Khrapovitsky Castle. Muromtsevo, Khrapovitsky castle. Sights of the Vladimir region. The unique estate of Khrapovitsky in Muromtsevo
Manor "Muromtsevo"- a noble estate, rare for central Russia in terms of its architectural design, built by order of Colonel of the Life Guards Vladimir Khrapovitsky at the end of the 19th century by architect Pyotr Boytsov. Located in the village of Sudogodsky district Vladimir region, about 3 km from the city, 40 km from and 200 km from .
The palace and park ensemble, covering an area of over 40 hectares, combined the principles of regular and landscape planning in architectural and landscape design, and also had a wide range of buildings made in the same style and intended not only for housing and recreation, but also for a large garden. - park, handicraft and industrial and forestry activities. In total, the complex has 72 buildings. Currently, the estate includes 20 monuments of cultural heritage. Decree of the President Russian Federation No. 176 dated February 20, 1995, the Khrapovitsky Muromtsevo estate is protected by the state as an architectural monument and an object of cultural heritage of federal significance.
Construction history
The village of Muromtsevo in the Sudogodsky district of the Vladimir province since the 17th century belonged to the Khonenev family, which later joined the Khrapovitsky family after the wedding of Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Khoneneva and Ivan Semyonovich Khrapovitsky (1786-1864), Privy Councilor, Civil Governor of St. Petersburg (1829-1835).
From him the village passed to his son, Khrapovitsky Semyon Ivanovich, Colonel of the Life Guards of His Majesty's Hussar Regiment. After his death and the division of the inheritance, in 1884, his son, Vladimir Semenovich Khrapovitsky (1858-1922), captain of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment, became the owner of Muromtsev's lands with the estate.
Having entered into the inheritance, Khrapovitsky found the estate not in the best condition: a lot of inconveniences, an old manor house, a neglected park, a declining economy. Taking into account that the estate itself has great potential due to the rich forest reserves, Khrapovitsky decides to radically reorganize Muromtsevo, starting with park vegetation and ending with peasant huts. The soil, he believed, was quite suitable for agriculture, but the main wealth of the region was the forests covering most estate territory. It was the predominance of forests that determined the nature of the economy.
Entrance to the estate Khrapovitsky "Muromtsevo". Architect P. S. Boitsov. On the days of the owner's arrival at the estate, the flag of the Khrapovitskys was hoisted over the house.
Photo, ca. 1910
Khrapovitsky decides to rebuild the estate according to his own taste and latest fashion. He orders the design of the estate to the architect Pyotr Samoylovich Boytsov, popular among the nouveau riche, a talented stylist of architecture of bygone eras, who worked a lot in the style of the late french gothic, Renaissance and English Gothic. Pyotr Boitsov was an eclecticist by conviction and creative method, possessed a great culture of architectural drawing and architectural detail.
For the construction of the castle estate, the customer allocated a little more than 20 thousand acres of land and did not limit the architect's funds.
In June 1884, construction began on the main house - a palace in the spirit of medieval European castles. The first phase of construction took place between 1884 and 1889. P. S. Boytsov builds in Muromtsevo in the same style main house with a cascade of ponds in front of it and buildings and structures adjacent to it. The main house was originally two stories high.
1884 should be considered the year of birth park ensemble, when, simultaneously with the laying of the main house, the gardener of the Sheremetev "Kuskovo" Karl Encke breaks a regular "French garden" on a hill near the palace in the form of an eight-pointed star, taken into the square of the alleys.
The scale of Khrapovitsky's entrepreneurial activity is evidenced by the fact that in 1889-1895, according to the project of P. S. Boitsov, near the Khrapovitsky estate were built: wooden building railway station Khrapovitskaya 1 and 2 (a 41 km long railway line from Muromtsevo to Volosataya Muromskaya station was laid separately railway, stationmaster's house, station storeroom, post office building with telegraph, school, shop and bathhouse.
Simultaneously with the construction work, work began on creating a garden landscape, for which the largest experts of that time were invited - famous garden masters Karl Enke, Eduard Regel, Georg Kufaldt, foresters Karl Türmer and Khrapovitsky's son-in-law Pavel Gerle.
With the permission of the Vladimir diocese, for 4 years, not far from the main house, a manor church with one altar was built in the name of the martyr Tsaritsa Alexandra, consecrated in 1899 on the day of memory of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (July 15, old style). During the construction of a church designed in the neo-Russian style on the estate, long-standing dissatisfaction with a friend finally led to a rupture between the customer and the architect.
In 1906, the right wing with a high tower, designed by an unknown architect, was added to the main building of the estate.
Architectural and style features
The estate is one of the many eclectic "castles" of pre-revolutionary Russia, built on a romantic reading of the European Middle Ages. Among the many analogues are Popov's castle, Sheremetevsky castle, the Ponizovkin's palace in the Red Profintern, the Palace of the Princess of Oldenburg, Mayendorf. The main manor house (palace) was located in the center of the estate and was an architectural composition asymmetrical with respect to the central axis of inspection, consisting of two different form-building and different-temporal buildings (1884-1889, 1906).
The western part of the building is a two-story building with one three-tiered and the other, adjoining the building from the southwest, round towers. The round tower also crowns the facade of the southern four-storey wing of the castle, which was added in 1906. The palace was a building, the layout of the premises of which was solved with the help of enfilades of various heights. There were more than 80 different rooms, living rooms and living rooms in the palace. The project was implemented taking into account all the innovations: electric lighting of the buildings and the park from an autonomous locomobile, central heating, water supply from a steam pump and two water towers, sewerage, a telephone in the rooms, and its own telegraph station.
Muromtsev Palace served as a connecting element for all other buildings of the estate, built in 1884-1889. In front of the main house there was a cascade of ponds, a horse yard, a hunting lodge, a manager's house that has not survived, a cattle yard, a carriage house, wooden music and boat pavilions, a pier on the pond, and a water tower. On the territory of the estate housed: a church in the pseudo-Russian style, which became widespread in the architecture of churches from the beginning of the 1870s; numerous outbuildings; the theater, which is a miniature copy of the Mariinsky Theatre; music school for gifted orphans.
