is the niece of Peter Ekaterina Ioannovna, who married Duke Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1716. The union turned out to be more political than marriage. And, perhaps, for this reason, soon, in 1722, Ekaterina Ioannovna returned from her despot husband to her homeland. She brought her three-year-old daughter Elizabeth-Catherine Khristina with her. This little girl became the favorite of all Izmailov. She was destined to accept Orthodoxy in 1733 and receive a new name, becoming Anna Leopoldovna.

In the middle of the 1720s, according to Berkhholz, the Izmaylovsky "palace is a large dilapidated wooden house, where the queen settled for some time and lives like in a monastery."

But no matter how dilapidated the palace was, almost every week there was fun with feasts and dances, the hero of which was often Tsar Peter, who himself loved to drink and made sure that there was not a single teetotaler around him. It was in Izmailovo that the emperor came to “delight” his nieces with the most important news about his imminent marriage to the maid Marta Skavronskaya, whose origin is still a controversial issue. The royal relatives were so overwhelmed by this intention of Peter that they immediately began vying to tell everyone in a row about what "joy" awaits them. Among the initiates was the Danish diplomat Just Juhl:

“I went to Izmailovo - a courtyard 3 miles from Moscow, where the queen lives, the widow of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich, with her three daughters, princesses. I went to pay homage to them. On this occasion, the princesses told me the following. In the evening, shortly before his departure, the tsar called them, the tsarina and his sister Natalya Alekseevna to the same house in Preobrazhenskaya Sloboda. There he took his hand and placed before them his mistress Ekaterina Alekseevna. For the future, the tsar said, they should consider her his lawful wife and Russian tsarina. Since now, due to the urgent need to go to the army, he cannot marry her, he takes her away with him in order to do this on occasion in more free time. At the same time, the king made it clear that if he died before he had time to marry her, then after his death they would have to look at her as his lawful wife. After that, they all congratulated Ekaterina Alekseevna and kissed her hand. Without a doubt, history does not provide another example where a woman of such low origin as Catherine would have reached such greatness and become the wife of a great monarch. Many believe that the king would have married her long ago if the clergy had not rebelled against this while his first wife was still alive, for the clergy believed that she did not go to the monastery of her own free will, but at the compulsion of the king; but since she had recently died, there were no more obstacles to the fulfillment of his intention by the king.

The need for immediate departure to the army (which the diplomat writes about) together with the future Russian empress was caused by the so-called Prut campaign in Moldova in the summer of 1711. And Peter got married with the maid who fell in love with him after returning from the campaign - in February 1712.

Peter I contributed to the transformation of Izmailovo into a reserve, however, it was a reserve for everyone else, except for the king himself, his family and those with whom they hunted. The same hunters who arbitrarily dared to enter the Izmailovsky forests, the tsar ordered to give to the Preobrazhensky order.

The short reign of the grandson of the reformer tsar, Peter II, is reminiscent of an old engraving by Ivan Zubov of 1729, on which we see not only the entry of the young tsar to Izmailovo, but also the palace itself, the Pokrovsky Cathedral, the congress yard and the church of Joasaph. The unfortunate Peter II at that time became the object of a big game in which two political groups competed for influence on him, trying to use the inexperienced tsar in their own selfish interests. The Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Lyria, witnessed this: “At that time, the father of the favorite (Prince Alexei Dolgoruky - A.V.) taught the tsar to ride every day in the morning, as soon as he got dressed, in one of His Majesty’s Moscow suburbs, the village of Izmailovo, one mile from the city . The tsar was taught to go hunting under the pretext of removing him completely from Elizabeth, but in fact, in order, firstly, to remove him from all those who could tell him about returning to Petersburg, and secondly, so that he would not engaged in state affairs and in order to settle in him, as much as possible, the idea of ​​​​introducing old customs, and, finally, in order to force him to marry one of his daughters.

Thus, at the behest of political intriguers, Izmailovo again attracted the attention of those in power for a short time.

Anna Ioannovna, who ascended the throne in 1730, returned from Courland on such an occasion, remembered Izmailov, whom she loved so much in her childhood and youth. Having become the empress, she lived here for a long time, especially in 1730-1732, when the court again moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow. In 1731, the Empress ordered the construction of a new menagerie, which was superior in size and content to the previous one - to the delight of Anna Ioannovna, porcupines, Chinese cows, antelopes, wild donkeys, monkeys, as well as peacocks, pheasants and other living creatures were brought to Izmailovo. Was here, as eyewitnesses recall, even her own zebra. And meetings began to be held again in the Bridge Tower, only not of the Boyar Duma, but of the Senate.

