The myth of the Sukharev Tower. To the 165th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Gilyarovsky / Museum of Moscow

Author: Winner56

June 23, 2021 09:36

Tags: Moscow history mysteries

2447

Probably in every city there are places that people call “black”. In Moscow, until the 30s of the 20th century, such a place was the Sukharevskaya Tower.

See all photos in the gallery

Once upon a time, Streletsky settlements stretched along Zemlyanoy Val, where the city security guards were quartered, who were engaged in crafts and trade outside of duty. Near the Sretensky Gate in the 17th century, the Sukharev regiment was located, named after its colonel Lavrenty Sukharev. It was on that spot that the tower, called Sukharevskaya, was built. The height of the tower was more than 60 meters. Although legend names Lefort as the architect of this monument, there is a version that the tower was built according to the plans of Peter I.

Why was the Sukharev Tower built?

The Sukharevskaya Tower (built in 1692-1695) was erected when it was decided to rebuild the wooden Northern Gate of the capital leading to the Yaroslavl Road and make it stronger and more reliable - stone. This is how the Sukharev Tower (built in 1695) appeared on the outskirts of the capital, strengthening the new Sretensky Gate and becoming, over time, one of the symbols of Moscow.

Initially, the tower was a regimental hut, where the archers guarding the Sretensky Gate lived. The commander of this streltsy regiment was Colonel Lavrenty Sukharev. According to one version, it was the surname of the commander that gave the name to the tower, since it was Sukharevsky - one of the nine rifle regiments - who sided with the young Emperor Peter, maintaining his loyalty and devotion in the struggle for power with Queen Sophia.

In gratitude for his faithful service, Peter built a stone tower and named it in honor of a man who had proven his loyalty to the king.

They say that there was even a plaque with an inscription of gratitude installed on the tower. But there is no reliable evidence for this.

The construction of the tall structure proceeded gradually. First, in 1692, the wooden Sretensky Gate and the premises above it were replaced with a stone two-story building, in the middle of which a passage gate was made. Fencing classes were held in the so-called foil room. The other halls housed Sukharev's rifle regiment.

Above the ceiling there was a base made of a hipped roof with a clock. On the side of the gate, a chapel of the Perervinsky Monastery with cells for monks was attached to the tower. It is a known fact that the Miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was kept here for some time.

The third floor was completed in 1698-1701 after Peter the Great returned from Europe. A two-story staircase porch was built, which made the Sukharev Tower so recognizable in all paintings and drawings. The top of the building was decorated with four pointed turrets, reminiscent in style of the superstructures of the Kremlin towers.

The strength of the newly built tower was colossal. The reason for this was a very deep foundation.

The myth of the Sukharev Tower came to life at the Gilyarovsky Center

Poets write poems about it, and architects offer options for recreating the building, which once housed the observatory of an associate of Peter I, who was called a sorcerer and warlock - Jacob the Bruce. Vladimir Gilyarovsky has written about the tower more than once. On the occasion of the 165th anniversary of the author of the book “Moscow and Muscovites,” an exhibition was opened in the center named after him, where the myths about the Sukharevskaya Tower come to life.

The Gilyarovsky Center, located in the courtyard of Stoleshnikov Lane, is adjacent to house No. 9, where the “king of reporting” Vladimir Gilyarovsky once lived. It was there that he compiled his articles from different times into the book “Moscow and Muscovites,” which still remains a bestseller. There are many lines in it dedicated to the Sukharevskaya Tower and the square on which it stood.

Thanks to Gilyarovsky, today we can imagine in vivid colors what kind of life was in full swing around this mythical structure at the end of the 19th century. His essays, letters and poems describing the Sukharev Tower and its surroundings became the core of a new exhibition at the Gilyarovsky Center.

However, the project begins, as expected, with the history of the building. In the art space on wooden stands we find plans of the tower, old books, photographs, newsreels and surviving fragments of a Moscow Baroque monument. The first chapter, historical, was called “The Body of the Tower.”

Construction of the Sukharev Tower began in 1692 by decree of Peter I. Construction was carried out in two stages according to the design of the outstanding architect Mikhail Choglokov. In the first three years, two tiers were erected, a passage gate and two chambers with an entrance were built. A clock tower was built above them, and four pointed turrets were made at the corners.

Later, in 1678-1701, after the return of Peter I from Europe, a third tier was added. The exposed red brickwork, lush white stone decor, paired windows with intricate frames and the double-headed eagle crowning the tower became a symbol of the place.

The tower was nicknamed Sukharevskaya in honor of Colonel Lavrentiy Sukharev of the Streletsky Regiment, who helped the young tsar retain power when his sister Sophia tried to overthrow her younger brother from the throne.

After construction was completed, the third tier of the tower was occupied by the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, headed by the scientist Jacob Bruce. He equipped an astronomical observatory in one of the towers, where, according to legend, the secret “Neptune Society”, headed by Franz Lefort, met.

There is a legend that at the base of the tower Bruce hid a “Black Book” capable of giving unlimited power. Allegedly, with the help of this book, Bruce created a mute girl who serves the “warlock” at lunches and dinners, and at the end of the day she is scattered with flower bouquets...

However, according to researchers, in fact we are talking about a healing book in Latin, which contained various recipes, and all the legends about the learned German were born due to the fact that the people then understood little about the sciences and mistook Bruce’s research for witchcraft.

The history of the tower is full of different events and twists. In the 19th century, an antique and second-hand book market was formed near Sukharevka, which was characteristically described by Vladimir Gilyarovsky in the book “Moscow and Muscovites”. The most famous episode sounds like a joke: “A lady brings a painting to her friends and shows it to I.E. Repin. He laughs. He asks for pen and ink and signs at the bottom of the painting: “This is not Repin. I. Repin." This painting again found its way to Sukharevka and was sold thanks to Repin’s autograph for one hundred rubles.”

In 1933, it was decided to demolish the Sukharev Tower to clear the way for busy traffic in the area. Back in the 1910s, there were proposals to make additional through openings in the tower arches, but the ideas were not brought to life. When they started talking about a radical decision in the 1930s, the scientific and artistic community opposed it and asked Joseph Stalin to preserve the unique monument. However, he did not listen to Igor Grabar, Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexei Shchusev and many others, and ordered the tower to be demolished. A letter with this decision dated September 18, 1933 can be found in one of the exhibition windows.

Vladimir Gilyarovsky witnessed the demolition of the tower - it was dismantled by hand gradually. The building literally melted before our eyes. Sketches by artists that captured this moment have been preserved. Some fragments of the tower were given to the Donskoy Monastery, where they then planned to create an open-air museum. Others ended up in several museums, including Sukharevka’s unique watch.

Muscovites watched with sadness as the monument dissolved before their eyes, and the famous journalist wrote to his daughter in 1934: “Something terrible! Crimson, red, illuminated by the sunset ray, transformed into a pile of living ruins, I still see her yesterday - a proud beauty, a pink tower...” That same year, Gilyarovsky passed away.

The second floor of the Gilyarovsky Center, where the next “chapter” of the exhibition is located, is dedicated to the poetic image of the Sukharev Tower. Here you can find quotes from Lermontov, Pasternak, Mayakovsky, Mandelstam, Voznesensky, dedicated to the monument, as well as historical books with essays about it. Some writers sang of her image, having seen her in their time and remembering her real appearance, others turned to myth...

The chapter “Image of the Tower” testifies to the acute phantom pains that Muscovites have experienced and are still experiencing - the Sukharevskaya Tower is missing in its rightful place. Therefore, the idea of restoration appeared quite quickly - the chief architect of Moscow, Mikhail Posokhin, spoke about it in the 1970s. There were different ideas. For example, put a copy of the tower near a historical place - in a nearby park. Such a proposal was made in 1982 by architect Pavel Ragulin and engineer Pyotr Myagkov. In 1986, a competition was even announced for the architectural and planning design of Bolshaya Kolkhoz Square, as Sukharevskaya Square was then called.

The first prize was awarded to the project of Yuri Gerasimov and Pyotr Panukhin, which involved recreating the tower on the old site. They planned to make the historical foundation available for viewing. To do this, it was necessary to make tunnels under it for vehicles. But the idea was never brought to life: various communications are located too close there, and besides, the metro is nearby.

The last time they started talking about recreating the Sukharev Tower was quite recently - in 2021, but the idea again hung in the air... However, the very fact that the idea of restoring the Sukharev Tower is constantly being returned testifies to its significance and importance.

The myth of Bruce's Tower - like some kind of poetic anchor - hovers over the city and, perhaps, one day the 80-meter phantom will again take on visible forms...

But for now the tower remains a dream, a utopia, which we remember largely thanks to Vladimir Gilyarovsky.

Several versions about the authors of the extraordinary structure

Some Muscovites argued that the main role in the creation of the drawing of the future tower was played by the friend and ally of Peter 1, the German Lefort, who, when developing the plan, was guided by the town hall of one of the German cities. According to another version, the design of the tower was drawn up personally by Tsar Peter, which is why its appearance resembled a ship. But both of these versions are wrong.

The author and architect of the fantastic colossus that guarded Moscow from the north was a simple Russian man, Mikhail Choglokov, who, when developing the plan for a grandiose structure in the Baroque style, took into account the wishes of the customer tsar. And we know that Peter 1 was partial to the fleet and everything connected with this topic.

It is known that during his life M. Choglokov painted more than 10 icons. He was engaged in decoration, painting of the royal rooms, and also painted portraits of some persons of the ruling family. In addition, Mikhail Ivanovich Choglokov, a talented master, painted several banners with coats of arms.

What and who is the tower famous for?

Jacob Bruce - magician, sorcerer and head of the school

This school was headed by Peter’s closest ally, his friend and confidant, scientist and inventor, diplomat. And, on the other hand, there is a very mysterious and even unknown person, Jacob Bruce, who was popularly called a warlock and sorcerer.

In fact, and this was an indisputable fact, Count Jacob Bruce was a talented scientist who devoted a lot of time and effort to science, books and his experiments. Among his works was a map of lands stretching from Moscow to Asia Minor, and a very detailed map of the starry sky.

