Vasiliev's palace in vyritsa. Country residences of famous oligarchs
The Vasilievsky Palace in the village of Vyritsa is also called the house or dacha of Vasiliev, the mansion of the Vasiliev brothers. It is located on the left bank of the Oredezh River and sends us to the Great Catherine Palace in Pushkin.
Construction of the Vasiliev mansion
Vasilievsky Palace was built in 2005-2006. It was designed by the Petersburg architect Igor Nikolaevich Gremitsky. Only natural materials and only old technologies were used in the decoration.
We can say that this is the first truly marble palace in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The mansion is designed to receive high-ranking guests. Therefore, its design amazes any imagination.
The architect explained the idea as follows:
The difficulty was to create a sense of huge volume in the interior (more from the inside than from the outside) ... In addition, we strove to ensure that there were no repetitions in the decor, so that step by step the space would open up to the viewer unexpectedly, richly, brightly, in a new way, although the leading style is one - Russian baroque.
Royal decoration of the palace
The architectural volumes and the height of the ceilings in palace premises, for example, in large hall- 14 m. The view of a marble staircase can evoke an indescribable feeling, not to mention the luxurious decoration of the walls, columns and ceiling.
The mosaic marble floors are over 600 m2. The columns, fireplaces and pilasters in the hall and foyer, as well as the walls of the first floor, stairs and sculptures are made of marble. All this beauty was created by the best masters of Russia and Italy.
The second floor is presented in the form of open galleries, framing an oval double-height hall and thereby creating a large visual space. Five-meter giant knights of black marble adorn the central gallery.
Palace complex
The mansion is located on a plot measuring 400x400 m. There is also a regular park, on the territory of which there are fountains, marble sculptures, cannons, a summer pavilion.
A column with a sculptural composition was erected in front of the palace - a Guardian Angel, who supports the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, with his right hand, and overshadows the tsar with a cross with his left.
The palace complex has a chapel, as well as the Great Catherine Palace.
The owner of the palace
The client of the project and the owner of the palace is the St. Petersburg businessman Sergei Vasilievich Vasiliev, the middle of the 3 Vasiliev brothers, natives of Vyritsa.
The initials of the owner - "SVV" are adorned in a cartouche above the main entrance to the mansion. In Vyritsa, the Vasiliev brothers sponsored the reconstruction of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and a number of other historical monuments.
Vasilievsky Palace address
- Leningrad region., Gatchinsky district, pos. Vyritsa
How to get to Vyritsa from St. Petersburg
Suburban train
- From the Vitebsk railway station (metro stations "Pushkinskaya", "Zvenigorodskaya"), take one of the trains going to "Vyritsa", "Village", "Oredezh", "Chashcha", "Cholovo" or "Novinka". Travel time is about 1.00-1.20 hours.
- You can also take the above-mentioned electric trains at the Kupchino station (platform), located directly above the metro station of the same name on the southern outskirts of St. Petersburg.
- Attention: electric trains going to Pavlovsk or Novolisino are not suitable!
Automobile
- Follow Kievskoe or Moskovskoe highway - 62-76 km. Travel time - 0.50-1.15 hours.
On Friday, Vladimir Barsukov was arrested and then convoyed to a Moscow pre-trial detention center. He is an entrepreneur in the north-west of Russia, the founder of the so-called "Tambov business community" in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area, the last and most unsinkable of the "Mohicans" of the dashing 90s.
Surprisingly, the life of Vladimir Barsukov is inextricably linked with the screen. Several years ago Vladimir Sergeevich played Louis XIV in the film by Alexander Nevzorov "The History of the Horse". A little later, Leonid Parfenov, who was filming "The Other Day" in St. Petersburg, turned out to be in his apartment on Tavricheskaya Street. Barsukov's apartment offers a beautiful view of the Tavrichesky Garden. The owner and the TV man were photographed for memory, Barsukov was proud: "These are the people I have." Ironically, Barsukov was arrested in the days when the TV series "Reckoning", a continuation of the "Gangster Petersburg" saga, was on the Rossiya TV channel. The main character telenovelas - Sokhaty - strikingly reminds Petersburgers of Vladimir Barsukov. In the series, Sokhatiy was taken by the security forces. For his prototype, the "serial" is just beginning.
