Lake Nero history. Lake Nero - the birthplace of Rostov-Suzdal Rus'

Our Earth is not the reddish desert Mars, or the gray, crater-pocked Mercury, or some cloudy Venus. It is colored from space: white ice caps sparkle, desert spots turn yellow, forests are marked with dark and light greens, but most of all the blue expanses of water. Water – its reserves on the planet are huge, but the share of fresh water does not exceed an insignificant 4 percent. Most of this precious fresh moisture is concentrated in lakes. You probably immediately thought: “How many lakes are there in our country?” Wikipedia responds clearly and quickly, like an exemplary soldier to a strict commander. According to her data, their number in Russia is more than two million. The quantity is incredible. And Lake Nero, which we are going to talk about, can be found in these millions - like a grain of sand on the beach.

And what do we see?

And we see that the Russian land is rich in lakes. But if you think about it, the number represents wealth, it’s kind of strange. And controversial. Look, friends, the main thing is not specified - the selection criterion. What served as an assessment, how was it determined whether to take or not take into account a particular lake? Did you rely on the occupied area? Then what value was taken as its lower limit?

Yes, and it’s somehow one-sided. After all, lakes can be ranked according to many other factors. For example, why not in depth? Or by age? Can be assessed by the degree of purity of the water. Finally, in beauty. Different starting points will give different sequences and different numbers. What if we choose connection with the history of the country as a criterion? Oh, then for sure, Lake Nero, from Yaroslavl region, will not get lost among others.

Precious lake of Russia

In the North of Russia in the Yaroslavl region, at a distance of two hundred kilometers from Moscow, Rostov is located, on the banks of which stands this glorious city - a shallow lake, the depth of which is on average one to two meters. However, its dimensions match the depths - 13 by 8 km, with a total area of ​​​​about 52 square meters. km. Like many, it is flowing: it is fed by 8 rivers, the only seven-kilometer-long river Veksa flows out, which, merging with another river, gives rise to the tributary of the Volga Kotorosl. There are birches and fir trees around the forest.

Well, we’ve sorted out the geography, now let’s talk about what it’s famous for. Famous for its inextricable connection with Rostov the Great, the pearl of Russian history and Russian architecture. The most beautiful Russian Kremlin on earth, adjacent to a picturesque lake, offers the viewer fabulous views.

In a word - attention, painters! Dip your brushes in blue...

There are no two opinions - the main decoration of the landscape of Rostov the Great and the surrounding coastal villages is the views of Lake Nero. How wonderful the architectural masterpiece of a self-taught peasant, the Porec Tower, looks from its waters - the grandiose, four-tiered bell tower of the Porec Church, which is taller than the famous bell tower of Ivan the Great!

ABOUT ancient city, rightly bearing the title “Great”, now resemble the Rostov Kremlin with its chambers, the belfry with the peals of the giant bell “Sysoya”, monastery buildings, and the coastal ramparts near Lake Nero.

And a fairy tale lives here. Rostov Nero is where Pike, who made Emelya happy, lived, this lake is the birthplace of Ruff Ershovich, the hero of a satirical story of the 16th century, the one who competed with fish like bream and chub.

Children and adults, who enthusiastically watched films about the daring merchant Sadko and the glorious Tsar Saltan, had no idea that the master of the film fairy tale, Alexander Ptushko, filmed the shots with white-stone fortresses and churches not in Novgorod, but in Rostov the Great.

Glaciers, lakes, Rus'

People have always wanted to live near water. Moreover, our ancestors gave preference to the shores of lakes for the construction of fortresses, the construction of cities, and the establishment of monasteries. Fertile coastal lands, an abundance of fish in the lake, rivers flowing in and out that connected with neighbors...

Thus, in ancient times, Veliky Novgorod was formed near Lake Ilmen, the territory near Lake Pleshcheyevo was occupied by the Pereyaslav Principality, and the Principality of Rostov-Suzdal arose near Nero.

When and how did the lake itself appear?

Ten thousand years ago, a powerful ice crust covered Northern Europe, tongues of ice slid across our Russia to the south. But the time of the beginning of the Great Glaciation and its causes are one of the mysteries of the Earth. It is known that this process was not continuous.

Glaciers either disappeared with the advent of warm periods, or reappeared. Their melting gave birth to the abundance of lakes that now exist on the Russian Plain. Their appearance and the surrounding landscape serve as a reminder of the harsh times of the Ice Age. The spill of melted glacial waters created this Rostov lake.

Lake Nero as an accumulation of information for one hundred and sixty thousand years

Each lake stores information about its past. To find out about it - distant and close - a well was drilled on the shore of Nero - 130 meters deep. The samples were examined by geographers from Moscow State University.

