Golitsyn estate "Vlaherna-Kuzminki". Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki estate: history, what to see and how to get What belonged to Golitsyn in the Kuzminki estate

The history of the Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki estate begins in 1702, when Peter I awarded the estate with a mill to his favorite G. Stroganov for his help in equipping the fleet and army. Construction on these lands began under his sons.

In 1716, a wooden church was built, consecrated in honor of the Stroganov family icon - the Blachernae Mother of God. The nearby village was named after it. After his father’s death, construction in Kuzminki was carried out by his heir Alexander. Through his efforts in Kuzminki on the river. Churlikha created a cascade of ponds.

In 1757, the daughter of A. Stroganov married Prince M.M. Golitsyn, having received the estate as a dowry. Until 1917, Kuzminki remained the hereditary fiefdom of the Golitsyn princes. Under Mikhail Mikhailovich, the estate was turned into a country residence of the European type.

Famous artists, sculptors and architects of the 18th-19th centuries took part in the creation of the estate: I. Zherebtsov, A. Voronikhin, I. Egotov, K. Rossi, D. Gilardi, M. Bykovsky, P. Klodt.

Kuzminki reached its peak in the 1st quarter. XIX century, under the son of M. Golitsyn Sergei Mikhailovich. Under him, the estate was called Moscow Pavlovsk. S. Golitsyn started a large-scale reconstruction of the estate, inviting first-class architects, and later repeatedly rebuilt the estate buildings.

The Swiss architect Domenico Gilardi is the author of projects for the complete reconstruction of the Kuzminki estate and a number of its buildings (1816–23). With him, the Horse Yard, the Musical Pavilion, the Propylaea, the Birch Pavilion, the Lion's Pier, the Linden Alley, the Suspension Bridge, the Bath House, the Kitchen (Egyptian Pavilion), and the Orange Greenhouse appeared in the Empire style. The Poultry House, Animal Farm and partly the main house were completely rebuilt.

At the Ural iron foundries of Golitsyn, cast sculptures and decorations were created for Kuzminki: an obelisk to Peter I, openwork gates, fencing details, cabinets with double chains, benches, lanterns and girandoles, monuments to the Empress Maria Feodorovna who visited Kuzminki in 1826 and who visited the estate in 1835 Nicholas I, figures of lions and griffins on the gate.

The main house and front yard were designed by the architect I. Egotov in 1804–08. At the entrance gate there are cast iron griffins according to the design. The gate and fence of the front yard appeared at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. in order to protect private territory from summer residents living in the park area and the surrounding area of the village. The original building of the manor house has not survived: it was destroyed by a fire in 1916, and in its place in the 1930s. a new building was built according to the design of S. Toropov.

Close to the main house there is an Egyptian pavilion (Kitchen) designed by D. Gilardi. The fascination with antique and Egyptian motifs prevailed in the Empire era; the decor of the building was decided in this style: the portico is decorated with palm-shaped columns and the head of a sphinx, the pilasters are stylized in the Egyptian spirit. Food was stored in the basements of the pavilion, the kitchen itself was located on the first floor, and the cooks lived on the second. In 1839, the kitchen was connected to the manor house by a covered gallery.

The most significant creations of Gilardi include the complex of buildings of the Horse Yard and the Music Pavilion. In the corner pavilions of the Horse Yard fence there were living rooms for guests. In the central part of the courtyard fence there is a pavilion in which the fortress horn orchestra performed. Along the edges of the Musical Pavilion in 1846, sculptural groups of horse tamers were installed - analogues of the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg (sculptor P. Klodt). In 1978, the Music Pavilion building burned down, and other premises of the Horse Yard were abandoned. In the early 2000s. The courtyard complex was restored, and exhibition halls were organized in its premises.

The two-story wooden “House on the Dam” (Mill Outbuilding) separates the Upper and Lower ponds; it was built in the 1840s. on the base of the mill according to the design of M. Bykovsky. The Golitsyns used the outbuilding as a guest house; in Soviet times it was rented out to summer residents, and in 1976–99. it housed the Veterinary Museum. Now the outbuilding has been restored and there is a restaurant in it.

The poultry yard in the estate has been known since 1765; at first it was made of wood, and decorative birds were kept in it. In 1805–06 it was rebuilt in stone according to the design of I. Egotov. In 1812, the poultry house was seriously damaged by fire. When restoring the estate after the French invasion, D. Gilardi redesigned the ruins of the Poultry House into the Forge: the wings and galleries were dismantled, the dome that adorned the central building was dismantled and replaced with a gable roof. During Soviet times, Kuznitsa was used for housing and was hidden behind numerous extensions. Since the 1970s the building stood abandoned and dilapidated. By 2008, the Poultry-Forge ensemble was restored according to Egotov’s original design.