Series one. Bam-bam - and in slippers
It all started when the Prosecutor General's Office landed in the city on the Neva last Wednesday. A characteristic detail is that the security forces of St. Petersburg were not even informed that the arrest of Barsukov was planned. The operation involved about 40 people. But not a single one from St. Petersburg.
To take into custody Vladimir Barsukov, a disabled person of the 1st group (his right arm was amputated), it took an almost military operation with the participation of special forces. It started on Wednesday at 4 pm, when Barsukov's dacha in Tarkhovka near St. Petersburg was surrounded by four trucks with soldiers of the Zubr special forces detachment. The owner of the house went out in shorts and slippers, and went after the operatives for more than six hours while the search was going on. Towards nightfall, at 12 o'clock, we went to inspect Barsukov's apartment on Tavricheskaya Street.
According to Barsukov's household members, their home made an indelible impression on the police. The apartment of Vladimir Sergeevich has two levels, and there are legends about its furnishings in Peter. One of the operas got so carried away that he almost forgot that he was looking for material evidence here, and not a future father-in-law.
I began to ask if we have a daughter, if she is married and how old she is, - Marina Khaberlakh, the wife of Vladimir Barsukov, tells with undisguised irony in her voice.
According to the businessman's relatives, during the search, only paintings, bronze figurines and other household trifles were seized. Nothing illegal was found.
On Friday, the Petrogradskiy District Court authorized the arrest of Barsukov without charge. But after 10 days, according to the law, he must either be charged or released. The latter is unlikely.
Series two. We are a long echo of each other
Why was Barsukov arrested now, when he stands for legal business? Recently Vladimir Sergeevich decided to cooperate with the authorities. It was he who helped the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office to save the little townspeople:.
The official version of his detention was announced by the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office. Barsukov is considered the customer of the attempt on the life of another St. Petersburg businessman, Sergei Vasiliev. The investigation, in addition, expects to prove Barsukov's involvement in a series of contract killings and raider seizures of enterprises.
Vasiliev is also a very curious person. His love for St. Petersburg architecture or for luxury - who knows how - was embodied in an exact copy of the Catherine Palace, which he built in the town of Vyritsa near St. Petersburg. The "Vasiliev brothers' grouping" was viewed as the most, if I may say so, an effective subdivision of the "Tambov business community." Vasiliev controls one of the most important enterprises - the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal (PNT). It is the largest in Seaport Petersburg bunkering company, which accounts for 15% of the total transshipment of oil products in the Baltic.
In early 2006, PNT almost changed hands. The raiders used a "traditional" tactic - the substitution of owner data in the Unified Register. Vasiliev repulsed the attack. And at the end of the fight, in May, an attempt was made on his life, which was immediately associated with the failed capture and ... with Vladimir Barsukov.
Whoever planned the elimination of Vasiliev, he framed it as a "remake" of the early St. Petersburg 90s. On May 5 last year, at 2 pm, in front of hundreds of passers-by and kids from a nearby kindergarten along Levashovsky Prospekt on the Petrogradskaya side, a cortege, a gray Rolls-Royce, accompanied by a guard jeep, was slowly driving along. Suddenly, a gray "nine" dashingly flew across them, forcing both cars to stop. Three men jumped out of the Zhiguli and opened fire from machine guns and a pistol. Having covered the asphalt with shell casings, the arrows jumped into the "nine" on the move and disappeared. An abandoned car will later be found in a nearby yard. But the shooters themselves were gone.
When the shooting began, Vasiliev himself spoke on a cell phone. One of the bullets hit ... the solid metal body of the device, not the head of its owner. Nevertheless, Vasiliev spent several months in the hospital, balancing between life and death.
Reliable sources told Izvestia that it was Vasilyev, having restored his health, added two plus two and came to the conclusion that the same man, Vladimir Barsukov, was behind the attempt to seize PNT and the attempt on him. He allegedly presented his guesses to the prosecutor's office. And he was extremely interested in the journey of his enemy from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
We managed to talk with Vasiliev very briefly. He denies having anything to do with the arrest of a former senior comrade.
Why do I need it? - Vasilyev was very plausibly surprised. - Let the law enforcement agencies understand this situation.
He admits that relations with Barsukov soured in 2006.
