Khan's treasures. SmartNews has made a map of the treasures of Tatarstan
For the first time, not only in Tatarstan, but also in Russia, black diggers were caught red-handed and, back in February, by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan, they were sent to jail. More than 50 artifacts were confiscated from illegal seekers. But, as the "Kazan Reporter" found out, it is premature to talk about the onset of the era of civilized excavations.
10th century beauty industry
There were a lot of media representatives at the procedure for the transfer of values in the Ministry of Culture. Still - not every day the treasure confiscated from the "black diggers" is handed over to the state. True, instead of the expected shine of jewelry, tarnished rarities were shown to the world. The young correspondents seem to have experienced a culture shock: gold is not shiny, silver is black with patina, and there are no precious stones at all. However, the doubts of amateurs were dispelled by a corresponding member of the NT of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Deputy Director for Development of the Institute of Archeology named after OH. Khalikova Fayaz Khuzin:
In my memory, and I have been doing archeology for over 50 years, this is the first case of the return of rarities to state funds. Since the beginning of the 1990s, robbery on protected lands has acquired enormous proportions, and a wave of treasure hunting has begun, which the state could not resist at that time. We very much hope that the federal law adopted in 2013 will work, and the raids of black diggers will come to naught. The items presented today were looted at the archaeological heritage site “Novoaleksandrovskoe (Kyzyl-Yalanskoe) settlement”. Each is unique in its own way and will tell a specialist a lot. The museum exposition will definitely include a double armchair and an ancient Ugrian “noisy” female pendant. The presented items will be carefully studied and introduced into scientific circulation. Be it bronze scales and lead seals, arrowheads from the pre-Mongol period or a 10th century ax. Numismatic material is also interesting: coins of the early Golden Horde minted in 1240-1250 during the reign of Caliph Nasir Lid-Din, a fragment of the Arab dirham ... discovered ... eyebrow tweezers! Women of fashion, in general, were in the X century!
The ancient owners of these accessories could not even imagine how twisty history has prepared for their things. One of the last twists of fate happened in July 2014, when six young men (aged 36 to 28) were detained red-handed on the territory of an ancient settlement in the Alekseevsky district of Tatarstan. The equipment of the "free diggers" consisted of six metal detectors, shovels and maps of archaeological sites. They also found more than 30 ancient objects, later dated to the X-XIV centuries. During the search in the apartments of the detainees, another 54 rarities were seized. A criminal case was opened under Part 3 of Art. 243.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Illegal search and (or) withdrawal of archaeological objects from the places of occurrence"). The first trial took place in December 2015, the defendants appealed to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan, which upheld the decision of the first court in February 2016. One digger was sentenced to a real term (2 years 3 months of imprisonment in a strict regime colony), the rest got off with suspended sentences (2 years 1 month). And antiquities have been handed over to scientists today.
Archaeologists explain that it is important to find exhibits in those cultural layers where they are located and to see " picture in volume ". Sometimes this is more important than the finds themselves. " Black diggers "are only interested in the rarities themselves, as some items that can be sold on the antiques market. With such illegal excavations, even if all the rarities are returned to museums, there are more losses for scientists than finds.
Robbery in broad daylight
The trouble is that there are many more greedy diggers than scientists. The objects of archaeological heritage are protected very badly, and the areas are huge. One has to rely solely on the conscientiousness of fellow citizens. There is every reason to think that not only thrill-seekers, but also graduates of history departments, or failed students join the ranks of black diggers.
So it is, - the head of the department of medieval archeology of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, an expert on cultural values, an associate professor of the department of archeology and ethnology of the Kazan Federal University, told the Kazan Reporter Zufar Shakirov... - The common man does not even know where to look for the treasure. But the diggers are too well aware of where and in what region of the republic our cultural treasures are "sleeping". Take the Zakamsky region - this was the center of medieval civilization. Moreover, at the book-house (the market on Tinchurin Street in Kazan - ed.), Maps of ancient settlements and settlements of Tatarstan are being sold openly, not even from under the floor. So illegal immigrants dig very deliberately. This robbery can lead to cultural disaster. They are not robbing a mythical state, but all of us, including future grandchildren.