On one of the highest floors of Sukharev’s “ship’s mast” he equipped an astronomical observatory in which he carried out his research.

Count Jacob Bruce did not like noisy secular society and led, as far as possible given his high position, a solitary lifestyle.

It was this circumstance that gave rise to many stories and legends connecting the Sukharevskaya tower with his name. People said that “in the tower of the sorcerer and sorcerer Bruce” strange events were happening: at night, lightning of different colors burst out of the windows of his office, birds with human heads flew out. And after Bruce’s death, some of the truthful storytellers even saw him walking along Sukharevskaya Square and looking for his laboratory.

They also say that the magician had the Book of Solomon, from which it was possible to predict everything about everyone!

One of the legends also tells about the mysterious Black Book, which gave its owner enormous opportunities and abilities inaccessible to an ordinary person. Fearing that after his death someone else, and not necessarily with good intentions, would own the book, Bruce hid it in the tower. This was precisely the main secret and mystery of the Sukharev Tower. Maybe the search for this mystical book was the reason why the tower was demolished, despite its value as a historical monument and people’s protests?

Neptune Community

It is reliably known about the meetings of the “Neptune Community”, which took place in one of the many rooms of the tower. Members of this community were Peter 1, Jacob Bruce, and Lefort. What exactly the admirers of Neptune did there is unknown. The meetings were secret and there is very little information about them.

But they say that it was magic, alchemy, esotericism. And in their magical rituals, members of this club quite widely and often used the ring of Solomon, which helped the owner get rid of evil spirits and other witchcraft obsessions. Such a ring was an integral part of the Knights Templar.

School of Navigation or The Oldest Midshipman

The School of Mathematics and Navigation operated on the upper tiers of the tower for a long time (from 1700 to 1715), and the Admiralty was located. Later, the navigation school was transferred to St. Petersburg. It became the first school and the first higher educational institution preparing future sailors. Classrooms were located there, and a foil room was equipped. It was there that the midshipmen trained. Remember our favorite movie, Midshipmen, Go?

The School of Navigation trained mainly captains and navigators of ships, giving them all the knowledge that could be useful. It is interesting that the cadets were transferred from class to class higher not according to age, but according to their achievements. Simply put, based on exam results. Among the students of the school there was also a record holder for eternal apprenticeship. His name was Ivan Trubnikov. He was a student at the school for 30 years! And at the age of 54 he was dismissed from there due to old age and illness, and also “as he was no longer reliable for studying science.”

Already today, a silver coin was issued in honor of the 300th anniversary of military education in Russia. On it is an image of the Sukharev Tower, educational naval paraphernalia and the inscription “Navigation School, 1701.”

Leonty Magnitsky - a brilliant mathematician at the School of Midshipmen

Mathematics at the educational institution was taught by Leonty Magnitsky, a famous teacher who became the author of the first mathematical textbook in Russia. It was he who introduced into the Russian language such now common mathematical terms as divisor, multiplier, product, fraction, root extraction and others.

It is interesting that at birth Leonty Filippovich received the surname Velyatin. But, having matured, he was noted by Tsar Peter himself, who gave him the surname Magnitsky. The emperor explained it this way: the magnet attracts iron, and the mathematician also attracted attention with his extraordinary mental abilities.

“I cry not from pain, but from resentment...”

As you know, they wanted to transform Moscow from a merchant city with crooked streets and cramped alleys into a socialist capital. With wide avenues and squares, simultaneously getting rid of antiquity, especially churches and bell towers.

So in the 1920-1930s, the entire Zaryadye district disappeared, the Kitai-Gorod wall was broken, the Triumphal Arch on Tverskaya Zastava Square and the Red Gate were dismantled, and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up. And she still stood. Amazing. Unique. Sukharev Tower.

This year marks 320 years since it was built. Construction lasted several years. Peter I planned to erect a tower in Moscow, similar to those he saw in Holland on the central squares. At the Sretensky Gate at that time lived the archers of Lavrentiy Sukharev, who swore allegiance to Peter during the feud with Sophia. Therefore, the tower began to be called Sukhareva.

There was a mathematical and navigation school here, as well as the first astronomical observatory, which was organized by Jacob Bruce. In the 19th century, the tower became a water tower - the first Moscow water supply from Mytishchi was brought here. From the Sukharev Tower, water flowed into water fountains in the city center. When the Krestovsky water towers were built in 1892 (they would be destroyed in 1940), the Sukharev Tower housed various institutions: from the office of the Meshchansky Society for the Poor to the warehouse of the City Archives.

But for many years by that time the tower had been associated with the Sunday Sukharevsky market - a huge Moscow flea market near its walls. The market has also experienced a revolution. The double-headed eagle was thrown from the tower, and the Moscow Communal Museum was built in it, from which the current Museum of Moscow actually began. He organized an exhibition at the Gilyarovsky Center. It’s three stories high—you climb up it as if you’re climbing to the top tier of a tower that no longer exists.

Appearance of the building and legends associated with it

Bride Tower

Compared to the one-story houses that surrounded it, the height of the tower was simply enormous, reaching 64 meters! And this is the height of a modern twenty-story building! The Sukharev Tower became the first civil building of this scale in Russia.

In 1834, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote about her like this:

Residents of the city fell in love with the slender stone beauty and affectionately called her among themselves the Sukharevskaya young lady and also the bride of the bell tower of Ivan the Great. After all, earlier, before the appearance of the Sukharevskaya Tower, only bell towers at churches were built so high. And only one bell tower of Ivan the Great was 20 meters higher than the “young lady tower”. Her height was 81 meters.

The tallest building in Moscow was also built in 1707. By order of Count Menshikov, the Temple of the Archangel Gabriel was built on Chistye Prudy, according to the design of an architect named Zarudny. The height of the temple was 84.2 meters - this is 3 meters higher than the bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin!

This is how the saying appeared among the people: “The Sukharev Tower is the bride of Ivan the Great, and Menshikova is his sister.”

The fate of the Menshikov Tower was more successful: the church building remains in its place to this day. True, in the dense environment of modern houses, it is not easy to see and photograph it in full growth. And the spire now is not as tall as in the picture of past centuries. Getting old...

Eagle and Hawk: Who Wins?

The outer side of the tower wall was decorated with a huge clock and an image of a double-headed eagle with two anchors behind.

They say that in difficult days, when Napoleon was already preparing to enter the capital, Muscovites observed such a picture. A hawk flew over Sukharevskaya Square, its paws wrapped in a rope. With this end of the rope he became entangled in the eagle crowning the tower. For a long time the powerful bird tried to free itself, but to no avail. His strength ran out and the hawk died.

Residents of the capital saw in this a good sign, saying that the Higher Powers this time, as they had done more than once, would save Russia from the invasion of Bonaparte the hawk.

The story of the clock

An interesting fact is also known about watches. At the end of the 18th century they were removed. In images of the Sukharev Tower from different years, it is presented both without a clock and with it.

There was no clock on the tower for almost 100 years. Why and where they were all this time is unknown. Only in 1899, a clock appeared again on the 4th tier of the tower. At the same time, 9 bells were placed on the tower. The largest one chimed every hour, and the rest sang every 15 minutes and half an hour.

Architecture

The architectural style of the Sukharev Tower combined Lombard and Gothic elements. It was an example of the Naryshkin architectural style. The structure was distinguished by its incredible strength, which was achieved due to its deep foundation. The total height of the tower reached sixty meters. The people dubbed her the bride of the bell tower of Ivan the Great.

The appearance of the Sukharevskaya tower resembled a ship with a mast. Its eastern part symbolized the bow of the ship, and the western part symbolized the stern. There was a clock installed on the tower, and the top was decorated with a double-headed eagle. His image was original - there were arrows around his strong paws, it was believed that they symbolized lightning. In Russia, the Sukharev Tower became the first civil structure of this scale. Previously, only church bell towers were built so high.

The symmetry of the structure is characteristic of all tiers, except the lower one: here the asymmetrical arrangement of the staircase-entrance was balanced by different arches - to the west of the central passage, two large ones and to the east of it, three small ones. The Sukharev Tower became an important link in the transition to modern architecture and the result of the development of ancient Russian architecture.

How the tower served people

The tower's attraction is the water reservoir.

For some time the tower was part of the department of the Admiralty College. Military warehouses were located there. Later, namely in 1829, the tower became a water tower. A cast-iron reservoir was installed in it, which could hold 7 thousand buckets of water, which was collected here from the Mytishchensky water supply system. In the 19th century, this was perhaps the main function performed by the Sukharev Tower.

The water reservoir was so huge that you could sail a boat on it. Over time, the size of the tank expanded and it was able to hold more water.

A beautiful fountain was built near the walls of the tower.

There is even a painting by Vasnetsov “At the water fountain on Sukharevskaya Square,” which depicts how Muscovites came here for water.

And here is a real photograph of how dirty and damp it really was here. Moreover, it was slippery that a sled with a barrel of water could be rolled even without snow.

The Sukharevskaya tower was a water tower until the 90s of the 19th century. After the new powerful Krestovsky water towers for storing water were opened, the point in using Sukhareva’s equipment disappeared, so it was dismantled.

Well, a photo of the fountain in the 20th century, or more precisely, Sukharevskaya Square, on which the fountain stood. Now, instead of it, a high flower bed with flowers was installed. And there was even a small palm tree towering above, which looks a little strange in Moscow.

Interiors

The interior of the tower, among other things, was decorated with an icon of the Kazan Mother of God. According to legend, it was this Icon of the Virgin Mary that helped rid Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian occupation in 1612.

Over the years, the halls of the tower were used in completely different ways: military warehouses, an archive, an Admiralty office, rooms for police officers, even cells for monks were located here; several rooms were used to house judicial and investigative bodies.

It’s amazing how many drawings and photographs there are now of the exterior of the tower from different years, but nothing has survived of what was inside.

