The legend of the sunken city of Kitezh. Kitezh-grad: an invisible city for the pure at heart. Bells ringing from the bottom
Where did Kitezh-grad disappear to?
Scientists are exploring Lake Svetloyar, which, according to legend, was formed on the site of an ancient city
Nizhny Novgorod Shambhala
When the troops of Khan Batu reached the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, the Russians met them near Little Kitezh (now Gorodets). Most of the squad was killed in the battle, and Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich with the surviving soldiers took refuge in the forests and built the city of Kitezh Bolshoi on the shore of Lake Svetloyar. Batu found out where the prince had taken refuge and killed him. And the residents gathered in the temple and turned to God with a prayer not to allow the invaders to come to them. God heeded the prayer, streams of water gushed out from under the ground, which, without causing harm to the inhabitants, flooded the city up to the tops of the churches. But they too soon disappeared. And in place of the city, a lake overflowed. Since then this place has been revered as a saint...
This is the legend that many believe. And they have no doubt that it’s small Forest Lake Svetloyar in Nizhny Novgorod region and is the very same place in which Kitezh drowned. Orthodox Christians come here to pray. They say that a handful of local soil cures ailments. Water collected from the lake lasts in bottles for several years without spoiling, like consecrated water. And if you go around the lake three times clockwise, then all your wishes will be fulfilled. cherished desires.
And the version that Lake Svetloyar is related to the mysterious Shambhala attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. However, the only real hints about the existence of the legendary city can be found in the book “Kitezh Chronicler” (late 17th century).
Where do people disappear to?
You can learn a lot of interesting things from local residents,” says Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Penza State Technological Academy Sergei VOLKOV, who organized an expedition to search for the mythical city. “It’s as if people are disappearing here.” Some - forever, others return, but do not remember anything.
- Maybe they were visiting the Kitezhgrad residents? - I guess jokingly.
Professor Volkov has been searching for Kitezh-grad for more than twenty years.
“According to rumors, that’s how it turns out,” the professor answers quite seriously. - Somewhere in the ravines there is supposedly an entrance to the city. But only true believers can get there.
Near-scientific mystics believe that on Svetloyar there is also a passage to another time dimension. And as proof they cite stories told by residents of the nearby village of Vladimirskoye. They supposedly often meet strange peddlers in the clothes that their great-grandfathers wore, and for the purchased goods - mainly bread, bagels, gingerbread - they receive change from them in coppers and silver coins.
“For us,” continues Volkov, “the main discovery was the confirmation of the hypothesis about the existence near Svetloyar of plasma substances invisible to the eye, which have a logic of behavior, that is, they manifest themselves as living beings. There are especially many of them around a group of praying people - as if they are being studied. We captured them on video and photographic equipment. These plasma formations were once recorded in laboratory conditions by scientists from the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN). Their experiments indicated that millions of plasma clots are floating in the air in the electromagnetic range. Then this led atheists to the idea that the other world still exists. The current study of Svetloyar has shown that this hypothesis is not without common sense.
To Batu's amazement
But where did the city go? Is there some real natural event at the heart of the myth?
“In fact, as soon as we begin to study any legend, myth or similar work of oral folk art, we find traces of events that actually took place,” said the outstanding Russian archaeologist and historian Academician Boris Rybakov (died in 2001) at one of his speeches. - Ed.). - Geologists are well aware that the central regions of the European part of Russia lie on a foundation of very strong rocks. But it is dissected by deep faults that run in different directions, often intersecting with each other. And geologist Vladimir Nikitin found out that Lake Svetloyar lies precisely at the intersection of two deep faults. In such a place, even a large reservoir could form surprisingly quickly - even before the eyes of Batu Khan.
Scuba divers examined Svetloyar and discovered underwater terraces in it - the coastal slope goes under the water in ledges. Steep cliffs are interspersed with horizontal sections. From this we can conclude that Svetloyar was formed as if in parts: first one subsidence, then - after hundreds, thousands of years - a second and, finally, a third. On one of the underwater terraces of this lake there could have been a town or monastery, which then disappeared in the waters of Svetloyar.