The Temple of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God was rebuilt three times; by 1785 it was rebuilt on the initiative of M. Golitsyn in the style of classicism. The image of the Mother of God, kept in the church in Kuzminki, is a copy of the Blachernae icon from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1929 the church was closed. The temple drum and the bell tower with the clock were destroyed, and the building was partially rebuilt. In 1992, it was handed over to believers and restored according to existing drawings. Now the church is active.

Opposite the church is the Bath House, or Soap House, a one-story pavilion originally built by M. Golitsyn. The dilapidated pavilion was demolished in 1804 after the death of the prince, and in its place was Gilardi in 1816-17. built a new building in the Empire style, preserving the layout and functions of the first building. The soap shop burned down several times and was dismantled and rebuilt. In 2008, the building and the lost fountain in front of it were restored.

The three-arched and Big (single-arched) grottoes in Kuzminki appeared after the construction of the Main Courtyard. When the ground was leveled under it, a slope was formed on the shore of the pond, into which artificial “underwater caves” fit. Amateur theatrical performances were staged in the Big Grotto with the participation of the owners and guests of the estate. Not far from the grottoes is the Lion's Pier, which was rebuilt several times. In 1830, D. Gilardi remodeled its upper platform: a forged metal lattice and cast-iron Egyptian lions appeared. During Soviet times, the pier became dilapidated and collapsed, but was restored in the 2000s.

The Orangery is the only building of the estate where authentic interiors with ancient Egyptian themes have been preserved. Until 2001, it housed the Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine, which moved into the estate in 1918, and since it left, the building has gradually fallen into disrepair.

Not far from the greenhouse is Slobodka, a complex for servants and housekeepers. Slobodka included: a ministerial outbuilding, a clergy house, a laundry outbuilding and a hospital. All these buildings were rebuilt in stone according to Gilardi's design; they are framed by a common fence, along which Poplar Alley was planted.

The surviving buildings of the barnyard were erected in the 1840s by D. Gilardi’s nephew, Alexander. The one-story brick building with two-story outbuildings forms the letter “P” in plan. Grooms and cattlemen lived in the outbuildings, and there were stalls in the one-story central part. The barnyard was decorated with bronze sculptures of bulls by P. Klodt. In 1889, after the reorganization of the premises, the Animal Farm was transferred to the expanded Blachernae Hospital, founded under S.M. Golitsyn and worked until 1978. The Animal Farm was connected to the pier and propylaea by the Plashkoutny Bridge (on pontoons, installed only in the summer).

From the second floor. XIX century In the manor park and around it, dachas were built, which later formed a dacha village. In 1936, the Novo-Kuzminsky village appeared next to the estate. The former estate was named Starye Kuzminki. In 1960, Kuzminki was included in the borders of Moscow. The estate has become a historical and architectural monument. And in 1976, the Kuzminki Culture and Recreation Park was created. The Museum of Russian Estate Culture has existed on the territory of the former Golitsyn estate since 1999.

We spent one of the summer weekends in the wonderful noble estate of Vlahernskoe-Kuzminki, which is located near the Kuzminki, Lyublino and Vykhino-Zhulebino districts. I had previously heard about Kuzminsky Park, but I only recently learned that there was once one of the richest and most beautiful estates in the Moscow region on its territory.

View of the horse yard

Until the 18th century, this was an unremarkable area that belonged to the Simonov and Nikolo-Ugreshsky monasteries. The only building located on these lands was a mill, so the territory of modern Kuzminki was called “Mill” at that time. According to legend, the name “Kuzminki” came from the nearby church of Cosmas and Damian, but no evidence of the existence of such a temple in the area was found. According to another version, the local lands began to be called “Kuzminki” in honor of the best mill worker Kuzma. In 1702, the undeveloped lands of the Simonov Monastery southeast of Moscow were donated by Peter I to Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov, who belonged to an old and very rich merchant family.

According to legend, the ancestor of the Stroganovs was a close relative of the Tatar Khan, who accepted the Christian faith, was baptized under the name Spiridon and became related to Dmitry Donskoy. When he was captured by the Tatar army during one of his military campaigns, the khan ordered him to renounce the Orthodox faith, and, hearing a refusal, ordered Spiridon to be tied to a stake, his body torn to pieces, cut into pieces and scattered.