Theatrical liberties in the Sukharev Tower

For some time - even during the reign of Peter 1 - performances by visiting and local comedians were held in one of the halls of the tower. There is also a story connected with this. The Sukharevskaya Tower in Moscow hosted visiting artists within its walls. Posters were posted around the city inviting spectators to a performance that they would see for the first time and only once.

A lot of people came. And unexpectedly for everyone, the emperor himself came. The curtain rose and people saw a cheerful inscription: “Today is the first of April - a day of laughter and practical jokes.” This was a performance like no other. The artists joked like that. But when they came out to bow and saw the king, they were speechless with horror. It was somehow dangerous to joke with Peter the Great... But everything ended with “little bloodshed.” Peter called everything that happened “theatrical license” and left smiling.

Flea market is a separate conversation

At the turn of the 19th-20th century, on weekends at the foot of the Sukharevskaya community there was a noisy fair “Sukharevka”, which attracted sellers, buyers or just onlookers from all over the capital, and not only Muscovites. It was a crowded bazaar where you could buy and sell anything. If, of course, a person had enough strength to go around it all.

In connection with this, the following joke circulated among the people in those days. One man came from a country dacha to Moscow and on the way stopped at the Sukharevskaya fair. Walking between the rows and just about to leave, he suddenly saw a vase that he liked.

Having given the seller very little money, he joyfully came home with his wonderful purchase. But as soon as he opened the door to his house, he saw a crying maid. It turned out that the house had been robbed at night. And... well, he bought his own vase, stolen from his house.

Sukharevsky Market was a landmark place that was glorified by Gilyarovsky and other authors.

You look at these still black and white photographs and understand: nothing has changed. And now - the same tents, the same crowds of people, the same signs and even almost the same trams.

During the revolutionary years

It should also be mentioned that during the years of revolutionary changes in Russia, the tower also played an important role. Thanks to its immense size and “tall stature,” it became a stronghold for the Red Guards, who skillfully used these advantages and exchanged fire with the cadets.

True, during this period it began to lose its external perennial relics. So, in 1917, a spire was knocked down, on which was the coat of arms of Russia with a double-headed eagle, installed under Peter the Great.

Later, the building housed an electrical transformer, a compressor station, and a city archive...

In the last years of the tower’s existence, since 1925, a museum was located within its walls. It was quite convenient in all respects: the building was located in the city center. Its numerous halls housed various exhibitions, one of which was dedicated directly to the hospitable hostess - the Sukharev Tower.

An old photo from 1934 shows the entrance to the Moscow Communal Museum, which was located in the building.

V.A. Gilyarovsky wrote an impromptu poem on the occasion of the opening of the museum in the former tower, which was a water tower for several decades of its history.

The spring water from here watered the Moscow people, from now on the living power of knowledge will flow from here.

It could have been saved: the exhibition “The Myth of the Sukharev Tower” opened

In old photos you can see how the tower was dismantled.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

Not many people in the capital can now explain where the name Bolshaya Sukharevskaya Square and the Sukharevskaya metro station came from. In the area of the current Garden Ring, for more than two centuries there was an important symbol of Moscow - the Sukharev Tower. During the Soviet years it was demolished, but the memory is still preserved - the exhibition “The Myth of the Sukharev Tower” was opened at the Gilyarovsky Center.

The surviving details of the Sukharev Tower are the column capital and baluster.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

— A new exhibition at the branch of the Museum of Moscow is dedicated to the 165th anniversary of the birth of the famous writer of everyday life Vladimir Gilyarovsky. The exhibition turned out to be in tune with what the local historian of Moscow was doing: preserving the image of the city in the memory of Muscovites, the organizers said.

Preserved

The history of the Sukharev Tower is not simple. There have been so many urban legends, so many perestroikas. At various times, there was a school of mathematical and navigational sciences, an office of the Admiralty College, a water pumping station and the Moscow Communal Museum.

The fate of the clock located on the tower can be found out at the exhibition.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

“Moscow is being rebuilt. The crooked streets and houses in which Natasha Rostov lived are disappearing. The Sukharev Tower was torn down - it’s a pity. She could have been saved, she had to be moved,” from the diary of USSR diplomat Alexandra Kollontai, 1934.

Similar memories of the history of the construction and destruction of the tower, photographs and preserved details (baluster, column capital) can now be seen in the Gilyarovsky Center.

The exhibition “The Myth of the Sukharev Tower” will run until May 30.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

The curators of the exhibition recalled that the Sukharev Tower was built back in 1692 by order of Peter I. The building was made of red brick in the spirit of the Moscow Baroque, decorated with a double-headed eagle and an unusual clock with a fixed hand and a rotating dial. The Sukharev Tower was the same landmark as the Kremlin, like the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Disappeared within two months

Around the tower at the end of the 18th century there was the famous Sukharevsky market, where dishes, books, bicycles, paintings, sculptures, and stolen antiques were sold. In Vladimir Gilyarovsky’s book “Moscow and Muscovites” there is a whole chapter about this market.

— Since ancient times, Sukharevka has been a place for selling stolen goods. A lone thief dragged “stolen” things here under the blanket, buyers transported them in carts, wrote Vladimir Gilyarovsky.

You could find any antiques on Sukharevka.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

And one case is absolutely amazing - they sold a fake painting by Ilya Repin on Sukharevka for 10 rubles. When they showed it to the artist, he wrote “this is not Repin.” With an autograph, the same painting was sold for 100 rubles.

There was room for a dream at the exhibition - the projects of those who tried to restore the tower were published.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

However, in 1934, a decree was signed to demolish the tower, despite strong public opposition. They were drawn here by transport problems, even trams were stuck in traffic jams - then there were tracks through the gates of the Sukharev Tower.

— After the October Revolution, the Sukharev Tower turned from a symbol of colonel’s loyalty to the emperor into a symbol of speculation, often capitalist fraud. A huge market, similar to a giant camp, as a gathering place for traders, and the very word “Sukharevka” became a designation for all and all speculative transactions, including illegal ones, Izvestia wrote on November 11, 1934.

The initial view of the Sukharevskaya Tower (without extensions) is very reminiscent of the Kremlin towers.

Photo: Alisa TITKO

It took only two months for the Sukharev Tower to be demolished. There was no trace left of her. Most people didn't care, but there were people who couldn't believe it. Vladimir Gilyarovsky called the tower the bride of the bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin.

“The first thing they did was take the clock off it and use it for some other tower, and then they broke off the porch, knocked down the spire, and dismantled the upper floors brick by brick,” the author wrote bitterly.

Or maybe take it and restore it?

The question of building the Sukharev Tower has been raised many times. In 1986, it was proposed to install it in the same place and build a tunnel on both sides of the foundations. But construction could begin only 25 years after the transport problems at the intersection had been resolved. As we see, 35 years have passed, and the Sukharev Tower has not been revived.

But thoughts about its restoration are still alive. Moreover, Moscow has an example when the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was demolished, a swimming pool was built in its place, and then the temple was restored again. Perhaps someday we will see the Sukharev Tower not only in historical photographs?

Where: Gilyarovsky Center, Stoleshnikov Lane, 9, building 5. Chekhovskaya metro station.

When: until May 30, 2021.

Cost: 300 rubles.

Fight for and against the tower

In 1931, a plan for the total reconstruction of Moscow was developed. The city had to change beyond recognition. And at this time, unexpectedly for everyone, the question arose about the demolition of the Sukharev Tower, which, according to officials, interfered with the free movement of transport.

If earlier carriages and carts drawn by horses could easily pass through the arched ceiling, then with the advent of motor vehicles this became more difficult to do. Cars, buses, trams... And the city grew, significantly increasing the number of pedestrians in the busy square.

By the way, in the old photograph I was surprised by the sign “Vegetarian canteen” (on the right). And they say that being a vegetarian is a newfangled trend in Russia. But no, all this already happened in the last century...

I took a little break from the demolition of the tower and the redevelopment of the area. Perhaps the reason was that the Sukharev Tower divided Sukharevskaya Square into two parts: Malaya Sukharevka and Bolshaya.

Many people were against destruction: both ordinary townspeople and prominent figures of science and art. They even wrote a letter personally to the leader of the country, J.V. Stalin. In their message, they called the tower an example of great construction art and asked to reconsider the decision to demolish Peter’s creation, and therefore a historical monument.

It is noteworthy that the letter contained not only words of request. It also contained a specific proposal for the reconstruction of the tower, which would allow keeping the tower where it stood, and, at the same time, solving the transport problem.

Engineers and scientists proposed cutting 6 arches in the lower tier and laying roads through them. Such through passages would look harmonious and allow cars to move freely.

But, unfortunately, Stalin had a different opinion. He was initially in favor of demolishing the building, and no arguments could help here. In his response letter, he called those who advocate the preservation of the Petrovsky building blind and unpromising. It was useless to continue to fight for the preservation of the ancient monument.

Legend has it that Stalin, like many, heard about the famous book with the secret knowledge of Jacob Bruce and hoped to find it. Therefore, he ordered not to blow up the tower, but to dismantle it brick by brick. But even with such work, the books were not found. In fact, many buildings used to be dismantled in order to later use the building material for paving roads or other work.

What secrets of the warlock Jacob Bruce does the Sukharev Tower keep? Part 2

While in Moscow, Peter I often visited the tower, which was officially called the Navigation School at that time (it began to be called the Sukharev Tower after the school was transferred to St. Petersburg). Sometimes the monarch observed classes or exams, but more often he spent time in the observatory, laboratory or in the Rapier Hall, where periodic meetings of the “Neptunian Society”, which was, in fact, a secret royal council, were held. Almost no documents related to the activities of the society have survived, but it is known that its chairman was Franz Lefort, the functions of the first overseer (i.e., manager) were assumed by Peter, and simply the members were the closest associates of the young king, including Bruce.

Popular rumor could not ignore the visits of the tower by Peter I and major dignitaries, especially since they sometimes stayed there until late at night. If the visits of such guests are connected with the secret activities that were attributed to Bruce, the conclusion is clear - they are engaged in witchcraft and magic, and perhaps they are acquainted with the evil spirit. The Tsar’s reputation among the people was still the same. Involuntarily, in the dark, they tried to avoid the tower.