When this place was “enlightened” with an echo sounder, and later with a geolocator, an oval anomaly clearly appeared on the echogram - a bottom layer of silt of a special composition: it differed from the multi-meter layer of sediment that was crushed. Moreover, another site was found not far from the “oval”. There, under the silt and a thin layer of bottom rock, there was something that did not allow sound to pass through. As if some large heavy object was hidden in the depths. When a map of these zones was drawn up, the result was a drawing reminiscent of a city surrounded by a rampart.
Bells ringing from the bottom
So, according to scientists, Kitezh could well have existed. But it did not disappear mysteriously, but simply fell underground as a result of tectonic activity. But after almost fifty years of searching with entire teams of scuba divers, no traces could be found. Not a spoon, not a bowl, not some kind of hewn log. Schliemann, for example, found both Troy and gold, guided only by the fabulous Iliad. And here the address is exact, and the lake is like a puddle - you can get around it in 20 minutes. It’s time to imagine something fantastic: the city exists, but it is invisible. Only audible at times. The bells are ringing there... And this may not be the imagination of the pilgrims.
“Engineer Igor Fomin worked at a defense enterprise in St. Petersburg, which supplied devices to the Navy,” says researcher Mikhail Burleshin. - He developed a device - a hydrophone, which uses physical principles to convert sound into an electrical signal.
During tests taking place on Ladoga, the hydrophone suddenly began to emit rolling sounds, similar to the echoes of thunder from a passing thunderstorm. Geophysicists, after listening to the tape, said that such peals of “thunder” are waves of disturbances in the earth’s crust that pass through water and create such an effect. After this, Igor Fomin began to purposefully listen to the lakes. In some the waters were silent, in others they “screamed.” But the most unexpected surprise awaited the researcher at Lake Svetloyar. A hydrophone lowered into the water recorded a low rumbling sound, reminiscent of the humming of a huge bell. Most often the lake rumbled before sunrise and during the full moon. It was at that time when, according to legend, righteous people saw in the lake “exactly like in a mirror the walls of the hidden city and heard the hum of its bells.”
As for the quality of the lake water, chemists studied it and came to the conclusion: it can indeed be stored for many days and not deteriorate thanks to the springs gushing from the bottom of the lake with a high content of bicarbonate and calcium.
HELP "KP"
Lake Svetloyar is located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Located near the village of Vladimirskoye, Voskresensky district, in the Lunda basin, a tributary of the Vetluga River. From a bird's eye view it looks perfectly round. This gives grounds to some geophysicists to assume that the lake arose from a meteorite fall. In fact, it is a flat oval approximately 450 by 350 meters. The depth reaches 39 meters. But perhaps there is no bottom there at all. After all, the water in the lake comes from a karst fault, the depth of which is unknown.
By the way, at that time a city that could fit on the area of the lake was considered relatively large.
MINER'S OPINION
Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of the Mining Institute Andrey PARFENOV: “You can easily fall underground”
- In Russia, many cities may go underground. This is primarily due to the fact that on its territory there are hundreds of quarries up to hundreds of kilometers long, which were dug from the 15th to the beginning of the 20th century. Under Stalin, the entrances to them were blown up so that bandits would not hide there. Therefore, finding these “holes” is now very difficult. And out of ignorance, houses and entire cottage villages. So, under Podolsk there are gigantic voids. And now failures have begun to occur there. In Moscow, huge quarries begin under the Ukraine Hotel and go under the Badaevsky brewery. There are also many under the Kremlin underground passages, lined with white stone, and now the environment has become acidic due to large emissions of exhaust gases - limestone is not resistant to acid. Therefore, it is possible that the Kremlin may one day disappear, like the city of Kitezh.