When, some time after the martyrdom of Spiridon, his son was born, he was given the surname Stroganov, in memory of the torture to which his father was subjected. However, many historians do not agree with the Tatar origin of the Stroganov family and claim that this family originates in the Novgorod land. Nevertheless, over many years the Stroganovs managed to amass a huge fortune: they owned more than a dozen cities and hundreds of villages, had their own saltworks and were engaged in trade. This family has always been a reliable support for the great princes and kings in state affairs. It was for his numerous merits that Grigory Dmitrievich received from Peter the Great his extensive possessions in Kuzminki. However, he himself did not have time to build anything on these lands. Only under his widow and children did the construction of the temple begin, which was consecrated in honor of the family heirloom - the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, which Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gave to the Stroganovs.

The area received another name - Blachernae. Initially, the church was made of wood, so it suffered from fire several times and was rebuilt. At the end of the 18th century, a stone building was built according to the design of the architect R. Kazakov. But this happened already under the new owner of the Vlahernskoe-Kuzminki estate, Prince M.M. Golitsyn.

Even under the son of Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov, Alexander, construction of the main house began on the estate; a system of ponds was built in such a way that they were connected to each other and looked more like a river.

Pond in Kuzminki

One of Alexander Stroganov’s daughters, Anna, married Prince M. Golitsyn, whose dowry, in addition to other houses and enterprises, also received the Kuzminki estate.

He began a large-scale transformation and improvement of the estate: the church and manor house were rebuilt, an English and French park was laid out. However, the estate reached its greatest prosperity in the 19th century under his son Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn. He invited the famous architect D. Gilardi to develop the estate, who created a whole complex of buildings on the estate that forever glorified the master. Gilardi was the author of the service premises of the settlement, the Animal Farm, the Egyptian Pavilion, the Propylaea colonnade, the Horse Yard and the Music Pavilion, and also supervised the reconstruction of objects that had been built earlier and needed repairs.

Kuzminki's estate was the place where the famous architect could roam around to his heart's content. His buildings are devoid of provocative patterns and rich stucco, but are distinguished by the correct forms and proportions characteristic of classicism. In the 19th century, Kuzminki was called Pavlovsk near Moscow, so stunning were all the architectural objects of the estate, which harmoniously fit into the surrounding landscape. CM. Golitsyn owned cast iron factories where sculptural groups, gates, park benches and many other objects that decorated the Kuzminki estate were cast.

Visiting Prince S.M. Golitsyn was visited by members of the royal family and the most eminent representatives of the Russian intelligentsia. Unfortunately, the prince had no children, since his wife left him soon after the wedding, and after her death the estate went to his nephew. The last owner of the estate sold it to the Moscow authorities in 1912. Before the revolution, the manor's house burned down, and later the entire estate was nationalized. In its place, the Institute of Veterinary Medicine arose, which existed here until the beginning of the 21st century. At the same time, most of the buildings were mercilessly destroyed.

Now the city authorities are trying to recreate the former splendor of the estate, but this is only partially successful. Let's see what you can see in Kuzminki at the present time. We started our walk from the Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, which was recently restored.

Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God

Opposite there are cast-iron gates decorated with griffins, and behind them there once stood a manor house. Now in its place is one of the buildings of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, owned by the Russian Agricultural Academy.

Gate with lanterns

They say that there are plans to restore the manor house, but for now only two side wings have been recreated, in which exhibitions are held that tell about the history of the Russian estate and about the Golitsyn family.

Recreated outbuilding

In front of the western and eastern wings are sculptures of contemporary authors depicting famous Russian writers and literary heroes.

Exhibition of sculptures

We decided that the exhibitions can be visited in cool weather, but while the sun is shining, it’s worth taking a walk in the park.

We go out to Poplar Alley and begin a walk along Slobodka. This was previously the name given to the complex of buildings and office premises in which the people serving the estate lived and worked. One of the wings currently houses a museum of Russian estate culture.

Museum of Manor Culture

Next we see the wooden building of the former hospital. This was one of the first buildings in Slobodka, which later came under the jurisdiction of the zemstvo. It was in this small hospital that the famous Russian painter, author of the paintings “Tea Party in Mytishchi” and “Hunters at a Rest” V.G. died of consumption. Perov.

Hospital building

We go out to the Kuzminsky ponds and walk along the shore.

The former Animal Farm can be seen behind the dense trees, so it was decided to go in the other direction. In some places on the shore we came across humpbacked bridges connecting the shore with artificial islands.

Humpbacked Bridge

On the way beyond the fence we see an abandoned building in very poor condition. This is the former Orangery. Under Prince Golitsyn, lemons, oranges, apricots and many other exotic plants were grown here.

