We spent one of the summer days off in the wonderful noble estate of Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki, which is located not far from the districts of Kuzminki, Lyublino and Vykhino-Zhulebino. Previously, I heard about Kuzminsky Park, but I only recently found out that once on its territory there was one of the richest and most beautiful estates in the Moscow region.
View of the horse yard
Until the 18th century, it was an unremarkable area that belonged to the Simonov and Nikolo-Ugreshsky monasteries. The only building that was located on these lands was a mill, so the territory of modern Kuzminki was called “The Mill” at that time. According to legend, the name "Kuzminki" came from the nearby church of Cosmas and Damian, but no evidence of the existence of such a temple in the area was found. According to another version, the local lands began to be called "Kuzminki" in honor of the best worker of the mill Kuzma. In 1702, the undeveloped lands of the Simonov Monastery, southeast of Moscow, were presented by Peter I to Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov, who belonged to an old and very wealthy merchant family.
According to legend, the ancestor of the Stroganovs was a close relative of the Tatar Khan, who converted to Christianity, was baptized under the name Spiridon and became related to Dmitry Donskoy. When in one of the military campaigns he was captured by the Tatar army, the khan ordered him to renounce the Orthodox faith, and, having heard the refusal, he ordered Spiridon to be tied to a pole, his body was cut, cut into pieces and scattered.
When, some time after the martyrdom of Spiridon, his son was born, he was given the surname Stroganov, in memory of the torture his father was subjected to. However, many historians do not agree with the Tatar origin of the Stroganov family and argue that this family originates in the Novgorod land. Nevertheless, over the years, the Stroganovs managed to make a huge fortune: they owned more than a dozen cities and hundreds of villages, had their own salt works and were engaged in trade. This clan has always been a reliable support for the great princes and kings in state affairs. It was for his numerous merits that Grigory Dmitrievich received from Peter the Great his vast possessions in Kuzminki. However, he himself did not manage to build anything on these lands. It was only with his widow and children that the construction of the temple began, which was consecrated in honor of the family relic - the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, which was presented to the Stroganovs by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
The area received another name - Blachernae. Initially, the church was made of wood, so it repeatedly suffered from fire and was rebuilt. At the end of the 18th century, a stone building was built according to the design of the architect R. Kazakov. But this happened already under the new owner of the Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki estate, Prince M.M. Golitsyn.
Even under the son of Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov Alexander, the construction of the main house began on the estate, a system of ponds was built in such a way that they were connected to each other and looked more like a river.
Pond in Kuzminki
One of the daughters of Alexander Stroganov, Anna, married Prince M. Golitsyn, who, in addition to other houses and enterprises, received the Kuzminki estate as a dowry.
He began a large-scale transformation and improvement of the estate: the church and the manor house were rebuilt, an English and French park was laid. However, the estate reached its peak in the 19th century under his son Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn. He invited the famous architect D. Gilardi to equip the estate, who created a whole complex of buildings in the estate that forever glorified the master. Gilardi was the author of the outbuildings of the settlement, the Animal Farm, the Egyptian Pavilion, the Propylaea Colonnade, the Horse Yard and the Musical Pavilion, and also supervised the reconstruction of objects that had been built earlier and needed repair.
The Kuzminki estate was the place where the famous architect could roam freely. His buildings are devoid of defiant patterns and rich stucco, and are distinguished by the regular shapes and proportions characteristic of classicism. In the 19th century, Kuzminki was called Pavlovsk near Moscow, so amazing were all the architectural objects of the estate, which harmoniously fit into the surrounding landscape. CM. Golitsyn owned iron factories, where sculptural groups, gates, benches for the park and many other items were cast, which adorned the Kuzminki estate.
Visiting Prince S.M. Golitsyn was visited by members of the royal family and the most eminent representatives of the Russian intelligentsia. Unfortunately, the prince had no children, as his wife left him shortly after the wedding, and the estate passed to his nephew after his death. The last owner of the estate in 1912 sold it to the Moscow authorities. Before the revolution, the manor's house burned down, and later the entire estate was nationalized. In its place, an institute of veterinary medicine arose, which existed here until the beginning of the 21st century. At the same time, most of the buildings were ruthlessly destroyed.
Now the city authorities are trying to recreate the former splendor of the estate, but this is only partially successful. Let's see what can be seen in Kuzminki at the present time. We started our walk from the Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, which was recently restored.
Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God
Opposite are cast-iron gates decorated with griffins, and behind them once stood a manor house. Now in its place is one of the buildings of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, owned by the Russian Agricultural Academy.
Gate with lanterns
They say that the plan is to restore the manor house, but so far only two side wings have been recreated, in which exhibitions are held that tell about the history of the Russian estate and the Golitsyn family.
Reconstructed outbuilding
In front of the western and eastern wings, sculptures by contemporary authors depicting famous Russian writers and literary heroes are exhibited.
Exhibition of sculptures
We decided that the exhibitions can be visited in cool weather, but while the sun is shining, it is worth taking a walk in the park.
We go out to Poplar Alley and start a walk along Slobodka. This was the earlier name of the complex of buildings and service premises in which people serving the estate lived and worked. One of the outbuildings currently houses the Museum of Russian Estate Culture.
Museum of Manor Culture
Further we see the wooden building of the former hospital. It was one of the first buildings in Slobodka, which later came under the jurisdiction of the Zemstvo. It was in this small hospital that the famous Russian painter, the author of the paintings "Tea drinking in Mytishchi" and "Hunters at rest" V.G., died of consumption. Perov.
hospital building
We leave to Kuzminsky ponds and go along the coast.
The former Animal Farm is visible behind dense trees, so it was decided to go in the other direction. In some places on the shore, we came across humpbacked bridges connecting the shore with artificial islands.
humpback bridge
humpback bridge
On the way behind the fence, we see an abandoned building in a very bad condition. This is the former Orangery greenhouse. Under Prince Golitsyn, lemons, oranges, apricots and many other exotic plants were grown here.
Greenhouse
Not far from it is the Lion's Quay, which was restored not so long ago. It is decorated with Egyptian lions. In Soviet times, they were dismantled and taken to Lyubertsy to decorate some government building. The pier was slowly collapsing and turned into a mountain of cobblestones. However, now it is almost the same as in the old pre-revolutionary photographs. The only thing missing is the Propylaea colonnade on the other side of the pond, which has never been restored.