Finally, the people became convinced that Bruce was engaged in far from righteous deeds in the tower, when a warning about the upcoming solar eclipse was published, and soon a calendar was published with predictions for many years. It is clear that whoever knows about the upcoming eclipse arranged it. Well, in order to make predictions so accurately, you must, if not sell your soul to the devil, then certainly know him.

Rumors multiplied and were filled with new details. If you believe them, then Bruce could create artificial people, he had such a girl among his maids, and when the warlock’s friend fell in love with her, he simply took her and dissolved her in the air. For himself, Bruce created the elixir of immortality in order to remain young forever, but he carefully hides it from others and even from the king. We relished in detail the stories that Bruce built an iron bird and flies on it to visit the Tsar in St. Petersburg or on business in other cities. In addition, he himself can turn into a bird or animal, cause or stop floods, thunderstorms, storms, etc. And they didn’t just take his word for it, there were a lot of people who “saw” all this with their own eyes.

True, there was a case in history when, in the late 1880s, a ghost in an old camisole and cocked hat actually appeared on the roof of the Sukharev Tower for several nights in a row. New rumors immediately spread around Moscow - either Bruce himself had returned, or Peter was visiting him, the figure seemed very large in the moonlight. The chief of the detective police, Ivan Putilin, was even called from St. Petersburg, who soon revealed the secret. It turned out that the former officer, who had lost his mind after his wife ran away from him, was looking for Bruce’s treasure in the tower, which contained a love elixir. And since the treasure is enchanted, you can get it only by appearing in the image of Peter the Great. So the treasure hunter changes into a uniform from the times of Peter the Great, rented from a costume workshop.

The search for treasures in the Sukharev Tower began soon after Bruce’s death, although he did not appear in the tower for the last ten years of his life. But the warlock couldn’t help but hide something in it. It is curious that rumors related to Bruce and his treasures in the Sukharev Tower continued to circulate around Moscow in the first half of the 20th century. There were some quite exotic ones among them, in which even Stalin was mentioned.

It is known that Bruce equipped himself with a study in the Sukharev Tower. He often worked in it and stored many books from his large library, which he collected all his life. Many legends are associated with the books from this library. According to legend, Bruce had several ancient manuscripts, including a “magic book” that once belonged to King Solomon himself, which allowed the warlock to predict everything that would happen in the world, including the fate of individual people.

The Book of Solomon was enchanted, no one except Bruce could pick it up, it simply disappeared. It was kept in a secret room in the tower, the entrance to which only Bruce knew. Peter I wanted to get acquainted with this book, but even in the presence of Bruce himself, it was not given to the tsar. After Bruce’s death, many allegedly tried to find the legendary book, and Catherine II even forced the walls in some of the rooms of the tower to be dismantled. But the book was never found.

The next large-scale attempt to find the book was made by Stalin, who ordered the Sukharev Tower to be dismantled brick by brick. Lazar Kaganovich personally supervised the dismantling of the tower, and all cars leaving the site and all people exiting were searched by NKVD officers. The book was not given to anyone then, but part of Bruce’s library and archive was allegedly found, which was later used by Stalinist architects during the construction of Moscow.

There is a tiny grain of truth in what was said about Stalin’s architects. The fact is that Bruce at one time was planning the expansion of Moscow, while developing the already existing radial-ring structure of the city's development. Stalin’s architects built the city according to the same structure. But it is unlikely that any of them held any of Bruce’s works in their hands, if only the famous calendar, and then only out of ordinary curiosity.

The demolition of the Sukharev Tower was also not connected with the search for the treasures of the legendary warlock. The decision to demolish it was personally made by Stalin. The executor was in fact Kaganovich, to whom Stalin wrote in September 1933: “We studied the issue of the Sukharev Tower and came to the conclusion that it must be demolished. We propose to demolish the Sukharev Tower and expand the movement. Architects who object to demolition are blind and hopeless.”

After all, they actually objected, trying to save the pearl of Moscow architecture. Moreover, quite realistic projects for expanding the Garden Ring were proposed, not to the detriment of the famous tower. It was not possible to convince the leader, and the tower was demolished. Some of the external decor and equipment of the tower were preserved, but serious archaeological research was not carried out under the tower, where there were deep two-story basements, and next to it; there was simply no time for this. The foundation and what remained of the basement were covered with crushed stone and rolled over with asphalt.

Muscovites perceived the destruction of the legendary tower with pain, but were unable to stop the barbarity. The Sukharev Tower was dying before their eyes. These days, V. A. Gilyarovsky wrote piercing poetic lines in a letter to his daughter: “Something terrible! Crimson, red, illuminated by the sunset ray, transformed into a pile of living ruins. I still see her yesterday - a proud beauty, a pink tower..."

After Stalin's death, the question of restoring the Sukharev Tower was repeatedly raised, and very realistic projects were proposed. But the only thing they did was install a memorial granite stone in the park, a hundred meters from the place where the legendary tower once stood.

At the beginning of the new millennium, during the construction of an underground pedestrian crossing under Sukharevskaya Square, part of the tower’s foundation was uncovered, which turned out to be in good condition. Initially, it was stated that the foundation arches would somehow fit into the interior of the passage, but then they were simply walled up again, and a previously unplanned bend appeared in the passage, bypassing them. Thank God, at least they didn’t destroy it.

Perhaps for many years to come, the basements of the legendary tower, walled up under a thick layer of asphalt, will have to keep their secrets.

First part of the article

Tags: Peter the Great, architecture, secrets, interesting fact, Moscow, history, Sukharev Tower

Dismantling the monument: how it happened

Historical facts say that the first official mention of the demolition of the Sukharevskaya Tower was published in the newspaper “Working Moscow” on August 17, 1933. In a short note under the laconic title “Demolition of the Sukharev Tower,” it was reported that work on its dismantling would begin on August 19, since this object interferes with traffic. All this will have to be completed by October 1, it is by this date that the area must be cleared of the “inconvenient” structure.

After this, more than six months passed, during which cultural figures and scientists wrote many letters to the Government, personally to the leader I.V. Stalin with requests to preserve the historical monument. But this only slightly delayed the death throes.

Despite the efforts of the tower’s defenders, on March 16, 1934, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks approved the proposal of the Moscow Party Committee to demolish the Sukharev Tower and the Kitai-Gorod Wall. The first 6 meters of the high-rise building were dismantled on April 19, 1934.

At the same time, the clock was removed, the porch was destroyed and the main granite staircase of the building was dismantled.

On April 28, 1934, the dismantling of the prism (upper part) of the Sukharev Tower was completed. Next, they began demolishing the main building. Photographs from the last century clearly demonstrate how the process of demolishing the Sukharevskaya Tower took place.

You look and your heart skips a beat at how in a few months you could dismantle something that had stood there for centuries.

On May 24, 1934, the dismantling of the Sukharevskaya Tower ends. The work plan is more than 80% completed.

In less than 2 months, on June 12, 1934, the Sukharevskaya tower was completely dismantled , which was reported to Joseph Stalin, who personally controlled this process.

From a photograph showing the ruins of the former majestic building, one can easily determine the exact location of the destroyed Sukharevskaya Tower: it stood at the intersection of today's Garden Ring and Prospekt Mira.

And here are historical photographs of what happened in this place instead of the Sukharev Tower. On the remains of the square, an arch structure “Roll of Honor of Collective Farms of the Moscow Region”, topped with a massive five-pointed star, was installed.

And nearby (view on the opposite side of the square) there is a tram stop. And that's all. But the huge market, as it was before, remains in its place. It is easier to destroy houses than to fight long-term human habits.))

The very strong and deep foundation of the Sukharevskaya Tower also survived. It wasn't blown up. And these days he is simply hiding under Sukharevskaya Square.

On October 25, 1934, at the suggestion of L.M. Kaganovich, the square itself, where some time ago the “Sukharevskaya Young Lady” stood, was renamed for some reason - it began to be called Kolkhoznaya. Apparently, by doing so they wanted to erase memories from the memory of the people.

When the tower was destroyed, the frame of one of its windows survived. He was immediately taken to the Donskoy Monastery and secured in one of the walls. At that time, the monastery housed the Museum of Architecture. And even today the platband of the once existing tower is still there.

The clock from the Sukharevskaya beauty has also been preserved, and now it adorns the Front Gate in the Kolomenskoye Museum.

Well, at the end of this section I would like to quote V.A. Gilyarovsky, those unusually emotional words that he wrote to his daughter while watching the destruction of the Sukharevskaya Tower.

Sukharev Tower (in Moscow). Story. Legends

History of the Sukharev Tower

The Sukharev Tower in Moscow is popularly nicknamed “the bride of the bell tower of Ivan the Great.” An outstanding monument of Russian architecture, built on the initiative of Peter 1 in 1692-1695. architect Mikhail Choglokov. The tower reached 64 meters in height. 1700-1715 - the tower housed the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, from the beginning of the 18th century the astronomical observatory of Y. V. Bruce, the Moscow office of the Admiralty Collegiums, the reservoir of the Mytishchi water supply system, in 1925-1934 the Moscow Communal Museum. 1934 - demolished.

How did the Sukharev Tower appear?

The Sukharev Tower in old Moscow was one of the most mysterious buildings. Meanwhile, this amazing structure owes its appearance to secular and quite ordinary events - the struggle for the Russian throne. They can be briefly described as follows: 1689, August 8 - the young Tsar Peter 1, warned about the preparation of the Streltsy rebellion, hastily left Preobrazhenskoye and went to seek protection within the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The faithful regiments of his amusing army - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky - followed him. Soon they were joined by the Streltsy Regiment of Lavrenty Sukharev, who served at the Sretensky Gate of Moscow. How this confrontation ended is well known: Peter I became the sole ruler of Russia, his sister, Princess Sophia, was imprisoned in a monastery.

