"Gingerbread House" by merchant Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov. Igumnov, Nikolai Vasilievich

The Paradise That "I" Built

23/07/2010
Nina Soboleva
The huge letter “I” is easy to see on the map of Abkhazia, made from photographs from space. Next to it you can distinguish two more letters, although less clear - “N” and “B”. These are cypress alleys planted in the shape of letters, or rather initials. They were planted in the village of Alakhadzy more than a hundred years ago by the Russian merchant Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov.

The Igumnov merchant family has been known in Russia for a long time. Gold miners, manufacturers, owners of iron ore mines, the Igumnovs did a lot of useful things for Russia. It is not for nothing that there are monuments to merchants in Lipetsk and Bashkir Birsk.

The fate of Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov is not just amazing, but rather even similar to an adventurous novel full of drama...

It all started in 1901 with a big Moscow ball, which was given in his new mansion house on Yakimanka by the owner of the Bolshoi Yaroslavl Manufactory, known not only for his wealth, but also for his boundless imagination (you just have to look at his house, where the French embassy is now located), merchant of the first guild Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov. To surprise the guests, Nikolai Vasilyevich strewn the floor of the dance hall with gold chervonets, decorated with the face of the Russian emperor. Igumnov’s guests spun merrily in the whirlwind of the waltz, not paying attention to the fact that their ballroom shoes were trampling on the golden image of the Tsar. But, as always, there was an alert person among the guests, who the very next day reported to St. Petersburg about what had happened. Nicholas II was very angry and ordered the disrespectful merchant to be expelled from Moscow somewhere far away...

“Farther away” turned out to be the Abkhaz coast of the Sukhumi province - a disastrous, swampy place with a multitude of malarial mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. In a word, it was a dead zone, not suitable for normal life. These lands belonged to the Abkhazian Khan princely family Inal-Ipa. The disgraced merchant examined the place of exile, assessed the possibilities of establishing his life here and decided to buy 6 thousand acres of this most ruined land from the khan... And the work began. First of all, Nikolai Vasilyevich established fishing on the Bzyb River. He brought 150 fishermen from the Don and built the first fish canning plant on the coast.

Conditions for workers here at that time were very decent. They built dormitories with rooms for two, with separate smoking rooms - communal benefits unprecedented at that time! Houses were built for families, which after some time became the property of the worker’s family along with a plot of land. Then Igumnov set about draining the swamps, planting 800 eucalyptus trees and hundreds of swamp cypresses. Fertile Kuban soil began to be brought here by barges by sea...

On the drained lands, Igumnov started breeding livestock farms. He brought native Yaroslavl cows to these southern regions, which took root perfectly on the Black Sea land. But the main, favorite brainchild of Nikolai Vasilyevich was a wonderful, outlandish garden. Through his care, a tangerine garden was grown and plantations were created medicinal trees- camphor and cinchona. Unusual plants for these places appeared: kiwi, mango, tunga, tobacco. The “Abkhazian Bamboo” enterprise was launched... Now it’s even difficult to imagine how much the disgraced merchant did for this region.

After the 1917 revolution, Igumnov voluntarily handed over new government their huge farms. He did not want to emigrate to France with his family and remained on the newly organized citrus state farm named after the Third International on his lands as a simple agronomist. In 1924, Nikolai Vasilyevich passed away. They buried him modestly, lining the grave with the cypress trees he loved so much.

Since then, many events have happened on the land of Abkhazia. Times and authorities have changed. The name and deeds of the Russian merchant Igumnov were lost and practically disappeared from official historical documents. But folk memory not only preserved the name and deeds of Igumnov - they were written about the Russian merchant beautiful legends…

In Pitsunda, every resident, showing local sights to visitors, will definitely say: “Igumnov planted this... Igumnov built this...” An Abkhaz taxi driver fervently told me: “Yes, such a person should have a monument made of pure gold. For us, Abkhazians, he is a brother, a Russian brother. He did so much good for this land. It's a shame that many people have forgotten this. Nothing was named after him here, but he deserved it.”

In fairness, however, it must be said that the names of Russian figures who late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century they invested their strength and talent in the development of Abkhazia, they are remembered in today’s Abkhazia. Almost everyone local resident knows that the Gagra resort was built through the efforts of the Prince of Oldenburg.

The tsar's close associate, an important dignitary, Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg, was a persistent and decisive man. In St. Petersburg, he created a famous, and perhaps the world's first, experimental medicine clinic. But the main work of his life was the creation of a resort in Abkhazia, in an almost deserted area. He invested all his funds in it, then persistently convinced the tsar to give money from the treasury for the construction of the “Russian Riviera”....

He convinces, persuades, demands, proves the need for such a resort. And Finance Minister Witte, under pressure from Alexander Petrovich, gives in. A resolution is adopted on the annual allocation of 150 thousand rubles for the development of the Gagra resort. In addition, the prince is attracting other entrepreneurs and philanthropists to the project. And every year more and more funds are invested in the construction of new sanatoriums, dachas, and kursaals. At that time the sums were huge.

At the same time, a Moscow doctor, Professor Ostroumov, was building hospitals for pulmonary patients in Sukhum. Count Raevsky is establishing a botanical garden here with a collection of rare amazing plants. Abkhaz industrialists, doctors, scientists also participate in all these projects... It seemed that all the Caucasian-Russian conflicts were a thing of the past and here, in Abkhazia, in the paradise created by God himself, a beautiful, calm, peaceful life. But fate decreed differently. The smoldering conflict between the Abkhazians and Georgians, which has not subsided for decades, has continually exploded in bloody events on this land.