Yes, everything was fine, and then there were misunderstandings, - Vasiliev snapped. Probably, these two will not be able to understand and forgive each other for a long time. Maybe never.
Titles. Starring
Vladimir Barsukov in St. Petersburg is often called Kumarin - out of habit. This is his former name. He was born in 1956 in the village of Aleksandrovka, Tambov region. He wrote his graduation essay on the theme "Homeland is that which is dear from childhood." He studied at a vocational school as a driver, served in the army, moved to Leningrad and in 1976 entered the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics. He worked as a freight forwarder in canteen No. 117, barman and cocktail maker in the Tallinn cafe, and also as a doorman and storekeeper in the Wind Rose cafe.
In the second half of the 80s, Kumarin created a team of like-minded people, which at that time was called the "brigade". Vladimir Sergeevich selected compatriots from the Tambov region for it, not forgetting that "Motherland is something that is dear from childhood." The community, of course, got the name "Tambov". Its members were fond of playing with thimbles and provided paid security services to the population. In 1990, the court qualified the occupation as hooliganism, robbery and extortion. Among the Tambov gangs, Kumarin was also convicted. Of the 4 years he served in the colony, over two years.
Since 1993, the community has attracted the oil business. This is how the Petersburg Fuel Company began to emerge. Over time, the business will grow in other areas: banks, casinos, restaurants, shopping centers, delivery of products. According to one version, it was because of the products that Barsukov lost his hand. There was a battle over a contract to supply alcohol for the Goodwill Games. Coumarin's Mercedes was riddled with bullets. The amputation was performed in Germany.
After recovering, the entrepreneur returned to St. Petersburg, becoming even more authoritative. But the time has come to change his name, to become Barsukov (mother's maiden name), vice-president of the Petersburg Fuel Company, and a legal entrepreneur. After another authoritative Petersburg resident, Kostya Mogila, was shot in Moscow, Barsukov was left alone with Petersburg.
Barsukov's supporters are sure that he was not involved in the assassination attempt on Vasilyev. He values too much the image of a law-abiding citizen and a repentant Christian. He donated to the needs of the church. The amount of his contributions to the servants of the Lord was comparable to the budget of a small town. Vladimir Sergeevich is also an assistant to State Duma deputy Alexander Nevzorov with a salary of 1600 rubles. When asked about his current status, he answers: "Pensioner".
Sergei Vasiliev is the middle-aged of three brothers, but "senior in rank." Sergei, Alexander and Boris Vasilievich Vasilievs were born and live in the village of Vyritsa, a hundred kilometers from St. Petersburg. Sergei Vasiliev was born in Vyritsa in 1955, at the age of 19 sat down for rape, at the age of 31 he was involved in extortion. Was convicted of fraud. In the early 90s, he became the younger friend of Kumarin. Together they emerged from the shadows into the light and became fine-looking citizens.
The Times unearthed something else interesting. For example, that the reconstruction and expansion of a dilapidated mansion, which has 65 rooms, will cost the owners another 50 million pounds. On the estate square, it is planned to equip a 33-seat home theater, spa-salon, swimming pool and underground parking for 24 cars with an automated lift. On the territory of the mansion, it is planned to arrange an Italian garden, a tennis court and to dig a lake of such a size that it reflects the mansion. The basement will house a sauna, wine cellar, staff quarters and a dining room. The changes that the house and the plot will undergo will be so significant, the newspaper writes, that the trucks will only have to take out the garbage within six months.
True, there is one nuance in this whole story. Baturina categorically rejects any involvement in the future London palace... And even, they say, is going to sue the newspaper. Nevertheless, Londoners, known for their conservatism, are alarmed: what if a huge new building will appear in the historic district of the city, like in Moscow?
In fairness, we note that the palaces in London are not the limit for perfection. The standards in the construction of palaces today are set not by archaic buildings of the 18th century, but by quite modern ones. Number one of these masterpieces is the Mardan Palace Hotel, which is worth $ 1.4 billion. ex-owner of the Cherkizovsky market Telman Ismailov has grown in Turkey .
