Abandoned villages in Ryazan with irrigated lands. Lost village in the Ryazan region
In a thick woolen kerchief and a warm vest with an unchanging stick - at the age of 87, her legs became very weak - Katerina Glebovna Stegunova sits for hours on the leaning porch and listens to see if anyone is driving.
There are not many guests in Khripenki - a caravan on Sundays, and children and grandchildren from the city on short visits. When the mosquitoes are completely overpowered, grandmother Katya will hide in the room and will remember how she was before home village large, 120 houses in lace trim.
And then gradually everything began to disappear. Her neighbor from the hut opposite is also Katerina, only Arkhipovna, three years younger than her namesake. She is shy of the camera, but she recalls how she worked as a milkmaid for 40 years at the local collective farm "Verny Put", how prosperous the village was and what remained of it: there are only four residents in Khripenki: they are two women Katya, and grandfather Grigory with his son.
During his almost century-old life, Grigory Konstantinovich has not seen so much - he gave four and a half years to the war, which he ended on the Soviet-Japanese border. Then he worked - sowing, plowing, taking care, as he says, of collective farm calves and sheep. And now all I have to do is to stock up on firewood and fix the well.
Last year, under the state program to support veterans, a mine was dug near the house, but the water is not the same - the son carries it from neighboring Mikhaly. But if in this village life is still glimmering, then neighboring Goritsy turned into a ghost village. There was one house, and even that one burned down in the 2010 fires.
The village is very old, it was mentioned in written sources as early as 1629. Even in the memory of the inhabitants of Khripenok, there was a church in Goritsy and a large parish of its own. By historical standards, the village was alive quite recently.
Collective farms were dying, schools were closed, people were leaving for cities. According to the 2010 census, in the last eight years alone, the number of dead villages in the Ryazan region increased by 84%. Now there are 361 settlements in the region where there is not a single inhabitant, and another 1100 are on the verge of extinction. These include Khripenki.
Katya's grandmothers and grandfather Grigory will not leave their homes, which they built themselves, and cut out patterned platbands with their own hands, of course. Only new residents are unlikely to come here. And in the future, these old Ryazan villages, salt and flavor of the Russian hinterland will remain only historical names on maps, alluring treasure hunters.
I would like to tell you about the land of Ryazan, Meshchersky region, which are rich in their beauty and antiquity.
From Moscow to Ryazan along different roads and different estimates from 170 to 198 km.
Lived in the Lovech hotel (as it is written in the Pet Fute guide - the main hotel in the city)! :-))) It has become even more modern (I already stayed there three years ago): Wi-Fi (wireless Internet) was added to the key in the form of a magnetic plastic card throughout the hotel (though with biting prices - 200 rubles per hour! ). But on the 7th floor there is an Internet cafe (50 rubles for 5 MB: about 40-60 minutes).
In the lobby above the elevators there are three clocks showing the time in Moscow, London and New York!
The cheapest single room (economy class) costs 1,300 rubles. The breakfast (buffet) included in the room rate is surprisingly generous (from cereals, sprats, pickled tomatoes smaller than an olive to canned pineapples and peaches)!
But the roads in Ryazan, as they were terrible, have remained - on the central streets of the city there are such potholes and potholes that you feel sorry for the car and after ten minutes of driving you want to get out and move on foot. And what is characteristic, this phenomenon is historical, one might say - traditional; back at the end of the nineteenth century, local journalists wrote about Ilyinskaya Square (now Cathedral Square) that it was intended “for breaking the philistine legs ... it has not been repaired or swept since the time of the Tatar invasion ...”! :-)))
Ryazan Oblast ranks third in the country in terms of road quality!
Ryazan Region includes 25 districts, 4 cities of regional subordination: Ryazan, Kasimov, Sasovo, Skopin and 8 cities of district subordination: Korablino, Mikhailov, Novomichurinsk, Rybnoe, Ryazhsk, Spas-Klepiki, Spassk-Ryazansky and Shatsk.
As of February 1, 2008, the population of the region amounted to 1 million 163.6 thousand people. And it is constantly decreasing, since the number of deaths is 2.2 times higher than the number of births.
The area of the Ryazan region is 39.6 thousand square meters. km, which is slightly less than Switzerland, but a third more than Belgium (and 6.5 times less than the Anadyr region of Chukotka)!
Now Ryazan is home to 510.8 thousand inhabitants.
There are several hypotheses about the origin of the word Ryazan: 1. From the name of the Mordovian tribe Erzya. 2. From the word "rezan" - this was the name of the pieces into which the Arab dirhams, which were in use in trade with Arab merchants, were divided. 3. From the word "cut", because the Vyatichi who lived here were cut off from other principalities on the one hand by hordes of nomads, on the other - by forests.
By far the most significant place in the city is the Kremlin. The entrance to its territory is free. The Kremlin is divided into two parts: the larger one belongs to the Ryazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve, the smaller one belongs to the active Spassky Monastery (surrounded by powerful walls with towers). Unfortunately, the administration of the museum and the diocese still cannot reach agreement on the issue of dividing the monuments. :-(
The Nativity of Christ Cathedral is the oldest stone structure in the Kremlin and dates back to the 15th century. Initially it was called the Assumption, then the Old Assumption, and finally in the 18th century it received its current name. Rebuilt many times. The cathedral contains the relics of a huge number of saints and even Ilya of Murom! I attended the service on Easter night.
The Archangel Cathedral was also built in the 15th century. It was the prince's house church and the burial vault of bishops. It burned several times and recovered again. Now in the cathedral there is an exposition dedicated to ancient Russian art.
The Assumption Cathedral is very beautiful and is considered the most significant piece of architecture of the "Naryshkin (Moscow) Baroque". It is a federal cultural heritage site. For its construction was used famous project Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin (which, in turn, was based on the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir!). Built by the famous Russian architect Yakov Bukhvostov. It took 6 years to build - from 1693 to 1699. Although it should be noted that the very first construction began in 1648. Then in 1687 the builders changed. And in 1692 the almost completed cathedral collapsed.
The cathedral has a unique 25-meter iconostasis of 7 rows of icons, a total of 155! Unfortunately, the cathedral is open only in summer and I was not able to see the iconostasis. :-(
The Church of the Holy Spirit was built in 1642 - the only building that has survived from the Dukhovsky monastery, founded in the 15th century.
The Transfiguration Cathedral was built in 1702. It houses the state archive of the Ryazan region.
There is also a very elegant five-domed Epiphany Church, built in the middle of the 17th century. It contains the archive of the registry office.
The Kurgan bell tower is the latest building in the Kremlin: it was erected from 1789 to 1840. Architects changed like gloves - Vorotilov S.A., Ruska L.I., Bindeman, Visconti and Ton proposed their projects; the final draft was presented by the Ryazan governor himself, Voronikhin N.I., funding was periodically suspended. The height of the bell tower is 83.2 meters, the length of the spire is 25 meters. On the third tier there is an observation deck with a beautiful view of the Kremlin and Ryazan.