Greenhouse

Not far from it is the Lion's Pier, which was restored not so long ago. It is decorated with Egyptian lions. In Soviet times, they were dismantled and taken to Lyubertsy to decorate some government building. The pier slowly collapsed and turned into a mountain of cobblestones. However, now it is almost the same as in old pre-revolutionary photographs. The only thing missing is the Propylaea colonnade on the other side of the pond, which was never restored.

Lion's Pier

A little more and grottoes appear in front of us, created so that guests can hide from the heat on a summer day.

View of the grottoes

And on the other side of the pond, we see the most famous building of the Kuzminki estate - the Horse Yard with the Music Pavilion. This is a real masterpiece by D. Gilardi.

Horse yard

In the center near the colonnade, musical concerts were held for friends and guests of the Golitsyns. In 1846, the pavilion was decorated with two sculptures “Tamers” by the famous master P.K. Klodt. Similar works by the sculptor decorate the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg and streets in Naples and Berlin. Judging by the photo, last year these sculptures were in satisfactory condition, but now we noticed holes and rust, and the horse figure on the right side of the pavilion was missing a leg. However, the entire complex of the Horse Yard as a whole looks very beautiful.

Tamers

Tired from the long walk, we sat in one of the many street cafes near the Upper Pond dam. By the way, the small white house is also a recreated architectural monument - this is a house on a dam, built in the 1840s. XIX century on the foundation of the very mill that gave Kuzminki its first name.

House on the dam

A little to the side, the Poultry Yard, which existed on the estate in the 18th century, was reconstructed. Several species of exotic birds, taken by the French during the War of 1812, were bred there. Later, D. Gilardi rebuilt the poultry house into a blacksmith shop, and in Soviet times it housed apartments. With the expansion of Moscow, the residents left the building, and it stood in a dilapidated state. More recently, it was restored according to the original design of the Russian architect I. Yegotov.

On the territory of the Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki estate you can visit the honey museum and the literary museum of K. Paustovsky, exhibitions in numerous pavilions and in the open air, in July watch the flower garden festival, ride a ferry along the cascade of ponds and just have a great time in nature. Let's hope that the reconstruction of lost architectural objects will continue, and Kuzminki will again become one of the most beautiful and interesting estates in Moscow.

The Kuzminki estate is one of the oldest estates in Moscow. It is located at the metro station of the same name, so getting to Kuzminki is very easy. You can also get here from other stations: Volzhskaya, Ryazansky Prospekt, and if you wish, you can also get there from Lyublino and Tekstilshchikov. Whoever is comfortable, in general.

From metro station From Kuzminki it’s a ten minute walk to the park. The entrance to the park will be marked by an arched sign with the inscription “ Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki Estate" The English landscape park, designed by the architect D. Gilardi in 1811-1820, spreads over a large area. As far as I know, this is the largest estate area in Moscow.

At one time, the owners of Kuzminki were two famous noble families: the Stroganovs and the Golitsyns. In 1702, Peter I granted these lands to Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov for good service. This was a sign of high regard for him on the part of the king.

But Grigory Dmitrievich practically did not use the received territories in any way. The construction of the estate complex in Kuzminki began only under his children. For the most part, this was done by Alexander Grigorievich Stroganov, who later became the sole full owner of the estate.

Under A.G. The Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God is being built in Stroganov. This icon was a former shrine of the Stroganov family, so the church was consecrated in its honor. After the church, the estate received a new name - the village of Vlahernskoe. A manor house and other outbuildings are being built near the church. All of them were originally made of wood.

Alexander Stroganov's daughter Anna, who inherited Kuzminki after his death, married Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn in 1757. Anna Alexandrovna became the last owner of Kuzminki from the Stroganov family and the first from the Golitsyn family. MM. Golitsyn received as a dowry from his wife, in addition to the estate, salt pans, iron foundries in the Urals, ancient documents and many others.

At Mikhail Mikhailovich's foundries they created real masterpieces of iron casting to decorate Kuzminki. The estate has turned into a real open-air museum. All wooden buildings were rebuilt and made of stone. Most of them have survived to this day.

At one time, the village of Vlahernskoe was put on a par with Peterhof and Versailles in Paris.

Horse yard

Now, what we saw in Kuzminki are the remnants of former luxury. Of all the buildings, only the church and the Horse Yard are functioning. It was recently restored, as well as two grottoes on the other side of the pond. Grottoes were a good shelter from the summer heat and heat. In the Great Grotto, which has only one entrance, theatrical performances were staged under the prince. There was no theater of its own here, as in, so a grotto was adapted for these purposes.

The horse yard is open to visitors, but we decided not to go there. Having asked the cashier selling tickets: “What is there?”, we received a vague answer: “Well, this is a horse yard!” said the cashier, pouting her lips displeasedly. After which it became clear that there was nothing interesting there. Although maybe I'm wrong. If anyone was there, write. It will be interesting to read.