Moscow was decorated with another outstanding architectural structure. In 1692–1695 on the site of the wooden Sretensky Gates designed by M.I. Choglokov, a watchtower was erected, called Sukhareva. It is believed that in this way the autocrat expressed his gratitude to the faithful colonel.

Sukharev Tower style

The style of the tower is a mixture of Lombard and Gothic. The tower was built from red brick, approximately 1.5 times larger in size than today's brick. Windows, doors, pilasters and other parts were decorated with white stone. It is possible that the tower was originally unpainted and was a natural combination of the colored materials from which it was built. Later the tower was painted in red, yellow, green and “wild” colors.

From the moment of construction, the tower was not adapted for residential purposes: there was no internal connection between the chambers of the same floor, all doors opened onto external platforms, on which primitive latrines - “outhouses” - were built on the eastern and western sides of the third floor of the Sukharev Tower. . In winter, when cold winds blew across the tower from all sides, this device turned out to be especially inconvenient. The Dutch stoves that were installed in the chambers did not heat them sufficiently, and therefore in winter it was cold in the interior of the tower.

Tower of the Warlock Jacob Bruce

The Sukharev Tower soon lost its defensive significance, and in 1700 the Navigation School was located in it. It was then that Count Yakov Vilimovich Bruce first appeared there, whose name has since been inextricably linked with the history of the tower. Jacob Bruce (born James Daniel Bruce) - one of the closest associates of Peter I, was born in Russia, was a representative of an old Scottish family.

After the death of Peter I, the count left public service and finally settled in Moscow. Since then, scientific research has become the main work of his life. Bruce’s unusual activities for that time, strange interests for those around him, and the blue “devilish” light that was periodically seen in the windows of the laboratory he equipped on the upper floors of the Sukharev Tower soon created his reputation as a sorcerer and warlock.

The legends that popular rumor formed about Bruce amazed the imagination of his contemporaries. The Count was credited with many unusual actions and mysterious stories. It was rumored that at night all kinds of evil spirits gathered in his tower: devils and ghosts. On the night of the full moon, a real dragon appeared on the roof of the tower, and Bruce flew around the sleeping city on it. According to another version, the count carried out his night flights on a huge steel bird.

Jacob Bruce died in April 1735. At that time, the Navigation School had already been transferred to St. Petersburg, and the Admiralty offices and judicial chambers were located in the Sukharev Tower.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the famous Sukharevsky Market appeared next to the Sukharev Tower. This was immediately after the war of 1812, when residents who had left their homes returned to Moscow. Over time, Sukharevka turned into a large flea market - a hot spot.

The Mystery of the Sukharev Tower

The Sukharev Tower has not survived to this day. It was demolished in April 1934, ostensibly to remove obstructions to traffic. What the authorities were actually guided by is unknown, but many architects, including the famous Alexey Shchusev, were against it and even personally appealed to Stalin not to destroy the legendary building. The story of the tower's demolition has acquired a new legend.

When they began to destroy the Sukharev Tower, an old man with a black beard came out and began to observe the work. They hit the tower, but it doesn’t give in. They realized that it was all about the old man. A car arrived, the old man was picked up and taken away. Only after this were they able to topple the tower. Who was this old man? They said he was a sorcerer...

Most likely, the real basis of the legend is this: for some time before the demolition, architects and students were on duty near the tower, hoping to stop the destruction. But, according to legend, Stalin personally undertook to supervise the dismantling of the tower, during which workers were ordered to look for hiding places and treasures. And in fact, many ancient books were discovered hidden within the walls of the building. However, the main one - the Black Book of the sorcerer Bruce - was never found.

Although, there is still hope to reveal the secret of the Sukharev Tower. In the 1990s. diggers and “black archaeologists” found many underground passages under Sukhareva Square, which could be accessed from the basements of old houses located on Sretenka and in nearby alleys. And then the city authorities became interested in the local underground. 2008, September - so, at his press conference, the chief Moscow archaeologist Alexander Veksler said: “The base of the tower has been preserved. Research is currently underway there." It was even proposed to create an underground museum under Sukharev Square, entirely dedicated to the legendary tower. The only question is, will the land allow this?

Interesting Facts

Badge for Napoleon

The day before Napoleon Bonaparte's troops entered Moscow, a hawk, with shackles on its legs, became entangled in the wings of a double-headed copper eagle on the spire of the Sukharev Tower. The bird fluttered for a long time until it died. The people who saw this interpreted: “This is how it looks like Napoleon will get entangled in the wings of the Russian eagle.”

Treasure for Stalin

According to Moscow legend, Stalin decided to destroy the Sukharev Tower in order to find some kind of treasure. Therefore, the tower was dismantled very carefully, brick by brick.

• During the demolition of the building, it was possible to save the casing of the double window - now it is stored in the Donskoy Monastery. The Tower Clock has also survived - it is installed in the Kolomenskoye estate.

• There are references to the Sukharev Tower in the paintings of famous artists and in literature. Vivid examples of this are A. Savrasov’s painting “Sukharev’s Tower” and the novel “The Golden Calf” by Ilf and Petrov.

• 1982 - the capital authorities tried to initiate the restoration of the Sukharev Tower, but it was unsuccessful.

ed. storm777.ru

To be or not to be restored Sukharevskaya Tower

For more than 40 years, there have been conversations about the possible restoration of the Petrovsky building. Back in 1978, the chief architect of the capital, Posokhin, proposed to recreate the Sukharev Tower where it was.

In 1982, there was even a competition for the best project to recreate the tower. Various options for a highway that could pass through the building were considered.

Or under Sukharevskaya Square and the future tower.

But none of the proposed projects was accepted by the commission. The matter was shelved.

Now some people consider this idea a very necessary thing, while others consider it an absolutely useless idea. Everyone has their own opinion on this matter. And in light of today's events in the world, it is unlikely that anything will change in this matter in the near future. There are countless unique craftsmen in Russia who would happily take on this work, but, by and large, everything, as always, comes down to money.

Moscow, which no longer exists - Sukhareva Tower.ch 2

MOSCOW, WHICH IS NO LONGER - SUKHAREV TOWER

...On a steep mountain, strewn with low houses, among which the wide white wall of some boyar’s house is occasionally visible, rises a quadrangular, gray, fantastic bulk - the Sukharev Tower. She proudly looks at the surroundings, as if she knows that the name of Peter is inscribed on her mossy brow! Her gloomy physiognomy, her gigantic size, her decisive forms - everything bears the imprint of another century, the imprint of that formidable power that nothing could resist.”

M.Yu. Lermontov, “Panorama of Moscow”, 1834

To expand streets in order to increase traffic capacity in Moscow, not only nice streets with trams or city boulevards were destroyed - sometimes amazing architectural objects were destroyed for these purposes. One of the most egregious cases is the Sukharev Tower. This is the most famous of the secular buildings demolished in Moscow in the 1920s and 1930s, the destruction of which caused the greatest protest.

Who erected it, who did it interfere with, and will there be a revival of the Sukharev Tower?

There are a lot of names assigned to the tower, according to the number of urban rumors and legends. Some fearfully called it the Sorcerer’s Tower, others affectionately and admiringly called it “the bride of Ivan the Great.”

The tower was built in 1692-1695 on the site of the old wooden Sretensky Gate of the Zemlyanoy City (at the intersection of the Garden Ring and Sretenka Street). By that time, the fortifications of Zemlyanoy Town had already lost their defensive significance, so the architecture of the Sukharev Tower is devoid of any fortress elements. And they built a beautiful tower by order of Peter the Great, in honor of Lavrenty Sukharev.

In 1689, Peter I fled from his sister Princess Sophia to the Sergius Lavra, Sukharev’s regiment came to Peter’s defense. In gratitude, the king ordered a new stone gate with a clock to be built in place of the old one. There was even a kind of thank you plaque to Lavrentiy Sukharev. But all this is just an urban legend, since the inscription on the memorial plaque of the tower did not contain a single word of gratitude.

The gate was rebuilt in the form in which it remained until the beginning of the 20th century, with a tall, hipped tower in the center, reminiscent of a Western European town hall.

It is believed that Peter I “spied” such architecture at town halls in Holland or Germany. According to his plan, the structure was supposed to resemble a ship with a mast; the galleries of the second tier represented the upper deck, the eastern side was the bow, and the western side was the stern. The height of the beautiful tower, which remained one of the dominant features of Moscow for more than 200 years, was ~64 m.

There are many legends, myths and dubious stories associated with the tower. Here are some of the bottom:

Neptune Society.

In the Sukharevskaya Tower there was the so-called Rapier Hall, where it can be assumed that fencing was taught. Tradition says that it hosted secret meetings of a certain Neptune Society, the chairman of which was Lefort, and the first overseer was Peter I. History has hidden from us the origin and true purpose of this secret society. However, there was a rumor among the people that a black book was kept there, guarded by 12 spirits and “later placed in the wall, where it was nailed up with altyn nails.”

photo:kudago.com

Ring of Power

According to legend, Solomon's seal on a ring with the words SATOR, AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS was kept in the Sukharevskaya Tower. “You can do different things with this ring: you will turn it into a seal, you will be invisible, you will destroy all charms from yourself, you will gain power over Satan...”

Sorcerer's Tower

Tradition says that for some time the tower housed the alchemical laboratory of Jacob Bruce, one of the closest associates of Peter I, who had a reputation as a sorcerer. Here Bruce allegedly was engaged in the preparation of an elixir of living and dead water. Before his death, he allegedly gave a bottle of living water to his valet and ordered him to water himself with it soon after his death. When the valet began to carry out such an order, the deceased began to move; the performer got scared and, dropping the bottle from his hands, broke it. Bruce was never destined to be “resurrected.”

Sign for Bonaparte

The day before Napoleon's troops entered Moscow, a hawk, with shackles on its legs, became entangled in the wings of a double-headed copper eagle on the spire of the Sukharevskaya Tower. The bird fluttered for a long time until it died. The people watching this interpreted: “This is how it looks like Bonaparte will get entangled in the wings of the Russian Eagle.”