Anna Ioannovna was so accustomed to Izmailov that she ordered to name a new guards regiment - Izmailovsky, in honor of her residence, which gained strength and significance no less than those already existing, established earlier by Peter I Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky. According to the Imperial Decree of the Empress of September 22, 1730, it was supposed to “select from the Land Militia, establish a regiment in three battalions and in one grenadier company, name Izmailovsky and contain, against l. - Mrs. The regiment, the third regiment of the guards, and the officers to be determined from the Livonians and Courlanders and other foreign nations and from the Russians, who, at the ranks and salaries determined against the guards, can maintain themselves to the cleanliness of the regiment without need and will apply their labor to training.

Again, Izmailovo was chosen as the location of the new guards regiment, where the military reviews of the new formation took place. Anna Ioannovna since 1736 was also a colonel of the Izmailovsky regiment, and her duke Biron (where without him!) - a lieutenant colonel.

Elizabeth (daughter of Peter I), who came to power in 1741, did not show such ardent feelings for Izmailov as her cousin Anna Ioannovna. It is understandable - if for Anna Ioannovna the reign began in Moscow, then the coup that elevated Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne happened in St. Petersburg. But in the historical literature there is also such an opinion: Elizabeth was born in Izmailovo. But this is only a version: if Peter's daughter knew that she was born here, perhaps her attitude towards Izmailov would be more reverent.

But still, Elizabeth came to the Izmailovsky forests not only to hunt. Here she met with her favorite Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, nicknamed the "night emperor", who lived in a luxurious wooden palace in Perovo (the architect of the palace was Rastrelli himself). For the convenience of communication between Izmailovo and Perov, a road was cut through the same reserved forest, which Peter I took care of the need to protect from unauthorized cutting down. Elizaveta Petrovna also drove into a wooden hunting castle, hidden in the Izmailovo bushes.

Under Catherine II, the impoverishment of Izmailov began, which was quite natural - after all, Sophia Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst had nothing to do with this area, and the future empress was not even born in Russia. Capital Petersburg was much closer to her than ancient Moscow, which she did not like.

Izmailovo village. Engraving by I. Zubov. 1720

The grandfather of the Russian fleet (Franz Timerman explains to young Pyotr Alekseevich the device of a boat found in one of the barns in the village of Izmailovo. May 1688). Hood. G.G. Myasoedov. 1871

Gradually, the ponds, in which fish once splashed in abundance, dried up, the gardens of Eden of Alexei Mikhailovich overgrown. Decay and desolation also came to the temples. By an amazing coincidence, it was precisely in the year of the beginning of the reign of this empress, through whose veins not a drop of Romanov blood flowed, that the church of Joasaph Prince of India was empty, services stopped here, and rain and melt water oozed through the leaking roof. The lack of close royal supervision led to the fact that in 1780, after a lightning strike that destroyed the iconostasis, no decision was made to repair the temple. And by that time the royal palace, which had become dilapidated by the decree of Catherine, was dismantled in 1765. The same fate befell the stone bridge. Decline - this is the word we characterize the next stage of Izmailov's life.

A dirty deed was also done by the Napoleonic soldiers, who desecrated the deserted Romanov estate in 1812 with their presence. The consequences of the occupation completely bled Izmailovo, the state of which in the following decades can be called desolation.

The chronicler of Moscow Ivan Kondratyev painted a dismal picture of this time: “The huge timber palace with towers was broken, the materials were sold, the arable land was distributed to the peasants with the imposition of quitrents on them, the cattle died out from the case, and all the outbuildings were left in desolation. But dog hunting was still maintained, and various animals were kept in the menagerie until 1812.

And again, the artist’s painting recreates the atmosphere of an old era for us, this time K.F. Baudry, who painted the gloomy landscape of Izmailovo in the 1830s. We see here the remnants of its former grandeur, peculiar small islands of the past, miraculously preserved - the Pokrovsky Cathedral with lopsided crosses and the lonely, overgrown Bridge Tower. Upon careful examination of this canvas, the thought does not leave that the artist likened the lonely tree standing in the distance to Izmailov, deserted and forgotten by the tsars. And all this against the backdrop of thickening, bluish clouds, which do not bode well.

By the end of the 1830s, there were only six houses on Izmailovsky Island, which belonged to former court stokers, floor polishers, workers and their families.

