River large elms. Vyazema estate. Pushkinskoe Moscow region. Exit and surrounding area

Bolshie Vyazyomy estate in the Moscow region- one of the most charming and visited Pushkin places. It is part of the State Historical and Literary Museum-Reserve. In, located five km from Bolshie Vyaz, the poet spent six summer seasons from 1804 to 1810. These two places became a symbol of rural Russia for Pushkin, reflected in many works, including the poem “Eugene Onegin.”

Bolshie Vyazemy estate, a beautiful palace and park ensemble of the 17th-18th centuries, is located on the banks of the Vyazemka River, 54 km west of Moscow. On the territory of the estate there are the Golitsyn Palace with several wings, the Transfiguration Cathedral, the original belfry, an ancient dam and other attractions. A well-groomed park and picturesque surrounding forests are combined in Bolshie Vyazemy with many historical and cultural monuments.

History of the estate

Bolshie Vyazemy was mentioned in chronicles of the early 16th century as a settlement on the Great Smolensk Road. In 1585, they were granted by Emperor Ivan the Terrible to his brother-in-law Boris Godunov, who turned his possession into a small fortress. In just one year, he built a wooden tower with outbuildings and the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a fortress wall, and a dam. These structures, created by the architects of Boris Godunov, have survived to this day.

In troubled times At the beginning of the 17th century, the estate for a short time became the country residence of Tsar False Dmitry I and his wife Marina Mnishek. At the end of the 17th century, he gave Bolshie Vyazemy to his comrade-in-arms in the struggle for power, Prince Boris Golitsyn. In 1784, his great-grandson, Nikolai Golitsyn, built the palace anew, and in this form the main building has survived to this day.

During Commander Mikhail Kutuzov stayed in Vyazemy, and after him Emperor Napoleon. At different times, many famous and outstanding people visited here. Among them are Emperor Paul I, writers N. Gogol, V. Bryusov, L. Tolstoy, A. Akhmatova and traveler N. Przhevalsky. The most important circumstance for the museum is that it is closely connected with the name of the poet A. Pusch kina. Not far from Vyazem, the poet grew up, visited the local temple and stayed with the Golitsyns in this estate. At the local cemetery there is the grave of his deceased six-year-old brother Nikolai.

The estate remained the property of the Golitsyn family until 1917. During the years of Soviet power, the house deteriorated and fell into disrepair. Only in 1980 did the creation of a small museum begin in the estate, and in 1994 Bolshie Vyazemy was declared a state museum and restoration work began.

Monuments

The entire complex of monuments The estate-museum is interesting, but the greatest interest of visitors is the cathedral with its belfry and the mansion with two wings. The rooms of the mansion are magnificently decorated with furniture and household items from the late 19th - early 20th centuries, collected for the museum from similar noble estates. In the interiors of the Golitsyn Palace, the atmosphere of Pushkin’s times was masterfully recreated: residential and state rooms - the way the poet could see them in his youth and later when visiting the house.

State dining room- the same one in which dinner was served to Emperor Paul I, who was staying here, and perhaps to an uninvited guest. The library temporarily served as headquarters for the Russian army. The Masonic Hall contains portraits of high-ranking members of the lodge and mosaic symbols of the Freemasons organization. In the flirtatious ladies' room, everything seems to be like under Natalya Petrovna Golitsina, who became the prototype of the heroine of Pushkin’s famous “Queen of Spades.” The house itself, well known to the poet, became for him the prototype of the rural estate of Eugene Onegin, next to which was the more modest refuge of the Larins - Zakharovo.

On the adjacent buildings alleys, walking paths and playgrounds there are many memorial obelisks dedicated to famous people and significant dates of the 16th - 20th centuries. The park and pond give an idea of ​​the art of the ancient landscape masters. The museum is constantly working to restore the premises of the estate services and equestrian yard, as well as organize new thematic exhibitions.

An interesting line of activity State Historical and Literary Museum of the A.S. Pushkin Reserve holiday events, dedicated to Pushkin and historical dates, regular “Musical evenings in the Russian estate”, held in the fireplace room. The children's center of the Vyazema estate invites young listeners and spectators to thematic lessons, concerts, games and festivals.

- this is not just a territory that unites several central regions of the country: Vladimir, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver, Tula, Yaroslavl.

is a land of picturesque and truly Russian nature: coniferous and deciduous forests, clean lakes and rivers, fresh air and a harmonious climate familiar to us since childhood.

- These are slow-flowing rivers with wide floodplains, occupied by water meadows. Thick, dark, overgrown with moss, like enchanted spruce trees. Magnificent broad-leaved forests consisting of huge oaks, ash trees, maples. These are sunny pine forests and cheerful, pleasing birch forests. Dense thickets of hazel on a carpet of tall ferns.

