Peter and Paul Cathedral representative article. Peter and Paul Cathedral history

The architecture of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is fraught with many unexpected things. This majestic building, towering regally over the old city center, is known to every Kazan resident. From everywhere you can see the majestic crowned dome of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul and its constant companion, the bell tower. Its first floor was occupied by the Kazan Planetarium for many years, and many residents recognized the temple building by this sign, although, of course, this was hardly its main attraction. First of all, the cathedral is a wonderful architectural monument of the early 18th century, protected by the state, an integral element of the silhouette of Kazan, its rich culture and history.
The Cathedral of Peter and Paul can be considered one of those few fortunate monuments of human genius that cannot leave anyone indifferent. Who was the creator of this building when it appeared? Alas, we do not know the names of these people, just as we do not know the names of other talented architects who decorated Kazan with the Syuyumbike tower and the Spasskaya passage tower of the Kremlin, the Mardzhani and Apanaev mosques and many other monuments: the Kazan archives, which could have told about them, perished in the flames of numerous fires.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral of Kazan is located on M. Jalil Street, 21; before the 1917 revolution, the street after the cathedral was called Petropavlovskaya.
During the reign of Peter I, wonderful churches in the Russian Baroque style were created throughout Russia: the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Trinity-Lykovo near Moscow (1697), the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi in Moscow (1687), the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nizhny Novgorod (1719 G.). The Peter and Paul Cathedral of Kazan is one of the most striking examples of the style of the Peter the Great era, and is exceptional for regional architecture.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral has always been the most impressive in the necklace of Kazan churches, its visitors were all Russian emperors, starting with Catherine II (except Nicholas II), and almost all famous people, regardless of religion, visited Kazan - descriptions of the cathedral are given in the works of Alexander Humboldt and Alexandra Dumas, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was here, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin sang in the cathedral choir.

The temple complex includes the cathedral itself, a bell tower, and a clergy house.

History of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul
A wooden church of the same name has stood on this site since 1565. The history of the new cathedral is connected with the name of Peter I. On May 27 - 30, 1722, on his way to the Persian campaign, Peter I visited Kazan. This was Peter I’s third visit to the city, the first took place in 1695 during the Azov campaign, the second in 1708 when the Admiralty was opened in Kazan. The Emperor stayed with the famous Kazan merchant and philanthropist, owner of a cloth factory, Ivan Afanasyevich Mikhlyaev, whose 2-story brick house was located next to the wooden Peter and Paul Church, which stood on the site of the modern cathedral. On May 30, Peter I celebrated his 50th birthday in Kazan. In memory of this event and in gratitude for the trust of the sovereign, who gave him the management of unprofitable state-owned cloth factories, Ivan Afanasyevich decided to erect a new magnificent cathedral in the name of St. Peter and Paul in stone, an unprecedented height and luxury for Kazan and the entire Volga region.

It took 4 years for local forces to build the church; they took as a basis the usual plan of a posad church, of which many were built in Kazan and throughout Russia, but they did not take into account that the traditional design of the temple does not imply great height, and as a result, at night the vault of the temple collapsed. Having learned about this, the tsar sent builders from Moscow (it is assumed that Florentine architects also arrived along with the Moscow craftsmen) and already in 1726, Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk Sylvester (Kholmsky) solemnly consecrated the new temple (about which there was a corresponding inscription on the wooden cross kept in the sacristy of the Peter and Paul Cathedral before the coup of 1917).

Peter and Paul Cathedral

Fires and restoration of the cathedral
The cathedral was severely damaged by fires in 1742, 1749, 1815, 1842, and in 1774 it was plundered by the Pugachevites. It suffered especially badly after the fire of 1815, when the lower church and the northern limits on the 1st and 2nd floors burned out; the 25-meter iconostasis of the main church miraculously survived, although with great losses.
After the fire of 1815, the cathedral was restored by the diligence of the headman, the Kazan merchant Savely Stepanovich Zaitsev.

After another fire in 1824, the cathedral again needed restoration, which was carried out at the expense of the next headman - the merchant Vasily Nikolaevich Unzhenin, whose descendants benefactored and supported the temple throughout the 19th century.
In 1824-25, the icons on iron sheets that decorated the outside of the cathedral were restored by the famous Kazan artist “titular councilor, Vasily Stepanov, son of Turin.” Vasily Stepanovich also renewed some icons in the iconostasis and the refectory part of the temple.

Restoration 1864
By 1864, the parishioners of the cathedral had raised a large sum for the restoration of the cathedral. Elder N. Unzhenin personally donated another 5,000 rubles.
In 1864-67. The carving of the iconostasis was completely restored, including the disassembly of the iconostasis, by the Arzamas workshop, later the Kazan merchant of the 2nd guild, M.A. Tyufilin (the cost of the work was 11,000 silver rubles). In the altar, master Tyufilin recreated a throne, an altar and a carved gilded canopy, rising above the throne on four columns. Before the closure of the temple in 1938, there were icons on the canopy valances: from the east, from the side of the high place - St. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, from the side of the royal gates - the Savior blessing the bread and cup, from the south side - St. Gregory Dvoeslov, from the side of the altar - St. Apostle James. Tyufilin also made carvings in the refectory part of the temple above the arch of the central opening and arranged icon cases for the choir icons there.

The wall images, painted on iron sheets and framed with stucco, were also very dilapidated from time and fires. In 1865-67. A new painting was made on new 12-pound iron sheets by Nikolai Alekseevich Meguntov, a student at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture; 1,225 rubles were spent on the work.
Meguntov also renewed the local coloring of the walls of the temple (with a total area of ​​1524 square meters, including 600 square meters on the porch and stairs, and a total of 2124 square meters (236 square fathoms)) by covering them with adhesive paint: in the altar is blue, in the central part of the temple it is light yellow, in the refectory it is light pink. Meguntov also restored the stucco decorations of the cathedral’s interior; another 775 rubles of church money were spent on this work.

All the icons in the bottom row of the iconostasis, except for the temple one - St. Peter and Paul, were renewed by the famous Kazan icon painter, “a common tradesman of the city of Arsk” Timofey Terentyevich Gagaev, and in the remaining tiers of the iconostasis, due to losses, they were rewritten by Gagaev again. Another 3,300 rubles of parish money were spent on this work.
In 1867, the restored temple was consecrated by Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsk Anthony (Amphitheater).
However, the restoration affected only the interiors, the facades of the cathedral were very dilapidated, covered with numerous cracks, especially the northern aisle, the cracked walls of which “moved away” from the main temple, the cathedral could turn into ruins.

Peter and Paul Cathedral (Kazan)
Peter and Paul Cathedral before 1917
Archpriest Gabriel Fedorovich Melanovsky, rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral at that time, limited himself in everything, collecting funds for the restoration of the facades of the cathedral. Anticipating his imminent death, Fr. Gabriel donated 18,000 rubles of personal savings for the restoration of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. At the same time, the elder Unzhenin planned to begin restoration, but the estimate turned out to be huge, and only after collecting additional funds in 1888, with the blessing of Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsk Pavel (Lebedev), the construction committee began a major restoration of the facades.
In 1889-90 civil architect Mikhail Nikolaevich Litvinov (later the caretaker of the building of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow) prepared a restoration project based on drawings made back in 1815 by the Kazan provincial architect A.K. Schmidt, the author of the design of the Spassky Church-monument on Kazanka.
The 2-story northern aisle was completely dismantled and rebuilt from brick, and not from stone as before. The porch (open gallery) from the west has been restored. The main work consisted of laying a new foundation under the walls of the cathedral and bell tower. All the cracks in the walls were fixed and the old bricks in them were replaced with new ones.

All stucco on the external facades was also restored and all 87 icons on the facade and 4 on the bell tower that originally existed were restored. The painter I. N. Khrustalev “from the 3rd class of the Academy of Arts” painted icons on the drum of the head of the dome and in the top row of the octagon. The remaining icons on the facades were painted by S. A. Kiselev, a 4th grade student at the Academy of Arts.
In 1890, the crosses were gilded and, with the permission of the Moscow Archaeological Society, the roof was painted in two colors, green and vat paint, in a checkerboard pattern. The wall on 3 sides of the open gallery is decorated with tiles. The local background of the cathedral facade is painted with golden ocher, white stone carved decorations and stucco moldings are painted with a whole range of colors and shades, in the nature of which M. Fechner sees the influence of “local predilection for a bright combination of colors.”
Under the floor of the first floor there was a stove and pipes that heated the upper temple. Colored glass was inserted into the windows - yellow in the altar and blue in the church, in the shape of a cross.

On the bell tower, “master Kazan merchant Pyotr Ionov Klimov” installed a new clock (only the dial remained from the old ones at that time), and the decorations carved from white flask stone and alabaster were restored.
Under the bell tower, the chapel over the family tomb of the temple builder Ivan Afanasyevich Mikhlyaev was restored and, as before, three doors were built in it: from the east, west and north, above them - kokoshniks made of brick and white stone. A separate passage led to the bell tower through a door in the southernmost wall. The church yard was paved with cobblestones, and a wrought-iron fence with icons was installed on the street.

Cathedral after 1917
At the end of 1930, the rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, Archpriest Andrei Bogolyubov, was arrested for “anti-Soviet activities,” which included seeking financial assistance in 1928 from the former headman of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, hereditary honorary citizen of Kazan Peter Vasilyevich Unzhenin, who emigrated to China after the Bolshevik coup. For the help that the community received from Harbin in 1928, a 67-year-old priest who came from peasant family, the communists sent them to camps.
In 1931, a campaign to close the temple began. In 1931, at a meeting of the group committee of political education, Comrade Shisranova spoke, who, due to the urgent need for living space in general and for cultural institutions in particular, demanded that the cathedral be transferred “for a club, reading room or library,” for which a resolution was sent to the regional council of the SVB. The very next day, the SVB sent comrade. Kornilov with an anti-religious lecture on the topic “On Religion and the Cultural Revolution” to a pasta factory, TatStroyobedinenie and a confectionery factory, and in the following days a number of other organizations, campaigning for “liberation from the priestly shackles of that mass of the population that has not yet realized the harm and lies of religion” . All reports from such events were collected in order to have a complete package of documents for closing the temple.

Meanwhile, in Kazan, the new government consistently closed churches, and the Peter and Paul community accepted believers from closed churches: the Kazan-Bogoroditsky Monastery, the Georgian Church, and the Feodorovsky Monastery. From closed churches, icons, utensils, and banners were brought to the cathedral, including a shrine with part of the relics of the Kazan Saint Barsanuphius.
In 1938, mass arrests of priests took place in Kazan, including the arrest of the clergy of the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Archpriest Vasily Petrovich Ivanovsky, who served in the Russian Orthodox Church since 1908, and deacon Ivan Fedorovich Gavrilov. Soon, during Great Lent (03/11/38), the 63-year-old archpriest of the cathedral, Mikhail Fedorovich Zosimovsky, addressed the commission on religious issues at the Tatarstan Central Executive Committee with a request to the executive secretary of the cultural commission, Mustafin, “I ask the cultural commission to remove me from registration as a full-time clergyman” due to “my serious illness.” .

In the same year, the KGS secretly issued a decree: “to transfer the building to the Central Museum of the TASSR for an anti-religious museum (ground floor) and a lecture hall with the installation of a Foucault pendulum (second floor). The congregation will be moved to the empty building of the Cemetery Church.<…>This resolution shall be submitted for approval by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Tatar ASSR.”
In 1939, the cathedral was closed, the Foucault pendulum was never installed, and the Partarchive was placed in the temple. The tomb of the temple builder of the cathedral, merchant Mikhlyaev, was plundered.
In 1964, a planetarium was opened in the lower Sretensky Church of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, for which the ties that strengthened the vault were barbarously cut off.
In 1967, the restoration workshops of the State Museum of the TASSR were located in the upper church. In the upper church, in front of the iconostasis, there was a billiard table, in the altar - the so-called. "red corner" and conference room.

Revival of the cathedral
In the late 1980s, through the joint efforts of the diocese and the Kazan intelligentsia, it was possible to achieve the return of the cathedral to the Church. He played a special role in the campaign to return the temple. Chief Editor at that time the most influential city newspaper “Evening Kazan” was Andrei Petrovich Gavrilov. On July 25, 1989, the temple was consecrated by Bishop Anastasius of Kazan and Mari. The church received the cathedral in a ruined state, the roof was torn off in places and the brickwork was falling out. First of all, the carving of the lower tier of the iconostasis was restored, the royal gates were recreated, the roof and damage to the facade were corrected.

Architecture of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

Not every monument appears immediately as a completed architectural work. On the contrary, in most cases, only long-term, and sometimes centuries-long, restructuring gradually improves its appearance (or, conversely, irrevocably distorts it). In its finished form, the monument appears as the fruit of the joint activity of many people, each of whom put a grain of their labor into it. Sometimes restorers intervene, and then the building is carefully cleaned of traces of the activities of people who thought more about adapting it to their needs than about preserving its beauty. This is what happened with the Peter and Paul Cathedral: it did not immediately acquire its familiar appearance. Its construction began with failure.
They took as a model an ordinary, ubiquitous townsman temple, many of which were built in the 17th and early 18th centuries both in Kazan and in its environs. They took it and, apparently, did not think about the fact that with an increase in the height of the building it would inevitably be necessary to make changes to the proportions and composition of the building, to apply other building construction. When laying out the upper vault, the entire structure collapsed: the lack of experience of the local architects, who had not previously encountered such an unusual task, affected it. The construction was completed in 1726 by a team of experienced craftsmen who urgently arrived from Moscow. They, apparently, dressed the temple in magnificent baroque “clothes”, so characteristic of Moscow architecture of that time.
The Cathedral of Peter and Paul is sometimes compared to the church in Fili and the Stroganov Church in Nizhny Novgorod - typical works of “Russian Baroque”. However, in contrast to the innovative architects of these buildings, the Kazan temple is similar to them only in its structures and external decorative decoration, but its composition is conservative. The bell tower is another matter. Even if this multi-tiered tower appeared at the same time as him, it is unlikely that it was built by the same craftsmen. The entire organic structure of its architecture speaks of a different professional approach of its creator, a different school of architecture. Apparently, the leader of this period of construction (perhaps it was the same architect who came from Moscow to complete the construction of the temple after its collapse), set himself the goal of correcting the impression of the unsuccessful proportions of the already erected building by contrasting it with a slender tower - a technique that has long been used, for example , in the east during the construction of mosques. The combination of a decorated bell tower directed upward with a lavishly decorated heavy church created a wonderful ensemble, which was apparently worked on by an architect of European training. His goal was not only to veil the flaws in the composition of the completed church, but also to give the entire complex a more modern baroque look. And he coped with this task brilliantly, decorating Kazan with a magnificent temple for centuries. The European education of the architect who erected the bell tower can also be guessed from other signs: the second tier of the tower is decorated with deep niches for statues - a technique that is by no means in the spirit of Russian traditions and is rare even in the capital, not only in the provinces. Perhaps these statues were never installed, although I remember that in one of the pre-revolutionary books about Kazan, they talked about the sculptures that decorated these niches.

bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

The slender bell tower, which according to Kazan tradition stood at some distance from the church, was used by Mikhlyaev as a majestic tombstone for himself: in its basement there is a crypt with a merchant’s sarcophagus, looted later, in our time, by local vandals.
The main facade of the church was originally not where we now approach it, but just on the opposite side, where through the arch that has been preserved to this day, the merchant and his family walked past the bell tower to the main staircase to the temple. This is exactly how the Peter and Paul Cathedral is depicted in a lithograph by the artist Eduard Tournerelli, published in London in the first half of the last century. Perhaps, during the further reconstruction of this section of the city, it would be necessary to take into account this initial plan of the architect and restore the approach to the monument from the Gostiny Dvor, as if continuing the inspection of the museum’s exhibition.