Many legends were associated with the Sukharev Tower. One of them arose as a result of dismantling the tower. Moscow legend says that Stalin decided to destroy the Sukharev Tower in order to find some kind of treasure. Therefore, the tower was dismantled very carefully, brick by brick.

But let’s return to the realities of that time and move from legends to history and facts.

Marvelous market near the tower

After the War of 1812, as soon as Muscovites began to return to Moscow and began to look for their plundered property, Governor General Rostopchin issued an order in which he declared that “all things, no matter where they were taken from, are the inalienable property of the one who is currently owns them for a moment, and that any owner can sell them, but only once a week, on Sunday, in one place only, namely on the square opposite the Sukharevskaya Tower.” And on the very first Sunday, mountains of looted property blocked a huge square, and Moscow poured into an unprecedented market.

Hundreds of tents sprang up in front of the luxurious palace of the Sheremetev Hospital, pitched overnight for just one day. From dawn to dark, a sea of heads swayed in the square, leaving narrow paths for passage on both sides of Sadovaya Street, which was wide in this place. There were a lot of people milling around, and everyone had their own goal.

In the old days, Muscovites came here to look for things stolen from them, and not without success, because from ancient times Sukharevka was a place for selling stolen goods.

A lone thief dragged “stolen” things here under a blanket, buyers carried them in cartloads. Things were sold cheaply on Sukharevka, “on occasion.” Sukharevka lived by “chance,” often an unhappy one. The Sukharevsky merchant bought where there was unhappiness in the house, when nothing was wrong; either he will “buy” from a needy person who does not know the price, or he will buy a “merchandise” from under the counter, and this “merchant” sometimes smells of arson smoke, sometimes he is covered in blood, and always with bitter tears. He will buy for next to nothing and sell cheaply... Sukharevka’s slogan: “For a penny of nickels!” I suggest you look at the gallery:

Stalin approved

By the early 1930s, as the population grew, the network of tram tracks in the area around the Sukharev Tower became incredibly complicated. A single-track line passed through its gates. While two or three old-fashioned trams were passing in one direction, the cars traveling in the opposite direction had to wait. At the same time, it was planned to expand the roadway along the entire length of the Garden Ring, which also required the reconstruction of the Sukharevka space. So, in 1932, the party started talking seriously about “demolishing the Sukharev Tower, which would impede traffic along Sadovaya Street and normal communication between Sretenka and First Meshchanskaya Street (today’s Prospekt Mira).” It is possible, of course, that the tower was perceived not only as an annoying obstacle to the technical improvement of Moscow, but also as a symbol of the old traditional Moscow, which aggravated the desire of the Moscow leadership to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

It would be appropriate to reinforce the words that the throughput capacity of the Sukharevka gates was really negligible, and the problem with congestion and traffic jams was familiar not only to modern city governors:

Sukharevskaya Tower. There is a small traffic jam in Moscow, it’s a common thing - it’s rush hour, everyone is rushing to work. Now everything is the same only in the subway.

1927, Sukharev Tower. The one of famous unusual shots of the great Soviet photographer Alexander Rodchenko

On August 17, 1933, information about the planned demolition of the Sukharev Tower appeared in the press. Leading Moscow architects were outraged by the plans of the Moscow City Committee and sent a number of letters to Stalin himself, in which they explained that the destruction of this monument was absolutely unacceptable, and proposed their own projects for redevelopment of the square, which did not require the demolition of the tower.

“Demolition of the tower is essentially impractical, because if its goal is to regulate street traffic, then this result can equally well be achieved in other ways, without following the lines of least resistance.”

(I.E. Grabar, I.A. Fomin, I.V. Zholtovsky and others - to I.V. Stalin // News of the CPSU Central Committee. 1989. No. 9).

It was even proposed that the entire tower be moved several tens of meters to a wider part of the square, which would “free up the street intersection and allow through traffic in all directions” (K. F. Yuon, A. V. Shchusev, A. M. Efros, etc. - I. V. Stalin // News of the CPSU Central Committee. 1989. No. 9).

However, the architects’ exhortations had no effect; Stalin categorically wrote to Kaganovich:

We studied the issue of the Sukharev Tower and came to the conclusion that it must be demolished. Architects who object to demolition are blind and hopeless.

Stalin argued that “Soviet people will be able to create more majestic and memorable examples of architectural creativity than the Sukharev Tower.”

But the country’s leading architects fought for the tower, and they sent Stalin another collective appeal:

“The significance of this monument, a rare example of Peter the Great’s architecture, a magnificent landmark of historical Moscow, is undeniable and enormous. They are demolishing it for the sake of streamlining street traffic... We urgently ask you to urgently intervene in this matter, stop the destruction of the Tower and propose to immediately convene a meeting of architects, artists and art historians to consider other options for redevelopment of this section of Moscow, which will satisfy the needs of the growing street traffic, but also save a wonderful architectural monument."

April 22, 1934 Stalin replied to the authors of the letter:

“I received a letter with a proposal not to destroy the Sukharev Tower. The decision to destroy the tower was made at one time by the Government. Personally, I think this decision is correct, believing that the Soviet people will be able to create more majestic and memorable examples of architectural creativity than the Sukharev Tower, it is a pity that, despite all my respect for you, I do not have the opportunity to provide you with a service in this case.”

In the issue of demolition of such an important architectural monument for Moscow as the Sukharev Tower, the ideological side of the matter was also important. Some historians believe that the technical solution to the problem - to preserve the tower and at the same time ensure the passage of transport along the Garden Ring - was a much more complex and time-consuming task than it seemed to the architects who protested against its demolition. Between April and May 1934, the tower was dismantled. All “building materials,” that is, fragments of the monument, were transferred to the city department “for use in paving the streets.”

An eyewitness to the events was the famous journalist and Moscow expert Vladimir Alekseevich Gilyarovsky, who wrote in a letter to his daughter:

“They break it. First of all, they took off her watch and used it for some other tower, and then they broke off the porch, knocked down the spire, dismantled the upper floors brick by brick, and today or tomorrow they will break down her slender pink figure. Still pink as it was! Yesterday it was a sunny evening, a bright sunset from the side of the Triumphal Gate gilded Sadovaya from below and scattered into the dying remains with a glow.”

He supplemented these words with his own poems:

“Something creepy! Crimson, red,

Illuminated by the sunset ray,

Turned into a pile of living ruins,

I still see her yesterday -

A proud beauty, a pink tower..."

After its destruction, Sukharevskaya Square was renamed Kolkhoznaya. Such are the things. The square was then renamed back in 1990, as was the metro. They even decided to restore the tower in 1982, but none of the projects were accepted at the competition. Trams from Sretenka also soon disappeared, replaced by trolleybuses. Now there is a culturally meaningless and merciless 16-lane Garden Ring.

Quotes about the tower

"Sukharev's watch." “Sukharev’s watch began to play pranks. According to a report made to the Administration by one of the city engineers, Sukharev’s clock either does not strike at all or strikes incorrectly. The council recently issued an order to repair the clock.”

"Moscow Listok", October 7, 1901

"How to get?". “On January 18, the godfather Eskov, walking through Catherine Park, was stopped by two women; one of them asked how to get to the Butyrskaya outpost, and the other asked to show her the way to the Sukharev Tower. Eskov showed them the way and both women left, after which Eskov discovered that a silver cigarette case, as well as a watch and a wallet with 170 rubles, had disappeared from his pocket.”

"Moscow Listok", February 2, 1903

PS: During the dismantling of the Sukharev Tower, one of the window frames on the third floor was preserved and moved to the Donskoy Monastery, where it was embedded in the monastery wall. The clock from the Sukharev Tower is now installed on the tower of the Front Gate of the Kolomenskoye estate. The foundations of the tower have also been preserved, but are hidden under the modern square.

Now the only thing that reminds us of the existence of the Sukharev Tower is a memorial sign in the park on the Garden Ring.

What do you know about the Sukharev Tower? Submit your stories.

Memory of the stone beauty: what is here now

Nowadays, in the area where the tower previously stood: on Bolshaya Sukharevskaya Square, there is a park. This name returned in 1990. Previously, the square was renamed Kolkhoznaya. But at the end of the 20th century, its historical name was returned to it.

Despite the Garden Ring highway passing nearby, it is surprisingly quiet and very green. Huge trees are growing, flower beds are laid out and lawns are trimmed. Through the foliage you can see the incredibly beautiful building of Count Sheremetev’s hospice house, which now houses the Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. Sklifosovsky (abbreviated as SKLIF). This house was adjacent to the Sukharev Tower for many years and witnessed its destruction.

You can sit on a bench under the foliage of a powerful tree. Looking at this beauty, you even forget that you are in a huge metropolis. You feel so quiet and peaceful here.

Sukharevsky Park is small in size. In the center, on a low pedestal, there is a flower bed with bright flowers. Strange, on the Yandex map I saw a mark that there should be a fountain here. Perhaps this was the case just recently. But now the orange marigolds are pleasing to the eye.

The significance of this historical place is now only reminded by a small stele - a kind of monument to the Sukharevskaya Tower. It says that on this square there was the Sukharev Tower, which housed navigation classes from 1701 to 1715 - the first secular educational institution that trained personnel for the Russian fleet and the state.

The monument was erected to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy in 1996. It is important to understand that this monument was not installed where the Sukharevskaya Tower actually stood. It’s just that nearby this place turned out to be the most convenient for a memorial sign. In the next section I will show the exact location of the demolished Moscow “hulk”.

You can now read about the tower itself in many literary works, and it is also depicted in paintings. For example, this is a painting by Savrasov with the same name “Sukharev Tower”. It is amazing to see the rustic wooden houses around the huge stone building that surrounded the structure in 1872, when this work was written.

And in the work “The Golden Calf” by the inimitable Ilf and Petrov, one of the scenes takes place in an establishment next to the Sukharevskaya Tower.