By the way, the radars of the European Space Agency satellite recently recorded that two largest cities In China, Shanghai and Tianjin are gradually sinking several centimeters a year under the weight of giant skyscrapers.
ARTISTIC HYPOTHESIS
The city sank in Issyk-Kul?
Ilya Glazunov placed Kitezh at the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul (1989 painting “The Legend of the City of Kitezh)”).
“The reason was a book by the district governor of the city of Przhevalsk, which stands on the lake,” said the artist. - It proves that at one time this was the center of Eurasia. And as a result of an unprecedented catastrophe, the blooming city was flooded. And in calm weather in the waters of Issyk-Kul you can see traces of a sunken city with the outlines of buildings and walls. Maybe scientists are looking for Kitezh in the wrong place?
It is still unknown who is buried in the deep forest.
ANOTHER RIDDLE
Graves of the Giants
Kibilek is the name of a place about five kilometers from Lake Svetloyar. Here is a spring supposedly with “living” water (tests show that it has zero acidity). And nearby - in the dense Kerzhinsky forest - there are three unmarked graves. They are ancient and unusual.
First of all, who would have thought to bury someone far from settlements? Secondly, the graves are several times larger than traditional Christian burials. They say that giants are buried there. Namely, the skeletons of the ancient Lemurians - inhabitants of the mysterious country of Lemuria, which, according to legend, existed somewhere in this area hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Modern science does not confirm, but does not try to refute this version of the origin of strange burials. No one tried to dig them up. Yes, and it’s a sin.
Nizhny Novgorod esotericists come to graves at night to worship the “unknown.” Many Orthodox Christians, on the contrary, believe that this place is unclean. Despite the spring. They take water and quickly leave.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
And it will be invisible...
“...And he came to Lake Svetloyar, and saw that the place was exceptionally beautiful, and ordered to build the city of Big Kitezh on the shore of the lake, and on the other side of the lake there was an oak grove. And they began to dig ditches and build a church... And that city of Big Kitezh was 200 fathoms long, and 150 fathoms wide, and they began to build that city in stone in the summer of 6673 (1165) of the month of May on 1 day in memory of the holy prophet Jeremiah and they built that city for 3 summers (September 30, 6676/1168).”
(“Chronicle of the murder of the blessed prince Georgy Vsevolodovich.”)
Strange, but there is not a word in the document that Kitezh disappeared under water. It is said, however, that he disappeared from view: “And Greater Kitezh will be invisible until the coming of Christ, as this happened in former times.”
Fathoms in Rus' varied, but on average one fathom was approximately 2 meters. In total, the city was 400 by 300 meters - the size fits perfectly into the current lake.
"Little Russian Atlantis", "Nizhny Novgorod Shambhala".. Legendary ancient city was built in 1165 on the shores of Lake Svetloyar by the noble prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, who was amazed by the beauty of those places. A reliable written source has reached us, the “Kitezh Chronicler,” which says that the prince named the city Big Kitezh, and “that place was unusually beautiful, and on the other side of that lake there was an oak grove.” Little was known about the city itself, except that six church domes rose in the middle of it, and the city itself was built of white stone, which symbolized spiritual purity.
And the city stood for a hundred years, until, during the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol horde, Batu Khan heard about the wealth of the wonderful city and set out to take possession of it. When the Mongols approached Kitezh-grad, they saw that the city was completely unfortified and not ready for battle. The residents did not even think about defense: they all prayed. Stunned for a moment with amazement, the Tatars nevertheless moved forward, but immediately stopped. The sound of bells was heard and fountains began to flow right out of the ground, which began to flood the city, and soon it disappeared under the waters of Lake Svetloyar. The last thing the amazed invaders saw was the cross on the dome of the main cathedral. Seeing such a miracle, the Tatars rushed in all directions, and many died wandering in the forests. Locals they say that the water did not harm those praying... and the city itself did not go under water, but into another dimension, and continues to exist to this day.