The architecture of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is fraught with many unexpected things. Its forms, which have long been familiar to us, turn out to be, upon closer examination, very, very original, reflecting local traditions inherent in the culture of the Kazan region. First of all, these are the original keel-shaped outlines of the roofs above the apses of the main building, the scallops of which are decorated with openwork fringe made of pressed tin. In the Moscow Baroque of the early 18th century, where, it would seem, one should look for their origins, there are no such forms. But in Kazan architecture they were used throughout the 18th century, including in the architecture of Tatar mosques.
But most amazing of all is the coloring of the facades of the temple, which clearly replaced the lush stucco molding so characteristic of other works of Russian Baroque. We will not find such a combination of colors in the church architecture of other regions of Russia, while in the coloring of Tatar mosques, although a little later, these same colors predominated: an ocher-yellow background with blue, green, white and red details. This is hardly a coincidence. After all, the colors of medieval buildings in Central Asia, whose architecture has influenced the architecture of the Volga region since ancient times, were based on similar principles. This is confirmed by numerous finds of Bulgar tiles, and archaeological studies of ancient settlements of the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars. Apparently, the painting of the walls of the Peter and Paul Cathedral somehow reflected ancient local traditions, indicating the sometimes invisible influence of Tatar culture on the formation of the appearance of Kazan architecture.

Peter and Paul Cathedral (Kazan)
Picturesque icons and multi-colored tiles on the facades of the temple and bell tower are surprisingly organically woven into this extravaganza of colors, turning them into a unique work of art. The loss of some of these paintings in last years significantly impoverished the perception of the monument.
The interior of the temple is striking in its splendor and size. Time has spared almost all the details of the rich decoration of the temple.
One cannot help but admire the magnificence of the iconostasis, almost as high as a four-story building, which completely occupied one of the walls of the central room. Interweaving vines, flower garlands, twisted columns are carved from wood and sparkle with gilding. The continuous carpet of plant patterns is interspersed with paintings depicting biblical and evangelical subjects. The decorative style of carving of the iconostasis allows us to date it to the beginning of the 18th century, but the absence of icons from that time indicates otherwise.
Apparently, the iconostasis still burned during the devastating fires of the 18th and 19th centuries, which did not spare the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Subsequently, it could be reconstructed from remains and analogies. Today, this masterpiece of creativity by unknown masters of the past, which miraculously survived the terrible thirties, when the magnificent interiors of almost all the churches of Kazan and Sviyazhsk disappeared without a trace, can be seen by us, Kazan residents of the 21st century. The church building was rebuilt several times. Major restoration work on this monument was undertaken in late XIX century, when the building, damaged by the last fire, was carefully restored according to ancient drawings and on the basis of a scrupulous field study. The author of the restoration project was provincial engineer M.N. Litvinov, and artists I.N. Khrustalev and S.A. Kiselev helped him in restoring the paintings. Traces of this restoration are easy to read: the restored walkway, awnings and openwork valances on the church and bell tower, stylized in the characteristic “pseudo-Russian” forms of that time, and many interior details. On the bell tower, these valances are even inappropriate: they contradict the laconic forms of its facades and hide the details of the cornices. The last work on the restoration of the temple was carried out in the 1960-80s and was reduced mainly to replacing damaged coverings and painting the facades.

Architectural ensemble

Cultural heritage Russian Federation, object No. 1610032003 object No. 1610032003
Initially, the main approach to the cathedral was from the Spasskaya Tower and the Gostiny Dvor, and it was the northern side that was planned by the architects as the main facade of the temple: from the north to the second floor, to the main chapel of St. Peter and Paul, leads up to a straight front staircase (destroyed by fire in 1815, restored in 1888-90). To the left of the stairs, a chapel with a temple in the name of the Burning Bush (until 1848 in the name of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist) on the first floor and the “Life-Giving Source” on the second, complements and emphasizes the height of the main volume of the temple, with steps decorated with stucco quadrangle, octagon, and two heads directed upward. Above the octagonal cornice, instead of the stone finials typical of the Baroque, the Peter and Paul Cathedral has light patterned forged gratings. From the north and west, the cathedral is surrounded by an open gallery, which turns down to the south side, to the lower church in the name of the Presentation of the Lord. At the gallery level, magnificent multi-colored stone floral patterns are complemented by yard-long painted tiles. Over time, the approach to the temple from the north was built up with houses, and now the main entrance to the cathedral is from the south.

Bell tower of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul
Cultural heritage of the Russian Federation, object No. 1610032002 object No. 1610032002
Soon after the construction of the cathedral, a 49-meter (21 fathoms and 1 arshin without a cross, with a cross 22 fathoms and 2 arshins) 6-tier bell tower was erected to the northeast of it. In the 2nd tier, in the niches of the south-eastern and north-western corners of the quadrangle, there were sculptural images of the Evangelists. The multi-colored baroque decor of the bell tower was not inferior to the cathedral: under each of the 8 windows of the “lantern” of the bell tower in a square recess there are blue, star-shaped tiles with yellow and white flowers, above each window of the bell tower, in all its tiers there are white stone kokoshniks.
In 1888-1890 in the penultimate tier, the opening hours of Pyotr Ionovich Klimov were established. Before the revolution, there were 10 bells on the bell tower, on the largest there was an inscription: “In the blessed reign of the Most Pious Autocratic Sovereign Emperor Alexander Pavlovich and all Russia, with the blessing of His Eminence Ambrose, Archbishop of Kazan and Simbirsk and various orders of the cavalier, this bell was re-cast in the reigning city, Kazan, to the Cathedral Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Weighing 189 pounds. 34 lbs. Copper 161 pounds. came from the previous broken large bell, and the rest was added, and the re-transfusion was also paid for with a fee from willing donors. The Kazan merchant Ivan Efimov Astrakhantsev rang this bell in 1825.” On the bell there were bas-relief icons: on the north side - the Presentation of the Lord; from the south - the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God; from western St. apostles Peter and Paul; from the east - the image of the Annunciation with the upcoming Kazan saints: St. Gury, Herman and kneeling Barsanuphius.

On the second bell there is an inscription: “this bell was cast in the reigning city of Kazan, in the factory, Serey Kornilov, to the Church of Peter and Paul, with the donation of Peter and Nikolai Molostvov and the diligence of the parishioners and the diligence of Archpriest Viktor Petrovich Vishnevsky and the church elder, Kazan merchant Savely Stepanovich Zaitsev, in 1835, June 10th day, 99 poods.”
On the third bell: “come people to the Temple of Salvation of our God. Lil master Peter Nikitin Kiryukhov. Weight 54 pounds. and 17 pounds.”
On the fourth bell, weighing 15 pounds and 11 pounds. bas-relief icons, to the east the Exaltation of the Holy Cross by Constantine and Helen, to the west the Crucifixion, to the south the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, to the north St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Inscription: “This bell was cast in Kazan, in the factory of Ivan Kiryukhov.” The pre-revolutionary bells were destroyed; recently a new 3-ton bell of Yaroslavl casting, the same as it was before the revolution, was installed on the bell tower.

Priest's house
Cultural heritage of the Russian Federation, object No. 1610032001 object No. 1610032001

Mikhlyaev House
Cultural heritage of the Russian Federation, object No. 1600145000 object No. 1600145000
On the western side of the cathedral, on the territory belonging to a garment factory, there is the house of the merchant Mikhlyaev, built in the 17th century - the oldest monument of civil architecture in Kazan, where Peter I stayed in 1722. From the house there was a direct passage to the temple, and from the north the house adjoined small church of Cosmas and Damian. According to Mikhlyaev’s will, the house was given to the cathedral, but due to an error in paperwork, it passed to Mikhlyaev’s heirs, the Dryablovs.

Iconostasis
The main decoration of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is the majestic, modern temple, 25-meter 7-tier iconostasis. The magnificent baroque gilded carving of the iconostasis was made by master Gusev, the wooden gilded Royal Doors were made using the technique of through carving. All icons are written on a gold background. According to the head of the cathedral, Kazan merchant P.V. Unzhenin, an eyewitness to the renovation of the iconostasis in 1865-1867, only one of all the icons in the iconostasis has survived without renovations - this is the temple icon of Sts. The Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul. On three icons in the local row, the faces and robes were renewed: this is the icon of the Savior in the image of the Tsar and the Great Bishop, with a scepter and orb, the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God on the throne and the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The remaining icons of the iconostasis, due to large losses due to fires, were rewritten by Gagaev again, in 1865-1867

Sacristy and cathedral utensils
Before the revolution, the sacristy contained utensils donated by the cathedral’s patron Ivan Afanasyevich Mikhlyaev and other Kazan benefactors, of which we can especially highlight:

Three altar crosses:
Silver gilt, reliquary cross from 1693, decorated with pearls and 19 emeralds.
Another “gold, silver and magarites decorated,” as indicated in the inscription, is an altar cross-reliquary.
On the third cross was engraved: “This honorable cross was placed in the Sretenskaya church at the Kazan Peter and Paul Cathedral after the fire that occurred on September 3, 1815 of the Kazan military orphan department by the head of Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Andreevich Kopylov.”
Gospel (1681), with 5 fractions. The Gospel frame is decorated with “blue yacht” and other gems. The inscription on the gospel: “This honest and most sacred Gospel was built into the holy church in Kazan of the glorious holy and supreme apostles Peter and Paul from the patronage of the reverent and honest Mr. Ivan Afanasyev, son of Mikhlyaev, in the year of God, March 1726, on the 25th day.”
Mikhlyaev also donated a silver censer, reminiscent of the shape of the cathedral itself, 3 priestly vestments (3 phelonions of “grass thin brocade” with pearl-embroidered crosses on the shoulder and 3 stoles) and a surplice studded with pearls; liturgical vessels, tabernacle.
The liar with the inscription “Peter Michlaeff” is believed to be a personal gift from Peter I to Ivan Afanasyevich.
Analog icon of St. Peter and Paul, enclosed according to legend by the temple builder I. A. Mikhlyaev, on the margins of the icon are images of the venerable Alexander Nevsky, John of Damascus, Alexander of Svirsky and Kirill of Belozersky.
The cathedral was illuminated by a huge 5-tier chandelier with 40 candles weighing 50 pounds, decorated with gilded leaves on all tiers, also donated by the Mikhlyaevs. The weight of this chandelier was determined when, around 1867, church elder Vasily Nikolaevich Unzhenin decided to gild this chandelier - the carters undertook to transport it to the workshop of the Tula merchant Lev Alekseev Lyalin at an agreed price for each pood of the total weight of the chandelier. (lost, for more details see Seizure of Church Property in Russia in 1922).
Large silver lamps in front of the icons in the bottom row of the iconostasis are a donation by Ivan Dryablov (1761). On each lamp there was an inscription carved in block letters: “On the 1st day of January 1761, this lamp was supplied from the Kazan Cloth Factory by Ivan Fedorovich Dryablov to the Cathedral Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.”

Shrines of the cathedral

Revered icons
Before the revolution, the cathedral had revered icons: the Image of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source” in the chapel of the same name and the Image of the Mother of God “Helper of Sinners”.
The icon of the Mother of God “Support of Sinners” on the reverse side had the inscriptions: in white paint - “Copy of the Miracle-Working and Myrrh-Streaming Image of the Supporter of Sinners, to whom in 1848, in the month of May, was given by Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Boncheskul, to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, in Khamovniki, according to the occasion of great miracles that took place"; in ink: - “To the Church of Peter and Paul. In Kazan. Brings as a gift Dimitry Nikolaev Boncheskul of 1858 on May 15th” “C: G: Moscow”. In 1860, through the diligence of the elder Unzhenin, a chasuble was made for the icon, as evidenced by the inscription: “donated by the Kazan merchant Vasily Nikolaich Unzhenin, 1860, July 28th, an ark weighing 10 pounds. 17 gold."
In the altar of the upper church there was an ancient Vladimir icon of the Mother of God in a gilded silver frame; the chasuble and crown of the Mother of God were decorated with pearls. The inscription on the icon: “On the 22nd of January 1727, this image of Vladimir Btsy gave as a treasure in Kazan to the Cathedral Church of Peter and Paul. Kazan merchant Pyotr Ivanov son of Zamoshnikov.” The fate of these icons after the closure of the temple is unknown.
In the lower row of the iconostasis of the upper church there is a revered icon of St. of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the only one that has survived without renovations from the original iconostasis.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral contains the relics of locally revered Kazan saints, discovered in 1995 during excavations of the “cave” of the Transfiguration Monastery in the Kazan Kremlin:
in the upper church - the Venerable Jonah and Nektarios of Kazan (XVI century), father and son of the Zastolbsky boyars - associates of St. Gury of Kazan;
in the lower church there are the relics of St. Ephraim, Metropolitan of Kazan (†1614), successor at the Kazan department of the smch. Hermogenes, later Patriarch of All Rus'. Saint Ephraim blessed the army of K. Minin and Prince D. Pozharsky for feat of arms with a copy of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (now located in the Yelokhovsky Cathedral in Moscow). In 1613, Metropolitan Ephraim crowned Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov.
In the altar of the lower Sretensky Church are the relics of St. Epiphanius, Archbishop of Jerusalem.

Those wishing to examine this ancient pearl of church architecture of Kazan, rejuvenated by the efforts of restorers, will not be disappointed, for the fabulous beauty of the iconostasis and paintings, the beautiful carving of the facades have no equal far beyond the borders of Kazan and will help to understand the depth of the abyss into which our culture fell, destroying the best works of the “class alien” culture of the past. And if there are still desecrated and disfigured churches on the streets of Kazan, which were once the decoration of the city, with rusty, crumpled lace steel grilles, crumbling stucco decorations on the facades, let the architecture of the Peter and Paul Cathedral show us all with our own eyes how this Beauty can be saved and preserved for themselves and for future generations.

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source of information and photo:
Team Nomads.
author of the article: Niyaz KHALITOV, Honored Scientist of the Republic of Tatarstan, professor, doctor of architecture.
http://history-kazan.ru/
Malov E. A. Historical descriptions churches in Kazan. Kazan, 1884. - Issue. 1. - P. 20.
http://temples.ru/
Chronicle of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Kazan
M. Fechner Great Bulgars, Kazan, Sviyazhsk. - M.: Art, 1978
http://sobory.ru/
Archpriest Vladimir Mukhin History of the closure of churches and monasteries in Kazan in the 20s - 30s of the XX century. Part 1
Clearance list for 1900. F. 4, op. 132, case 59
Wikipedia website.

Extensive illustrations of this article “Kaunas, Peter and Paul Cathedral - St. Michael the Archangel” can be seen here:
There are three large white buildings in Kaunas that give this ancient city its unique image, mystically reveal its soul, which shapes the consciousness of its residents and guests, uniquely and inimitably outlining the moral originality of their views on the world: Town Hall (“White Swan”, 16th century), Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel (late 19th century) and Church of the Resurrection of Christ (20th century). Rising in the center of this line, originally directed from the old Slavic-German-Jewish city of Cavna along an axis from West to East, the Archangel Cathedral with all its architectural power brings down to the ground the Town Hall and the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. Kaunas Cathedral breaks this straight line and pushes it to the northwest at an angle of 60 degrees towards the majestic modern Church of the Ascension of Christ standing on the hill.
Let me note that Lithuanians at the end of the 19th century. no more than 6 percent of the city’s 70 thousand population lived in Kovno (more statistics here:).
Between the openwork ancient European town hall of Hanseatic trading times and modern infantile European reality, stands a massive Byzantine cathedral, personifying the powerful cradle of European culture. The fate of this Peter and Paul Cathedral - the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, is not simple and straightforward, for politicians and history transformed its formal essence, leaving the energy of its spiritual hypostasis unshakable. And that is why this cathedral is especially interesting for us.

KOVNA - PETROPAUL CATHEDRAL
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
“The patronal holiday is June 29.
Located on the parade ground at the entrance to the city, called the "New Plan".
The cathedral building is stone, five-domed, founded on June 29, 1891 and consecrated on September 17, 1895, in the Roman-Byzantine style. It was built at the expense of the military engineering department, and the builders of the temple were military engineers: Colonel Neplyuev and Lieutenant Colonel Limarenko. The cathedral has three altars: a) the main one - in honor of St. the supreme Apostles Peter and Paul, b) right - in honor of St. martyrs: Sophia, Vera, Hope and Love and c) the left one - in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The cathedral can accommodate up to 3 thousand souls. The cathedral's parishioners include military ranks from the entire fortress, who do not have their own full-time priests. According to the staff at the cathedral, there are: a rector - an archpriest, two priests, a deacon and two psalm-readers. The Zechariah-Elizabeth Church at the local infirmary is assigned to the cathedral.”