And again, a sharp turn in the life of Izmailov was caused by the arrival here of another monarch from the Romanov dynasty. In 1837, Nicholas I visited these places. That year was special: a quarter of a century since the end of the Patriotic War of 1812. The tsar chose the deserted Izmailovsky Island to host an almshouse for veterans of past battles. This choice seems extremely symbolic, as well as the creation by Alexei Mikhailovich of his residence on the local lands, which characterized the continuity of power. The appearance of an almshouse in Izmailovo for the charity of crippled soldiers was very appropriate - after all, here Peter the Great once found the same little boat "Saint Nicholas", which became, so to speak, the first sign of the Russian fleet. The memory of the glorious victories of Russian weapons was firmly connected with Izmailovo, so where else, if not here, to build an almshouse for soldiers?

This year marks 275 years since Nicholas I approved the almshouse project: Izmailovo, Moscow Province, the former Palace buildings, which, according to the project approved by the Highest on November 26, 1838, on the construction of a Military Almshouse in that Village, are intended for the premises of apartments and economic institutions of this Almshouse, to be transferred to the military department. I have the honor to humbly request and order the aforementioned island to be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Construction Committee of the 1st District of the Corps of Engineers of Military Settlements. Minister of War Count Chernyshev, ”I.M. wrote in 1892. Snegirev.

The emperor instructed the architect Konstantin Ton to create a project for the almshouse, who most accurately embodied in his works the ideological triad of Nicholas's reign - "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality." That is why the Intercession Church, which already existed on Izmailovsky Island, came in very handy, becoming, according to Ton's idea, the central part of the future almshouse. Although not everyone was satisfied with his project, reproached for being too loose with the ancient building of the temple. The fact is that Ton decided to dismantle its northern and southern porches in order to connect the temple with the newly designed buildings of the almshouse, stylized as the 17th century, the time of Alexei Mikhailovich. But such a project pleased the main customer - Nicholas I: old and sick veterans could go to church services without leaving the almshouse. And the Pokrovsky Cathedral, thus, became her home church.

View of Izmailov. Hood. K.F. Baudry. 1830

Izmailovo. 1950s

Before construction began, local residents were resettled from the island, who were paid an average of one hundred rubles for their houses. An auction was announced for the supply of "working people and materials needed for the construction of a Military Almshouse in the Village of Izmailovo." Moreover, serf workers were bought in the same way as bricks - en masse.

It took quite a long time to build the Izmailovo almshouse - over time, the number of veterans increased, and therefore the construction work did not stop. But the first stage of work was nevertheless completed by 1849. In addition, in addition to the construction of three new 3-storey buildings, the Intercession Cathedral itself, the temple of Joasaph, the Bridge Tower, the Front and Rear Gates of the Sovereign's Court, the chamber where Peter's little boat was kept were restored, and a new bridge was built.

Nikolai very carefully followed the construction of the almshouse, was interested in how the work was going. On April 12, 1849, he himself arrived in Izmailovo on the occasion of the consecration of the renovated Intercession Cathedral, accompanied by Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich and the architect Ton. The king examined everything very meticulously, as if he himself had to live here.

So, while inspecting the buildings of the almshouse, Nikolai noticed that the stairs from floor to floor were too inconvenient for future residents, middle-aged and unhealthy people, and therefore benches should be installed at the interstair passages, and wooden handrails along the stairs themselves. Again, taking care of the veterans, the sovereign ordered that eight washbasins with five taps in each be made on the floors (the plumbing had already been installed by that time). The most interesting thing is that these "Nikolaev" washbasins have survived to our time!

The king ordered to correct the shortcomings he discovered, ordering the old wall of the Sovereign's Court to be preserved, and not to be broken. He also ordered to plant a garden in front of the entrance to the almshouse, to build a road inside, and along it - to arrange vegetable gardens.

In accordance with the “Temporary Charter of the Izmailovo Military Almshouse” of 1850, it was announced that “The Izmailovo Military Almshouse is being established for the care of retired officers and lower ranks who, due to old age, illness or injury, cannot earn their living by labor”, that “The Military Almshouse is placed in a building that was erected for her near Moscow, in the village of Izmailovsky, etc.

The initial number of prisoners was also established - 10 officers and 100 lower ranks. There were such by its opening, however, by 1852 the number of lower ranks had doubled, and by 1870 - four times. Many of the inhabitants of the almshouse also worked here - janitors, stokers, gardeners, and so on.