Lion's Wharf
Lion's Wharf
A little more and grottoes appear in front of us, created so that guests can hide from the heat on a summer day.
View of the grottoes
And on the other side of the pond, we see the most famous building of the Kuzminki estate - the Horse Yard with the Musical Pavilion. This is a real masterpiece of D. Gilardi.
horse yard
In the center near the colonnade, musical concerts were held for friends and guests of the Golitsyns. In 1846, the pavilion was decorated with two sculptures "Tamers" by the famous master P.K. Klodt. Similar works of the sculptor adorn the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg, the streets in Naples and Berlin. Judging by the photo, last year these sculptures were in a satisfactory condition, but now we have noticed holes and rust, and the horse figure on the right side of the pavilion did not have a leg in its place. Nevertheless, the whole complex of the Horse Yard as a whole looks very beautiful.
Tamers
Tired of a long walk, we sat in one of the many street cafes next to the dam of the Upper Pond. By the way, a small white house is also a recreated architectural monument - it is a house on a dam, built in the 1840s. XIX century on the foundation of the same mill, which gave the first name Kuzminki.
House on the dam
A little aside, the Bird Yard, which existed on the estate in the 18th century, was reconstructed. Several species of exotic birds, taken away by the French during the war of 1812, were bred on it. With the expansion of Moscow, the residents left the building, and it stood in a dilapidated state. Most recently, it was restored according to the original design of the Russian architect I. Egotov.
On the territory of the Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki estate, you can visit the honey museum and the literary museum of K. Paustovsky, exhibitions in numerous pavilions and in the open air, in July you can watch the flower garden festival, ride a ferry along the cascade of ponds and just have a great time in nature. Let's hope that the reconstruction of the lost architectural objects will continue, and Kuzminki will again become one of the most beautiful and interesting estates in Moscow.
The Kuzminki estate is one of the oldest estates in Moscow. It is located at the metro station of the same name, so getting to Kuzminki is very easy. You can also get here from other stations: Volzhskaya, Ryazansky Prospekt, if you wish, you can also go from Lyublino and Tekstilshchikov. To whom it is convenient, in general.
From st.m. Kuzminki to the park to go ten minutes. The entrance to the park will be marked by an arched sign with the inscription " Manor Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki". The English landscape park, designed by the architect D. Gilardi in 1811-1820, spreads over a large area. As far as I know, this is the largest manor territory in Moscow.
The owners of Kuzminki at one time were two famous noble families: the Stroganovs and the Golitsyns. Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov in 1702 was granted these lands by Peter I for good service. It was a sign of high disposition towards him from the side of the king.
But Grigory Dmitrievich practically did not use the received territories in any way. The construction of the estate complex in Kuzminki began only with his children. For the most part, this was done by Alexander Grigoryevich Stroganov, who later became the sole full owner of the estate.
Under A.G. Stroganov, the Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God is being built. This icon was the former shrine of the Stroganov family, so the church was consecrated in her honor. By the name of the church, the estate received a new name - the village of Vlaherna. A manor house and other outbuildings are being built near the church. All of them were originally made of wood.
The daughter of Alexander Stroganov, Anna, who inherited Kuzminki after his death, in 1757 marries Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn. Anna Aleksandrovna became the last owner of the Kuzminki from the Stroganov family and the first from the Golitsyn family. MM. Golitsyn received as a dowry from his wife, in addition to the estate, salt pans, iron foundries in the Urals, ancient documents, and many others.
At the foundries of Mikhail Mikhailovich, real masterpieces of iron casting were created to decorate Kuzminki. The estate has turned into a real open-air museum. All wooden buildings were rebuilt and made of stone. Most of them have survived to our time.
At one time, the village of Vlahernskoe was put on a par with Peterhof and the Parisian Versailles.
horse yard
Now what we saw in Kuzminki is the remnants of former luxury. Of all the buildings, only the church and the Horse Yard function. It has recently been restored, as well as two grottoes on the other side of the pond. The grottoes were a good shelter from the summer heat and heat. In the Great Grotto, which has only one entrance, theatrical performances were staged under the prince. There was no theater here, as in, so a grotto was adapted for these purposes.
The horse yard is open to visitors, but we decided not to go there. Asking the cashier selling tickets: “What is there?”, We received an indistinct answer: “Well, this is a horse yard!”, The cashier said, pouting her lips in displeasure. Then it became clear that there was nothing interesting there. Although, maybe I'm wrong. If anyone was there, write. It will be interesting to read.
Grotto
In Kuzminki, I was surprised that it took about 20 minutes to walk from the entrance to the park to the estate itself, which is quite a long time when compared with other estates where we were. The maps of the park in some places are not entirely clear. Only when you are near the Horse Yard, you begin to understand where you are and where everything is.
AT Kuzminki park several ponds, but you can’t swim in them, like in most reservoirs in Moscow. A cafe-ship runs along the pond near the Horse Yard, where you can leisurely explore the park, sitting at a table and drinking cold beer, lemonade (whatever you like best).
On the territory of the park, mainly near the Mill Wing, on the dam, there are several cafes. Here they sell ice cream, kvass, beer, various souvenirs and trinkets. Not far from the entrance to the park, from the side of the station. m. Kuzminki has an amusement park and a platform for karting. But we did not see the cards themselves. Therefore, it is not clear whether there are races or not.
As I have already said, of the entire complex of buildings of the Kuzminki estate, only the Church of the Blachernae Mother of God, the Horse Yard and the Mill Wing have been restored. Plus, there is a honey museum. What was in the museum building before, I, unfortunately, do not know. The rest of the buildings require restoration. Among them are the Lord's house, the Orange greenhouse, the kitchen building. We got to the Animal Farm, which is also in need of repair. On the way to it, they saw another building without a sign with a description, which you will not immediately notice among the trees. The master's house could not even be photographed because of the trees surrounding it.