Grotto

What was surprising in Kuzminki was that from the entrance to the park to the estate itself it takes about 20 minutes to walk, which is quite a long time when compared to other estates we have been to. The maps of the park in some places are not entirely clear. Only when you find yourself near the Horse Yard do you begin to understand where you are and where everything is.

IN Kuzminki park There are several ponds, but swimming in them, as in most reservoirs in Moscow, is prohibited. A cafe ship cruises along the pond near the Horse Yard, on which you can leisurely explore the park, sitting at a table and drinking cold beer and lemonade (whatever you like best).

There are several cafes in the park, mainly near the Mill outbuilding on the dam. Ice cream, kvass, beer, various souvenirs and trinkets are sold here. Not far from the entrance to the park, from the station. m. Kuzminki there is an amusement park and a go-karting area. But we didn’t see the karts themselves. Therefore, it is not clear whether there are races there or not.

As I already said, of the entire complex of buildings of the Kuzminki estate, only the Church of the Blachernae Mother of God, the Horse Yard and the Mill Wing have been restored. Plus, there is a honey museum. Unfortunately, I don’t know what was in the museum building before. The remaining buildings require restoration. These include the Lord's House, the Pomerantsevaya Greenhouse, and the kitchen building. We reached the Animal Farm, which also needs renovation. On the way to it, we saw another building without a sign with a description, which you wouldn’t immediately notice among the trees. Because of the trees surrounding it, we couldn’t even take a photo of the master’s house.

Therefore, having decided to go to Kuzminki, do not expect to see luxurious palace buildings here, as in, or in. This is not the case here. People come to Kuzminki to relax, sunbathe on the banks of the ponds, ride bicycles and roller skates. We met a lot of people on bicycles. Perhaps there is a rental somewhere in the park. Kuzminki are very popular among city residents of any age category. People here have picnics, barbecue, and play volleyball. And just sitting in a cafe on the shore of a pond, in my opinion, is a great way to spend time. Concerts are sometimes held near the Horse Yard. We just happened upon this one. The songs they sang there were not modern, so we were not particularly interested. Besides, we were already about to leave. But all the seats near the stage, which served as a small terrace near the sculptures, were occupied.

One more fact regarding the estate in Kuzminki, which simply cannot be ignored. Literally a week after visiting the park, the famous program “Battle of Psychics” was shown on TV. One of the tasks took place in the Lord's house of the Kuzminki estate. It turned out that ghosts live there, ghosts that the guards often hear. And some were even captured on camera. They look like round white phantoms. So, not everything is calm in the Kingdom of Denmark...

A walk through Kuzminki Park left me feeling dissatisfied. Yes, we walked around the park, sunbathed, and relaxed. But the fact that the estate turned out to be non-working upset us. I read somewhere on the Internet that in 2010 several more buildings in the complex should be restored. I hope that among them will be the main palace - the Lord's House. After its restoration, you will definitely need to go to Kuzminki again.

They had several names. The first of them was “Melnitsa”, after the mill that once stood here on the Goledyanka River. Back at the beginning of the 18th century. there was an impenetrable pine forest here, which a century later, in the middle of the 19th century. stretched to the village of Karacharova. A legend has long been preserved in the people's memory that the mill was once built by the miller Kuzma - hence Kuzminki. Indeed, the scribe book of 1624 recorded here, among the possessions of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, “the wasteland that was the Kuzminskaya mill.” Another name for this area and the one that arose here in the first quarter of the 18th century. The village became Vlahernskoye.

This name is associated with the family of “famous people” the Stroganovs, who played an outstanding role in Russian history. There are different stories about the origin of this surname. According to one of the legends, where reality is closely intertwined with fiction, the ancestor of the Stroganovs was a close relative of the Tatar Khan, according to some statements - even his son, who in the second half of the 14th century. went to Moscow to visit Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. Here the Tatar Murza was baptized into the Orthodox faith with the name Spiridon, married a close relative of the Grand Duke and found his second homeland. According to legend, the khan, having learned about Spiridon’s baptism, demanded his extradition from Dmitry Donskoy, but was refused and sent a strong Tatar army to Rus'. The prince sent his army against them, led by Spiridon himself. A battle took place, the Russians were defeated, and Spiridon was captured. The Tatars tried to return the captive to his former faith, but everything was to no avail, and then the khan ordered him to be tied to a post, and the body on it was torn, and then chopped into pieces and scattered, which was done. Born shortly after the death of Spiridon, his son Kozma received the surname Stroganov, in memory of the martyrdom of his father.