The Bishop's Palace, also known as Oleg's palace (once a wooden palace in which Prince Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky lived, was located on this place), was built in the 17th century. This is the largest building in the Kremlin. Now there is a historical exposition of the museum-reserve, which contains the chain mail of Prince Oleg and the staff of Peresvet (I will talk about it below).
The singing building was built in 1658. It got its name from the rehearsals that the singers performed here.
Also in the Kremlin there is a hotel of the nobility (a theological seminary is located here), a mob hotel (exhibition halls and the museum's depository), a house for a parable, stables, a carriage shed, a consistory building, a shed, a smithy, a barrel house.
From Petrov Street, next to the Kremlin, a beautiful view of the Kremlin, the Trubezh River and its surroundings opens up. There is also a very beautiful (almost completely restored) Spaso-Yarskaya Church. Nearby, perhaps, the most beloved by the townspeople monument to Sergei Yesenin - a must-visit place for all newlyweds. This fall (October 2) the monument will be 33 years old. Yesenin is depicted as if buried to the waist, with a mournful look and spread arms (people like to climb and sit on the right one).
I never tire of being amazed at how strong the Russian people are at inventions! In almost any city, monuments are overgrown with everyday stories and funny remarks are put into the mouths of the heroes depicted! In Ryazan, they came up with the following. A monument to Academician Pavlov was erected on Lenin Street, in whose mouth they put the phrase: "Well, Seryozha, little by little?" - the poses of both monuments are very consistent with this dialogue (in Pavlov's case, she was energetically bent at the elbow right hand, Yesenin's hands are spread apart)! :-))))))))))))
I went to the regional art museum. Pozhalostina I.P. (Svoboda st., 57) - was formed in March 1913. Has a very rich collection of paintings, which contains paintings by almost all famous Russian artists (Repin, Shishkin, Savrasov, Levitan, Surikov, Aivazovsky, the Makovsky brothers, Serov, Kramskoy, Tropinin, Korovin, Malyavin, Kustodiev, Saryan, Venetsianov, Perov and others ). There is even a painting by Jan Simon Peinas (c. 1583-1631) "Prophet Elisha and the commander Naaman", who is considered the teacher of Rembrandt!
A separate exposition of the museum is dedicated to icons (16th-19th centuries). One of the most ancient is the carved icon "Archangel Michael" (early 16th century) from the Church of the Intercession in the village of Putyatin, Sapozhkovsky district Ryazan province... The extremely laconic, stern figure of the Archangel in armor, with a sword, spread wings and a red cloak, devoid of signs of naturalism, is inscribed in a complex ark in profile. Until now, the relief depicting the Archangel Michael occupies a very special place in the art of the Ryazan region, and not only. As far as is known, researchers have not yet identified a single carved icon on this topic.
There are also many sculptures; pieces of furniture and porcelain items of amazing beauty are exhibited (the Meissen one is especially striking).
Funny moment: when I arrived (alone, unaccompanied), there was only a lady with a teenager in the museum, who soon left. I wandered through the halls for about two hours, and during this time there were no more visitors (but there is a caretaker in every hall!). So, after an hour and a half, the director appeared, who at first simply watched me, talking with the caretakers, and then could not resist, came up to me and with an apology characteristic of certainly cultured person, asked where I came from. I said that it was from Moscow. He said that he drew attention to me because of my too attentive examination of the paintings. I immediately explained that I was not some kind of specialist or expert, but just looking for myself, which is called "for the soul." He said that he was very pleased and invited me to visit them again. It became so nice ... :-))))
I visited the museum-estate of academician I.P. Pavlov. (Pavlova st., 25-27). A very interesting museum of an outstanding scientist Nobel laureate - I recommend it to everyone! In addition to the house in which the Pavlov family lived, there is another one, the exposition in which tells about scientific activities Pavlova, called the House of Science.
V last years Ryazan was enriched with two sculptural monuments of horse riders - to Prince Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky on Cathedral Square and Evpatiy Kolovrat at the intersection of Lenin and Svoboda streets.
On Seminarskaya Street, I liked the building (house number 15), which will soon be 100 years old. Previously, the Romanov School was located here, and now - the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the Ryazan Pedagogical University.
On the opposite side of the street (Seminarskaya st., 22/6) there is a history museum airborne troops- it is considered one of the most interesting museums in the city. To my great regret, I did not get into it, as it was closed for repairs. :-(
I really liked the building of the former Ryazan Theological School (Sobornaya St., 7), built in the middle of the 19th century. Now the lyceum is located here. Not only is it beautiful, it is also literally saturated with history: the already mentioned first Russian laureate studied here Nobel Prize Pavlov I.P., and much later - the famous Soviet poet Konstantin Simonov; taught by another nobel laureate- Alexander Solzhenitsyn; N.K. Krupskaya spoke.
There are many beautiful wooden houses in the city.
There is a regional drama theater in Ryazan, which has been counting its history since 1787! The building, located on Teatralnaya Square, is very impressive and monumental, it is somehow hard to believe that it was built only in 1961. I went to the play "The Fool" based on the play by Lope de Vega - I liked it. Compared to Moscow prices for theater tickets, they are given away here for free - a ticket in the first row of the stalls costs 350 rubles!
I was very amused by one information road sign, which, in principle, informs that roads lead to dead ends to the right and left, but for some reason dead ends are marked different colors- one, as it should be, is red, but the other is yellow! :-))) The version that burned out in the sun does not stand up to criticism, tk. in that case, both should have burned out. I showed a photo of this sign to the former head of the traffic police of the Ryazan region - he did not tell me anything that shed light on this riddle! :-)))))
I visited a small town in Russia - Kasimov. Population 33.9 thousand people. Distance from Ryazan is about 170 km (from Moscow about 280 km).
This city has a very interesting and rich history, which is only five years younger than Moscow (1152, by the way, like Kostroma)! He also owes his birth to the Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky. It was called then Gorodets Meshchersky. In the fourteenth century, together with the Meshchera lands, it became part of the Moscow possessions. In 1376 the Tatar-Mongols completely destroyed the city. The place chosen for the restoration of Gorodets was located slightly upstream of the Oka. It was then that he got another name - New Lower City (lower in relation to Moscow). This is where the current Kasimov stands. And he received this name in the 15th century in honor of the Tatar prince Kasim, who received it in 1452 from the Moscow prince Vasily II the Dark for providing military assistance in many battles, in particular against the khans of the Golden Horde. The area adjacent to 200 miles around became the Kasimov Khanate, which was also called the Kasimov Kingdom.
It was very peculiar. First, unlike other Tatar khanates that formed during the collapse of the Golden Horde, it was created by Moscow on its territory and was intended to protect the eastern borders of Russia. Secondly, a dynasty of rulers did not develop here: they were all appointed and replaced at the choice of the Moscow sovereigns, based on political considerations.