Therefore, having decided to go to Kuzminki, do not expect to see luxurious palace buildings here, as in, or in. It doesn't exist here. People come to Kuzminki to relax, sunbathe on the banks of the ponds, ride bicycles and roller skates. We met a lot of people on bikes. Perhaps somewhere in the park there is a rental. Kuzminki are very popular among residents of the city of any age category. People here have picnics, barbecue, play volleyball. And just sitting in a cafe on the shore of the pond, in my opinion, is a great pastime. Concerts are sometimes held near the Horse Yard. We just stumbled across this one. The songs they sang were not modern, so we were not particularly interested in it. Besides, we were about to leave. But all the seats near the stage, which served as a small terrace near the sculptures, were occupied.
One more fact concerning the estate in Kuzminki, which is simply impossible not to mention. Literally a week after visiting the park, the well-known program “The Battle of Psychics” was shown on TV. One of the tasks took place in the Lord's house of the Kuzminki estate. It turned out that ghosts live there, ghosts that the guards often hear. Some of them were even captured on camera. They look like round white phantoms. So, not everything is calm in the kingdom of Denmark ...
A walk in the Kuzminki park left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Yes, we walked in the park, sunbathed, rested. But the fact that the estate turned out to be non-working upset us. I read somewhere on the Internet that in 2010 several more buildings of the complex should be restored. I hope that among them will be the main palace - the Lord's House. After its restoration, it will be necessary to go to Kuzminki again.
The Museum of Russian Estate Culture is the only functioning museum-estate with a full range of buildings at its disposal throughout Moscow. It includes: the manor's house, horse and cattle yards, a small church and much more. On the territory of the local park, visitors will be able to see with their own eyes the creations of Pyotr Klodt, the world-famous author, creator of horse sculptures on the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg.
The main composition of the museum is represented by two objects: the Service Wing and the Horse Yard Complex with its permanent exhibition "Horse Yard in a Estate near Moscow". All the surviving buildings of the estate are made in the Empire style and allow you to imagine the lifestyle of its owners - the barons Stroganovs and the princes Golitsyns.
The service complex will allow visitors to get acquainted with the collection of archival documents and books of the 18th-19th centuries. And the permanent exhibition "Meet the Golitsyns!" - with commemorative orders, medals, works of applied art, dishes and furniture from the Golitsyn family nest.
In the southern part of the Horse Yard Complex there is the Children's Museum Center, which includes the Theater Studio and the Studio of Painting, Drawing and Watercolors. On the territory of the Children's Museum Center, museum staff hold various kinds of interactive exhibitions and programs. The estate also provides an opportunity to hold on its territory not only interesting excursions designed for children of primary school age, but also an unforgettable birthday.
Working mode:
- Tuesday-Sunday - from 10:00 to 18:00;
- Monday - day off;
- The last Friday of the month is a sanitary day.
Ticket price:
- expositions in the Servant's Wing and the Horse Yard: full - 100 rubles, reduced - 50 rubles;
- exhibitions in the Service Wing: full - 50 rubles, reduced - 20 rubles;
- exhibition "The History of a Journey": full - 100 rubles, preferential - 50 rubles.
You can find out the details on the official website.
December 29th, 2017 05:03 am
At the very beginning of the 18th century, Peter I presented the eminent man Grigory Stroganov with a plot of land near Moscow, which later became known as the Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki estate. The name Kuzminki is probably associated with the church feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, to whom the church that has not been preserved was dedicated. Later, a temple was built here in the name of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, and then the second name of this area appeared.
Grigory Stroganov was a large landowner, fur trader and industrialist who owned salt works and metal foundries in the Urals and Siberia. The Stroganovs gave the government of Peter I money to organize the army and built several military courts at their own expense, for which they received land plots, premium chest portraits of Peter, studded with diamonds, and the widow and children of Grigory Stroganov - the title of baron. Under them, a wooden manor house and several outbuildings appeared in Kuzminki. In 1757, the granddaughter of Grigory Stroganov, Anna, married a representative of the noble family of the princes Golitsyns, Mikhail, and the village of Vlakhernskoye appeared as a dowry.
The couple took up the landscaping of the estate and invited the architect I. Zherebtsov for this work, who rebuilt the manor house, mill, and piers. A little later, the French regular park was laid out, Slobodka was reconstructed, the Horticulture complex was created, a canal was dug that connected the Pike Pond with the Lower Kuzminsky Pond, and in 1774 a new stone Blachernae church was opened for parishioners. After the death of their parents, Kuzminki was inherited by the sons Alexander and Sergey Golitsyn.
Sergei Golitsyn had to restore his beloved estate after the Napoleonic invasion, and by the years 1830-1840, thanks to the efforts of the architect Domenico Gilardi, Blachernae appeared as an exquisite ensemble. According to the projects of Gilardi, the Musical Pavilion of the Horse Yard, the Lion's Quay were built, the manor's house, the Aviary, the Animal Farm were rebuilt.
In the second half of the 19th century, Kuzminki became an attractive summer cottage, and the idyll ended there - the revolutionary events that broke out in 1917 radically changed the life of the estate. The value, for example, of Kuskovo or Ostankino was immediately obvious to the Soviet authorities, but for some reason, instead of museum status, Kuzminki received unexpected guests - employees of the State Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine. Scientists not only worked, but also lived on the estate.
In 1898, the laboratory of the veterinary administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia was founded in St. Petersburg, on the basis of which, by a decree of the Provisional Government on October 10, 1917, a research institute for experimental veterinary medicine was established. During the Civil War, the institute was evacuated to the Kuzminki estate near Moscow, where it lodged until 2003.
Common sense triumphed only a few decades later, when VIEV was transferred to Ryazansky Prospekt, and the park was returned to the townspeople. However, this story has not yet ended with a happy ending, because some historical buildings in need of urgent restoration turned out to be in private ownership and their future fate is very vague.
It is logical to start a walk through the central historical part of the Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki estate from the beginning - from the entrance cast-iron gates, which were also called Triumphal. Alas, the gates have been lost and only the name of the street - Cast Iron Gates - reminds of them.
triumphal gates. 1904: https://pastvu.com/p/544337
The gates were a magnificent example of iron foundry art, a copy of the Nikolaev gates in Pavlovsk - a double Doric colonnade, of four beams of columns, completed with an attic. The gate was crowned with the emblem of the princes Golitsyn, which was cast, presumably, in the workshop of the sculptor Santino Campioni according to the model of Ivan Vitali. It took 288 tons of cast iron to cast the monumental structure.