Unrealized railway station project at Muromtsevo station. Architect P. S. Boitsov. 1896
All manor buildings were located on the territory of a huge park with an arboretum and a nursery with an area of over 40 hectares - hundreds of rare and exotic tree species grew here: balsam fir, cypress, Banks pine, gray walnut and many others. The park itself consisted of three parts: Italian (water cascades on terraces and water parterres), French (fountains, greenhouses and playgrounds) and English (alleys, meadows and ponds - was added in 1910). The entrance to the park from the side of Muromtsev and from the side of the road from the railway station were united by one alley leading to the palace. There were playgrounds for sports games; smoothly curved alleys, decorated with sculptures from Kozlov's workshop; spacious glades with picturesque groups of trees and even artificial streams. Along the paths were electric lamps made at Maltsov's factories, and fashionable Viennese garden furniture made of bent wood, benches and armchairs from Thonet, which significantly changed the look of the park. Ponds illuminated by multi-colored electric lamps, fountains and cascades surrounded by exotic vegetation enhanced the impression of luxury and magnificence of the estate.
The ensemble of the estate included a large orchard, in which there were several hundred fruit and berry trees and shrubs, two greenhouses, two greenhouses, and a number of greenhouses. At the entrance to the estate and in front of the palace, bizarrely shaped flower beds and flowerbeds were laid out, for which the estate was famous.
In the stables of Khrapovitsky there were the best horses (up to 30 heads) of the famous horse breeders Petrov-Sokolov, Golovnin, Sheremetev, the herd of cattle exceeded a hundred. The huge yard was intended for breeding birds, the mistress of which was a lover. For breeding Chinese geese, Khrapovitsky was awarded a silver medal of the Ministry of Agriculture. The carriage house was designed for a large number of guests, as well as for horse-drawn carriages, droshky, carriages and sledges of Khrapovitsky himself, which he ordered only from Petterson.
Interior
The interiors were luxuriously decorated. Parquet floors, ceilings painted and carved in wood, walls and doors polished with wood. The ceiling painting in the entrance hall, decorative painting in the living room and dining room were made by Moscow artist August Tomashki. There were more than 80 rooms in the Khrapovitsky Palace, and each of them, like in Peterhof, was decorated in a special way. There were rooms: mirrored, amber, malachite, blue, pink, etc. The rooms of the castle were illuminated by electric lamps in gilded Byzantine-style lamps from Berto, marble fireplaces, toilet rooms with bathtubs and a pool from the workshop of the Botta brothers were arranged in the house. A real decoration of the interior was a large collection of paintings, carpets, tapestries, ancient weapons and knightly armor.
All decor items were ordered exclusively from the capital's craftsmen and suppliers of the Supreme Court. Khrapovitsky ordered marble for stairs from Gubonin, furniture from Schmit, a court manufacturer, upholsterer and decorator, father-in-law of the architect P. S. Boytsov. In addition to furniture, the house was decorated with elegant trinkets that made the atmosphere more comfortable and homely: sculptures by Botta, weapons, Sevres vases, porcelain, mirrors, bronze - from the royal supplier Ivan Ebert, silverware - from Carl Faberge.
The interior decoration of the manor church was as luxurious as in the palace: silver - from Faberge, candelabra, cross and utensils - from Sokolov's house. Medvedev's workshop made an iconostasis with icons from the Vasnetsov school, the wall painting was done by the same artist August Tomashki.
Further history and current state
After the revolution of 1917, Khrapovitsky, wishing to preserve the material values of the estate and avoid the fate of hundreds of Russian estates that were looted and destroyed during the years of hard times, made a complete inventory of the property and voluntarily transferred it to the state. Leaving, he wrote an essay about his estate, which he concluded with the words:
This was my estate in the village of Muromtsevo, which I and my associates - Tyurmer, Voronov, Gerle, peasants and residents of Muromtsevo and the surrounding villages - improved and ennobled in every possible way in the hope that it would decorate the district, and therefore, all of Russia, and thereby serve its glory and prosperity for the benefit of the future Fatherland.
I dare to hope that I succeeded, and that the descendants will preserve and multiply what was started by the Russian nobleman Vladimir Khrapovitsky. And leaving, I want to tell you, as, perhaps, only Russians say, parting:
FAREWELL!
In 1918 the estate was nationalized. In the same year, " Regulations on the management and management of estates of national importance and registered by the provincial commissariats of agriculture».
In 1920, a whole carload of valuables, about 300 pounds, was taken out of the Muromtsev estate to the provincial historical museum. Part of the paintings and graphic drawings from the Khrapovitsky collection during 1918, 1921, 1924 and up to 1927 came to the funds of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, part of the furnishings of the palace and theater ended up in Vladimir, Gus-Khrustalny, in various institutions of Sudogda.
After the Khrapovitskys left to emigrate to France (according to indirect data - in 1921), the estate was plundered and desecrated. In 1921, the forest institute was founded in the building of the palace, which was soon transformed into a forest technical school with agronomy and forestry departments. The subsequent expansion of the village of Muromtsevo led to a reduction in the area of the park by 5 times, from 40 to almost 8 hectares.
For 56 years, while the forest technical school was located in the palace, the estate continued to be plundered and rebuilt.
In the 1970s, the reconstruction of the castle was being prepared. Drawings and engineering documents were prepared. But the project was not carried out.
The end of the 1980s can be considered a turning point in the life of the estate - the relocation of the technical school in 1977 to a new building actually sealed the fate of the main estate house and adjacent buildings, they turned out to be virtually ownerless and abandoned for looting, began to deteriorate and gradually collapse. Two subsequent fires in the castle completed their devastating work - nothing was left of the interior decoration.
In 1992, the church was transferred to the gratuitous use of the Vladimir Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, used as intended).
Despite the fact that the estate was regularly written about in the media, the buildings of the estate were in a semi-abandoned state and were slowly collapsing. The prospects for the complex in terms of restoration are very uncertain. The Muromtsevo estate remains one of the most problematic objects, the preservation of which requires urgent measures.
On February 22, 2012, an initiative group of citizens turned to the candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation with a request to change the status of the Muromtsevo estate and other famous estates in Russia, in order to restore them.
On October 22, 2013, the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve held a presentation of the project for the restoration and museumification of the Khrapovitsky estate in Muromtsevo at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In a 35 minute report CEO VSMZ S. E. Melnikova substantiated the need for urgent intervention in the fate of a dying monument, the possibility of using a unique cultural object within the framework of cultural and educational tourism.
On November 14, 2013, the Ministry of Culture agreed on the possibility of assigning to the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve on the right of operational management a number of objects of the Khrapovitsky estate in the village of Muromtsevo, Sudogodsky District, Vladimir Region, which are in federal ownership. total area The land plot transferred to the museum can be about 23 hectares.
On November 23, 2013, civil activists, worried about the looting and littering of the ruins of the estate, held a large-scale clean-up, but new garbage around the stables and the barnyard began to appear again, and even in even greater quantities. It was noted that the unimpeded passage of cars through park area manor complex, which facilitates the "work" of marauders and access to vandals.