Much more plausible is the legend about the origin of the Stroganovs from the ancient Novgorod family of the Dobrynins, who owned huge estates in the ancient Novgorod possessions - Ustyuzhna and Solvychegodsk. Subsequent research by historians finally refuted the legend about the origin of the Stroganovs from the Tatar Murza and confirmed that they came from Novgorod, and their ancestor was indeed a certain Spiridon, who lived during the time of Dmitry Donskoy.

During the XV-XVII centuries. The Stroganovs, increasing from generation to generation, accumulated enormous land wealth in the Urals - first in Solvychegodsk, and then in Perm. By the beginning of the 18th century. several million acres of land ended up in their hands. Over the course of several centuries, the Stroganovs have shown themselves to be excellent and zealous owners. The main and most significant source of their colossal income was salt production. In fact, it was one of the first types of mining industry in Russia. Another source of replenishment of their wealth was barter trade with the Siberian peoples.

Needing workers, the Stroganovs attracted people from the central regions of Russia with various kinds of benefits. Often among them there were many runaway peasants, but the Stroganovs accepted almost any person, not particularly interested in his past, he would only be a good worker. The Stroganovs’ attitude towards their people stood out sharply against the background of that time with its attentiveness and care for their needs, for which they paid them in kind. A small fact testifies to the wide popularity of the Stroganovs even among inveterate people. A contemporary of Peter I and the first owner of Kuzminok, Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov, who will be discussed below, used to send his people to the salt mines he owned every year in the spring with the beginning of navigation with money for current expenses and payments to hired workers. In 1712, he sent there a huge sum of 50 thousand rubles for those times. At Solvychegodsk, the clerk of a Moscow merchant with 10 thousand rubles joined the Stroganov people. Climbing up the river, the messengers met a gang of thieves of the famous local robber Konkov with 60 people. The forces were unequal, and after a small skirmish, Konkov captured the entire cargo, and took the accompanying prisoners prisoner. Having learned, however, that the captured people and money belonged to Stroganov, Konkov immediately freed all the prisoners, returned the money and “all belongings down to the smallest thing,” declaring: “Should we offend our father, Grigory Dmitrievich?” However, the robber did not come out at a loss, keeping the money of the Moscow merchant.

The Stroganovs' possessions were located on the far outskirts of what was then Russia. From the east they were bordered by the lands of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. The restless neighborhood and frequent attacks by warlike Tatars forced the Stroganovs to build numerous “towns” and “fortresses”, i.e. small fortresses. In them, at their own cost, they kept “gunners, squeakers and collars” to “protect themselves from the Nogai people and other hordes.” Constant threats from Khan Kuchum forced the Stroganovs to take a well-known historical step in 1578 - to call up “daring people” from the Volga Cossacks, led by Ermak, and then, having provided everything they needed, send them in 1581 on a campaign to Siberia. This was one of the most brilliant pages in the history of the Stroganov family.

In difficult times of Russian history, the Stroganovs always provided material assistance to the Moscow sovereigns. When in the middle of the 15th century. Grand Duke Vasily the Dark, after an unsuccessful battle, was captured by the Tatars, the Stroganovs collected a huge sum for his ransom. During the Time of Troubles and foreign intervention at the beginning of the 17th century. they helped a lot with money and military force. For these merits, they were awarded a special, only to them, title of “famous people” and the right to be called and written with their full patronymic - “vich”. In this rank, they enjoyed exclusive rights - immunity from the jurisdiction of ordinary authorities (only the tsar himself could judge them), the right to build cities and fortresses, maintain military men, cast cannons, fight with the rulers of Siberia, conduct duty-free trade with Asian peoples, judge their own people, benefits from many taxes and duties. In the famous code of legislation of the 17th century. The Council Code of 1649 of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich recorded these rights of the Stroganovs in a special article.

At the end of the 17th century. Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov became the sole owner of all Stroganov's wealth. The size of his possessions is indicated by only one fact: he owned 20 towns and several hundred villages. These huge funds made it possible for him to provide significant assistance to Peter I, on whose side Grigory Dmitrievich took the side even during his struggle with Princess Sophia. Together with the sovereign, Stroganov builds ships in Voronezh and Arkhangelsk, helps with money during the Northern War, and supplies the army with the necessary supplies.

In 1703, Grigory Dmitrievich moved to Moscow. Obviously, at the same time Peter I granted him Kuzminki near Moscow. Here Stroganov builds his country estate, in which a special house was specially built for the arrival of the sovereign.