A funny plastic version of the gate was made for one of the citywide holidays and installed in the park after it was over. Of course, I would like to see Cast Iron Gates more cast iron and more authentic.
White obelisk. 1974: https://pastvu.com/p/182157
From former times, a white stone obelisk has been preserved here in memory of the visit of royal persons to Kuzminki - most likely the arrival at the estate in the late 1830s of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich, the future Emperor Alexander II, to whom the then owner Sergei Golitsyn was godfather (Peter I also visited Kuzminki , Nicholas I, Empress Maria Feodorovna, in honor of which monuments were erected in the estate that have not survived to this day).
Modern view of the white obelisk
Photo of 2010 – now the fence of the obelisk, the explanatory plaque to it and the architectural forms with the emblem of the festival of flower gardens and the emblem of the South-Eastern District of Moscow have been demolished.
The linden alley leading from the Cast Iron Gates to the master's house was called Blachernsky Prospekt, and now - Kuzminskaya Street. Throughout the alley, cast-iron pedestals with chains stood on the side of the road. In the spring, flower beds are planted here, and landscape design reviews have been held relatively recently.
On the right hand remains the wooden House of the chief gardener of the Golitsyn estate, which since 1987 has housed the exposition of the Moscow Literary Museum Center of Konstantin Paustovsky, a Russian Soviet prose writer, journalist, and author of stories about nature. We will also take a tour of the Gray Dacha. The neighboring 19th-century brick buildings previously housed the rest of the manor's hired gardeners, and now houses a private school.
The foundation of a cast-iron obelisk, built according to the project of M. Bykovsky and installed in 1844 in memory of the stay of Emperor Peter I in Kuzminki: “This place was the dwelling of Emperor Peter the Great.” After the February Revolution, the symbol of autocracy, the gilded double-headed eagle, was knocked down, and the monument itself was dismantled in the 1920s.
The Hours park is laid out in the French regular style common in the middle of the 18th century, its layout is a circle in the center, where 12 avenues-beams converge. In the center stood a statue of Apollo, and at the beginning of each alley, statues of the Muses. Later, the English landscape style with winding paths and uneven relief came into fashion. After the revolution, the park was abandoned and overgrown, but in the 1960s the original layout was restored.
The memorial sign "300 years of the Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki estate" was installed in 2004
Front yard. 1900-1915: https://pastvu.com/p/31221
The master's house burned down for an unknown reason back in February 1916 (during the First World War a hospital was located there) and in its place in the thirties, according to the project of S. Toropov, a building of a veterinary institute was erected, and a monument to Lenin was erected in front of the entrance. From the previous owners, a gate with cast-iron griffins, designed by Santino Campioni, and a fence with lying lions have been preserved.
Prince's Palace. 1900-1914: https://pastvu.com/p/12704
Interior of the Round Hall of the Golitsyn House. 1902: https://pastvu.com/p/98633
VIEV building on the site of the Main Manor House. 1964: https://pastvu.com/p/85108
Monument to Lenin and the East wing of the main house. 1968: https://pastvu.com/p/52134 A cinema was located in the left wing of the manor house in Soviet times, and the statue of Ilyich was eventually replaced with another one. The statue of Lenin stands on a pedestal, on which before the revolution there was a stele dedicated to the visit to the estate of Emperor Nicholas I.
The master's house from the side of the pond. 1914: https://pastvu.com/p/13618
During the construction of the front courtyard and the leveling of the site, a slope was formed on the bank of the pond, in which one-arch and three-arch grottoes were equipped - artificial earthen caves lined with "wild" stone, created by D. Gilardi. It is always cooler in the grottoes than outside. The large grotto during the holidays was used for amateur theatrical performances, which were staged by the hosts and their guests. The grotto was also a kind of resonator during concerts in the Musical Pavilion of the Horse Yard.
On the opposite side of the Upper Kuzminsky Pond is the restored Horse Yard.
Egyptian pavilion. 1912: https://pastvu.com/p/65685
To the left of the main house is the Egyptian Pavilion, built by Domenico Gilardi. This is an outbuilding - food was stored in the cellars, a kitchen was located on the first floor, and cooks lived on the second.
Blachernae Church. 1900-1905: https://pastvu.com/p/45774
The stone church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God was built on the site of a wooden one in 1774 and subsequently rebuilt three times. The image of the Mother of God, kept in the church in Kuzminki, is a list from the ancient Blachernae icon, brought in the 17th century from Constantinople, which was under the rule of the Turks (if we consider the original Blachernae icon, inherited by the royal dynasty, and now stored in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin). But the unusualness of the Blachernae icon from the Kuzminsky temple - a three-dimensional image, molded with wax mastic, speaks in favor of the version that this icon was the original, which the Stroganovs, the richest people in Russia, managed to get, and the tsar got a copy of the icon. The Stroganov icon is now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery.
In 1929, the authorities banned worship, the bell tower was completely destroyed, and the church was destroyed to the first floor, which in different years was used as a club, a shop, a driver's hostel, and a bus station control room. In 1992, the temple was returned to believers and in three years it was restored according to the available drawings.
Iconostasis. 1909: https://pastvu.com/p/80837
Temple building in 1964: https://pastvu.com/p/85115
Separately standing sacristy of the temple. During its restoration, it turned out that the foundation can be dated to the 1760s. Underground passages led from it to the pond and the temple, the purpose of which is unknown.
Baptist at the church
Behind the church, a house was built for employees of the Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine.
Buildings of Slobodka of Golitsyn times
From the church to the east leads the Poplar Alley (Starye Kuzminki Street). These places were called Slobodka, along the alley several old houses lined up in a row: the first housed the clergy, the second (Servant's Wing) housed a barracks for courtyard people and servants, the third - a laundry, the fourth - a hospital (the artist V died of tuberculosis in it). .Perov). There was also an almshouse, in which the elderly serfs of the Golitsyn peasants were settled so that they would not go and beg for alms. From the second half of the 19th century until the revolution, summer residents lived in some houses in Slobodka, and later employees of the All-Union Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine.