The Abkhaz struggle for their independence lasted almost the entire 20th century. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy has this in his story “The Raid” bitter reflection: “It’s hard to understand how, among this amazing beauty, among blooming nature and proud mountains, a person can feel a sense of hatred, be so cruel and evil...” Yes, it’s hard to understand, but it happened. In 1992, Georgia (for the umpteenth time!) tried to hold Abkhazia by force. The Abkhaz people called this last war national, old and young rose to defend their freedom.

Georgian nationalists who broke into Sukhum destroyed funds State Archive Abkhazia. They died in the fire and archival materials about the activities of Russian and Abkhaz historians, doctors, merchants, builders and educators. But today in the republic, bit by bit, they have already begun to collect the information that they managed to somehow preserve. The Alakhadzes, in the boarding house "Pine Grove", which was miraculously saved from destruction by its current owner Lyudmila Lolua, are collecting materials about Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov. And it seems not at all accidental that next to the tombstones of the fallen Abkhaz soldiers, Lyudmila Irodionovna restored Igumnov’s grave and placed a large Orthodox cross on it.

There are still a lot of traces of the war in the village... Igumnov’s house is destroyed, the broken school buildings - Russian and Georgian - gape with black eye sockets... There are ruins of the buildings of the former citrus state farm... The tangerine orchards are sick, mangled by fires... In the boarding house "Pine Grove" the building of the medical center is destroyed, where before the war there was a large indoor swimming pool.

The country does not yet have the means to restore everything that the war destroyed. Lyudmila Irodionovna says, as if half-jokingly: “If only they would send us some new Igumnov from Russia, maybe we would heal our wounds faster...” In the meantime, instead of the new Igumnov, I came to “ Pine grove"Russian senator. He bought land, built a lurid palace and surrounded it with a huge red brick, almost Kremlin wall. And, as if by the way, he fenced off a large piece of the beach. Everything would probably be fine if this senatorial palace were located somewhere else. But a rich Russian built it right in front of a destroyed Russian school. The children study in two renovated side wings, and restoration central building there are no longer any means or strength. Why not donate money to this wealthy man to rebuild the school? building materials, some money - such a thought does not even occur to the owner of the estate. He separated himself from the local population with a wall of one and a half bricks and does not even know that it is not customary for the Abkhaz to erect solid fences. They are used to living with an open soul. It is not for nothing that the Abkhazians call their country Apsny, which means “land of the soul.” And it is very sad that today it is not the Igumnovs who have come here from Russia, but those who cannot understand that Russia will be judged by their deeds, and not by their money.

But of course, today there are people who value the honor of Russia, no matter how loud it sounds. In Pitsunda they showed me a Russian school. It was restored by Andrei Dudko, a Moscow entrepreneur. He studied there as a child and left for Moscow about 30 years ago. Now in Pitsunda every boy knows the name of this man.

...Many years ago, at a Russian cemetery near Paris, a local priest showed me a modest grave in the far corner. On a small old cross there was attached a plaque with the inscription: “Cossack! Remember, everything you do on earth, you do for good and evil in Russia. Esaul Ivanov." This Russian man, who died in a foreign land with thoughts of his homeland, left a wise covenant...

Whoever has not been to Moscow has not seen its beauty... In fact, why do tourists from all over the world come to our city? Certainly not to admire the skyscrapers! People come to the capital of the Russian state primarily to see something that is not found anywhere else. There is a Russian spirit here, it smells like Russia. And one of such places in the Mother See, of course, is the mansion of the merchant Igumnov. This building is like a wonderful gingerbread made of brick. Let's take a look at it too!

Oh yes we are! How good!! What a joke! Each of us probably dreamed of similar interiors when our mothers and grandmothers read bedtime stories to us as children. The red porch, pot-bellied columns, airy arches, all kinds of weights, platbands... And behind the door... the abundance of gold on the walls and ceiling, the main staircase, ornate ornaments create the impression that it was in such an environment that Tsar Saltan or Prince Guidon lived.

Countless decorative elements and exuberance bright colors will tell a sophisticated architecture connoisseur that the mansion was built by a genius “ pseudo-Russian style" It’s worth telling in more detail here. My goal is not to characterize here and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this direction of architecture, which, by the way, is fashionable these days. This is a story about the most beautiful building of the Mother See, and not a dissertation. Anyone interested in the details can easily find them out from encyclopedias or from specialists.

In short, this style arose as part of the general rise of interest in national architecture that reigned in Europe XIX century, and is a stylization of Russian architectural heritage. It was consistently combined with other, international styles - from the architectural romanticism of the first half of the 19th century V. to modern.

The abundance of beauty implies the versatility of its owner’s nature. And also his level of income. Rich architecture, unfortunately, is not accessible to everyone.

Who lives in the little house? Looking at and each time marveling at this splendor, we imperceptibly approached the question: who owned this building?

The dry “letter of the law”: “ Nikolay Ivanovich Pozdeev, hereinafter referred to as the “Contractor”, on the one hand, and Nikolay Vasilyevich Igumnov, hereinafter referred to as the “Customer”, and together referred to as the “Parties”, have entered into this Agreement...»

We do not know for sure whether this is exactly what the agreement between the two Nicholas looked like. Another thing is important - these are the people who are the true owners of the House on Yakimanka. And it was like this...