The palace-hotel of Mr. Ismailov is an example of extremely luxurious eclecticism. The front gate copies the gates of Dolmabahce - the palace of the Turkish sultans in Istanbul. The facade of the hotel resembles Petrodvorets. On the territory of ten chic restaurants of various national cuisines, a cellar with the best wines of the world, a three-story night club and all kinds of spas. Bridges made according to drawings by Leonardo da Vinci lead across the two-hectare pool, passenger gondolas ply the waters of the pool. It took 10 thousand square meters to finish the interiors. m of gold leaf, 500 thousand crystal crystals, and 23 thousand square meters. m of Italian marble.
And that's not all. A copy of the Istanbul Grand Bazaar was erected on the territory of the hotel, where fur coats, gold and silk are sold. For the hotel's beaches, 9000 tons of the finest sand were brought from Egypt. The most expensive room costs $ 19,000 a day. Its pride is a remote controlled toilet.
Unlike palaces, so to speak, for private life, a palace-hotel can bring a lot of profit. With full occupancy, the hotel's revenue will average $ 1 million per day.
What can you say after that? Most Russians, looking sadly at the ostentatious luxury of their successful compatriots, come to mind the forgotten slogan: “The land is for the peasants. Palaces for workers! " And it even begins to seem that in some ways the organizers of the October Revolution were damn right.
In Russia, it is not customary to dwell on biographies. Most often, even their names are known only to a narrow circle of people who are really interested in this topic. Businessman Sergei Vasiliev, who became famous mainly for his private palace, copying the famous one in Tsarskoye Selo, and experienced a daring attempt on his own life, was no exception. Who is the owner of elite housing and a victim of gang violence?
The beginning of the way
Vasiliev Sergey Vasilievich is a businessman, now quite famous, - the middle of three brothers. All of them were born in the village of Vyritsa, which Leningrad region... Since childhood, the boys were fond of boxing, so they could not take endurance and strength - perhaps this tempering of character became one of the main reasons for their success in business. At the age of 19, Sergei went to jail, but served 3 years out of the five. Ten years later - a new walker, but this time already together with his older brother on charges of extortion, to which fraud was added at the trial - at this time, the Vasilievs, as they say, controlled video salons and so-called thimblers in the city on Neve.
Having freed themselves in the early nineties, the brothers switched to the then popular occupation - driving cars from Europe to Russia, while they actively used old acquaintances, which allowed them to take one of the automobile markets of the northern capital under their wing.
Petersburg oil terminal
Businessman Sergei Vasiliev began his independent voyage from the Petersburg Oil Terminal. An interesting fact is that instead of looking for external investors who could demand a share in PNT as a token of gratitude for their help, Vasiliev started modernizing using the terminal's own income.
V this moment According to the expert, the share of this company in the oil products market of the Baltic region is 15%, and the annual income of the Petersburg Oil Terminal is about $ 60 million.
Union
Vasiliev Sergey Vasilievich is a businessman, a photo, whose biography is shrouded in mystery. But it is known that the Soyuz corporation, which produces specialized fats (vegetable, palm oil, and others), has become another major entrepreneur's undertaking; the share of this enterprise on the Russian market is 18%, which allows us to speak with confidence about its influence. Trouble in this company began in 2012, when a personal conflict broke out between Vasiliev, who owns a controlling stake, and his partner, who held a quarter of the corporation's shares.
Consequences of the "Union"
As a result of this, according to financial experts, a kind of raider seizure of the enterprise began: an unwanted partner was removed from the management of the company, the lion's share of the property was sold allegedly for the debts of Soyuz, and sold at a price much lower than the real market value and to firms for which According to some analysts, businessman Sergei Vasiliev is also standing.
It all ended with the incident on a truly global scale: the outcast partner was forced to leave for Holland with his family after an attempt on his own life, most likely organized by Vasiliev; many Russian and foreign firms refuse to cooperate with the corporation; The court proceedings initiated by the fled partner with the aim of returning the seized stake in Soyuz are in full swing.
Arcros
Russian Foundations is another project headed by Sergei Vasiliev. The businessman, whose biography includes several large-scale enterprises, with the help of this investment group, recently became the owner of the London diamond trader, the Arcos company, which began its history back in 1920. It was previously under the wing of Alrosa, a mining company specializing primarily in diamond mining. They say, however, that at the time of the sale, Arcos owned only an average-sized apartment in London, while the rest of the property had already been sold to an unknown investor. Alrosa notes that two entrepreneurs took part in the auction, where this company was at stake, and Sergei Vasiliev offered a high price, as is already clear.