The exposition of the Museum of Russian Manor Culture is deployed in the Service Wing
Slobodka, former laundry. 1979-1982: https://pastvu.com/p/221995 It seems that the administration of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine did not care too much about the preservation of historical buildings.
The Golitsyn Hospital has been open since 1816 to provide medical assistance to the residents of the estate and surrounding villages. Now the building houses restoration workshops.
Animal Farm (hospital). 1936: https://pastvu.com/p/48218
On the northern shore of the pond, the Animal Farm is hidden behind the trees, built in the 1840s by the nephew of the architect Domenico Gilardi - Alessandro. A one-story brick building with two-story outbuildings forms the letter "P" in plan. Grooms and cattlemen lived in the outbuildings, and in the one-story central part there were stalls of an exemplary cowshed, animals for which were often bought abroad. To decorate the barnyard, Klodt sculpted two bronze sculptures of bulls, which ended up on the territory of the Mikoyan meat processing plant in the 1930s and seem to be there to this day.
In 1889, after the reorganization of the premises, the Animal Farm was transferred to the expanded Blachernae Hospital, founded under Prince Sergei Golitsyn. The medical institution worked here after the revolution, the hospital was taken out of the old building only in 1978. Now the red-brick building with outbuildings is fenced with a high fence, access is closed due to dilapidation of buildings.
Bathroom house. 1950-1965: https://pastvu.com/p/51243
A small stone building in the Empire style - Bath House (Soap). The one-story pavilion, built under Mikhail Golitsyn, eventually fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1804. In the same place, the architect Domenico Gilardi in 1816-1817 built a new building in the Empire style, retaining the layout and functions of the first building. It included, among other things, a bedroom and a library. The bathroom house burned repeatedly, it was dismantled and rebuilt. In 2008, the building and the lost fountain in front of it were restored.
The Upper and Lower Kuzminsky Ponds are separated by a dam on which a water mill stood. It was the oldest local building, the first mention of which dates back to 1623-1624: in the “Book of the Moscow District of the Letters and Measures of Semyon Vasilyevich Koltovsky and the Undertaker Onisim Ilyin”, the “wasteland that was the Kuzminskaya mill” belongs to the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery. At first, the Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki estate was also called the Mill.
At the mill, various varieties of wheat and rye flour were obtained: grits, kulichnaya, pecked, sieve and others. The wing of the Golitsyns built on the foundation of the mill was used as a guest house, which was later rented out to summer residents, and in 1976-1999 the Museum of Veterinary Medicine was located here.
The poultry yard in the Kuzminki estate has been known since 1765; it was built to keep decorative birds. In 1805-1806, instead of a wooden Aviary, the architect Ivan Egotov erected a stone one - enclosures with decorative pigeons, guinea fowls, swans, turkeys were located in the central part of the building, in the side wings and under the colonnade. However, the new Aviary did not last long - before the invasion of the French army: enemy soldiers exterminated the birds and burned the house. Domenico Gilardi rebuilt the remains of the building into the Forge, which began to provide the Horse Yard with horseshoes and implements.
Photo by *vadim* / photosight.ru
The Golitsyn estate Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki, now located within Moscow, has not always been one of the most popular Moscow parks. The beginning of the history of Kuzminki as a nascent architectural and park ensemble is usually dated to 1702, the year Peter I granted the local lands to Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov, his favorite, for faithful service to the tsar and the fatherland. Construction on these lands began under the sons of Grigory Dmitrievich - Alexander, Nikolai and Sergey. In 1716, a small wooden church grew here, which, in honor of the Stroganov family icon - the Blachernae Mother of God - was consecrated as Blachernae. It also gave the name to the nearby village.
The Stroganovs became the third family in Russia to receive a baronial title. After the death of Grigory Dmitrievich, Alexander Grigoryevich, the future chamberlain at the court of His Majesty, who received the priest's land near Moscow during the division of the inheritance, was engaged in the construction and improvement of Kuzminok. It was through his efforts that a magnificent cascade of ponds was created in Kuzminki - after the construction of a dam on the Churlikha River. Subsequently, when in 1754 Kuzminki inherited the daughter of Alexander Grigoryevich from her first marriage - Anna Alexandrovna Stroganova, who married a representative of another noble family - Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn - the estate passed into the possession of the Golitsyns, whose descendants consider the estate their property to this day. It was under Mikhail Golitsyn that Kuzminki acquired the look they have now - a picturesque English Empire park with many interesting buildings and pavilions that are of incredible value as genuine architectural monuments of the 18th - 19th centuries.
Getting to the estate on your own is quite simple. There are several route options: from the metro station "Volzhskaya" or "Kuzminki".
Leaving the Volzhskaya station, you will see a gate with a bright sign "Vlakhernskoe-Kuzminki" in front of you. Walking along the picturesque paths past a small pond that forms a cascade with the nearby Lublin pond, you will walk along an alley planted with birches past the Center for Military-Patriotic Education of Youth of the South-Eastern Administrative District and “ Museum of crews and cars».
Museum of carriages and cars
By the way, if you are a fan of antiquity in general and retro cars in particular, you should visit this museum. There you seem to be making a trip in a time machine to the Soviet Union: a huge garage-type room, where narrow shelves are closely lined with old telephones, clockwork, Soviet toys and other interesting things, makes you forget about the passage of time. In the fenced courtyard of the museum and in the building itself, several dozen cars from different eras are on public display, and the building houses a collection of cars from the Auto-Review magazine. At the entrance to the museum there is a telephone booth, which is very reminiscent of Cheburashka's house.
Continuing the walk along the asphalt path, in 10-15 minutes you will come to the very complex of manor buildings. The majestic building will rise first on your way horse yard, built in 1805 and rebuilt by the famous architect Domenico Gilardi in 1823, is perhaps one of the most famous buildings in Kuzminki. In order to view it completely, it is better to go a little further, to the bridge over the dam - there you will see a majestic panorama of the water surface of the pond, above which rises an elegant complex of buildings in the Empire style, popular in the first half of the 19th century. The horse yard consists of a stable building, several buildings of sheds where carriages stood, and two residential outbuildings. All these buildings are connected by a common fence with Music pavilion, which is at the center of this whole composition.
horse yard
Music pavilion
The music pavilion is decorated with the famous sculptures by P.I. Klodt, repeating the sculptural images from the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg. They were made by Klodt himself and cast at the Golitsyn factories, like their more famous "brothers".