Let's open the calendar of those years. It's a leap year 1888. It is very similar to our modern times in that all we talk about is the economic crisis. The chronologist and caustic satirist of that time, Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, who had just returned from abroad at that time, published his essays “Abroad”. " Somehow we're on a course(ruble) Father Berlin will reward“- this is the main question that concerns his contemporaries. History develops in a spiral...

And against the backdrop of this event, one of the heroes of our story decides to build his own house. It's time to introduce this person. Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov, merchant of the First Guild, co-owner of the largest enterprise Tsarist Russia the famous Yaroslavl Big Manufactory. The textile king is a more than wealthy man. In order to estimate his income, let's give some facts. Who is the holder of a merchant's certificate? According to His Majesty's decree, in order to obtain such a document, it is necessary to declare a capital of 50,000 rubles. What could you buy for one ruble that year? According to statistics of those years, this amount could buy a bucket of beer or a Christmas goose. However, most prices are much lower: on the domestic market, a pound of oil cost 10 kopecks, and a pound of coal - 14 kopecks. Fresh beef was sold for 15 kopecks per pound, a dozen oranges cost 50 kopecks, and a dozen apples cost 25 kopecks. It turns out, by today's standards, that merchant Nikolai Igumnov is a very famous and influential businessman. And if so, then housing for such a person should be built not by a team of coven-makers, but by a recognized Master.

This is how the name of the young Yaroslavl architect Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev appears in our story. It is he who is the Master who built the miracle tower. He is only thirty-three years old, and he already holds the position of city architect of Yaroslavl. Thanks to his activities in this responsible position, the city with a thousand-year history was enriched with many wonderful buildings. This, for example, is the Alexander Nevsky Chapel. This is the Sretenskaya Church in Deputatsky Lane. This is a stunning mansion with atlases, built for the owner of the tobacco factory Dunaev.

Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev is almost unknown outside of Yaroslavl. The project of the mansion of the merchant Igumnov, whom he met in his city, is his first Moscow work. There’s no way you can make a mistake. And the architect gets to work with enthusiasm.

It's good that cash are not limited in any way! A merchant who cares about his prestige does not spare money. Just build it so that no one has this! So that all of Moscow would be amazed!

No sooner said than done. The bricks from which the house was built were brought all the way from Holland. Although they could have come from the same Yaroslavl, it is no worse. The tiles that decorate the mansion were made at the famous Kuznetsov factory.

I repeat that funds were not limited. If this is what the architect needs for his plan, he can without hesitation purchase everything that is necessary.

And here is the mansion..., no - a mansion! - ready. It's time to show it to the world. The merchant rubs his hands in anticipation of delight. But…

Envy is a bad feeling. It is not for nothing that it is one of the seven deadly sins. A sea of ​​dirt and negativity is poured onto the Customer and the Contractor. Well, Moscow architects could not admit that this newcomer was able to do something that they, the masters, simply did not have enough imagination for. But you can’t admit your creative limitations... It’s absolutely impossible. We are Muscovites, we know better. And he... well, the province is a province. Atta him!

A real persecution has been launched against Pozdeev. Authoritative Moscow experts on architecture quipped: “ This style of construction is not ours. Alien to the Moscow spirit and eye" Or here’s another: “ Whatever, here’s five arshins of “Greek classicism”, but if not, three and a quarter Italian Renaissance. Or a good slice of Romanesque, six spools of Gothic and a whole pound of Russian". A commercial approach to art, like in the market...

Nikolai Igumnov likes his mansion. But he is completely dissatisfied with public opinion. For his money (considerable) he wants to get an adequate answer - a mansion that everyone will admire. And here...

The house remained standing. Don't tear it down! So much effort was spent... And money. According to rumors, this construction cost the Customer a million rubles! Therefore, the Customer decides not to pay costs in excess of the estimate. At all. Money - they love counting.

Nikolai Pozdeev is crushed. Crushed! Public opinion in the form of envious competitors plus a financial disaster finished him off. On the morning of October 18, 1893, he would be found dead. Official reason death - tuberculosis, which he actually suffered from. Unofficial - well, you understand. The collapse of a dream and a huge debt took their toll. After all, in addition to his soul, Nikolai Pozdeev also invested money in his first Moscow project. Your money. After all, there were no restrictions, Nikolai Igumnov promised to return everything...

And before I continue the story, I would like to name one more person connected with Terem. This is the architect Pyotr Semyonovich Boytsov, a famous Russian master of estate construction. It is to him that we owe the interior design of the mansion of merchant Nikolai Igumnov.

Alas, there is very little information about this person. It is known that he was born in 1849 in Nizhny Novgorod, through his efforts several mansion castles were built in the Moscow and Vladimir regions. Probably the most striking of the objects of his activity that have reached us can be called the famous Muromtsevo. Anyone who has ever been there will never forget this Gothic miracle. However, this is not the only famous creation of Pyotr Semenovich. He is also known as the author of the first (unrealized) project Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Other examples of self-taught architectural genius are now in a state of desolation.

And we will return to our mansion. Yes, Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev is no more... but the story with his mansion is just beginning. There are many legends associated with this wonderful building. The first of them is a “horror story”. They say that Nikolai Igumnov, as a wealthy man, once noticed a young beautiful dancer. Gave her furs, expensive jewelry Well, one day I left it in my house. The girl, apparently, did not appreciate the high trust placed in her 😉 and somehow brought her lover with her. It is clear that the merchant was not happy about this. History is silent about what happened to the young guy, but the dancer was walled up alive in the wall. And her ghost still walks around the mansion...