It was a gigantic and lengthy job, but the results were impressive. Moscow State University scientists have determined that Lake Nero in Rostov is more than 160 thousand years old. They dated the eras of warming and cooling, calculated what temperatures corresponded to them, and what kind of flora grew on the coast at different times.

It is known that mineral and organic particles accumulate on the lake bottom. They contain information about the reservoir itself, its depth, water quality, but also about the vegetation around it and even the local climate. This sedimentary layer grows from year to year. Having drilled through its thickness, you have a kind of data archive at your disposal.

This is how we learned that 125 thousand years ago, no fir trees grew around the Rostov Lake Nero, but oak, linden, and hornbeam forests stood around, and the temperature in summer was 2 degrees higher than today. The coming cooling changed the vegetation, bringing it closer to the tundra. But with the new warming, oaks and linden trees appeared again and fluffy fir trees began to grow - it was no longer so warm.

In bottom sediments corresponding to the period when people began to settle these places, pollen of rye, buckwheat and flax was found. It became reliably known what agricultural crops the first settlers sowed.

Science takes the floor

Why do we need this data, obtained with such difficulty and processed through the efforts of many scientists? How to practically use them?

A precious gift of nature, without which life is unthinkable, water is a limited resource, far from unlimited. And its consumption is growing from year to year.

These facts are real headache humanity. The problem of reasonable use natural resources- the key to the well-being of current and future generations of people.

Now, on powerful computers, it has become possible to simulate complex natural processes and predict their development in the future. But how can you check the accuracy of the data received? Scientists don't have a time machine. This is where the obtained paleoclimatic data are indispensable for testing climate models. The calculation results are checked against them and an objective assessment of the forecast is available.

What kind of trouble threatens Lake Nero, Yaroslavl region

The life cycle of a lake schematically consists of four stages:

1. At first, the lake is clean, its water contains a lot of oxygen, but few nutrients, and therefore few living organisms.
2. Over time, life blossoms within it.
3. Living organisms produce a variety of waste products that decompose by absorbing oxygen. Algae are growing with might and main - they themselves are powerful consumers of oxygen. All other life is gradually crowded out, algae become the true masters of the reservoir.
4. Shallow and overgrown, it gradually becomes a swamp.

It is clear that the change of stages takes millennia, and the speed of their progress is individual and depends on many factors. But there is no doubt that the sad fact that a person economic activity speeds up this natural process many times over.

Lake Nero, once deep and abundant with a variety of fish in the Yaroslavl region, is close to turning into a swamp. Not without human intervention, it began to rapidly become polluted, shallow and overgrown.

In the 19th century, they began to dump garbage into it, dump sewage, and cut down the surrounding forests. In the 20th century, environmentalists counted a dozen enterprises that were serious sources of pollution. Porec cannery, coffee-chicory factory, flax carding and spinning factory, optical-mechanical and asphalt concrete plants and others...

Now no one swims in the yellowish-green lake. The city by the lake has effectively become a city without a lake.

But the ban on swimming in it is still more likely connected with another problem of Lake Nero - almost all of its water area - 80% - is overgrown with algae, which in Rostov is called “tarnava”, the average depth has decreased to 80 centimeters, and the thickness of sediments at the bottom has reached 40 meters. But back in 1883 it was quite navigable - then a steamship began sailing on it.

Is it really impossible to save the reservoir?

Lake Nero map

Salvation of the lake at its bottom

We have already said that sediments of organic and mineral substances accumulate at the bottom of the lake. The longer the lake exists, the greater their thickness. Now every year they add 3.5 millimeters to them in Lake Nero. And that's a lot.

Time passes - millennia - and a peculiar substance called sapropel is created from bottom sediments. Its color is determined by the combination of minerals present; it can be brown, olive, gray, black, bluish, or reddish. The consistency of sapropel resembles thick sour cream.

This substance is truly wonderful - a biostimulant, therapeutic mud, raw material for chemical processing, feed additive and excellent fertilizer. The volume of this wealth on Lake Nero is estimated at 250 million cubic meters. Even its very name in the language of the first settlers - the Merya people - meant “swampy”, “muddy”.

If we start extracting sapropel on an industrial scale, this can dramatically improve the health of the lake. A long time ago, the technology for its extraction was developed, calculations were carried out, experimental testing was carried out, but... That was the end of the whole thing. The lack of money, bureaucratic obstacles, and disagreements between departments hindered things.