The businessman, whose photo in connection with this event appeared in many specialized publications, notes that this acquisition will allow him to expand his influence in the commodity markets, moreover, it will be an excellent addition to the gold mining company Seligdar already owned by the businessman. They note, by the way, that Arcos was sold at a price that turned out to be below market value, so Vasiliev concluded a priori a profitable deal.
Assassination attempt
In Russia, a huge number of large entrepreneurs are citizens of other countries. Sergey is no exception, the businessman, whose photo appeared in many local and all-Russian media in connection with a high-profile assassination attempt, took a fancy for a long time, despite his now Dutch citizenship. In this city, he began his career, here he suffered the first setbacks, and immediately took up new ideas. And in the city on the Neva, he almost died. In 2006, unknown persons fired on the car in which the businessman was.
The attack was clearly well planned: one of the attackers' cars blocked the businessman's Rolls-Royce road, while another targeted shooting: as a result of the assassination attempt, one of Vasilyev's security guards was killed, three were injured, and he himself, who was also injured, spent about a week in intensive care.
Assassination versions
All versions of the assassination attempt are related to professional activities. Some say that Sergei Vasiliev is a businessman who survived and even refused to "share" with one of the well-known crime bosses the Petersburg Oil Terminal, for which he almost paid with his life. Others associate the assassination attempt with the famous Vasiliev mansion, which he refused to sell. In any case, the charge was brought against the head of Tambovskaya, who, according to the investigation, had views on some of Vasilyev's enterprises.
Vasilievsky palace
Vasiliev Sergey Vasilievich is a businessman, the photo of whose mansion excited the Internet. It is believed that a citizen of an EU country should still spend most of the year in the EU, but contrary to this rule, Vasiliev settled in native village where I built myself a small copy famous palace in Tsarskoe Selo. The house is located on the shore, they say, by the way, that due to the construction of the village, it lost a part wild beach... Experts note that if in terms of external design, Vasiliev's palace is in no way inferior to Catherine's palace, then in terms of interior decoration it even surpasses it.
There were rumors that the owner did not like the front doors of the mansion, made of turtle shells, so that one of them, worth 30 thousand dollars, was ordered by businessman Sergei Vasiliev to be replaced with a new one. The abundance of marble and gold, the baroque decoration gives the house a certain "museum character", perhaps that is why this building is more used for receiving high-ranking guests than for ordinary life... By the way, the exact area of the site is unknown.
Patronage
But it is worth noting that Sergei Vasiliev, a businessman whose name often pops up in the media in connection with scandals, attempts and other unpleasant events, is also known for his patronage. He completely restored the Church of Our Lady of Kazan - a wooden cathedral with more than a century of history, which is now one of the main places for pilgrims. True, not all fellow villagers are happy with such changes: from a small local church, the temple has turned into a tourist Mecca, which obviously does not please everyone.
In addition, Sergey Vasiliev takes part in various projects for young entrepreneurs, businessmen, telling his own success story, thereby inspiring young people to new achievements. It is worth noting that a year ago he tried himself in a new field: it all started with notes on one social network, in which Vasiliev shared with his subscribers some stories from his business past. Later, due to the popularity of these notes, the idea arose to create a whole book in which Vasiliev's path would be shown from the very beginning.
In his "memoirs", titled "How it was with me: the 90s", the entrepreneur writes about the specifics of business in the 90s, as well as about all kinds of business schemes that he created himself and which he had to face - this book promises to be one of the self-guides for those who are going to start their own business.
Conclusion
Of course, it is difficult to form an unambiguous opinion about such an extraordinary personality as Sergei Vasiliev. Someone considers him one of the "cleanest" Russian businessmen, saying that he did not clear his way with murders - for that alone he can be respected. Others blame numerous scandals related to the entrepreneur's name: here is the incident with the Soyuz corporation, the trial of which is still pending, and the likely backstage games around the Petersburg Oil Terminal, for which Vasiliev almost paid with his life. In any case, it is worth noting that Sergei Vasilievich Vasiliev has achieved a lot, not giving in to any difficulties and demonstrating his entrepreneurial talent and outstanding ability in doing business. We should pay tribute to him only for the fact that he is also engaged in the cultivation of his own kind, which means that the business of Russia definitely has a future.