At the same time, there was a Russian town in Kasimov, ruled by a voivode - there was a moving hut, a pushkarsky yard, a mail house. And since 1567, when Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible gave the residents of the Kasimovskaya Yamskaya Sloboda a letter of gratitude, granting them self-government, the third, administrative part of the city, directly subordinate to Moscow, took shape.
The khanate was liquidated in 1681. For 229 years of its existence, 14 rulers from different Tatar dynasties have been on the throne.
One of the most famous is Sain-Bulat, the great-grandson of the Khan of the Golden Horde Akhmat, who participated in almost all military campaigns of Ivan the Terrible. In 1573 he converted to Christianity and was named Simeon Bekbulatovich. After baptism, he was deprived of the Kasimov kingdom, but Ivan the Terrible left him the royal title, and in 1575 Ivan the Terrible proclaimed him "Tsar and Grand Duke of All Russia", as well as "Grand Duke of Tver". Himself Ivan the Terrible began to call "Ivants prince of Moscow" and "slave Ivashka." Tsar Simeon, in a panic fear of his unpredictable "subject", did not dare to step without his sanction. All this, of course, was nothing more than a political masquerade, and a year later Ivan the Terrible simply dismissed Simeon Bekbulatovich from the great reign and granted him an inheritance in Tver and named him the Grand Duke of Tver.
In the center of the city, on Sovetskaya Square, the Ascension Cathedral rises, striking in its beauty. It was built in 1854-1862 according to the project of N.I. Voronikhin. (the one who built the Kurgan bell tower in the Ryazan Kremlin).
I visited the local history museum (the main exposition is in the building at Sobornaya Square, 7/8) and climbed the minaret of the old Tatar mosque (Victory Square, 8; there is a branch - ethnography of the Kasimov Tatars). This mosque was built in 1467 (!) During the time of the first Khan Kasim. Only the minaret and the base of the mosque have survived from that building. The mosque itself was badly dilapidated by the 18th century and was dismantled. In 1768, responding to the petition, Catherine II ordered by decree “to build a mosque for the Tatars to pray in that city…” and a new one-story one was built on the old foundation.
A high round tower-minaret, laid out of roughly hewn stones, has an open area at the top, from where a beautiful panorama of Kasimov opens. It is opened for visitors only in the warm season (after May 9) after drying.
In Kasimov, two tombs (tekie), also called mausoleums, are preserved, remarkable for their antiquity.
The tomb of Shah Ali Khan dates back to 1555 and is located in the immediate vicinity of the mosque. Shah-Ali was also Ivan the Terrible's assistant and took part in the campaign against Kazan. In 1552 he married Suimbek (Suyum-Bike), the widow of the Kazan khan Safy-Girey. According to legends, Suimbek was an intelligent and unusually beautiful woman (and they say that this does not happen!). :-)))))) In Kazan, she enjoyed love and fame. Shah Ali, on the other hand, was fat and ugly in appearance, but possessed strength of character and nobility of soul. This marriage was concluded for political reasons and Ivan the Terrible was interested in it. Maybe this circumstance influenced the fact that the spouses did not love each other. There is a legend that Suimbek tried to poison Shah Ali by giving him a shirt of her work and bread. But he, warned in advance of the evil intentions of his wife, ordered the criminal to put on a shirt and throw the bread to the dog - before his eyes, the criminal died, and the dog died. Shah-Ali remained alive, and Suimbeka had to languish in the palace of the Kasimov king. Shah Ali died in 1567 and was buried in the tomb, which he had built for himself in advance. In addition to Shah-Ali, his beloved wife Bulak-Shad and close relatives are buried there. One plate is unnamed; according to legend, the khan, having buried Suimbek, did not order her name to be written on the tombstone so that it would be erased from the memory of descendants.
The second tomb of Avgan-Muhammad-Sultan, the son of the Khiva Khan, was built in 1648 at the Staroposadskoye cemetery on the eastern outskirts of Kasimov.
Visited the museum of samovars. It recently opened (September 16, 2007) and is not mentioned in the guidebook. And the museum is wonderful. This private collection is the second largest in the country (and probably in the world). The exposition of the museum has 548 (!) Samovars, and the entire collection totals a little more than a thousand! For a long time in our country there was only one museum of samovars in Tula. And now there were two of them; and the Kasimov collection is richer than the Tula one. By the way, there is another samovar museum in the world: it is very difficult to guess where. In Iran!
The owner of the Kasimov collection, Mikhail Petrovich, has one more - bells, and plans to open another museum! It should be noted that the Kasimov bells were famous in Russia (now they would say they were a brand!) Along with the Valdai bells.
Kasimov is home to the largest underground storage facility for liquefied gas in Europe, owned by Gazprom - gas is pumped into natural voids, where it is stored as a reserve.
Visited Mikhailov. Population - 19.1 thousand people. This is one of the oldest Ryazan cities - according to legend, founded in 1137 by Prince Rurik Rostislavovich and named after his son Mikhail. It was first mentioned in the annals in 1172. The secondary foundation dates back to 1551 - in the Nikon Chronicle there is such an entry: "In the same year - 1551 August, Mikhailov's city was set up on the Prona River, and the governors were appointed by Prince Alexander Ivanovich Vorotynsky, and Mikhail Petrov's son Golovin."
Now the city is known for its cement plant, the products of which were used in the construction of the Kashirskaya hydroelectric power station, the Moscow metro and the first nuclear power plants.
Near the village of Krasnoe there is a manor of the same name, which belonged to the favorite of Catherine II, Alexander Petrovich Ermolov (1754-1836). To the famous commander Ermolov A.P. he was a great uncle. It is interesting because the architect was Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov, perhaps the greatest Russian architect. His creation, filled to the brim with romanticism, is immediately recognizable (especially after visiting the Tsaritsyno complex in Moscow)!
Now the Krasnoye estate is a courtyard of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, surrounded by a fence, and a coded lock is installed at the entrance gates, so it will not be possible to get there without an agreement with the management.
Many thanks to Father Vladimir, who was very helpful and led the tour. A wonderful person; smart, charming, modest and kind ... Not only is he responsible for the entire church economy, he is also the director of the boarding school in Mikhailov, where he has about 90 children, for two dozen of whom he is an official guardian, that is ... in fact, not only a spiritual father, but also a secular father. This despite the fact that he has two of his children, 3 and 4.5 years old.
The main attraction of the estate is, of course, the farmyard. What a fantasy game! An absolutely round toy fortress in a pseudo-Gothic style does not at all look like a "barnyard". When you look at it, you can't even believe that this is not Tsaritsyno, but the distant Ryazan outskirts: so magnificent it is. In 2005, its restoration began (almost finished, but some work remains to be done. Now it is a monastery skete where the monk Father Hermogenes lives. in the refectory (they drank tea with sweets).
There is also a very beautiful wooden rest house in the courtyard, in which the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, Father Tikhon, stops during his visits.