It must be said that repeated attempts were made to find the sunken city, but they were all unsuccessful. And at the same time, the lake’s water has healing properties, does not spoil for three years, and the lake itself is considered holy. Local residents talk about strange newcomers dressed in Old Russian clothes and paying for bread with Old Russian coins. “Isn’t it time for Kitezh to rebel?” - asked one such old man.
There is also a story about a lost mushroom picker who returned a week later and was reluctant to answer questions. However, being forced to explain his absence, he said that he was visiting Kitezh-grad. And as proof, he held out a piece of bread, which he was treated to there.
One of the museums still contains a letter from a son to his father, written in Old Church Slavonic. The young man writes that by some unknown miracle he ended up in Kitezh, but is alive and well, and asks not to serve funeral services for him and not to be particularly sad. He also said that the prayers of the inhabitants of this secret place are so pure and strong that they rise into the sky like pillars of fire, and in this light one can even read and write.
Periodically, people disappear near Lake Svetloyar even in our times. Having returned, they say that while wandering in the ravines, they came to a wonderful city inhabited by the righteous, where they stayed for several days. It has been noticed that not everyone can find the way to the invisible city, but only those who truly believe in their soul. Apparently, the residents of Kitezhgrad are not ready to receive all guests, but only people like themselves.
People say from mouth to mouth that Kitezh-grad will appear before the end of the world, but those who are pure in heart can see it even now. It is believed that if you look into Lake Svetloyar in clear weather, you can catch the image of a city with domed churches and hear singing and bells ringing.
By the way, the ancient chronicles do not directly say that Kitezh went under water. It says that the city will disappear and “Great Kitezh will be invisible until the coming of Christ, as it happened in previous times.” There are suggestions that he could sink underground or, conversely, ascend into the sky. But most often they claim that he simply became invisible.
Do you think this is impossible? But Sergei Volkov, a professor at the Penza State Technological Academy, discovered some invisible plasma substances near Lake Svetloyar. And he even captured their manifestations on photo and video tape. The most amazing thing, in his opinion, is that these clumps have a logic of behavior. For example, they try to get closer to a group of people praying. These studies were confirmed by the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN). According to them, there are millions of plasma clots right around us in the electromagnetic range. Maybe it is they who represent the “other world” for us, which reveals itself only in special places like Lake Svetloyar.
Kitezh (Kitezh-grad, Kidish) is a mythical wonderful city, which, according to Russian legends, escaped from Batu’s troops during the Tatar-Mongol invasion in the 13th century thanks to the miraculous property of being invisible. As the troops approached, the city allegedly disappeared from the eyes of the astonished enemy and sank to the bottom of Lake Svetloyar. In subsequent centuries, the legend was transformed; the Old Believers described Kitezh as a refuge for followers of the old faith.
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In the 18th-19th centuries, Kitezh was presented as a city of the righteous, a city of social justice, where every honest Russian could go. The people endowed similar properties with some other fantastic societies, such as the kingdom of Prester John, the churches of “ancient piety” in the distant Opon (Japanese?) Sea, the islands of the blessed, the earthly paradise, Belovodye, the “City of Ignat”, etc. In Russia at that time, stories were widespread about people who gave lunch to Kitezh and subsequently sent letters from there. Numerous eyewitnesses described the ringing of bells, which they allegedly heard from under the water.
Lake in the Nizhny Novgorod Trans-Volga region approximately 100 km east-northeast of regional center and 1-1.5 km west of the village of Vladimirskoye, Voskresensky district, a natural monument of federal significance. The lake has an oval shape with dimensions of 500 x 350 m, and is distinguished by its great depth, reaching 40 m. The view of the origin of the lake has changed since the time of its study and until now has not yet been resolved unambiguously. Its volcanic origin was first suggested at the beginning of the 20th century by the writer V. Korolenko. Various researchers in different time hypotheses were expressed about the glacial, karst, oxbow, volcanic, neotectonic, salt dome and cosmic - meteorite origin of the lake. In 2009, the results of field studies were published confirming the hypothesis of the meteorite origin of the lake.