Another story is more vital. The merchant Igumnov did not demolish his mansion. But in order to somehow rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Moscow nobility, he decides to organize a reception for guests. And to emphasize his high status (merchant of the first guild!), he gives the order to cover the floor in one of the halls with gold ducats. Who is depicted on this coin? Right! Emperor. The highest authority in the country. Is it permissible for the bright face of God’s anointed to be trampled under foot?

Whether this is true or not is difficult to say. There is no smoke without fire. The important thing is that the merchant Igumnov will not stay in Moscow for long after this. In the first year of the twentieth century, an official document arrives from St. Petersburg, according to which Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov should be expelled from Moscow without the right of return.

The place of exile is the Abkhazian village of Alakhadzy. Then - a hole is a hole. A swampy region where malaria is rampant. But a practical and shrewd merchant bought 600 acres of land for next to nothing and... created a resort! It is clear that this process was lengthy. After all, it is necessary not only to study the local climate, drain the swamps (that’s a lot of work) and plant trees. But now the residents of this area proudly call the merchant their “Russian brother” and complain that his name has been undeservedly forgotten. They even say that if you look at Abkhazia from space, you can see huge letter“I”, and next to it, slightly smaller in size, “H” and “B”. These letters are the initials of Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov, formed from cypress and eucalyptus trees planted more than a century ago.

But this is where the story of the house in Yakimanka ends! Moreover, the ghost story continues. Because, soon after the exile of the merchant and the death of the architect, a global redistribution of property takes place in Russia. The red seventeenth year is coming...

When I was at school, every student knew that “Grandfather Lenin” was the most humane person. Any city must have at least Lenin Street. Leniniana manifested itself in almost everything. By the way, Bolshaya Yakimanka it turns into Leninsky Prospect, and on Kaluga Square there is a monument to the Leader by sculptor Lev Efimovich Kerbel. Accidents are not accidental?

And Nikolai Igumnov’s mansion is not just a mansion. It became the last refuge of the Leader. No, I was not mistaken. The body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin really lies in the Mausoleum on Red Square. But what is a body without thought? Nothing! Only those who have a brain are capable of thinking. And Lenin is no exception. That’s why I claim that Vladimir Ilyich is here. After all, since 1925, there was a laboratory here to study the brain of the Leader of the World Proletariat. A world-renowned scientist, German neuroscientist Oskar Vogt, was invited to lead the work. A few years later, this place will acquire a new status - the Brain Institute. Further - more. The collection will grow with new “star” exhibits: the gray matter of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Maxim Gorky, Ivan Michurin, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Ivan Pavlov and many others will be studied here famous people. Soviet science set as its goal to study the structure of the brain of geniuses.

However, let us return to the person of V.I. Lenin. Without a doubt - smart man. It is the mind that distinguishes man from beast. If we can solve the mysteries of his brain, science will gain a lot. But that’s not what we’re talking about now. Yes, Lenin’s brain is here, and his body is in the Mausoleum. And what does the Mausoleum have to do with our tower?

It turned out that it was direct. There is a legend that it was the luxurious building of the merchant mansion that once inspired young man named Alexey Viktorovich Shchusev to go study “to become an architect.” He created many beautiful buildings that embody the original Russian style. He is a recognized master of Russian architecture; it is no coincidence that the State (!) Museum of Architecture in Moscow is named after Alexei Viktorovich. It was his Mausoleum project that was approved by the Soviet Government, and since the 30s of the 20th century we have another architectural monument in our city.

However, the tower has not yet shown us all its beauties. We go into the building... And inside there are not only Russian interiors. Not only the imprinted Mother Rus'. If we go deeper, we will find ourselves in another fairy tale. Before us is European furniture from the era of Louis XV, ancient tapestries of the 17th century, the spirit of the old lady of Europe. What happened?

Yes, we have found ourselves in another fairy tale. If it is enough for the reader to read several different books, then one and a half to two dozen steps inside this building will be enough for us.

Two fairy tales... One Russian, the other French. But how they complement each other! How unusual is the transition between them! How organic it is!

It remains to say about the current state of Terem. Many Muscovites (including me) dream of getting inside. But - alas! Only those who have received a personal invitation from the French ambassador can cross the threshold of the strange mansion. Why? Because in our time it is a piece of France. Here is located official residence Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary French Republic V Russian Federation. Of several buildings proposed by the Russian side, this was chosen. The French have always known a lot about Beauty...

On the street with the mysterious name Yakimanka there are two amazing buildings that every Muscovite knows. They look like they came straight out of an illustration ancient Russian epics and somehow ended up in the modern urban landscape. The first is the ancient temple of Ivan the Warrior, a magnificent monument to the Moscow or Naryshkin baroque. The second is a wonderful fairy-tale tower, which stands opposite. This has been the building of the French embassy for many years, but people still call it the house of the merchant Igumnov.

Heir to the Textile King

These houses are similar, although they are separated by almost two centuries. If the Temple of St. John the Warrior is indeed a rare surviving example of the pre-Petrine style (although its creation was completed already during the reign of our first emperor), then the second is stylization. But it is made with such delicate taste that it is difficult to believe it at first glance. However, let's talk about everything in order.