But the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God of a rich red color with green domes can be seen without difficulty (outside, of course, but inside - only when the service is in progress). According to legend, the temple was founded in 1785-1786 by Catherine II herself, who gave money for its construction (on her pediment the inscription “From the generosity of the Great Catherine” was previously adorned - I saw this in old photographs in albums in the monastery library). The inscription has not yet been restored. But the church was consecrated only in 1810. Presumably, the project was developed by Bazhenov, but the construction was carried out by another architect who made his own changes. Since Bazhenov died in 1799, he could not supervise the construction. In the entire appearance of the temple, only bell spans with built-in columns remind of Bazhenov. So, it is possible that his project was used as a basis, but it was overhauled. The church is not only quite strict, but also two bells, which is rare. Notre Dame Cathedral is immediately remembered! :-))
Father Vladimir opened the church and even allowed him to climb the bell tower. Inside there is a rather unusual iconostasis with an antique Greek style and marble columns - beautiful!
On the road from Spas-Klepikov to Kasimov, there is the village of Gus-Zhelezny, and in it stands the Trinity Church, amazing in beauty and originality, built of white stone, built in the first half of the 19th century. The temple combines features of Baroque, Classicism and Gothic. The latter is especially striking, which is why many people assume that this is the Catholic Church. There is an assumption that the author of this miracle was the same Vasily Bazhenov.
Pogost (Gusevsky or Gussky) is located 6 km from Gus-Zhelezny. Back in the 17th century, there were two wooden churches here. Now the Nikolskaya and Transfiguration churches, as well as the bell tower, which I definitely recommend to see, have survived - it is so charming and original. I honestly admit that I have not seen such beauty for a long time, and even in such an abandoned village. The bell tower is made in the Baroque style; on the first tier, there are eight figures of saints on the walls, and eight more are located on the border of tiers 2 and 3.
Klepikovsky district is the largest in terms of area in the region. There are 52 lakes on its territory; the largest lake in the region is Velikoe. Another White Lake has a maximum depth of 80 meters! In general, there are about 750 lakes and 875 rivers and streams on the territory of the region.
The central estate is also located here. national park"Meshchersky". The park is located in the Klepikovsky and Ryazan regions. Meschera is one of the most visited recreation areas in the central zone of Russia - and not for nothing, because the wealth of local forests, lakes and rivers with animals, fish, mushrooms and berries evokes quite certain desires among hunters, fishermen and gatherers of the gifts of nature! :-))
The hunting economy here is not inferior to Zavidov's in the Moscow region (where Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev and other high-ranking officials of the state hunted); this is understandable, since it is headed by a person who went through the school of the Zavidovo hunting farm.
The town of Spas-Klepiki has only 12.9 thousand inhabitants. It received the status of a city in 1920, but the village of Klepiki has existed since the 16th century. The name comes from the Old Russian word klepik, which meant a knife (in another version - a wedge, crutch).
The wonderful writer Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky has the following lines: “... Nothing - neither the purple fire of the Aegean Sea, nor the pinking marble and scarlet oleanders of Hellas, nor the fabulous blue air of Sicily, nor the golden dull haze over the immortal Paris, - nothing can muffle our memory of his country, but, on the contrary, brings it to an almost painful acuteness. I experienced it myself, when, in the foggy pre-autumn gardens of Versailles, with their foliage blackened like old gilding, with their geometric splendor, I - I do not know why at all - remembered the tiny town of Spas-Klepiki, and my heart ached ... I am not afraid to admit that the poetry of a sleepy summer day in such a town was closer to my heart than the majestic desolation of Versailles gardens ... ".
There is still a second-class teacher's school in the city, where Sergei Yesenin studied from 1909 to 1912.
Not far from Spas-Klepikov there is a museum of wooden architecture at a children's school, which teaches artistic woodworking. Alas, I didn’t have a chance to go there (I just drove by), but an acquaintance who had been there said that the work of the children was not childishly impressive! :-)))
I visited the urban-type settlement Shilovo, located 100 km from Ryazan. The year of formation is considered to be 1388. The population is 16.2 thousand inhabitants, but they do not want to receive the status of the city, so as not to lose benefits for rural settlements! :-)))
The village is clean enough, there are many flower beds, and it is not for nothing that in the competition for the cleanest settlement of the Ryazan region, it repeatedly became the winner (in 2003-2005 it took 1st place)!
As local resident T. Gracheva wrote:
My village is called Shilov.
Not rich, not famous, not great,
But, as we have been doing for a long time,
Small, but the spool is expensive.
In Shilovo there is a very beautiful Dormition Church of the 19th century.
Even in the village on Sovetskaya Square, there is a monument to the legendary Russian hero Evpatiy Kolovrat, a native of these lands.
On Evpatiya Kolovrat Street, there is an original arch with a sculptural composition suspended inside it.
There is even an internet club in the village!
As always, Sberbank is different from all others, located in a pretty brick building with a tower.
Visited the local history museum. The guide said that in this area in the first millennium AD. the state of Artania was located, interesting in that ... practically nothing is known about it. Everyone who got into it did not return alive. :-) Its existence is known from fragmentary information left by Arab travelers. The director of the museum has a very colorful appearance - a smooth skull, a large beard and glasses. It can be seen that a person is in love with his work; Together with another equally obsessed employee (and also with a big beard!), he invited to see the exhibits in the open air, among which the wave-breaker stone stands out, which is about 350 million years old. The impression that a small wave (or rather just a ripple on the water) has turned to stone! He told funny stories about this stone and the priest, who got it somewhere.
Believe it or not, the village even has its own anthem, the author of poetry and music to which is V. Novoselova. It contains the following lines:
And in Shilovo the people laugh more heartily,
Higher and clearer the firmament above us.
Let the march about Shilov touch people's hearts
And it carries faith in the best for all people.
It's so nice that provincial towns and villages are being revived and people have not yet died out in them, who are making every effort to revive the primordial Russian traditions and not allow everything that has been created by our ancestors for centuries to sink into eternity.
In the village of Sreznevo, not far from Shilov, Ismail Ivanovich Sreznevsky is buried - a scientist, philologist, the first doctor of Slavic-Russian philology in Russia, rector of St. Petersburg University, where N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.A. Dobrolyubov, D.I. Pisarev studied.
On the territory of the Shilovsky district, the largest number of discovered ancient sites of people. The region is the geographical center of the Ryazan region, as evidenced by a memorial sign with a tablet on a stone, installed near Shilovo.
In the village of Frolovo (along the road to Ryazan, near the border with the Spassky District), a beautiful black marble stele, again to Evpatiy Kolovrat, was installed. And next to her is a chapel. And in this village, a very funny post was installed with signs of directions and distances to different cities of the world, plus to the Moon and the Sun !!!
I went to the town of Skopin, the date of its formation is 1597. Although there is an assumption that it is much older, since in the "List of Russian cities far and near", dated 1387-1392, the town of Lomikhvost is mentioned. Namely, they called the osprey (by the way, it is listed in the Red Book Russian Federation!) for the fact that when attacking a fish above the water, it sharply slows down and its tail, as it were, breaks. And archaeological research shows that a settlement near Skopin existed already in the 12th century.
