Invisible city. Project "Nikolaev fortress". Lomonosovsky district is one of the most dynamically developing districts of the Leningrad region. The region has a rich

In the village Big Gorki a stone “amusing” fortress rises near St. Petersburg, where everyone will find entertainment to their liking: here you can go through a real obstacle course, shoot from a bow, become a drummer in the “musical kitchen”, ride on cheesecakes with high slides, practice throwing an ax or just walk along the stone walls. A few years ago, this fortress with all the fun was built by a simple village resident Nikolai Rogozev. With his own hands, Nicholas dragged stones and built walls from them so that local population could have had an interesting time. Now people not only from the immediate surroundings, but even from St. Petersburg come to the "Nikolaev fortress", as the building is called by the people. Rogozev is only glad to all the guests: the more people, the merrier.

The second life of an abandoned quarry

Nikolai Rogozev grew up in one of the villages in Leningrad region, and in his youth he left to conquer the city: he moved to St. Petersburg, where he worked as an electrician for a long time. Despite great opportunities A city dweller, Nikolai was still more attracted to the countryside, and he decided to return to his native places. Rogozev settled in a small house in the village of Bolshiye Gorki in the Lomonosovsky district, and life began to flow quietly and peacefully.

There was an abandoned quarry next to Nikolai's site, which stood idle and only spoiled the surrounding landscape. Without thinking twice, Rogozev decided to turn the undeveloped area into the main village center: he planned to build a “funny” fortress here with entertainment that would attract both children and adults. Inspired by his idea, Nikolai drew a plan of the future stone town on paper, and then set to work.

Nicholas built a fortress from stones found in a quarry. Photo:

From ax throwing to rollercoaster riding

The construction of the fortress turned out to be a difficult task already at the first stage of work. Nikolai pulled boulders and stones from the quarry and carried them to a makeshift construction site. In order to make his work at least a little easier, Rogozev thought of transporting a heavy load on children's sleds, and then he realized that he could not do without a tractor. When the materials were finally ready, the former electrician began to build walls and towers. Although Nikolai had never had to work with tools before, the construction of the fortress was in full swing and turned out to be the best possible: Rogozev was helped by friends and some locals.

The fortress has a lot of entertainment for every taste. Photo: From the personal archive of Nikolai Rogozev

Soon, in the place where the abandoned ravine used to be, an unusual stone fortress grew up. It consists of three parts. On the lower “floor”, Nikolay set up a stage for various events and equipped a smithy and a shooting range for archery and ax throwing. In the central part of the fortress there is a musical installation made of pans with lids. The site is illuminated by a small lighthouse, near which a real restored boat moored, which used to serve as a garbage dump. Having climbed to the very top, everyone can slide down high hills or overcome an obstacle course - get to the other end of the fortress along a rope over a ravine.

Did you know that on the territory Chelyabinsk region Are there two ancient battle fortresses that have retained their appearance up to the present day? And this despite the fact that today in Russia one can almost count such structures with one's fingers.

We are talking about two real military fortresses: Nikolaevskaya and Naslednitskaya. They were built at the beginning of the 19th century in the Varna and Bredinsky districts, respectively. And, despite the fact that the distance between them is more than 100 kilometers, they are like two drops of water.

For my long history fortresses withstood more than 20 attacks from nomads who sought to seize lands Southern Urals. But they have survived to this day, almost in their original form. However, relatively, of course.

The size of these structures, which were once the main fortified border posts of Russia on these lines, is approximately 70 by 70 meters. Both white-stone fortresses are surrounded by a battlement, in the corners - massive towers-loopholes with embrasures for cannons, in the middle - steel gates.

The average thickness of the walls reaches 1 meter, and their height is 3.5 meters. During the "combat" times, the fortress was surrounded by a 4-meter moat. In general, there are all the "attributes" that most of us could only see in historical films.

It is worth noting that there were 5 fortresses on this defensive line, but 3 of them were completely destroyed.
Naslednitskaya fortress was built in 1835.

They named it in honor of the future heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexander II, who shortly before that "rolled" through the South Ural Cossack villages. And soon, in the center of the Naslednitskaya fortress, in the spirit of late classicism, a magnificent “loaf church” named after Alexander Nevsky was erected.