In May 2014, the estate was transferred to the operational management of the State Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve. By that time, drawings from the 70s had been found. The creation of the Sudogodsk branch of the GVSMZ has begun. The estate should be examined by engineers and archaeologists, after which the drafting of the reconstruction project began.
On September 8, 2014, a free concert by the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Spivakov took place in front of the castle. As of 2015, the main building is surrounded by a fence and a video surveillance system has been installed.
In December 2014, the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum published the first issue of the popular science almanac Muromtsevo. Between the past and the future” and the first scientific Muromtsev readings were held.
At the 17th International Festival museums "Intermuseum-2015" The Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve came up with the project "Learn to revive", dedicated to the Khrapovitsky estate in Muromtsevo, within the framework of which an unusually spectacular model of the restored estate was presented shortly before that.
On July 10, 2015, the official opening of the first museum exhibition "Manor Muromtsevo: between the past and the future" took place, which is located in the restored building of the boat pavilion on the banks of the Barsky Ponds. Several stands were placed in the house, telling about the life of the owners of the estate and what was built here. And the main exhibit of the exhibition was the layout of the estate, which was created by Vladimir Khrapovitsky (the author of the layout is the Vladimir architect A.S. Solodov). General Director of the Museum Svetlana Melnikova noted:
Before you Muromtsevo is what it probably will never be. Because a lot of the territory is built up. Some objects, for example, the theater, are lost forever, you can no longer see it. Now the concept of the Muromtsevo Museum is being born, and this concept will include proposals not only for restoration, but also for the reconstruction of objects. There is a very complex process going on. The project should be ready in October, and then we will find out how it will look like and how much it will cost.
How to get to the Khrapovitsky estate?
Address: Vladimir region, Muromtsevo village, Yamskaya st., 9.
By public transport, you first need to get to Sudogda, buses run here regularly from different cities. Further directly from the bus station by minibus, bus or taxi to the village of Muromtsevo. The brave can go on foot - this is about 3.5 km.
The estate is located 95 km from, so you can easily combine visiting these places.
How to get to the Khrapovitsky estate?
The territory is quite large. You can get there from the side of the forest technical school or from the side of the household yard. It is worth allocating a couple of hours to inspect all the preserved objects.
You can wander around the territory on your own and for free, but…
Firstly, you will not be able to approach the palace, for which, as a rule, everyone comes here. To date, the palace is under the jurisdiction of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, surrounded by a fence, guarded, and tourists are allowed to enter the territory only as part of an excursion group.
Secondly, you deprive yourself of the pleasure of listening to interesting story about the sad fate of this architectural and park complex and its former owners. We will have, as usual, to collect information bit by bit on the Internet.
Therefore, my advice, do not regret 300 rubles for a ticket, but excursion service included in this price. We liked it - everything is on the case, unobtrusive and informative.
Ticket prices and tour times
If you came to Muromtsevo by car, you can leave it in the free parking lot near the barnyard.
The first architectural object of the estate, which you will get acquainted with, is the ticket office. The cash desk is located in the tower of the barnyard (I would never have believed that cattle were kept in such mansions). This is where the tours start.
Here, in addition to tickets, you can buy various souvenirs, as well as booklets with information about the estate, books, postcards, etc.
Excursion plan in the Muromtsevo estate
- The tour begins with a story about the owners of this estate.
- Then consider the household yard: the barnyard, the stables, the carriage house.
- Then let's go to Orthodox church Holy Martyr Alexandra.
- Next, let's go to observation deck in the Khrapovitsky castle.
- The tour ends at the Barsky Ponds (there are toilets and a souvenir shop), we will go to the boat pavilion.
Here we say goodbye to the guide, watch a short film about the Khrapovitsky family and independently return to the parking lot in the same way, comprehending what we saw and heard.
In terms of time, focus on an hour and a half.
And we buy tickets and wait for the start of the tour.
So, when everyone is ready, we listen to the story about the owners of the Muromtsevo estate.
The history of the Khrapovitskys and their estates in the village of Muromtsevo
Since the middle of the 19th century, the estate belonged to the Khrapovitsky noble family. In 1884, she was inherited by Colonel of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment Vladimir Semenovich Khrapovitsky from his father. Being an enterprising person and far from being poor, he conceives a grandiose restructuring and invites one of the then fashionable Moscow architects, Pyotr Samoilovich Boytsov.
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, an architectural and park complex, stunning in its beauty and luxury, was created in Muromtsevo, including about 70 buildings. He could well compete with the best European palaces.
The main house of the estate was built in stages: the left wing (1884-1887) looks like an old French castle (in neo-Gothic and early Renaissance styles), the right wing (1900s) is a four-story building with a Scottish-style tower .
The count did not spare money for the construction and improvement of the house. There were present all the modern and newfangled benefits of civilization necessary for the comfort of the guests of the estate: electricity, water supply, telephone and telegraph communications.
The owners of the estate are Vladimir Semenovich Khrapovitsky and his wife, who came from the Novgorod nobles, Elizaveta Ivanovna Khrapovitskaya. They were highly educated and hardworking people. Most of the time they lived in St. Petersburg and often traveled abroad. They usually came to Muromtsevo for the summer.
Many noble people visited the Khrapovitsky estate. Concerts and theatrical performances were often arranged for them. For this, professional musicians from Moscow were invited to the estate. Also, pupils of the children's music school, which Vladimir Semenovich supported with his own money, took part in the concerts. Talented peasant children studied there, and Elizaveta Ivanovna herself taught musical literacy.
For performances, they even specially built a musical theater, like the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, only in miniature. But the buildings of the theater and the music school have not survived to this day.
Possessing an outstanding entrepreneurial talent, Khrapovitsky and his managers organized a whole forestry complex. He built timber processing plants, as well as resin, turpentine, brick factories. Accordingly, a railway was built with a railway station to ship timber and deliver the necessary equipment.
Khrapovitsky made a huge contribution to the development of Muromtsev. In addition to jobs for the villagers and built schools for their children, he did a lot for the development of forestry and industry. The estate was constantly working on the conservation, restoration and cultivation of the forest.
In addition, a beautiful dendrological garden has been created in the estate. It occupied about forty hectares and in its beauty and style was not inferior to the famous European park complexes. The best known masters of landscape gardening art, such as Karl Enke, Arnold Regel, Georg Kufaldt, worked on its creation.
The arboretum was decorated with alleys with electric lamps, fountains and gazebos. Various varieties of trees and shrubs, as well as rare and exotic specimens, were brought here. And in the greenhouses of the estate they grew palm trees, laurel trees, peaches, and grapes.