Sculptures by P.I. Klodt
To date, both the Musical Pavilion and the Horse Yard are functioning: on weekends and holidays, concerts are held on the steps of the pavilion, and an equestrian school operates on the territory of the Horse Yard.
On the other side of the dam, there is an elegant structure, which is called just that - “ House on the dam", or mill wing.
The House on the Dam, or the Mill Outbuilding
This building, which separated the Upper and Lower Kuzminsky ponds, was erected in the 1840s, on the basement of the Kozminki mill. According to legend, the mill that was located here earlier (which, by the way, was one of the oldest local buildings) gave the name “Kuzminki” to these places, and the mill, in turn, was named after a miller named Kozma who once built it. The mill was repeatedly rebuilt, and at different times such eminent architects as A. Voronikhin, D. Zhilardi, I. Egotov and I. Zherebtsov had a hand in it. Only in the middle of the 19th century, the upper floors of the mill, which regularly supplied local residents with various varieties of wheat and rye flour, was decided to be demolished, and on its base the architect M. Bykovsky built the House on the Dam, which has survived to this day. This two-story wooden building in the Renaissance style is surrounded by water on all sides, and, despite this, it served both the owners of the estate and the Soviet authorities well: the Golitsyns lodged visiting guests here, until 1976 the house was rented out to summer residents, and after that the Museum was located here. veterinary medicine. The outbuilding has now been completely restored.
Before moving further across the bridge, to the main house of the estate, let's go back a little and look briefly into an inconspicuous at first glance corner - to the so-called poultry house, or Forge. This building is located not far from the Horse Yard, on the other side of Zarechye Street, it is not so easy to find it - it lurks among the trees.
Birdhouse, or Forge
The poultry yard in the estate has been known since 1765; it was built to keep decorative birds. In it, along with geese, ducks and turkeys, swans, guinea fowls, peacocks, Egyptian pigeons and other exotic birds walked around. Initially, the poultry house was wooden, then in 1805-1806 it was rebuilt in stone according to the project of architect I.V. Egotova. The compact central house, where the poultry keeper probably lived, was connected to two symmetrical outbuildings by semicircular wings-gallery covered with a net, in which bird aviaries were placed in the summer, transferred to the outbuildings during the cold season. In 1812, during the Moscow fire, the poultry house was seriously damaged by fire, all the birds died. During the restoration of the estate after the French invasion, D.I. Gilardi rebuilt the remains of the Aviary into a Forge, which was designed to provide horseshoes and other equipment to the nearby Horse Yard. The ensemble of the former Poultry House has undergone major changes: the outbuildings and galleries were dismantled, the central building was rebuilt into a two-story one (the forge itself was located on the ground floor, and the upper floor was given over to the blacksmith’s housing), while the magnificent dome that adorned it was dismantled, and the building was crowned much simpler gable roof. In this form, the Forge existed until the middle of the 20th century. In Soviet times, it was used for housing and was disfigured by numerous outbuildings. In the 1970s, the dilapidated building was abandoned by the residents, and, having remained ownerless, it was empty for about 30 years, continuing to collapse and gradually turning into ruins. Only by 2008, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the family of the princes Golitsyn, the ensemble of the Ptichnik-Kuznitsa was restored according to the original project of Egotov and now pleases our eyes.
Well, we follow further, past the Mill Wing, deep into the estate. Having passed along the bridge, which is very favored by the newlyweds (it is completely hung with wedding locks), we get to the elegant, magnificent front yard. To our right, behind the openwork lattice of the cast-iron gate, guarded by griffins, rises the Lord's House, the Western and Eastern Wings. An exquisite entrance bridge stretches from the gate to the house, which is decorated with candelabra lanterns. A little further away is the Egyptian Pavilion, or Kitchen.
Master's house, panorama, 19th century
All this splendor was designed by the architect I.V. Egotovym in 1804-1808. According to the plan of the architect, the front yard was separated from the rest of the estate by a brick fence and a moat filled with water. Cast-iron "Egyptian lions" - griffins guarding the entrance to the estate, which are designed by the sculptor Campinioni, are freely located on the forged metal fence.
Despite the fact that the cast-iron gates look rather organic against the general background, they appeared here not so long ago, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, and were called upon to protect the princely family from summer residents who had taken a fancy to the local expanses. The front yard was built according to all the canons of that time: torches were inserted into the lanterns that illuminated the entrance bridge, tall trees were not planted - the complex of buildings had to be clearly visible, so only low flower beds and shrubs bloomed in front of the main house. One thing is a pity: unfortunately, the original building of the manor's house has not been preserved to our time. It was destroyed by fire in 1916, and a new building designed by the architect Toropov was built in its place in the 1930s.
Building Kitchens, which is now in not the most brilliant condition, is actually one of the unique monuments of the Empire style in architecture. The fact is that the strict genre framework of the Empire style here is diluted with motifs of ancient Egyptian art (hence the second name of the Kitchen - Egyptian pavilion).
Kitchen, or Egyptian Pavilion
Slightly sloping walls, tapering windows, a portico decorated with palm-shaped columns and the head of a sphinx enhance the sense of the presence of the spirit of an ancient civilization. Food was stored in the cool cellars of the pavilion, the kitchen premises themselves were located on the first floor, and the "kuhmistrs" - princely cooks - lived on the second floor. In 1839, for convenience, the Kitchen was connected by a covered gallery with the manor house.
Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God
Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God.
The current church is by no means the first to stand on this site. The first wooden church here was built in 1716 under the Stroganovs and consecrated in honor of their family icon - the Blachernae Mother of God. It was this church that gave the name "Vlakherna" to the village located here. This first temple did not stand for long - in 1732 it burned down, and a new temple was built in its place, also wooden and with the same name. But the second temple did not please the owners of the estate for long - and it died from a fire in 1758. The current church - the third in a row - was built by 1762, and already by 1785 it was reconstructed on the initiative of M.M. Golitsyn in the classic traditions by the architect R. Kazakov.