And maybe someday K. Bulychev’s prediction in his science fiction story “News of the Future Century” will come true, according to which in the 21st century the Petrovsky ship - the Sukharev Tower - will be restored.

But what if…

Moscow City Museum

The Gilyarovsky Center has prepared an exhibition about the iconic Moscow building - the Sukharev Tower, dedicated to the reporter and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky. Legends and the turbulent daily life of the tower and the surrounding space of the Sukharevsky market are reflected in articles, poems and Gilyarovsky’s most famous book “Moscow and Muscovites”, where an entire chapter is devoted to them. The Sukharev Tower is a special landmark: it is both the center of city life, a mythologized image, and a huge architectural loss of the 20th century.

The history of the tower, erected in 1695–1701 by order of Peter I, is rich not only in events, but also in the myths and legends that have developed around them. During the time of Vladimir Gilyarovsky, the Sukharev Tower remained one of the most remarkable buildings in Moscow, and the adjacent market was an important part of Moscow everyday life, which the master of reportage knew and loved so well.

The Sukharev Tower is of particular importance for the Museum of Moscow. It was here that from 1925 to 1934 the Moscow Communal Museum was located - the ancestor of the modern Museum of Moscow. The first director of the museum was Pyotr Sytin, who studied in detail the history and architecture of the tower and the legends associated with it.

In the early 1930s, the Soviet government decided to demolish the Sukharev Tower. Townspeople and cultural figures came to her defense, as evidenced by surviving letters to the country's leadership and personally to Joseph Stalin. Despite strong public opposition, the monument was eventually dismantled in 1934. Many years have passed, but the Sukharev Tower still remains an irreparable loss in the history of the city: a rare monument to this day attracts such close attention from the capital’s residents.

The exhibition consists of three parts. The first section - “The Body of the Tower” - is devoted to the history of the monument: from the moment of its construction to the tragic finale - its erasure from the face of the earth.

On the second floor, in the “Image of the Tower” section, texts are collected that tell how an urban object, even having ceased to exist physically, continues to live in cultural memory.

The final part, entitled “Utopia,” presents plans and projects for the reconstruction of the Sukharev Tower and, in this context, examines the question of whether it is possible and necessary to reconstruct lost historical monuments.

The curators of the project sought not only to tell the story of the tower, but also to show various manifestations of its intangible presence in the city. The exhibition turned out to be in tune with what Vladimir Gilyarovsky was doing: preserving the image of the city in the memory of Muscovites.

Curators:

Katerina Belenkina, Denis Romodin, Alexandra Selivanova.

Architecture:

Design Bureau "B&K": Eric Belousov, Maria Kornilova, Galina Titova.

Project partners:

Moscow State United Art Historical-Architectural and Natural Landscape Museum-Reserve; State Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev; Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History; State Public Historical Library of Russia; Central State Archive

The exhibition also used materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents; State Museum of the History of Russian Literature named after V.I. Dahl.

Where is it, how to get there

If we look at a modern map of Moscow, we will see that the Sukharevskaya Tower rose where the Garden Ring, Mira Avenue and Sretenka Street now intersect in Moscow. This is what the view of Sklifosovsky Hospital and the market looked like from the top of the Sukharev Tower. The road straight is the Garden Ring (now it is widened), to the right is Sretenka, and to the left is Prospekt Mira. Instead of a market, Sukharevsky Park is now laid out.

This is how the Sheremetevsky Hospital for Strangers looks like (from the side of the park), in front of which is the Garden Ring with its busy traffic.

And here is another comparative photograph in which you can understand the exact location of the Sukharevskaya Tower on the modern map of Moscow. On the right you can see a house built by Stalin, which still stands along the Garden Ring.

It was in front of him that the legendary Sukharev Tower stood.

If we “look” in the opposite direction from this house, we will “see” the Sheremetev House (the modern Sklifosovsky Institute). This photo was taken from an imaginary point where the tower previously stood. Its foundation is precisely hidden under the highway. And the fountain was located in front of the facade with columns (this is the left wing of the semicircular Sheremetev Palace).

Today, to see the place where the Sukharev Tower stood, you need to get to the Sukharevskaya metro station, which was opened on January 5, 1972. Previously, it (as well as the square) was called Kolkhoznaya (until 1991).

There will be one exit from the metro to the top: to Bolshaya Sukharevskaya Square.

Then it will be easy to find your way around.

Coordinates of the Sukharev Tower monument in the park of the same name: 55.77203, 37.63468

On the map you can determine the exact location of old and modern objects on Sukharevskaya Square, which were discussed in the article (click “+” or “-“ to zoom in or out of the image).

To stay in Moscow for a few days, you can easily rent an apartment or room on Airbnb, or book a hotel in any convenient location in the city through Booking.

I explored the sights around the former Sukharevskaya Tower on July 17, 2021. On two opposite sides of the square there are two wonderful historical sites. These are the Miansarova Apartment House (House with Tiles) and the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Listy. And, of course, the Sheremetyev Hospice House, which so far I was only able to look at from behind the fence. But the same age as the Sukharev Tower, Menshikov Tower, also stands nearby: only 1.5 kilometers from the square.

The map below shows other attractions of Moscow and the Moscow region that I was able to visit.

Share in the comments below which significant historical sights of Moscow are of interest to you (existing or past), where you have been and which of them made the greatest impression.

Sorcerer from Sukharev Tower

As we have already described in our magazine (“ChiP” No. 2, 2018), the publishing house “Miracles and Adventures” has established a new public award - the medal “Star of Jacob Bruce”, which will be awarded to citizens of the Russian Federation and subjects of foreign countries for their contribution to research mysteries of Nature and Man, in the development of science and technology.

Now the Public Council, which includes prominent scientists and public figures, is carefully selecting applicants for the award. The high jury includes famous researchers, science fiction writers, major publishers and entrepreneurs. The establishment of the Star of Jacob Bruce medal caused a great stir. Due to numerous requests from readers, today we are talking about Yakov Vilimovich Bruce, this legendary personality with whom many mystical legends are associated.

Jacob Bruce - the black sheep of the eighteenth century

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin called Jacob Bruce, undoubtedly the most extraordinary, amazing and mysterious associate of Peter the Great, the Russian Faust. Leo Tolstoy spoke about him in the same spirit: “Bruce was the most wonderful person in all of Russia.”

So who was he, this descendant of Scottish kings, whose father emigrated in the middle of the 17th century in search of a better life in the mysterious and exotic Muscovy for a European: a magician and sorcerer, as popular rumors said about him, or a brilliant scientist and outstanding statesman? Let's try to figure it out together.

Yakov Vilimovich Bruce (1669–1735) is a unique personality even for the Peter the Great era, which brought to the forefront of the historical proscenium a precious scattering of talented associates of the great transformer of Russia. Among the galaxy of Peter's favorites and associates, it was he, Jacob Bruce, who was the most educated. The owner of versatile encyclopedic knowledge, who consisted, for example, in correspondence with the then world scientific luminaries Leibniz and Euler. Well, that’s true, by the way...

“The noblest and most honest of all my company,” Peter the Great once said about him. And such a definition was worth a lot. Having reached stratospheric career heights, elevated by Peter the Great to the dignity of count following the conclusion of the Treaty of Nystadt, incredibly beneficial for Russia, with Sweden, which ended the long and grueling Northern War, thanks to which yesterday’s Muscovy, which had previously been an exotic eastern despotism in the eyes of enlightened Europeans, akin to Persia or China, suddenly came, to their amazement, to the forefront of world history. By the way, it was he, Jacob Bruce, unlike most of the highest dignitaries of Peter’s Russia, who stood the test of copper pipes, did not stain himself with embezzlement and bribery, and continued to serve the Tsar-Father and the Fatherland faithfully.

It is not surprising that soon after the death of Peter I (1725), feeling his uselessness of the new government, which easily squandered the legacy of the first Russian emperor created with such hard work, Bruce resigned and moved away from the Neva capital, completely devoting the last decade of his earthly life to voluntary seclusion in Glinka’s estate near Moscow, completely devoting himself to the scientific research so beloved by him throughout his life.

Mage, warlock, scientist, alchemist

Domestic literature of the “golden age” tried hard to popularize the image of Bruce as a magician and warlock. Both popular rumor and enlightened minds firmly connected Bruce the Sorcerer with the Sukharev Tower through a series of myths and legends. “The Sorcerer on the Sukharev Tower” is the name of the unfinished historical novel by the popular writer Ivan Lazhechnikov in the century before last.

Bruce was indeed directly connected with the Sukharev Tower, an architectural gem of old Moscow, mercilessly demolished in the mid-30s of the last century. It had been his workplace since the beginning of that very eighteenth century, in the whirlwind of transformation of which Peter’s Russia was born. Here Bruce had an office and an extensive scientific library. An observatory was equipped in the upper tier of the tower, in which Bruce studied astronomy. It was rumored that at night the sorcerer Bruce flew out of the upper windows of the tower on a fire-breathing dragon, flew over the borders of the Russian state (and sometimes neighboring countries) during the night, and returned back in the morning. These legends probably reflected Bruce's experiments in studying ball lightning. In the basements and dungeons of the tower he conducted his numerous physical and alchemical experiments.

Of the legends about Bruce associated with the Sukharev Tower, two are the most popular. The first says that to serve in the underground laboratories, Bruce made himself a maid from fresh flowers. She conscientiously performed all her duties, but could not speak. Bruce's wife became jealous of him and could not believe that she was not “real.” Then Bruce summoned Tsar Peter as an arbiter and, in front of him and his wife, removed a pin from the maid’s head. It immediately scattered all over with flowers. By the way, there was a similar legend in Glinka’s Bryusov estate.

What could be true in this beautiful fairy tale? These are the tower dungeons. During its demolition, a white-stone underground passage was opened, leading to the house of Yakov Vilimovich located nearby (14 Meshchanskaya St.). Similar dungeons and passages probably existed in Glinka, because a similar legend existed there too. However, we should not completely discount the version that the scientist managed to construct a certain type of mechanical robotic automaton, which, for the sake of conspiracy, appeared in public in the form of a maid (by the way, such automata were known long before Bruce, since antiquity, but then completely forgotten in the “dark ages” of the Middle Ages).