Grigory Dmitrievich died in the Mother See in November 1715, and the first surviving documentary news about the estate dates back to the following 1716. It is contained in the request of his widow Maria Yakovlevna (nee Novosiltseva) to erect a wooden church “on the Goleda River, near the Kuzminka mill.” The construction of the temple was completed by 1720. According to the description of this time, in Kuzminki there was a landowner’s estate, courtyards of the clergy and five courtyards of “business” people who served the estate. The church was dedicated to the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, and since that time another name for Kuzminki, Blachernae, has been found in official documents. The dedication of the temple to the Blachernae icon was not accidental. In 1653, two copies of this icon, which was considered miraculous, were sent from Jerusalem to the father of Peter I, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. One image was placed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, and the second image was awarded to Dmitry Grigorievich Stroganov, the father of the first owner of Kuzminok, for his services.

Until 1740, the estate was jointly owned by the children of Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov - Alexander (1698-1754), Nikolai (1700-1758) and Sergei (1707-1756). According to the family division this year, Kuzminki went to the eldest of the brothers. The Stroganovs owned Vlakhernsky until 1757, when the daughter of Alexander Grigorievich Stroganov, Anna Alexandrovna, married Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn (1731-1804). As a dowry, she brought him Blachernae with 518 acres of land. From that time until 1917, Kuzminki belonged to the Golitsyns.

From the middle of the 18th century. For Kuzminki, a period of prosperity begins. From the very first days, Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn devoted himself entirely to the worries of organizing his Moscow region. In 1759-1762. instead of a burnt wooden church designed by architect I.P. Zherebtsov, a new stone temple is being built, which is richly decorated. Various outbuildings, greenhouses, and other buildings are being erected. At the same time, the peasant households were moved to a new place, about a mile from the temple, where a new village appeared, named Annino, after the name of the prince’s wife.

The center of the estate is the main house, built at the end of the 18th century. architect I.V. Egotov. Its façade overlooked the front yard, surrounded on the eastern and southern sides by a regular garden with a direct driveway. At the same time, in the floodplain of the small river Ponomarka, a cascade of 4 ponds was built, with a total area of 30 hectares. The largest of them, Verkhniy Kuzminsky, occupies an area of 15 hectares; others are named: Nizhny Kuzminsky, Shibaevsky and Shchuchiy. In 1794-1798 the manor church was rebuilt by the architect P.P. Kazakov in the strict forms of classicism, with Tuscan porticoes and a round light drum with a belvedere dome.

MM. Golitsyn owned Kuzminki for almost half a century, until his death in 1804. After that, his widow Anna Alexandrovna owned the estate for another 12 years, who continued to expand her estate. Shortly before the war with Napoleon, she rounded out the Kuzminki estates by purchasing from the treasury for 20 thousand rubles 100 acres of land with small forest in the area of Veshki.

At the end of her life, Anna Alexandrovna had to endure the bitter moments of the destruction of Kuzminki by French soldiers in 1812. The owners did not expect that Moscow would be surrendered to Napoleon, and therefore they did not have time to remove much from the estate. After the enemy retreated, it turned out that the church and the manor house were completely looted, all the furniture in the house was broken, and the peasants' bread, hay, livestock and other supplies were seized and taken away.

Despite this, Kuzminki is being reborn again, and with great splendor and pomp. In 1813-1815. next door to the main house by architect A.N. Voronikhin built the so-called “Egyptian House”, which is a pavilion decorated in the Egyptian style.

After the death of Anna Alexandrovna in 1816, her sons Alexander (1772-1821) and Sergei (1774-1859) became the owners of the estate, and after the death of her brother, in 1821, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn became the sole owner of the estate. It was under him that the estate received its finished appearance and became one of the most famous estates near Moscow, ranking with Ostankino, Arkhangelsky and Kuskovo.

Soon he began further development of the estate, which was carried out with the participation of the prominent Moscow architect D.I. Gilardi. In 1819-1823 he is building the Horse Yard complex. In 1826, according to his design, a suspension bridge was built to the island. A whole flotilla of a yacht and several boats was set up on the pond, which were served by specially hired sailors. New stone outbuildings are being erected. Particular attention is paid to greenhouses. According to the inventory of 1829, they had 152 lemon trees, 291 orange trees, 26 orange trees, 502 pear trees, 509 plum trees, 217 cherry trees, 618 pineapple trees. 30 gardeners were busy caring for the plants. Interestingly, the greenhouses not only justified themselves, but also brought the owner an annual income of 3 thousand rubles. An English-style park was laid out near the greenhouses, which was looked after by 40 workers. It soon became a favorite place for country walks among Muscovites, who were attracted by the cleanly swept paths, sprinkled with red sand, along which there were cast-iron benches and sofas for vacationers.