One watchman per 800 hectares
Today, the issue of protecting state reserves is the most important one. For example, the territory of ancient Bilyarsk is 800 hectares. And one person guards it. It became clear from the words of scientists: the Iske Kazan protected area (Vysokogorsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan), ancient settlements, burial mounds and settlements in Laishevsky, Alkeevsky, Alekseevsky districts also suffer from the raids of diggers. The Sviyazhsky Reserve is also kept on the alert, especially since its lands have recently expanded significantly, you can't keep an eye on everyone. The archaeological complex Djuketau in the Chistopol region has no less problems. It is amazing that this ancient city (X-XV centuries), with the connivance of the Chistopol administration, was practically turned into a trash heap. Various rubbish and garbage are brought here, and on the territory there is ... an elevator! The fact that Djuketau has the status of a security zone does not seem to bother local officials.
Are they still cluttering up? Thank you for prompting, - the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan thanked the correspondent of the "Kazan Reporter" for the signal Svetlana Persova... - We will raise this issue in the near future. We will appeal to both the leadership and the population. Probably, we will propose to organize a city clean-up on the lands of "Djuket", we will convene volunteers.
During the transfer of archaeological finds to the scientists, a delegation from the Federal Bailiff Service arrived at the Ministry of Culture. They came for the metal detectors and special shovels confiscated from the black diggers. As the head of the press service of the department explained Arseny Galiev, all technical means will be sold at an auction, and the proceeds will go to the state account. Why not dispose of these metal detectors (after all, they are a crime instrument) or give them to archaeologists? So to speak, to strengthen the material and technical base ... Moreover, there is no guarantee that metal detectors will not fall into the hands of the next treasure hunters. On this question, the bailiffs threw up their hands - they say, not our competence.
The paradox is that the law prohibits the use of this technique in a private treasure hunt, and at the same time, metal detectors are not subject to licensing, which means they are on the free market.
The “15 million” treasure turned out to be a fake.
The official examination of the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan made its decision - none of the coins found in the boarding school is genuine. The sntat.ru portal talked with the antiquary who carried out the examination.
The story with the treasure found in the Laishevsky district has taken a new turn. It all started in early June, when one of the workers who helped the charity organization "Joy of the Childhood", during the construction of a greenhouse for a local boarding school, discovered a chest with coins and jewelry. Only 25 currency units and 5 jewelry items.
For a long time, the managers of the foundation and the boarding school could not figure out what to do with the unusual and, possibly, expensive find. We contacted the journalists of the sntat.ru portal. After our material, they found out about the treasure in law enforcement agencies and even threatened to bring Tatyana Kombarova to the school director for not reporting the find to the appropriate authorities. But in the end, they felt sorry for the woman.
True, the treasure was taken away and they began to decide what to do with his fate. During this time, Laishev's find attracted the attention of amateur antique dealers. One of them, during an in-depth examination, even suggested the value of the treasures - some coins, in his opinion, could well cost about $ 12 thousand dollars, and the whole treasure itself - about 15 million, but already rubles. But these assessments had nothing to do with the official conclusions.
Further, an examination is awaiting him, - Farida Murtazina, director of the Laishevsk local history museum, told the sntat.ru correspondent at the time. - In Tatarstan there are only two numismatists who are able to do this. Then the treasure will be sent to Nizhny Novgorod, after all, we are part of the Volga Federal District, they will issue an opinion there, transfer it to the Tatarstan Ministry of Culture, which will issue an order on where the exhibits will be stored.
The results of the examination are disappointing - all the exhibits turned out to be fake. The alleged "treasures" were assessed by Sergei Kuznetsov, one of two certified experts on numismatics of the Russian Ministry of Culture, who lives and works in Tatarstan. At the age of six, he became interested in the accumulation of coins, and now he has an antique shop in the center of Kazan and his own course at Kazan University.
All the coins that go for import and export go through customs, everything, in principle, is sent to me, - says the numismatist.
Several days ago, Sergei Kuznetsov was asked to go to Laishevo and conduct an examination of the treasure.
25 coins plus 5 decorations. Everything was in a box. By the way, the box bore the inscription "Kuznetsov", probably hinting at a not-so-famous Kazan tea manufacturer from the 19th century. - The box is really old.