Nicholas fortress was built a year later than Naslednitskaya. And the church inside it is named after Nicholas the Wonderworker.

It is curious that the churches also performed a “military function”. On the one hand, they raised the morale of the South Ural Cossacks, and on the other, they were last stronghold fortress defense. They also have "teeth" for archers and other fortifications in case the enemy breaks into the "city".

In 1839-1846, the Nikolaev and Naslednitskaya fortresses had to hold back the wild onslaught of the troops of the powerful sultan of that time, Kenisara Kasimov. Nomads made dozens of attacks on these structures. However, these two fortified points have not lost a single battle in their entire history, preserving both themselves and the borders of Russia.

Unfortunately, few people know about these amazing fortresses. Moreover, in historical reference books they are given with the reservation "little-known monuments of the history and architecture of the country."

Additional interesting things:

1) It is curious that in this moment the fortresses are located a few kilometers from the border with Kazakhstan. And one of the border points was even named after the mighty "great-grandfather": "heir".

2) Churches on the territory of these fortresses are currently restored and services are held here on weekends

3) Naturally, as in any "self-respecting fortress" in the South Ural "castles", there are also underground passages. However, they have not yet been studied by anyone.

Location. Nicholas Fortress: Varna region, in the center of the village of Nikolaevka. Naslednitsky fortress: Bredinsky district, in the center of Naslednitsky village.

The most eastern point Chelyabinsk region. The border line cuts like a wedge into the territory of neighboring Kazakhstan. This is the Varna region. Nikolaev fortress- an ambitious brainchild of the grandiose Orenburg project - is visible for several kilometers. In the 18-19 centuries, the Cossacks protected the local population from the raids of nomadic tribes - the Kirghiz-Aisaks, as the Kazakhs were called in the 18th century, who ambushed along the rivers, in forest pegs, attacked and took someone to Central Asia and sold there.

In total, it was built standard project 5 fortresses (or more) located at a distance of 100 kilometers from each other. They formed the line of the fortified area. Built around the same time. Redoubts were built between the fortresses. Imperial, Konstantinovskaya, Mikhailovskaya fortresses have not been preserved. And if they survived, they would now stand on the territory of Kazakhstan. And another Naslednitskaya is located to the south in the Bredinsky district. Built in 1835 and named after the heir to the throne, Alexander, the future Second, who recently visited these lands. On the territory of the fortress there is a temple in honor of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky. There are more than a hundred kilometers between Nikolaevskaya and Naslednitskaya, but they look like twins. Cossack settlements were located within a radius of 20 kilometers around each fortress.

Nikolayevskaya was built in 1836-1838. The temple in it is exactly the same only in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The fortress was built of red brick of an unusual shape. Four towers in the corners are observation posts. There were also secret warehouses for gunpowder. The temple was not only a temple, but also a defensive element, it was possible to shoot from it during raids. In 1837 alone, the fortresses of the Orenburg border line withstood about 50 attacks by Kazakh nomads led by the khan (or sultan) Kenesary Kasimov (aka Kene-khan and aka khan Kasym). This comrade zealously fought against Russia in 1837-1847.

The main task of the border guards - the Cossacks was to patrol the border. Nicholas fortress was built for 2 years. To be more precise, this is not a fortress, but a fortification, because. the walls were not designed for cannon strikes. But the nomads did not have cannons, and most importantly, they could not jump over the three-meter walls on horseback. The fortress is small, but distant. Withstood more than one nomadic raid. The biggest rebuff was given in 1839, when Nicholas fortress attacked by a detachment of Khan Kasim about two thousand people from the Steppe. The Kazakhs now installed monuments to him, probably no less than the Bashkirs to their Salavat. There were no more serious attacks. The fortress regularly performed the role of intimidation. The nomads, having arrived on the other side and seeing these powerful walls, immediately quickly realized that it was impossible to go any further.

The history of the fortress is connected with the name of the famous Vladimir Dal - the compiler explanatory dictionary and a connoisseur of Russian literature. They say that he personally participated in the selection of a place for the construction of the fortress. In 1833, Dahl was sent to serve in Orenburg, where he became an official for special assignments under the military governor.