This story begins on March 30, 1851, when the wife of a prominent St. Petersburg merchant, Vera Yakovlevna Igumnova, bought V.D. from the Moscow merchant’s wife for 17,140 rubles in silver. Krasheninnikova plot with a house at the end of Yakimanka. It was purchased for future use, rather for the purpose of investment, and for several decades old house and remained in the same place.

By the way, the place was not chosen by chance: on the one hand, it was traditionally a merchant district of Zamoskvorechye, on the other, Yakimanka (the name came from the Church of Joachim and Anna), passed into the Kaluga tract, on which the Neskuchny Garden was located - a fashionable walking place at that time. We can say that the site was noticeable and promising.

Temple of John the Warrior on Yakimanka.

Photo: Alexander Polyakov / RIA Novosti

The merchant of the first guild himself had other concerns. In 1857, the Igumnov brothers, together with the Moscow merchants the Karzinkin brothers, acquired the Yaroslavl manufactory, founded by decree of Peter the Great in 1722. On its basis, they create the Partnership of the Yaroslavl Big Manufactory (now it is the Yaroslavl Industrial Fabric Factory "Krasny Perekop"), which becomes one of largest producers textiles in Russia. The business was booming, and its owners - already more industrialists than merchants - gradually became one of the richest people countries.

The heir to the Igumnov part of the expanded industrial empire, which included several branch factories and even gold mines in Siberia, became the young, then 33-year-old Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov. This was already a man of a different make, far from the Old Believer traditions of his ancestors.

It was he who, in 1888, decided to build a “Moscow residence” on the land he inherited. Living in Yaroslavl, the Igumnovs actively carried out construction. They also had their favorite home architect there, Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev. The young industrialist entrusted him with the construction of his Moscow mansion.

District master

At that time, Pozdeev was also thirty-three years old, and he held the position of city architect of Yaroslavl. Thanks to his efforts county town with a thousand-year history, it has been enriched with many wonderful buildings, for example, the Alexander Nevsky Chapel or the Sretenskaya Church in Deputatsky Lane, or the exquisite mansion with atlases, which the architect built for the owner of the tobacco factory Dunaev.

At the same time, Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev was almost unknown outside of Yaroslavl and the project of the Igumnov mansion became his first work in Moscow, although at one time he graduated from the school of painting, sculpture and architecture here.

At first, the master offered only to rebuild the old house, but the customer was not satisfied with such modesty - he wanted everything to be of the highest standard. In true merchant traditions, Igumnov ordered the construction of such a house that Moscow would gasp. And he allocated an incredible amount of money for this - a whole million.

Chapel of Alexander Nevsky, built according to the design of Nikolai Pozdeev.

Sretenskaya Church in Yaroslavl, built according to the design of Nikolai Pozdeev.

For the mansion, the image of a richly decorated palace-tower of the pre-Petrine era was chosen. A reference to truly “Moscow” antiquity and an association with the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye or the Terem Palace in the Kremlin. For both Nikolaev (the architect and the customer) it was organic: it was obviously merchant-like, Russian origin Igumnov, at the same time, it is stylistically very close to the church buildings that Pozdeev built in Yaroslavl. Another thing is that now he had to build not a temple, but a residential building.

No expense was spared on materials. The tiles were ordered from the famous “Partnership for the production of porcelain and earthenware products of Matvey Sidorovich Kuznetsov.” They ordered the most valuable Carrara marble in the world, the one from which Michelangelo sculpted his David. Even the brick was brought from Holland. Pyotr Semenovich Boytsov was involved in the work on the interiors - famous master estate construction.

The fact is that, at the request of the customer, the interior decoration had to be designed not in Russian (like the exterior), but in french style. Immediately after the massive entrance doors, guests plunged into the realm of empire luxury. Furniture in the style of Louis XV and magnificent tapestries from the 17th century emphasized French spirit this room. And the small salon adjacent to the living room was furnished in the style of Louis XVI.

Skeleton in the closet and royal resentment

When the scaffolding was removed from the house and it appeared in all its glory before the public, the expected enthusiastic reaction did not follow. Vice versa, Moscow society The appearance of the fairy-tale mansion was greeted rather warily. Moreover, both the merchants and the professional architectural community. Not all of it, of course, but only some of it.

Pozdeev’s ideas were ahead of their time, because the similar style buildings of the upper shopping arcade (GUM) by the architect A.N. Pomerantsev or the building of the City Duma in Moscow (V.I. Lenin Museum and a branch of the State Historical Museum), designed by D.N. Chichagov, were founded only a few years later. The pseudo-Russian appearance was unusual to the eye, and the public in Moscow was conservative. Perhaps simple human jealousy also had an effect, because both Nikolai were strangers in the city.

Architect Nikolai Pozdeev.

One way or another, the merchant was upset, and the architect, naturally, became the extreme one. Igumnov, who had previously not limited his funds, was indignant that some of the estimates turned out to be inflated, and even seemed to refuse to pay some bills. It is possible that the architect really did not follow the process - he simply had no time for it.

Nikolai Ivanovich’s wife was dying of tuberculosis, it was necessary to look after his little son, and he himself suffered from this terrible disease. At the beginning of 1893, Pozdeev left for Yaroslavl and died there in the fall from “consumption,” two weeks before his thirty-seventh birthday. He outlived his beloved wife Maria by only a few months.

Of course, after this, rumors spread throughout Moscow that the offended master had committed suicide, but this was just a legend. After Nikolai's death, the work was supervised by his younger brother Ivan, also a very famous architect.