In the period from 1879 to 1915. By the highest order of the Emperors Alexander II, and then Alexander III and Nicholas II, a system of 12 defensive forts around the city was founded, built, developed and constantly strengthened - the Kovno Fortress, designed to protect the western borders Russian Empire. It was this military-defensive enterprise of Russia that served as the huge impulse that brought the strategically important city of Kavna out of historical slumber (founded by the Slavs Lutich at the confluence of two navigable rivers Neman and Viliya -). After the passage of Napoleon's Great Army through the city in June 1812 to Moscow (and the return of its pitiful remnants in December 1812), this ancient city completely froze in its economic development, fenced off from the world by land with a medieval wall, located just a thousand meters to the East from the Town Hall.
The plan drawn by Russian architects for the New Fortress Town of Kovna predetermined the location of the majestic cathedral in the Byzantine style at a distance of two kilometers from the town hall, on the new eastern outskirts of the city, in front of the Green Mountain hill. Here, turning towards Vilna, the road went towards the railway station. In 1861, a railway line was built to Kovna from the St. Petersburg - Vilna - Warsaw highway and the first large railway tunnel in Russia, 1285 meters long, was dug. From the Old Town - Kavna, to this cathedral, a wide one-kilometer-long Nikolaevsky Avenue, soon equipped with a horse-drawn tram (“horse-drawn tram”), was outlined and began to be built. Not far away, a whole complex of administrative buildings of the Kovna military fortress was erected: headquarters, barracks, hospital, etc.
Emperor Alexander III gave a corresponding decree.
Organizers and leaders construction work Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Kovno there were military engineers: Colonel Vladimir Stepanovich Neplyuev and Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Khristoforovich Limarenko.

Help (based on the data found):
Vladimir Stepanovich Neplyuev - 1891 - colonel, Kovna fortress, 1896 - invented the cranked draft, which found application in many Russian fortresses. 1906 - Commandant of the Sevastopol Fortress, was assassinated in 1908. Commandant of the Kovno Fortress.
Limarenko Konstantin Khristoforovich, (1852-?) - military engineer. From hereditary nobles. He graduated from the 2nd Konstantinovsky Military School (1875), Nikolaev Engineering Academy (1882 - 1st category). Since 1911 - Lieutenant General. Fate after 1917 is unknown.

Undoubtedly, the architectural project was standard and embodied the so-called. Russian style, one of the creators of which was academician of architecture, chairman of the St. Petersburg Society of Architects (1888-1890), St. Petersburg architect D.I. Grimm. It was after slightly correcting the architectural design, adapting it to the area, that the academician-architect signed the architectural design of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Kovno, the temple acquired the appearance we know. The final design of this cathedral was approved by Emperor Alexander III himself.
The Orthodox Cathedral was planned to be built as a representative building of the fortress, expressing wealth and officiality. The chosen form of the church was a basilica, which was supposed to soften confessional contradictions and return to common Christian architectural roots. The main overall volume of the building approaches a cube. The church has five domes: the main one is large and 4 smaller ones.
The cornerstone of the church was dedicated and laid on June 29, 1891. The walls of the building were erected by craftsmen from the Chernigov province. The materials used were sustainable and cutting-edge for the time. construction technologies. The bricks were made at the Palemonsky brick factory near Kovna, managed by the leadership of the fortress. The floor was laid with colored Metlakh tiles, and in front of the altar - with marble tiles.
Polished granite for the plinth (the base of the building) and for the steps was brought from Finland and laid into the base of the cathedral, fastened with lead poured into the spaces between the slabs. Spiral staircases, the base of the roof and the doors of the small domes were cast from cast iron. The columns stand on iron bases (cast iron round slabs). The basement is equipped with central heating with four heaters brought from Warsaw. During the construction of the cathedral, for the first time in Lithuania, a reinforced concrete dome with a diameter of 16.3 m was installed.
Decorative work was carried out in 1894-95. The artistic work was carried out by members of the Mutual Aid Society of Russian Artists from St. Petersburg. The interior was decorated according to the drawings of V.V. Gryaznov (1840-1909) by the artist A. Trey from Vilnius. There are especially many images of Greeks, or the so-called, in the decorations of the building. warriors, as well as the motif of the cross. The architecture is in the style of old Orthodox churches. The iconostasis had 122 icons. There were 12 bells in 4 small domes, one of which was cast in Königsberg in 1618. During the construction of the cathedral, 4.3 million bricks were used, and the construction itself cost 375 thousand rubles.
This orthodox cathedral was consecrated on September 17, 1895 and named in honor of Saints Peter and Paul (Peter and Paul Cathedral) and until August 17, 1915 (the day the city was captured by German troops) belonged to the military department of the Russian Empire.
When the troops of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II occupied Kaunas in August 1915, services were held in the “Russian Cathedral” (as the German occupiers called it) for soldiers professing Catholicism and Lutheranism. The Germans took out the bells and tore off the galvanized sheet metal from the small domes.
After the First World War, the fate of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Kaunas was more favorable than, say, the fate of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw, built according to the design of the outstanding Russian architect Leonty Nikolaevich Benois, starting in 1894 - opened in 1912, but completely demolished by the Polish authorities in 1926.
After the capture of Vilna by Polish self-defense units (the prototype of the Polish Military Organization - POW), under the command of General V. Veitko, on December 31, 1918, the provisional Lithuanian government, headed by M. Slyazhevicius, together with the retreating German troops, moved from Vilnius to Kaunas. In the summer of 1920, Vilna, again liberated by the Red Army of the RSFSR from the Polish occupiers, was transferred to the Lithuanian government. However, already in the fall of 1920, after the recapture of Vilnius and the Vilna region by Polish legionnaires under the command of J. Pilsudski and his comrade-in-arms, General L. Zheligovski, the Lithuanian authorities returned to Kaunas. Renamed by the Lithuanians from Kovna to Kaunas, the city became the “temporary capital” of the Lithuanian Democratic Republic.
Naturally, the entire military infrastructure inherited from the tsarist army came under the control of the command of the Lithuanian army. Therefore, back on July 25, 1919, by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian Democratic Republic, the “Russian Cathedral” was recognized as the property of the Lithuanian state and transferred to the military garrison of Lithuanian troops - on August 8, 1919 it was consecrated by the Catholic hierarchs and named in honor of St. Michael the Archangel.
In 1934, the cathedral was renovated with funds from the Ministry of Regional Protection of Lithuania. Inscriptions in the Slavic language and Orthodox icons on the pylons were painted over, Orthodox sacred buildings were removed, etc. The domes were again covered with tin. The artist Vladas Dižōkas, together with his students, rewrote the interior altar of the church with the theme “Christ, the Good Shepherd.” In 1939, an organ from the German company E. was installed inside the church. F.Walcker".
After A. Smetona fled from Lithuania and the restoration of Soviet power in Lithuania in the summer of 1940, the temple ceased to be the spiritual center of the soldiers of the Lithuanian army and acted as a constituent church institution of the Kaunas Catholic Diocese.
During the entire German occupation from June 23, 1941, to July 29, 1944, and after the liberation of the city from the Nazi invaders, until 1962, this Catholic “cathedral” continued its religious activities. There was a parish here.
Immediately after the Soviet authorities announced that “weapons were found” in the basements of the cathedral, in 1962, by decision of the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR, the church was closed, and the building itself was transferred Art Museum them. M.-K.Ciurlionis. As a branch of this museum - the “Gallery of Stained Glass and Sculpture”, here, in the premises of a former church, works of Lithuanian stained glass artists and sculptors have been exhibited since 1965. In 1978, the crosses on the domes of the church were replaced by round weather vanes with colored glass inside (light yellow, green and red - the colors of the Lithuanian national flag, which, by the way, was the flag of the Lithuanian SSR until the early 50s). Under the leadership of the architect Kestutis Bubnaitis, the wooden galleries were redone - replaced with stone ones, the frescoes that remained untouched inside the temple were painted over with dark colors, the interior halls of the temple were also completely repainted with dark colors, and on the facade the faces of the Savior in the round rosettes above the main and side gates were painted over with white. .
Now here, in the gallery, 1227 works of art were exhibited, and among them “The Statue of Liberty” by Juozas Zikaris (1881-1944, Studied at the I.P. Trutnev Drawing School), organ music concerts were held.
By decision of the Council of Deputies of Kaunas on March 28, 1991, the church was returned to the Kaunas Archbishop's Curia. On September 17, 1991, crosses were reinstalled on the domes of the church, cast free of charge at the Kaunas Centrolitas plant. In the first service, after the transfer of the temple to Catholics on June 7, 1992, in addition to the clergy, representatives of the military structures of the Lithuanian army took part. On August 10, 1996, Metropolitan Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius handed over the temple to the needs of the Lithuanian army.
Work has begun on a significant refurbishment of the former Orthodox Church. The old painting in the Byzantine style was completely painted over with white paint (“preserved”). Other works of art were donated to the temple. The coat of arms hung under the vault for 99 years Tsarist Russia and modern - the double-headed eagle - was replaced by a white dove, personifying the Holy Spirit. The newly painted vaults of the altar part of the temple were decorated with angels, whose wings were painted in the colors of the national Lithuanian flag, and in the altar appeared state flag Republic of Lithuania. The interior decoration of the temple has acquired a modern look.
In September 2005, a museum for the blind: “Catacombs of the 21st Century” began operating in the basement of the temple, and in February 2009 the restoration of the organ was completed.
The building of the “Kaunas Cathedral” of St. Michael the Archangel is inscribed in the register of Immovable Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Lithuania.

The temple, dedicated to the heavenly patrons of the sovereign (Peter and Paul), was clearly planned as the main cathedral of the future city. However, until 1712 it was, according to reviews of foreigners, “ small but beautiful Russian church made of wood with a beautiful pointed tower in the Dutch style».

Wooden Peter and Paul Cathedral (1703-1712)

The construction of a stone cathedral, instead of a wooden one, began on July 8, 1712, immediately after St. Petersburg was declared the capital of the Russian state. Peter demanded that Trezzini hurry, first of all, with the bell tower. Therefore, by the will of Peter, the western part of the temple was built first, where a four-tiered bell tower with a tall thin spire grew from the body of the cathedral.

The spire of St. Peter's Church in Riga made a special impression on the king. By his order, its drawings and measurements were even delivered to St. Petersburg. Trezzini had never been to Riga, but he remembered well the bell tower of the Church of St. Nicholas in Copenhagen. Trezzini used the architectural motifs of the bell towers of these churches as fundamental in the design of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Peter and Paul Cathedral (center) and its prototypes - St. Nicholas Church in Copenhagen (left) and St. Peter's Church in Riga (right)

The cathedral's bell tower was a clear antithesis of the fortress; it contradicted the laws of defensive science. But it was in full agreement with the laws of urban planning of the New Age. However, its construction began at a time when the threat of a military attack on St. Petersburg was a thing of the past, and the city began to develop in accordance with its internal logic, without fear of enemy shelling.

The tall and thin copper-clad spire of the bell tower is the greatest attraction of all St. Petersburg.

Project of an angel on a spire by D. Trezzini (1722)

Tresiina was very familiar with the baroque facades of Rome's cathedrals (modeled on the 16th-century church of Il Gesu). In the Church of St. Peter in Riga, the main facade was also the base of the bell tower. Combining Italian and Northern European traditions, Trezzini created a new, but completely harmonious architectural image of the main facade of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

The facade of the Peter and Paul Cathedral (right) and its “components” - the facades of the churches of Il Giuse in Rome and St. Peter's in Riga

In 1720 the stone work was completed, and in 1725 the spire was finished. The cathedral was built for another 9 years, until 1733.

The outlines of the eastern (altar) wall of the cathedral echo the appearance of the Petrovsky Gate

On June 29, 1733, the solemn consecration of the cathedral took place. It took 30 years to build it. This work by the architect Trezzini became not only the main and most famous ensemble of St. Petersburg, but also his best gift to the city.

Davidova M. G.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral, designed in the form of a European basilica,1 at first glance, along with its architectural space, also adopts the European logic of the pictorial design of the naos. The idea of ​​the path, which the basilica church interior suggests, is revealed here in painting as an image of the way of the cross. The image on the walls of the church of the sorrowful events of the Calvary Road, along which the Savior walked, mourned by His Most Pure Mother and the women of Jerusalem, is quite often found as temple decoration in non-Orthodox churches. The stops of the Lord bending under the weight of the Cross, His meetings with the Mother of God and Saint Veronica could be presented in such churches among other subjects of the Passion Cycle2. This tradition has survived to this day. If we visit the St. Petersburg Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, which belongs to a Catholic seminary, we will see on its white walls painted reliefs dedicated to the procession of the Savior to Calvary and His suffering.

The painting program of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is purely externally oriented towards the heterodox canon; however, in its meaning it is adjacent to Orthodox tradition. The Passion Cycle is the only pictorial series of the northern and southern walls in which the theme of the Way of the Cross acquires a dominant sound. This feature of the pictorial decoration forms a certain image of the “first stage of perception” of the temple interior, associated with the appearance of a Catholic or Lutheran basilica. At the “second stage of perception,” when comprehending the selection of subjects, the initial impression is corrected, incorporating a new paradigm of meaning.

The events of the Calvary Road are not presented in detail in the paintings of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Apart from Ignatiev’s composition “Carrying the Cross” on the northern wall, this topic was not touched upon by the painters. The key to understanding the complex of Passionate images as a whole is the painting of the ceiling (here the 18th century painting has not been preserved - it was replaced by Boldini’s work of 18773). The general iconography of the paintings, however, is close to the plan of the first half and mid-18th century (after the fire of 1756): in the center there are cherubs with instruments of torment, in the side naves there are attributes of bishop's worship4. The connection between the compositions of the walls and the succession of the bishop's service makes it possible to understand painting not just in its historical, but in its liturgical context. The idea of ​​the way of the cross thus expands from the image of the Calvary Road to the image of the path of the Savior’s earthly life.

The bishop, vesting himself at the western entrance, symbolizes the incarnation of the Son of God 5. The composition of the western wall of the temple - “The Nativity of Christ” (south side) is dedicated to the theme of the Incarnation; “The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem” above the door is not only symbolically connected with the idea of ​​the coming of Christ (the Incarnation, the Last Judgment), but marks the beginning of the events of Holy Week. Palm Sunday of Christ's Entry into Jerusalem precedes Holy Monday and follows Lazarus Saturday (the events of Lazarus Saturday are presented in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on the eastern wall on the north side). The painting “The Raising of Lazarus” introduces the theme of the Resurrection into the general plan of painting and is associated with a symbolic understanding of the movement of the bishop around the temple. “When the bishop... at the small entrance enters from the western gate singing into the altar: then it signifies the resurrection from the dead and the ascension from the earth of Christ the Lord Jesus”6.

“Ascension” is the image of the southern wall closest to the altar. The symbolic meaning of the liturgical attributes presented on the side vaults of the cathedral is revealed in the paintings of the longitudinal walls in connection with the image of the Great Bishop - Christ. Although Christ the Great Bishop is absent from the direct text of the pictorial decoration of the naos, allegorically it is this image that turns out to be the central semantic link of all the paintings of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. It is interesting that icons of Christ the Bishop were especially widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries, and fresco paintings of churches of the 17th century often had such images among the central and universally required (typical, for example, for Yaroslavl). The Peter and Paul Cathedral is connected with this tradition of the 17th century indirectly, through the symbolic context of the paintings of the Passion Cycle. On the northern vault you can see the archpastoral miter, three candles and a staff, which are in close proximity to the compositions “Crown of Thorns” and “Carrying the Cross”. The crown of thorns and the Cross are some of the possible symbolic meanings of the miter and staff, according to the interpretations of the “New Tablet”7.