Today, the wrought iron gates open once a week on Thursdays for the parishioners of the small church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which miraculously survived during the years of Soviet power. There are not many of them, 5-10 local residents, and the priest comes 90 km from Varna. They say that there was an underground passage from the fortress, which led far beyond its borders. They even tried to find him, but left this idea. The bell for the temple was once brought from Nizhny Novgorod, there were many icons. But vandals in the 30s destroyed everything, including the cemetery. Here in the temple there was a granary, and icons were used to fill chests for grain, gravestones were taken around the house. In 1979, the temple and the fortress decided to restore. Restorers from Kyiv removed the domes and crosses and took them away. After a while they returned but without gilding. In the temple of Alexander Nevsky everything was also destroyed. But both of these temples still survived and are now working. The decoration is very modest. There is no luxury here, unlike the capital's temples. As the elders of Optina Hermitage predicted: "Everything will be in gold, but there will be no grace." So here it is just the opposite. Grace and such a special peaceful atmosphere. Once in the Nicholas fortress, you need to climb the bell tower of the fortress church, to its windy height. The river Ayat will sparkle below. Its rather steep bank will rise and leave at the horizon. Somewhere to the south - a foreign land. The new line after 1991 and the collapse of the Union returned.

In 1752, several armed Russian detachments came out of the Omsk fortress to the west into the wild steppe. Having dispersed over several hundred miles, these detachments began to build fortifications unprecedented for these places - fortresses, redoubts and lighthouses. The virgin land of the Ishim Plain was covered with geometrically regular figures - Russians built according to the system of the French engineer Vauban fortifications were designed to ensure the security of Russian Empire from the raids of the Dzungarian and Kirghiz-Kaisak nomads.

Thus began the Tobol-Ishim fortified line, which gave a powerful impetus to the Russian development of the Irtysh region. Senate decree of 1752 commanded:

"1. Lead the line with only one structure of fortresses, redoubts and lighthouses between them, namely: make it up from 2 hexagonal fortresses, 9 quadrangular fortresses, 33 redoubts, 42 lighthouses.
2. For the settlement and work of regular and irregular troops, 3642 people should be used from the local garrison and service Cossacks and Tatars, who could build those fortresses and other things without payment from the treasury of Her Imperial Majesties money earned".

Construction continued for three years, and in 1755 the new Tobolo-Ishimskaya (aka Presnogorkovskaya) line was completed. From Tobol to the Irtysh, from the Animal Head to Omsk, a chain of fortresses and redoubts stretched for 584 versts, cutting through the ancient Siberian steppe in a straight line.

On the territory of modern Omsk region there are the remains of two of the nine fortresses of the Line - Pokrovskaya and Nikolaevskaya. And if the Pokrovskaya fortress is more or less studied (although there is not so much information on it), then the Nikolaevskaya one is practically unknown.

The Nikolaev fortress was built in 1752-1755, simultaneously with other fortifications of the Tobolo-Ishim (Presnogorkovskaya) line. However, already in 1761 it was moved to another place, closer to the source. fresh water- big round lake. Where the original fortress was located is a historical mystery. True, there is evidence that the distance from the old to the new fortress was about 4 versts, but it is not known where to report these versts. I would venture to suggest that it is necessary to count to the south, to salt lakes Kamyshlov log, since fortifications were always built near water bodies, and the reason for the transfer of the fortress was just the lack of fresh water. It is possible that the first fortress was located in the area of ​​​​the modern villages of Zvezdino and Gofnungstal, but how much I did not consider satellite images of the surroundings of these settlements, so I didn’t see anything like ditches and bastions. It is quite possible that they were destroyed in the middle of the 20th century, during the years of the Khrushchev uplift of virgin lands, when almost the entire Irtysh region fell under total plowing.