The second legend tells us that Bruce created magic water, with the help of which he could turn a decrepit old man into a handsome and young man. He successfully carried out his first experiment on his apprentice. Then Bruce wanted to rejuvenate himself. He ordered the student to cut himself into pieces and after nine months to water him first with dead and then with living water. The student vowed to do this, but having entered into a love affair with Bruce's wife, he betrayed his secret to her. After the allotted time, the student waters the severed parts of Bruce with dead water. But when he wanted to pour living water over Bruce’s body, his wife knocked the bottle out of the apprentice’s hands, the water spilled, and Bruce did not come to life. Further, the legend colorfully depicts how the angry Tsar Peter, having learned about the machinations of the insidious lovers, ordered to cut off their heads.

The Sukharev Tower is an outstanding monument of Russian civil architecture, an architectural masterpiece of old Moscow. It was erected in stone on the initiative of Peter I at the very end of the 17th century on the site of the old wooden Sretensky Gate of Zemlyanoy Town (at the intersection of Sretenki Street with the Garden Ring). Architect - Mikhail Choglokov. It was named after Lavrentiy Sukharev, whose Streltsy regiment was the only one loyal to young Peter during the Streltsy rebellion of 1689 under the leadership of his sister Princess Sophia. In 1934, despite widespread protests from the Soviet creative elite, the Sukharev Tower was mercilessly demolished.

Such rumors could have arisen in connection with the public experiments carried out in the Peter the Great era on embalming the dead, as a result of which they lay for a long time as if sleeping alive. Well, the bloody plot with an unfaithful wife and a traitorous servant is probably a kind of folk interpretation of William Mons, chamberlain of Peter the Great's wife Catherine.

Let us recall that in 1724 Peter discovered the chamberlain’s love affair with Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Incredible, but true: William Mons, by an evil irony of fate, was the brother of Anna Mons, the first love of the young king, who also betrayed Peter. The enraged sovereign, after conducting an inquiry, ordered Mons' head to be cut off, forcing his wife to witness the execution. A sad fate would most likely await the traitor herself. But Peter came to his senses in time, fearing for the political future of his daughters, although the relationship between the spouses was hopelessly spoiled until the death of the sovereign-transformer that soon followed.

Bryusov calendar

The name of Peter the Great’s associate is forever associated with the so-called Bryusov calendar, which became a very popular brand in pre-revolutionary Russia. Although the mystery lies in the fact that Bruce was never its author.

The first edition of the calendar was published in Moscow back in 1709. Bruce was, in modern terms, the publishing editor of the calendar, which, by the way, could be read about on its very first page. Well, who reads output data and when in Russia?! The question, as they say, is rhetorical.

But the real author of the calendar was... Vasily Kipriyanov, the head of the first civilian printing house in Russia. The Bruce calendar was a popular large-format publication that contained a lot of varied information - from scientific to purely everyday church information.

Due to the stable demand of the Bryusovs, the calendar went through a huge number of reprints, becoming already during the reign of “Peter’s daughter” Elizabeth into an expanded version of the astrological calendars now familiar to us all. Its popularity was great even in the middle of the century before last, and publishers advertised the edition of the Bryusov calendar, updated according to the trends of the times, as “a curious, mysterious, guessing and predictive, the newest astronomical Bryusov calendar, composed for 200 years and located from 1800” (that is, the calendar was designed until 2000 and was actually “eternal” for those years).

Miracles at the Glinka estate

A cycle of tales about the miracles of Peter’s favorite is associated with the Glinka estate, to which Yakov Bruce moved after his voluntary resignation. But first, briefly about the estate itself. Glinka is the oldest surviving noble estate in the Moscow region. And despite numerous later reconstructions and losses, it managed to preserve for posterity the modest charm of Peter the Great's Baroque. Moreover, the owner personally developed the architectural design of his estate, which in itself, you see, is a rarity.

Glinka is a noble estate near Moscow of the early 18th century. It is located at the confluence of the Vorya River with the Klyazma, near the town of Losino-Petrovsky near Moscow, which grew out of a state-owned manufactory founded in 1708 by Peter I for the manufacture of army ammunition from elk skins. Jacob Bruce acquired the estate in 1727, personally developing the architectural design of his estate. From 1991 to 2006, the only Jacob Bruce museum in Russia operated in Glinki.

One of the legends of Glinok tells how Peter the Great loved to come to the estate to visit his associate, relaxing in the shade of the garden outbuilding of the estate, which in our time is often called “Peter’s House”. Here Peter and Bruce allegedly talked, remembering glorious feats of arms. Just like Pushkin: “Friends remember the days gone by and the battles where they fought together.” So it probably very well could have been, if not for one “but”... The bill of sale of a Russian Scot for the estate dates back to April 24, 1727. By this time, Bruce’s benefactor, the Tsar-Father, had been dead for two years. But the legend, I must admit, is very beautiful.

Another legend of Glinka is even more implausible. Allegedly, Bruce loved to entertain his guests by ice skating on a hot summer day on one of the estate ponds. You say, this is surely fiction?! But no - for all its fantasticality and improbability, this legend turned out to be pure truth. And the magic of the “warlock” Bruce has nothing to do with it, although the owner of the estate probably put on an aura of mystery for greater effect. Bruce achieved the “miracle” in the following way.

Scheme of the skating rink on the pond in the estate of Ya.V. Bruce Glinka

Since winter, ice was frozen on the lower pond, which by March reached a thickness of 30–40 cm. In early spring, the water was drained and the ice sank to the bottom. A thick layer of straw, up to 10 cm, was thrown on top of it, then wooden boards were placed on the straw, and on them - a layer of loam, also up to 10 cm. This design ensured reliable heat and waterproofing of ice, which could be stored without melting, even though all summer. The pond was then filled with water again.

During the day, on a fine summer day, Bruce took guests out on boats on the lower pond. And when they left for lunch, the water was drained from the lower pond. Then, with the help of horses, the shields with soil were pulled away, and the straw was removed. The lower pond was then filled with water from the upper pond. The ice floated up, and the skating rink was ready in the middle of a hot day! In the evening, guests were taken to the park, inviting them to go ice skating. Everyone took this for a sweet joke, but, approaching the pond, Bruce waved his “magic wand” and... among the multi-colored lights of the fireworks flashing in the night sky, the stunned guests saw a dazzlingly sparkling expanse of ice in front of them.

In the place where such an unusual person lived, rumors always arise about secret passages, hidden treasures and treasures, walled up in the underground chambers of Bruce's library. The version about dungeons is not without foundation. Dowsing studies carried out in the estate confirmed the presence of numerous underground voids, which are most likely passages connecting the palace buildings.

But there are no treasures, chests of silver and gold, as well as Bruce’s library in the estate. Bruce was not the image of a stingy knight, who, like Pushkin's Tsar Kashchei, languished over gold, but an honest servant of the sovereign, who spent almost all of his income on scientific pursuits. As for the library, supposedly walled up in one of the underground passages of the estate, then everything is much simpler.

Bruce's extensive book heritage, represented mainly by works of a natural, scientific and technical nature in foreign languages (there were only 40 Russian books in it), together with scientific instruments and instruments, was sent after the death of the owner, according to his will, to St. Petersburg , to the Academy of Sciences. Transportation required as many as 30 carts! In the capital, Bruce's scientific heritage was analyzed in detail, a detailed inventory was compiled, and it subsequently replenished the collections of the Kunstkamera.

But what is difficult to explain is how Bruce managed to predict the sad fate in the future of his estate, which “will perish in flames at the turn of the century.” Apparently, Yakov Vilimovich really had some unknown prophetic gift. Bruce left no heirs behind: after the death of Count Glinka, it passed to his nephew Alexander, the son of the first governor of St. Petersburg and builder of the Peter and Paul Fortress, Robert Bruce. The Bryusov family maintained the estate until the beginning of the 19th century, and then it began to be a mess.

Glinka changed hands several times, and the new owners were only concerned with extracting the maximum possible profit from the estate and surrounding lands, and not with preserving the architectural appearance. At the very end of the 19th century, a terrible fire occurred in the main manor house, which was turned into a cotton warehouse, destroying almost all the interior decoration. It is amazing how, with this approach, the spectacular mascarons decorating the frames of the first floor windows have been preserved on the main building of the estate to this day. Another legend of Glinka is associated with them.

The surrounding peasants claimed that Bruce depicted his enemies in demonic masks with protruding tongues. And although each mask really has an individual, unique facial expression, this is nothing more than an idle fiction.

The Count flew off to God knows where

The last legend associated with the name of Yakov Vilimovich was born in Soviet times, which seemed not at all conducive to mysticism. It seemed that after the destruction of the Sukharev Tower, all the legends and myths about Bruce the Sorcerer were debunked to smithereens by militant materialists. But still.

Bryusov Lane in the very center of Moscow connects the main street of the capital Tverskaya with Bolshaya Nikitskaya. Named after the homeowners: General Feldzeichmeister Yakov Vilimovich Bruce and his nephew, Lieutenant General Alexander Romanovich Bruce (1704–1760).

Although Bruce died in his beloved Glinki in 1735, he was buried in Moscow in the Lutheran Church of St. Mikhail in the German settlement. At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, the church was destroyed, and in its place an aerodynamic institute was built, which was engaged in the design of aircraft. Rumors immediately spread around Moscow that ancient drawings of Bruce and even a model of the eagle on which he allegedly flew had been found. Some claimed that the count did not die at all, but simply flew away to God knows where on the airship he created.

Thus, over the centuries, growing, changing and varying, the cycle of tales about Bruce, in which he appeared as something like a Russian Faust, has successfully survived to this day. And, apparently, the point here is not at all in the personality of Yakov Vilimovich, but in the fact that people by nature will constantly be drawn to the mysterious and enigmatic, forbidden and unknown. That's why they will always need their Faust.

Dmitry Zelov