Trikirium (three candles) is a symbol of the Trinity. The fact that the “Crown of Thorns” is connected with the theme of the bishop’s office is confirmed by the composition “Christ before Caiaphas,” located opposite on the southern wall. In the latter case, the True Bishop will stand before the court of the false bishop. On the opposite side, the True High Priest Christ “is crowned with reproach” like a false king and priest. Ephraim the Syrian in his “Homily on Holy Friday about the Cross and the Thief” notes that Jesus’ tormentors unwittingly honored Him with what they attempted to dishonor. “Mocking Him, they clothed Him in a robe and with their own hands clothed Him like a king. They crowned Him with thorns, like uncultivated land, dissolved the ocet, like a worthless vineyard... they gave a sponge, like a Physician of souls; they brought a reed, with which they were written rejection"8. However, the garment of reproach is transformed by the Resurrection of Christ into the garment of glory and joy. When vesting the bishop, it is sung: “Let your soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed you with the robe of salvation, and clothed you with the robe of joy; like a bridegroom, lay a crown on you, and like a bride, adorn you with beauty.”

The Gospel and one candle (attributes of the Small Entrance at the Liturgy, symbolizing the Incarnation and preaching of Christ)9 are located on the northern vault next to the painting “The Descent from the Cross”, the meaning of which is correlated with the semantics of the Great Entrance (the transfer of the Body of the Lord from Golgotha ​​to the Tomb)10. The painting of the western wall, “The Child Jesus in the Temple,” is dedicated to the theme of Christ’s gospel preaching. Mithra sometimes symbolizes the Gospel: that is, both images of the northern vault are connected not only with the paintings of the walls, but also with each other.

The rite of Proskomedia at the Liturgy is a symbolic context for the pictorial decoration of the southern vault: the paten and star are correlated with the Nativity of Christ (represented on the western wall on the southern side)11. The same liturgical attributes recall the Savior’s Suffering on the Cross and His Resurrection. These images of the vault correspond to the painting “The Crucifixion”. So, the southern part of the temple opposite the deacon is connected, based on the meaning of the decorative painting of the ceiling, with the rite of Proskomedia. The northern part opposite the altar is with the Liturgy itself. In addition, the left and right parts of the temple are opposed to each other as images of Divine and human service. The paintings on the southern wall mainly reveal the theme of the inability of a weak person to comprehend the truth of the Savior's Passion on the Cross. On the north side the ministry of the Lord is represented, in all the steadfastness of His Divine devotion to the will of the Heavenly Father. “The washing of the feet” is contrasted with the “Anointing of Christ’s feet with myrrh”: among those whose feet were washed by the Savior, there was a traitor; Christ's feet, washed by the tears of a harlot, walked the Calvary path. Peter renounces his Teacher out of fear of human reproach; Christ in Gethsemane does not renounce His ministry even in the face of inhuman Suffering.

The false bishop sits at the judgment seat, respected by all. The True Bishop and Judge is condemned and reproached. The idea of ​​separating the spheres of the Divine and human in the interior of the temple is emphasized by the contrast of the royal place (opposite the deacon) with the priestly place (the pulpit opposite the altar). In front of the royal place on the eastern wall there is a painting “For Caesar, the things that are Caesar's,” expressing the idea of ​​​​the need to submit to the power of earthly and heavenly. Opposite the pulpit on the western side you can see the “Sermon of the Youth Christ,” marking the beginning of the Lord’s priestly ministry.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral in its general appearance resembles the complex of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem12, repeating its emblematic iconography: tower, basilica, dome13. It is interesting that in Orthodox art the Church of the Holy Sepulcher can be likened to the Cross, and the Cross can be depicted as a temple, a Sepulcher or an altar apse14. The symbolic rapprochement of the temple and the Cross is not an accidental phenomenon in art, since these images penetrate each other in liturgical texts. The Feast of the Renewal of the Temple takes place on the eve of the Exaltation of the Cross. The Old Testament readings of both holidays are united by the common themes of Divine Wisdom and Heavenly Jerusalem 15. The Temple and the Cross are identical to each other as images of paradise 16: “Today the second Adam Christ shows a mental paradise, this new tabernacle, bringing instead of the tree of knowledge, the life-giving weapon of the Cross” (from the eighth songs of the canon for the Renewal of the Temple)17. The symbolic space of the Peter and Paul Cathedral can be perceived as the space of the Cross, not only due to the figurative connection of the architecture of the church with the complex of the Holy Sepulchre, but also thanks to the program of paintings.

Entering the cathedral, we find ourselves in the space-time of the Life-Giving Cross, expressed through the text of the Great Friday Hours and represented in painting. The six middle side compositions of the naos out of ten correspond to the stichera and troparia of the Holy Friday Hours. The extreme pairs of images (pre-altar and entrance) can be associated with liturgical texts of other days of Holy Week.

The paintings on the western and altar walls complement the liturgical experiences of the Passion Time with the events of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, introducing the Christian into the sphere of this special Time. The side images of the temple interior can be read not only as a sequence of the hours of Good Friday, but also in the context of the service of the twelve Gospels, which in modern liturgical practice takes place the day before. The stichera of the Hours of Great Friday essentially repeat the main liturgical themes of the latter.

The semantics of the space of the Peter and Paul Cathedral resembles the semantics of the pictorial field of the Crucifixion icons of the 16th-17th centuries. It is interesting that some “Crucifixions” were accompanied by the Passion Cycle (especially typical for Ukraine and Belarus); Moreover, the order of the marks on the margins of such images is correlated with the order of arrangement of the paintings of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. If we compare the structure of the Ukrainian “Crucifixions” with the diagram of the picturesque decoration of the temple, then the upper fields of the icons will be associated with the western wall, the lower ones with the altar, etc. There are also known iconographic “Crucifixions” in which the entire Passion Cycle is not presented in full, but the troparia of the Hours of Good Friday are illustrated in detail. On the Stroganov icon from the State Russian Museum, the circular “route” of events unfolding at the Cross is determined by the logic of the Friday troparions and stichera.

So, based on the program of paintings, we can conclude that the interior of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is a symbolic space of the Cross: The Cross - a symbol of martyrdom - crowns the lives of the Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul, and in the icon painting tradition of the 17th century, along with images of the Jerusalem Temple and Paradise, it can serve as a symbol their lives and ministries. For example, on an icon from the Solvychegodsk Historical and Art Museum18 you can see images of two complementary holidays - the Exaltation of the Cross and the Renovation of the Temple, as well as scenes of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul and Eden with Adam and Eve. All these images are united by the motif of the Cross, which is presented several times on the icon. The Apostle Paul's love for the Cross is eloquently expressed in his Epistles. In the Ikos of the canon for the Exaltation of the Cross about the Apostle Paul we read: “Who was caught up into heaven before the third heaven, and heard unspeakable and divine words... which the Galatian writes...: let me not boast, he says, except in the one Cross of the Lord"19.

Notes:

1. Distant analogues of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg are the churches of the Holy Spirit (Bern), St. Bride (London), etc. LogachevK.I. Peter and Paul (St. Petersburg) fortress. Historical and cultural guide. L., 1988.

2. Temples of East Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries, for example, quite often had Passion cycles as the main images. Sometimes small wooden panels on this theme were decorated with choirs (Bedheim, Kreis Hildburghausen, Dorfkirche; Gleichamberg, Kreis Hildburghausen, Dorfkirche). The longitudinal walls of the main nave could be decorated in a similar way (Egeln, Kreis Sta?furt, Klosterkirche). Christliche Kunst im Kulturerbe der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. Berlin, 1984. Ill. 23, 100, 147.

3. Elkin E.N. Decorative paintings and paintings of the Peter and Paul Cathedral // Notes on Local Lore. Research and materials. Issue 2. Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Grand Ducal Tomb. St. Petersburg, 1994. P. 125.

4. The original paintings of the vaults, made using the fresco technique by P. Zybin (cherubs with instruments of torture and other images) required restoration already in 1744. The painting was updated

I. Vishnyakov with assistants. Before the fire of 1756, the vaults of the side naves were probably covered with ornaments. In 1877 two large lampshades in the middle nave and one in the altar were redone by Boldini. (Elkin E.N. Decree. op. P.120-125). Most likely, the iconography of the 18th century was generally preserved in the 19th century.

5. Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Benjamin. A new tablet or explanation about the church, about the Liturgy and about all services and church utensils. T.1. M., 1992. S. 167-168. Next: Tablet.

6. Tablet. P. 167.

7. Ibid. pp. 143-145.

8. Venerable Ephraim the Syrian. From a word on the Honest and Life-Giving Cross and on the Second Coming, as well as about love and alms // The Cross of the Lord. M., 1998. P. 97.

9. Tablet. pp. 166-167.

10. Ibid. 184-185.

11. Ibid. pp. 158-159.

12. S.V. Trofimov drew attention to the semantic relationship between the Peter and Paul Cathedral and Sophia of Constantinople as temples expressing the idea of ​​the center of the Holy City. (Trofimov S.V. Semantic field of the Peter and Paul Cathedral (towards the formulation of the problem)// Notes of local history. Research and materials. Issue 2. Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Grand Ducal Burial Vault. St. Petersburg, 1994. pp. 38-55). The center of the Holy City in the literal sense of this phrase is the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The likening of any church to the Holy Sepulcher is natural and traditional. (See about this: Buseva-Davydova I.L. Interpretations of the Liturgy and ideas about the symbolism of the temple in Ancient Rus' // Eastern Christian Church. Liturgy and Art. St. Petersburg, 1994. pp. 197-203).

13. About the complex of the Holy Sepulcher in fine art as a symbol of Heavenly Jerusalem and about its iconography, see: Lidov A.M. The image of Heavenly Jerusalem in Eastern Christian iconography // Jerusalem in Russian culture. M., 1994. P. 15-25.

14. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher on stone Novgorod icons of the 13th-15th centuries, for example, could be depicted in the form of a Cross, an altar apse or the Holy City (see about this: Ryndina A.V. Old Russian pilgrimage relics. The image of Heavenly Jerusalem on stone icons 13 -15th century//Jerusalem in Russian culture. M., 1994. P. 63-85.

15. “... your gates, O Jerusalem, will be opened, day and night, and will not be shut, unless you bring in the power of tongues... the city of the Lord, the Holy Zion of Israel, will be cut short...” (Prophecies of Isaiah reading, Exaltation of the Cross). “One hundred Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord... and said... Let Thy eyes be open upon the house this day and night...” (Third Kings reading, Renovation of the Temple). “Wisdom made herself a house, and established seven pillars. She laid down her sacrificial offering, and dissolved her wine in her cups, and prepared her table...” (Proverbs reading, Renewal of the Temple). Menea. Month of Septembria. M., 1799. L. 165ob.-166; L. 148ob.-149ob. Next: Menaea.

16. “Today is an animal garden, from the unbroken depths of the earth, in which the resurrection of the nailed Christ is announced...” (Stichera at Little Supper, Exaltation of the Cross). Menea. L. 163. “Be renewed, renewed, New Jerusalem: for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you...” (Stichera self-concordant, Renewal of the Temple). Menea. L.160.

17. Menaea. L. 157ob.

18. Two-tier icon from the Solvychegodsk Historical and Art Museum. Upper case: Renovation of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. Lower case: Sophia-Wisdom of God, praise of the Mother of God, appearance of the Mother of God in the breaking of bread to the apostles. Late 16th – early 17th century. 195x59.2x3.8. Egg tempera. Inventory No. SM-540-Zh. The icon comes from the Solvychegodsk Annunciation Cathedral.

19. Menaia. L.171.

Application.

Some quotes from the Friday Hours, revealing the liturgical meaning of the picturesque decoration of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

One hour.

“To those who ate thee iniquity, while enduring thee, Thou didst cry out, O Lord: if ye also smite the Shepherd, and scatter the twelve sheep, My disciples are more able than the angels to represent twelve legions.” (Stichera, chapter 8.). (Christ spoke about the angelic legions to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane after praying for the cup. Matt. 26:53).

It's three o'clock.

“For the sake of the Jews, Thy friend and neighbor Peter rejected Thee, O Lord, and cried out to thee: “Do not keep silent about my tears, for I decided to keep the faith, Generous, and did not.” (Troparion, chapter 8.).

“Before Thy honorable cross, the warrior who cursed Thee, O Lord, the wise one of the army marveled: for Thou art clothed with a crown of reproach, Thou hast painted the earth with flowers, Thou hast clothed oneself with the crimson of reproach, Thou hast clothed the clouds with the firmament.” (Troparion, chapter 8.).

It's six o'clock.

“This is what the Lord says to the Jews: My people, what have I done to you: or what will you give me colds?... or what will you repay Me? For manna gall, for water, for water, for loving Me, nailing Me to the cross.”

"The women of the law of Israel, the Jew and the Pharisee, the face of the apostle cries to you: behold, the temple that you have destroyed; behold, the Lamb that you have crucified, you have delivered to the tomb; but by His power you have risen." (Troparion, chapter 8.).

“...We see that Judas the traitor conferred with the lawless priests against our Savior: today he is guilty of the death of the Immortal Word...” (Glory, chapter 5.).

It's nine o'clock.

“It’s a horror to see the heavens and earth of the Creator hanging on the cross, the sun darkened, the day turned into night, and the earth sending up the bodies of the dead from the graves; with them we worship You, save us.” (Troparion, chapter 7.).

“Today he hangs on a tree, who hung the earth on the waters; he is crowned with thorns like the King of angels; ... the Bridegroom of the Church is nailed with nails; the Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear.” (Troparion, chapter 6.).

Construction from natural materials

Paramonova L. N.

By creating images from natural material, children not only (and not so much) display their structure, but convey character and express their attitude. Because of this, construction from natural materials is closer in nature to the artistic type. That is why it is so important to move away from the traditional methodology, the purpose of which is to teach children to create specific crafts from a specific material. The teacher’s task is to teach children to feel the specificity of natural material, to see the palette of its colors, shapes, textures, and on this basis to create a variety of artistic images. This approach, on the one hand, develops imagination and creativity, on the other, it leads children to mastering a generalized method of constructing an image based on clarity.

O.M. Dyachenko identifies two main qualitative different ways actions to build an imaginary image. It's about 1) about “objectification,” when a child sees a certain object in an unfinished drawing; 2) about “inclusion,” when the figure specified in the drawing turns into a secondary element of the imaginary image. The researcher believes that the second method is of a higher level, since it leads to originality and productivity of solutions. As shown by ours together with O.A. Christ research, for the development of creative imagination, it is fundamentally important to teach children the ability to analyze material (in the totality of all properties) first as the basis of a future image created by the “objectification” method, then as a detail significant for constructing a holistic image using the “inclusion” method. This is, firstly; secondly, it is necessary to develop such skills and design techniques as “complete” the image, “change the spatial position”, “remove the unnecessary”, “combine”. Based on these provisions, we have developed a three-stage training system.

First stage of training, senior group

Main tasks: a) develop the ability to analyze natural material as the basis for a future craft (select roots, branches, twigs); b) teach three basic techniques for constructing an image using the method of “objectification” - the ability to “change the spatial arrangement”, “complete construction”, “remove unnecessary things”. The last technique (unfortunately, it is almost never used in practice) significantly affects the development of imagination. The method of “objectification” is fundamental, since it allows you to develop the ability to see the whole before the parts. Note: in this way, children create several original, significantly different images on the same basis. It is at the basis of its assimilation that another method arises - “inclusion”.

To solve the assigned problems, you should conduct at least six lessons and two excursions to the park (forest park, forest). In the first two lessons, children are divided into subgroups and taught to examine natural material and identify all kinds of images in configurations. The material is prepared in advance. These can be medium-sized roots, branches, twigs, in which you can “see” a specific image. Already during the lesson in the group room, the Old Forester doll will help develop the course of action: it will offer to carefully examine the natural material laid out on the table, imagine who his pretend friends are like, and then practically embody the presented images, using also plasticine and some small material . “Practically” means: children will mainly attach the figures, prompted by the configuration of the material, to the stand, determine their spatial location, and complement the images with small natural material and plasticine.

