Travel by car: in Volokolamsk, from the M9 highway, go down at the road junction under the bridge, and follow in the direction of the village. Privokzalny to Ostashevo about 21 km south of the city.
Homestead founded in late XVIII in. A.V. Urusov, in the first half of the 19th century. belonged to N.N. Muravyov and his heirs, then successively - to the chamber junker, the district marshal of the nobility N.P. Shipov and his son, General A.A. Nepokoinitsky, from 1890 to 1903 - to industrialist A.G. Kuznetsov, further and until 1917, Grand Duke K.K. Romanov to his family.
On the main square In the village there are two obelisks made of gray stone, showing the way to the now abandoned and dilapidated estate.
The architectural complex was created by order of Alexander Vasilyevich Urusov, approximately in the 1790s. It is possible that the author of the ensemble was R.R. Kazakov (nephew of M.F. Kazakov), who built a house in Moscow for a retired major general during this period of time.
In 1813, after the death of Urusov, the estate passed into the hands of his stepson, Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov, who founded educational institution for the training of officers of the General Staff.
Of the five sons of Muravyov direct participation in secret societies, the elder Alexander (1792-1863) and the third Mikhail (1796-1866) were accepted. The second son Nikolai (1794-1867), in 1816, driven to despair by unsuccessful matchmaking, left for Yermolov to serve in the Caucasus for many years and remained outside the Union of Welfare. But even earlier, he organized one half-children's community with the utopian goal of creating a free republic on Sakhalin and involved future conspirators in it, and, in addition, he painted in his notes a picture of the environment in which real political unions then arose. The childhood of all three brothers is closely connected with Ostashev. They began their service with the military campaigns of 1812 and subsequent years and moved into the forefront of modern youth, among whom secret societies arose.
After the death of N.N. Muravyov Ostashevo went to Alexander, who in the forties developed a vigorous economic activity on the estate.
Two younger brothers already belonged to a different era and did not mark themselves in any way in the field of state and political activity. Andrei (1806-1874), who left a memory in Ostashevo with the name of the now non-existent arbor over the river, gained great fame as a writer on religious issues, the younger Sergei (1809-1874), despite his outstanding mind, did not leave anything on his own.
horse yard
Ostashevo is memorable in the movement of the Decembrists along the “Educational institution for columnists” created by the Muravyovs, in which future officers of the so-called quartermaster unit, which was later transformed into a general staff, received training. The Muravyov school lasted until 1823 and produced about one and a half hundred officers, of whom at least 15 were members of secret societies. For the summer, from May to October, the school migrated from Moscow to Ostashevo, the pupils were accommodated in apartments in peasant houses, and the stay of several dozen young people with their military exercises and training sessions, conversations and hobbies, of course, reflected on the life of the whole village.
Semi-legendary information has been preserved that secret meetings of the Decembrists took place here and conspiracies were woven, and in the park, on one of the hillocks, the "Constitution" of the rebels was buried.
The classical style ensemble with pseudo-Gothic elements has a symmetrical composition with a pronounced longitudinal axis running from the entrance obelisks to the main house. Standing in the depths of the courtyard, a two-story manor house with a belvedere, decorated with a four-columned Tuscan portico, in the 1950s. was replaced by a new building. With two one-story outbuildings, each of which was crowned with a faceted wooden turret with a high spire, the house was united by closed galleries. The court-doner, according to symmetry, is closed by the office and the manager's house, and between them are the pseudo-Gothic towers of the entrance to the front yard. All the buildings of the front part, as if bound by a single chain, were interconnected by wooden lattices on stone foundations. They were interrupted by white-stone side gates with abutments of paired Tuscan columns; the road from the gate led to the outbuildings that have now been lost.
At some distance from central core the estates were four, pentagonal in plan, arbors-pavilions - the remnants of Masonic hobbies that took place in Ostashev.
The most impressive building of the estate is the pseudo-Gothic equestrian yard dating back to the 1840s. Such a building has no analogues in the suburbs!
The one-story building consists of two long wings connected at a right angle. The axis of symmetry of the main façade, facing the center of the estate, is marked by a multi-tiered travel tower, the flanks by risalites with gables. The side facade, stretching along the entrance alley, is actually a wall with ledges, decorated with pseudo-Gothic forms and details.
The artistic center of the horse yard is the gate tower of a stepped silhouette, decorated with belts of slot-like niches, lancet architraves, battlements and pinnacles. Most likely, this tower was inspired by those "beffroy" that adorn the town halls of the ancient cities of Flanders. All elements emphasize the vertical orientation of the building, its aspiration upwards. Now the building is occupied by several institutions, including a branch of the Museum of Local Lore in Volokolamsk and a branch of Sberbank.
Pseudo-Gothic prevailed in other outbuildings of the estate, which were erected here in mid-nineteenth century entrepreneur Shipov.
It is possible that in the Ostashev manor ensemble the architect tried to embody the image of a feudal town of the Middle Ages, which is why the towers of outbuildings, services and the horse yard, various in shape and height, sometimes completed with weathervanes, are used here so many times.
In 1903, the estate was bought by the Grand Duke K.K. Romanov. His son Oleg (1892-1914), dying from a wound received on German front asked to be buried under the church. For the tomb they chose a place almost on the very bank of the Ruza, on a high hillock - "Vasyutkina Hill". The project of the church-tomb, presumably in the name of Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky, executed by the architect M.M. Peretyatkovich, the author of the famous St. Petersburg Church of the Savior on the Waters, and S.M. Deshevov. The almost completed church was never consecrated - this was prevented by revolutionary events.
The composition of this building is very simple. To the cubic four-pillar one-domed temple of the cross-domed type with southeast side a massive two-span belfry adjoins. Under the building there is a basement with a beam ceiling, unearthed by local treasure hunters.
Manor Church
It is not sad, but the Ostashovskaya Church can serve as an example of sophisticated vandalism: instead of portals, huge breaches gape here, the ceilings are opened, the roof is torn off, tombstones, embedded in the masonry, are broken out of the walls. Someone's hands were diligently breaking the stones of its foundation, especially those where the names of the persons who were present at the laying were carved.
So the fresh river wind would have been walking under the gloomy vaults of the tomb, and wild pigeons cooing under the leaky dome, only over, apparently oblivion for the Ostashovsky temple - its restoration has recently begun.
Original taken from dimon_porter in
Passing through the fork in the village of Ostashevo on the road going through Ruza to Volokolamsk and connecting the Minsk and Riga highways, a rare driver and not every passenger will pay attention to the obelisk, lonely slumped on the side. Meanwhile, the obelisk marks the entrance to the alley of the once famous estate - without a doubt, one of the most famous in the Moscow province.
To say that now Ostashevo has been forgotten would be an exaggeration. Information about the estate is invariably included in local history and tourist guides, but this place is visited infrequently, and few know its history. The village of Ostashevo - now the Volokolamsk district of the Moscow region, and once the Mozhaisk district of the Moscow province - is located seventeen kilometers from the Volokolamsk railway station.
This village also had other names: Assumption (in the 17th century a church was built here with a chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin), Staroe Dolgolyadye. In the 17th century, the estate was owned by Fyodor Likhachev, who served as a clerk of the Local Order in the militia of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin. Then its owners were the princes Prozorovsky and Golitsyn. The manor ensemble began to take shape on turn of XVIII-XIX centuries, under Major General Prince Alexander Vasilyevich Urusov (1729-1813). Before him, the buildings were located on the opposite bank of the Ruza River. Urusov built a temple in memory of the right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky, and the estate became known as Aleksandrovskoye.
Since 1813, Ostashev was owned by Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov (1768-1840), major general, participant Patriotic War 1812 and foreign campaigns against Napoleon in 1813-1814. Muraviev was the first chairman of the Mathematical Society at the Imperial Moscow University. He was one of the founders of the Society of Agriculture and the Agricultural School, was the author and translator of numerous works on agriculture. But most of all, the Ostashev landowner is remembered as the founder of the School for Column Leaders (organized in 1816), which trained army officers.