Recently, the public of Rostov the Great has literally inundated the regional authorities with appeals to save the lake, and in August 2014, a regulation on the “Lake Nero Natural Monument” was adopted and began to be developed new project his rehabilitation. But even here, not everything is smooth; Rostov residents have serious doubts about its successful implementation and that the dying lake will be able to breathe life.

Lake Nero Yaroslavl region fishing - winter and summer

The shores of the lake are low and marshy, with dense growth of reeds and reeds, cattails and willows. And there is a variety of fish in it - pike, perch, crucian carp, pike perch, tench, ruff, roach. They catch it with a spinning rod - from a boat or in the channels between the reeds. But Porechye-Rybny has a special reputation. It is believed that the lake near the mouth of the Sara River always has excellent fishing - both in summer and winter.

A fishing axiom - winter fishing is very good on this reservoir. Frosts come, and on the snow-white plain of Lake Nero there are scatterings of countless black dots - these are the ice fishing enthusiasts who come throughout the Yaroslavl region, patiently sitting over their gear.

Here’s what one of them says: “In snowy areas there are windows clear ice. I sit down at the edge of the reed thickets near such a window. I'm starting to catch. I take a closer look at the underwater environment. The first to swim towards me is a group in striped swimsuits. The fish freeze and look at the balance beam in fascination, and I, in turn, do not take my eyes off them. But the size of the potential prey for striped fish is large, and the sailor perch are disappointed to go somewhere further.

I continue to sit, count the swings, and little by little I plunge into a drowsy nirvana. Suddenly I feel someone starting to pull the fishing rod out of my hands. I tense up, but I don’t force things. And then I see a fish cutting circles around the hole. A moment and victory will be ours! - the captured beautiful perch of great size is presented for everyone to see.”

Hundreds of surrounding residents of Lake Nero earned their living by fishing, bringing pike, perch, bream, and crucian carp to the market of the Great City of Rostov and to Moscow. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, fresh lake fish was supplied to the royal table; huge pikes were especially prized - a source of special pride for the Rostov lake. But in last years it was depleted of fish, and the fish itself was shredding.

There are still fishermen's tales about a 20-kilogram toothy robber pike caught “very recently,” or a perch of such a size that, no matter how hard they tried, they could not pull it out of the hole, but more often the real catch is 1–3 kilograms, and sometimes they themselves fishermen say about their catch: “A smaller-sized roach to the delight of the cat.”

And where there is a delicious smell of fresh river fish, there is a fragrant fish soup!

There are countless recipes for it, although it is prepared from the simplest ingredients - fish, onions, potatoes, carrots... Half an hour - and everything is ready, grab a spoon. And if it’s cooked over a fire, with smoke, you won’t be shocked by the ears! But Rostov has its own recipes for this popular dish of Russian cuisine. The first is fish soup with tomatoes, the other is Great Rostov fish soup. It is prepared exclusively on holidays, with special secret subtleties and always from several varieties of fish.

Although, no one can say what will happen with fishing and fish soup now. The recently adopted regulations on the “Lake Nero Natural Monument” stipulate that both commercial and sport fishing are prohibited on the Rostov lake. Therefore, on the shore of Lake Nero, Yaroslavl region, today the fisherman’s wish for good luck sounds somehow ambiguous: “No tail, no scales!”

The glory of Rostov vegetable gardens

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, at the end of the Stone Age, a global food crisis occurred for the first time.

Humanity emerged from it by inventing a wonderful thing - gardening. This useful activity turned out to be so exciting that Russians, our contemporaries, are still happily doing it in their haciendas. Although, perhaps they have just seen a lot of things.

Nah. But let's return to the vast lowland around Lake Nero with its center in the city of Rostov. Vegetable gardening in these places was truly phenomenal. Experts study it from different angles and from all sides, but we will say clearly and simply - Rostovites knew how, and still know how, to grow wonderful vegetables!

Since the 17th century, they have been famous as masters of garden beds, skilled and hardworking. It is believed that Tsar Peter was aware of this when he sent several local specialists to Holland to improve their gardening wisdom.

In the 18th-19th centuries, it was customary for skilled Rostov gardeners to go on vacation - that is, to earn seasonal earnings in Moscow, Riga, and St. Petersburg. It gave good money.

So, one day a Porech native named Abram Pykhov went to a foreign side. And the enterprising peasant succeeded. And, having become a public figure, he bought a house and land in the Mother See. At that time, the fashion in Moscow was to name streets by the names of the wealthy homeowners living on them. Thus, in the capital, among a thousand different alleys, one with a Rostov trace was formed - Pykhov Lane.