The population of Skopin is 31.3 thousand people. Distance from Ryazan is about 100 km.
The city is famous for its pottery, which dates back to 1640. I asked what caused such an exact date. They explained that a local scientist, historian and ethnographer "unearthed" the chronicles in which the first mention of the potter "Demko Kireev's son Bernikov" refers to this very year.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were 14 churches in Skopin - it was even called "Ryazan Suzdal"; now only three are functioning, and even those who have an appearance cannot be called otherwise than deplorable. There were also 27 factories, more precisely, factories, for the number of workers at most of them, as a rule, was about fifty people. Among them was even a bell, which cast small bells for churches and bells for horse harness.
There is an artistic ceramics factory in the city, which I was lucky enough to visit! The factory has a museum and a shop selling clay products. In the office of director Valentin Dmitrievich Telyshev, I counted 40 diplomas! I am very grateful to him and Nina Nikolaevna Kulakova for a tour of the factory and the opportunity to try to become a potter myself. Special thanks to the artist Natalya Viktorovna Godovikova for showing how, giving the opportunity and helping to mold a simple vase on a potter's wheel made of clay. Having tried it, I can say that this is not such a simple matter as it seems at first glance! My vase was dried, burned and then handed over to me!
On the basis of the factory, international festivals of pottery art are held every two years (three have already been held), where potter masters from all over Russia and neighboring countries come.
Many wonderful artists work here, among whom there are honored artists of the Russian Federation and laureates of the State Prize. Their works are striking in their originality and filigree performance! They carry out orders from different places, making products with the symbols of those who order.
They gave me as a keepsake a table clock with the symbol of the city, an osprey bird.
There are two museums in the city: local history and Russian pottery. The latter is located on the street. Lenin, d. 20 and opened on September 4, 2007 (therefore it has not yet been marked in guidebooks) and today it is the only one in Russia. The collection is presented by gifts to the museum from the participants of the 3rd festivals of pottery art and by the works of the masters of the Skopin art ceramics factory. So far, all the exhibits are placed in one room, but as the guide and keeper Irina said, it is planned to expand and open another room.
And I came to the local history museum (Karl Marx str., 95 - a few meters from the Pottery Museum) at 4.45 pm, when it was already closed, they put on an alarm (the museum is open until 17.00, the ticket office - until 16.30) and the staff, having dressed, was about to go home. Many thanks to acting. director Alexander Anatolyevich, who instantly undressed without unnecessary persuasion and conducted a wonderful (short, as he said!) excursion for an hour!
I visited the monastery of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki in Zarechny (formerly it was an independent village, now it is part of Skopin), located 17 km from the center of Skopin. According to legend, the monastery was founded by Dmitry Donskoy (at baptism received the name in honor of Dimitry Thessaloniki), who stopped here on the way back after the victory over Khan Mamai in 1380 and built a chapel on the Dmitrieva Mountain. And now the most interesting fact connected with this monastery: here was kept a staff made of apple tree ("Peresvetov's club") of one of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Alexander Peresvet, which he left here to one hermit before the battle! They say that under Peter I, many young nobles, acting on military service, tested their strength by lifting it. The staff was credited with the healing power of toothache, so its handle was nibbled. Now "Peresvetova Cudgel" is kept in a museum in the Ryazan Kremlin.
The monastic brethren here have always been few in number, as a rule, no more than 7-8 people (now even fewer). The abbot, Father Ambrose, was not there, and Father Olympius led a tour of the monastery. He showed both churches - the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki and St. Sergius of Radonezh. The first one was erected in the early 1760s and was rebuilt several times - all services are now in it. The second was built in 1770 and is still being renovated - not yet consecrated, but it is much more interesting in terms of architecture and more spacious inside. Together with Father Olympius, we climbed the bell tower, built at the beginning of the 19th century, from where a beautiful view of the surroundings opens up - the monastery is located on a hill and you can see all the directions of the world. The passage with the stairs is very narrow and it will be difficult for people with large dimensions to squeeze into it. There are no bells yet (an expensive pleasure), but beats are replacing them. A beater is a rectangular plate of metal suspended from ropes, like a bell. They are made of different sizes and thicknesses, and as a result, each emits different sounds, by the way, the beauty of the sound is not inferior to the bell ones.
There are a lot of beautiful blacksmithing works in the monastery - these are the gates at the entrance, and stairs and decorations at the entrance to the bell tower and the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh (a very naturally made vine with bunches of grapes).
The town of Spassk-Ryazansky is located about 50 km from Ryazan. Opposite it, across the river, there is an old settlement called Staraya Ryazan (we got there by ferry by car). It was there that the city of Ryazan, founded according to legend, was located earlier. the prince of Kiev Svyatoslav Igorevich in 965-966 during his campaign to the Volga and the Caspian Sea, when he freed the Poochya Slavs from tribute to the Khazars. The 10th century ramparts found during archaeological excavations confirm this version. But the first mention of Ryazan was in 1095 in the "Tale of Bygone Years". Prince Oleg Svyatoslavovich, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, after an unsuccessful internecine struggle with the princes temporarily left for Ryazan, where he built a fortress. Arab historians of the 11th century claimed that after Kiev and Novgorod Ryazan was "the third center of the Russian land."
Then it was called Pereslavl Ryazansky. And only when in 1237 Batu Khan burned the city to the ground and killed almost all the inhabitants, Ryazan settled where it stands now. And at the site of archaeological excavations every year. By some miracle, the remains of the city gates have survived. Well, plus the embankments - bulk shafts. In general, the views of the surrounding area are simply amazing. Belinsky I.V. there are wonderful words about this very place: “What captivating and, one might say, the only species that Old Ryazan and its surroundings represent. Imagine a high plain, which ends in such a steep, inaccessible mountain that a pedestrian can hardly, and only in some places, climb it ... the soles of steepness, under your feet proudly spreads the fast Oka, covered with barges; the low, almost flat opposite shore, yellow, sandy, like an endless sea, is lost in its space and borders the horizon on the left side ... Oh, with what delight, with what pride, standing on the mentioned steepness, I observed these amazing views. These places are worthy to have a capital city on them! "
The village of Spasskoye, which arose on the opposite bank of the Oka opposite Old Ryazan, until 1764 it was a serf and belonged to the Spas-Zarechensky monastery. The rich village bought off the monastery for a lot of money and received the status of a city.
The city has a local history museum.
The village of Izhevskoye is located in the Spassky District, which is famous for the fact that Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was born that way. There is also his museum, which I, of course, visited (which is surprising - there is not a word about the village or the museum in the guidebook!). The museum houses the real descent vehicle of the Soyuz-22 spacecraft.