Later, the school was transformed into the Nikolaev Academy General Staff. In the warm season, from May to October, in 1816-1823, future officers were engaged in geodesy, military formation and fortification in Ostashev. Among the pupils of the School there are twenty-two Decembrists. Ostashevo was visited by members of the secret society Ivan Yakushkin and Mikhail Fonvizin (nephew of the creator of "Undergrowth"), Nikita Muravyov (one of the ideologists northern society, the creator of one of the constitutional drafts), Matvey Muravyov-Apostol (brother of the executed Sergei Muravyov-Apostol).
Here, according to legend, one of the sons of the owner, Alexander Muravyov (1792-1863), who also belonged to the circle of the Decembrists and participated in the creation of the first secret freedom-loving society - the Union of Salvation, drew up, and then, fearing a search, buried in the ground a draft of the Russian Constitution. He became the owner of the estate in 1840, after the death of his father.
A more noticeable mark in Russian history was left by the other sons of Nikolai Muravyov, the Alexandrov brothers, part of whose life was spent in Ostashev. Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky (1796-1866) - Count, General of Infantry, Minister of State Property, Governor-General of the North-Western Territory in 1863-1865. With measures that some considered decisive, while others considered executioners, he suppressed the Polish uprising, for which he received from the emperor an honorary addition to the surname "Vilna", formed on behalf of the Polish-Lithuanian city of Vilna, now Vilnius.
Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky is the hero of two poems by Nekrasov - “Reflections at the front door” (a prototype of a sybarite nobleman, callous and indifferent to the disasters of the people) and the so-called Muravyov’s ode, in which he was glorified as the winner of the Polish rebels. (The poet wrote his panegyric to Muravyov, hoping to win the patronage of an influential nobleman and thereby save the Sovremennik magazine he published from the censorship ban; hope turned out to be futile.) In his youth, Muravyov was involved in the case of the Decembrists, and in his declining years he proudly said about himself that he is not one of those Muravyovs who are hanged, but of those who are hanged.
His no less famous brother Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Karsky (1794-1866) - general, commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Corps in Crimean War. Under his leadership, the troops took the Turkish fortress of Kars (1855). In memory of this feat, he received the honorary addition "Karsky" to his surname. The younger of the brothers is now half-forgotten, although once he was also very famous. Andrey Nikolaevich Muravyov (1806-1874) - church historian, spiritual writer.
In the second half 19th century The estate changed owners twice. Under the new owner, Nikolai Pavlovich Shipov, who replaced Muravyov Jr., a horse yard was built. Shipov turned the debt-laden estate into a profitable enterprise: the stud farm began to generate income. The horses of the Ostashevsk plant won prizes at the races more than once.
From 1903 to 1917 Ostashevo belonged to Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov and his heir. Grand Duke Konstantin (1858-1915), grandson of Nicholas I and great uncle Nicholas II, fought with the Turks on the Danube in the war of 1877-1878, later served as inspector general of military educational institutions. For more than half a century, until the end of his life, he was president of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
The Grand Duke is the author of many poems and the drama about Christ "King of the Jews", reflected in the "Yershalaim" chapters of Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita". His poem "The poor man died in a military hospital ..." (1885) about the plight of a soldier became a folk song. The Grand Duke translated Shakespeare and Goethe, Caesar Cui, Anton Rubinstein, Sergei Rachmaninov and Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote romances on his poems. Konstantin Konstantinovich, who modestly signed his works in print with the letters “K. R., corresponded with Tchaikovsky, with the poets Afanasy Fet and Apollo Maykov.
The famous lawyer Alexander Koni came to Ostashevo. Here he had a long conversation with the son of the Grand Duke Oleg - a passionate admirer of Pushkin's poetry.
The owners of Ostashev did not belong to the outstanding "progressive" cultural figures, but the memories of the Grand Duke-poet were in Soviet years simply undesirable. The estate did not have the fate of being turned into a sanatorium or a rest home and thus avoiding death. None of the previous owners would have recognized their lovely estate.
The main house was demolished, and in its place, exactly in the middle of the last century, the building of a music school in the style of "Stalin's empire" was built. Little has survived: two one-story residential outbuildings of the late 18th century - they were connected by a passage to the main house, a one-story office and a manager's house, an equestrian and barnyard s.
The stone horse yard, built in the 1840s, is one of the last neo-Gothic buildings in Russian estates. The courtyard is an L-shaped structure in plan of two one-story wings with a multi-tiered entrance tower with a clock, ornamented with lancet architraves - arches, battlements and pinnacles - small pointed decorative turrets. Looking closer, you can see that the clock face with arrows is drawn. A pitiful replacement for the former, the present. The spire that once crowned the tower has been lost.
The two-tier entrance towers at the front yard (pseudo-Gothic of the 18th century), two towers of the fence of one of the side yards and the already mentioned white stone obelisk at the entrance to the estate escaped destruction. Least of all from the barbarity of people and time suffered the newest of the estate buildings - the church-tomb in the name of the right-believing Prince Oleg of Bryansk and St. Seraphim of Sarov. Only the ceiling of the temple was replaced - from lobed to four-pitched. The four-pillar, single-domed, cross-domed church with a free-standing belfry was erected in 1915 in memory of the son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Oleg, who was mortally wounded on the German front at the very beginning of the war.
The temple was built over the grave of Oleg according to the project of architects M.M. Peretyatkovich and S.M. Deshevov, he was not consecrated. Vandals already in Soviet times broke stones with the names of persons imperial family, present at the bookmark. The robbers tried more than once to get to the grave of Prince Oleg: their criminal greed was fed by rumors that jewelry was placed in the coffin of the son of the Grand Duke ...
In 1969, by decision local authorities the body of Prince Oleg was secretly buried at night in the village cemetery across the Ruza River. But rumor persistently insists that the remains of the son of the Grand Duke were simply thrown away, like unnecessary garbage.
In Soviet times, the fence of stone pillars with bars was destroyed, which separated the front yard from the outbuildings of the horse and cattle yards, connecting the entrance towers, the office and the manager's house. The park once had separate sections, tracts - each with its own special composition and mood - bearing the names of glorious foreign cities: "Baden", "Philadelphia". Now they can't be found. The abandoned park has grown and now looks more like a forest. But in it you can still find a pond with an island in the middle.
A three-tiered tower-shaped church has survived in the village of Brazhnikovo, located on the other, left bank of the Ruza River. This temple, the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, was built in the estate of Prince Peter Ivanovich Prozorovsky in 1713-1715. The tiered composition of the church is typical for its time and resembles the structure of the famous Church of the Intercession in Fili. But the Brazhnikovsky temple is simpler and stricter, it is devoid of stucco and carved patterns, characteristic of the Filevskaya church, which reflected the trends of the “Moscow baroque”. The Brazhnikovsky temple has been restored.
In Soviet times, the bell tower built in 1859 was lost (only the lower tier remained of it). The wide windows of the lower, quadruple tier of the church do not belong to the 18th century, but to later times: the window openings were hewn in 1863. You can get to the temple by moving or crossing the river on a road bridge. Under Shipov and Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, Brazhnikovo was part of the Ostashevo estate.
Those who expect to see a holistic architectural and park landscape, Ostashevo will not only disappoint, but deceive. Ostashevo is not Arkhangelsk, not Kuskovo, not Ostankino and other luxurious palace ensembles. Yes, and among the less well-known estates near Moscow, you can find better preserved ones with more famous former owners - at least Lermontov's Serednikovo or Yaropolets of the Goncharovs, who owe their fame to a couple of Pushkin's visits.
You need the ability to peer into the scattered buildings - the remains of the former Ostashev and an effort of imagination in order to feel the discreet beauty of the place and touch the memory stored by these ruins and half-ruins. See pearls in the dirt. And then the spent efforts and time will not be in vain.
Restoring the estate is difficult, maybe even impossible, the ensemble is so badly damaged. However, even in this form it remains a historical monument. It would be good if the Ostashev buildings could be mothballed, although this is hard to believe.