There is still a debate in science about the reality of Kitezh and the possible location of the “sunken” city. The most attractive version is that the legend tells about some place with supernatural properties. What kind of place is it ( a parallel world, astral, some kind of spatial hole) - it’s useless to argue about this now, because There is too much that is unclear in the legend. However, attempts have been and are being made to find the real sunken city. Most often, such searches were carried out in the area of the Zhiguli bend of the Volga, where a mirage is still sometimes observed over the Volga - a large ancient Russian city rising from under the water.
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When the troops of Khan Batu reached the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, the Russians met them near Little Kitezh (now Gorodets). Most of the squad was killed in the battle, and Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich with the surviving soldiers took refuge in the forests and built the city of Kitezh Bolshoi on the shore of Lake Svetloyar. Batu found out where the prince had taken refuge and killed him. And the residents gathered in the temple and turned to God with a prayer not to allow the invaders to come to them. God heeded the prayer, streams of water gushed out from under the ground, which, without causing harm to the inhabitants, flooded the city up to the tops of the churches. But they too soon disappeared. And in place of the city, a lake overflowed. Since then, this place has been revered as a saint... This is the legend that many believe. And there is no doubt that the small forest lake Svetloyar in the Nizhny Novgorod region is the very one in which Kitezh drowned. Orthodox Christians come here to pray. They say that a handful of local soil cures ailments. Water collected from the lake lasts in bottles for several years without spoiling, like consecrated water. And if you go around the lake three times clockwise, then all your cherished wishes will come true. And the version that Lake Svetloyar is related to the mysterious Shambhala attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. However, the only real hints about the existence of the legendary city can be found in the book “Kitezh Chronicler” (late 17th century).
Near-scientific mystics believe that on Svetloyar there is also a passage to another time dimension. And as proof they cite stories told by residents of the nearby village of Vladimirskoye. They allegedly often meet strange peddlers in clothes that their great-grandfathers wore, and for the purchased goods - mainly bread, bagels, gingerbread - they receive change from them in coppers and silver coins. “For us,” continues Volkov, “the main discovery was the confirmation of the hypothesis about the existence near Svetloyar of plasma substances invisible to the eye, which have a logic of behavior, that is, they manifest themselves as living beings. There are especially many of them around a group of praying people - as if they are being studied. We captured them on video and photographic equipment. These plasma formations were once recorded in laboratory conditions by scientists from the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN). Their experiments indicated that millions of plasma clots are floating in the air in the electromagnetic range. Then this led atheists to the idea that the other world still exists. The current study of Svetloyar has shown that this hypothesis is not without common sense.
But where did the city go? Is there some real natural event at the heart of the myth?
.jpg)
In fact, as soon as we begin to study any legend, myth or similar work of oral folk art, we find traces of events that actually took place,” said the outstanding Russian archaeologist and historian Academician Boris Rybakov (died in 2001) at one of his speeches. Ed.). — Geologists are well aware that the central regions of the European part of Russia lie on a foundation of very strong rocks. But it is dissected by deep faults that run in different directions, often intersecting with each other. And geologist Vladimir Nikitin found out that Lake Svetloyar lies precisely at the intersection of two deep faults. In such a place, even a large reservoir could form surprisingly quickly - even before the eyes of Batu Khan.