The antiquary admits that he was not interested in the treasure before the request of the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan. However, then I saw material about Laishev's find. The numismatist immediately had questions about two coins. When the expert arrived at the scene, the questions disappeared.
Firstly, I was confused by the set of coins itself. Various periodicals, denomination. Secondly, such jewelry is not put to such a treasure, - Sergey Kuznetsov recalls his first impressions, then he takes out from the safe a few simple coins of 1917 and an expensive old manisto. - Well, is it how treasures are combined?
The jewelry in the chest, by the way, on the contrary, was the very simplest. But the coins are almost the rarest. In any case, whoever put them in the chest wanted to make exactly that impression.
One "six-hand". Three twelve-ruble coins. And these are generally the rarest coins. In total, no more than 200 of them were produced. These are the 20-30s of the XIX century. Or rather, even the end of the 1920s, ”says Kuznetsov.
The twelve-ruble coin is made of platinum. At that time, people had not yet figured out the technology of making objects, especially such small ones as coins, from this alloy. For the first time, the processing method was invented in Russia. So we decided to experiment.
If such a coin drops out at the auction, then it is a world sensation in the world of antiques. It is difficult to estimate the price, but in any case - for millions of rubles, - says the expert.
Moreover, one of the twelve-ruble coins that lay in the chest was, according to official data, minted in one copy.
The composite material from which modern fakes are made looks like real silver, but platinum cannot be portrayed from it. The rest of the coins, by the way, also turned out to be fake. Moreover, modern.
Of course, I did all the necessary procedures, but it was immediately clear that this was a fake. All of them are of modern coinage. About 3-4 years ago, somewhere, I do not know where, a large batch of counterfeit coins was made, - says the antique dealer. - And they sold them cheaply - 150-200 rubles each. In fact, only for numismatists. For example, I showed these to students. So that they have an idea of the level of counterfeiting.
Reflecting on how a fake of the 21st century could end up in Laishevo, the antiquary builds an entertaining theory.
The question is that it was laid down quite recently. To make it clearer - within weeks, two or three months. Well, just after the winter. We did it specifically in order to find, - says the expert.
Who needed to make such a commotion with the treasure in the boarding school and will have to find out in the near future. The sntat.ru portal will follow the development of events around the "precious" history.
One of them - the khan's treasures - has been resting at the bottom of Lake Kaban for several centuries, the other, the gold reserve of Russia, lost during the Civil War, is buried somewhere near Kazan.
Treasure hunters sincerely believe that sooner or later caches will be found. And do not lose hope looking for them.
Master of the valuable bucket
Vitaly Serebryakov does not advertise his activities, so he agreed to meet with us on the condition that we change his name. Our hero took up treasure hunting at a fairly mature age. As a boy, he was little interested in this topic.
I will not hide that my goal is to find treasures, - says Serebryakov. - However, so far, those people who are not looking for anything are lucky.
In search of treasures, he traveled around many regions of the republic. Vitaly calls himself a treasure hunter-theorist. He knows hundreds of stories about buried treasures, but he himself has never found anything:
Each city or village has its own legends. So, in Arsk, where the catacombs have been preserved in the center of the city, they say, Emelyan Pugachev kept his treasures. There is a legend about the Makaryevsky monastery near Kazan that a church reserve was buried here. And they say different things about the Sviyazhsky Monastery. Allegedly in 1914, the abbot withdrew from the bank account one hundred thousand rubles in gold, and where he hid the money, only God knows. True, local residents are sure that the gold was buried in the cemetery, which went under water during the construction of the reservoir. And most often it happens like this. In one village I was shown a house where a judge lived before the revolution, he was a very rich man. When the turbulent times began, residents saw his daughter walk towards the apiary with a jug in her hands. The girl constantly looked around. There was clearly no milk in the jug. Or another case. I was once offered to buy an old house. Its owner assured that the former tenant hid a bucket of gold somewhere in the walls during dispossession. I walked around the hut and did not find any hiding places. It turned out that the rich bogeyman returned ten years after his escape, supposedly to see his home. But he did not come just like that, apparently, he took away the gold.