I learned about Vyritsa just a week ago, from dima1989
... By this time, I already had on my table Railway tickets on the route Moscow - Smolensk - Petersburg - Moscow, and I thought what to devote a day to in the Northern capital. The lead to Vyritsa turned out to be very useful - this village immediately intrigued me.
After all, there is: a lot of wooden Art Nouveau (including two churches), beautiful nature, intra-village Railway, not indicated in any reference book, the baroque palace and the community of spiritual Christians-teetotalers of Ioann Churikov are a fragment of that system of Orthodox sects, which included the famous runners and whips before the Revolution (45 photos, could not be less).
In addition, I was very lucky with the weather - I am talking about the frosty landscapes.
Formally, Vyritsa is an urban-type settlement in the Gatchinsky district of the Leningrad region, 60 km south of St. Petersburg (trains from the Vitebsky railway station). Its population is 10.5 thousand people, but in fact Vyritsa is a gigantic suburban settlement with an area of 50 square kilometers, that is, approximately 10-15 km in length and 3-5 km in width. For St. Petersburg, Vyritsa is like for Moscow Malakhovka or Nakhabino, and in the summer its population reaches several tens of thousands of people.
But in winter, the dachas sleep.
Vyritsa is a giant conglomerate of thousands of summer cottages of varying degrees of luxury, divided by a grid of absolutely straight streets and avenues. Pines and spruces rise high above the plots:
And it is extremely difficult to navigate in Vyritsa: almost the same terrain throughout the territory (straight streets, dachas, fences, pines), tall trees, behind which no landmarks can be seen, and even complete desertion in winter - here you can get lost no worse than in the forest.
Over a vast space summer cottage village several hundred scattered wooden dachas pre-revolutionary construction - the rise of Vyritsa began in the 1880s, Rozanov, Likhachev, Bianki rested here, and the writer Ivan Efremov was born here.
It is pointless to specifically search for modern dachas in Vyritsa - the spaces are too huge, but regardless of your route, dachas will come across periodically.
The one in the frames above was filmed a 10-minute walk from the station along main street, and this house is behind the Churikov community:
A couple of interesting houses outside Oredezh, in the so-called Princely Valley (and Vyritsa is divided into several "districts"):
It is simply not known where:
Many modern dachas look quite worthy of modern dachas, and I did not find the most beautiful dachas (for example, the former Bumagins dacha near Oredezh).
In winter, these areas are empty - although smoke billows over some of the houses. There is a dog in almost every yard, and there is a barking bark throughout the village. In winter, it's scary here: there are very few people, and basically all kinds of workers, watchmen, and also thieves.
Vyritsa Station - Station and House of Culture:
Shop near the station in the Stalinist building:
Vyritsa is divided by the railway into two parts: western and eastern. Zapadnaya is about 4/5 of the area of Vyritsa, it takes more than an hour to go to its far end. This part of the village lies along three main highways.
Kommunalny prospect runs through the center:
The bus in the foreground is a suburban one, there is no completely internal transport in Vyritsa, and this is very difficult given the distances. However, the taxi here is cheap - 50r in the village.
However, Vyritsa possesses a facility that is unique for the urban settlement - an intra-village railway. From the Vyritsa station to the west, a single-track branch departs to the Posyolok station, which forms southern border Vyritsy. St. Petersburg electric trains run along it (every half hour or hour, with a large "window" between 11 and 15 days) from the Vitebsk railway station, but are there still so many urban settlements, for connecting different parts of which the railway is used?
Between Vyritsa and the Settlement there are 3 platforms without a name (only numbers), the Settlement itself is a dead-end station.
I left St. Petersburg at 8 am, at 9:30 I was in the Village, at 9:41 the train went back and I reached the 3rd platform. And it was unbearably cold (and the locals were much colder than me), but I started the long journey on foot. After all, a lot of interesting things have been lost in the conglomerate of dachas, and the main direction of my path was to be the third vyritskaya highway - the Oredezh River:
In such frosts, Oredezh froze so that on the ice it is not only possible to walk - it is all in the tracks from the wheels. Along the coast there is a luxurious coniferous forest, and rare, rare climbs, and mostly the coast is closed by private property:
In some places, the Epiphany Baths remained on the ice - the water froze, but the ice was not yet covered with snow, and ice crosses stand at the edge:
The farthest sight of Vyritsa from the station is the baroque Vasilievsky Palace:
Beautiful? And obviously something in the spirit of the Petersburg suburbs. Why is so little known about him?