There were also quite a few old retirees, including non-walking and blind participants in the Patriotic and Caucasian wars, the Knights of St. George. Each soldier who served the prescribed term - 25, and later 20 years - and wishing to enter the almshouse, could come with documents to the director, and after examining the doctor and requesting the Main Military Medical Directorate, he was accepted under "charity".

In Izmailovo, life began to boil again, and although foreign diplomats and royal nobles almost never looked here, the residents of the almshouse did not remain without state attention. This attention was directed to the uninterrupted supply of the almshouse and ensuring its needs. To maintain it, a lot of money was required - 27 thousand a year, and therefore it was necessary to attract private donations. In 1851, the Moscow merchant council announced a subscription in favor of the Izmailovo military almshouse. But the matter would hardly have moved forward if the then Governor-General Arseniy Andreevich Zakrevsky had not “asked” the merchants to “chip in”. As a result, they raised capital of 50,000 rubles! Everyone was glad - both the mayor and the sovereign, who instructed Zakrevsky “to express to the Moscow merchants. heartfelt gratitude and assure him of constant ... goodwill.

And no matter how dearly the "spiritual gratitude" cost the merchants - wittingly or unwittingly they donated tens of thousands of rubles from their own pockets - but it was a good deed! Archival sources testify that the Moscow merchants Dosuzhev and Radionov “delivered 60,000 silver rubles to Zakrevsky for various charitable purposes, of which Zakrevsky contributed to the Moscow Board of Trustees

20 thousand rubles for the Izmailovsky military almshouse”, and “foreign merchants trading in Moscow delivered 1200 silver rubles to Zakrevsky”; the merchant Mazurin gave 10,000 silver rubles for the initial furnishing of the establishment with furniture; his colleague Volkov "accepted at his own expense" the full provision of clothes, linen and footwear for 10 officers, 100 lower ranks, servants and an infirmary; the merchant Sorokin undertook to pay for the food of all 110 at that time, the almshouse from the opening day of the almshouse during the year, etc. As a result, in 1851, an additional 50 people were admitted to the almshouse.

Arseniy Andreevich Zakrevsky himself was already at the age when the old wounds received in the battles for the Fatherland made themselves felt. And therefore, the aspirations of the disabled and veterans were closer to the Moscow mayor than the wailing of merchants who earned a lot on the supply of food and uniforms for the next war. As well as his long-standing appointment to the Committee created in 1814 to help the maimed and wounded, Zakrevsky perceived the new business of arranging the Izmailovo military almshouse as a sacred duty.

How pleasant it was for him to inform the now new sovereign, Alexander II, that on the occasion of his coronation, by August 1856, Moscow merchants had collected 300,000 silver rubles for the almshouse. In his letter to Alexander II, Zakrevsky specifically noted that the money was collected with his "assistance." In addition, thanks to his efforts, 8,500 silver rubles were annually released from the Moscow City Duma for the table maintenance of the almshouse. And in March 1856, Arseny Andreevich informed the capital “about the desire of honorary citizens Vasily Rakhmanov and Kozma Soldatenkov to donate 80,000 silver rubles for the construction of a new stone building for 200 disabled people,” erected according to the project of architect M.D. Bykovsky in 1856-1859. As the historian T.P. Trifonov, during his visit to the almshouse on September 2, 1856, Alexander II expressed a desire to use this building for family invalids, which was fulfilled.

Congratulations brought by the Cossack army to Alexander II in the Assumption Cathedral. Hood. V.F. Timm

And in the last year of Zakrevsky's general government, 1859, Moscow merchants pleased him with the following decision: , agreed unanimously to donate capital for the construction of a separate stone one-story building for the disabled of His Excellency.

This corps, called the Family, was at first designed to accommodate 15 officers with families, for the maintenance of which Zakrevsky put 39,500 rubles at interest. It was built near the temple of Joasaph Tsarevich of India.

Contemporaries noted more than tolerable living conditions for veterans: “The premises for the disabled, comfortable and tidy, a hospital, a first-aid kit, a library, a dining room decorated with beautiful royal portraits, a marble bust of Nicholas I. The food is healthy, hearty and tasty. It seems that everything here has been invented to bring peace and convenience to the contemplated in life.

The Nikolaev almshouse (as it was named in memory of the founding king) existed in Izmailovo until 1917, when the reign of the Romanov dynasty in Russia ceased.

But in that tragic year, the history of Izmailov did not end, having survived the hard times, this ancient patrimony of the Romanovs (or rather, what was left of it) turned into an interesting museum-reserve that still holds many secrets and legends.