Speaking of satellite images. Thanks to this tool, now available to any schoolchild, you can once again kick our candidates and doctors from history, whose scientific work consists in reprinting all sorts of mistakes from each other. These blunders did not bypass the Nikolaev fortress either. It so happened that in the 1970s, for some reason, the Omsk professor of geography Fialkov (1909-1995) became interested in studying the Presnogorkovskaya line - a lump and seasoned human being, who left a very significant mark on scientific life Omsk. Being a very penetrating person, he managed to get nothing more or less for his expeditions, but a whole aircraft with geodetic equipment, with the help of which aerial photographs were taken of almost all the eastern fortifications of the Tobolo-Ishim line.

Following the results of the expeditions, Fialkov writes the article "The bitter line of military fortifications" ( Notes on local history of the Omsk region. Omsk, 1972. S. 52-61), where for some reason he makes two gross, inexplicable mistakes. Firstly, he points out that the Nikolaev fortress is located on northwestern edge the village of Nikolaevka, although one glance at the map is enough to determine that the fortress is located in the southeast.

Second, he writes that "on south side the fortress had an auxiliary external fortification - kronverg, which is clearly visible in the picture.. The auxiliary external reinforcement is really well read in the picture, only this is not a crownwork. Kronverk- this is an external bastion and two semi-bastions on the flanks, on the plan similar to a crown (hence the name: Kronwerk(German) - crown-shaped fortification).

In the Nikolaev fortress there was ravelin(lat. ravelere- separate) - fortification triangular form, located in front of the curtain in front of the fortress moat in the gap between the bastions, which serves to cross-fire the approaches to the fortress bypass and support neighboring bastions with its fire.

Not a single historian doubted the words of Fialkov, and for forty years now (!) People have been walking around scientific articles, monographs, dissertations and encyclopedias "North-West of Nikolaevka" And "kronverg". It got to the point that even on Wikimapia, some user placed the fortress not on the clearly visible contours of ramparts and ditches in the southeast of Nikolaevka, but to the northwest, right on the houses of the inhabitants (!?), where there has never been any fortress.

Funny all the same people these historians. They sit in their chairs and write articles based on the works of the same armchair researchers. Historians do not think about logic, common sense and other boring things - since the authoritative scientist N wrote this way, it means that it was so. The fact that the words N can contradict the laws of economics, physics or geography is not taken into account, because reputable scientists are never wrong. After similar cases you begin to understand that academician Fomenko and his comrades are probably not so wrong with his criticism of official historiography.

However, we digress. What was the Nicholas fortress? It was a square with sides broken inward, with bastions at the corners. The moat around the fortress reached a width of 13 meters (according to Fialkov), and walls and towers made of birch forest stood on the rampart. In 1765, the commander of the Siberian lines, Lieutenant-General Springer, started the restructuring of the fortifications entrusted to him in accordance with the latest achievements of European fortification. The wooden walls of fortresses and redoubts were replaced with earthen ones, the tiered fortification was replaced by a longitudinal flank one, and internal structures were rebuilt.

It was then that the Nikolaev fortress received a southern ravelin, which began to sharply distinguish it from other fortresses of the Presnogorkovskaya line, which received four ravelins and turned from quadrangular to octagonal. In this regard, we can conclude that the Nikolaev fortress was reconstructed according to a unique project, while the rest of the fortresses of the New Line were rebuilt according to a standard model.

Inside the fortress there were buildings common for that time: a powder magazine, a grocery store, barracks, stables, pantries, huts and rooms. total area The fortress was about 41,000 sq. m. There were cannons on the shaft, and the garrison was very small - about 70 people. His life practically did not differ from the life of the garrison of the Belogorsk fortress, described by Pushkin in The Captain's Daughter - guarding the border, fighting gangs of nomads, patrols, campaigns, guards. In the breaks between the service - hunting, fishing, haymaking, etc. Also, the inhabitants of the Line were engaged in a trade that was popular then in Siberia - digging up ancient burial mounds left over from the Sarmatian culture. This business was very profitable, but also extremely dangerous.

Slovtsov writes: “Despite the troubles experienced and temporarily experienced, our daring peasants, treasure hunters, did not stop going abroad, where they learned by hearsay about the existence of ancient graves. It happened that while they were rummaging in the mounds, the Kirghiz riders killed them on the spot or took them in full. In July 1764, on the occasion of such misfortunes, it was again firmly confirmed, as before, in 1727, it was commanded that none of the Siberians secretly go out into the steppe..