Text by Doctor of Philology Andrey Ranchin
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Ostashev Chronicles
The village of Ostashevo, Volokolamsk District, Moscow Region, and the family of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich have been firmly connected since the beginning of the last century. And this connection is obvious to many who are interested in the history of the Royal House.
Visiting the cousin of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna in Ilyinsky near Moscow, the “August piit” wanted to find a place for his and growing children to find a place where, far from everyday bustle, you could find yourself in peaceful harmony with nature.
Oh, if only to merge
With a flower and a bird and all the earth,
And with them, as they are, pray
One prayer;
Without words, without thought, without asking
In delight with a quivering soul to burn
And in cheerful oblivion Revere!
/K.R. There are bright moments :/
The grand ducal family spent the first summer of the new twentieth century on the blessed land of Kaluga in the estate
the house of the county marshal of the nobility D. Kashkin in the village of Nizhnie Pryski, equally adjacent to the Shamorda Monastery and Optina Hermitage. These wonderful summer experiences prompted us to speed up the search for a suitable homestead to purchase. The price indicated by Osorgin for his Kaluga estate turned out to be unbearable for the Grand Duke, and the estate in the village of Sosnino Podolsky district did not satisfy the family.
Prince Grigory Konstantinovich Ushkov urgently needed to sell the Ostashev estate with the surrounding villages and farms.
AT July days In 1903, an entry about first impressions appeared in the diary of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich:
“The terrain is modest, fields, woods, sandy terrain. Beautiful entrance to the house. First, without stopping at the estate, we went around it on the left (from the east) and, having crossed below the dam with a mill, wade across the river Ruza, we drove into the forest on the right bank, where a stone church stands against the master's house. Another church is also nearby, in Blagoveshchensky or Brazhnikovsky farm "..."
From the church we went to the estate. A road lined with lindens leads to it from the north, then behind two stone turretsa courtyard decorated with a flower garden spreads out, along the outer circle of which a road leads to the house. The house is large, stone, with columns. "..."
Large and comfortable rooms; the view from the terrace is charming: a flower garden, behind it a lawn descending to the river, on it between the shore and the house there is a pond with an island overgrown with trees. Opposite the house, across the river, on the right bank of the church, very picturesque. To the right of the house, above the high bank of the river turning to the left, stretches a shady park.
We were fed breakfast in a spacious dining room. We went to a beautiful stable, were in a barn full of all kinds of carriages, walked around the whole house, went to the office, sheds, barns, working stables: exemplary order everywhere. We went to the Uspensky farm, where there is a beautiful barnyard. After lunch we returned to Volokolamsk to the station. Drashkovsky, Ushkov and Melas talked about the profitability of the estate. I would love to buy it."
Difficult negotiations of proxies for three months ... and now the deal took place. The intentions of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich were destined to come true.
For the poetK.R. this period of life was marked by a creative crisis: “For the whole of 1903, she didn’t give me her smiles at all ..” Terror, unhealthy moods in society ... Difficult and very responsible work in the field of the president of the Academy of Sciences, no less responsible, but kind to the heart, pedagogical and inspector activities, as the chief head of military educational institutions, numerous duties of a member of the Imperial House ... Spiritualcraft - the patron of the Polotsk church brotherhood, the Ostashkovsky society of the Monk Nil of Stolobensky the Wonderworker, the parochial school in Seraphim of Sarov.
The estate with a “white-pink rural temple above the steepness” became a “secluded haven” for statesman, a creative workshop - for a playwright, translator, critic, an inspired muse - for a poet ..., for the young princes Igor and Oleg - a field of activity, an object for long-term economic plans and projects for arranging an estate, for Princess Vera - a source of warm, children's memories of the time when they were still together ... for St. George Cavalier Prince Oleg - the resting place.
From my own biography of the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, Princess Vera.
“The summer months were spent in the Ostashevo estate, Moscow province, at the junction of Zvenigorod, Volokolamsk and Mozhaisk districts. My father bought this small estate of 300 acres to show us children the Russian village. In Ostashevo, my favorite childhood memories are: free village life, horseback riding, rowing on the Ruza River, the same one that Leo Tolstoy mentions in War and Peace, describing the Battle of Borodino.
The estate was beautifully located on the right steep bank of the river. Big wild park. On the left bank of the Ruza is a pink church with blue domes. The ringing woke me up in the morning."
From the memoirs of the old-timers of the village:“The day the Grand Duke arrived in Ostashevo was an extraordinary day for the local population. The arrival of the grand-ducal family was arranged extremely solemnly. The meeting began 20 miles from the estate, at the railway station Volokolamsk, where the manager of the estate went with several triplets of the same color trotters. The local policemen were also there. Signalmen were installed along the road from the yard at a distance of up to five miles. At the entrance to Ostashevo, the Romanovs began to beat the church bell.
The princely train first of all went to the church, where the local priest served a prayer service for the health of their imperial majesties. At the end of the prayer service, the grand ducal family headed to the court, where wealthy peasants were already standing, led by the headman, who presented the prince with bread and salt. The highnesses entered the palace, and on the roof of the palace a special grand ducal flag flew up along the cord, and the peasants went to the tavern, where the whole "world" drank vodka for the health of their master. This flag fluttered during the prince's stay on the estate, and by the presence of it one could judge whether the grand duke was here or drove off to his place in St. Petersburg.
In the summer of 1904, Prince Oleg first came to his father's estate as a twelve-year-old boy and remained devoted to Ostashev to the end.
And in the twenty-first century we got the opportunity to get acquainted with his letters, notes about people, about the suburbs, about plans for arranging the surrounding villages ...
“... Somehow recently I rode Volnushka and wandered into a dense forest. It even got creepy. Suddenly I came out of the forest into a clearing and saw a hut. At first, I thought, is it really a hut on chicken legs, so it happened unexpectedly. An old man was drinking tea at a table in front of the hut. I called him and drove up. He invited me to have tea with him. It turned out that it was a forester. He entered the hut to get a cup for me, and I followed him. In the dark passage a dog barked angrily. I entered the room. To the right of the door stood a large, wide bed, where the old man sleeps with the old woman. In the corner of the image. On the wall hangs a plan of the forest, Ushkovsky. The old man got everything he needed and, leaving the hut with me, shouted at the dog. He moved a stool for me, and he sat down on a tub with a crossbar. The old man broke a few pieces of sugar, poured us both tea and we started talking. At this time, Volnushka, tied to a tree, plucked the grass. It turned out that the forester was a former soldier of a Turkish company. He began to tell me his military adventures, about Nikolai Nikolayevich Sr. and others. It was all very interesting."
In the notebooks of Prince Oleg we find a DESCRIPTION OF OSTASHEV: “Ostashevo, my father's estate, where we have spent two summers, is located in the Moscow province, in the Volokolamsk district. Our house is located near the village. From the main entrance there is a linden alley leading to the large square of the village, where fairs are held on Sundays and major holidays. Peasants come here, more or less rich, and sell various small goods: there is a cart with clay pots,
they sell gingerbread and various accessories of rural life”.
A detailed description of the area of the village follows. Most of all, Oleg Konstantinovich was attracted by landscapes: he passionately admired the golden colors of autumn, the greenish-purple color of spring or sunlight winter pictures; admired from the tower of the palace the beautiful bend of the path, the river, the edge of the forest, the cliff or the receding distances of the Ostashev suburbs.
OLEG ROMANOV
The night has come on. The estate falls asleep…
We all gathered around the table in the dining room
Eyes close, but we are too lazy to part,
And the sleepy dog in the corner diligently yawns,
The open window blew from the garden
Night, tender, coolness in our room ...
A deck of new cards lies in front of me.
Mysteriously hot samovar hisses,
And up a gray, transparent wave
Warm steam creeps and curls.
A small swarm of impressions lulls me,
And the dream was inspired by the shadow of sleepy antiquity,
And I remembered Pushkin's Eugene
In the Larins' estate, in the midst of the same silence.
The exact same house, the same closets,
Portraits on the walls, cupboards in every corner,
Sofas, mirrors, porcelain, toys, slides
And sleepy flies on the white ceilings….