. Text: Mikhail Moiseev

***

“The Triumph of the Romanov Empire” is written in large letters on a pedestal placed right on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to Tatiana’s Church. Passers-by slow down, peer at old photographs on exhibition stands: “The natural increase in the population of Russia by the end of the 19th century was 50%. Russia was the most populated country in the world. D. I. Mendeleev predicted that if such growth rates continue, by 1950 the population of the country will be 600 million people ... "" ... More than 180 large industrial enterprises were founded. The share of finished products in Russia's exports was 52%. People who lived a century ago look at the hurried Muscovites and guests of the capital with calm eyes from the photographs. They seemed to live in the same country - Russia. Same?

“This is not the most important thing, this part of the exhibition,” Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky, rector of the Tatiana Church, is standing at the entrance waiting for the guests. - The most interesting thing is upstairs, on the second floor: the diaries of the sister of Tsar Nicholas II, Xenia Alexandrovna. Unpublished until now! Diaries and photos - made public for the first time! - Father Vladimir is revived. A professional journalist who is confronted with really interesting material “appears” in it.

The second floor is deserted. The organizers decided not to turn the opening of the exhibition into an "information guide". After some time, I begin to understand why this is so: the basis of the exhibition is made up of sheets from the diary of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, and presenting diary, sometimes very personal entries in the light of spotlights and camera flashes, somehow does not stick. The room on the second floor is quiet. And this is good: diaries are born in silence and, probably, in silence they should be read.

Meanwhile, light fuss is still planned: the head of the Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and his son, Grand Duke George, are planning to visit the exhibition. Father Vladimir is actually waiting for them on the porch of the temple.

A small group of people appears from around the corner, among whom the figure of Maria Vladimirovna is immediately recognizable. The green traffic light turns on - the head of the Imperial House "and other officials" cross the "zebra" through Bolshaya Nikitskaya. “The one who is in no hurry anywhere succeeds everywhere,” I recall when I look at a short, aged woman heading towards the temple.

Meeting at the entrance - “Christ is risen! “Truly Risen!”, an Easter egg as a gift, a blessing. A festive prayer service in a church where the morning service has long ended, and now it is half empty - and so pierced through with rays of light shining through the windows, through the small, freshly broken leaves of old lindens in the courtyard of the old university building. The many years at the end of the prayer service are unusual: “to the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna”, “to the heir-tsarevich Georgy Mikhailovich” ... In any case, this sounds much more natural and organic than “Mr. President”. I wonder when some kind of norm will be developed when proclaiming these new titles? Or will there come a time when they will no longer be perceived as new?

After the prayer, everyone goes to the hall where the exhibition is deployed. The opening is again kind of intimate, almost homely: a few words from Father Vladimir, then Sergey Rudov, a well-known philanthropist, a member of the organizing committee for the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, talks about the exhibition for a couple of minutes, and finally, Maria Vladimirovna says that the neighborhood of the temple and the university First of all, it is important for students that the exhibition returns visitors to the pages of the history of the state, which must be remembered and which can be proud of.

“Although, of course, it cannot be said that there were no mistakes then — they were,” the Grand Duchess says softly. “But our task is to, having learned the lessons of the past, go forward, work for the good of Russia.

Due to the absence of spotlights and the small number of the public, these words do not sound deliberately and pretentiously. The Grand Duchess was not preparing to speak, this is noticeable; and when you speak without preparation, willy-nilly you say what you think about most.

From the speech of S. Rudov, it becomes clear that the archive with the diary entries of Xenia Alexandrovna was bought by the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Basil the Great Foundation, Konstantin Malofeev. I ask the employees of the organizing committee of the exhibition: what is the fate of the diaries now. It turns out that almost everything that has been deciphered by this moment is presented on the stands - only 58 sheets. Given the volume of the archive - 1000 sheets, you understand that this, of course, is not much, but, on the other hand, my attempt to read at least one page from Xenia Alexandrovna's diary to the end suffers a crushing failure: the handwriting of the Grand Duchess was not legible.

The task is made easier for the visitors of the exhibition: each of the presented pages of the diary is provided with a deciphered text, and a separate booklet contains brief biographical notes of those persons mentioned by Ksenia Alexandrovna in her diary entries.

From familiarization with the name index, one breathes the same intimacy, "diary": for example, the second husband of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna N.A. Kulikovsky (1880-1958), Colonel of the Life Guards, in family correspondence was called none other than Kukushkin. Kulikovsky - Kukushkin. Princess Olga Petrovna Dolgorukaya (1848-1927) - Lala. The sons of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (senior), the grandsons of Nicholas I, Peter Nikolaevich and Nikolai Nikolaevich (junior) - Petyusha and Nikolash, respectively. Well, and already known: Nicky is Tsar Nicholas II.