For the next lesson, we also prepare roots, branches, twigs, which differ from the previous ones in that their configuration should evoke different associations, so that it is possible to construct two or three images on one basis. During the dialogue, examining the material with the help of the Old Forest Man, the teacher helps the children to discern more than one “secret”: by turning the material in different directions, covering some part of it with his hand or placing a small detail, he demonstrates techniques for creating different images using the same base. Thus, the teacher leads children to master three important techniques for “objectifying” natural material as a holistic image - to the fact that they can change the spatial position, remove unnecessary things and complete construction. In addition, it encourages speaking out. In other words, it opens up a general discussion. (First child. It looks like Baba Yaga’s house. Educator. Where is the door? Second child. And there are no chicken legs here. First child. But the door is not needed, because Baba Yaga flies into the chimney. The legs must be made, then there will be a real house of Grandma Ezhka.)

In the second lesson, most children will prefer the technique of completing the building and only a small part will try to use the technique of “removing the unnecessary”. In this case, the teacher, if the children ask, breaks off or cuts off the excess parts. As a result, it becomes possible to design up to 20 different crafts, to which the authors themselves will give characteristics ("cheerful clown", "cunning little fox with a rolling pin", "thin and angry wolf", "hungry crocodile".

An excursion to a nearby park (or forest park) - with two baskets, a large and a smaller one, for collecting natural material - will sum up the first two lessons. The old forest man will help maintain interest; will show, say, the way to the clearing where his forest friends live, remind him that he needs not only to collect material, but also, after carefully examining it, to determine what is like what, with what (or with whom) can be compared. The collected material is jointly prepared for further practical work(laid out in boxes, if necessary, cleaned, dried, soaked).

Such design training not only develops children's creative imagination, but also, no less important, instills a caring attitude towards nature. After all, children only collect material - cones, branches, fancy twigs, and do not tear, break, or cut. They learn to treat nature as a living organism. At the same time, we emphasize, they gain experience in safe and careful handling of natural material: do not touch an unfamiliar plant, you can cut yourself with grass, or get hurt on a sharp twig.

In the third and fourth lessons, tasks of a problematic nature are offered: the task is to create crafts based on a given foundation. The material will be new items: pieces of tree bark of different sizes and configurations, dry tree mushrooms (as a base). Children must look at them carefully and determine what they look like and complete their plan. In the third lesson, children create individual crafts. Most by this time can already build quite original images based on the new material. And although the “completion” technique still prevails, some will use the “remove the unnecessary” technique. Mostly children's crafts will represent figures of animals, people, fairy tale characters and not very different from the given basis. The created image is dictated primarily by the configuration of the material. It is possible that some children will change the original plan in the process of work: the submarine will be turned into a fish (“This is a magic fish. It shows the way to the ship. If necessary, the fish will turn into a boat to save people”). However, most already at this stage strictly adhere to the plan. Yes, technical difficulties will arise - after all, you need to select an additional part, attach it to the base or deepen the gap to create a mouth or an open beak, etc. Naturally, the problem is solved with the help of the teacher. Others will work without changing much of the chosen framework. So, one child can see a crocodile’s mouth in a piece of tree bark, another can see a cloud in a tree mushroom. The teacher must save these crafts, as they can be used in the next lesson when creating complex compositions.

In the fourth lesson, children work in subgroups and, using all the crafts, create different compositions. Selection and creation of a composition are two interrelated aspects. Practice shows: often children, having chosen their favorite craft and come up with a plot based on it, nevertheless either use another one or change it slightly. The composition prompts them to do this. The teacher actively participates in this process: he reminds of the crocodile, the cloud, thereby helping to turn the composition in a more interesting direction; encourages each group to come up with a short story.

The topic of the last two classes is design by design. Having determined the idea, children independently select natural materials: large ones are used as the basis of the craft, small ones are used for details. (“No, the ears should be big, so it’s better to take maple lionfish”). This indicates a desire to add expressiveness to the image. The teacher’s task is to note original solutions and discuss them with the whole group. The theme of crafts may be repeated. However, due to the fact that a different natural material is used, the images change significantly. In construction, the techniques of “completing construction” and “removing unnecessary things” are still used. Along with individual figures, simple compositions are created (“a girl with a dog”, “a family of hedgehogs”, “a garden scarecrow and a dog”). Almost all images are built on the basis of analysis of the material; factors of material configuration and its size predominate. To finally develop an interest in design, to support the desire to work with natural materials, from crafts made during classes and independent activities, in the lobby kindergarten an exhibition is being organized. It is advisable for children to present their work themselves. As a consolidation at the end of the year, a task is given for the summer - to collect natural material, think about the basis of what composition it can form.

The second stage of training, preparatory group for school. The main task is to develop the ability to build an image using the “inclusion” method. To do this, children are taught to analyze natural material not only as the basis of a future craft (as in the first stage), but also as a detail that is significant for constructing a holistic image, by including it in this integrity. Mastering this method of constructing an image significantly expands the functionality of natural material: the same material can be both the basis of a craft and its detail. So, in one case, a fluffy pine cone is the body of an owlet (with a small addition) or a bell, in another, it is the hat of the Old Forest Man, in whose hands is a basket, and next to him is a dog. At least three lessons are devoted to this topic. But first, the teacher organizes excursions to a nearby park to collect material. Each child has a plastic bag, adults have large bags. Note: now children will collect material on their own; moreover, discuss how it can be applied.

At the first lesson, which is conducted in subgroups, children, having told in advance about the future craft, construct according to their own plans from the material collected during the excursion. As practice shows, for the majority, the idea coincides with the final result. The main method of design remains “objectification”, implemented in three ways. The name of the craft already reflects the essential features of the image being created (“Conductor”, “Acrobat”, “Soldier with a Grenade”). This suggests that children see the specificity inherent in the material itself, pick up the basis of the image given by nature, and emphasize it with additional details. The same "Acrobat" suggests the configuration of the material. And the child will remove the extra branches, leave only the “arms” and “legs”, and add a “head” to the figurine. The created images now contain details that highlight their characteristic features. It could be a princess in a crown and a long skirt or a musketeer in boots, a cape, a hat with a feather and a sword in his hand. Some will be able to complete not one, but two or three crafts, even interconnected by a common meaning: it is important that the teacher at the end of the lesson invites the children to talk about their crafts. This allows you to include the created images in a broader context, which will lead to the desire to change and complement the craft.

In the second lesson, at the suggestion of the teacher, children, working in subgroups, will design according to their own plans. Everyone receives a certain natural material as an element of a future craft. What is the task? It is important that, firstly, you create your own craft based on the material as part of something whole; secondly, the same material was used multifunctionally. Note: with rare exceptions, the children cope with the task. Experience shows that the majority successfully use a given natural material as a detail or part of a holistic image that they created independently - the crafts are distinguished by their originality of theme, design, and expressiveness. This is what the children need to focus on at the end of the lesson: notice an interesting solution, invite someone from each group to talk about their craft (the children themselves choose the narrator), and in the evening sketch the craft and come up with a story for it. Adults write down invented stories in small books and decorate them with children's drawings. Together with the children, he comes up with a title and designs the cover, which indicates the author’s first and last name.

In the next, third lesson, the teacher offers the task of completing the figure: he gives everyone identical, pre-prepared cross-shaped figures - two sticks (twigs) of the same size, fastened in the middle. Based on these figures, children must invent and construct something of their own. The task is problematic, it causes certain difficulties. The fact is that children are already accustomed to creating figures of people and animals; it is difficult for them to include a cross-shaped figure in a new type of design. And yet, having examined carefully, they find a solution using methods of “objectification” and “inclusion”. The main technique will be “finishing the foundation.” Some will move on to plot construction (“A fisherman is sitting on a raft”, “A fat miller is standing at the mill”, “Little Red Riding Hood is standing at the house”). For others, a given figure will form the basis of the craft (raft, stand, panel); for still others, it is a part or detail in the overall structure (propeller, window, mill blades, etc.). The vast majority of crafts will be strikingly different from the given figure.

You can conduct a fourth lesson using the same type. Each subgroup receives from the teacher the same figurine, made of a certain material; Let's say the first - two connected acorns; the second - alder cones on a branch; the third - straw tied in a certain place; the fourth - pieces of bark with a stick fixed in the center. Assignment: each group creates their own craft based on the figure they received. Children spend quite a long time thinking about the future design, but nevertheless they complete the task because they include the material as part of the whole. Let us note that in all these classes technical skills are developed: preference is given to simple operations - tightening with thread, fastening with glue, colored thin wire, plasticine; more complex actions - working with an awl, a knife, varnishing - are performed by the teacher.

After the last two lessons, the teacher gives the children the opportunity to combine designs, come up with stories, and sketch them over the course of a week. The adult writes down these essays and compiles them into little books together with the children.

The third stage of education, preparatory group for school. Main tasks: 1) expand the basic methods and techniques for constructing an image; 2) develop the ability to implement a plan (create an image), taking into account: a) the general plot, detailing and enriching the image; b) the specifics of natural material. To solve problems, two classes are held, the purpose of which is to teach children to design according to their own plot. This work is organically connected with the previous activity, when it was necessary to come up with a fairy tale and include it in the plot. The themes of the last two lessons of the second stage significantly enrich the plot line. It turns out that when combining crafts, something else needs to be completed to fully convey the plot, transform the image, etc.

At the first lesson of the third stage, children seem to continue working in the same direction. By selecting the necessary material, most often small ones as both a supplement and design of the main part, they construct it according to the plot of an invented fairy tale or some kind of story. This technique, widely using the methods of “objectification”, “inclusion”, “completing construction”, “changing spatial position”, etc., puts children in the conditions of the need not only to build an image based on clarity (material), but also to verbally record its characteristics. Thus, children develop speech. After all, you should describe the hero in detail, his appearance, character, behavioral characteristics, and fill the story with figurative nouns, adjectives, and apt comparisons. In addition, the craft and its inclusion in the plot create an image that is more mobile, more alive. And here the teacher can use the themes of children’s favorite fairy tales, fables, and cartoons. For clarity, let's give an example of plot construction. Composition: on his birthday, guests come to a lonely hedgehog - he has no parents. (Images are prepared in previous lessons.) This is a fat and cheerful hamster, a champion swimmer - a turtle, friendly hedgehog brothers, a very important turtle Tortila. Naturally, they present gifts: Tortilla - water lilies, a hamster - seeds, a turtle and a hedgehog - apples (they are fixed on needles). In the evening, together with the children, the teacher writes down the fairy tale “The Hedgehog’s Birthday.”

What should you pay attention to? Individually differentiated guidance of activity is important, when the nature of the child’s attitude to reality and his preferences in choosing means of expression are taken into account. In addition, it is enough for one to motivate the task, while the other, on the contrary, needs constant support. All problems are solvable if an adult cooperates with children, talks with them, does not teach, but solves jointly arising issues both at the stage of implementing the plan and at the stage of its implementation.

Kindergarten area: construction from different materials

The kindergarten site and natural materials make it possible to create larger-scale structures. Thus, a successful transition is made from a small space to the development of a large one. At the same time, the work is mainly collective in nature. So, on a flat, slightly moistened sand surface, you can lay out a large “carpet” or an entire city with houses, wide streets (through which cars pass), and a square with a fountain (plane design) from pebbles or shells of different sizes, shapes and different colors. Make three-dimensional buildings from wet sand: a castle, a mill, a fortress surrounded by a moat; across the river along which ships (made of polystyrene foam, bark, paper) float, build a bridge of logs. From paper packaging, cardboard boxes and toilet paper tubes, paper towels, boys can build a city, a fortress, fill them with cars and figurines of knights constructed from different materials. The themes of the designs are very diverse: this is a zoo made of cardboard boxes, where a giraffe, a snake, and a crocodile live; and a cosmodrome with rockets, a lunar rover, astronauts, and robots; and a jungle with strange trees entwined with vines. Three-dimensional animals can be made using whatman paper, folding it in half and cutting out the outline of the animal. Children will color this outline and fill it with crumpled newspapers. With joint efforts, the outline is fastened with a stapler.

Large stones are also suitable for large volumetric figures on the kindergarten site. First, a structure is put together (crocodile, snake, lizard, etc.), then the configuration is painted. Such stone figures in a selected area (among the bushes, in the grass, next to a flower bed) will serve as a good decoration.

You can construct it on the kindergarten site within a few weeks. Children have the opportunity to constantly improve their crafts and add new images in accordance with the plot being played out. Background - grass, sand, earth, wooden boards, snow will only strengthen the general idea. The theme of the composition is dictated by the concept of the game: a counter and scales are built for the store, goods are selected - candies packed in boxes, vegetables and fruits; for traveling to Africa - wild animals, weapons (arrows, guns), binoculars, mosquito masks; V winter time A fortress and snow slides are being built. A traditional winter activity is sculpting a snow woman, decorated with a red carrot nose and broom, the Snow Queen, Baba Yaga and other fairy-tale characters. Soft snow that lends itself well to sculpting is rolled into large blocks, and then one or another shape is created with a shovel (by removing excess). Snow "bricks" are suitable for building castles, fortresses, houses, etc. To make the structures and figures look colorful, they are filled with colored water. Thus, along the way, in practice, children become familiar with the properties of snow and water. The teacher’s task is to pick up the idea proposed by the children and help with advice. What is very important: the teacher determines in advance the place where the material and children's structures are stored. The question arises: what if interest wanes? The structure is dismantled together with the children, and what has become unusable is thrown into the trash bin, and what can still be useful (driftwood, boards, etc.) is folded up. The act of cleaning itself helps not only to maintain order in the area, but also to show respect for the children’s activities and their results.

Volga region

Middle and Lower Volga region

Kruber A.A.

Space and surface

The Volga region occupies 5 provinces located along the middle and lower reaches of the Volga: Kazan, Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov and Astrakhan. This is the third largest region of Russia. The western half of the region is occupied by the Volga Upland and its continuation in the south - Ergeni, the north-eastern part is occupied by the spurs of General Syrt. In the middle lies the lowland of the Volga River, which in the south passes into the Caspian depression. The entire region gradually decreases to the southeast and, off the coast of the Caspian Sea, lies 12 fathoms below ocean level. The Volga Upland is an elevated plateau (up to 400 meters), cut through by wide and deep river valleys and ravines. In the east it gives a large spur - the Samara Luka, surrounded on three sides by the Volga. The northern side of this peninsula, the Zhiguli Mountains, was formed due to the subsidence of the earth's layers and, with its deep gully valleys, bizarre limestone cliffs, steep cliffs and dense forests, has a wild and picturesque appearance. Elevated and hilly terrain is also represented by the northeastern, Trans-Volga side of the region, filled with spurs of the General Syrt.

The glacier touched only the westernmost edge of the Volga Upland. That's why sedimentary rocks here they are not covered by thicknesses of glacial deposits and often protrude to the surface. These are limestones, chalk, sandstones. Most of the region relatively recently represented the seabed, and when plowing fields in the Samara province, many mollusk shells are found, related to those that still live in the Caspian Sea.

Within Europe, the Caspian Sea then extended far to the north, approximately to Saratov. The present, separate mountains Big and Small Bogdo were then islands. In the southeast it was connected by a strait with the Aral Sea, which also occupied a much larger area, and in the southwest with the Black and Azov Seas. Its bottom was covered with clay and sandy sediments. Then came a period of drying out of the sea and its gradual retreat to the south. The seabed was exposed and formed the present Caspian lowland - a vast semi-steppe, semi-desert with salt lakes and sands scattered across it.