Because this palace was built in 2005-2006! Not restored or recreated - namely, built from scratch. This is the property of Sergei Vasiliev, a St. Petersburg oligarch who owns an oil terminal. A native of Vyritsa, having become rich, he erected a palace in his native village:
On closer inspection, it seemed to me that the details of the palace's decoration look somewhat pretentious:
Over the 3 years of its existence, the palace managed to acquire rumors - in particular, they say that Vasiliev bought himself the original of the Amber Room and paid for the version of her death in Konigsberg. Of course, this is just a legend - but the interiors of the palace (scans of the "Salon" magazine, No. 9, 2009) are available on the Internet (of course, not mine, taken from the link!):
In general, it is an excellent occasion to express citizenship. But I ask right away - I don't want to discuss "justice" here. I like to admire the palace more - I think the most beautiful of the new Russian villas - than to count other people's money.
From the palace I made my way to the shore, and then wandered through the streets for another hour and a half, admiring winter tale... I had to walk obliquely again to the bank of the Oredezh and the wooden Kazan church, but finding the way turned out to be almost impossible. I was accompanied by two rare-looking men in old sheepskin coats, and by their own admission, they were illiterate. Finally, they asked for money for the marijuana. Perhaps they were thieves.
The Kazan Church is like a cathedral for Vyritsa:
It was built in 1913-14, to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, at the junction of modernity and the traditions of the Russian North:
A fabulous tower, which is even difficult to perceive as a temple.
There are many buildings around the church, for example, a church shop:
And the chapel over the grave of Seraphim Vyritsky:
Kazan Church in Vyritsa - major center pilgrimage. Seraphim Vyritsky lived in the first half of the twentieth century (he became a monk before the Revolution, died after the war), was famous for his generosity and honesty (for example, once a thief entered his house, but at the gate he ran into the returning Seraphim, dropped the bag ... and Seraphim helped the thief to collect the things stolen from him and let him go in peace), and later - with perspicacity and the ability to heal. In Vyritsa, Seraphim spent last years, even then, pilgrims went to him for help, neither the NKVD nor the Nazis could bring harm to him, and it was largely thanks to him that Vyritsa survived the occupation relatively easily.
The chapel of the Seraphim is very beautiful: a stone tombstone, a wooden shrine, an icon surrounded by fresh foliage ... But I was ashamed to take pictures there, although no one had seen it.
From the Kazan Church, a few more minutes walk to the coast of Oredezh. Going out there, I decided to keep to the river, so as not to get lost again. A narrow path-cornice ran along the very edge of the high bank, along which I went. Soon I came across the abandoned Wittgenstein Hunting Palace:
In the 19th century, Vyritsa belonged to the noble family of Wittgenstein, and it was they who began to develop a dacha farm in Vyritsa in the 1880s. Somewhere in the quarters of the village, the Wittgenstein Land Office has been preserved - and it all began with the Hunting Castle, the oldest of the Vyritsa dachas.
Stilted pines grow a little further on the shore:
Why their roots are above ground level - I do not know. Probably, the coast is gradually slipping, but the pines are still holding on.
Natural Martians!
So I walked along the coast of Oredezh, sometimes descending onto the ice, for a few more kilometers. On the way I went to the old dam of the Vyritskaya hydroelectric power station, which operated in 1948-72:
Small hydroelectric power plants of the North-West, built in the 1920s-1940s, are a separate topic during the first five-year plans. Their closest analogue in the Moscow region is the Meshchera peat extraction site. There are hydroelectric power plants in Ivangorod, Kingisepp, Porkhov, Siversky, Vyritsa, Volkhov, Sviritsa. Volkhovskaya HPP is also the oldest of the GOELRO plan.
From the dam I went out onto Kommunalny prospect. It is difficult to convey in words how pleasant it was to walk on the asphalt after the snowdrifts and ice! After another 15 minutes I went to the station, rested a little and went outside the station.