The poem was written in Domnikh, but these poetic lines are so consonant with the description of the rooms of the Ostashev Palace.
1904 - 1909 - unsuccessful for Russia Russo-Japanese War. Russia is worried, restless in St. Petersburg. In the diary, impending formidable events take center stage. They imperiously chain the spiritual forces of K.R. Konstantin Konstantinovich clearly understood what was happening. On December 3, 1904, he writes: “The infection, like gangrene, is corroding Russia deeper and further, not sparing even the troops. Can they really not resist the pressure of propaganda? December 4 - about the same: “The revolution, as it were, knocks loudly at the door. It's embarrassing and scary."
On December 20, 1904, Port Arthur fell, and on the 21st K.R. wrote in his diary: "Terrible news." And shortly before that, on December 8, K.R. wrote a poetic message in support of the besieged Port Arthur.
January 9, 1905. About the events of January 9, the Grand Duke writes calmly and with restraint. This is a look at events from the palace, through the eyes of those who are moving crowds of excited people. On the basis of disagreements in relation to the army, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich had a conflict with academicians in January 1905. January 27 in the newspaper "Rus" was published "Note of 342 scientists". Sixteen academicians were among the signatories; half of the full members of the Academy of Sciences. Representatives of Russian science spoke in their "Note" about the need for reforms of higher and high school. At the same time, scientists drew political conclusions: "academic freedom is incompatible with the modern system of Russia", spoke out for political freedom, for "attracting representatives freely chosen from the people to implement legislation." The President of the Academy of Sciences did not welcome this document. Moreover, he wrote his "objection" in response.
On February 4, 1905, the president was going to read his “objection” to 342 scientists in the general meeting of the Academy, but on that day he had to urgently leave for Moscow, where his cousin and friend Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was killed. Here is what Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote in his diary on February 4: “Sergey was riding in a carriage ... at the Nikolsky (in the Kremlin) gates, someone threw two bombs under the carriage. (...) Sergey lived for another 10 minutes.
February 5, 1905 Konstantin Konstantinovich was in Moscow. His impressions of recent events are the most gloomy.
“A terrible event,” he writes in his diary on February 6, “appears to be some kind of dream ... Things are getting worse in Russia; if you look back at autumn, at September-October, you simply can’t believe with what quick steps we are moving towards unknown, but inevitable disasters. Unbridledness everywhere, everyone is confused.
On March 18, 1905, the Grand Duke left St. Petersburg for a while to his estate in Ostashevo in the Mozhaisk district. There he met with local peasants, to whom he ceded his lands, which they needed for grazing. In Ostashevo, Konstantin Konstantinovich learns with a heavy feeling about the death of part of the Russian fleet. Russo-Japanese War -
his constant pain. “Some kind of evil fate weighs on our poor homeland,” he wrote in his diary on February 26. There is turmoil inside, in the Far East in the war of failure. And this feeling of evil fate became more and more decisive in the mood of the Grand Duke.
The diary of Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov for 1905-1906 is mainly occupied with a description political position Russia. Thanks to the punctuality of the author of the diary, it becomes a kind of chronicle revolutionary events these years.
On December 7, a political strike began in Moscow. Unrest broke out in Rostov-on-Don, in Sormov, in Siberia, in Ukraine, in the Baltic States, in Tiflis, in Baku, in Armenia.
On February 24, 1906, Konstantin Konstantinovich gathered a commission in the Marble Palace, which was entrusted with the construction of a monument to Pushkin in St. Petersburg. In March, the president faced the question of protecting Pushkin's Nizhny Novgorod estate, the village of Boldino.
On September 22, the issue of erecting a monument to Pushkin in St. Petersburg was again discussed in the Marble Palace.
On July 14, 1907, the “Regulations on the Pushkin House” was approved, which determined the goals and status of this scientific institution. His task was, first of all, to collect and store everything related to Pushkin, the poet and the person. Along with this, the Pushkin House was created as a source study center for Russian classical literature. For the time being, only the idea of the Pushkin House existed, but the foundation was already being laid, an active collection of archival and museum materials, its future collections, was underway. Long time Pushkin House did not have a "roof". His invaluable materials
stored in boxes and chests. In 1913, the collections of the House were placed in the lobby and three halls of the main building of the Academy of Sciences.
On May 10, 1905, daughter Natalya died in infancy. Only a year later, K.R. found the strength to respond to this death with the poem "Our poor child has died out ...". K.R. wrote this poem on March 10, 1906, when fate gave him another daughter, Vera.
In May 1906, the Grand Duke was to go with an inspection review to Warsaw on the occasion of the first graduation of the cadet corps. Personal impressions from Russian life during the trip, as well as information from the newspapers, Konstantin Konstantinovich is deeply discouraged. “Throughout Russia,” he writes, “political assassinations, robberies with the seizure of money for the purposes of the revolution, bomb explosions, outrages. The same revolution is felt in the Duma.” His mental anguish was aggravated by the news of a rebellion among the Preobrazhenians. "Horrible! the Preobrazhensky Regiment disappeared. I cried tears of shame and deep grief! (…) What a shame!”
January 6, 1908 - a major family event: the swearing in of the eldest sons John and Gabriel. K.R. undertakes the translation of Goethe's poem "Iphigenia in Tauris".
March 20, 1909 Konstantin Konstantinovich writes in his diary: “Again, as 20 years ago, I am pondering a drama, the content of which should be suffering and the death of the Lord on the cross. Actors Pilate, his wife, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, the Myrrh-bearing John, the wife of "Khuza" would appear.
March 27, 1909 in the diary it is written: “I am superstitious: the beginning is laid on a holy day - Good Friday; Doesn't this portend a good ending? The end of the "King of the Jews" fell on November 19, 1913.
Oh moonlit night beauty
I am in awe of you again.
Before your silence and meekness
Again the sinful lips grow numb.
So impeccable is this purity,
So virgin that the one who washed her
With rapture I languish and burn.
Like this night, be, oh, soul, pure!
Surrender to all her healing power
Forget the earth and thoughts and passions,
Let the rays of the moon penetrate you.
And brighter, more incorporeal night,
And the world is full, and silence,
You will look into the eyes of eternity yourself.
November 2, 1909 - 25 years of the officer society of lovers of literature and art "Izmailovsky leisure".
For many years (from 1881 to 1912) Konstantin Konstantinovich was engaged in the translation of F. Schiller's drama The Bride of Messina. "The Messinian Bride" for the first time in Russian, translated by K.R. was staged at Izmailovsky Leisure. The five-act tragedy was played with the participation of the august translator, who played the role of the Prince of Messina Don - Caesar. Among the performers was his son - Konstantin Konstantinovich (younger). In April 1909, the Imperial Chinese Theater in Tsarskoye Selo was provided for the performance, which at that time had just been repaired and improved. The emperor, the whole family of Konstantin Konstantinovich, Grand Dukes Dmitry Pavlovich and Sergei Mikhailovich attended the premiere. Among the spectators were A.F. Horsemeat. Kotlyarevsky, V.I. Nemirovich - Danchenko, K.S. Stanislavsky and other eminent spectators.
Dear Pas! I am writing to you from our rainy Ostashev, but still sweet and dear. I am only afraid that somehow I will write what our people have already written to You about. Tatyana and I draw almost every day, mostly flowers. I tried to draw my lily, which I ordered from the Rosen brothers. I moved them all here, and none of them spoiled. These lilies have blossomed and given red flowers. Oskar Borisovich Kerber dreams of growing floriculture here. It would be nice if your favorite Sailors were the gardener here. So far, a certain Lukyanov, as the women call him, serves as our gardener. Before lyostroton (I don’t know if I’m writing this word correctly) we have flower beds with different colors. Peonies to the right and left of the house are already withering. In some places there are irises - purple, white, blue. Jasmine smelled amazingly fragrant in front of our house on both sides. On one of the lakes there were marsh birds, there are even herons.