The graves of the giants Kibilek is the name of a place about five kilometers from Lake Svetloyar. Here is a spring supposedly with “living” water (tests show that it has zero acidity). And nearby - in the dense Kerzhinsky forest - there are three unmarked graves. They are ancient and unusual. Firstly, who would have thought of burying someone far from populated areas? Secondly, the graves are several times larger than traditional Christian burials. They say that giants are buried there. Namely, the skeletons of the ancient Lemurians - inhabitants of the mysterious country of Lemuria, which, according to legend, existed somewhere in this area hundreds of thousands of years ago. Modern science does not confirm, but does not try to refute this version of the origin of strange burials. No one tried to dig them up. Yes, and it’s a sin. Nizhny Novgorod esotericists come to graves at night to worship the “unknown.” Many Orthodox Christians, on the contrary, believe that this place is unclean. Despite the spring. They take water and quickly leave.
N.K. Roerich "The Battle of Kerzhenets"
“He blossomed on fertile land until greedy enemies attacked him. The city defended itself for three days. And when there were no more warriors left capable of holding weapons, the enemies rejoiced. But proud Kitezh did not surrender, and in front of the amazed eyes of the enemies slowly disappeared, plunging into the depths of the sea. God made the city invisible to the human eye, but the time will come and Kitezh will return,” says the ancient legend.”
According to another version of this legend " the earth opened up and swallowed the city. The enemies fled in fear and Lake Svetloyar appeared in place of the city. That city is still intact with white stone walls, churches, monasteries, princely towers, boyar stone chambers, houses cut down from wood that does not rot. The hail is intact, but invisible. Only the righteous and saints can see this city, only a true believer is worthy of hearing the ringing of its bells."
This legend became an inspiration for Rimsky-Korsakov, who wrote the brilliant opera “The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia,” for which N.K. Roerich made a picturesque curtain.
Did this city really exist? If yes, where? There is a book “The Kitezh Chronicler”, created in the 80-90s of the 18th century by Old Believers, which says: “The Grand Duke of Vladimir Georgy Vsevolodovich established the city of Small Kitezh on the banks of the Volga. And then he moved deep into the forests, beyond the Kerzhenets River, on the shore of a beautiful lake Svetloyar he ordered to build the city of Greater Kitezh. And that city of Greater Kitezh was two hundred fathoms wide, and a hundred yards wide. And they began to build it on the first day of May, and they built that city for three summers.” If Kitezh is just a legend, then where did these details come from? The conclusion that the book appeared precisely in the 18th century was made by linguists.
In the Nizhny Novgorod forests, 40 kilometers from the city of Semenov, there is amazing beautiful lake called Svetloyar. There is a belief that this is where the invisible city of Kitezh is located. They say that on a quiet summer morning it can be seen reflected in the water with towers and domes. And from somewhere below comes the quiet ringing of bells.
The lake has long been considered holy. Many pilgrims have always flocked to it and are now flocking to it in the hope of either being healed by washing there, or atonement for their sins by crawling along the shore. Near the lake there is a chapel and a worship cross. A few kilometers away is the village of Vladimirskoye, which became tourist center. It is now called Russian Shambhala, and Kitezh - Russian Atlantis. In general the place is popular. Kitezh became such an Orthodox fetish, a spiritual center, a symbol of the heroic struggle of Orthodox Rus' against the “Mongol-Tatar hordes.”
The persistence of this legend is amazing. Maybe it really has some basis? It often happens that legends reflect the distant past. For example, the legends of the peoples of the north reflect the events of the flood, when there was no land, and the supreme god Nomi-Torum took it from the bottom, etc. Or maybe this is after all a beautiful legend that became popular thanks to poets, a composer...
For more than a hundred years, scientists have been trying to prove or disprove the existence of a mysterious city here. That's what's strange. By its origin, Svetloyar cannot be attributed to any of the known types of lakes: neither glacial, nor karst, nor meteorite. How did this come about? amazing lake? An amazing incident occurred in 1903 in the neighboring Kazan province, not so far from the lake. Here is a newspaper report from that time: “Recently, the residents of the village of Shari were terribly frightened by an incomprehensible crackling and noise coming from somewhere underground. The inhabitants rushed in the direction of the sounds and saw that a huge hole had formed in the middle of the forest, into which mature trees easily entered. And even more It’s amazing that water immediately came out from under the ground, and a lake formed at the site of the failure.”