From the windows of the palace, stunning views of the masterpiece of garden and park art of the 20th century opened - the central park cascade alley. Water was supplied to the upper basin through a water pipe and from there flowed into the lower reservoir and pond. Walking paths ran on both sides of the cascade, there were benches, flower beds were fragrant.
Swans swam on the pond, pleasure boats and even a small motor ship cruised. On the opposite bank there was a musical pavilion that successfully completed the entire park composition.
The guide suggested that we close our eyes and go back to that happy time for the estate. Feel the luxury and beauty of this place, imagine the life of people in this estate. Hear the sounds of the orchestra, children's laughter, see couples walking in the park, plying on the water surface of the boat.
It's scary how quickly it can all be destroyed. But to breathe life into this place, alas, is now impossible. Opening our eyes, we see that an ominous reminder of a lost masterpiece is looking at us from behind a green fence.
How many of these beautiful places was destroyed in the first years of Soviet power, and cannot be counted. The Khrapovitsky estate, as well as the owners themselves, did not escape this monstrous fate.
After the well-known events of 1917, the Muromtsevo estate was nationalized. The castle was destroyed and plundered.
Then a state farm was organized here, and from 1921 to 1976. in the main house and other buildings there was a forest technical school. At this time, the main house of the estate somehow survived, as at least some funds were allocated for current repairs. But as soon as the technical school was moved to a new building, it was completely abandoned and now it is in disrepair. And some buildings of the estate are lost forever.
In 2016, the Sudog branch of the Vladimir Suzdal Museum-Reserve was created, which included some architectural objects of the Khrapovitsky estate: the main house of the estate, horse and stockyards, boat and music pavilions.
But things are still there ...
The fate of the Khrapovitsky spouses is even sadder. And for a long time nothing was known about her. In 1917 they hastily emigrated to France.
The grave of the leader of the nobility and one of the richest industrialists Vladimir Semenovich Khrapovitsky was found in Wiesbaden, on the territory of an old Russian cemetery, many years later. A monument with his photograph and an Orthodox cross were erected there using the funds of the people.
And the fate of his wife was much worse. Leaving Russia, she lived out her life in poverty and died in the small Italian Menton at the foot of the Alps. She even made an attempt to write a letter to the peasants, who now owned the master’s lands, with a request to send some money, but in response she received a harsh refusal: “... We advise you to seek help from those to whom you fled, driven out of our country by the October Revolution, to seek protection. Don't contact us again."
What to see in the Khrapovitsky estate today?
While waiting for the guide, we look around and study the information stand. What are we to see on the territory of the former noble estate?
The schematic map is impressive, we are looking forward to it. Khrapovitsky was an enterprising man and managed to earn a good fortune. And despite the fact that he lived with his wife, mainly in St. Petersburg and abroad, he rebuilt the estate in the province on a truly Russian scale.
The buildings of the household yard are more like modern fairy-tale scenery than ancient buildings with centuries of history.
Khrapovitsky had his own brick factory and, apparently, there was no doubt about the choice of building materials.
Just imagine, this is a room for keeping livestock and poultry.
This is what the stables have become. Although now they are more like a palace.
There is a legend that Khrapovitsky, who often visited Europe, having once visited the luxurious castle of one of the noblemen, argued that there could also be castles in Russia and promised that he would soon build the same one.
When this man, at the invitation of the count, came to his estate a few years later and saw the stables, he was delighted and amazed at what he saw, it was so similar to his own mansion. To which Khrapovitsky replied: “Well, you, my horses live here, let's finally go to my castle!” ...
It's probably just a legend, but a beautiful one).
Sad sight. The grass and trees inside the building are clearly not the architect's intention.
And still, looking at this building, you won’t think that it was intended for keeping horses.
Until you look inside.
Karetny yard
Only a fragment of the facade has been preserved from the carriage house. And once in this "garage" the noble nobles and merchants of the Vladimir region, who came here to visit, left their carriages. There is evidence that the imperial family could stay here.
Here, then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, were Khrapovitsky's cars.
As it became known to us later, ordinary people now live in a nice house with a Gothic tower that once belonged to the Khrapovitskys.
That's so lucky! They settled them during the Soviet era, when architectural complex was nationalized and ceased to be of historical value for the new government, and they still live like that - as if there is no reason for their eviction.
And this inhabitant of the estate, probably, has long studied all the paths in the estate. It's time to conduct excursions yourself.
In the meantime, under the guide's story, we are going in an organized manner to the next object - the Church of the Holy Martyr Alexandra.
Church of the Holy Martyr Alexandra of Rome (1895-1899)
The current church is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. Its opening was an important and solemn event in the life of Muromtsevo.
Previously, there was a belfry above the refectory. The bells for it were specially cast in Moscow at the Samgins' bell foundry.
And this is what the temple looks like today.
I would like to look into the eyes of the author of this "project". Only the lazy did not say a bad word about the builders who stuck this incomprehensible attic with an iron roof to an elegant example of Russian architecture. I think it's monstrous. As they say, feel the difference.
Khrapovitsky Castle
And finally, along the forest path, we are heading to Khrapovitsky castle . It is surrounded by a green fence made of corrugated board. The guard opens the gate for us and lets our group into the territory.
Here you have the opportunity to climb to an impromptu observation deck, see with your own eyes the whole grandiose plan of the architects and appreciate the scale former luxury.
Today, the building is in an emergency condition, it is dangerous to go inside. Therefore, we imagine the newfangled interiors of that time from the words of our guide. The house had about 80 rooms, each decorated in an individual style.
The rooms had electric lamps, fireplaces, bathrooms with marble baths. They were decorated with paintings, expensive carpets, a collection of ancient weapons and knightly armor.
Reminiscent of a description built by the Swiss entrepreneur Düringer for his family.
On the facade of the building, the heraldic lily of the Khrapovitsky family is still visible, which was also present in the interiors of the house.
And still, despite the neglected state, the castle makes an indelible impression.
Cascade of ponds
From here the cascade of ponds once began.
And now it looks gorgeous dendrological park with exotic plants. It's just a forest.
boat pavilion
We go down to the pond. On the shore there is a boat pavilion resembling a "Dutch house". Pleasure boats were once kept here.
Today the pavilion has been renovated. The original interior, unfortunately, has not been preserved. On the ground floor there is a ticket office and a souvenir shop, on the second floor there is an exhibition hall that tells about the estate.
There is also a layout of the estate. It shows how the buildings are located, and how the park looked like a hundred years ago.
This concludes the tour service. In conclusion, we are offered to watch a short film about the Khrapovitskys.