It is only in "Treasure Island" that everything is very clear: "Bullions of silver in the northern pit. You will find her on the slope of the eastern hill, ten fathoms south of the black rock, if you face her." In reality, everything is different ... Even a detailed map will not help to find treasures in real life.
If you work well in the archives and collect as many documents as possible, it will not be difficult to sketch a map, - says the treasure hunter. “However, over the years, the terrain has changed beyond recognition: where there was a field, a forest has grown, in the place of a thicket there has long been arable land, a ravine is overgrown, the lake has been drained. And there remains only the possibility that the treasure lies underfoot, but its time has not come yet.
Treasure in the center of Kazan
The most famous treasure found in Tatarstan is Karatunsky. He was found during road construction work near the Karatun station in the Apastovsky district of the republic twenty years ago. When the archaeologists got down to business, they were given about 35 thousand silver dirhams. It was a treasure of Golden Horde silver coins, the largest known to science.
But another treasure, Florensky, was estimated at a much smaller amount, but it was he who in 1938 alarmed Kazan. He was found in the basement of an old house on Gruzinskaya Street, now Karl Marx. The National Museum of Tatarstan tells how one day the commandant decided to go up to the attic and accidentally stumbled upon the plan of the house. Here he saw a certain inconsistency: according to the map, there was another room in the basement, but no one knew anything about it. The commandant immediately went downstairs and carefully examined the room. In the place where the door was planned, the entrance was blocked by a wardrobe. The old man was unable to push it aside. The map suggested that from the street into the basement it was possible to look through the window. But it also turned out to be walled up. Without thinking twice, he took a shovel and dug out a window. Eyes fell on some objects. The commandant called a policeman, and together they tried to move the cabinet.
It took a long time to tinker: the closet was nailed to the floor. When he finally gave in, a mysterious door opened before the curious. The room was completely filled with antique furniture, clothes, books. Later, the staff of the local history museum found among them unique collections of icons, Chinese porcelain, silver and archaeological finds. All these things belonged to a physician, a teacher of the Kazan Imperial University, Vasily Florensky.
His widow hid all these treasures in the basement. After the death of her husband in 1915, she hastily left Kazan and was no longer able to return here because of the 1917 revolution. Only the maid knew about the cache. She waited for many years for the Florenskys to return for their belongings, and died without revealing to anyone the secret of the basement room.
Later, when the find went to the state, all things went to different places. Clothes - on commission, books were transferred to the Lobachevsky library, icons were given to the Museum of Fine Arts. The National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan received a collection of porcelain, as well as letters, photographs and archaeological finds. Now they are kept in the funds of the museum, where they are still being studied. And all the silver items simply disappeared.
In the footsteps of white and red
For a quarter of a century Ravil Ibragimov has been looking for the gold reserve of Russia that disappeared in Kazan. And his search began ... overseas. One day he met a family who, during the Civil War, moved from Russia to America. The emigrants have preserved old newspapers, where the events taking place in their historical homeland at the beginning of the last century were very actively discussed. There was no more valuable source of information as a starting point.
In his search, Ibragimov reached the archive, which is still classified as "Secret". And that didn't stop him.
I know that up to the 1917 revolution, more than nine thousand boxes of gold migrated to Kazan for a total of one and a half billion gold currency rubles, '' says the researcher. - This accounted for more than half of all the cash funds of the tsarist government. The October Revolution turned the gold reserves of the State Bank into the property of the proletariat. It was unsafe to store gold in turbulent times in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Then the Council of People's Commissars decided to concentrate all the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the state in Kazan. By order of the Soviets, valuables from all over the country began to be brought here. In August 1918, the plans of the Bolsheviks were destroyed by the leaders of the white movement, who took Kazan. The Reds fled, leaving not only the city to the mercy of fate, but also the gold reserves stored in it.
According to Ibragimov, during the capture of Kazan by the Whites, gold worth 1 billion 100 million rubles was taken out of the city. The whereabouts of this money are unknown today.
Who among you in your childhood has not read books about pirates and dreamed of finding hidden treasures? In search of untold wealth, we poked around in the yard sandbox and sincerely rejoiced at every nonsense we found.