This entire region from north to south is cut through by one large river, the Volga, into which, in addition to the Kama, small tributaries flow: Sviyaga - on the right, Samara, Bolshoi Irgiz - on the left. In the west there are tributaries of the Don: Khoper and Medveditsa. The Volga within this region is already a mighty river. Below the confluence of its largest tributary, the Kama, it is 2–4 versts wide, and during the spring flood it overflows 20–40 versts downstream. Its valley has a corresponding width and within its boundaries the Volga often changes its direction, washing away one bank and moving away from the other. So the Volga left Kazan and Saratov. But some cities, for example, Vasilsursk, at the confluence of the Sura and the Volga, had to be moved from place to place several times, because the Volga eroded the bank. As a result of changes in the main channel, islands, bays and backwaters are formed (of great importance as places for winter moorings of ships), shallows, sands and riffles - in the river itself, oxbow lakes and lakes, called here "ilmens", - in the flooded part of its valley. Before reaching the city of Tsaritsyn, almost 500 versts before it flows into the sea, the Volga is separated by the Akhtuba tributary, which independently flows into the Caspian Sea. The Volga flows here along steep, monotonous clay banks. The Volga Delta covers up to 15 thousand square miles. The mouth itself is an extremely intricate network of branches, channels, lakes, bays, numerous islands and islets, either emerging from the water or being flooded again. The huge amount of water poured in by the Volga makes the water of the Caspian Sea in this place slightly salty. The sediments it carries form shoals that make up the underwater continuation of the delta; As a result, deep-seated ships cannot enter the Volga from the sea.

The Volga region extends from north to south for 1200 versts and therefore embraces areas with different nature. But throughout the entire region, the climate retains its characteristic: pronounced continentality. Winter in Saratov is colder than in Petrograd. In January, it is as cold in Astrakhan as in Pskov, and the Caspian Sea off the coast is covered with ice for tens and sometimes hundreds of miles. But summer is very hot. The average temperature in Astrakhan is +25º and even in Kazan is +20º. The amount of precipitation gradually decreases to the south and in Astrakhan reaches only 15 centimeters. Therefore, in the extreme south there is often no snow cover. In the middle Volga region, winds still prevail, from the west and northwest; in the lower – south-eastern. In summer, these winds in the steppe are characterized by high temperatures, carry clouds of dust and have a detrimental effect on vegetation. In winter, terrible storms and snowstorms occur. Of particular importance is the direction of the wind at the mouth of the Volga, where, due to the low drop of the riverbed, winds can raise or lower the level by almost 9 feet.

Only the far north of the region enters the forest belt. The middle Volga region lies in the transitional forest-steppe zone, the lower part - most of the provinces of Saratov, Samara and all of Astrakhan - in a purely steppe zone. Like the Chernozem region, the forest here was advancing onto the steppe until it was stopped by man. Starting from north to south, all forms of steppe with varied soils are found here. Black earth feather grass steppe, rich in grass vegetation; poorer wormwood steppe with chestnut soils and, finally, saline steppes with sparse vegetation, clay-sandy soils, salt lakes and shifting sands, swept by winds into dunes. The steppe located in the lower reaches of the Volga on its right bank is called Kalmyk, on the left - Kyrgyz.

The sands are gradually advancing onto the steppe, covering and destroying vegetation. Real dunes stretch along the Volga coast; sand covers roads, lakes, and even houses in villages. The coastal strip is narrowing, pastures and places of migration of the Kyrgyz are disappearing. Among this semi-desert, the Volga delta is a real green oasis; its islands are overgrown with dense thickets of reeds, reaching 2-3 fathoms in height; In the most remote backwaters, pink Indian lotus flowers are still found.

Population and its activities

The Volga region was conquered in the middle of the 16th century. From that time on, its colonization by Russians began. Settlement took place much more likely in the northern forest half than in the southern steppe. In addition to the settlers settled by the government, many more restless elements flocked here - the “freedoms”, thanks to which this region could not develop peacefully for a long time. The famous riots of Stenka Razin Pugachev unfolded here. The majority of the population currently consists of Great Russians (62%), who are distributed evenly throughout the region; There are many schismatics among them. Little Russians began to move later and therefore their number is relatively small; they live in the Samara province. On the other hand, the Volga region at the time of its conquest by the Russians had a large foreign population, Finnish and Turkic, moreover, not scattered, but united into states. This population only partially merged with the Russians, but for the most part survived and now makes up ⅓ of the total population of the region. The most numerous of the foreigners are the Tatars; they live in all provinces, but most of all in Kazan.

The main occupation of the Tatars is agriculture, for which they, however, have little ability. In other people's farms they are good workers and have become famous for their honesty, physical strength and performance. Their favorite occupation is trade, which is a kind of latrine trade for them. There are also very rich millionaire merchants. The Tatars are Mohammedans and are committed to their religion. The clergy are very numerous and are in charge of teaching. Literacy among the Tatars is very common.

The Tatars are followed in number by the Chuvash, most of whom also live in the Kazan province. The Chuvash are apparently tarnished Finns. Among them there are still pagans. Of the Finnish tribes, the Mordovians, a tall and physically strong people, are especially numerous; The Cheremis, Votyaks, and Bashkirs are much more numerous. All these tribes are scattered in islands among the Russian population and gradually merge with them. Separately, there are nomadic tribes: the Kirghiz, in the Trans-Volga part of the Astrakhan province, and the Kalmyks - on the western side of the Volga. Kalmyks who moved here in the 17th century, Buddhist Mongols; Some of them already lead a semi-sedentary lifestyle.

The third element of the population is the Germans living in the Saratov and Samara provinces. They were called here from Germany and Switzerland by the government as colonists. Most of their Lutherans. Thanks to the large land plots they received during the resettlement, they live more prosperously than Russians.

Based on the sources of subsistence provided to the population, the Volga region is divided into two parts: the first consists of the provinces of Kazan, Simbirsk, Saratov and Samara. The second is Astrakhan. The first is covered over most of its extent with fertile chernozem - a continuation of the Central Russian chernozem and the main source of subsistence for its population is agriculture. The amount of arable land significantly exceeds half of the total area; but thanks to the still small population of the region here, especially in the Volga region, there is no such land pressure as in the black earth region, and in the Samara province there are many meadows and pastures. The predominant farming system is three-field, and in the southern part of the Samara province it is fallow, and the fallows also serve as pasture for livestock. The most commonly sown grains are oats, rye, and wheat. A significant surplus of grain is exported to internal Russia and abroad. The very fertile soil produces large harvests, especially in the Samara province, but due to drought there are crop failures, accompanied, as in the Chernozem region, by hunger strikes among the population. In addition to grain bread, sunflower and hemp are grown, from the seeds of which oil is extracted. In the Saratov, Samara and Astrakhan provinces, melon growing is developed, representing a transition from fields of culture to vegetable gardening. Bakhtans are established on the best virgin or fallow lands, usually for one year, after which these areas are sown with grain crops. Mainly melons and watermelons are grown on the bashtans, which are exported in large numbers through the cities of Tsaritsyn and Kamyshin. No less important is gardening, widespread in all provinces in the Volga region, mainly on the right bank of the Volga. Apple trees, cherries and all sorts of berries are grown, and in the southern part of the Samara and Astrakhan provinces even grapes. Gardening is especially developed in the Saratov province, where its centers are the Dubovka settlement, the village of Zolotoe and the Sarepta colony, near which a lot of mustard is grown. Industry is of much less importance in the national economy. The factory industry is aimed, as in the black earth provinces of central Russia, at processing agricultural and livestock products. The first place is occupied by steam mills; the largest of them are located in Saratov and Samara. They are followed by distilleries and oil mills. In the processing of animal products, the first place belongs to the processing of wool (in the Simbirsk province), followed by the manufacture of stearin candles and glycerin, soap making and leather production in Kazan and the Kazan province. Sawmilling is also significantly developed. The timber delivered from the Volga and Kama is sawn and only then goes on sale. The main center of sawmilling and timber trade is the city of Tsaritsyn in the Saratov province, the most important timber market in southeastern Russia.

But agriculture and industry still leave many free hands, which are looking for employment in waste industries. Waste trades play a very important role for the local population. important role. They employ up to half a million people, and most of the workers move only within their own region, which also provides income to a large number of workers who come from other regions. They go to work mainly from the northernmost, less fertile areas, mainly from the Kazan province. While the southern provinces, Samara and Astrakhan, on the contrary, need workers, especially Samara, where in the southern districts alone, over 200 thousand alien workers find income during the harvest. The gathering places for workers, “worker markets,” are Syzran and the Pokrovskaya Sloboda, located opposite Saratov, in the Samara province.

The second part of the region, Astrakhan province, is a steppe with infertile soil. The amount of arable land here is negligible. Most of the land belongs to nomads, Kalmyks and Kyrgyz, whose main source of livelihood is cattle breeding. They raise horses, cattle, sheep and camels. Cattle stay in the steppe all year round to graze. In deep snow and snowstorms, livestock cannot obtain food for themselves and die in droves.

Fisheries are of great importance for the entire region, delivering fish worth several tens of millions of rubles and providing income to up to 120 thousand local and foreign workers. Industrial fishing begins from Tsaritsyn and reaches its greatest extent near Astrakhan. There are a lot of large fishing companies here, owning and renting tens of thousands of acres of fish from the treasury. Mainly “partial” fish are caught: roach and herring; "red" fish: sturgeon, beluga. Sterlet is caught much less often, but very valuable caviar is obtained from it. The main fishing takes place in the spring, when it goes from the Caspian Sea up the Volga to spawn. Due to predatory fishing, the number of fish is rapidly decreasing.

The mouth of the Volga and, in general, the entire northwestern part of the Caspian Sea represent the richest fishing grounds in the world. This depends on the low salinity and shallowness of the Caspian Sea, on the slow current and large amounts of precipitation brought by the Volga. Countless islands, creeks, bays, channels, lakes that make up the Volga delta continue along the shores of the Caspian Sea, providing very convenient places for fish to live. Due to frequent fluctuations in water levels depending on river floods (during the Volga flood, the level of the Caspian Sea rises by 2 feet), and from winds driving water, these “fish pastures” either emerge from the water, then disappear again under water. As a result, the decomposition of organic residues occurs much faster, vegetation and lower organisms develop in these places with extreme richness and speed, causing in turn the rapid reproduction of various insect larvae, crustaceans and other small animals that constitute the main food of fish.

On the islands of the Caspian Sea, seal fishing is also carried out in spring and autumn.

In connection with fishing, there is the extraction of self-planted salt from salt lakes, mainly from Baskunchaksky. Half of the salt produced is used for salting fish, and the other is exported. The number of workers employed in the salt mines is relatively small. These are mostly Kalmyks, Kyrgyz and Tatars.

Settlements and communication routes

The Volga region is quite sparsely populated. There are on average about 23 people per square mile. The population density decreases from north to south and in the Astrakhan province is only 6 people per square mile. After the Northern Territory and the Olonets province, the Astrakhan province is the most sparsely populated part European Russia. The size of the settlements is generally large, just like the Chernozem region. The further south you go, the more the settlements cling to the Volga - the main artery of the region, along which not only the Volga region, but also inland Russia communicates with Central Asia, the Caucasus and Persia. Even in ancient times, the Volga was an important trade route connecting Eastern Europe with Central Asia, and at the extreme points of the Volga region there were trading centers already in the 8th century. At the mouth of the Volga - Itil, the capital of the Khazar kingdom (slightly above the present Astrakhan) and - slightly below the confluence of the Volga and Kama - Bolgars, the capital of the Bulgarian kingdom, the ruins of which have survived to this day. Subsequently, their place was taken by Astrakhan and Kazan. Currently, Astrakhan is one of the most important trading ports in all of Russia. Large ships, however, cannot approach Astrakhan, but stop for complete or partial unloading in the so-called “9-pound” and “12-pound” roadsteads (90 and 155 versts from Astrakhan).

Another ancient shopping center, Kazan, with railways retained only remnants of its former commercial importance. The construction of railways further increased the commercial importance of the Volga. Goods transported along the Volga: timber from above, oil, fish, salt from below - are loaded onto railways and transported from here into European Russia, and grain transported to the river by railways is loaded onto ships and from here goes up the Volga to the ports Baltic Sea. Therefore, the cities located at the intersection of railways and the Volga developed into very large shopping centers. These are: Saratov, on the right bank of the Volga, connected by railway with Moscow. This line continues on the other side of the Volga from Pokrovskaya Sloboda to Uralsk and Astrakhan. Tsaritsyn, a district town in the Saratov province, is located very advantageously in the place where the Volga is getting closer and closer to the Don. One railway on Gryazi - Orel - Riga connects it with inland Russia and the Baltic region. The other is on Novorossiysk - with the Black Sea, the third is with the Don. Samara - on the left bank of the Volga, located at the intersection of the Volga with the railway connecting central Russia with Siberia (via Ufa - Chelyabinsk) and Central Asia (via Orenburg). That's why more grain is loaded in Samara than anywhere else on the Volga. The Samara pier is extremely convenient, and bread from the elevators is poured directly onto the barges. A lot of grain is also loaded at the Batraki station, located on the right bank of the Volga, not far from Syzran. Here the Volga is crossed by a huge bridge, up to 1? versts. Kazan, the terminus of the Moscow-Kazan Railway, and Simbirsk are of lesser commercial importance. The grain trade in the northeastern part of the Volga region is concentrated in the city of Chistopol, Kazan province, located on the Kama River.

Thanks to brisk trade, the cities of the Volga region are growing very quickly. Saratov has more than 200 thousand inhabitants, Kazan, Astrakhan and Samara more than 100 thousand, Tsaritsyn - 90 thousand. Kazan - the "capital of the Volga region" and Saratov have universities and are large cultural centers the edges.

The cities of the middle Volga region are located for the most part on the right mountainous bank of the Volga, from which magnificent views of the meadow side open. Few historical and architectural monuments have been preserved in them. In Kazan and Astrakhan there are “kremlins” built shortly after their conquest. The main traffic and life in the Volga cities is concentrated on the piers, where the railway lines approach and where thousands of workers - “hookmen” - load and unload ships. The wide Volga with towing and passenger steamships, barges, belyans, rafts, and boats sailing along it in both directions always presents a lively and majestic picture.

Kruber A.A.

Space and surface

The Crimean peninsula is connected to the mainland by the narrow (about 7 versts) Perekop Isthmus and occupies less than half of the Tauride province. Its large northern part, almost three-quarters of the entire peninsula, is a continuation of Novorossiya and is no different from the latter. On the contrary, the southern part presents such sharp differences in relief, nature and population that, despite its insignificant size, it stands out as a separate region, which in fact is called Crimea. This is a small mountainous country, measuring about 107 versts in length and about 30 versts in width; between the mountains and the sea lies a narrow (2 - 8 versts) strip of land - the southern coast of Crimea.

The Crimean mountains in the western part consist of three ridges: the northern, low (up to 250 meters), composed of loose yellow limestone, the second, much higher (up to 575 meters), of soft white, and the third, the main ridge or Yayla, their hard gray limestone. The second ridge is heavily eroded by water and in some places is divided into separate table-shaped mountains.

The main ridge slopes gently to the north and breaks off vertically to the south, so that from the sea it appears continuous high wall. The top of this ridge is a wavy, grass-covered plane, ranging from several fathoms to 7 versts wide, in Tatar Yayla (pasture, from which the entire ridge got its name); highest point Yayly exceeds 1,500 meters (Roman - Kosh 1543m). In some places in the ridge there are depressions, “bogazs”, through which in some places excellent highways are laid. The deepest bogaz lie near the city of Alushta and separate the high (1523m) Chatyrdag mountain from the ridge, visible from afar when approaching the Crimean Mountains. In its eastern part, Yayla is divided into separate mountains. Between the ridges and individual mountains in Crimea there are beautiful fertile valleys (the largest is Baydar, in the western part of the mountains).

In the Crimean mountains, especially in Yaila, as elsewhere where there are calcareous rocks, karst phenomena are observed; funnels, stalactite caves, deep cracks, narrow pits gradually expanding into the depths, in which the snow accumulated during the winter does not melt all year round.

The surface of Yayla represents the original landscape. All around there is a stone sea of ​​gray rocks, cracked and corroded by water and wind. Piled up on top of each other, they sometimes resemble in appearance the ruins of ancient buildings. The rocks sometimes rise in terraces and ledges, sometimes they end in bizarrely shaped cliffs; the depressions and larger basins are covered with green, thick and low turf. In some places there are screes and entire fields of stone fragments and rubble.

The southern coast consists of black clayey shales and is cut here and there by short calcareous ridges running from Yayla to the sea. In some places there are dome-shaped mountains made of volcanic rocks (Ayu-Dag near Gurzuf). The eastern ledge of Crimea - the Kerch Peninsula - is made of low folded hills, among which mud volcanoes (hills) are scattered. From time to time, liquid mud erupts from the latter, due to the release of oil gases.