Finally, you can take a walk along the shore of the pond.
Music pavilion
On the opposite side, a fragment of the wall of the music pavilion has been preserved. From here you can see it perfectly.
Once upon a time, newfangled Moscow singers and musicians performed here for the guests of the estate.
This is probably the guardian of the estate. The work of the hands of modern masters.
Memorial of the Great Patriotic War
Driven by mosquitoes and the oncoming rain, we ran through the forest back to the parking lot. On the way, we noticed such a modest monument dedicated to the fallen during the Great Patriotic War, the heroes - the inhabitants of Muromtsevo.
Two hundred kilometers from Moscow, in the Vladimir region, not far from the city of Sudogda, there is the former estate of Count Vladimir Khrapovitsky, who belonged to the ancient Belarusian family of the Gozdava coat of arms. “... The estate has a large park, gardens, flower beds, ponds, fountains, plumbing, alleys, gazebos, baths, bridges and other devices, as well as its own telegraph, telephone and electric lighting. All taken together gives the full right to the name of the estate "royal", - this is how someone Gazhitsky wrote in 1889, who compiled a description of the estate.
Let's look at what this estate is now and remember its history ...
Photo 2. 
And five years earlier, the palace and park ensemble among the dense forests of Murom existed only in the plans of V. Khrapovitsky, who dreamed that in terms of splendor and scope of his possessions they would not be inferior to Peterhof and Versailles. Gradually, the history of the creation of the estate was overgrown with outlandish details. However, many of them, obviously, had a real basis. They say, for example, that V. Khrapovitsky either built a horse yard in his own image and likeness of the palace of a French nobleman, who somehow offended the vanity of a hussar colonel, or argued in France with friends that he would build a Gothic castle in Russia no worse than the famous Loire ones. Then he brought them to the estate and showed the horse yard, and after listening to compliments, he said: “Here, gentlemen, my horses live.” The already discouraged French fell into complete amazement when they were led to the magnificent palace of Khrapovitsky.
Photo 3. 
The ghostly outlines of the desired were brought to life by Moscow architect Pyotr Boytsov, a talented stylist of architecture of bygone eras, who worked especially hard in the style of late French Gothic, Renaissance and English Gothic. Pyotr Samoilovich was an eclecticist by conviction and creative method, possessed a great culture of architectural drawing and architectural detail. By the time of the meeting with Vladimir Khrapovitsky, he had already designed and built such large manor ensembles as Vasilyevsky by Prince A.G. Shcherbatov, Uspenskoye by Prince V.A. Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky and Prince Baigora by G.N. The alliance seemed remarkably successful. One after another, in Muromtsevo there are buildings made in the same style: the main house and the spare house, the house of the manager, the summer theater, the bathhouse, the hunting lodge.
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However, during the construction of a church designed in the Old Russian style on the estate, long-standing dissatisfaction with each other finally led to a gap between the customer and the architect. Therefore, it will obviously remain unknown who designed and built in 1906 the second part of the castle, designed in the English Gothic style. The inheritance from his father of 21 thousand acres of land and the talent of an entrepreneur, which V. Khrapovitsky clearly possessed, who was engaged in the timber trade, brought him an income of 200 thousand rubles a year. A large part of these funds went to the expansion of the estate. There were excellent stables with thoroughbred stallions, a huge kennel, a poultry yard, which was taken care of by the wife of V. Khrapovitsky, Elizaveta Ivanovna, nee Chiglokova.
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Dorkings, la-flats, creek-kers, gudans, Padua chamois, fawn cochinchins, bronze turkeys, golden pheasants, royal ducks, carolins and tangerines, Toulouse and Chinese geese, black and white swans, storks - there was just no one there! But the park, gardens and greenhouses remained the true passion of V. Khrapovitsky. “Garden art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was distinguished by many features characteristic of eclectic architecture… Eclecticism in landscape gardening art not only changed the nature of manor gardens and parks, but added new elements to them, complicated the park system and diversified it. Rare trees, bushes, flowers were planted. Greenhouses were built, as of old, but a lot was already done in them by specialist gardeners ... Gardens and parks became a kind of collections ”(D. Likhachev,“ Poetry of Gardens ”). Muromtsevo was no exception to the general rule. All year round, peaches, French plums and other rare fruits from V. Khrapovitsky's greenhouse were supplied to St. Petersburg and Moscow
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Planting material came from the gardens of Bauer, Vogt, Noev, Count Uvarov, Eilers, the Regel and Kesselring pomological gardens. Cherry, gooseberry, apple, pear, plum, honeysuckle, peach, grape seedlings, as well as seeds, bulbs, seedlings of roses, lilies, tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, cyclamens, tuberoses, gladioli were sent to Muromtsevo from everywhere. Hundreds of tree species grew in the arboretum, including dozens of exotic species: balsam fir, Siberian fir. golden, Vicha fir, pea-bearing cypress, Banks pine, Weymouth pine, Rumelian pine, Mencis pseudo-hemlock f. blue, gray walnut, etc. The largest gardeners of that time K. Enke, A. Regel, G. Kufelt, K. Türmer - a brilliant constellation of names - put their strokes on the canvas of the estate.
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The year of birth of the park ensemble can be considered 1884, when, simultaneously with the laying of the main house, the gardener of the Sheremetev "Kuskovo" K. Enke breaks a regular "French garden" on a hill near the palace in the form of an eight-pointed star, taken into the square of the alleys. At the end of the eighties, the construction of water cascades of the “Italian garden” begins, descending along the southern slope with narrow flooded terraces. The landscape, "English" part of the park, more than half of which was occupied by ponds, was made according to the design of Riga parks by G. Kufelt. crushed stone, on sand base the paths were illuminated with electricity. Sculptures from the workshop of the Botta brothers and Viennese furniture Thonet were placed along them. The fountains were decorated with the works of the sculptor A.S. Kozlov. In summer, palm trees, yuccas, boxwoods and other heat-loving plants were planted in the ground from greenhouses. In the planning structure of Muromtsevo, the main house is the final chord in the symphony of constantly changing views. Guests were usually brought up to the house from the corner, and it opened up before them in the most dynamic turn, throwing up the sharp spiers of gothic completions, advancing with the stern but refined simplicity of a powerful don-jon. And then the gaze glided over the water surface of the cascades and froze on the barely visible in the distance, beyond big lake, gothic ruin.