Most have long abandoned children's fun, but they carried the craving for the unknown through the years - archaeologists celebrate a professional holiday on August 15! It was they who made unique discoveries that made it possible to take a fresh look at the history of Tatarstan.
The Cathedral Mosque of Bolgar was built in the 13th century.
Gold and silver of the Volga Bulgarians
Perhaps the most famous archaeological complex of the republic is the Bulgar. The attention of tourists is riveted to it, interesting historical holidays and events are regularly held here, and the first president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, is watching the restoration himself!
Today Bulgar is a real tourist Mecca of the region. You can get here both by bus and along the Volga, which means that emotions from a pleasant trip will be added to the impressions of a direct acquaintance with the settlement.
The city was founded by the Volga Bulgarians back in the 10th century, but in the 14th and 15th centuries it was twice seriously damaged and never rebuilt. Life here has rekindled again only in our days.
The Bulgarian settlement is surrounded on three sides by an earthen rampart up to 5 meters high and a two-meter ditch. The only surviving structure of the early Zolotoy Horde period, the Cathedral Mosque, was the main temple of the Bulgarian ulus of the Golden Horde. It was built back in the 60s of the 13th century, and about half a century later, two mausoleums appeared in the neighborhood - the North and the East. The Black and White Chambers, the Khan's Tomb are also located here, and behind the main shaft there is another small "town".
The complex is complemented by the Orthodox Church of the Assumption of the 18th century, and in total, about 100 architectural structures have been identified on the territory of the Bulgarian settlement!
Excavations are carried out on the territory of the settlement every day! - says Andrey Faskhutdinov, deputy director of the museum-reserve for science. - For this year, the finds have not yet been handed over to us, but last season there were a lot of interesting things. At the site of the city market, a treasure was found - 6 kilograms of silver bars; gold Arab coins were found in the mausoleum. The finds date back to the dawn of the Bolgar - the middle of the 14th century.
Now the archaeological season is drawing to a close, which means we should expect news about new interesting finds!
Stone temple and huts on chicken legs
The island city of Sviyazhsk is a unique archaeological heritage site. The development of the territory began several hundred years before our era, and in 1551 the construction of a Russian fortress began here.
The history of the city is really amazing. Returning after an unsuccessful siege of Kazan, Tsar Ivan the Terrible stopped on the steep bank of the Sviyaga and decided to build a small town here. But they began to build a wooden structure not here, but in the Uglich forests - a thousand kilometers up the river!
In the spring of 1551 a fortress was built there, after which the structure was dismantled and floated on ships to the mouth of the Sviyaga. In a short time, a new city arose on the steep bank, which became a springboard for a further attack on the Kazan Khanate.
Today, many ancient buildings have survived in Sviyazhsk, and the island itself has noticeably changed. Convenient access roads, clean cozy streets, a whole complex of impressive Orthodox monasteries make the town an excellent place to spend your holidays. Moreover, you can get here by car and river transport.
Archaeological excavations are in full swing here! According to Artem Silkin, director of the Ostrov-grad Sviyazhsk museum, research continues at three sites, more than 100 archaeologists are involved in the work. Already now we can talk about unique finds.
During the excavations, a large number of coins, jewelry, leather goods were found, - says Silkin. - We even found a small stone toy or a model of a temple! Also, oak stumps were excavated, cut down in the year of the foundation of the fortress - in 1551: they became the foundation for new buildings. As they say, it was on them that "huts on chicken legs" were standing.
The foundations of many buildings of the 16-18 centuries were also found here. This will allow to recreate the former appearance of the monasteries, which means even better to learn about the history of the native land. Moreover, next year the construction of the Museum of Archeology, unique for Russia, will begin in Sviyazhsk.
Here you can see with your own eyes everything that was found - in the form in which it was many centuries ago. There are no residential buildings of the 16-17 centuries in the country, so we will get a unique opportunity to imagine how they looked at that time, - explained Artem Nikolaevich.
Where are the golden gates?
Another famous architectural monument of Tatarstan is the Bilyarskoye settlement - the archaeological remains of the capital of the Volga Bulgaria. Its size amazes not only guests and tourists, but even seasoned archaeologists!