And beautiful clearings, strewn with flowers emitting intoxicating odors, are replaced by huge islands of impenetrable thickets, where tall fluffy spruces and pines live their measured, centuries-old life. They seem like incredible giants who slowly make way for uninvited guests.

In the thicket you can see old dried driftwood everywhere, so intricately curved that it seemed like there was a goblin lurking behind the hillock, and a pretty kikimora was peacefully dozing near the stone.

And endless fields, going either into the forest or into the sky. And all around - only the singing of birds and the chirping of grasshoppers.

This is where the largest rivers of the Russian Plain: Volga, Dnieper, Don, Oka, Western Dvina. The source of the Volga is a legend of Russia, the pilgrimage to which never stops.

IN middle lane more than a thousand lakes. The most beautiful and popular of them is Lake Seliger. Even the densely populated Moscow region is rich in beautiful lakes and rivers, sometimes even intact cottages and high fences.

The nature of the middle zone, glorified by artists, poets and writers, fills a person with peace of mind and opens his eyes to the amazing beauty of his native land.

It is famous not only for its literally fabulous nature, but also for its historical monuments. This - the face of the Russian province, in some places, despite everything, even preserving the architectural appearance of the 18th-19th centuries.

In the middle zone there are most of the cities of the world famous Golden Ring of Russia - Vladimir, Suzdal, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov Veliky, Uglich, Sergiev Posad and others, ancient landowner estates, monasteries and temples, architectural monuments. Their beauty cannot be described; you have to see it with your own eyes and, as they say, feel the breath of deep antiquity.

But the most fruitful and happy thing for me was my acquaintance with central Russia... It captured me immediately and forever... Since then, I have not known anything closer to me than our simple Russian people, and nothing more beautiful than our land. I will not exchange Central Russia for the most famous and stunning beauties of the globe. Now I remember with an indulgent smile my youthful dreams of yew forests and tropical thunderstorms. I would give all the elegance of the Gulf of Naples with its feast of colors for a willow bush wet from the rain on the sandy bank of the Oka or for the winding Taruska River - on its modest banks I now often live for a long time.

Wrote by K.G. Paustovsky.

Or you can just climb into some remote village and enjoy nature far from civilization. The people here are very welcoming and friendly.

Bolshie Vyazemy is a large urban-type settlement located 20 kilometers from the city of Odintsovo in the Moscow region.

First of all, Vyazemy is associated with the name of Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich spent his entire childhood, right up to entering the lyceum, in the Zakharovo estate, located next to Bolshiye Vyazemy. Zakharovo belonged to the poet’s maternal grandmother, Maria Alekseevna Hannibal. It was in Zakharovo and Vyazemy that Pushkin first encountered Russian nature, the life of landowners and peasants, and here he began to write his first poems.

There was no church on Maria Alekseevna’s estate, and the Pushkins went to Vyazemy for church services. At one of the balls held in Vyazemy, the poet first met Natalya Goncharova.

Two estates are reflected in the poem “Eugene Onegin”. Zakharovo became the prototype of the Larins’ estate, and Bolshie Vyazemy became the Onegin’s house. The palace of Golitsyn, the owner of the estate in Bolshie Vazemy, is called the House of the Queen of Spades. Pushkin never hid the fact that the prototype of the main character of the story was Princess N.P. Golitsyna, mother of the owner of the Vyazema estate. The history of this estate is connected not only with the Golitsyn family, but also with other famous families. With which ones?.. You will find out by reading the text to the end.

Bolshie Vyazemy - history

Now Bolshiye Vyazemy ranks second in the Odintsovo district in terms of the number of industrial enterprises. But was it always like this? Why is Bolshie Vyazemy attractive for sightseeing tours? Let's go back four and a half centuries.

In Russia they learned about Bolshiye Vyazemy in 1556. Here one could stop in order to change horses and rest before arriving in Moscow - not yet an estate, but a Yamsk station. Bolshiye Vyazemy was the last stop on the Smolensk road before arriving in the capital. Here, meetings were often scheduled with foreign ambassadors who were not given the honor of being received at a luxurious reception in the royal chambers.

Perhaps it was political importance that played a decisive role in the fact that in 1586 Bolshie Vyazemy was granted to Boris Godunov. He immediately started construction at the pit station.

Big Vyazemy is changing before our eyes. A manor house, St. Nicholas Church, and the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord grew up. Pawned St. John the Theologian Monastery, building under construction trade fairs. Boris Godunov surrounds all this splendor with a wooden wall with five watchtowers. Bolshiye Vyazemy is essentially turning into a fortress.

During the Time of Troubles, Bolshiye Vyazemy became the country palace of False Dmitry. In 1606, Maria Mniszech stopped here. She brought with her a retinue of thousands and stayed in the palace for only a short time. And after her departure, a strong fire broke out in the Bolshie Vyazemy estate, destroying most of the estate. The Time of Troubles was generous with uprisings, which often ended in fires. In one of them, Boris Godunov’s tower burned down...