In 1831, Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn again expanded the estate by purchasing for 12 thousand rubles from Yegor Dmitrievich Faleev, one of the Kaluga merchants, who later became a personal nobleman, 120 acres of land occupied by forest and partly arable land. The following year, at the entrance to the estate, he installed a front gate, cast from cast iron at his own factories. They said that up to 18 thousand pounds of cast iron were spent on them.

In 1844, according to the project of D.I. Gilardi built granite piers of gray wild stone with lions on the pond, and on the shore of the pond “propylaea” was built - a decorative structure made of a double row of colonies. On the site of an old wooden house, where, according to legend, at the beginning of the 18th century. Peter I stayed during his visits to Kuzminki, and a cast-iron obelisk was built. The following year, at the horse farm, considered one of the best in Russia, two equestrian groups were installed - copies of those that stand on the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg. Work on the construction of the estate was carried out for a total of 30 years until 1856.

In the history of Moscow life in the first half of the 19th century. Kuzminki included its famous festivities, when on summer days the park was open twice a week to the entire “decent” public. Muscovites went here with their whole families for the whole day, stocking up on provisions, even with their own samovar, in case the tables intended for tea drinking were all occupied. But the most famous was the annual festivities on July 2, when the temple feast of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God was celebrated. In its scope, it was not inferior to the famous Muscovites’ celebration on May 1 in Sokolniki. According to eyewitnesses, on this day, from early morning, thousands of carriages were heading to Golitsyn’s estate, and the entire nine miles from what was then Moscow to Kuzminki, the road was essentially a busy city street. After the solemn service, where all the Moscow nobility was present, the festivities themselves began. Orchestras thundered in the garden, boats with sailors glided on the ponds, and samovars were placed in one of the groves. A special place was allocated for the common people. In their scope, these holidays reminded old people of the feasts of nobles of the “golden 18th century” and they were often compared with those that Potemkin, Orlov and Sheremetev gave to Catherine II in their time. According to very rough estimates, on this day up to 12 thousand carriages came to Kuzminki, and in total more than 100 thousand Muscovites walked in the garden. The party ended late at night, when the sky was lit up by a magnificent fireworks display of 40 thousand lights.

In the 40s of the XIX century. Prince SM. Golitsyn invited one of his acquaintances, Pavel Sumarokov, to Kuzminki. Let's take a look at his diary. He described Kuzminki this way: “The location is flat, very ordinary, but art and one and a half million rubles turned Kuzminki into the most beautiful suburb of Moscow. The prince invited me there for the temple holiday on July 2. Carriages and strollers were lined up in rows; poor boys and girls ran at a trot, begging for alms. They turned off the main road and a cast-iron grate appeared, behind it was another courtyard, another grate with bronze decorations, with a princely coat of arms on the gate. A bunch of waiters stood on the porch, and there were many guests in the rooms, some sitting on the balcony, others playing cards. The house is oak, tastefully decorated and worthy of great attention. It has existed for 158 years, and Peter the Great often visited Stroganov there. There were 136 diners for lunch; everything is lordly, rich, rare wines, mountains of fruit, music is thundering, curious people look in the windows - hats, feathers, beards among them. There were up to 5 thousand uninvited guests, and strollers, carts, and droshky occupied all the alleys. Gardens with hills, rivers, and gazebos are beautifully connected with each other and represented fashionable, noisy societies at that time. By evening, all the greenery was illuminated with multi-colored lanterns, and fireworks concluded the celebration, similar to a royal one.”

Such splendor continued almost until the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn did not live to see this for two years. After his death, the estate went to his nephew Mikhail Aleksandrovich Golitsyn in 1859, but he soon died, and Kuzminki went to his 17-year-old son Sergei (1843-1915). He rose to the rank of colonel, and through the court line received the rank of Jägermeister. He went down in the history of his era by shocking secular society by enrolling in the merchants of the first guild and at the same time engaging in commerce. The new owner could no longer maintain the estate on the same scale. Due to family circumstances, since 1873, for his summer vacation, he chooses his other one near Moscow - the village of Dubrovitsy near Podolsk, and the estate in Kuzminki is adapted for renting out to summer residents. After the departure of S.M. Golitsyn from the Kuzminki estate are finally turning into a holiday village, connected in the summer by regular traffic to the nearest railway stations. In the late 1900s, S.M. Golitsyn proposed to sell the estate to the city for the construction of new irrigation fields, that is, to expand the city sewerage system. But Kuzminki was a majorate; the tsar’s personal consent was required for their sale, but Nicholas II refused this request, believing that the estate should have remained in the Golitsyn family.