Bilyar is a huge complex of monuments on the southeastern outskirts of the village of Bilyarsk. Fortifications, suburbs, necropolises, country estates, public baths ... and all on an area of 800 hectares.
Apparently, the city was built in the 10th century. In Russian historical chronicles it has been mentioned since 1164 under the name of the Great City, and in the 12th century it became the capital of the Volga Bulgaria. In 1236, during the Mongol invasion, the city was completely plundered and burned - not even a huge wooden wall up to 10 meters thick was saved. According to legend, it was then that the city lost its famous gates made of pure gold ...
The dominant position is occupied by the remains of the Cathedral Mosque of two parts - wooden and white stone with a large, free-standing minaret. In the white-stone part, the remains of 24 columns in 6 rows have been preserved. In the first half of the 10th century, a necropolis appeared near the mosque, and the so-called "house of the feudal lord" was located here.
Outside the inner city, near the eastern gate, are the ruins of the "Caravanserai" with 13 large and small rooms. The walls of the main rooms were plastered and even painted with plant patterns in brownish-red paint.
You can get from Kazan to Bilyarsk by bus, the distance is about 150 kilometers. But since 2008, excavations in the settlement have not been carried out ...
We are waiting for new sensations
On the territory of Tatarstan, there are many other places that hide treasures and are waiting in the wings. Near Yelabuga there is the famous Devil's settlement, at the mouth of the Kazanka River is the last capital of the Kazan Khanate, Iske-Kazan, in other regions of the republic there are the settlements of Djuketau, Kasha, Oshel and many others. And who knows how new research will affect our lives? After all, some fateful excavations have already given Kazan a thousand-year age, and since then a completely different life has begun in the city ...
The most famous treasures of Tatarstan must be sought not only in the ground, but also under water. Khan's treasures of Lake Kaban and the gold reserve of tsarist Russia — legends about these treasures have been passed down from mouth to mouth for many years and even centuries — and still excite the minds of historians and treasure hunters.
Ancient treasures are often found in Tatarstan. Most of these treasures, historians say, were hidden in turbulent times, before the enemy attacked, and date back either to the 13th century, when Ancient Bulgaria was destroyed, or to the 16th century, when the troops of Ivan the Terrible captured Kazan, or to the beginning of the 20th century, when during the revolutions and wars changed power.
One of the last treasures discovered in Tatarstan - It became one of the largest treasures in the entire history of the study of the ancient Bulgarian settlement.
More than 100 archaeological treasures dating back to the Middle Ages have been found on the territory of Tatarstan. More than 100 thousand coins are registered. The largest treasure was found in 1986 in Karatun, this is in the Apastovsky district: during the construction of the road, when the earth was lifted with a bucket, more than 30 thousand coins were found there - this treasure is the largest not only in the Volga region, but also one of the most unique in Russia ... Most often, such finds occur by chance, when digging a vegetable garden, for example.
A rather large treasure was also found in the Tetyushsky region, in Malye Atryasy. There was some city of the Volga Bulgaria, it is still unknown which one - in the sources it is mentioned as the Thousand-Domed Shungat. The coins in the hoards are most often dated to the 13th-15th centuries. The treasures were hidden in connection with the danger of enemy attacks, there were many of them then, there was a constant danger of ruin and withdrawal to the full. The treasures were sometimes hidden very quickly. But the fact that we are now finding these treasures suggests that their owners were either killed or taken prisoner.
The Spassky District is rich in treasures - more than 50 treasures were found in its land. It is understandable, because the capital of the Bulgars was located there. Also prolific are the regions of the republic along the river banks - Kamsko-Ustinsky, Zelenodolsky, Tetyushsky districts. There you can find treasures from the 18th-19th centuries. This is mainly local coinage, that is, coins that were printed directly in the Bulgars. There are, of course, and oriental coins, but to a greater extent it is the Golden Horde. Russian and European coins are found as an exception.
I traveled around the republic, through the villages, and among the peasants of the landowners' villages, a favorite topic was treasures. They love legends, tales: "the master buried it", "they came after the revolution" ... There really were such treasures, they were organized - often in a hurry. They were also in Kazan. Because during the civil war, many hoped to return. The treasures were partially found. Recently I was in Atlashkino, they say that there, in the old mill, indeed, some kind of treasure was found.