It was here that for a long time there was the legendary icon of the Blachernae Mother of God, with which many wonderful legends and traditions are associated. This icon dates back to the 7th century, and it came to Russia as a gift to the father of Peter I, Alexei Mikhailovich, in 1653. According to the charter attached to the icon, it was created at Blachernae Monastery in Constantinople. This icon was revered by the sovereign: he took it on military campaigns, as he believed that it would help him win in battle and save him from troubles. The Blachernae icon is made in a rare relief technique - wax mastic, and the relics of Christian saints are mixed into its wax, which gave it truly miraculous properties. According to legend, the icon put to flight the enemies who attacked Constantinople in 626. The image of the Mother of God Hodegetria, kept in the church in Kuzminki, is a copy from the Blachernae icon, kept in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. However, according to the family tradition of the Stroganovs, and later of the Golitsyns, not one, but two icons were brought to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, one of which has rightfully belonged to them ever since. Being brought to Russia, the shrine did not lose its miraculous effect: when in 1830 a cholera epidemic raged throughout Russia, not a single person fell ill in Blachernae alone - against the thousands who died everywhere in the district. And during the second outbreak of a terrible disease in 1871, the icon saved the locals from inevitable death. It is not surprising that the Blachernae icon is one of the most revered in Russia to this day: it is even honored on July 2 in the church named after it and remaining an outstanding monument of history and culture.
Directly opposite the church is bathroom house, or soapy, which acquired its modern look at the beginning of the 19th century.
Bathroom house, or Soap
This pavilion belonged personally to the husband of the owner of the estate - M.M. Golitsyn. In addition to the actual bath rooms, the master ordered the construction of private quarters here: a bedroom, a dressing room where hunting accessories were stored, a dining room and a hall. There was also a special room that preceded the exit to a small garden. However, soon after the death of the prince in 1804, Soapy Street fell into disrepair and was demolished. On the site of the old premises, the brilliant Domenico Gilardi built a new building in the Empire style in 1816-17, generally retaining the layout and functional features of the first building.
Over time, Soapy Street suffered greatly: it burned down repeatedly, it was dismantled and rebuilt countless times. There were living quarters, the Novo-Kuzminskoye village council and even a slot machine hall (a landmark of the Soviet past). And only in 2008, as a result of large-scale restoration work, the building and the fountain in front of it were restored.
On July 8, 2008, an unusual monument was erected not far from the Vanny Domik - Bench of Love and Loyalty.
Bench of Love and Loyalty
It is on this day that the feast of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom is celebrated, he is also the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. For the manufacture of the monument, a French cannon was used, which participated in the battles of 1812, donated by an unknown collector. Newlyweds and lovers have chosen this modest monument, which has acquired ribbons and locks with the names of happy couples in a record short time.
Let's go back to the ponds and take a look grottoes, which are constant companions of every empire park. The grottoes in Kuzminki, located opposite the Musical Pavilion (opposite bank of the pond), are a clear confirmation of this.
Trekharkochny and Big grottoes. Photo by Mikhail Grizzly / mgreport.narod.ru
The graceful Three-arch and Large (Single-arch) grottoes in Kuzminki appeared after the construction of the Front Yard. When the ground was leveled under it, a slope formed on the bank of the pond, where artificial "underwater caves" gracefully fit. Grottoes in Empire parks are quite common: a vivid example of this is the Ruins grotto in the Alexander Garden. The temperature in the grottoes is always a few degrees different from the temperature in the open space: this helped the walking public to take refuge in the shady coolness and take a break from the midday heat. Amateur theatrical performances were also staged in the Big Grotto. There was no serf theater in Kuzminki, so the owners themselves and their guests took part in them. The grottoes have another little secret. As mentioned above, the Big Grotto is located directly opposite the Music Pavilion, so the sound that reached it during musical performances was reflected and resonated, creating a more voluminous sound effect.
Until 2004, the grottoes in Kuzminki were in a very deplorable state, and only after a large-scale reconstruction, these interesting landscape structures received a new life.
Continuing your walk along the bank of the Upper Kuzminsky Pond, you will soon come to the famous Lion's Quay, the mention of which is first found in documents in 1762. Photographs of this wonderful building are found in almost every work devoted to the estate culture.
Lion harbor. Photo by Mikhail Grizzly / mgreport.narod.ru
It is known that the pier, like other estate buildings, was repeatedly reconstructed and rebuilt. The original version of the building looked like this: two rounded platforms were connected with the help of gracefully curved stairs, decorated with white stone sculptures: vases, images of lying lions and dogs. In 1830, during one of the reconstructions by D. Gilardi, the upper platform of the pier was rebuilt, instead of a stone balustrade, a forged metal lattice appeared, and instead of plaster sculptures, the famous Egyptian lions cast from cast iron appeared. Having gone through several more restorations, in the Soviet years the monument gradually fell into decay: in 1945, the pier lost its main pride - the lions, which "moved" to Lyubertsy near Moscow. There they decorated the building of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and the decaying pier gradually turned into a pile of hewn cobblestones, while maintaining the status of an architectural monument right up to 1997. And only in the 2000s, the unique Round Pier was completely restored according to the remaining evidence and documents.
Going down further along the shore of the pond, we will inevitably come to orange greenhouse- a structure, the fate of which is still unclear. Like the Egyptian pavilion, the Orangery is a unique architectural monument, which, unlike most buildings on the estate, remains in a dilapidated state.
orange greenhouse
The greenhouse in Kuzminki was known throughout Moscow: apricots, peaches, oranges, cherries, lemons and oranges and many other fruits grew here. The architectural design of the building again refers us to the Kitchen building: the motifs of Egyptian and Greek art are also very noticeable here. The greenhouse is the only building in the estate where authentic interiors with ancient Egyptian themes have been preserved - perhaps you will not find such ones not only on the territory of the estate, but also in Moscow. Until 2001, the Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine was located here, and since the institute left the building, it has gradually deteriorated and crumbled. The former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, who, by the way, loves the Kuzminki estate very much, issued a decree in 2004 on the restoration of the Egyptian Pavilion and the Orange Orangery, but work has not yet begun.