Why not a poetic description of simple, seemingly familiar things, and I’m absolutely sure that this is interesting and touching for my father. How else? Konstantin Konstantinovich also has delight, admiration and inspiration for Ostashevskaya everyday life.
In the first two days of the coming year, he moved a little of the "King of the Jews." But I am very afraid that it will be a weak, unsuccessful work ... We went skiing. And what an evening it was: the narrow crescent of the new moon shone in the pale blue sky and the evening star burned. And below everywhere is white, white snow.
Ostashevo Tuesday. 5.
Last evening in dear Ostashev! Today it's thaw again, it's snowy since morning. “...” The sun appeared during the day, at 4 o'clock it was already at sunset, and from the river it was visible how the windows of our house were cast with gold. A pale blue sky was visible here and there between the clouds, and the snow was dazzlingly white. So beautiful!
From a letter to K.R. family friend A.F. Horses:
In the countryside, work is easy and fast. I have already finished reviewing the poems of the peasant poet Drozhzhin, whorepresents an outstanding phenomenon, and I ask the Rank to award him some kind of award ...
OSTASHEVO
I love you, secluded shelter!
An old house on a quiet river
And white-pink, reflected in it
Opposite the village temple above the steepness.
The garden is unpretentious, but fragrant,
Above the linden blossom there is a buzzing swarm of bees;
And in front of the house there is a meadow with two ponds,
And islands with dense poplars.
I like to climb into the forest, deeper into the shade:
There, after the sun-drenched garden,
In a dry summer, on a bright hot day
And silence, and twilight, and coolness ...
I like to sit on moss overgrown with foam
In the midst of the green darkness for the consolation
When it sparkles in your eyes because of the trees
River, shining with a mirror surface!
Under the spruce shaggy branches
Mysterious, harsh twilight.
Carpet of fallen needles underfoot;
It is soft and muffles the step.
A cheerful, bright birch forest
With curly, through foliage
And juicy, dewy grass.
I'm going to the ravine. From there it leads up
Stepped path to a wooded hill;
Above it is a gloomy vault of old firs
Navis, impenetrable, branched,
And a secret made its way into the thicket,
There, a resinous aroma will overwhelm me.
Fly agaric reddens in dense shade
And the porcini mushroom furtively teases the eye.
Another ravine. Here the bridge is turning yellow new.
From it I will climb again, to another hill,
And I come, bypassing the pine forest,
To a steep cliff above the river.
I can see here: its leaden ebb,
Long run and steep twist,
Space and smoothness, and expanse, and greenery of the meadow
Coastal opposite semicircle
A far away on the shore is our house
With columns, classical pediment,
Wide staircase in front of the porch,
Two rows of windows and a balcony.
It's getting dark. crimson fire
The river burns under the scarlet sky.
Already a light between the columns in the window
From my room shines to me.
Home, where the captivating, beloved awaits
3a desk everyday work!
Home, where peace reigns unruffled,
Where is silence and rest and comfort!
Only the pendulum beats tirelessly,
Assuring that the days are running too soon...
Oh, how my soul is full of gratitude
Fate for the grace of solitude!
On December 28, 1910, for Christmas, Konstantin Konstantinovich arrives for a few days in his Ostashevo. “From the hustle and bustle that was eating me up,” he wrote in one of his letters that day, “on the second day of Christmas, I fled with my wife and children (except for the two smallest ones) to the village. I want to be in the wilderness, enjoy
silence and balance.
“… My journey was lovely. I saw a lot of different and interesting things… I was in Paris…, in Le Havre…, in the High Pyrenees, Grenada, Madrid, Barcelona, Toulouse. My mood is wonderful. Plans after plans are born in my head. This winter, a farm is being started in Kolyshkino, a house is being built in the spring, a garden is being laid out and an old nest will bloom. Igor takes Brazhnikovo, and he, on the one hand, and I, on the other, embrace our dear Ostashevo with our estates. A highway will be built there from next spring. I join the regiment. This winter - Last year at the Lyceum. See how many plans! The most difficult thing is to do them well, which I hope to do with God's help. I write a lot for myself. There is a lot of work in the estate and fields. Igor rushes everywhere, and I try to keep up with him. The other day we were working on the reapers. In addition, I go hunting a lot, I write letters in different directions ... In a word, we live, and the days flow.
The time spent in Ostashevo for Prince Oleg was spent in literature, music, and hunting. But books could not tear Prince Oleg away from life, literary pursuits did not take away his interest in the countryside.
Fragment of a poem by Prince Oleg
The storm has passed ... and with it sadness,
And sweet at heart. I look boldly into the distance,
And again the dear homeland calls to itself,
The fatherland is poor, unhappy, holy.
I'm ready to forget everything: suffering, grief, tears
And nasty passions, love and friendship, dreams
And himself. Is it yourself? .. yes, yourself,
Oh, Russia, holy martyr, for You.
1911
Letters from Prince Igor Konstantinovich to his brother Prince Oleg are full of stories about buying males for breeding foxes, about hunting badgers, about the calving cow Broshka, about the state of meadows, mowers, stables, about excellent honey collection, about the construction of a highway, etc. etc.
“... Your dream of a first-class farm is the same as mine ...” (Ostashevo 1912 June 12). Is this not a role model for modern business executives?
“... We found ourselves on a country road. There was an imperturbable silence. For the first time after the hard winter work and the worries of the last days, I breathed freely. The whole chest breathed and enjoyed the clean country air. Exams, professors, the Lyceum, the regiment, all the excitement is over now ... God, how good! Escaped! Somewhere out there, far, far away, people worry, suffer, creating deceptive idols for themselves, in pursuit of some kind of happiness ... Happiness! Yes, here it is, happiness! God, how good is this silence, how good is this sky, this forest, this field...
And what, Ivan, - I asked, noticing heaps of stones lying on the road, - are they going to do highways?
And who knows them? They came, they measured, but they screwed up ... No, they won’t make a shasha soon!
Highway! - I thought - a sign of culture, progress ... this should be rejoiced - a step forward! Then there will be no potholes, no coachmen, no triples. We will start driving cars here and it will not be two hours, but only an hour. Little by little, factories will grow, industry will boil. To the right and to the left, I will no longer see boundless fields and forests ... everything will be built up ... the forest will be cut down, the swamps will be drained ... And it’s scary to think about the time when a factory chimney will grow in front of the windows of our landowner’s house! The wonderful sky will be covered with clouds of stinking smoke, the air will be poisoned forever, and poetry and charm will be lost. village life. No, no ... it would be better not to see this, it would be better not to live to see this time ... "
May 5, 1913: “No, the time has passed when it was possible to rest on our laurels, not to know anything, not to do anything to us - the princes. We must carry our banner high, we must “justify our origin in the eyes of the people. There is so much to do in Russia!: I remember the cross that was given to me for my coming of age (the grand ducal coming of age is 20 years old). Yes, my life is not pleasure, not entertainment, but a cross ... I put Dad as an example for myself, I want to bring myself to thatmoral perfection which he had attained. I am afraid of my passion, passion in everything that I do.
The whole of 1913 passed in festivities and celebrations on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the accession of the Romanov dynasty.
During the summer holidays, military educational institutions were ordered to make excursions with cadets and cadets to Moscow, to Russian ancient cities, to monasteries ...
The memoirs of Lieutenant-General Boris Viktorovich Adamovich are a fascinating detailed description of the one-day stay of the Vilnius cadets in Ostashev. Here are just a few of the episodes.
“The day before departure, I receive a telegram: “When does the tour leave? We would like to see you all along the way in Ostashevo ... We will send horses to Volokolamsk. We’ll prepare a lodging for the night ... Konstantin. The meeting at the Volokolamsk station was organized "according to the traditions of the old estate nobility."
“... Despite the fact that it turned out by telegrams that we could not stay overnight, for each cadet a bed was prepared, although on the floor, but inviting with whiteness and splendor (I later learned that after dinner many still fell on them , allegedly resting in order to use everything that was provided by hospitality): rooms were set aside for the officers, and the Grand Duke took me to the half of the Grand Duchess and left me in the room in which my travel things were already lying.