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The Muromtsevo planning structure has no comparable scale analogues in the Russian estate culture! Count Khrapovitsky was inspired grand creations St. Petersburg landscape architects, without losing sight of the masterpieces of the French and German culture of park building. Oddly enough, but vanity did not ruin him, but only contributed to the successful combination in Muromtsevo of the regularity of French, the pomposity of Italian and the lyrics of English gardens. All three, combined with each other, are inextricably linked with the palace, "forgiving" him some differences in the style of the main facade. Nowadays, only postcards with views of Muromtsevo, issued at the beginning of the 20th century, remind of the former splendor of the estate. Having emigrated to France, the Khrapovitskys ended their life on the Mediterranean coast, in a nursing home quiet town Manton.
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The country, whose castles became the prototype of the estate, gave the last shelter to its owners. And a pair of white swans lived on a large manor pond until 1925, and then disappeared, apparently having lost hope of the return of the owners ... The local forest technical school, which moved into the palace immediately after the revolution, in 1979 moved to the "masterpiece" of architecture of the late seventies built on the edge of the park, predetermining fate of the main house. Two fires complete the job. Water cascades have long been overgrown with herbs, locals made their own adjustments to the structure of the park. (magazine " landscape design» No. 1 for 2002, Maria Ozhereleva)
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10 facts about the Khrapovitsky estate
1. The castle, which is very rare for Russia, still has analogues. In the spirit of medieval European castles, the Ponizovkin Palace was built in Yaroslavl region, Popov's castle in Ukraine, Sheremetevsky castle in the Republic of Mari El, the palace of Princess Oldenburg in Voronezh region and Meiendorf in the Moscow region.
2. According to legend, the Gothic castle in the Vladimir region was built "on a dare." Khrapovitsky, while traveling in France, made a bet that he would build a castle in Russia that would be in no way inferior to its European counterparts.
3. Often found in the interiors of the castle, the lily is a symbol of the Khrapovitsky family. It means that their surname belongs to the famous Polish coat of arms Gozdava.
4. The Muromtsevsky temple was being built at the time when St. George's Cathedral was being decorated in Gus-Khrustalny. This is due to the similarities in architecture and icon painting. The painting and icons for the church in Muromtsevo were made by the same masters - Vasnetsov's students.
5. A house with a pretty exotic look for this area, he also surprised me with innovations that were still very rare in those days. A telegraph station was built on the estate, a telephone was installed, water supply, sewerage and electricity were installed.
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6. The interior of each of the 80 rooms of the palace was designed in a special way - as in the palaces of St. Petersburg there were amber, mirror, blue and malachite rooms.
7. The park in Muromtsevo is a connecting part of the architectural composition. The best park organizers, Kufelt and Encke, worked on it. The park was divided into three zones - Italian, French and English. There were water cascades and fountains, greenhouses and playgrounds, alleys, meadows and ponds.
8. It is known that Khrapovitsky bred dogs. There is a legend about the "Dog Hill" - a cemetery for pets, which was supposedly located next to the main palace. They say that the owner ordered special memorial plates for dogs.
9. From the gardens and greenhouses, the talented entrepreneur Khrapovitsky also derived income. Exotic fruits - peaches, apricots, French plums - provided not only the estate. There were so many of them that part of the harvest was sent to Moscow.
10. The Khrapovitskys did a lot for their people. Houses, workshops and free schools were built for them. At the music school on Bor, village boys were taught to play string and wind instruments and choir singing. Real professionals graduated from the school, because Khrapovitsky hired only the best teachers, bought high-quality instruments and notes. The Khrapovitsky Orchestra was known outside the estate - in Vladimir, Moscow, St. Petersburg.
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How can I get to:
From Moscow 169 km along the highway M7 "Volga" -
- before reaching Vladimir (before Yuryevets), turn right (to N. Novgorod, Murom, Gus-Khrustalny) -
– after 18 km follow the signs to the right to Murom (road P-72) –
– after about 25 km, pointer to the city of Sudogda (to the right) –
– drive almost through the whole city –
– cross the river Sudogda –
- past the bus station (on the right) -
- past the vertical inscription "Red Chemist" -
- after about 300-500m, to the right perpendicular to the street. Budyonny -
- along it to the end of the city -
- further to the right is a football field -
- further entrance to Muromtsevo.
After a while, the gate to manor park, to the right of the park and a little ahead is the stable building.
You can go to the estate through the park, or you can drive to the left, bending around the park, past the entrance to the Church of the Holy Martyr Empress Alexandra, and drive a little further, turning right under the inscription "Forest Technical School" (on the left across the road there is a grocery store), and drive straight to the main manor house.
It is better to ask the local residents of Sudogda and Muromtsev where the Forest College is located, or where the "castle" is. (The question: "where is the Khrapovitsky estate" - may remain unanswered.)
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The estate or castle of Khrapovitsky in Muromtsevo- a rare for central Russia in terms of its architectural design, a noble estate, built at the end of the 19th century by architect Pyotr Boitsov for Colonel of the Life Guards Vladimir Khrapovitsky. The estate is located in the Sudogda district of the Vladimir region. In total, the estate complex has 72 buildings, of which 20 are included in the number of cultural heritage monuments. Currently, the estate is in a dilapidated state, the issue of its reconstruction is being considered.
The history of the estate in Muromtsevo
The estate appeared in 1884-1889 on the basis of the order of Count V.S. Khrapovitsky and was made on the basis of a special project by P.S. Boytsov - a famous Moscow architect.
There is a legend according to which, in the early 1880s, Khrapovitsky traveled around France and admired its sights. medieval castles so impressed him with their beauty and restraint that he shared his emotions with French friends. The French referred to the fact that there is no such thing in Russia. Then Khrapovitsky made a bet with them that he would build the same castle in his possessions in Russia. A few years later, the French were invited to the bride of the castle and were so surprised and admitted that the castle really matches the bet. To this Khrapovitsky replied that this was just his horse yard and led them to his beautiful elegant Gothic palace.
It turned out that all the buildings of the estate - the stable, the manager's house, the main house, the guest house, the bathhouse, the summer theater, the hunting house were built in the same style. Around Khrapovitsky's possessions in Muromtsevo, in front of the castle itself, there was a beautiful park with rare tree species and a water cascade.
The fate of the castle after the revolution
After the revolution, the count emigrated with his wife to France, and the estate went to the Soviet authorities. For the rest of his life, he lived in a nursing home located in small town on the Mediterranean coast.
In Soviet times, the estate was nationalized and the forest institute was located in the main building of the estate, which was soon transformed into a forest technical school, and the rest of the buildings were occupied by the timber industry. Perhaps only because of this, the buildings of the estate have come down to us in a relatively good condition. Some valuables from the estate were taken to museums in the 1920s, some were plundered. Other buildings of the estate also fell into disrepair, out of all 40 hectares of the estate, only 8 were preserved.