Maybe something similar happened here too? Maybe there was a city on the shore and it sank to the bottom of the hole?
In 1968, an expedition was organized to Svetloyar and made a strange discovery. Using a sound geolocator, I discovered an anomaly at the bottom. The image of one section of the bottom was sharply different from the others. The expedition called this zone Zone K. To determine what is in anomalous zone, then several wells were drilled in it. Unexpectedly for everyone, there were a lot of small wood chips in them. But how did they get there? For some reason, not a single scientific institute undertook to study these pieces of wood at that time. Nobody wanted to waste time studying legends. And then the police helped. Forensic experts compiled a document stating that 6 out of 10 pieces of wood they examined had traces of cutting tools. This means that they were processed by human hands.
Enthusiasts planned to continue research at Svetloyar in the 70s. However, these plans were not destined to come true. Already in our time, specialists came to the lake with a unique device - ground penetrating radar. Its capabilities make it possible to literally illuminate the bottom of the lake using electromagnetic radiation. The depth of the lake turned out to be very large - 37 meters. Of these, more than ten are silt layers. Ground penetrating radar detects many small objects in the silt. They certainly don't look like any buildings at all. But what kind of anomaly was discovered in 1968? Then the sample samples showed that the silt layer of the “K” zone was different from the others.
Geologists suggested that these samples contained a large number of mineral substances, that is, zone “K” was the bottom of an ancient paleo-reservoir. That is, the anomaly of the zone is a natural phenomenon, and everything else is nothing more than guesswork. But then what about wood chips with traces of processing? Then no one determined their age.
If you turn to the book "Kitezh Chronicler". It says that Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich began building the city in the summer of 6673, that is, in 1165 according to the usual calendar. But historians say that this same prince was born only 24 years later in 1189. Such a problem. At the indicated time, George's grandfather Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow, ruled. What if the Old Believers, who wrote the book at the end of the 18th century, simply mixed up the princes? Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky also has confusion with his date of birth, and besides, Yuri and Georgy are the same name.
In 2012, near Lake Svetloyar, Nizhny Novgorod archaeologists discovered traces of a medieval settlement. Shards of ceramic dishes, fragments of iron knives, flint flint and stone millstones were found. The finds date back to the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries, that is, this is later than the date indicated in the book. The artifacts were discovered on Mount Krestovozdvizhenskaya behind the chapel. In the ruts, a cultural layer was exposed at a depth of half a meter, covering an area of slightly less than a hectare. Archaeologists believe that there was a settlement here - an unfortified settlement with one residential yard for 10-15 people. Perhaps the settlement was larger, part of it could have gone with landslides to Svetloyar.
It is known that in Moscow there is the oldest district of Kitay-Gorod ("China" - wall, fortification, the same name was given to the wall built by the Slavs on far east for protection from southern neighbors). Let us pay attention to the fact that the beginning of words Whale- ay and Whale- hedgehogs match. There is a legend that not far from the walls of the Kremlin, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky ordered the digging of a huge dungeon. In the 12th century, there were numerous internecine wars, when princes fought for power and captured cities from each other. Perhaps Yuri Dolgoruky created an underground shelter. Now on the territory of Kitai-Gorod there are some of the most ancient underground structures in Moscow.
It is known that Dolgoruky built a lot of white stone. The buildings of that time can be recognized by the amazingly carefully fitted stones. It was not possible to find such buildings in the dungeons of Moscow.
Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich
That's what's interesting. The pronunciation of Kitezh with an emphasis on the “i” came into use only after Rimsky-Korsakov wrote his famous opera. Before this, the emphasis was on “e” and came from the Old Russian “kitekhsha”, which means “abandoned place”. This word appeared in Rus' during the time of the advent horde (as it now turns out, there was no “Mongol-Tatar invasion” in our awesomely funny history). It was then that Georgy Vsevolodovich ruled. The book says that the prince gathered an army and set out to meet the khan. However, he lost the battle. Russian chronicles mention a major battle between the Russians and the Horde on March 4, 1238 on the Sit River. It is believed that the Rkusskys were completely defeated, and the prince died. However, the “Kitezh Chronicler” says that it was after this battle that Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich retreated to Kitezh.