The house did not bring long-term happiness to Igumnov either. He visited him on visits, partied beautifully and widely, but was never able to become his own person in Moscow society. There were rumors that he settled his young mistress in the house - either an actress or a dancer, to whom he ran away from his family living in Yaroslavl. But one day, unexpectedly showing up in Moscow, he found her with her lover.

Photo: Vladimir Prizemlin / Photobank Lori

Photo: Boris Breitman / Lori Photobank

No one really knows what happened next, but the young lady disappeared. Rumor claimed that the merchant, terrible in anger, killed the infidel, and walled up the corpse in the wall of the tower. The police even opened a case, however, they found no traces of a crime - apparently, the actress simply fled the city with a new lover.

Igumnov continued to visit Moscow on visits and take beautiful walks. Once in 1901, during a formal ball, solely for the sake of bragging, he covered the floor with dance hall gold chervonets. The guests danced merrily until the morning, not thinking that they were trampling underfoot the face of the Emperor himself, carved on the coins. Nicholas was informed about this, he became furious and ordered the merchant to be sent to the distant Abkhazian village of Alakhadzy without the right to return to the capital.

The first Abkhazian mandarin

Either Abkhazia had a beneficial effect on Nikolai Vasilyevich, or the very fact of disgrace and exile shook him up. But the fact is that the image of the nouveau riche and the revelry merchant is a thing of the past, and we are presented with a completely different person: a zealous owner, an excellent businessman, an excellent organizer and a dedicated scientist-gardener. In the Caucasus, Igumnov found his true calling and found a second homeland.

At that time it was difficult to call this area between Gagra and Pitsunda a fertile land: a swampy place with a lot of malarial mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. A dead, deserted zone, not really suitable for normal life.

The disgraced merchant bought six thousand acres of this most disastrous land from the Abkhaz princely family Inal-Ipa for next to nothing and began to develop them. Nikolai Vasilyevich brought 150 fishermen from the Don and established a fishing industry on the Bzyb River, and soon built the first fish canning plant on the coast.

Merchant Nikolai Igumnov

In order to attract people, Igumnov created conditions for workers that were unique at that time: he built dormitories with double rooms and even separate smoking rooms, and for families he built separate houses, which after some time became the property of the worker’s family along with the plot land.

At the same time, Igumnov began draining the swamps. On his orders, 800 eucalyptus trees and hundreds of swamp cypresses were planted - plants that absorb moisture well. Fertile Kuban soil began to be brought by barges by sea. On the drained lands, Igumnov started breeding livestock farms: he brought native Yaroslavl cows to these southern regions. They took root well on the Black Sea land, and the farm began to generate good income.

But Nikolai Vasilyevich’s main and favorite brainchild was a wonderful, outlandish garden. Through his efforts, the first tangerine grove was planted (it’s hard to believe, but before that tangerines were not grown in Abkhazia!), plantations of medicinal trees were created - camphor and cinchona, necessary to fight malarial fever. Such unusual plants for these places as kiwi, mango, lemongrass, tunga, and tobacco appeared. The enterprise “Abkhazian bamboo” started working...

It’s hard to even imagine how much this has done for the region. amazing person. And during the First World War, he sheltered and gave work, and in fact, saved from death thousands of Armenians forced to flee from the terrible Turkish scimitars.

After the revolution of 1917, Igumnov voluntarily transferred his huge farms to the new government. He did not want to give up his life’s work and did not emigrate with his family to France, but remained to work as a simple agronomist in the citrus state farm named after the Third International, organized on his lands. In 1924, Nikolai Vasilyevich passed away. They buried him modestly, and the grave was surrounded by his favorite cypress trees.

And what happened to his Moscow mansion? After the owner left, it was put up for sale, but no buyers could be found. Apparently, the notoriety was a deterrent. IN Soviet era The house was first turned into a Gosznak dormitory, then a brain institute, which studied the unique convolutions of Vladimir Ilyich. In the 30s, when relations with Europe gradually began to be restored, the mansion was transferred to the French diplomatic mission, which is located there to this day.

Many people are familiar with the history of this house, but repetition - mother teachings, for those who did not know or forgot.
The merchant Igumnov was a very rich man. Still on satellite map Abkhazia
in the village of Alakhadzy you can distinguish his initials: “INV” - these are cypress alleys,
figuratively planted a hundred years ago. Nikolai Vasilievich was a co-owner of Yaroslavskaya
Large manufactory, had gold mines in Siberia.
In 1888, he decided to arrange his Moscow residence,
which today houses the French Embassy.

The place on Yakimanka was in no way considered prestigious at that time.
Dilapidated houses, distance from the center.
Igumnov justified his choice by the fact that his childhood passed somewhere here (history has not preserved early biographical data; even the year of his birth is unknown). According to other legends, the distance from the center was required for privacy from prying eyes, because the house was not designed for ordinary life.

Be that as it may, Igumnov bought a wooden house from a certain merchant Nikolai Lukyanov,
demolished it and brought in the young talented city architect of Yaroslavl, Nikolai Pozdeev, for a new construction.
The architect had just turned 33 at that time, but in Yaroslavl he had already gained recognition thanks to a number of good buildings. By the way, it cannot be ruled out that the place near the Kaluga outpost was recommended to the customer by the architect, whose childhood was spent near Maloyaroslavets, and whose acquaintance with Moscow came from here.