And Tsiolkovsky was, it turns out, not just a genius of his time; he was able to anticipate many things that became known after his death. For example, the invention of the autopilot and the hovercraft was his work. Long before he flew into space, he said that inside spaceships weightlessness will reign! In gives !!! :-))) More precisely, alas, gave. :-(
The story of his life was very, very sad. At the age of ten, he fell ill with scarlet fever and was almost completely deaf, which is why he initially failed to graduate from school. But he was a stubborn guy: he took up self-education (already in Moscow - in the library, which now continues to be proudly named after Lenin) and subsequently passed an external exam to become a mathematics teacher. And then he taught at the gymnasium for 12 years !!! And his children obeyed without question, not allowing themselves to use the fact of his deafness for their own antics and pranks. He had a lot of children of his own, but this is also a problem: most of them died in childhood, and one daughter even at the age of 22; only two daughters remained. I wonder if Tsiolkovsky had not suffered such a terrible fate (deafness at a young age), would he have become so great? ..
On the territory of the Spassky District, there is the only reserve in the region - the Oksky State Natural Biosphere Reserve. It is included in the top ten Russian reserves (out of 120) and was even awarded a diploma of the Council of Europe (only 4 Russian reserves and only 36 reserves in Europe have such a diploma; and if you consider that there are about 200 reserves in England alone, then you can evaluate this diploma in dignity). It was created in 1938 with the main purpose of preserving and increasing the number of desman (Russian desman is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation).
The reserve has a wonderful museum of nature (in the central estate in the village of Brykin Bor, which is 20 km from the village of Izhevskoye), where stuffed animals and birds are collected; moreover, all of them are made at expositions in the form of a diorama. Sometimes you get the impression, especially if you look at the photographs (and I have photographed almost all of them) that the animals are alive! :-)))
The reserve has a nursery where bison are raised and supplied to other regions and reserves. There is also a crane farm, where a wide variety of cranes (gray, Canadian, etc.) are raised, but the most valuable thing is the Siberian Cranes (white cranes), which all over the world have nesting only in our country! :-))) Although they fly to other countries.
Ride a boat along the Pra river - a view like on the Amazon! :-))) The fact is that the spills flooded the area, and the trees are completely in the water - that's why I remembered the Amazon (in a movie that I once watched).
I spent the night at the hotel of the reserve - in a large wooden house. The deputy director presented me with the Red Book of the Ryazan Region, for which I, naturally, am very grateful.
In the same Spassky district there is the village of Kiritsy (about 55 km from Ryazan right along the M5 highway to Chelyabinsk), where a children's health center for patients with bone tuberculosis is located in the Derviz estate. This is a real castle! By the way, everyone there calls him that. To be honest, I was stunned by the beauty I saw, because I could not imagine that such beauty could be seen in such a remote place! :-))
Derviz S.P. - the son of the builder of the Moscow-Kazan railroad being a wealthy man, he could afford such a luxury! :-) The manor was built in 1887-1889 by the famous architect Shekhtel. The ensemble of the estate quite organically combines elements of pseudo-Gothic, Old Russian tents and crenellated turrets - as a result, the whole structure looks like a cross between a Gothic castle and a Russian tower! :-)))))
Previously, there was everything: a palace-house, a horse yard, a church, hanging bridges over ravines, grottoes, a cascade of ponds. The manor house has been restored for several years, but they still cannot fully restore it. : - (((
I visited the village of Konstantinovo - the homeland of Sergei Yesenin. A memorial house-museum of the poet was opened here in 1965. Yesenin was born in another house, and this one was built in 1910 by his father on the site of the old one, by that time already dilapidated. Not far from it there is a nice "house with a mezzanine" that belonged to the local landowner Kashina L.I., where Yesenin visited more than once and described him in the poem "Anna Snegina". Now there is a museum, which is called: the poem "Anna Snegina".
And what gorgeous views of the Oka from the high bank are in Konstantinovo!
I drove to the village of Poshupovo (about 50 km from Ryazan) and visited the St. John the Theological Monastery. It was built at the end of the 17th century, but the very emergence of the monastery dates back to the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, when monks came to these places to baptize pagans. They brought with them the miraculous icon of the Apostle John the Theologian - one of the shrines donated by the Church of Constantinople as a blessing to the newly-consecrated Russian land. This image became the main shrine of the monastery. He saved many times from various troubles and hardships. According to legend, by prayer in front of the icon, cholera was stopped in the surrounding towns and villages in 1848 and 1892, and in 1865 a fire was stopped in Poshchupov. Here the wife of Ivan the Terrible Anastasia gave birth during a trip along the Oka.
But the most amazing of the legends takes us back to the distant year 1237, when Khan Batu, having ruined Ryazan, approached the monastery with the intention of robbing and burning it too. Suddenly, on the outskirts of Poshupovo, Batu and his commanders were struck by blindness (alas, temporary!). Then, in a dream, an elder appeared to Batu (this was the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian himself) and commanded: "Raise me up!" The Khan found the icon and bowed to her, after which he received his sight. Naturally, he immediately abandoned the fulfillment of his criminal plan and left his golden seal with the icon, which was kept by the monks for 416 years (in 1653, when the image was temporarily in the old Assumption Cathedral of the Ryazan Kremlin, it was removed to gilt the large water-blessed bowl) ... And there were probably no cooler symbols of power in those days - whoever has a seal is the ruler! :-)))))
St. John the Theological Cathedral was built in the second half of the 17th century. In 1901, according to the project of the Ryazan architect Tsekhansky I.S. built a 76-meter high bell tower of extraordinary beauty. The largest bell on it weighed 545 pounds (almost 9 tons)!
The relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker, George the Victorious and other saints are kept in the monastery. Father was so kind that he not only told about the monastery, but also took him to the building where the monastic cells are located; showed the arks with the relics of different elders.
I visited the village of Elatma: only 3.5 thousand inhabitants, and the first mention dates back to 1381, when Dmitry Donskoy bought the village from the Meshchersky prince Alexander Ukovich! There are several versions of the origin of the name: 1. Associated with the name of the Meshchera princess Elat. 2. Finno-Ugric - "scorched place". 3. Tatarskoe - "lively, convenient place for life"!
In May 1722, Peter the Great visited here while passing during the second Azov campaign. By the way, even then there were more than 3 thousand inhabitants in Elatma! In 1778, Elatma was made a district town in the Tambov province; at that time it was the most industrial city of the province - glass, linen and several brick factories worked here.
At the end of the 19th century, about 8 thousand people already lived in Elatma, there were 14 churches, 2 mosques, a synagogue, a zemstvo hospital, a city bank, a tannery, a rope, a candle factory, and a printing house. The sunset for the city came in 1924, when, with the next administrative reorganization, Elatma lost its status as a city, becoming part of the Kasimovsky district.
I would like to express my gratitude to Anatoly Alekseevich Yazykov, Gennady Viktorovich Titov, Sergei Konstantinovich Epikhin, Vladimir Alekseevich Surin and many other hospitable and good people that helped me see the amazing places of the Ryazan region!