In the 70s, the reconstruction of the estate was planned, but it was never started. In 1977, the forest technical school moved to a new building, and the castle was abandoned. After two fires in the main building of the estate, nothing remained of the interior decoration. In such a dilapidated form, the building has survived to this day. Of the existing buildings, only the church remained, which was donated to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992.
Restoration of the Khrapovitsky estate
It was only in 2014 that a decision was made to restore the Khrapovitsky Castle: the cultural monument was handed over to the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve. Now the territory of the estate is under constant guard, and the palace is surrounded by a fence with CCTV cameras.
In 2015, you can only get into the castle (main house) with a guided tour, but there is nothing special to see there.
Railroad to the estate
In 1889-1895, according to the project of P. S. Boytsov, near the Khrapovitsky estate were built: a wooden building of the railway station Khrapovitskaya, the house of the stationmaster, the station storehouse, the post office building with the telegraph, the school, the store and the bathhouse, and a 41 km long path from the village was laid Muromtsevo to the station hairy Murom railway. In the 2000s, the Khrapovitskaya station and the railway line to Sudogda were dismantled as unpromising.
How to get to Khrapovitsky Castle?
The estate is located 40 km from the city of Vladimir, 4 km from the city of Sudogda in the village of Muromtsevo. From the road you can see only the stables or other buildings of the estate, while the castle is located in the park.
By public transport from Nizhny Novgorod
By train or bus from Nizhny Novgorod to Vladimir, and then from Vladimir by bus to Sudogda. From Sudogda by local bus or taxi to Muromtsevo.
By car from Nizhny Novgorod
There are two ways to get to Muromtsevo: through Vladimir and Murom. Both options are good for passing sightseeing in Vladimir or Murom.
Another day off.... We decide to take a ride to the Vladimir province, to the county town of Sudogda. More precisely - in the village of Muromtsevo, which is located only 3 km from the center of the county.
What did we forget there? More precisely, what is this village famous for, for which we decided to sacrifice our weekends?
If you remember - on one of the TV channels some time ago there was a competition - the best sights of Russia. In one of these programs, we saw how the inhabitants of the Vladimir region tried to "delegate" to him a dilapidated estate, which in its time surpassed the famous French castles in its architecture....
In the story shown, fears were expressed that if the state (or sponsors) does not pay due attention to this place in the coming years, then for the next generations this former splendor will be irretrievably lost...
Therefore, we decided - before it's too late to see the famous estate with our own eyes...
Having entered the settlement of Muromtsevo into the navigator, we passed Sudogda without any problems and quickly reached the village ...
For those who wish to repeat the route - we give a landmark, thanks to which you can easily get to the estate....
So, you are main road go along Muromtsev (from Sudogda). On the right there will be a green grocery store "Smak" (Yulia has groceries), and behind it - blue metal gates .... You go there. You enter the gate, after 50 meters turn right and immediately left ....
Another 30-50 meters (although the road will already be without asphalt) and you are at the goal ....
In front of the main building of the estate there is a place for parking cars, and at the entrance you will see a group of local guys....
They are always glad to see foreign travelers and will kindly offer you their services as a guide to their native sights ... When asked about the cost of their services, you will receive a vague answer: "How much you decide to give." We decided to use this local service (by the way, we advise you), and then we did not regret it, because. it is difficult to figure it out on your own and find all the fragments of the estate in the overgrown "park" .... To the credit of the "guide" - he was very well versed in the nuances of his topic and for an hour and a half, told and showed us everything connected with Khrapovitsky in his village....
The guys begin their story with a short introduction about who the owner of the estate is and then invite you to inspect the castle from the inside....
We will do the same...
17th century ... the village of Muromtsevo belongs to the Khonenev family ...
19th century... Privy Councilor Ivan Semenovich Khrapovitsky marries Ekaterina Alexandrovna Khoneneva and the estate passes into the hands of a new owner... And then everything is simple. After the death of the adviser, the land with the estate is inherited by the Colonel of the Life Guards of His Majesty's Hussar Regiment Semyon Ivanovich Khrapovitsky, and in 1884 - by the captain of the same regiment - Vladimir Semenovich, whose name is associated with large-scale work on the global reconstruction and construction of the famous estate .. .
It must be said that V. Khrapovitsky got Muromtsevo in a sad state, but the new owner, having entrepreneurial talent and a stable annual income (according to some sources, over 200 thousand rubles a year), having rolled up his sleeves and redirected cash flows, takes on the reconstruction of the estate .. .
They say that the reason for this was a banal dispute between Khrapovitsky and French friends, during which a Russian officer announced that he would be able to build a castle on his estate that would not be inferior to the best examples of the Loire.
True or not, but in 1884, under the guidance of the architect P.S. Boytsov in Muromtsevo, the construction of the palace begins ...
At the same time, work is underway to lay out the park, build hydraulic structures, as a result of which a cascade of luxurious ponds has appeared. A horse yard, a carriage house, a wharf, a kennel, and a poultry house are being erected. Appear railroad station Khrapovitskaya (for this, 41 km of the railway track was specially laid), post office, telegraph, bathhouse, school, etc. In fact, in those days, a completely populated area was being built ...
In the alleys of the park, the count installed electric lighting, installed Viennese furniture and arranged numerous sculptures. Planted rare trees and flowers. He built greenhouses (they say that Khrapovitsky supplied peaches, plums to the capital all year round ....). The park was looked after by the most famous gardeners of that era...
By 1911, the construction of the grandiose estate was finally completed .... It consisted of 72 different buildings, which made up a single ensemble of the palace and park complex. Those who were lucky enough to visit the estate, located in the remote Murom forests, called it "royal", putting it on a par with Peterhof and Versailles...
The count did not have long to enjoy his "Versailles" ... The year 1917 came ... Watching the active actions of the new government in relation to well-known estates, Khrapovitsky himself describes his property and, according to the inventory, transfers it to the new owners of life ... But he was deeply mistaken when he considered that this act of his would prevent the plunder of the estate .... (Soon, in every house of Muromtsev one could find things from the castle ... Privatization in the Soviet style ...). The Count has no choice but to spend the rest of his life admiring the masterpieces of French architecture...
In 1921, a forest institute appeared in the castle, later transformed into a forest technical school. During the Great Patriotic War, it housed a hospital. In 1977, the technical school moved to a modern building of the era of socialist. realism and dark times are coming for the castle: local residents are taking away everything that can still be torn off, broken off, etc., etc. Then a couple of fires and little was left of the castle ....
These are the remains we are now examining with you ....