Maybe traces of the mysterious city should be looked for in the area of the Sit River? Now this river flows along the border of Tverskaya and Yaroslavl regions. its length is only 150 km. This small river made its way into history thanks to the battle. And although exact location It is not known; mounds are scattered all over the City; according to legend, they are mass graves of Russian soldiers. I still have the feeling that everything here is filled with the memory of that terrible slaughter. Back in the 19th century, in villages located along the banks of the City, folklore collectors recorded most of the legends about the city of Kitezh. But now the lower reaches of the river are flooded with the waters of the Rybinsk Reservoir, built during Stalin’s times. It swallowed up 700 villages. Just like the legendary Kitezh, the ancient Russian cities of Maloga and others went under water. A beautiful legend turned into a tragic reality.
There is another version. Researcher Vladimir Ratov studied ancient pagan legends and rituals for many years and came to the conclusion that traces of Kitezh should be looked for on the Maloga River. Why? Firstly, this is the legend of Veles - a Slavic god who, while in the Black Sea, fought with dark forces. His soul hardened, he needed to get to Svarga. Svarga is an earthly paradise according to Slavic Vedic mythology, a place where gods live and milk rivers flow with jelly banks. Maybe Kitezh, which in legends is considered the abode of all those who suffer, is that same Svarga? On the banks of Mologa, Vladimir Ratov discovered stones with mysterious designs. But do they have anything to do with Kitezh?
The "Kitezh Chronicler" says that Kitezh was located among dense forests. A secret road led into it from the river along which the enemies came to the city. This road is called "Batu's Path" in the book. Batu destroyed Russian cities on the right side of the Volga. Now, according to alternative history, it is believed that the Horde - the same Slavs - ravaged only Christian Russian cities, but did not touch the Vedic ones. Batu (Batya) crossed to the left side and for some reason went deeper into the dense forests. For what? There is a version that there was a pagan Slavic temple there. Since the goal of the Horde invasion was the destruction of Christianity, and Kitezh was an Orthodox city, it should have been destroyed.
The Slavic Vedic faith says that the path to Svarga goes along the RA (Volga) river. Further along the Smorodina River. This is what they called and still call the Mologa River for great amount currant bushes growing along its banks. By the way, the very word MOLOGA is consonant with the Milk River, which, according to legend, flows in a hidden country. There really are huge stones near Mologa, although there are no drawings. But still, a stone with some drawings was found not on the shore, but in the forest. That’s where Kitezh is located, according to Ratov. There are lines on the stone, a triangle, but what is it? It is impossible to say with certainty that these drawings are man-made.
They say that back in the 30s, before the flooding, the abbess of one monastery wrote down her dream - a vision. She walks towards the monastery through the field and suddenly water begins to flow from everywhere. Soon the water covered both the monastery and the entire surrounding area. And the nun kept walking and walking until the water began to recede. And the monastery again opened up to God's light.
Yes and the invisible city of Kitezh, as the legend says, will appear to the world again when faith and goodness are reborn in people.
From the book by Irina Nilova
It was a city of ancient Russians who lived on the banks of a great river. The Drevlyans, under the influence of aliens from other tribes, quarreled with their Sages and Leaders and wanted to usurp power over the rest of their relatives. That is, they began to live according to Krivda. After which the vibrational components in the service of the Sages were distorted and the city received a blow equal to the explosion of a nuclear bomb. The news of the instant death of an entire city from fiery energy quickly spread and the place began to evoke fear. The lake that formed at the site of the explosion is the remnant of a bygone river that went underground.