The house was built in the form of a fairy-tale palace in the pseudo-Russian style.
Igumnov wanted to conquer the Mother See and did not skimp.
Bricks for construction were transported directly to the construction site
from Holland, tiles and tiles were ordered from porcelain factories
Kuznetsov, interior decoration was entrusted to one of the most popular
then architects Peter Boitsov. We managed to combine into a single whole
the most diverse and complex components: turrets, tents, vaults
arches, columns. Stylistic similarities between the mansion are revealed
with a masterpiece of Moscow architecture of the same years - the State
Historical Museum. Today the building is a cultural object
heritage of federal significance, but originally Moscow
The “world” reacted more than coolly to the palace.

According to legend, the upset Igumnov refused to pay for everything,
which was not prepaid, after which the architect Pozdeev
committed suicide. According to another version, the architect died from a severe
illness at 38 years of age. This project became his last work.

The capital did not want to accept a rich and successful provincial.
Soon rumors spread around the city that in Nikolai Vasilyevich’s mansion
there lived a young lover-dancer. One day, without suffering betrayal,
the merchant walled her up alive in the wall.
It is unknown who spread the rumors, but Igumnov has ill-wishers
were very influential.
When in 1901 a merchant decided to throw a ball in a house on Yakimanka,
out of his habit, he wanted to amaze the guests with his scale.
For this purpose, the floor of the dance hall was completely covered with new
gold chervonets.
And the very next day in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II was informed that
how the Moscow merchants danced on the imperial profiles,
minted on coins.
The reaction followed immediately: by the highest order
Nikolai Igumnov was expelled from the Mother See, without the right to return to it.

The authorities chose a place of exile that was not a resort: the Abkhaz coast
The Sukhumi region was then swampy and infested with malaria mosquitoes
and poisonous snakes. After looking around, the disgraced merchant bought it for next to nothing
6 thousand acres of local swamps and began a new life.
The first successful business was created with the help of fishermen discharged from the Don.
Igumnov mastered the trade and opened the first cannery on the Black Sea coast.

Comfortable living conditions were created for the workers: seasonal workers were provided with a dormitory with rooms for two people and large smoking rooms, permanent workers received separate houses, which after a few years became their property.
Igumnov brought eucalyptus trees and swamp cypresses here, which quickly drew out excess moisture
from local soils. Chernozem was brought from Kuban, breeding stock was brought from Yaroslavl, and the merchant became interested in gardening. Through his efforts, plantations of tangerines, kiwi, mango, tobacco,
The Abkhazian Bamboo enterprise started operating, and cypress alleys that have survived to this day appeared.

After the revolution, Nikolai Vasilyevich refused to emigrate to France.
He voluntarily transferred his property to the state and got a job as an agronomist at the citrus state farm named after the Third International, which became the name of his former estate.
Nikolai Vasilyevich died in 1924, he was buried modestly, planting his beloved cypress trees on his grave.

History sometimes likes to grimace. If the emperor took the house from the merchant for a ball on coins with his image, then after the revolution and nationalization, the building for several years became... the club of the Goznak factory.
The next owner of the house on Yakimanka lived up to the dark legends that surrounded the mansion: in 1925, a brain research laboratory settled here for 13 years
(since 1928 - Brain Institute).
During this time, the brains of Lenin, Clara Zetkin, Tsyurupa, Lunacharsky, Andrei Bely, Mayakovsky, Gorky, Pavlov, Michurin, Tsiolkovsky, Kalinin, Kirov, Kuibyshev, Krupskaya visited here...

In 1938, the mansion was transferred to the French Embassy. In 1944, President Charles de Gaulle presented awards here to the pilots of the Normandie-Niemen squadron.
The Dutch brick building is still maintained in perfect condition by employees of the French diplomatic mission.

About the ghost of Igumnov's house.
Rumor has it that there is still a so-called “white woman” in the building of the French embassy.
According to legend, this small mansion was given as a gift by the merchant Igumnov to his kept woman.
He himself lived in Yaroslavl, and visited the capital on visits. He usually warned the lady of his heart about his arrivals through a sent servant.
But one day he arrived without warning and found his beloved with a young cornet...
The owner kicked Cornet out, but after that the girl disappeared without a trace.
There were rumors that the merchant killed her in his heart, and walled up her corpse in the wall of the mansion.

According to another legend, his young stoker is to blame for everything. The guy allegedly began to flirt with the pretty daughter of a merchant, for which he was soon forever excommunicated from the rich house.
True, this did not end the matter. Rumor claims that before leaving, the offended stoker secretly filled the chimneys with clay shards.
As a result, when the stoves in the mansion-palace were flooded, the pipes and even the walls began to make terrible sounds (for some reason, especially at night), from which the owner suffered unbearably.

But let's return to the house. A pseudo-Russian style was chosen for construction,
very fashionable in those days ( Historical Museum, GUM store building, etc.).
This style of architecture took inspiration from the image of Russian wooden towers,
the most famous of which is the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye -
burned down in the 18th century.

Other decorative elements were taken from church architecture
(St. Basil's Cathedral) or the churches of Yaroslavl, in which it is beautiful
Brick, stone and multi-colored tiles were combined.

On the high roof of the mansion there is pressed metal under the tiles,
ceramic inserts. Above the "red porch" (front entrance
elegant antique double arch.
The walls are made of imported Dutch bricks. White window trim
Moscow region stone. Picturesque bells, onion-topped tents,
blown columns. Multi-colored mosaic of the rarest tiles, specially
painted according to drawings by the Russian painter S. Maslennikov
and manufactured at the famous Kuznetsov plant.