When Mikhail Fedorovich, the founder of the Romanov dynasty, came to power, in 1618 he assigned the Bolshie Vyazemy estate to the palace department.

The next few decades were not marked by any important events. The buildings of Big Elms are slowly beginning to wither away.

In 1694, thanks to Peter the Great, the estate became the property of Boris Golitsyn and since then Bolshie Vyazemy has been forever associated with the Golitsyn family. And, although the associate of the first Russian emperor already had the comfortable estate of Dubrovitsa, he put a lot of effort into the revival of Vyazem. Peter I himself came to Bolshie Vyazemy only twice - in 1701 and 1705.

In Bolshiye Vyazemy, in addition to the manor house, there was a cloth factory, two mills, a horse farm and a dam. The village consisted of 30 households. At the end of the 18th century, a palace was built here, around which a beautiful park was laid out. I loved to walk along it A.S. Pushkin, arriving in Vyazemy.

An interesting fact is that in 1812 both Kutuzov and Napoleon stayed in Bolshie Vyazemy. No documentary evidence has been preserved, but they say that they could spend the night in the same room with a difference of only a day!

Pavel I and N.V. also visited Bolshie Vyazemy. Gogol, L.N. Tolstoy.

The last owner of the estate, Dmitry Borisovich Golitsyn, established a suburban village. The beautiful, truly Russian area fell in love with the Russian aristocracy.

But the revolution came, and Vyazemy turned into a state farm. The manor house houses a shelter for street children. Subsequently, a dozen different institutions replaced each other in the Bolshiye Vyazemy estate: a sanatorium, a parachute school, a tank school, and various institutes.

About 60 valuables were taken from the estate, among which were an engraving depicting the Golitsyn family tree and family jewelry. Unique family books have been distributed to regional libraries.

What can you see when you come to Bolshie Vyazemy on an excursion tour?

It’s good that people have the habit of coming to their senses on time. At the end of the 1980s, local historians began to create a museum in Bolshie Vyazemy.

And in 1994, a Pushkin Historical and Literary Museum-Reserve, consisting of two estates - Zakharovo and Bolshie Vyazemy. In the same year, the museum was awarded the title of State Museum-Reserve.

Now, when you come to Bolshiye Vyazemy on a one-day tour, you can see the palace and park ensemble, which has preserved elements of the 16th century, the Church of the Transfiguration, a palace with two wings, a belfry, several domestic buildings and a park of the 19th century.

The museum is very interesting, it presents a wide variety of exhibitions - there are even doll rooms and tin soldiers in 19th-century uniforms. The interiors of the rooms, the uniforms, the portraits of the owners... It’s truly cozy here, you don’t want to leave.

In Zakharov there is a pond on the bank of which Pushkin loved to sit, choosing rhymes for words. The manor building has been completely restored and houses "museum of childhood" of the poet. Truly unique items telling about the culture of the 17th-19th centuries are stored here.

If you value the heritage we inherited from the best representatives of the Russian aristocracy, if you want to introduce your children to the history of Russia, inseparable from the history of individual people, you definitely need to go to Bolshie Vyazemy for the weekend. Walk along the alleys of the park, sit by the pond, visit exhibitions, see the original belfry and go to the temple... We can say with confidence that the Bolshiye Vyazemy estate will not disappoint and will be remembered for a long time.

On one of the fine autumn days, we went to Bolshiye Vyazemy to look at the majestic Transfiguration Church, the furnishings of the manor house, the stable building and the surrounding landscapes. The origin of the word “Vyazyomy” is not precisely established. There are two main theories. According to the first, the word comes from the Slavic “viscous”, perhaps this is due to the viscous banks of the river flowing through the territory of the estate, which bears the name Bolshaya Vyazemka, similar to the estate. Another theory attributes the word “vyazema” to Finno-Ugric roots, characteristic of the hydronymy of the Russian North (the rivers Kama, Lakshma, Lekshma, Padma).

Monument to A.S. Pushkin. 1999
sculptor Yu.S. Dines, architect A.V. Klimochkin.

Manor park. Autumn.

Back in 1585, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich granted Bolshiye Vyazemy as the patrimony of Boris Godunov, and from the early 90s of the 16th century, Boris Godunov began large-scale construction in his new possession. At this time, a wooden palace, a boyar's house, numerous services, and orchards were built on the estate. By the end of the sixteenth century, a five-domed temple in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord with a belfry was built on the estate.

The entire complex of manor buildings was surrounded by a wooden wall with five towers. Additionally, the walls were reinforced with a moat. Thus, by the end of the 16th century, the entire complex was a well-defended, powerful fortress. The defensive structures of the estate have not survived to this day, which is understandable; the need for them disappeared a long time ago.

Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Church in the village of Bolshie Vyazemy

During the Time of Troubles, Bolshiye Vyazemy became the residence of False Dmitry - his country palace was here, and here, on the way to her fiancé in the spring of 1606, Marina Mnishek stopped with her retinue of many thousands. After her departure, a terrible fire broke out on the estate, destroying more than half of the village. In one of the fires of the Time of Troubles, the wooden palace of Boris Godunov also burned down.

Clergyman's house

Parochial school. The building is modern.

Nizhny Golitsynsky pond, on the Bolshaya Vyazemka River. Also known as the Gosudarev Pond.

After Mikhail Fedorovich came to the kingdom, in 1618 the Vyazems were assigned to the palace department. And in 1694, Peter the Great granted the estate to Prince Boris Golitsyn, “for salvation during the Streltsy revolt.” Despite the fact that the prince visited here rarely, considering Dubrovitsy his main estate, the prince made a lot of efforts to revive Big Elms. He restored the devastated Trinity Church, reconsecrated the Church of the Transfiguration, and rebuilt the palace. According to the diaries of Peter the Great, the emperor visited Bolshie Vyazemy while passing through in 1701 and 1705. The manor house in Bolshie Vyazemy was built on May 1, 1784 by the great-grandson of Prince Boris Golitsyn, retired colonel Nikolai Mikhailovich Golitsyn. The date of construction is indicated by the bas-relief on the pediment of the house.

Next there will be many pictures of the interior decoration of the manor house, which is probably more correctly called a villa.

The War of 1812 did not cause much damage to the estate. After the Battle of Borodino, on the way to Moscow, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, stopped in Bolshie Vyazemy. And a few hours after his departure, Emperor Napoleon arrived at the estate. The Drakun and infantry corps were stationed in Golitsyn's palace. In memory of those days, a memorial sign was erected on the territory of the estate in honor of the stopping of two armies in the Patriotic War of 1812.

A sign in memory of the stop of two armies in Vyazemy during the Patriotic War of 1812.

In 1882, a new owner appeared on the estate - the son of His Serene Highness Prince Dmitry Borisovich Golitsyn. With his appearance, the estate returned to its former amenities. In 1908, the new owner established a holiday village in the vicinity of the estate, for which a part of the land was allocated, separated by a railway. Over time, the current city of Golitsyno was formed on the site of the village. Dmitry Borisovich Golitsyn became the last owner of the Bolshie Vyazemy estate.
The changes that 1917 brought to Russia did not bypass the Golitsyn estate.

We go up to the second floor. There are many more pictures of the interior of the manor house.

In the fall of 1918 and spring of 1919, more than 60 items of cultural and historical value were taken from the estate to the National Museum Fund, among which was an engraving depicting the family tree of the Golitsyn princes. The family jewels of the Golitsyn family were later transferred to the Armory Chamber. A unique collection of books, more than 30 thousand volumes, collected by Dmitry Vladimirovich Golitsyn, was distributed to libraries. The estate was used as a colony for homeless people, then as a sanatorium for old Bolsheviks, a school for pilots and paratroopers, a tank school, and an evacuation hospital. By the way, during the First World War, there was also an infirmary with 50 beds.

Former stable. Its restoration is currently underway.

After the hospital was closed, the educational zootechnical institute of horse breeding was located on the territory of the estate, which was personally supervised by Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny, who visited the estate several times. In 1952, he laid the first stone in the foundation of the new building of the institute.

School of Arts, formerly the building of the Institute of Horse Breeding.

Not far from Bolshiye Vyazya is the Zakharovo estate, the former estate of the grandmother of the great Russian poet Maria Alekseevna Hannibal. Here, in his grandmother’s estate near Moscow, the future poet first saw the beauty of Russian nature, peasant round dances, heard folk songs, and became acquainted with peasant life. These first childhood impressions shaped his views on life. In these places near Moscow he began to write his first poems.

An old house near the parking area for tourist buses.

Another monument to Alexander Pushkin in the Bolshie Vyazemy estate.

In the period from 1805 to 1830, Pushkin often came to Bolshiye Vyazemy from his grandmother’s estate. Since there was no church in Zakharovo, the Pushkin family went to services in Bolshie Vyazemy. One of his visits to Zakharovo in 1807 was overshadowed by tragic events - his younger brother Nikolai died. Nicholas was buried near the fence of the Transfiguration Church on the territory of the estate, on the side of the apses.

The grave of Pushkin's brother Nikolai, who died at the age of six.

There are several more ancient tombstones nearby.