In St. Petersburg, in the years 1850–1870, everyone knew the famous Efim Grachev, who also came from Rostov-on-Don gardeners. He grew a variety of vegetables - cucumbers, champignons, cabbage, radishes, watermelons and melons. His miracle vegetables amazed eyewitnesses. The harvest I received from my beds was one in forty! At Russian and international exhibitions he was awarded 62 medals and was elected a member of the Academy Agriculture in Paris.

Vegetables were grown in twenty lakeside Rostov villages - in Porechye, Ugodichi, Vorzhe, Sulost and others. Initially, cabbage, garlic, onions, and cucumbers were grown here for sale. In the first half of the 19th century they were added green pea, chicory, garden herbs and potatoes. And garden produce went not only to the market, but also to processing.

TO end of the 19th century centuries, canning factories appeared here and the production of coffee from chicory, aromatic oils, dried green peas, sago and potato starch was in full swing. One potato was processed by as many as 25 county factories! In the village of Porechye, for 135 years there has been a factory that cans green peas - an indispensable component of the national Olivier salad.

And nowadays, from the beginning of spring to mid-autumn, all Rostov residents are in their gardens, and still grow wonderful vegetables. The scale of gardening has become much smaller, but Rostov residents still delight the capital and Moscow region with their products.

The beds, as in the old days, are fertilized with bottom silt - fertile sapropel. As a result, the harvests are no worse than before. And what varieties! What is the quality! Rostov onions - 4 pieces per kilogram! – can be stored at home for almost two years, without sprouting or withering.

And the best cucumbers have always been in the village of Porechye. Cucumber fishing has been a hobby of local residents for several hundred years. In August, villagers hold a traditional, cheerful “Green Cucumber” festival with a fair, competitions and treats with lightly salted cucumbers. In this village there is a gardener's museum - everything for those curious about Rostov vegetable gardens and vegetables, about how they dried, salted, fermented and pickled what they grew, and in what utensils they stored what they produced.

Secrets of the muddy lake Nero

There are many ambiguities and questions in the history of Rostov the Great, but now let’s turn to its main mystery.

Here is a fundamental fact - the city was first mentioned in the chronicle in 862. The Tale of Bygone Years speaks of it as a settlement that has existed for a long time. This means, in fact, it arose even earlier than this date. But the problem is that archaeologists do not find confirmation of this. Their materials allow us to trace the history of Rostov from the mid-tenth century. But why is that?

Among others, young Rostov local historian Mikhail Sudarushkin thought about this. He expressed one hypothesis, in connection with which the legend of Kitezh comes to mind.

There is such an old legend among the schismatics.

It says that a marvelous city stood on the shore of a bright lake, to which hordes of invaders unexpectedly approached. They looked at the city of Kitezh with greedy eyes, anticipating quick and rich booty. But suddenly the unexpected happened: right before their eyes, the city, along with the people who inhabited it, with elegant towers and chambers, white-stone churches and shining domes, quietly sank under the water... And since then it has stood at the bottom of the lake, washed by bottom currents. Only occasionally, through the thickness of the water, the ringing of its bells is heard, and its outlines are sometimes dimly visible in the ripples of the waves.

And the essence of Mikhail Sudarushkin’s hypothesis is that Lake Nero, for some currently unclear reasons, expanded its shores and flooded the oldest part of Rostov with its waters.

On this moment there is no direct evidence - for this, of course, archaeologists need to carry out excavations at the bottom of the lake. But for now this is unrealistic: what to do with forty meters of sapropel at the bottom?

Yes, there is indirect evidence of this interesting assumption. Therefore, we cannot simply dismiss it; let’s wait, maybe soon something will become clearer in connection with the work to improve the health of the reservoir.

And let's not forget, the discovery of Troy also began with just a hypothesis...

Like any more or less decent lake, Rostov Nero has its own legends.

One of these legends is about countless treasures that are waiting in the wings at the bottom of the lake. What kind of treasures are there? Under what circumstances did they get there? Who hid them there? There are many variants of legends. More often we're talking about about valuables hidden either during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, or during the disasters of the Time of Troubles. We are most often talking about golden city gates, rich church utensils, forged chests with the city treasury, and precious weapons.

And Lake Nero in the Yaroslavl region supports and inflames treasure-hunting interest, throwing out from time to time, as if to confirm the legends, curious objects of ancient use, coins, or precious things.

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Lake Nero is a miraculous landmark of Rostov the Great. Its area is just over 50 square kilometers; there are two islands on the lake - Lvovsky (“Forest”) and Rozhdestvensky (“City”). This lake is one of the oldest in Russia; scientists estimate its age at half a million years. The emergence of Lake Nero dates back to the pre-glacial period.