Treasure at the bottom of the lake Kaban
The most famous treasure, which has not been found so far, the story of which has long become a legend, is the innumerable khan's treasures, resting at the bottom of Lake Kaban in the historical center of Kazan. Both treasure hunters and historians make many guesses, but they can neither deny its existence nor confirm it.
The legend about the khan's treasures, passed from mouth to mouth, is described in great detail in the book by Raphael Mustafin "Secrets of the Boar Lake": its author was told the legend by a descendant of the Azimov family close to the Kazan khan.
It says that before the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, so that the treasures did not go to the Russian tsar, they were rolled into barrels, and the barrels were hidden at the bottom of Lake Kaban. The nobles who were present at the burial of the treasure passed on knowledge about the place where the treasure lies from generation to generation. According to legend, these are rubies, gold, silver. Due to the fact that there is a lot of silt at the bottom of the lake, even divers cannot see anything there, the visibility is zero. Someone, they say, found barrels, but they fell off when they were lifted, and again nothing was found. According to legend, the lake keeps its secrets and does not allow them to be revealed until the time comes.
According to legend, in order to find the khan's treasures, one has to stand by a stream not far from the source of Bulak, measure the distance of one or two archery shots (more precisely, no one knows), find a conspicuous place on the shore, take a landmark to another conspicuous place on the opposite bank, and then it is in a distance of several connected reins that the treasures are located. And at such a depth that, without knowing one more secret, it is impossible to raise them.
The treasury consists of three parts. These are gold and silver bars, bars of precious metal, as well as gold and silver coins of the most varied origins: Arab, Turkish, Persian, Egyptian, European, Russian. The third part is the treasury. The total weight of the khan's treasury was measured in more than one ton.
It is curious that on the basis of this legend, a full-length feature film "Treasures of OK" was shot last year, in which the main roles were played by Alexei Vorobyov, Elvira Ibragimova, Baybulat Batullin and Maria Kozhevnikova. The film was shot in Kazan: on the shore of Lake Kaban, on the main streets of the city and in the Kazan Kremlin.
Video
Trailer for the film "Treasures of O. K."
Video: Willie Keeler / YouTube
They say that they tried to raise the treasures from the bottom of the lake in 1968 and 1975. According to rumors, in 1968, someone nevertheless took the barrel out of the abyss with the help of a "cat" (iron pitchfork, with points bent like fishhooks), but as soon as it reached the surface of the water, the hooks unbent, and the treasure sank into abyss. In 1980, the lake was cleared of silt deposits (the layer thickness reached two meters), the bottom of the Kaban was examined by amateur scuba divers, but they could not see anything. According to the old-timers of Kazan, the untold khan's treasures cannot be lifted from the bottom of the Russian people, "for this gold is the blood of the holy people of Islam." The souls of these saints protect the treasure and do not give it into the hands of the Gentiles. "Only the beloved of Allah, the future king and ruler of these lands, will be able to lift the gold and silver relics of the mosque."
GOLDEN RESERVE OF RUSSIA
Another well-known story about a hidden treasure, which haunts treasure hunters and historians, tells about the gold reserves of Russia. This story is not just a legend, many facts have been confirmed. As a result of the October Revolution, the gold reserves of the State Bank became the property of the proletariat. But it was unsafe to store gold in turbulent times in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the Council of People's Commissars decided to concentrate all the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the state in Kazan. In 1914-1915 and up to the 1917 revolution, more than 9 thousand boxes of gold were transported to Kazan for a total of 1.5 billion gold currency rubles. However, in 1918, the White troops captured Kazan, and the Reds fled from the city, abandoning the gold reserves stored in it. Some researchers suggest that the whites took most of the money out of the city, but it is still unknown how their subsequent fate developed. There is a version that they were buried near Kazan.