The love story of Alexander Sergeevich for Natalya Goncharova is also connected with Bolshiye Vyazemy. It was here, in the estate, at one of the balls organized by Prince Golitsyn, that Pushkin first saw Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova. The Bolshie Vyazemy estate appears more than once in the works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. It is believed that in the novel “Eugene Onegin” Zakharovo serves as a prototype for the Larins’ estate, and Bolshie Vyazemy became the basis for the description of Onegin’s estate. Now the Bolshie Vyazemy estate, like the Zakharovo estate, is part of the State Historical and Literary Museum-Reserve of A. S. Pushkin. In the Golitsyn Palace, among the interiors of the 18th-19th centuries. Golitsyn readings “History of the Fatherland” are held. You can get to the estate from the Belorussky train station by train to the stop "Statsiya Golitsyno". Walking distance from the station is about 1 km. You can also get from the station by bus or minibus. Don’t even think about getting off at the Malye Vyazemy station; you’ll get confused and lost. By car you need to take the Mozhaisk highway. Without entering the village of Vyazemy itself, turn left before the bridge, and after about 200 meters turn right to the parking lot near the Church of the Transfiguration.

Vyazema Estate(Russia, Moscow region, Odintsovo district, Bolshiye Vyazemy), a little away from Mozhaiskoe highway

How to get there? Travel by public transport: from Belorussky railway station by electric train to Golitsyno station, then by bus No. 38, No. 39, No. 50 or minibus No. 38, No. 39, No. 79 to the “Institute” stop (3rd stop) or 20 minutes on foot (~ 1 km). By bus or car: 44 km of Mozhaiskoe highway.

Driving directions

For the first time this name appears in documents of the 16th century, starting in 1556. Under Ivan the Terrible, Vyazemy was the last station before Moscow along the Great Smolensk Road. At the end of the 16th century. here there was a “church of five peaks and a stone dam near a pond,” reports the Piskarevsky chronicler. At the same time, a belfry of the Pskov type was built, which was uncharacteristic for these places in its architecture. It is unknown when the Vyazyomas went to Boris Godunov; The first mention of this dates back to 1585-1586. Under Godunov, there was a boyar’s house in the village, numerous services, and orchards. But the village still owes its fame to the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
The monumental, four-pillar temple on a high arched basement is extremely beautiful. On the sides the building has two aisles, completed with rows of kokoshniks and small domes. The facades are divided by blades into three spindles and completed with semicircular zakomaras. Slit-like windows in profiled embrasures are framed by archivolts. On three sides the building goes around the walkway on arcades. The temple is completed with a canonical five-domed structure.

At the end of the 17th century, or more precisely, in 1694, the estate in Vyazemy was granted by Peter I to his tutor, Prince B.A. Golitsyn “for salvation during the Streltsy riot.” The new owner did not consider Vyazemy as his main patrimony; he gave his main attention to another granted estate - Dubrovitsy.
The manor house was built on May 1, 1784 by the great-grandson of B.A. Golitsyn - retired colonel Nikolai Mikhailovich. The strict architecture of the building is already somewhat archaic for the end of the 18th century. and seems rather to belong to Peter’s time. The outbuildings were built earlier than the main house: the left one - in 1771, the right one - in 1772.
Local residents named the Golitsyn Palace “House of the Queen of Spades.” The prototype of the heroine of Pushkin's story was Princess N.P. Golitsyna was a powerful woman who enjoyed exceptional influence at court and lived to be almost a hundred years old. Big Vyazemy was owned by her son, Boris Vladimirovich Golitsyn. Thus, the Queen of Spades, contrary to popular belief, was never the mistress of Elm. But she often came here, exercising vigilant control over her family’s property.
Nowadays, all the manor buildings have been renovated; in the main manor house there is a museum and a temple - given to believers.

1. Main house
2. Guest outbuilding
3. Kitchen outbuildings
4. Church
5. Belfry
6. Gatehouse
7. Church fence
8. Horse yard
9. Outbuildings on the horse yard
10. Monument to A.S. Pushkin
11. Regular park