Crimea is very poor in flowing waters. Mountain streams and rivers (the largest is Salgir) after the rains overflow into turbulent, devastating torrents, and in the summer they almost disappear into rubble, and water is extracted there from wells or collected after the snow melts in dams.

The slopes of the main ridge of the Crimean Mountains are covered with dense forests - beech forests in the north, reaching all the way to the yayla, and mixed forests in the south, with a predominance of oak and dogwood. Above are pine forests, and the summit plane of Yayla is a grassy carpet, where steppe plants, for example, feather grass, are mixed with alpine (high-mountain) ones, for example, the so-called “Crimean edelweiss”. The southern coast, fenced off from the north by a high wall of mountains, by its nature already belongs to the warm Mediterranean region; mild (+4º in January), rainy winter, with rarely falling and quickly melting snow, dry, hot summer, significant rainfall, subtropical vegetation - even some evergreen trees and shrubs: vines, woody juniper, strawberry tree, jasmine, ivy. In the gardens and parks of the southern coast there are cypresses, laurels, magnolias, oleanders, climbing wisteria, Lebanese cedars and even a fan palm. Animals are also from the Mediterranean region - vultures, the prehensile-footed lizard - gecko, poisonous scorpions and phalanges.

Population and its activities

Crimea, like the southern part of Novorossiya, was inhabited in ancient times. In individual table-shaped mountains of the middle ridge there are numerous caves, entire “cave cities” in which the ancient population of Crimea lived (and in the 4th – 15th centuries AD the German people Goths). On the shores even before Christ. there were Greek colonies; in the Middle Ages - Italian (Genoese and Venetian). In the XIV century. Crimea was conquered by the Tatars, and at the end of the 18th century. Russians. Therefore, the composition of the population is motley: the majority are Russians, mainly Great Russians; they are followed by the Tatars (28%), especially numerous in the Yalta district. Many Armenians and Karaites live in the cities. Along the Black Sea coast, especially in the cities, a significant part is Greek.

The Karaites - probably descendants of the Khazars who converted to Judaism - differ from the Jews in their faith (they do not recognize the Talmud) and language (they speak Tatar). The Tatars of the southern part represent the descendants of the former inhabitants - Greeks and Genoese - who mixed with the conquering Tatars. They are tall, dark-skinned people, with their black eyes, hair and delicate facial features more similar to the inhabitants of southern Europe than to the steppe Tatars of the northern part of Crimea. However, the language, religion, morals and customs of both the steppe and southern Tatars are the same.

The most important sources of livelihood for the inhabitants of southern Crimea are gardening and viticulture: all the valleys and a significant part of the southern coast are cultivated and planted with fruit trees and vineyards. The best varieties of apples and pears, cherries, apricots, peaches, almonds, walnuts and ordinary nuts (hazelnuts) are grown here. Fruits are exported in large quantities to inland Russia; in the city of Simferopol (provincial city of the Tauride province) there are several factories producing canned fruit. Grapes are grown mainly on the southern coast. The vineyard area is not particularly large, but the wines are of very good quality. The largest vineyards and cellars for aging wine belong to the Specific Department (in Massandra, near Yalta). Tobacco plantations are also significant, especially among the Tatars.

Residents of the mountainous Crimea are mainly engaged in cattle breeding - buffaloes and sheep; large herds of the latter graze in Yaila.

Settlements and communication routes

Crimea is sparsely populated: only the western part of the southern coast has up to 40 people. per 1 sq. mile. Settlements are located in valleys; Tatars do not have separate houses or estates; they live in villages.

The villages of the mountain and southern coastal Tatars are very picturesque. They are often molded onto steep slopes; adobe or stone, with flat roofs houses - sakli - are always surrounded by a carefully cultivated garden or vegetable garden. Each village has a fountain with clean spring water drawn from the mountains and a coffee shop where men spend everything free time over a cup of black coffee.

The cities of Crimea - Simferopol, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Kerch, with their cleanliness and amenities (excellent pavements, electricity, often trams) resemble other cities of southern Russia. The last two are of commercial importance; Bread is exported from them. Sevastopol is the anchorage of the Black Sea Fleet. Small towns on the slopes of the Crimean mountains, for example, Bakhchisarai, still retain the features of an eastern city: narrow, crooked, dirty streets, open coffee shops, bazaars full of shops and workshops.

Antique monuments belonging to the various peoples who inhabited the peninsula are scattered throughout. In Kerch and Kherson, excavations discovered the remains of Greek cities with catacombs, frescoes, and utensils. In Sudak, Balaklava and Feodosia, the ruins of Genoese fortresses with towers and walls have been preserved; in Bakhchisarai there are ancient mosques and the palace of the Crimean khans. On the Kerch Peninsula there are huge mounds, burial grounds of the Scythian kings. In Sevastopol and its immediate surroundings there are many historical monuments, relating to the famous defense of Sevastopol in 1855 - 56.

The southern coast of Crimea, with its mild climate and subtropical vegetation, attracts a lot of people from inland Russia both for sea bathing, grapevine and climatic treatment, and simply for summer residents and tourists. Therefore, the entire western, warmer part of the South Coast (and recently the eastern part) is covered with many resorts, dachas, guesthouses with luxurious parks and houses of beautiful architecture. The most important resorts are Yalta, Alushta, Alupka, Balaklava, Gurzuf; in the northern part of Crimea Evpatoria with sea bathing and healing mud. A significant part of the southern coast is occupied by large estates belonging to members of the imperial family (Livadia - the estate of the sovereign emperor) and the noble aristocracy. The southern coast of Crimea is one of the most beautiful corners of Europe. For us, Russians, this is a relatively close, “real” south. Bright and burning southern sun, almost always cloudless in summer blue sky, blue warm sea, air filled with the aroma of southern flowers. The high, rocky coastline is covered with gardens and vineyards, from the greenery of which white houses peek out and cypress trees stand out like sharp arrows, and even further away, the naked pinkish-gray cliffs of Yaila, slightly covered with an ashy haze, rise like a sheer wall. A significant part of the coast, however, is still little affected by culture; in such places, the mountain slopes and the coast itself are deserted for a long distance, overgrown with low oak trees and various, sometimes thorny, bushes.

Crimea is connected to the rest of Russia by a railway that leads from Kharkov and branches on the peninsula - one branch goes through Simferopol to Sevastopol, the other to Feodosia and Kerch. In the southern part of the peninsula there are many good highways along which communication is carried out by car. Coastal towns and towns on the South Coast are connected by steamships.

Novorossiya

Kruber A.A.

Space and surface

Novorossiya occupies the entire south of European Russia and consists of the provinces: Bessarabian, Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, the Don Army Region and the northern half of the Tauride province. In terms of area, this is one of the largest regions of European Russia. It got its name because it was annexed to Russia only later.

According to its relief, Novorossiya is divided into two parts: northern and southern. In the northern part, hills alternate with lowlands. In the west, from the Romanian border to the Dnieper, lies the Carpathian Upland, ending with the Stone Ridge. Behind it is the wide Dnieper lowland. Further, southwest of the Donets, the Donetsk Ridge; even further to the east is the Don Lowland, which includes spurs of the Central Russian Upland, and, finally, in the very east, on the border with the Saratov and Astrakhan provinces, the Volga Upland. The highest of them is the Carpathian, especially its western part between the Prut and the Dniester (the Khotyn heights near the Austrian border - up to 500 meters - the highest points of the Russian plain). The Carpathian upland consists of crystalline rocks - gneisses and granites, which come out along the banks of rivers and deep ravines. River valleys are cut very deeply; The flow of the rivers is fast, and in the Bug, Ingul and Dnieper rivers, outcrops of crystalline rocks form underwater rocks and rapids. The Dnieper rapids are especially significant, stretching for 61 miles (from Yekaterinoslav to Aleksandrovsk).

The Dnieper rapids are wide stone ramparts that stretch from one bank to the other across the entire river and are strewn with stones on top. In addition to the rapids, there are also “fences” - the same shafts, but only incomplete - part of the riverbed remains free, although strewn with stones. There are ten rapids, and about thirty fences. In the spring, when all the rapids and fences are covered with water, rafts and barges pass freely through the rapids, but in the summer it is very dangerous to swim through the rapids, and after the water subsides it is completely impossible.

The Donetsk Ridge is a low plateau that slopes gently to the west and abruptly ends in the northeast and south. This is an ancient folded mountainous country, destroyed, smoothed and covered with a thick layer of loess (the highest point is the Mechetny Kurgan - 369 meters).

The southern part of New Russia is a flat and smooth lowland, sloping towards the Black and Azov Seas. It all consists of limestone of recent origin and was previously occupied by the sea, which communicated with the Caspian through the Manych depression.

In general, almost all of Novorossia is a plain, the monotony of which is broken only by gullies - wide valleys with gentle slopes, probably the beds of ancient rivers, mounds, locally called “graves” - hills piled up by ancient inhabitants of the steppes, and ravines, which are no less than in the Chernozem region. In the northern part of Little Russia the soil is black soil, especially thick in the north of the Don Army Region, in the south there is chestnut and brown soil, in many places saturated with salt.

Black and Azov Seas

The Black Sea belongs to Russia in its northern and eastern parts. The Crimean Peninsula jutting out from the north is separated from it by the Sea of ​​Azov. The length of the Black Sea is 1130 versts, and the width in the middle part (between the Crimea and the coast of Asia Minor) is about 250 versts. Its northwestern part and the Sea of ​​Azov are shallow; the rest of the main pool is, on the contrary, very deep, up to 2½ versts. The shores of the main basin are formed almost everywhere by mountain ranges and have no bays or natural harbors; only in the southwest of the Crimean peninsula, where mountain ranges abut the sea, do some valleys flooded by the sea form convenient and protected bays (Balaklava and, especially, Sevastopol).

The shores of the northwestern part are flat and also devoid of natural bays, so harbors had to be created artificially for the ports located here (Odessa). But they are cut into bays (the largest is Kirkenitsky). In addition, the mouths of the rivers flowing into them also form bays, the so-called estuaries. Estuaries are flooded river valleys with semi-fresh water and a deep fairway marking the course of the river. The estuaries are separated from the sea by a sand spit "arrow". In such estuaries there are often convenient natural ports (Ackerman - in the Dniester, Nikolaev - in the Bug estuary).

The Black Sea is much saltier than the Baltic, which is why its color is much brighter, blue-green. However, since many rivers flow into it, and it is connected with other seas only by the narrow and shallow Bosporus Strait, the water here is still much fresher than in the ocean. The northwestern part of the sea, where large rivers flow (Danube, Dniester, Dnieper), is especially desalinated. Along the shores of the main basin, the water does not freeze at all, and navigation takes place all year round. It sometimes freezes off the coast of the northwestern part, but the layer of ice is so thin that navigation here is maintained with the help of icebreaker steamships. But the estuaries with their fresh water freeze for a longer period, and the movement of ships along them completely stops.

Animal world

The Black Sea is much richer than the Baltic Sea, but poorer than the Barents and Caspian Seas. It is richer and more diverse in the northwestern part, where there are animals that can equally tolerate both sea and fresh water. Various sturgeons are found here (beluga, stellate sturgeon, sturgeon, sterlet), Black Sea roach, gobies, and herring, fish that are very important commercially. Opposite, in the main pool animal world very scarce, since deeper than 100 fathoms the water contains hydrogen sulfide, from which animals die. Therefore, all life is concentrated in the surface layer of water: dolphins and some types of fish are found here: mullet, mackerel, tuna.

The Sea of ​​Azov, the smallest of the Russian seas, is connected to the Black Sea by the narrow Kerch Strait. It is very shallow, about 7 fathoms, much fresher than the northwestern part of the Black Sea, and freezes for a longer time. Its shores are shallow and even more abundant in estuaries, known for their healing mud.

The fauna of the Azov Sea is poorer in marine forms than the northwestern corner of the Black Sea, but richer in freshwater; Along with sturgeon fish, carp, pike perch, perch, and bream are found here. The commercial importance of the Azov Sea is greater than that of the Black Sea. 15% of all fish caught in Russia are caught in the Azov and Black Seas.

Thanks to the southern position of Novorossiya, its climate is much warmer than the rest of European Russia, but here the same characteristic features are reflected: it is colder than it should be due to its latitude, it is continental, and the eastern parts are much colder and more continental than the western ones. Only in the very south of Bessarabia the average annual temperature reaches +10º. Everywhere the summer is very hot, and the winter, although short, is quite severe, with snow and frost. In the west, in Bessarabia, snow lies for 1-2 months, and on the Don for 4-5 months. The Prut and Dniester freeze for 2-2½ months, and the Don and its tributaries in the northern part of the Don region freeze for 3-4 months. The reason for this is the distribution of winds. The winds here are variable, but in both summer and winter the northeast wind prevails, bringing frost in winter and heat and dryness in summer. In spring, this wind often causes irreparable damage to fields, especially in the eastern part of the country. In the fall, it sometimes reaches such strength that it drives water out of the Don Estuary, so that the seabed is exposed for a long distance, and ships that did not manage to escape lie helplessly on their sides. In winter, this wind produces snow drifts, which sometimes stop railway traffic for several days and bury entire trains. When the northeast wind blows in winter after a thaw (especially from the western, warmer part of the country), icy conditions set in and all objects are covered with a layer of ice. Under its weight, trees break, telegraph wires break, poles fall. The icy crust covering city streets and railway tracks makes communication difficult, and if livestock is grazing at this time, animals, especially sheep, die in droves from starvation.

Due to the predominance of dry winds, there is little precipitation in Novorossiya, less in the east than in the west. In the eastern part, droughts and associated crop failures are common. Due to the absence of forests and the permeability of the subsoil, spring moisture is not retained, and in summer most of the rivers of the region cease to be navigable, and the largest rivers of the region become so shallow that navigation on them becomes very difficult.

Thanks to the same dry climate, the whole of New Russia is a steppe, and only in the northern half of Bessarabia are beech forests found. However, the feather grass and wormwood steppes, which occupied vast areas in the last century (and sometimes covered the entire country), have now been destroyed and largely turned into arable land. "Virgin land" was preserved in small patches only by large landowners, and in some places by the Don Cossacks.

In the first half of summer, the landscape in Novorossiya is quite beautiful; an endless sea of ​​grain, alternating with bright yellow sunflower fields, green melons and a colorful carpet of flowering deposits. In the second half of summer, after mowing and harvesting the crops, the entire steppe burns out and presents a black dusty desert, through which cattle sadly wander, eating up the last remnants of vegetation.

Population and its activities

Most of Novorossiya was settled quite late - after joining Russia in the 18th century. By that time, a settled population existed only in Bessarabia and along the banks of the Don and Dnieper, where “free people” who had fled from the Moscow and Polish-Lithuanian states settled. In addition, along the shores of the Azov and Black seas and the rivers flowing into them, there are a number of Turkish fortified cities that have survived to this day (Azov, Ochakov, Akkerman, Bendery, Izmail). Having annexed the region, Catherine II began to distribute empty land to the nobles, who began to settle their serfs there, and invited settlers from abroad: Germans, Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks. And until now the population here is not particularly dense. A very significant part of the land belongs to large landowners (estates of several tens of thousands of dessiatines are not uncommon), and nowhere in European Russia is there a population more varied in its composition. The majority of the population are Little Russians; they are followed by the Great Russians, who live mainly in the Tauride province and the region of the Don Army. The remaining nationalities make up less than a fifth of the total population. Of these, the most numerous are Moldovans in Bessarabia; German colonists in southern Bessarabia and Tauride province. Jews live in the cities, mainly to the west of the Dnieper, and Greeks live in the coastal cities. In addition, in the Zadonsk steppe, vast lands belong to the Kalmyks, who, however, make up an insignificant percentage of the inhabitants. Finally, gypsies roam throughout the region.

Among the Russian population, the Don Cossacks stand out. The region of the Don Army inhabited by them has a completely special administration. Cossacks are considered military all their lives and form special Cossack regiments in the army. The region is governed by a military governor, who is at the same time the chief - the “mandate ataman” of the Don Cossack army.