In the State Bank on Prolomnaya Street in Kazan, not only state, but also private money was kept. There was such a Russian-Asian Bank, the second in terms of capitalization after Sberbank. The main role in it was played by the breeder Putilov and Stakheev - Elabuga merchants, famous throughout Russia. And the money that they invested in the gold reserve, allegedly during the revolution, was exported to the north of Kazan, in the Dubyaz region. They say it was a large number of boxes of gold. They were buried, but where and whether they survived today is unknown. It is known that in 1928 a French bank representing the interests of the Stakheevs, who were already emigrants at that time, turned to the Soviet government with a proposal to equip an expedition to search for this stock. She was equipped, but it is unclear if she was successful. Moreover, in the Soviet years, much was hushed up.
MODERN STORAGE FINDERS
As you know, the freedom to use metal detectors has been limited in Russia. The State Duma passed a law to suppress illegal archaeological activities, hoping that this will solve the problem of black diggers. Indeed, in Tatarstan there is an acute problem with the plundering of archaeological sites.
After the war, children from evacuated orphanages, street children, searched for treasures and plundered crypts. Local peasants also willingly tore them up. We had 200 old estates, about 20 remained. All of them are in pits, dug up. And now the black diggers are loose. For them, treasure hunting has become a sport. They have good equipment, they carry magnetic detectors, archaeological maps, and are scattered throughout the republic. I also turned to the administration of Tatarstan to hold a meeting and decide what to do with this phenomenon. They have their own market, sometimes they find unique things and sell them. Of course, they can say: no one would have found it, but we found it ... But after all, everything that they find is exported, lost, it is just trade, no historical assessment is carried out, that is, it is taken out of historical circulation. It is very important for the monument where it was found, under what circumstances, what was located nearby. We must somehow fight this, negotiate with the village councils, write down the brands of cars. Because we have a number of settlements that have not yet been properly excavated, they are waiting for their day. In general, the earth is fraught with many interesting things.
However, in addition to black diggers, in Tatarstan there are communities of quite peaceful treasure hunters and numismatists, for whom the search for treasures is not a way of earning money. They examine old houses, often in the villages where their relatives lived, to get a feel for their own history.
My husband put me on this business. At one time he was engaged in numismatics, collected coins, but they were all inexpensive royal coins, which cost 50-300 rubles. We do not go in search of them on purpose. For example, we go to visit the village, take a metal detector with us and inspect something in passing. The last find was six months ago. Then they put me in the hospital, a couple of days before giving birth. And the husband decided that it was necessary not only to give birth to a son and build a house, but also to plant a tree. He works in the city center. Near his place of work there is a ruined house, on the ruins of which birches have grown. He decided to take a shovel and dig out one birch tree. And there I found one gold coin. And after giving birth, he decided to go through this house with a metal detector and in the plaster found two more gold coins of Tsarist times - Nicholas II. But if a person goes with a metal detector to some village, they will immediately hit him on the hat. Therefore, diggers-seekers look at their gardens, at friends, on the streets in the village. Especially they don't go anywhere. We had such a case. My husband and I studied the map and found an abandoned village, happily went there. We drove up to the cemetery, behind it was a ravine, and behind the ravine there was a village. But we didn't get there, because we saw that the guys were already digging there. Just like that, three cars will not stand in the middle of the field. Among the modern treasure hunters, in addition to those listed above, there are also their own legends about ancient treasures buried in Tatarstan. One of them is associated with Boris Godunov.
My hobby for treasure hunting is more a love of history, I do not pursue the goal of getting rich, I read the code of honor of a treasure hunter. It is always nice to find and hold a little thing that was created a long time ago, to represent everyday life, customs of those times. The most pleasant finds are, of course, coins - as symbols of the era, they breathe the spirit of the time when they were issued. When you find coins, you imagine how people could have lost them, for example, you know from rumors that there was a store in a certain place in Soviet times, there you find coins and vodka corks, so the fantasy starts to play. According to the legends, I did not look for treasures, I know that there are a couple of places where you can find a lot of interesting things. For example, there is a place where the troops of Boris Godunov were stationed when he was marching to Siberia. And there is still one place where the cross stood in the field before the revolution, also for a reason, probably. I know roughly the place where the Tatar troops resisted the Russian troops after the capture of Kazan in 1552. But the search for treasures with a metal detector is prohibited by law, many went underground - they dig at night, in more deserted places, in the forest.