Plan of the estate 1949 according to the measurements of E.P. Shchukina

Archival materials of the Vyazema estate

Personalities

B.V. GOLITSYN, 1769-1813, son of brigadier Prince Vladimir Borisovich and Princess Natalya Petrovna, born Countess Chernysheva, elder brother of the Moscow Governor General, His Serene Highness Prince Dmitry Vladimirovich, born January 6, 1769; began service in 1781 in the Semenovsky regiment, in which he served until 1796, to the rank of colonel. During the Polish War of 1794 he was awarded the Order of St. George 4th Art. In 1798 he was promoted to major general, and the following year to lieutenant general. This was the era of the short-lived, but rich in surprises, reign of Paul I, in which extraordinary favors were often followed by the equally rapid fall of a person who had enjoyed honors and influence the day before. Prince Golitsyn, apparently, did not escape the fate of many: on March 24, 1800, he was dismissed from service, “for ordering the drum to be beaten in front of the house of the German consul in Riga, Trompovsky, for so long that Trompovsky’s baby died of fright.” Upon the accession of Emperor Alexander to the throne, he was again accepted into service (March 26, 1801) and then successively made chief of the Pavlovsk Grenadier Regiment (1802) and infantry inspector of the Smolensk Inspectorate. He took part in the main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 and was wounded near Borodino; from this wound he died in Vilna on January 6, 1813; buried in the church of the village of Bolshie Vyazemy, Moscow province.
Prince Golitsyn was single, but he left behind two “Zelensky” daughters, one of whom was married to Professor S.P. Shevyrev, and the other, Anna Borisovna, behind Tver Governor Bakunin. Princess Tat. You. Golitsyna, his brother’s wife, “out of kindness, took these orphans in and raised them, but their existence was hidden from the old princess (the prince’s mother, “princesse moustache”).”
In Russian literature, Prince Golitsyn is known as a writer - fiction writer, poet and critic. Having received an excellent education at home, he excellently studied foreign, especially French, literature and was fluent in the language of Moliere and Pacine, as evidenced by a number of his literary critical works in French.
In Russian literature, Golitsyn wrote under the pseudonym Dm. Pimenov and published critical articles and poems in magazines of that time. In 1809 he published in Moscow, Moral Discourses of the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, trans. from French,” about which S. N. Glinka says: “He very successfully translated Rochefoucauld’s thoughts and published them under someone else’s name.”
According to the same Glinka, Prince Golitsyn was a truly Russian man in his soul and in his convictions. “I want to study in Russia in Russian,” he said, and to be Russian. I read a lot in French and, to my shame, studied little Russian. Cato the Elder began to study the Greek alphabet; some people condemned him for this, but not me. Starting to Russian teaching, I will say in Russian: “live forever, learn forever.” He convinced Merzlyakov to teach him Russian literature, and Kalaidovich to teach him Russian history. Prince B.V. Golitsyn started Russian evenings at which everything Russian was read, and the owner of the house had the reputation of being stopped when he mixed French with Russian. As a superb dancer, he had the nickname "Boris-Yestris"; according to a contemporary, he was “very good-looking, smart, and in his time received an education like few others.”

(From a portrait painted by Izabe; property of Prince N.I. Obolensky, in Moscow)

V.V. Suslov Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and belfry, in the village of Vyazemakh, Moscow province, Zvenigorod district

V.V. Suslov Monuments of ancient Russian architecture, c. 2, St. Petersburg, 1896