The lake is shallow - its depth on average is no more than 3 m, the bottom is covered with a thick layer of sapropel silt - centuries-old bottom sediments formed from vegetation and the remains of living organisms. The shores of Lake Nero are low-lying and swampy.

People have long inhabited the lands around Lake Nero. The first settlers to settle in these places were the Finno-Ugric tribe Merya. There are several versions regarding the origin of the name of the lake, but almost all of them agree that it has Meryan roots. According to one version, this word means swamp, marshy area; according to another, the word “ner” means water. By the way, the name of the Neva River goes back to the same roots.

There were also naive “folk” versions. Thus, there is a legend according to which the name of the lake encrypts the negation of the name of the city - not Rostov. One bad foreigner wandered through the local forests in search of Rostov; going out to the shore of the lake and seeing the city, he wanted to say that this was “not Rostov,” but he did not have time to say the whole phrase, since an arrow from a nimble Rostovite pierced him.

According to another - more romantic - version, there was a certain prince, and that prince had a daughter, Nera, and there was a certain knight Zvenislav, who was in love with her. Nehru was kidnapped by an evil witch. To return her, the knight Zvenislav implemented the most logical plan of all that could be thought of - he brought to the place where Rostov now stands, the earth from which the first man was created, and threw it into a lake that was unnamed at that time. An island was formed from that land, and on it the knight discovered his beauty Nehru, after whose name the lake was named in honor of the miraculous find.

The lake also has a second name of the same Meryan origin - Kaovo. And with this name there is a similar story - there are also several versions. According to one of them, Kaovo is a place where seagulls live. According to another, this word is translated as “first mother,” which indicates the “primordial” meaning of the lake, this is the main, eldest lake.

On the shores of the lake and in its surroundings there were many Meryan settlements, the largest of which was the Sarskoye settlement. Unfortunately, there are no major sights left reminiscent of those times. To this day, only their names have survived - this is the river and the simultaneous village of Ishnya, and the Sara river, and the settlements of Shulets and Sulost, and many others.

Presumably in the 9th century, the Merians came to the lake to replace them. East Slavs, who founded the city of Rostov on its banks, which soon received the title of Great. Apparently, for some time the two peoples coexisted peacefully, gradually mixing until the smaller nation was completely assimilated by the larger one.

At all times, Lake Nero was rich in fish. Since ancient times, traders supplied fish (pike, perch, bream, burbot, catfish, carp) to the princely and then to the royal tables. Data on the amount of fish caught has also been preserved: “For the sovereign’s court, Rostov residents had to annually catch at least 5 barrels of pike and 10 palace buckets.” Then the fish was salted, and in winter it was sent to Moscow fresh and frozen. With the accession of Emperor Peter I to the Russian throne, the lake gradually lost its importance as a supplier of fish for the royal table and, in the end, was transferred into private hands. Its first owner was the steward of the village of Ugodichi, Ivan Alekseevich Musin-Pushkin, and the last, in 1803, was Philip Alekseevich Korr, also a citizen. Fish are still found in the lake today: bream, perch, pike. 18 tributaries flow into the lake, the largest of which is the Sara River, and the Veksa River flows out.