Pozdeev’s talent managed to combine various volumes into a single whole,
topped with picturesque tents, and numerous decorative
details of different genres (bells, vaulted arches, blown columns, etc.).
The result was harmonious, although a little massive.

On museum day I was lucky enough to get inside! There will be a lot of photographs so that you can say that you saw what it was like inside. I apologize for the quality of some of the photographs and the people in the frame. It's difficult to take perfect pictures during a tour.

The interior is also replete with decorations. The hall and main staircase are a masterpiece of multicolor, perfectly combined with the exterior decoration of the building.
"Old Russian" hall with a grand staircase.

Extraordinarily beautiful doors
There are four of them in the hall and not one is the same

The fragment shows what the painting was originally like. There is an idea to refresh the walls, which I don’t like at all.

We go up to the second floor.

We open the massive door and...we find ourselves from the Middle Ages into the interiors of Louis XV

We make the transition from one century to another through a gallery in the Empire style. Reception of the exterior into the interior.
The finishing is usually used for facade work. The mirror at the end of the corridor endlessly stretches the room.

On the corridor side the door is very simple, without decoration.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything about the interiors of the house. Therefore, I suggest you look at the photographs and information
try to find it yourself, maybe you'll have better luck.

Round, mirrored room. Very bright, flirty.

The hospitable hosts prepared us tea and coffee.

View from the window onto the balcony.

This mosaic mansion, reminiscent of an ancient Russian tower, attracts the attention of everyone who has visited Yakimanka Street in Moscow. Today it houses the residence of the French ambassador.

This house was built by the famous industrialist, owner of the Great Yaroslavl Manufactory, Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov. In 1888 he petitioned to build a new stone house. The construction site surprised many, because... Yakimanka at that time was a poor outlying district of Moscow. The poor facades of neighboring houses could ruin any architectural plan. However, Nikolai Igumnov explained his choice by saying that he himself was born and raised in these places.

For the new construction, Igumnov attracted the young talented city architect of Yaroslavl, Nikolai Pozdeev. The architect had just turned 33 at that time, but in Yaroslavl he had already gained recognition thanks to a number of good buildings.

Igumnov wanted to surprise Moscow and did not skimp. Bricks for construction were brought from Holland, tiles and tiles were ordered from Kuznetsov's porcelain factories, and interior decoration was entrusted to one of the most popular architects of that time, Pyotr Boytsov.

Photo:liveinternet.ru

However, Moscow society reacted coolly to the palace. According to legend, the upset Igumnov refused to pay for everything that was not paid in advance, after which the architect Pozdeev committed suicide. According to another version, the architect died of a serious illness at the age of 38. This project became his last work.

Photo:liveinternet.ru

This is not the only legend associated with Igumnov’s house. They also said that the industrialist intended to live in a mansion with his dancer-mistress, but then caught her in treason and walled up the unfaithful woman in the wall. According to another legend, one day Igumnov decided to surprise the guests and lined the floor in the front room with gold coins. But, as you know, the emperor’s profile was depicted on the coins, so that the guests, trampling the chervonets under their feet, unwittingly showed disrespect for the royal person. Rumors about this supposedly reached the emperor himself, and Igumnov was forced to leave Moscow.

Photo:liveinternet.ru

Legend or not, Igumnov really left for Abkhazia in 1901 and never returned to his Moscow palace. In exile, he acquired 600 acres of land for next to nothing, studied the climate issue and drained the swamps, planting eucalyptus and swamp cypresses (plants that absorb moisture well), and in the drained swamps he planted an orchard and livestock farm. He built a fish canning factory on the seashore and built himself a small palace. Dormitories with double rooms and separate smoking rooms were built for the factory workers - communal conditions unprecedented at that time. He built houses for families, which after some time became the property of the worker’s family along with a plot of land.

Photo:liveinternet.ru

After the revolution of 1917, Nikolai Vasilyevich voluntarily transferred his huge farms to the new government and, refusing to emigrate with his family to France, remained an agronomist at the State Farm of the Third International, which became his domain. In 1924, Nikolai Vasilyevich passed away. They buried him modestly, lining the grave with the cypress trees he loved so much.

Nikolai Vasilievich Igumnov

And after the revolution, the house on Yakimanka became the club of the Goznak factory. In 1925, the club was evicted, and a laboratory began to operate here to study the brain of the deceased Lenin. The German neuroscientist Oskar Vogt was invited to lead this institution. In 1928, the laboratory was elevated to the Brain Institute. Brains were studied here by special technique, hoping to decipher the phenomenon of genius and create a superman. Scientists tried to find general patterns in the anatomical structure of those whom the authorities considered outstanding specimens human nature. In a mansion on Yakimanka they began to actively collect brains outstanding people. In 1934, Pravda wrote that “the scientific team of the Institute has prepared and is already studying the brains of Clara Zetkin, Lunacharsky, Tsyurupa, Mayakovsky, Andrei Bely, Academician Gulevich.” Soon it will unique collection was replenished with the brains of director Stanislavsky, singer Sobinov, Maxim Gorky and Eduard Bagritsky, scientists Michurin, Pavlov, Tsiolkovsky, revolutionary figures Kalinin, Kirov, Kuibyshev, Krupskaya. In 1938, the house came into the possession of the French Embassy.