So, accompanied by our guide through an open opening, we get inside the castle...
and we begin to inspect its premises (more precisely, what is left of them) ...
The guide confidently leads through the castle, telling what was in one place or another during the time of Khrapovitsky...
The floor is full of all kinds of openings, dips, excavations, etc. So don't forget to watch your step...
Another room... Once upon a time there was a nice fireplace....
Let's take a look at this...
and we are already in another room... The remains of stucco show that some paintings were once placed here....
The next hall .... The guide says that there was a "knight's hall" in which real knightly tournaments were held, and the guests from above watched what was happening ....
The remains of another fireplace are available ...
There are a lot of places in the castle that housed Khrapovitsky's family coat of arms.....
And this is what it looked like in 1911...
Another room with a fireplace.... According to the guide, here was the count's personal office, which was forbidden to enter by anyone except him. This fireplace has only been fired twice. The reason is that there was a very valuable icon in the room and Khrapovitsky was concerned about its safety.... From here, the count could visit his favorite kennel, which had 36 dogs....
We were lucky. We found fragments of a real tile from those times.... There are very few of them left - so hurry up to visit the castle. Maybe someone will pick it up soon...
The fact that this tile of those times is indicated by these inscriptions .... All the tile was brought from Germany and its reverse side was marked accordingly ....
And these are those oak floors .....
From the guide's story, we learn that there were several underground passages in the castle (they were made to evacuate children in case of emergency). We have one of them...
Remains of former luxury.... Wall painting, preserved from the time of construction....
One of the few surviving marble staircases of the castle.... You can climb up to the upper floors....
There are no interfloor ceilings in many places, so it is difficult to walk through the floors ... You can only look through the "doorway" ...
From the guide's story, we learn that the floor of the upper floor of the castle in this place was made of crystal....
And from this window one of the towers of the castle is clearly visible....
We rise above...
Against the background of the technical school coloring of the stairway, elements of modern folk art are clearly visible....
Higher and higher....
if you love thrill- other rooms of the castle will be available to you, which can be accessed either along the old wooden flooring, or gently squeeze along the narrow cornice ....
We considered that we had enough impressions from what we saw and decided to continue exploring the estate from the outside ....
First, let's go around the castle...
But in this place once was main entrance....
Behind the tree are the remains of a kennel and bricked exits to it. One of them leads to the count's office....
Around the castle is full of remnants of the foundation from various outbuildings.....
The guide takes us to the "park"... In the time of Khrapovitsky palace and park complex covered an area of over 40 hectares. At present, due to the massive construction of private houses, the territory has narrowed to 8 hectares .... Today, on the territory of the complex, which is protected by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. to meet houses and ministers of worship, and other "close persons", and some architectural monuments are simply given over to communal apartments ....
So we are in the park. Before us is a tree that was once struck by lightning, after which its crown changed dramatically....
Not far from this place, we are shown six cork trees that have been preserved from the former owner .... Poor trees. More precisely, what is left of them .... Each visitor is invited to pinch off a piece of bark as a keepsake .... Some of these six could not withstand the tourist load and wilted in the bud .... And this is the strongest of them. It still has bark on it....
A church appears from behind the thick trees....
It turns out that this is the temple of St. m. Queen Alexandra ....
It turns out that the temple was built at the expense of V.S. Khrapovitsky in 1899.... As follows from the information leaflet placed in front of the entrance to the church, masters of the school V.M. Vasnetsov. All church utensils were made at the Faberge factory... The temple had a 3-tiered iconostasis, on which numerous icons were placed, and on a single-tiered bell tower there were 9 bells, the largest of which weighed 121 pounds...
From here we learn that it turns out that Khrapovitsky V.S. was awarded the orders of St. Vladimir and St. Stanislav 3rd degree. The count was engaged in great charitable activities: at his expense, comprehensive schools were built in three villages; a carpentry workshop and a music school in Muromtsevo, as well as a hospital with a hospital in the village. Likino....
In addition, V.S. Khrapovitsky was the leader of the Vladimir nobility and was closely involved in electrification issues. Under him, Vladimir was electrified, and a power station was built in Muromtsevo ... (During the restoration of the temple, ancient electric lamps were discovered ...)
"The revolution interrupted the vigorous activity and plans of Khrapovitsky for the benefit of the county and the fatherland"...
There is also information about the fate of the temple. In 1922 it was closed and looted. All valuables (and not only them) have disappeared .... A state farm warehouse was organized in the premises. After the war - a warehouse of fuels and lubricants .... Only in 1996, the temple began to be used for its intended purpose ....
If you look closely, you can see that the right side of the temple, or rather its roof, is a remake....
In front of the temple there is a beautiful flower bed, made in the form of a cross...
Well, we leave the church
and heading towards the hydraulic structures ....
In front of us is the lower pond (according to the guide, once the locals even swam in it. But it turns out that a local collector was laid along the bottom of the pond, which at one moment burst and all the "charms" of Muromtsevo ended up in the pond ...)
and this is the upper, main one (all the main local events take place on its shore) ....
The drainage system, at first glance, is simple - on the edge of the upper pond you can see a large pipe through which excess water is pumped to the lower tier....
Another construction of the count's times. The guide said that at that time it was a pine cone dryer. Today, this room is rented out by someone for local banquets, etc.......
Right there, on the shore, there is a monument of modern wooden architecture....
Looking through the leaves of the trees tall towers castle...
Well, we, under the guidance of our guide, continue to explore the territory ...
Before us is the carriage house. In its residential part (where the attendants were housed) today there is a large communal apartment....
And here once there was a "garage for carriages" itself .... Two of its walls have survived to this day ....
Opposite the carriage house is located, or rather there was a stable ....
Many tourists who drive in from the other side still mistake the stables for the main building of the estate....
In the time of Khrapovitsky, it was the same .... For the sake of a joke, he first brought many of his guests to the stable, and after their rave reviews about the "castle" he showed them the original ....
It is problematic to consider its facade and the main entrance because of the solid wall of trees, but from the side it is quite accessible....
Next to the stable there is a room in which the count's servants dined.....
Now there are some children's circles here ....
After wandering around the estate for some time, talking with the guide about modern life in Muromtsevo and thanking him for interesting program- we return to the castle, near the walls of which our car is parked.
What can you say about what you see? We could have a place that we would be proud of (we just had to save it). Now we have another monument to vandalism and recklessness, as well as the complete indifference of many generations of those in power to their country ....
In fact, for foreigners, you can organize a wonderful excursion program - "The ruins of architectural monuments in Russia." The costs are minimal, there are plenty of sights (in any corner of our vast country you can find something similar) ....