​The largest lake in terms of water surface area (51.7 sq. km) in the Yaroslavl region. The outline of its heart-shaped shape. The lake extends to the north, where the only outlet from the lake is the Vyoksa River, which connects the reservoir with the Kotorosl River and further the Volga. The length of the lake from north to south is 13 km, width from west to east is 8 km. The lake is shallow - its average depth is just over 1 meter, the maximum does not reach 4 meters.
The northwestern shore of the lake is occupied by the city of Rostov, after which the lake is sometimes also called Rostov. Other large settlements on the lake: Ugodichi (on the eastern shore), Porechye-Rybnoye (on the southern shore). The shores of the lake, which is about 500 thousand years old, were formed by a glacier that melted here, according to some sources, 60 thousand, according to others, 20 thousand years ago.
The modern dimensions and outlines developed about 5 thousand years ago. The lake is fed by 17 rivers and streams. The largest river flowing into the lake is Sara. Despite the fact that the lake is flowing, in summer most of it is overgrown with algae, which is called “tarnava” here. The shores of the lake are low-lying and swampy. In this regard, there is an expressive statement about the properties of the Rostov area: “The land is damp, the water is rotten. The people are like an oak.”
There are two islands on the lake - Lvovsky in the southern part and Gorodskoy (Rozhdestvensky) - in the central part, near Rostov. At the heart of the City Island is a glacial boulder, revered in ancient times by the inhabitants of the shores of the lake as a cult.
The first settlers, known from written documents, were the Finno-Ugric tribe Merya, who lived here at least from the 6th century. There are several versions regarding the origin of the name of the lake, but almost all of them agree that it has Meryan roots. According to one version, the word means swamp, marshy area; according to another, the word “ner” means water. There were also more original versions. According to one of them, the name of the lake contains an encrypted negation of the name of the city - not Rostov. Allegedly, the stranger wandered through the local forests in search of Rostov; going out to the shore of the lake and seeing the city, he wanted to say that this was “not Rostov,” but he did not have time to say the whole phrase, as an arrow from a Rostov man pierced him.
Presumably in the 9th century, the Eastern Slavs came to the shores of the lake and founded the city of Rostov on its shores. Until 1917, the Lake did not belong to Rostov. IN different times it was owned by: the State Treasury, landowners, and later - peasants of the lakeside villages of Ugodichi and Poreche-Rybnoye. In Rostov itself until the end of the 17th century. There was a Fishing Settlement, the inhabitants of which were obliged to supply fish: pike, tench, carp, perch to the royal table. The rest of the residents had the right to fish only with a fishing rod. Every spring, the lake, overflowing with melt water, threw silt-sapropel onto its shores. This natural fertilization of the soil led to the fact that the peasants of the lakeside villages began to engage in commercial gardening, growing onions, peas, cabbage, and greens for sale. This became the reason for the emergence of the second largest trade fair in Central Russia– Rostov and the wealth of local peasants, which can now be judged by interesting examples of rural architecture of lakeside villages.
Despite its shallow depth, the lake is navigable. The first steamship on it was launched in 1883 and it was called “Emelyan”. Passengers of the "Emelyan" who traveled along the lake in those years, as well as those who now go to Nero by boat or pleasure boat, have an amazing view of the main attractions of Rostov the Great - the Rostov Kremlin, the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Dmitrievsky Monastery and the Epiphany Abrahamic Monastery, the most a tall rural bell tower in Russia - the bell tower in the village of Porechye-Rybnoye.
The lake is used for industrial purposes - the extraction of silt-sapropel (for the cosmetics industry) and peat on the southern shore. Considering medicinal properties sapropel there are prospects for using Lake Nero for medicinal and health purposes.
Use of the facility for tourism purposes: bus (Rostov, M8 highway) excursions; excursion and entertaining walks on the lake (from Rostov); summer and winter fishing; cycling around the lake (Rostov – Lviv – Poreche-Rybnoye – Veksitsy – Vorzha – Ugodichi – Sulos – Belogostitsy – Rostov). The popular rafting route “Nero-Veksa-Kotorosl” begins from Rostov along Lake Nero. The best viewpoint of the lake is the tower of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery. On the shore of the lake there is a tourist complex “Yaroslavna” (near the village of Pesochnoe).

After Mikhail’s death, his book “Stories about Rostov History” was published, which included essays from the book “Journey to the Origins”. A very kind review of it was written by journalist, local historian and ecologist G. S. Zaletaev. Having highly appreciated the content and nature of the presentation of Mikhail’s local history essays, Georgy Sergeevich, however, did not agree with the assumption that the lake could have increased in size due to a geological fault, making the following remark: “The fact is that the very structure of the Russian platform on which Rostov is located, does not allow the hypothesis of a fault, since the platform is covered here by a huge thickness sedimentary rocks, in which faults simply do not exist. It’s interesting that a similar mistake was made by A. A. Titov, who wrote that a volcano formed in the vicinity of Petrovsk about 5 thousand years ago.”

But Mikhail did not insist specifically on a “geological fault,” but wrote about the possibility of “some other catastrophe.” In addition, he considered it possible that the increase in the size of the lake could occur gradually, and accordingly, the city moved further and further to the west over time. This option at least explained why there were no oral or written sources about the transfer of the city.

At the conclusion of the chapter “Where to look for ancient Rostov,” Mikhail wrote: “The version about the absorption of the original Rostov by Lake Nero sounds unexpected, it seems to be not mentioned anywhere, but at least it explains at least one mystery of Rostov: why the first chronicle evidence about it does not find archaeological confirmation."

By chance, I had a conversation with a man who, as a child, lived in one of the villages on the shores of Lake Nero. He remembered the stories of old-timers, how in the years of the Great Patriotic War, when private owners were prohibited from cutting down forests for firewood, the residents of their village walked far into the lake in shallow water and uprooted the huge roots of centuries-old trees from the water. This means that indeed, as Mikhail assumed, in ancient times, for some reason, Lake Nero expanded its shores.