Dating is from 1917 to 1919. "Dashing" time, the most tragic period for the dynasty. Even fragmentary records convey the drama of the fate of people who found themselves in the maelstrom of events of that time.

“Wonderful day, 11 degrees in the shade. Kyiv is taken; there are no details, but the news was received last night by the telegraph station.

“In the morning a commission arrived from Sevastopol and we were all rewritten!”

“From the Sevastopol newspapers we learned that the peace was signed, but the conditions are unknown. You don’t know what to believe, so many times everything changed at the last moment. As far as one can understand, the Germans are already near Luga, and everyone thinks that they will move on Petersburg. The electricity is on again, but only until half past ten.”

It is not for nothing that the epigraph of the exhibition contains lines from a letter from Xenia Alexandrovna to Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich dated October 20, 1917: “It is a nightmare to be present at the death of the motherland and not have the slightest opportunity to help in any way!”

It remains only to wait for the end of the work on deciphering the entire archive - the value of this historical evidence can hardly be overestimated.

More than 90 years ago, the last Romanovs left Russia. Among the passengers who boarded on April 11, 1919, the English cruiser Marlboro, sailing from the Crimean port of Dulber, were Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna and her daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (1875-1960) is the eldest daughter of Empress Maria Feodorovna and Emperor Alexander III.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna aboard the cruiser Marlboro, 1917

At the age of 19, Ksenia married for love Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (1866-1933), one of her second cousins, an admiral of the Russian fleet. She had seven children from marriage: Irina (1895-1970), Andrei (1897-1981), Fedor (1898-1968), Nikita (1900-1984), Dmitry (1901-1980), Rostislav (1902-1977), Vasily (1907-1989). In 1895, the Kseninsky Institute for Noble Maidens was opened in St. Petersburg. It was located in the Nicholas Palace and existed until 1918.

The First World War found members of the royal family - Empress Maria Feodorovna and her daughter Xenia Alexandrovna abroad. At the end of July 1914, through Denmark, Sweden, Finland, they returned to Russia in St. Petersburg.

In 1914, the only daughter of Xenia Alexandrovna, Irina, married Prince Felix Yusupov, the legendary murderer of Grigory Rasputin.

In 1915, Ksenia Alexandrovna moved to Kyiv with her family. Here were her mother Empress Maria Feodorovna and her younger sister Olga Alexandrovna. There she was actively involved in hospital work through the Red Cross.

The husband of Xenia Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, was appointed commander-in-chief of military aviation.

At the end of March 1917, Ksenia Alexandrovna with her family, mother and sister Olga moved to the Crimea. Here the members of the royal family stay for two and a half years until April 1919, first in Ai-Todor, and then in Dyulber and Kharaks. This stay became for them practically house arrest, full of constant deprivation and humiliation. Together with Ksenia Alexandrovna and her family, the Imperial Marshal Prince Georgy Dmitrievich Shervashidze, Countess Zinaida Georgievna Mengden, maid of honor Sofya Dmitrievna Evreinova and General Vogel, as well as the Cossacks of the Empress T. K. Yashchik and K. Polyakov lived in the Ai-Todor estate.

Ksenia Alexandrovna and her sister during these years maintained correspondence with the family of Nicholas II, who was under arrest in Tsarskoye Selo, and then in Tobolsk. In the Crimea, members of the royal family were under the supervision of Commissar V. M. Vershinin and overseer Zhorgeliani, and later - the head of the "guard" F. L. Zadorozhny. In the spring of 1918, during an attack on Dulber by an armed detachment, consisting of supporters of the Yalta Soviet and demanding reprisals against prisoners, Zadorozhny and his people turned into defenders of the royal family and saved them from reprisal.

The arrival of German troops in the Crimea led to the liberation of the Romanovs from the Bolshevik threat.

In the spring of 1919, when units of the Red Army began to approach the Crimea, help came from the allies. On April 11, the battleship Marlboro, sent by the British, appeared off the Crimean coast.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, together with her family and friends, went to Malta, and then to England and Denmark, where she stayed until the death of Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1928.

After the death of Maria Feodorovna, Ksenia Alexandrovna lived in England. She died in 1960 and was buried in the south of France in Roquebrune, in the same place where her husband Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich was also buried.