The Grand Duke was amazingly able and liked to create a general conversation at the table. He sensitively heard and listened, picked up the topic touched on at one end of the table, passed the topics from the middle to the ends, encouraged the speakers, called the silent ones to replicas, and quickly involved everyone in an easy conversation, being its soul and leader. Junkers in this table test, sitting interspersed among family members and household members, felt calm, although later they admitted to some curious, but not serious ones.
When it was completely dark outside the windows, along the outlines of the shores of ponds and islands, on the ferry pier and above the trees, multi-colored lanterns began to light up and adorned the view with hundreds of illumination lights. We went downstairs to the children gathered in the flower garden near the veranda with all “ours” and with all the guests. To the left of us, not moving forward, but speaking freely, stretched out the whole household of the manor house and a crowd of peasants. Everyone already knew that not only illumination, but also fireworks were lit in honor of the guests today. Rockets flew, Roman candles, larks, crackers, fountains clogged, suns spun. There were “ahahs” and delights… But besides the usual beauty, there was another beauty in these “funny lights”: the observance of the tradition of the old Moscow Region reception of guests in a manor estate. According to the same traditions, the evening ended ... "
Nothing seemed to portend trouble. But September of the following year was tragic for the family of Konstantin Konstantinovich.
From the letters of Prince Oleg:
"God! How I want to work for the good of Russia! But not alone military service should be our field. In fact, we almost departed from Pavlovian customs and mores. If we were to return the boots and wigs, then we would become real corporals: “To the right! Left! Hello, brothers! No, this should not be our business. We need to do more things."
Peasant life, which had long attracted his attention, became clearer to him. The prince, so eager to work for the benefit of the Motherland, gets to know the life of the peasants, their sorrows, and, with his characteristic responsiveness, makes plans to combat the negative aspects of village life.
Prince Oleg felt responsible for the Ostashev estate. Together with his brother Igor, he kept account books for housekeeping on the estate. Prince Oleg shared his thoughts and plans with Dora Semyonovna Tauber, who was treating him in Ostashevo.
“Often,” she writes in her memoirs, “we talked with Prince Oleg Konstantinovich about the ignorance, lack of culture and drunkenness of our peasants and the need to divert the Russian people from taverns, monopoles and give them the opportunity to develop and get an education.”
In April 1914, according to Dora Semyonovna, Prince Oleg came up with a plan for which there would be a library, a reading room; they were to be headed by persons who could guide the reading, indicate to the reader which book is useful for him; the same person could public holidays reading with hazy pictures of fiction, history, natural sciences. It was also possible to conduct religious and moral readings there. In addition, an agronomist would read on agronomy, doctors - popular hygiene, sanitation and medicine.
Performances could also be staged from time to time. In a word, there would be an institution where the worker or peasant would go with pleasure, spend his leisure time there, take a rest from labor day and be reborn morally and physically.
1914- World War I. The sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich did not face the question of where they should be after Russia's entry into the war.
“We, all five brothers, go to war with our regiments. I really like it, because it shows that in difficult moment the royal family at the height of their position. I am writing and emphasizing this, we, Konstantinovichi, all five of us are at war.
On July 25, 1914, the prince arrived at the site of hostilities in East Prussia. The hussar regiment, in which the cornet Oleg went on a campaign, was part of the first active army. Although the Prince served at the headquarters and kept a regimental diary, he
often had to be on the front line, under fire. In letters to his parents, he spoke in detail about a new military life for him - about lagging wagon trains with food and linen, about horses that had not been fed for three days, about the joy that parcels with warm clothes and food bring, about transitions lasting night and five minutes nap stops right on the ground.
Oleg Konstantinovich was faithful to his long-term habit of keeping a diary in the army, but there were long breaks between entries. This is done in the field book on the eve of the last battle.
Performed at 8:00 am. It is supposed to go to Daynen to plug the hole formed between the rifle brigade and the 56th division in order to enter the rear of the Germans sitting in Shukla. Of course, we knew that this would not be done. We are now sitting on the same fence (already 11 o'clock), before reaching Vladislavov. Machine guns and artillery shots are heard. We sent letters through a volunteer cuirassier, who is going to St. Petersburg. They brought in a wounded infantry officer. The Germans, he says, threw out a white flag, shouted "Don't shoot!", and in the end they fired. Maybe it's a lie? Shooting more often. The infantry withdraws. Team "Horse!"
On October 2, 1914, a funeral service was held, which was performed by the Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna Tikhon (Belavin).
On the same day, the coffin with the body of Oleg Konstantinovich was transported to the station, where it came to say goodbye to the prince great amount people. The funeral train headed for Moscow. As it progressed, funeral services were served at many stations. At the request, repeatedly expressed by the deceased, and with the highest permission of Emperor Nicholas II, Prince Oleg Konstantinovich was buried in Ostashevo, on his father's estate. From Moscow, the funeral procession went to Volokolamsk, where
arrived October 3, 1914. The coffin was placed on a gun carriage and taken to Ostashevo, as Prince Oleg wished. The cortege was accompanied by the clergy and a choir of singers. More than a hundred wreaths were carried on chariots. The coffin was followed by the parents and relatives of the deceased, as well as officials. Ahead they carried the Order of St. George of the 4th degree granted to Oleg Konstantinovich.
Lines pierced by acute pain from the diary of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich describe in detail the event that forever connected Prince Oleg with the Ostashev land.
We arrived in Ostashevo an hour and a half before the arrival of the coffin. They went out to meet him in the village. On the square, between the chapel and the monument to Alexander the Liberator, lithium was served. The coffin was untied from the carriage, the Ostashev peasants picked it up and carried it along the linden alley, to the right to the poultry yard, past Oleg's windows to the garden and to the right along the river. The path at the beginning of the park, where a path leads to the left to a hillock towering over the floodplain of the Ruza, under the trees is located "Natusino Mesto". This is how we named this mound, where there is a bench: 9 years ago, when our Natusya fell ill, we were waiting here for telegrams with news. Instead of covered birch bark round table with a bench they dug a deep grave, trimmed with wooden boards. Here Father Ostashevsky Malinin, with Oleg's confessor, Hieromonk Sergius, who had arrived on purpose, and Deacon Alexander of Pavlovsk, served the last Litiya. George Cross on a pillow of fabric
St. George's flowers were held by George. Ostashevsky father, before lowering the coffin into the grave, read a word from a piece of paper; it was not wise, but the reading was interrupted by such sincere sobs from the priest that it was impossible to listen without tears. We
they unhooked a protective cap and a sword from the coffin lid; one of the peasants asked to kiss her. They lowered the coffin into the grave. Everyone took turns pouring a handful of earth, and it was all over ... "
The Grand Duke was not let go by anxiety for other sons. On October 4, 1914, he wrote in his diary: “Sometimes melancholy attacks me, and I cry easily. Horror and awe are taken when you think that with four sons who soon need to return to the army, the same thing can happen as with Oleg. I recall the myth of Niobe, who had to lose all her children. Are we destined for this? And I will repeat: "Thy will be done."
K.R.
When there is no urine to bear the cross
When there is no urine to bear the cross,
When sadness cannot be overcome
We raise our eyes to heaven
Praying day and night
For the Lord to have mercy.
On October 13, 1914, Empress Maria Feodorovna wrote to Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich:
“Yesterday Olga and Mitya dined with me, who had just returned from Ostashevo, where they were present at the burial of poor Oleg K. Thank God, the unfortunate parents were a little comforted by the fact that they found him alive, and he was glad to see them. Kostya gave him the cross of St. George, which he kissed and soon lost consciousness and fell asleep peacefully.
Of course, for him it was a beautiful death, but for unfortunate parents, grief remains grief. Especially poor Kostya is deeply saddened. Olga says that Oleg was his beloved son, the closest to his heart, the most gifted and such a kind and wonderful boy.
The prince was the only representative of the Romanov dynasty who died during the First World War.
After his death, Nicholas II assigned the first company of the Polotsk Cadet Corps the name "Company of His Highness Prince Oleg Konstantinovich."