I tried to find confirmation of this story in a book published by employees of the Rostov Kremlin museum-reserve, “There was a war...” with the subtitle “Collection of documents and memories of Rostov during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945.” Preparation of firewood for railway, local enterprises and institutions were mentioned several times in the book, information was given on how severely they were punished for shirking this labor obligation, but, unfortunately, it was not mentioned how ordinary residents of the Rostov region solved the “fuel problem”.

And only in the memoirs of a native of the village of Porechye, Anna Dmitrievna Marinina, did I find indirect evidence that this problem was indeed very acute during the war. She wrote: “The streets of Porechye were clean during the war years. In the summer, houses have flower beds and beds with flowers. Why was there no garbage? But every twig was selected to heat the stove.”

I found an unexpected ally to Mikhail’s version that Lake Nero in ancient times was smaller than it is now in the person of a fisherman who knew the lake and its surroundings well. Firstly, he talked about the existence of so-called gutters at the bottom of the lake, which are very deep, and local fishermen even have such an expression - fishing in the gutters. Secondly, the same fisherman suggested that in ancient times the Sara River flowing into the lake and the Vyoksa flowing out of it formed a single whole, and the gutters were the remains of the bed of that ancient river. He even showed me on a map how this river roughly flowed.

As for the location of ancient Rostov, my fisherman acquaintance, like Mikhail, assumed that the city was not where it is now, but to the east, somewhere near Rozhdestvensky Island. This position of the city, in his opinion, explains why in ancient times the road to Rostov passed to the east: through Porechye, Ugodichi, Nikolo-Perevoz, Belogostitsky Monastery, Priimkovo. Most likely, somewhere between Porechye and Ugodichi (or a little further than Ugodichi) the road led to Rostov.

It seems that this assumption is quite logical, but let’s not forget that this is only a version, there is no direct evidence. To find them, it is necessary to carry out archaeological excavations at the bottom of the lake, however, due to the large layer of silt deposits - sapropel - this is almost impossible.

By the way, I wonder what exactly provoked the formation of such a huge amount of sapropel in Lake Nero and why it is not present in such quantities, for example, in Lake Pleshcheyevo? Is the formation of sapropel associated with an increase in the area of ​​the lake?

Why the lake overflowed is another question that geologists (or biologists?) should answer. The reasons may be very different, but the fact remains - for some reason Rostov was forced to move to a new place; as archaeologist A.E. Leontyev wrote, “on an inconvenient low section of the coast.”

Thus, Michael’s version is completely reasonable, and perhaps the only one that explains the discrepancy between the chronicle evidence and archaeological data. In any case, I think that when it comes to times and events that did not leave written sources, versions have a right to exist, even if someone doesn’t like them.

In connection with Mikhail’s version, one involuntarily recalls the legend of Kitezh City, here is its shortest retelling:

“There is a lake in the Vetluga forests. It is located in the forest thicket. The blue waters of the lake lie motionless day and night. Only occasionally a light swell runs over them. There are days when drawn-out singing can be heard from the quiet shores and the distant ringing of bells can be heard.

A long time ago, even before the advent of the Tatars, Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich built the city of Maly Kitezh (present-day Gorodets) on the Volga, and then, “crossing the quiet and rusty rivers Uzola, Sandu and Kerzhenets,” he went to Lunda and Svetloyar for “very beautiful "The place where the city of Kitezh Bolshoi was located. This is how the glorious Kitezh city appeared on the shore of the lake. Six domes of churches towered in the center of the city.

Having come to Rus' and conquered many of our lands, Batu heard about the glorious Kitezh-grad and rushed to it with his hordes... When the “evil Tatars” approached Little Kitezh and killed the prince’s brother in a great battle, he himself hid in the newly built forest city . Batu's prisoner, Grishka Kuterma, could not stand the torture and revealed secret paths to Svetloyar.

The Tatars surrounded the city with a thundercloud and wanted to take it by force, but when they broke through to its walls, they were amazed. Residents of the city not only did not build any fortifications, but did not even intend to defend themselves. Residents prayed for salvation, since they could not expect anything good from the Tatars. And as soon as the Tatars rushed to the city, abundant springs suddenly gushed out from under the ground, and the Tatars retreated in fear. And the water kept running and running...

When the sound of the springs died down, in place of the city there were only waves. In the distance shimmered the lonely dome of the cathedral with a cross shining in the middle. She slowly sank into the water. Soon the cross disappeared too. Now there is a path to the lake, which is called the Batu Trail. It can lead to the glorious city of Kitezh, but not everyone, but only pure in heart and soul. Since then, the city has been invisible, but intact, and the especially righteous can see the lights of religious processions in the depths of the lake and hear the sweet ringing of its bells...”