The entire region is divided into districts corresponding to counties, districts into “yurts” (volosts), yurts into hamlets (corresponding to rural communities). At the head of each district, yurt or farm there is an elected chieftain. Large settlements are called villages. Almost a quarter of all the land in the region belongs to the entire army. Like the military, Cossacks wear uniforms at home - a white shirt, blue trousers with red stripes and a cap with a red band. Each Cossack must come to service with his own horse. They are all good riders.

Novorossiya is the richest region of Russia and its natural resources are very diverse. The first place among them is fertile chernozem and chestnut soil. Rich deposits of coal, iron, manganese and mercury ore, rock salt are hidden in the bowels of the earth; river mouths and estuaries are rich in fish; finally, the location of the region on the seashore is very advantageous for trade.

The main source of subsistence for the population is agriculture. At the same time, in Novorossia, as in the Chernozem region, large-scale agriculture predominates. Almost half of all the land here belongs to large landowners, who often own over 10-15 thousand acres of land. But the peasants here also have large plots. About half of all households have more than 10 acres of land. Due to the large amount of land and soil fertility, the so-called fallow farming system still exists in many places. Only in the western part of the country, where the population is denser, is it gradually replaced among the landowners by a multi-field system, and among the peasants by a three-field system.

With a “fallow” or “fallow” system, a plot of land is plowed for several years in a row, and then moved to another plot, and the previous one is left to rest for 15-20 years.

Such an area, called a “fallow” or “break,” is overgrown with weeds in the first year, the next year steppe grasses appear, which displace the weeds and the land gradually rests, again accumulating a sufficient amount of humus in the soil, then it is plowed again. The fallow land is called "steppe" by local residents and is used by local residents for mowing. The land here is still so fertile that the fields are not fertilized. Processing is carried out with metal plows, and when harvesting grain and hay, not only landowners, but also peasants use improved tools: reapers, mowers, threshers, winnowers. The main bread is wheat, which occupies almost half of the entire area, and barley, which replaces oats here. In Bessarabia, the main bread is corn, and in the Don region, along with wheat, winter rye and millet (from which millet is made) are sown. So much bread is grown here that it is not only enough to feed the population, but wheat in huge quantities is exported abroad through the ports of the Black and Azov Seas: Odessa, Kherson, Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog. In addition to grain, large quantities of sunflower and flax are sown in the fields for seeds from which oil is extracted. Significant areas of land are also occupied by melons and bashtans - fields planted with watermelons and melons. The Novorossiysk region lies so far in the south that grape growing and winemaking are possible here on a large scale. It is most developed in the southern districts of Bessarabia, where in some places it is the main source of livelihood for the population, and along the Don, along the high right bank of the river (the villages of Tsymlyanskaya and Razdorskaya). In Bessarabia, industrial gardening is very developed: every peasant has at least a small orchard, and landowners often have gardens of 10 or more acres. Plums, pears, apples, and apricots are grown.

The fallow and multi-field farming system, the abundance of grass and fodder, lead to the great development of cattle breeding. The main domestic animal here is cattle, which are used here both for work and for fattening for meat. A lot of sheep are also bred; the peasants have mostly coarse-wool sheep, and the landowners often have fine-wool sheep. There is extensive horse breeding in the Don region. Finally, nomadic Kalmyks breed camels and fat-tailed sheep.

Mining is the second source of livelihood for the population after agriculture. Two places in Novorossiya are especially rich in useful minerals - the Donetsk Ridge and the western part of the Stone Ridge. In the Donetsk Ridge, in adjacent parts of the Ekaterinoslav province and the Don Army Region, hard coal and its best grade, anthracite, are mined. The main mines are located near the city of Aleksandrovsk-Grushevsky. In the Kamennaya Ridge, in adjacent parts of the provinces of Kherson and Yekaterinoslav, the largest amount of iron ore of the highest quality is mined; The production is especially great near the town of Krivoy Rog. Significantly less ore is mined in the Donetsk Ridge. Novorossiya ranks first in Russia in coal and iron production. After coal and iron mining highest value has salt mining; The richest salt deposits (over 40 fathoms thick) are located near the city of Bakhmut. Here it is partly broken down in mines, partly boiled out of brine, which is pumped out of deep wells. A lot of self-planted salt is also extracted from closed estuaries along the shores of the Black and Azov Seas.

The extraction of mercury ore (cinnabar) near Nikitovka in the Donetsk Ridge and manganese ore near Nikopol on the Dnieper is also very important.

The Donetsk Ridge presents an interesting picture. On the surface of a completely flat black-earth steppe, here and there they rise tall pipes mines and factories, blast furnaces, gates with the help of which coal, entire mountains of coal, ore and “waste” (not containing coal or ore) rock are lifted from mines. In the excavations of the railway track, it is clear that the layers of limestone, sandstone and shale that make up the terrain lie obliquely, forming folds, and are only covered from above by horizontally lying loess. Along the outskirts of the Donetsk Ridge, especially on the banks of rivers, inclined or vertical layers of sandstone and shale come out, forming a picturesque mountain landscape. Houses are clinging to steep, rocky slopes, rocks stick out everywhere, overgrown with grass and bushes. There is stone everywhere, the slabs of which are used to build houses, sheds, fences, cover roofs and pave courtyards.

Due to the natural wealth of the region, industry is aimed mainly at processing agricultural products (steam and windmills, distilleries, breweries and oil presses) - over half of the region's total production, and iron (iron smelting, steel foundries, machine-building plants, agricultural implements and etc.), - mainly in the Kherson and Ekaterinoslav provinces. Iron-smelting and iron-working plants are particularly large in size, where more than half of all iron mined in Russia is smelted and processed. Since most of these plants are located in the Donetsk Ridge, where there is a lot of fuel and relatively little ore, the Donetsk Ridge is connected with Krivoy Rog, rich in ore, by two railways - the Northern Ekaterininskaya, going through Ekaterinoslavl, and the South Ekaterininskaya, through Alexandrovsk. Although the Don factories have existed relatively recently, entire villages with tens of thousands of inhabitants have formed around many of them, for example, Yuzovka in the Yekaterinoslav province; the largest iron and iron smelting plant - the Aleksandrovsky plant near Yekaterinoslav - the second largest in Russia, and plants in the city of Lugansk.

Settlements and communication routes

In Novorossiya, as a predominantly agricultural country, the rural population significantly exceeds the urban population; out of 100 people, only 17 live in cities, and only in the Kherson province about 30. The type of settlements is reminiscent of Little Russia and the Chernozem region. These are mostly vast villages with thousands of inhabitants; they also huddle close to the water, located either along the flow of rivers and streams, or along ravines, where it is easier to dig wells and ponds to retain spring and rain water.

You can drive for many hours across the steppe, which seems completely deserted, and yet you find yourself nearby, in a deep ravine along some stream, villages and villages stretch out into an endless ribbon, and one village begins where the other ends, almost directly continuing each other . Due to the dry climate and lack of wood, the houses here are adobe or adobe huts, covered with straw or reeds, with an earthen floor, as in Little Russia, or yellow, coated with clay, among the Moldovans and Cossacks; in the Kherson and Bessarabia provinces, huts are often painted blue.

Wooden houses with iron roofs are found mainly among the Don Cossacks. As in Little Russia, courtyards with gardens and vegetable gardens are surrounded by fences. Among the other villages, the German colonies stand out sharply, with hidden brick or stone houses, covered with tiles, with solid stone fences. The forest here is even rarer and more expensive than in the Chernozem region; Therefore, dried dung manure is often used as fuel.

The geographical location, convenient for trade, and the highly developed factory industry contributed to the formation of large cities and settlements. There are a number of large cities in Novorossiya, six of which have over 100 thousand inhabitants: Odessa (the fourth city in Russia - 650 thousand inhabitants), Ekaterinoslavl, Rostov-on-Don, Chisinau, Nikolaev and Elisavetgrad. The main meaning of all of them is trading. Through the cities of the coast, in addition to bread, manganese ore, flaxseed, alcohol and coal are exported; Colonial goods and southern fruits are imported. From the inner cities, Ekaterinoslav conducts an extensive trade in timber. For the western half of southern Russia, this is as important a timber market as Tsaritsyn is for the eastern.

With the exception of Bessarabia, all large cities are new, built after the annexation of the region, with straight streets intersecting at right angles, and devoid of ancient monuments. However, southern Russian cities are very beautiful: wide, clean streets are lined with trees (white acacia). Beautiful pavements paved with granite blocks, wide sidewalks, enlivened in the evenings by a motley, often multilingual crowd, a lot of cafes and restaurants where people eat right on the street, many beautiful new buildings - all this makes the cities of Novorossiya more similar to the cities of southern Europe than the cities internal Russia. The region's large cities are cultural centers and have higher educational institutions. Thus, in Odessa there is a university, in Ekatinoslavl there is a mining institute, in Novocherkassk there is a polytechnic school. In Bessarabia, along the Dniester River, there are a number of small towns in which the remains of ancient Turkish fortresses have been preserved; These are the district cities: Akkerman, Khotin, Bendery. In the western part of the region, as well as in neighboring Little Russia, there are many shtetls - urban settlements built on private lands, inhabited mostly by Jews, poor, dirty, and cramped.

Novorossiya has a large railway network; it is denser in the industrial parts of the region (in the Donetsk Ridge this network is as dense as anywhere else in Russia) and less frequent in purely agricultural ones. Several main lines leading from inland Russia to the ports of the Azov and Black Seas end in Novorossiya: Kyiv - Odessa, Kharkov - Nikolaev - Kherson, Kharkov - Sevastopol, Kharkov - Taganrog - Rostov. Of the lines leading abroad, the most important goes from Odessa through Bendery to the city of Reni, which lies on the Danube opposite the Romanian city of Galati, and through Chisinau to the Romanian city of Iasi. Very important means communications between the western and eastern parts of the region are by sea (the most important lines are: Rostov - Kerch - Feodosia and from Odessa to the ports of Crimea and the Caucasus). Finally, navigable rivers are of great importance for the movement of goods: the Dnieper, Don, Dniester, Danube, along which sea ships sail from Odessa to Galati.

Peter-Pavel's Fortress . Baroque

Cathedral of St. Apostles Peter and Paul - Peter and Paul Cathedral

Pam. arch. (federal)

1712-1733 - architect. Trezzini Domenico

see Peter and Paul Fortress ( continuation)

The height of the cathedral is 122.5 m; the spire is 40 m. The cathedral is consecrated, services are performed according to a special schedule, and the rest of the time it functions as a museum.

Wooden Church of St. Apostles Peter and Paul was founded on June 29 (July 12), 1703, Peter's Day, in the center of Hare Island. The temple with a bell tower in the form of a pointed tower in the “Dutch style” was consecrated on April 1, 1704. In 1709-1710. The church became cruciform in the “three spitz” plan and was expanded.

The construction of the new stone cathedral began on June 8, 1712 according to the design of D. Trezzini. In 1719, under the leadership of the Dutchman H. van Boleos, the assembly was completed wooden structures bell tower spire. In 1724, the spire and small dome of the bell tower were covered with copper sheets gilded through fire by the Riga master F. Tsifers. According to Trezzini's drawing, a copper cross with the figure of a flying angel was made and installed above the apple of the spire. The height of the bell tower became 106 m.

This is a three-nave temple. A bell tower was erected above the western span of the middle nave, and an octagonal drum above the eastern one. The design of the facades uses the idea of ​​a smooth transition from the first tier to the second through the introduction of lateral volutes. A copper plaque by artists A. Matveev and A. Zakharov with the image of the apostles Peter and Paul was placed in the attic. Wooden sculptures were installed above the attic, completed with a beamed pediment. The oval window in the lower part of the eastern facade is decorated with a stucco image of cherubs in the clouds. Facades of the cathedral in the 1730s. were painted pink.

Wooden Church of St. App.
Peter and Paul.
Rice. N. Chelnakova, 1770s.

Cathedral of St. App. Petra
and Pavel. 1841
Lithogr. A. Duran.

The rise of P. Telushkin
on the bell tower spire.
From the engraving beginning. 1830s

Photo -
S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky,
beginning XX century

View of Petropavlovsky
cathedral until reconstruction in 1858
Added - .

Plan of the cathedral.

New bell for the cathedral
St. Apostles Peter and Paul.
1905

Raising the bell
to the bell tower
Petropavlovsky
cathedral, 1905.

Removal
camouflage
cover from the dome.
1944
Added - .

In 1756, a fire destroyed the wooden spire and roof, the clock and bells were destroyed, and the western portico was destroyed. In 1757, over the altar, according to a drawing by V.V. Fermar, master builder A. Antonietti erected a brick dome topped with an onion dome. The facades were painted grayish-green. Since 1762, the bell tower has been restored by the Office of the Construction of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. By order of Catherine II - in the same forms. The laying of the stone tiers was completed in 1770. According to the design of the Danish master B. P. Bauer, a new wooden spire, lined with gilded copper sheets, was erected in 1773. The chimes, made by watchmaker B. F. Oort Crass in Holland in 1757-1760, were installed in 1776 by watchmaker I. E. Roediger.

In 1777, the spire was damaged by a storm. The correction was carried out according to the drawings of the architect. P. Yu. Paton. The new figure of an angel with a cross, based on a drawing by A. Rinaldi, was made by master K. Forshman.

In 1778, under the leadership of academician Leonhard Euler, work was carried out to equip the spire with a lightning rod.

In 1779, in the western part of the cathedral, the chapel of St. Catherine. The ceiling of the chapel was painted in 1830 by I. E. and F. A. Pavlov.

At the beginning of the 19th century. centuries were held in the cathedral renovation work with the participation of architect. L. Ruska, D. Visconti, A. I. Melnikov, I. I. Charlemagne, artists V. K. Shebuev and D. I. Antonelli.

In 1829, a storm again damaged the angel figure on the spire. Roofer Peter Telushkin carried out repairs without erecting scaffolding. The repairs carried out in October-November 1830 went down in the history of domestic technology as an example of Russian ingenuity and courage.

In 1856-1858 According to the design of engineer D.I. Zhuravsky, instead of a wooden one, a metal spire was built. Inside the spire, a spiral iron staircase leads to a hatch in the casing, located at a height of 100 m above the apple, a six-meter cross with an angel (sculptor R. K. Zaleman?) The weather vane angel rotates around a rod installed in the plane of the figure itself. The volumetric parts of the angel are made by electroplating, the remaining parts are stamped from forged copper. Gilding was carried out under the leadership of the chemist G. Struve by the Korotkovs’ artel of merchants. Angel height - 3.2 m, wingspan - 3.8 m

At the same time, the chimes were overhauled. The work was carried out by the Butenop brothers. Since 1859, the chimes played music by composer D. Bortnyansky every fifteen minutes, and at noon and midnight - the anthem “God Save the Tsar,” written by A. F. Lvov.

In 1911, the facades were repainted sandy.

The silhouette of the elongated bell tower after the reconstruction became very impressive; it is difficult to believe that the changes were made by one engineer without architectural and artistic education and experience.

After the revolution, services were stopped, and in 1919 public access to the cathedral was prohibited. In 1927, the cathedral building was transferred to the Museum of the Revolution. Since 1954 it belongs to the Museum of the History of Leningrad. In 1955-1957 Scientific restoration was carried out according to the project of I. N. Benois. In 1987-1995 artists L.N. Sokolov and Yu.I. Trushin carried out the restoration of paintings and icons. In 1991-1995, restoration of the angel and cross was carried out. In 1996-1998 The Catherine's chapel was restored according to the project of architect. A. E. Gunich and S. S. Nalivkina. The family of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II is buried there.

In 1999-2001, the figure of the angel was restored again.

(based on materials , , )

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated February 20, 1995 No. 176 “On establishing a list of objects of historical and cultural heritage of Federal (All-Russian) significance:Historical and cultural reserve "Peter and Paul Fortress -State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg"

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 10.07. 2001 No. 527: Peter and Paul Fortress: o. Zayachiy, Peter and Paul Fortress