In memory of his son, Konstantin Konstantinovich established a scholarship in the Polotsk Corps.
...Wonderful October days. It's freezing in the morning, frost on the grass, fat on the river, and in the afternoon it's warm in the sun. Serg, our beloved engineer, arrived at our request. Nick. Smirnov. We want, according to Oleg's desire, to build a church over his grave in the name of the Reverend Prince Oleg and Seraphim of Sarov. Smirnov willingly undertakes this.
From the memoirs of an academician-art critic, great friend family of Anatoly Fedorovich Koni:
“I see in front of me, with the distinctness that is characteristic of grief, Prince Oleg Konstantinovich in marching combat uniform, with his sweet face and soft, “talking eyes” looking thoughtfully into the distance, cordially saying goodbye to me on July 23, on the day of his departure to the current army...
We were united by love for Pushkin, to whom he treated enthusiastically, shrewdly and industriously. In Pushkin, whose manuscripts were begun by him with such success, for him everything that is strong, original, expensive and can rightfully be proud of Russia was personified. And when this Russia called Oleg Konstantinovich to battle, he gave her all his strength and thoughts, realizing that there are historical moments when the Motherland, modifying the words of Scripture, must say: Let a man leave his father and mother and cleave to me. In his soul, which understood Pushkin in this way, the covenant of the “old woman-prophetress” to the young knight could not help but sound: Clean up honestly with wounds, / Wash yourself with scarlet blood ...
From the memoirs of the Grand Duke Gabriel Konstantinovich
January 1915
During the same Great Lent, I went to Ostashevo with Kostya and Igor to Oleg's grave on the occasion of the six-month death day. We left for Moscow by evening train. In Moscow, we moved to another station and went to Volokolamsk, and from there on our horses to our dear Ostashevo.
I knew little about Ostashevo, because I was there only a few times, while my brothers lived there for a long time. We served a memorial service at Oleg's grave. In Ostashevo lived his valet, handsome Makarov and his wife. We were happy to meet him. We stayed in our children's wing, which was so cozy, and Makarov fed us a delicious lunch.
In Ostashevo, next to the grave of Prince Oleg, his father, according to the project of the academician of architecture M. Peretyatkovich and the engineer-architect Deshevov, built a temple-tomb in the ancient Pskov style.
As a true Christian, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich humbly accepted the trials of life, but the deep wound inflicted by fate became mortal. The Grand Duke died on June 2, 1915.
From her own biography of the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, Princess Vera:
AT last time we went to Ostashevo in the summer of 1916. I had some premonition that this was the last time ... I ran to Oleg's grave in the park and through the scaffolding of the church under construction, not far from the house, under the altar of which Oleg was supposed to be buried. (“Cadet Roll Call” Periodical of the Association of Cadets of Russian Cadet Corps Abroad New York, USA)
The Romanov family built on our land elementary School across the river, a two-class zemstvo school, a hospital for 75 people. A highway was laid to the village of Ryukhovskoye. A public library was opened, where "foggy pictures" were shown on Sundays. In the village of Kolyshkino, a nursery was organized, which was completely maintained by the family of the owners of the estate.
It is necessary to cite another document dated 1917. This is the cry of the soul, "heart pain", "voice of truth" - after 92 years, it not only excites, but makes one shudder. What a visionary this resident of Ostashevo is!
LETTER TO PRINCE IGOR KONSTANTINOVICH
Your Highness Prince Igor Konstantinovich! I consider it my moral duty to tell you, Prince, that such a robbery is taking place on your estate, Ostashevo, that it becomes terrifying: the meadows are surrendered to Maslov as he pleases: the forest is sold and bred who is not too lazy, it even becomes a pity to the pain of the heart. Although the new steward has arrived, the same Maslov is in charge of everything, and the new steward walks around the estate like a blind man, and therefore the game is on who is into what much. The estate is melting and ruined. Maslov invited the barn man as his agent, who, thanks to his inattention, steamed more than 1000 pounds of rye, the rye sprouted and rotted and is not good for seeds, what will they sow? - they won’t have time to thresh a new one ... Goering doesn’t happen, and if he comes, it’s only to steal something from the estate. Is this bacchanalia going to continue for a long time? It seems to me that everyone knows that Goering and Maslov are one gang, and with such a management, your estate is threatened t complete destruction from the residents. Hurry, Prince, remove this company before it's too late, which brought your estate to such a state of disgrace and ruin; otherwise we'll take Goering away in a wheelbarrow. I told you one truth as a sign of gratitude to you for your always kind attitude towards the inhabitants of the village of Octashevo, if this time you do not heed the voice of truth, then God is with you, Prince, blame yourself, but it will be too late.
Resident of the village of Ostashevo.
What a visionary this resident of Ostashevo is! COMPLETE DESTRUCTION in the letter is underlined. A terrible prophecy 92 years later became a terrible reality, but by no means through the fault of Prince Igor Konstantinovich, who was killed with two brothers John and Konstantin on July 18, 1918 in Alapaevsk by the same "gang". How long did the "bacchanalia" last!
By decree of March 26, 1918, Prince of the Imperial Blood Ioann Konstantinovich was deported together with his brothers, Princes of the Imperial Blood Igor Konstantinovich and Konstantin Konstantinovich, from Petrograd to Vyatka, then to Yekaterinburg, and then in May they were transferred to Alapaevsk. On the night of July 17-18, they were thrown alive into a mine under the city and pelted with grenades. The brothers were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad on November 1, 1981 and canonized as New Martyrs of Russia.
We keep our conscience
Like the morning sky, clear
And joyfully thorny path
We will come to the last pier. (K.R.)
Alapaevsk New Martyrs - this is the name of the members of the Romanov dynasty and their faithful servants who accepted martyrdom, a day after the execution royal family. The most significant figure among them was undoubtedly grand duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna - native older sister last empress Alexandra Fedorovna, abbess of the Moscow Martha and Mary Convent, venerable martyr, canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990.
Can not be! No, all that is holy and beautiful.,
Saying goodbye to life, we will survive
And let's not forget, no! But pure but impassive
Let us love again, merging with the Divine.
References
Alekseeva T.A. New Martyrs of Alapaevsk: on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of their death
Princes John, Konstantin and Igor Konstantinovich // Constantine Readings.
- St. Petersburg, 2008. - S. 58 - 67.
Romanov K.K. diaries. Memories. Poems. Letters. /Intro. St.,
In 2018, Russians remember one of the most tragic pages in the history of our country - the brutal murder of the royal family on the night of July 16-17, 1918. More and more historians, pilgrims and patriots of their country rush to the places of life and torment of the last Romanovs to pay tribute to their memory. But few people know that the history of another estate is connected with the destruction of the memory of the Romanov family. This is the Ostashevo estate, which is located in the Volokolamsky district of the Moscow region.
Most residents of the Moscow region know it as a manor with "Big Ben" - a bizarre pseudo-Gothic horse yard, which really very much resembles the main attraction of London. Before the revolution, Ostashevo had a high status as a country residence of the Grand Dukes of the Romanov family. In 1903, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, tired of the false splendor of metropolitan life, moved here. Here, the prince of imperial blood, Oleg Konstantinovich Romanov, who was killed during one of the battles of the First World War, found his last earthly refuge. And soon, over his grave, according to the project of the architect Marian Petryakovich, a preserved temple-tomb was built. However, the posthumous peace of Oleg Konstantinovich was violated by the Bolsheviks. The vandals opened the grave and desecrated it. The inhabitants of these places until the end of their lives recalled a horrific picture: the torn remains of Prince Oleg Konstantinovich, who had lain on the road for six days, in full view ....
The fate of the estate in the Soviet years was sad. And only in our days, at the cost of huge efforts of local historians, activists and simply not indifferent people, Ostashevo again received the right to its own history. Today, guests of the estate can even visit a small but very nice museum dedicated to the history of this amazing place.
What happened to manor buildings after the revolution? What lines did Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov devote to the Ostashevo estate? What is happening now with the church of Oleg Bryansky in Ostashevo? And does the estate have a chance to be restored?