The basis for the legend about Kitezh-grad was the so-called “Kitezh Chronicler”, created among the Old Believers-runners in the 80s - 90s of the 18th century. Another important monument is “The Tale and Request for the Hidden City of Kitezh.” Was it not the story of ancient Rostov, which sank to the bottom of Lake Nero, that served as the basis for the legend of Kitezh-grad? Its fate is associated with Lake Svetloyar near Nizhny Novgorod, but there is no evidence of its formation as a result of some kind of natural disaster or the presence of an ancient settlement at the bottom. In this regard, the “Rostov” version looks more convincing.

Of interest is also the mention in the legend of Kitezh-grad of springs that broke through. It is known that many Old Believers lived on Rostov land, where they were persecuted. Was it not with them that the legend about the city flooded by springs migrated from the shore of Nero to the shore of Lake Svetloyar?

However, a version is just a version. On the other hand, how many correct answers to the mysteries of history were preceded by just versions? The most striking example is the discovery of ancient Troy by amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann thanks to Homer's Iliad. And it all started with an assumption...

Lake Nero is located in the Yaroslavl region, east of Rostov the Great. The beautiful scenery of these places and the age of the reservoir have turned Nero into a popular tourist attraction. People come to the lake to relax, boat trips or go fishing. Well, if you came to look at the Rostov Kremlin, it is impossible to pass by the lake.

Geography and history of Lake Nero

The area of ​​the freshwater lake is approximately 52 km². The depth of Lake Nero does not exceed 3 meters, and it stretches 8 kilometers wide and 13 kilometers long. Lake Nero, according to scientists, is one of the few pre-glacial reservoirs in Russia.

The bottom of the lake is covered with a thick layer of sapropel silt, which has accumulated over centuries. Lake silt is the most valuable organic fertilizer - it’s not for nothing that Rostov gardeners have become famous throughout Russia.

Lake Nero on a winter evening.

In ancient times, the Merya tribe settled on these shores, giving the lake the name Nero. However, there are other opinions according to which the word “nero” is translated as “water” or “swampy area”. For example, in Greek “nero” (νερό) means “water”.

The Meryans left behind tools and ceramics, which were later discovered by archaeologists. By the 9th century, the Merians were replaced by the Slavs, who gave the lake the name “Rostov”.

Rozhdestvensky Island. View from the tower of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery.

There are several more islands on the lake, but they are much smaller, swampy and often disappear under water when its level rises.

Rozhdestvensky Island on Lake Nero is a very interesting place from a historical point of view. The basis of the island is a huge block of stone, a remnant of a cliff that towered above the lake before the Ice Age. The remains of an ancient settlement were discovered on the island, and many artifacts were found: arrowheads, shards and vessels, stone axes. The Meryans revered this place as sacred.

A cross erected on the shore of Lake Nero in memory of the baptism of Rostovites by Prince Vladimir in 991.

Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery on the shore of Lake Nero.

There are many stories associated with Lake Nero. So, Peter I, after listening to the enthusiastic stories of those close to him, dreamed of building a Russian fleet here. But I saw the reservoir with my own eyes and was disappointed: in the deepest place, the thickness of the water did not exceed the height of Peter himself. And the rest of the space was occupied by a layer of silt. Calling Nero a dirty puddle, the sovereign hastened to leave Rostov and Lake Pleshcheyevo became the cradle of the Russian fleet.

Holidays on the lake

There are numerous recreation centers on the shores of the lake that offer interesting leisure activities. In summer, here you can hang glider, have a picnic, or sign up for a horseback ride. In hot weather, residents of Rostov Veliky relax on the unique Nero beaches, although they cannot be called ideal. In winter you can go kiting or ride a snowmobile.

Signs “Passage to the lake” are found throughout Rostov.

One of best places for recreation in Rostov - small private hotels on the shores of Lake Nero.

Despite its shallow depth, Nero is navigable. Therefore, one of the favorite entertainments of tourists is walking on pleasure boats or boats. While traveling along the lake, you can view Rostov from a different angle and admire its architecture. Excursions are organized from Rostov that will introduce you to fascinating legends, historical events and ancient settlements. Such a walk will be the best option for exploring the city if time is limited.

These boats take tourists around the lake.

Every year smoke and fire shows are held on the lake, which are accompanied by concerts, fun competitions and historical reconstructions. Local companies offer two-day excursions for those wishing to attend the water show.