Oh, damn it, what kind of nature is in the Meshchera region - the soul is filled with some kind of animal subconscious joy when you personally see these lush green birches, steep cliffs with sandy beaches and sloping slopes, as if covered with green carpets, the blue smooth surface of rivers and lakes, especially in places of spills. I would like to become a writer or poet and describe all this in order to at least give way to emotions, because a simple (purely informative) story does not free me from this charming captivity and does not allow the reader to fully experience all the charm of these places ...
Go to this land, join its beauty - you will not regret it! ..
So, we continue to acquaint you with the castles of the Ryazan region and the near-castle chips along the way.
Photo 2.
Although it is not a castle, it was worth a visit. Before us is the estate of General Smelsky in the village. Vasilyevka, which is not marked on every map, and then suddenly, among the low houses and vegetable gardens, something appears that would rather look harmonious somewhere in Petersburg or at least Kursk or Tambov. 
Photo 3.
The manor house is a two-storey mansion with 5 projections - projections of various sizes, with a round corner tower, once completed with a dome, and an open terrace (now lost). The facades of the building are very picturesque and richly decorated. The entire surface of the tower, all corners of the building, window openings are dissected by horizontal relief rustication. 
Photo 4.
The owner of the estate, Eleazar Nikitovich Smelsky, by the way, is our fellow countryman, or rather the fellow countryman of my friend Andrey muph Kirnov. He was born in 1800 in the village. Repnoe, Voronezh region. The person himself was interesting, he graduated from the Voronezh Theological Seminary and the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. He worked as a military doctor, was a doctor at the court of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, served as a state councilor with the rank of general, headed the Military Medical Directorate of the Ministry of War and was the Vice-President of the St. Petersburg Society of Russian Doctors.
He was not a hereditary nobleman, but for his services in 1842 he received the right to hereditary nobility. Included in the third part of the genealogical books of St. Petersburg and the Ryazan province. Here is such a talented priest-general-doctor-state councilor. 
Photo 5.
The general's son, Alexander Eliazarovich Smelsky, a full state councilor, a chevalier of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, continued the arrangement of his father's estate.
After serving 3 years in the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment, he was appointed an official for special assignments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served for 20 years. He reached the rank of Actual Councilor of State and became a Knight of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Orders of Russia, including the Order of St. Anna, Art. with the Imperial crown. The last owner of the estate is Alexander Alexandrovich Smelsky. It is only known about him that he had the rank of chamber-junker of the Court of His Imperial Majesty. The history of the estate ended there.
During the Soviet era, the estate was nationalized and since 1920 it has housed an orphanage. Later, the workers of the local MTS lived in it. Recently the house was set on fire by some freaks. At the moment, there is not much left of the house. 
Photo 6.
Photo 7.
Here is such an epic destroy. 
Photo 8.
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Photo 17.
Wing. People live here who looked at me like a fool with a camera. It looks like there are very, very few tourists here, or rather, they are simply absent. 
Photo 18.
Photo 19.
Not far from the estate is the Church of the Epiphany, and Vasilievka, by the way, has the second name Epiphany. The wooden church was built in 1677. In 1764 a new one was installed. What we see now is a stone church built in 1819 at the expense of the landowner State Councilor Mikhail Vasilyevich Izmailov. She kept a unique artifact - the altar Gospel, published in 1688. 
Photo 20.
Nothing has survived to this day. Even murals. 
Photo 21.
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Photo 25.
Let's go further. On the way we found just such a church. This is the Kazan church with. Alexandrovka. 
Photo 26.
Kazan wooden church in the village of Aleksandrovka was built in 1868 at the expense of parishioners. In 1913, on the site of a wooden one, such a temple was erected. 
Photo 27.
And here's something else about which there has been a long debate. I say that this is a manor, they tell me that this is a wretched Soviet building. Nevertheless, history tells us that this is still a manor house. Koshelev's estate in the village of Pesochnya. 
Photo 28.
Here is what the Internet writes to us: “From 1835 to 1883, the village of Pesochnya became the place of residence and work of a public figure, liberal, reformer, organizer of cultural and economic activities of the Sapozhkovsky district, merchant Alexander Ivanovich Koshelev. . " 
Photo 29.
The house-estate of Koshelev, which is surrounded by an old park, is located in the north-western side of the village on a high bank. But, despite the dilapidated state, even today the building gives the impression of harmony of the structure with the garden and park ensemble. The park near the Koshelev's manor house becomes unusually picturesque in spring, when anemone, violet, corydalis, and lilies of the valley bloom.
Nothing remained of the park, except for a few similar flower beds, everything was overgrown with nettles and other filth. As a result, all the legs were covered with nettles, but I took these shots. 
Photo 30.
And here's what else we managed to dig up.
“In 2005, the reconstruction of the Koshelev house-estate began, in which local schoolchildren also take part in the days of work in the labor camp. adjacent to the house-estate of Koshelev. The regional authorities support the initiative of the children, noting the work of local schoolchildren and students of Ryazan universities with certificates and monetary rewards. "
It seems that this has remained on paper. Currently, the estate has been turned into overgrown ruins. 
Photo 31.
Remains from cassettes. Apparently there was a scene here. 
Photo 32.
Photo 33.
I don't want to waste your time on this object anymore, let's move on. 
Photo 34.
Before us is Sasovo. Yes, this is a city, and is that not a city? And this? Not a city? In general, to be honest - a large village, but Ilyich proudly stands in full growth. By the way, even an antiult was made about Sasovo. 
Photo 35.
Another stele with Lenin. 
Photo 36.
Well, here's the most interesting thing - this "castle". True, someone circumcised him. Soviet damned Jews XDDD). Apparently there was one more floor and upstairs there was something beautiful and interesting, but unfortunately I didn't find old photos anywhere. 
Photo 37.
Here is such a majestic facade. Straight from a fairy tale. It looks like the Witcher-3 and Dragon age-3, in short, what kind of igruha you like, represent that one. And so, a little history. Unfortunately, the history of this wonderful palace is vague (if there is - throw it). 
Photo 38.
The manor was built at the beginning of the 20th century in the pseudo-Gothic style. She belonged to the merchant Sergei Postnikov, who owned a local rope-making plant.
Photo 39.
Photo 40.
In 1917, the building was taken away from the landowner and this is what happened there, as evidenced by the memorial plaque. 
Photo 41.
Since the 1920s, the building has housed a school known as School # 84. In 1991, the school was closed, and the building began to fall into disrepair, now the building has been sold to someone and it seems like they are going to restore it. 
Photo 42.
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Antique oven 
Photo 46.
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Unfortunately, the interiors have not survived, and inside, instead of the expected copies of locations from the games, there is such a destruction that does not even pull the Stalker game. 
Photo 48.
Photo 49.
Actually, that's probably all, wait for the continuation of the report. Soon I will definitely write how the time will be. 
Photo 50.