Photo date: April 4, 2017.
2. Of the two entrance obelisks, only one has survived.
The Ostashevo estate, located in the Moscow region, alas, cannot boast of either rich old interiors or preserved or rebuilt buildings. The once famous estate today is in a dilapidated state. However, the walls of buildings remember those who loved this place, considered it their home, those who played an important role in the history of Russia.
3. Of the many sights that once existed here, only the temple, the famous horse yard with a tower and several outbuildings have survived to this day.
4. Panorama of the estate from the main entrance.
The fact that in the village of Ostashevo on the banks of the Ruza reservoir there is a former Noble Nest, resembles only an obelisk. Turning on the right road, you seem to take a trip back in time. You will have a view of the old manor. Once it was owned by Prince Alexander Urusov. It was he who in 1777 moved his residence from the right to the opposite left bank of the Ruza River, and ordered the creation of a large estate complex. Until 1861 it was known as Aleksandrovskoe-Ostashevo.
5. The towers of the entrance to the front yard have been preserved.
Photos from the 1960s and 1970s
On the site of the dismantled main house there is a house of culture.
6. This building appeared in Ostashevo in the Soviet years. It is often confused with the lost main house of the estate.
Experts suggest that the well-known Moscow architect Rodion Kazakov was involved in the development of the estate project. His participation betrays the clarity of the planned structure of the estate, as well as the artistic originality based on the combination of towers. different size and forms. In addition, the architect actively collaborated with Urusov in the design of his Moscow house.
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Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov is one of the most famous owners of the estate.
8. The Ruza River, which has turned into the Ruza Reservoir.
Little is known about the main house these days. After the revolution of 1917, it fell into disrepair, was plundered, and during the Great Patriotic War it was completely destroyed. In the 50s of the last century, a building was erected in its place, and in a small way it did not look like a princely palace.
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10. General view of the estate.
On the territory of the estate there is an office and a manager's house. This is another pair of one-story outbuildings with lancet windows and towers. They are lined up with a "verb" or, more simply, the letter "G". Subsequently, the internal layout of the outbuildings and most of the windows were changed.
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In 1813, the stepson of Prince Urusov, a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, Major General Nikolai Muravyov, became the owner of the estate. It was under him that probably the most significant and striking of the surviving buildings, the horse yard, was erected. The huge building, aspiring to the heights, is made in pseudo-Gothic style.
In the newspaper "Capital Rumor" dated July 6, 1915, an article was published "Temple over the grave of Prince Oleg Konstantinovich":
"OSTASHEVO. VII. 5. (PTA). In the estate in Bose of the late Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich in Ostashev, Mozhaisk district, Moscow province, in the presence of Their Highnesses Princes Igor and George Konstantinovich, His Grace Modest, Bishop of Vereya, in concelebration with Protodeacon Rozov, the clergy of the church of the Pavlovsk Palace and the local clergy, the foundation stone was solemnly made temple over the grave of His Highness Prince Oleg Konstantinovich. The temple is being built near the palace, according to the project of academician of architecture M. M. Peretyatkovich and engineer S. I. Smirnov in the ancient Pskov style in the name of St. Right-Believing Prince Oleg of Bryansk, Grand Duke Igor of Chernigov and St. Seraphim, Sarov miracle worker.
The celebration attracted many worshipers from among the surrounding population, who always passionately loved the late young prince, who laid down his life for his homeland. After the laying of the temple, a memorial service was served for the hero prince-warrior and a prayer service for sending down victories to the valiant Russian and allied troops. Stone work was carried out with amazing speed and at the same time extremely deliberately. On July 30, the workers proceeded to the laying of the temple itself.<…>exactly according to the project. Roofing work began on 13 October. The masonry of the belfry was completed on October 25. In the western wall of the temple, according to S.N. Smirnov, another window was broken to enhance the light. Inside the temple, pits were dug for the concrete cells of ten tombs.
13. Decor of the temple of Oleg Bryansk.
The temple in the name of St. Oleg of Bryansk was built over the grave of the son of Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, Oleg Konstantinovich.
14. The temple was built in 1915.
Oleg Konstantinovich Romanov. This young man was destined to live only 21 years.... He died heroically during one of the battles of the First World War.
15. The temple was located not far from the main manor house.
The burial of Prince O.K. Romanova. Sad procession in the village of Stanovishchi, 1914.
According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Oleg Konstantinovich Romanov was extremely kind and courageous.
Nikolai Muravyov was married to Alexandra Mordvinova, daughter of the famous Russian engineer-general Mikhail Mordvinov. Under his leadership, the Marble and Chesme Palaces were built in St. Petersburg. In marriage, Nicholas and Alexandra had five sons and a daughter.
17. Today the church is gradually being revived.
18. Linden alley in the park.
Major General Muravyov is known as the founder of the Moscow School of General Staff Officers. Every summer, cadets of the school went to Ostashevo for summer practice. Moreover, for eight years, Nikolai Muravyov maintained this educational institution at his own expense.
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Alas, in 1825, the major general's health began to fail too much. Financial difficulties were added to health problems. Therefore, the military decided to retire.
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22. Side courtyard fence tower.
One of his sons, Alexander, passionately admired the ideas of the Decembrists. It was in Ostashevo, together with his like-minded people, that he discussed plans for the reorganization of Russia. There is a theory according to which, on the territory of the estate, the handwritten text of the Constitution, developed by Alexander Muravyov, was buried.
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A rare surviving photograph of the main house of the Ostashevo estate.
24. Manager's house and fence tower.
After the Decembrist uprising in 1825, he was exiled to Siberia without being deprived of his ranks and nobility. His wife followed him. Two years later, Muravyov obtained permission to enter the civil service. In Siberia, he was able to build a career as an official and by 1832 was appointed to the post of civil governor of Tobolsk.
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After the death of his father in 1840, the estate in Ostashevo was inherited by Alexander Muravyov. However, the estate did not bring much joy to the owner: he had to put economic affairs in order in order to pay off the accumulated debts. However, his efforts failed desired result 19 years later, the estate went under the hammer.
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28. The building of the horse yard.
In the second half of the 19th century, the nest of nobles changed several owners, until in 1903 it was acquired by the grandson of Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov. He, as a creative, talented poet, saw in Ostashevo his cozy secluded corner, remote from Moscow. The estate bribed with its spaciousness and convenience for the life of the large family of the Grand Duke.
29. Part of the building is used by Sberbank.
The family loved the estate, each of the nine children born in the marriage of the Grand Duke and Princess Elizabeth Mavrikievna, nee Elizabeth Augusta Maria Agnes, found something of their own here.
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The horse yard building consists of two long wings connected at a right angle. The main artistic accent of the composition is the gate tower with lancet architraves, battlements and pinnacles. All these elements emphasize the vertical orientation of the building. Today, the building houses a bank branch and a branch of the local history museum of Volokolamsk.
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Konstantin Konstantinovich became the last Romanov who died before the revolution and were buried in grand ducal tomb in Peter and Paul Fortress. The prince died in 1915, a few months after the death of his son Oleg, who died at the front during the First World War.
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34. In the people, this building is often called "Big Ben in miniature."
Is there a similarity?
Oleg Romanov was buried in Ostashevo. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, several thousand people took part in the funeral procession. A golden saber was placed in the coffin of the son of the Grand Duke. After the revolution, the grave was plundered, the sword was removed, and the remains of a representative of the Romanov family were thrown onto the road. Already in 1969, in order to avoid the incessant raids of vandals, the grave of Oleg Konstantinovich was transferred to the rural cemetery.
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Alas, a terrible fate awaited three more sons of the Grand Duke. John, Igor and Konstantin were thrown into a mine near Alapaevsk the day after the execution of the royal family in July 1918.
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Photo from the 1960s and 1970s.
Today, the estate in Ostashevo is a depressing sight: most of the buildings are destroyed, the rest are gradually falling into disrepair. And yet here is the restoration of the church-tomb, built in 1916 for the deceased Oleg Romanov. The works give hope that someday the whole estate will regain its original appearance.
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