The relations of the Russian administration with the Kirghiz (as the Kazakhs were then called) is the topic of a separate article. I will quote Slovtsov again: “No matter how small the described dangers and unrest, in comparison with those disasters that are at the same time done by the gangs of the Small Horde along the Ui and Ural lines, Lieutenant General Springer, who from 1763 to 1771 put the Siberian line in reverence both by its structure and and unremitting observation, strictly ordered not to allow the nomad camps of the Middle Horde at any time to be closer than a 10-verst distance from our border. The disobedient among the Kirghiz were pacified by a military hand, the policemen in wine were punished corporally, and the border enjoyed peace and security. Philanthropy is comforting, commendable, when those who are spared know how to sincerely appreciate wise love..

The construction of the Tobol-Ishim line caused a sharp increase in the Russian population in the Irtysh region. Here, on fertile steppe chernozems, under the protection of fortresses and redoubts, peasant migrants, exiles, aged soldiers and Cossacks began to settle. Just yesterday, the fortifications, lonely in the boundless steppe, began to overgrow with settlements, cultivated fields, and roads. In 1776, the first wooden church Saint Nicholas, and a small settlement began to rapidly turn into a rich village.

The motley population of the Presnogorkovskaya line (from the exiled Poles to the Bashkirs serving military service), according to the custom of that time, was turned into Cossacks. In 1808, Emperor Alexander I approved the Regulations on the Siberian Cossack Host, by which he divided the Cossack population of the Line into departments, villages and settlements. The village of Nikolaevskaya became the center of a large territorial formation, which included the villages of Pervotarovsky, Losevsky, Salt Lake, Volchansky, Pokrovsky, Kurgansky, Orlovsky, and others.

The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century is the heyday of Nikolaevka and the Siberian Cossacks as a whole. In 1879, when the shoemaker Vissarion Dzhugashvili's son Joseph was born in the Georgian city of Gori, there were already 185 households, 962 inhabitants of both sexes in the Nikolaevskaya village, there was a church, two village schools: male and female. In September and December, two fairs were held, the turnover of which reached forty thousand rubles. There were also 53 shops, 2 forges, 15 mills, 2 drinking establishments and a post station.

There were 475 horses, 665 cattle and 1096 small cattle in the village. By 1914, the number of cattle had grown to 5,000 heads. Someone Bredikhin had his own stud farm in the village, where he bred horses of the English breed.

By the beginning of the First World War, a medical assistant's station, several butter-making and brick factories functioned in Nikolayevka. Almost all households had arable land - up to 20 thousand poods of bread were exported annually from the village ... In general, a typical picture of "Russia that we lost."

A century has passed. How does the former Cossack village of Nikolaevskaya live today and what is the condition of the fortress?

The road from Omsk to Nikolaevka is in a more or less normal condition. First, this is the M51 highway, which is a pleasure to drive - no potholes, no trucks, no traffic cops. Then - several kilometers of bad asphalt and a large overgrown lake with gray, rickety houses nestled on the banks opens up before the observer's gaze.

At the northwestern tip of Nikolaevka (where the followers of Fialkov place the fortress) there is a sown field and the remains of once big garden. Around - birch copses, meadows with steppe vegetation, cries of quails.

The village streets are full of abandoned houses, weeds grow wherever possible and impossible, there is no running water and gas and never was. A typical Siberian village of the era of sovereign democracy.

A typical resident of a modern Siberian village at 56 looks like 76.

According to the natives, Nikolaevka lives entirely on imported water. They don’t take water from the lake, they don’t dig wells - the water in them is always salty. In the yard, let me remind you, the 21st century, and the first water pipes, according to historians, appeared thousands of years ago, in Ancient Rome. Lake Nikolaevskoye cannot be called picturesque - its shores are covered with debris, and the water mirror in many places is overgrown with reeds.

Where is the station administration? Where are the butter and brick factories? Where are the English breed horses? There is nothing.

From the past history of the Nikolaev village of the Second Department of the Siberian Cossack army, only the building of a trading shop built in 1906 has been preserved.