Decorated with "
In the middle of the 19th century, the village of Mokeevka appeared in the forests of the Shilovsky district between Lake Kuzhikha and Lake Chudino. It was not marked by anything special, except that the people in it were savvy and hardworking, so the village was prosperous. The inhabitants did not think they did not guess that in the coming century they would become heroes of legends transmitted in a whisper from mouth to mouth.
After the October Revolution, Mokeevka disappeared. Quite ... Together with the population, houses, livestock. And it would be fine just disappeared. In those dashing times, this did not happen. The oddity was that from time to time the village was seen. Residents of neighboring Nadezhdino will gather for fishing - there is Mokeevka, women will go to the swamp for cranberries - there is Mokeevka. And a surplus-appropriation detachment appeared - there was no village. How the cow licked her tongue. In the place where it should be, impassable thicket.
Once sent a detachment of CHON (a special unit designed to fight enemies Soviet power) in a hundred sabers to deal with this ideologically harmful village. The detachment, according to all the rules of military science, surrounded the location of the enemy. They sent intelligence. They wait half an hour, an hour - there are no sentinels. The commander with a dozen men went on a sortie. And he also disappeared ... In general, when the main detachment pulled up, the Chonovites saw an absolutely incredible picture. There is a village where it should be. Linen is being dried in the courtyards, and samovars are still warm in the huts. But there is not a single living being - not a man, not a cattle, not a chicken, not a dog. Only the scouts with the commander roam the courtyards in complete disarray. The authorities made several more attempts to clarify the situation. And all with the same success. Then they spat and announced: there was no Mokeevka in sight. And all the talk about the ghost village is an ideological sabotage and the undermining of the authority of Soviet power by the kulaks and podkulachniki.
The country is locked
TO mysterious history with the village of Mokeevka, we will definitely return. But first, let us recall that the Shilovsky Territory, 200 years ago, attracted close attention of scientists as a possible location of the semi-mythical Artania - the city-state of the ancient Russians. Here is a quote from the Great Encyclopedic Dictionary: “Artania, Arsania, Arta, along with Kuyavia and Slavia, are one of the three centers Ancient Rus, which existed in the 9th century and was mentioned by Arab and Persian geographers (al-Balkhi, al-Istakhri, Ibn Hawkal, etc.). Some researchers identify A. with the territory of the Antes, others with Tmutarakan, and still others with the city of Ryazan. According to one of the versions, hence its name - Arta - Arzya - Eruzian - Ryazan. "
The main oddity is that not a single source has left us a description of the ancient city, its streets, buildings, household utensils. In general, no specific data. The conclusion suggests itself: either strangers were not admitted to Artania (one of the translations is "a country locked up"), or all these are myths and legends that do not have actual confirmation. According to some modern ethnographers, Artania was carefully protected from prying eyes, and they did it so skillfully that the idea of attracting some esoteric forces suggests itself.
Into the intricacies of the "labyrinth"
What was kept in ancient Artania? There is a version that it was here that the most revered relics of the ancient Orthodox world were located: the first consecrated icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the legendary sword of Ares and even the Grail. In fairness, it must be said that not everyone agrees that the mysterious city was located on Ryazan land. And here, in the Ryazan region, other places of the possible location of the "closed country" are also cited.
For example, the Pitelinsky district. This is what the famous Ryazan amateur local historian Vladimir Gribov told about his search for Artania. The inhabitants of one of the villages near the sources of the Pet River pointed out to him a field with which many mysterious phenomena have long been associated. At first, Vladimir Vasilyevich did not notice anything unusual at this place. The field is like a field. Went it up and down - no finds. I was about to leave and suddenly, quite by accident, I stumbled upon a hefty stone on the very outskirts of this place. In appearance, it exactly coincided with the famous menhirs, repeatedly described in historical documents... Turned into a strict tetrahedron, the top is pointed. Since pagan times, such stones have been erected, believing that the energy of the sun is accumulated in them. And if you possess certain knowledge, this energy can be used, among other things, to create impenetrable protection from prying eyes. Further - more ... Behind the stone there was a whole chain of small ravines, in which, at first glance, chaotically, boulders were scattered. Not a single trail, not a single road nearby.
Already a hundred steps away, Vladimir Gribov felt a slight dizziness, and a moment later he realized that he was in a huge "labyrinth" - stones and gullies were arranged in such a way that they twisted into a spiral! He decided to walk to its center, but it didn't work - he walked two ravines and found that he was again standing a few steps from the menhir. Another attempt - the same result. Perhaps somewhere here was the entrance to the "secret city" forever hidden from prying eyes? There is one more fact that confirms the version of Vladimir Gribov. Old-timers tell the story of Ataman Antonov, whose forward detachments during the suppression of the peasant rebellion, they fiercely broke through from the Tambov region to the Pitelin regions. With battles, sweeping away the cordons of the Red Army, they still managed to break through. However, the Red Army men nevertheless surrounded the Antonovites in the area of the Pitelin forests. The most desperate made their way to the ravines and sank into the water ...
Nettle didn't help
But back to modern Shilovo. Sergei Ivanovich Nikanov is one of the few who saw the legendary Mokeevka with his own eyes. “I was not the only one who saw her,” he says. - In Nadezhdino, many have been to Mokeevka, and more than once. In the early 30s, when collectivization was in full swing, the authorities again became interested in Mokeevka. They began to drag men and women from the surrounding villages for interrogation. We were still quite boys ... We saw the village three times with a friend, when we went fishing to Lake Chudino. True, they did not enter the huts - they were afraid. And when they told us at home, our parents flogged us with nettles so that later they avoided this place on the tenth road. " The parental nettle did not help. The mysterious Mokeevka sunk into the soul of Sergei Nikanov.
You never dreamed of!
“For twenty years there was not a rumor or a spirit about the village,” recalls Sergei Ivanovich. - Already they began to forget about this story. But in the mid-60s, tourists stumbled upon it again. We went to Chudino - there was a village, and on the way back, when they wanted to collect water from a well, we saw an impassable thicket. I myself went in search of several times. And I saw Mokeevka three more times. But if I take my camera with me, I’ll lose myself in the woods. I am already in Shilovo and I have stopped talking about it. They laugh at me - they think that my grandfather was lying in his old age. And I still have old photographs from the 1920s. On them is the very same Mokeevka. Then ethnographers managed to photograph the village and its inhabitants for the only time. Of course, this needs to be seriously dealt with, but my age is not the same, and my health does not allow me to run through forests and swamps. " Unfortunately, the format of the newspaper publication does not provide an opportunity to talk about many more mysterious places in the Ryazan region. There are anomalous zones in Shatsk, in Staraya Ryazan, at the Zhokin settlement in the Zakharovsky district. We will definitely return to this exciting topic in the near future. Well, I advise skeptics to recall the words of Shakespeare's Hamlet: "There are many things in the world, friend of Horatio, that your wise men never dreamed of."
Prepared by Mikhail Kolker