The said village, Vyazemskaya Stan, is located 15 versts to the south-east. from the city of Zvenigorod, near the Smolensk tract, near the Vyazemka River (1). It belonged to Tsar Boris Fedorovich Godunov (d. 1605), and after his death it was assigned to the Palace Department.
At the end of the 16th century. here there was a stone church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity, the time of construction of which remains unknown (2). In 1680, it was included in the Zagorodskaya tithe.
In addition to the Trinity Church, in the village of Vyazemy there were in the 16th century. the temple in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker with chapels (Athanasius of Alexandria, Sergius of Radonezh and the noble princes Boris and Gleb) and the monastery of John the Theologian. Both churches were destroyed in the 17th century, along with peasant households, by Lithuania.
In the scribe books of 7139 - 7141 (1631-1633), by the way, it is mentioned: “... there is a stone dam near the village of Vyazemoya, the sovereign’s pond,...”.
Under 7154 (1646) it is indicated that “in the village of Nikolskoye, on Vyazema, there is the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, and in the border the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and other borders stand empty without singing...” (3).
According to the scribe books of the steward Ivan Afrosimov, and the clerk Ivan Vasilyev, 183, 184 and 185 (1675 - 1677) - “the village of Nikolskoye, Vyazema, also, on both sides of the Vyazema river, and in the village there is a stone church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity, and at that But the church has two stone boundaries: the boundary of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the boundary of the Archangel Michael are not consecrated, and near that church is the place where there was a monastery of St. John the Theologian, and the church place of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with the boundaries,...”
7202 (1694) March 23, according to the personal decree of the great sovereigns, the palace village of Vyazemy was granted to the boyar Prince Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn as an ancestral estate, and in the same year it was approved for him by a refusal book. At this time, in the village, in addition to the Trinity Church, there was a wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with all kinds of church utensils (4). In 1701, Prince Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn divided the estates between his children, princes Alexei, Sergei and Vasily. The latter received the village of Nikolskoye - Vyazemy, where in 1702 there was a stone church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
After Prince Vasily Borisovich Golitsyn, the estate was owned by his son, Prince Mikhail Vasilyevich (d. January 13, 1749), and from him it passed to his widow, Prince. Avdotya Mikhailovna with children princes Nikolai, Vasily and Alexander. The latter, in 1755, divided the estate among themselves, and the village of Vyazemy went to Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich Golitsyn (5).
We find some indications about the village of Vyazema, by the way, in the diary of Marina Mnishek (6), which says: “On May 2, the queen had her overnight stay in Mozhaisk, and Pan Voevoda in the village of Vyazema, 6 miles from Moscow. This village belonged to the deceased Tsar Boris. It has a palace, quite extensive, surrounded by a front garden and surrounded by a moat with slingshots. Near the palace there is a stone church, very handsome; The icons and candlesticks in it are rich and beautifully crafted.” Elsewhere it is described that “the palace is made of wood, but it is beautiful and even magnificent. The door locks in it are gilded with red gold; the stoves are green, and some are surrounded by silver grates.” The diary of the Polish ambassadors Olesnitsky and Gonsevsky (16-6) states that “in Vyazema there is a stone church; its fence, with six sharp wooden towers, looks like a fortress” (7).
In the existing descriptions of the village of Vyazema, it is strange that before 1702 the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is not mentioned. The time of its construction thus becomes guesswork. Local residents attribute the construction of this church to Tsar Boris Godunov and date it back to the same time as the construction of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in Moscow. This legend, judging by the general architectural forms and details of the temple, is quite probable, which is partly indicated by the crown preserved on the middle dome.
The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord survived almost in its original form - only the staircase leading to the second floor of the church was destroyed. Based on local guidelines, it was open and led directly to the middle arch of the upper gallery. Based on these instructions, the staircase in the drawings was restored.
The church in question has a structure that was usual in its time; with two chapels, an under-church and a two-story open gallery. It was apparently built entirely of white stone; at least the front sides of the church, with the exception of the drums and the main quadrangle, are lined with white stone. The upper parts are made of brick without cladding. It is difficult to say whether the church was originally covered with vaults, or, as at present, with a hipped roof. By analogy with other church monuments of the same period, we have to speak out for the first.
The external decorations have rather small profiles, which by their nature, like the recesses on the pilasters (above the gallery), indicate some influence in the construction of Italian architecture.
The western part of the temple is somewhat elongated and therefore special arches are built under the small drums. In church aisles, the drums are each placed on four arches, some of which go in a north-south direction, while others (creeping) are in the opposite order and rest on the cheek surfaces of the first. The door from the gallery to the northern aisle has been widened. The walls separating the altar from the church, to which the iconostasis is attached, are low and have the appearance of a barrier. The construction of the church is quite correct in terms of symmetry and accuracy of size, which is relatively rare in ancient Russian churches.
A few fathoms from the temple, to the northwest, there is a very interesting stone belfry. It has been completely preserved in its original form, with the exception of the top covering of the walls, which has not survived at all. The restoration of the roofs is shown in a perspective view of the building. The belfry platform and staircase are supported by a box vault open from the outside. From the belfry platform, stone gutters are laid through the railings. The belfry is made of brick; the horizontal cornices are made of stone slabs and their profiles resemble the platbands of the church itself. The general impression is that the belfry seems to have been built at the same time as the church. There are currently no bells on the belfry and the building seems somewhat neglected.

1. Semenov “Geographical-Statistical Dictionary” vol. I 1862 p. 585
2. We find information about this church in the parish books of the Patriarchal Kaz. Order for 7136 (1628) and in census books from the city of Dmitrov, Boris and Gleb Monastery of Archimandrite Pitirim. V and G. Kholmogorov “Historical materials about churches and villages of the XVI-XVIII centuries,” vol. III
3. Under 7164 (1655), it is said that “on December 8, the patriarch (Nikon) went to the sovereign’s palace village of Vyazema to meet the sovereign...”
4. It was indicated above that the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was destroyed by Lithuania; here again it is said about the existing Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; whether the church was just destroyed or built again is not clear from the case
5. V. and G. Kholmogorov “Historical materials about churches and villages of the 16th - 18th centuries,” vol. III, pp. 195 - 200
6. Ustryalov “The Tale of Contemporaries about Demetrius the Pretender”
7. Ibid. p. 123 The said palace and towers do not currently exist

S. Veselovsky Estate Big Vyazemy

Living in Zakharov, the Pushkins often visited Bolshie Vyazemy, located nearby. Everything here was shrouded in ancient legends about the former owner of these places, Boris Godunov. “They also point out ponds, as if dug at his behest... Probably, young Pushkin was often told about the former tsar, the ruler of the village. Thus, we meet,” notes P.V. Annenkov, - even in Pushkin’s childhood with objects that were later brought to life by his genius.”
One of the sources when the poet worked on “Boris Godunov” was “History of the Russian State” by N.M. Karamzin. Bolshiye Vyazemy is also mentioned in it. Reading about the “military fun” of False Dmitry that took place here, about Marina Mnishek’s passage through this area, Pushkin could supplement these descriptions with his own memories of this area.