Do not believe the sign - there is no Stanichnik store in Nikolaevka for a long time. ancient building stands boarded up and gradually collapses. It belongs to one of the local residents who lives nearby and guards its unique gates from metal collectors.

In Soviet times, for some reason, some kind of vestibule was attached to the shop, disfiguring the original appearance of the building.

At good care such a house can stand for more than one hundred years. I'm afraid this is not about Nikolayevka. A beautiful old monument is slowly dying and no one cares about it.

The ramparts and ditches of the Nikolaev fortress are in a fairly good condition. True, part of its territory is occupied by the estate of some local resident, but this does not particularly interfere.

The moat along the northeast wall is filled with flowering water, and along the southeast wall it is overgrown with trees.

It is impossible to determine the place where the fortifications, such as a grocery store or stables, were standing - grass interferes, and there is no plan of the fortress on the Internet. Amateur archaeologists often visit Nikolaevka and leave behind heaps of uprooted earth, but none of them share information about the artifacts found there. But for 250 years, a lot of interesting things have probably accumulated there.

I am tired of writing this, but once again I have to state the complete and total indifference of both our state and society as a whole, to own history. If the Nikolaev fortress was located not in the Irtysh region, but somewhere in the Texas region, it would be a prosperous tourist facility. Entrepreneurial Americans would restore the fortress with all its buildings, local residents dressed as Cossacks and nomads would put on colorful shows with saber-cutting and shooting from ancient cannons, and numerous tourists in a nearby souvenir shop would buy up hare sheepskin coats and fox malachai...

Today, either historians specializing in Siberia in the 18th century, or "black diggers", or local lore bloggers know about the Nikolaev fortress. Nikolaevka is not known to the general public. The Ministry of Culture of the Omsk Region spends budgetary millions on the useless "Holidays of the North", but cannot find money to install an information sign and a road sign on the M51 highway in the fortress.

What awaits Nikolaevka in the future? No good, I'm afraid. Another 10-20 years and only people who are not indifferent to history will remember about the old Cossack village. The inhabitants will disperse, part of the houses will be destroyed, part will be taken out, and only a collapsed and crumbling fortress will remind of the glorious past - a monument to military prowess, courage and hard work of ancestors.

Nikolai Rogozev was born and lived for the first twenty years in a village. Then he went to St. Petersburg and worked in electrical engineering - he made alarms and radar stations. But later he dropped everything and returned home.

During perestroika in the neighboring village of Bolshiye Gorki, his mother was given a plot of six acres. Nikolai built a house there, a bathhouse, and somehow there was not enough space.

Crossed the road wherewas an abandoned quarry. And Nikolai decided to build a fortress there - "Nikolaev amusing".

At first, he and his daughter drew everything on paper, then took up the instrument. He did everything himself, although he did not know how before. Sometimes friends-assistants came, in especially painful cases - guest workers.

Nikolai mined building material right here in the quarry. The work was hellish. The stones lay in open ground. At first he lifted them and dragged them by hand, then on sleds, children's ice-sleds, then with a winch. In the end, I came to the conclusion that hiring a tractor was both faster and cheaper.

Nicholas divided the fortress into three zones. Upper - with "extreme" slides.

Medium - with a lighthouse and a boat. He dragged the longboat from Strelna - in the local club, he served as a dump. There is also a "musical kitchen" where everyone can play on lids and pots.

Well, below is a concert stage and grounds for throwing an ax and archery.

Rising along the perimeter watchtowers. You can just sit there and play war games.

Now Nikolai is building a forge. Again he turns stones and drags earth.

But his most important tool is a shovel. Without her, nowhere. Slides for cheesecakes require constant "updating": where you need to throw snow, and where, on the contrary, scrape it off. Only then is a perfect glide obtained.

Nikolai does not earn money from the fortress. As he says, only enough for tea, and only.

- Where? After all, the entrance is free, for the money you only rent cheesecakes. That's all, says Nikolai.

This ravine has long been privately owned by a private organization, which in the near future is going to start building cottages here.

- They say use it. So I use it as best I can, - Rogozev sadly jokes.