The eastern side of Vyritsa is about 1/5 of the area of the village. However, if in the western half there are almost exclusively summer cottages, in the eastern half there is a permanent population of urban settlements:
There are two wooden churches of different denominations here. One kilometer southeast of the station is the Peter and Paul Church (1908):
In the 1930s, it was the main temple of True Orthodox Christians, or Catacombniks, in the Leningrad region. They were one of the last schismatics who separated from the ROC in the 1920s because they recognized the "power of the Antichrist," that is, the Bolsheviks. Many individual catacomb sects were very radicalized, some went very far from the canon - in general, a repetition of the history of the Old Believers in miniature. The catacomb houses have hardly survived to this day. Nothing reminds of them here.
The Church of St. John of Kronstadt (2005) near Peter and Paul - was built as a temporary one, while the main one was being repaired:
If you go from the station to the northeast (and there is a straight street from the church there), you will come out to a huge blue tower above Oredezh:
This is the community of teetotal Christians Bratz Ioann Churikov - one of the few surviving communities of "spiritual Christians". The latter are not Old Believers, but common name several unrelated Orthodox sects. Spiritual Christians included the Khlysty, famous in the literature of the 19th century, lesser known runners, eunuchs (they practiced ritual emasculation), Molokans and Dukhobors (these survived - several villages in Georgia and Armenia, communities in the United States). Teetotalers - one of such movements, in those days insignificant in scale. However, most of the spiritual Christian sects did not survive the Soviet regime and went into history.
At the end of the 19th century, the wanderer Ioann Churikov came to St. Petersburg from the Samara province. He lived in shelters, earned his bread as he had to, read the Gospel aloud - and it was soon discovered that he could verbally (by conversations and Bible quotes) heal people from drunkenness. Soon Churikov succeeded in this - kilometers-long queues lined up for him, he communed with sugar, not wine, created the doctrine of Holy Sobriety ...
Churikov himself considered himself Orthodox, but many of those healed from drunkenness soon declared him the Second Christ, and nicknamed Brother John. Around Churikov the community rallied, in 1906 a house was built in Vyritsa (which was named the Capital of World Sobriety), in the 1920s the community turned into a Labor Commune named after Bratza Churikov:
Churikov assumed the role of the head of the community. Even before the Revolution, he was excommunicated, and in 1938 he was repressed and died in Butyrka prison. The community was dispersed, the house was taken away .... And nevertheless, the Churikovites survived the Soviet power, gathering in apartments and holding conversations, since within the community the fight against drunkenness was waged successfully. In 1992, the house in Vyritsa was returned to them, but now there are two Churikov communities. "Moderates" gather in the Fyodorovsky Church of St. Petersburg near the Moscow railway station and consider Churikov simply saints, seeking his canonization from the ROC. Orthodox Churikovites live in Vyritsa, who consider Brother John the second Christ:
The community was ruled by elders, the oldest of them was Alexander Sinnikov, who still knew Churikov himself, but he died in 2007. The Churikovites are very friendly, they let me inside, told me about their philosophy and allowed me to take pictures. On the ground floor of the blue tower there is a prayer room:
Here at 14:00 on Sundays there are conversations (not prayer services), stories of healings. Churikovites have no priests, communication with God occurs through the burning of notes - this is one of the foundations of the faith of spiritual Christians: the Holy Spirit can be embodied in people.
In the center of the iconostasis there is an image of Bratz John:
The Churikovites gave me several leaflets with prayers and three lumps of sugar in a paper wrapper - "So that life is sweet," as Churikov said. The community has its own website, which has a lot of interesting things (for example, the Prayer Guilty Verdict of Reason to Drunkenness), but here is another view of Dmitry Sokolov-Mitrich.
And myself, as an amateur ethnographer, I am not “for” or “against” such a community. I'm interested in what she is. And until now, the inhabitants of the blue tower do not drink, do not smoke and do not use foul language, but they work a lot. I myself am a teetotaler, I haven’t been drunk for many years and I can do without a drop of alcohol for months, I don’t smoke and I don’t use foul language. In general, I feel good in the Orthodoxy of the Russian Orthodox Church.
From Vyritsa I went by train to St. Petersburg, walked a little around the city, and at dusk I reached the Frozen Sea. Behind there were about 10-15 kilometers on foot on snow and ice in a 20-degree frost.