Not far from the decaying greenhouse of the Church of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God is the so-called Slobodka- a complex where the courtyard people who served the estate lived. It was first mentioned in documents dating from the second half of the 18th century. The buildings that made up Slobodka changed, like other estate buildings - only their functions remained unchanged. The structure of Slobodka included such buildings and facilities as the Servant's Wing, the Priest's House, the Laundry Wing and the Hospital. Initially, wooden buildings were rebuilt over time, changing their appearance: the unsightly houses of service people and utility rooms became impossible to recognize after the intervention of Domenico Gilardi, who, on the orders of the master, radically changed the plan and facades of houses in Slobodka. All the buildings of Slobodka were connected by a common fence, and the road passing from the other side of the complex was named Poplar Alley - according to the trees planted here.
In a buiding Servant's wing there is an interesting museum on Slobodka - “ Museum of Russian Estate Culture”, one of the branches of the Museum of the History of Moscow.
Servant's wing
Here you will be told about the estate life and way of life, as well as about the history of the noble families of the Stroganovs and Golitsyns. Authentic exhibits illustrating the life of the 18th-19th centuries will help you immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the noble estate life, imagine the lifestyle and worldview of the people of that time. In this interesting museum, which has been operating since 1999, you can visit one of the entertaining interactive, costumed, thematic tours that revive the household traditions of everyday life of the 19th century.
One of the most famous buildings of this part of the estate - Barnyard, or Milk farm.
Animal Farm, or Dairy Farm
The place where the barnyard will be located was determined even under the Stroganovs. But the buildings that have survived to this day date back to the 1840s. The current farm building was designed by the architect Alexander Gilardi, the nephew of the already mentioned Domenico Gilardi.
The dairy farm is a one-story building made of red brick, forming the letter "P" in plan, with two-story outbuildings. Grooms and cattlemen lived in the outbuildings, and the stalls were located in the one-story central part of the building. In the middle of the Animal Farm was an elegant pavilion, decorated with luxury; it is believed that it was intended for the residence of one of the members of the count's family. It seems strange to choose a place to build a personal pavilion; but nevertheless it really was too rich and magnificent to be in the possession of service people: parquet floors, graceful balconies and sculptures of bulls decorating the courtyard, made by Baron P.I. Klodt, clearly pleased the eye of one of the noble persons.
Animal farm with the opposite bank of the pond, where the Propylaea and the pier were located, was connected by an interesting Plashkotny Bridge - a bridge on pontoons, which we can see in the picture of the Austrian artist I.N. Raukh. The bridge was installed only for the summer period, and dismantled for the winter.
It so happened that the farm did not fulfill its intended purpose for so long: in 1889, after the reorganization of the internal premises, the Animal Farm was transferred to the expanded Blachernae Hospital, which lasted right up to 1978. Since the hospital vacated the Animal Farm building, it has gradually deteriorated, like many other buildings on the estate.
After visiting Slobodka and Animal Farm, walking towards the church along one of the rays of the famous French park, made in the likeness of a park in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg, you will get to two more interesting museums. The first one is Literary Museum of K. G. Paustovsky- was opened in 1975, but moved to Kuzminki only in 1987, and since then it has occupied gardener's house(also called " gray dacha»).
Gardener's House, or Gray Dacha
The museum's collection includes about 17,000 items, illustrating not only the life and literary work of Konstantin Georgievich, but also about his environment, the time in which he lived: personal belongings of the writer, documents and manuscripts, paintings by illustrators, the writer's wife and son, as well as a variety of film and photographic evidence. A lot of interesting exhibits, as well as the incredible enthusiasm and dedication of the museum staff will make visiting the Literary Museum interesting; perhaps you will even become seriously interested in Russian literature.
As you probably already noticed, the Kuzminki estate is famous not only for its architectural and park ensemble, but also for various museums. Next to the Literary Museum of G.K. Paustovsky is located Honey Museum, he is Museum and educational center of beekeeping.
Honey Museum
The apiary in Kuzminki appeared under the Golitsyns - there was always fresh honey on the table of the princes. The museum is a demonstration apiary with 50 demonstration hives, where you, dressed in a special protective suit, can study the whole process of honey production and feel like a real beekeeper. In the museum, children and their parents will be offered a choice of several interesting excursion programs, a video film will be shown and children will be delighted with fun themed games. The only condition is that you can get into the museum only on weekdays and by appointment. In addition to the beekeeping museum, the educational center also houses the School of Practical Beekeeping and the Honey Lovers Club.
The former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, is very fond of bees. And, as mentioned above, he also loves Kuzminki very much. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Museum and Educational Center for Beekeeping in Kuzminki became the home of the "mayor's" bees. And that is why here in 2005 appeared bee monument- one of the most useful pets. The monument is made up of three low columns stylized as honeycombs, and on the central one sits a bee, which the locals affectionately dubbed Kuzey - in honor of the estate.
Monument to the bee Kuza
If you are not completely tired yet, then you can walk a little more and get into the realm of a winter fairy tale - the official Moscow residence of Father Frost.
Moscow residence of Father Frost
It appeared in Kuzminki in 2004, and by 2006 a whole complex of elegant buildings had grown here: Father Frost's tower, Father Frost's post office, a magical miracle mill, a fairy-tale well, a Creativity tower, a Snow Maiden's tower, an ice skating rink, a trail of fairy tales and a game sports town. A variety of events take place here throughout the year: games, festive festivities and tours of the towers do not stop here after the New Year's fireworks have died down. It is very pleasant to be here both in winter and in hot summer: under the dense shade of trees it is good to hide both from snowfall and from the hot sun. Of course, children will really like it here, who will have something to do here. What's there: even adults will want to take part in interesting master classes and go back to childhood for a moment, forgetting about age.
Kuzminki is a unique Moscow estate, an architectural and park ensemble, a museum, educational and educational center where everyone will find something to their liking. Shady alleys, fresh forest air and the charm of a bygone gallant era will not leave anyone indifferent.