A visitor to Bolshiye Vyazi can still pay attention to a small column of gray stone standing next to an interestingly designed church fence. This is a monument at the grave of N.S. Pushkin, who died in Zakharov in 1807. The death of his younger brother is one of the difficult impressions of the great poet’s childhood. He mentions her in the sketches of the plan for the autobiographical notes he marked.
In Pushkin's time (from 1803) Bolshie Vyazemy belonged to B.V. Golitsyn. Having received an excellent education abroad, Golitsyn made a military career, in particular, fighting under the banner of Suvorov. However, during the reign of Paul, having risen to the rank of lieutenant general, he was forced to resign.

Having settled in Moscow, B.V. Golitsyn studies Russian history, is interested in collecting ancient manuscripts, spending most of the year in Bolshie Vyazemy.
An English traveler who visited Moscow in 1805 writes: “We spent the evening with Prince. Boris Vladimirovich Golitsyn. Here I saw all your poetry: Zhukovsky, Kokoshkin, Merzlyakov and many, many other of your poets and prose writers. The owner was unusually kind, affectionate and friendly with everyone... Sometimes I wonder where Moscow got so many friendly people from!” In 1811 B.V. Golitsyn received Napoleon’s opponent, the famous writer de Stael, who had fled from France.

He was very close to I.I. Dmitriev, and A.F. Merzlyakov belonged to his circle of friends and often visited Bolshiye Vyazemy. Merzlyakov awakened B.V. Golitsyn's interest in monuments of Russian literature and folk literature. On the initiative of B.V. Golitsyna A.F. At the beginning of the year, Merzlyakov began public readings on literature and theory of fine arts in his Moscow house. These readings were a great public event and the first public lectures in Russia. They were interrupted by the war with Napoleon.
Since the beginning of hostilities B.V. Golitsyn left for the army. During the Battle of Borodino he was with M.I. Kutuzov and, while conveying his orders to the troops, was seriously wounded. Ashes B.V. Golitsyn, who died from a wound in January 1813, was transported to Bolshie Vyazemy and buried in the local church.
After the Battle of Borodino, the Russian army stopped in Bolshie Vyazemy for the night. M.I. lived in the manor house. Kutuzov. In one of his letters he says: “I am at Vyazem, but since there is no position here, General Bennigsen went back to look for a place where it would be more convenient to fight.”

B.V. Golitsyna’s mother, Natalya Petrovna, the “Queen of Spades,” visited Bolshie Vyazemy several times. She really is, as Tomsky says in the story by A.S. Pushkin, “went to Paris and was in great fashion there. People ran after her to see “La Venus moscovite” (Moscow Venus). Daughter of P.G. Chernyshev, envoy to the English and French courts, N.P. Golitsyn spent her youth abroad, participated in court evenings. N.P. Golitsyna was immensely power-hungry and arrogant. As A.S. writes Pushkin, “she hosted the whole city, observing strict etiquette and not recognizing anyone by sight.” At the same time, N.P. Golitsyna, according to contemporaries, was “a great master of managing her own affairs,” significantly increased the family’s fortune, and the management of the Bolshie Vyazes farm was more subordinate to her than to the owner of the estate, B.V. Golitsyn.

On April 7, 1834, a month after the publication of the story, A. S. Pushkin wrote in his diary: “My Queen of Spades is in great fashion - players punt on three, seven and ace. At court they found similarities between the old countess and the prince. Natalya Petrovna and they don’t seem to be angry...” N.P. Golitsyna outlived the great poet by only a few months. She died in December 1837 at the age of 97.
The outstanding therapist Professor M. Ya. Mudrov had close relations with the Golitsyn family. He often spent the summer in Bolshie Vyazemy. Mudrov was one of the famous doctors in Moscow and was considered an unsurpassed diagnostician. L.N. Tolstoy writes in War and Peace that, having visited the sick Natasha Rostova, “Mudrov identified the disease even better” than other Moscow celebrities.

Bolshie Vyazemy is located on the large Smolensk road. According to the explanation of the famous historian I.E. Zabelina, this name means “generally a connection or connection, a union of one area with another, or, rather, one path with another.” Since ancient times, this road has connected Moscow with the West; ambassadors and merchants passed along it. The last Yamsk station before entering Moscow was located in Bolshie Vyazemy. In the play “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky” A.N. Ostrovsky mentions the presence of Marina Mnishek’s father here.
Every summer during his youth, A.I. drove along this busy road. Herzen. Talking about his trips to Vasilyevskoye in “Byloye and Thoughts,” he recalls how “a few miles from Vyazema, the Vasilievsky elder was waiting for Prince Golitsyn, on horseback, at the edge of the forest, and escorted him along a country road.”

Bolshiye Vyazemy is also connected with N.V. Gogol, who in the summer of 1849 visited Moscow University professor S.P. who lived here. Shevyrev and read to him the first chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls.