National Unity Day: what do we know about it? How the peasant Susanin saved Russia What sights Ivan Susanin showed to Polish tourists

In the places of Ivan Susanin

The name of Ivan Susanin and his feat in our country are familiar even to schoolchildren. But how many people know where the swamp into which he led the Poles is, and remember why he did it at all? But it was in the Kostroma region, and Susanin's route can be completely repeated, combined with an inspection of the sights that arose on it.

The district center of Susanino appears on the horizon after about an hour's journey on the left ahead, behind the river. Very soon, a five-domed church with a hipped bell tower appears in the center of the panorama, the outlines of which may seem familiar to many.

Do not be surprised - you really, most likely, have seen the Resurrection Church of the late 17th century more than once - of course, not alive, but in the painting by Alexei Savrasov “The Rooks Have Arrived”. My main job the outstanding Russian landscape painter created it here - though not in Susanino, but in Molvitino - that was the name of the village until 1939. You are unlikely to be able to find the angle from which Savrasov painted his “Rooks” in modern Susanino - apparently, while working on the picture, the artist quite freely rethought the landscape that opened to his eyes.

TO legendary feat Ivan Susanin, the district center, despite its name, has no direct relationship - historical events the end of the Time of Troubles unfolded about ten kilometers from here - in the vicinity of Domnino. No one cleans the “tip” to this village to the asphalt, so the road turns out to be much cleaner and more picturesque. Domnino itself greets travelers with a neat white-walled church with graceful blue cupolas, but on the whole it looks little different from thousands of other Russian villages.

The difference is in the historical content. According to the canonical version national history, at the end of winter - the beginning of spring of 1613 in Domnino, the ancestral patrimony of his mother, was the founder of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, who had just been elected to the kingdom and did not even know about it. The church at the entrance to the village stands exactly on the spot where early XVII century, the manor house of the boyars Shestovs was located, from whose family the mother of the newly elected sovereign came. In addition, according to one version, it is on the territory of the temple that the grave of the most famous Russian tour guide and part-time national hero Ivan Susanin is located.

Susanin was also from Domnino and, as we know from anecdotes, had leadership qualities and the ability to lead people. By 1613, however, he already lived in Derevenki, a settlement a couple of kilometers from Domnino. Apparently, it was there that Susanin met the Polish detachment, scouring the Kostroma outback in search of the newly elected Russian sovereign. Realizing that the meeting with the lost Polish “tourists” did not bode well for Mikhail Fedorovich, Susanin sent his son-in-law to Domnino with alarming news, and he himself, promising the uninvited guests to show the way there, led them in exactly the opposite direction.

Unlike the well-preserved Domnino, only a small brick chapel, built for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, reminds us of the existence of Derevenki today - it seems to be on the very spot where Ivan Susanin's hut stood. The chapel can be seen from the road that leads here from Domnino. A couple more minutes of driving along the “highway” of densely packed snow, and the next fork meets us with an unusual road sign. That is, the pointer looks quite ordinary - white letters on a blue background - everything is according to GOST, only the inscription on it is non-standard: "The place of I. Susanin's feat." And most importantly - no arrows that set the direction of movement. And around there is only a snow-covered forest, snowdrifts - and not a soul. In general, a slightly mystical place - you will not envy a motorist who, having gone astray, will find himself in front of this sign. Worse, probably, only a shield warning that you have entered the territory of the Bermuda Triangle.

Having overcome the goosebumps, we decide to turn right and very soon we run into a huge boulder standing on the edge of the cliff, from which an impressive view of the Isupovskoe swamp overgrown with low forests with an area of about two thousand hectares opens up. From bad weather, the boulder is covered with a layer of frost, through which another laconic inscription appears: “Ivan Susanin. 1613". This commemorative sign was installed here in the late 80s, when the country celebrated the 375th anniversary of Susanin's feat. At the same time, an asphalt road was laid here. They say that for this the locals are still grateful to their famous countryman no less than for saving the tsar from the Poles.

As soon as we got out of the car, a colorful grandfather in felt boots, a hat with earflaps and a luxurious mustache swirled upwards swam out from behind a stone. Poured Susanin, we decided. “Just don’t leave trash behind you!” He warned first. It turned out that this is one of the elderly residents of Domino who chose himself responsible for keeping the historical place clean and now walks here every day on duty.

“Vooon Susanin died there,” our new acquaintance pointed to a red pine in the middle of the swamp and held out army binoculars so that we could see it better. A 2.5-kilometer path through the swamp is lined with boards to the pine tree. The descent to it begins right behind the memorial stone. Is it worth it to meddle in the swamp without a guide (especially in winter) - decide for yourself. But remember that, given the historical experience, taking a local guide is also not a good idea. Although, they say, in fact, for tourists, whole theatrical programs are arranged here. The sightseers rush along the wooden walkways deep into the swamp after the mummers Susanin, and the escort in the costume of a Polish gentry closes the group, who periodically asks Susanin if he has forgotten the way.

If, unlike the Polish pioneers, you are lucky to return safely from the Isupovsky swamp, on the way back you can still stop by the regional center and visit the museum of Ivan Susanin's feat. Moreover, it is located just in the same church that is depicted in the painting “The Rooks Have Arrived”. The exposition of the museum tells not only about the feat itself, but also about the cult of Susanin, the perpetuation of his deed in art (one of the most interesting exhibits is a music box that is in working condition, playing a fragment of Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar"), and about the followers of the "guide" -patriot.

The museum stores the stories of more than fifty people who repeated the feat of Susanin in different years and wars. For example, in August 1919, the Altai peasant Fyodor Gulyaev not only led 700 Kolchak cavalrymen into the swamp, but also managed to get out of this alteration unharmed. For this feat, the revolutionary received from the hands of Lenin a silver watch and a sword, and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee by a special decree assigned him an honorary surname - Susanin.

It is curious that the Susanin-Molvitinskaya land gave our country another tsarist savior - the hat master Osip Ivanovich Komissarov, a native of Molvitin. On April 4, 1866, he took away the hand with a pistol of the terrorist Dmitry Karakozov, who had attempted on the life of Emperor Alexander II, at the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg. For this, he was elevated to hereditary nobility with the surname Komissarov-Kostroma, and in Molvitino until 1917 he even had a monument.

The name of Ivan Susanin in our country is familiar even to schoolchildren. But how many people know where the swamp into which he led the Poles is, and remember why he did it at all? But it was in the Kostroma region, and Susanin's route can be completely repeated, combined with an inspection of the sights that arose on it.

The way from Kostroma to Susanino in slushy winter weather cannot be called pleasant. The quality of the road surface leaves much to be desired, dirt constantly flies from under the wheels of cars passing by, forcing the windshield washer to spend almost liters. You involuntarily begin to sympathize with the Poles, who were brought here by a difficult four centuries ago. The district center of Susanino appears on the horizon after about an hour's journey to the left ahead, behind the river. Very soon, a five-domed church with a hipped bell tower appears in the center of the panorama, the outlines of which may seem familiar to many. Do not be surprised - you really, most likely, saw the Resurrection Church of the late 17th century more than once - of course, not alive, but in the painting by Alexei Savrasov "The Rooks Have Arrived". The outstanding Russian landscape painter created his main work here - though not in Susanino, but in Molvitino - that was the name of the village until 1939. You are unlikely to be able to find the angle from which Savrasov painted his "Rooks" in modern Susanino - apparently, while working on the picture, the artist quite freely rethought the landscape that opened to his eyes.

The regional center, despite its name, has no direct relation to the legendary feat of Ivan Susanin - the historical events of the end of the Time of Troubles unfolded about ten kilometers from here - in the vicinity of Domnino. No one cleans the "tip" to this village to the asphalt, so the road turns out to be much cleaner and more picturesque. Domnino itself greets travelers with a neat white-walled church with graceful blue cupolas, but on the whole it looks little different from thousands of other Russian villages.

The difference is in the historical content. According to the canonical version of Russian history, at the end of winter - the beginning of spring of 1613 in Domnino, the ancestral patrimony of his mother, was Mikhail Fedorovich, who had just been elected to the kingdom and did not even know about it, the founder of the Romanov dynasty. The church at the entrance to the village stands exactly on the spot where at the beginning of the 17th century the estate house of the Shestov boyars, from whose family the mother of the newly elected sovereign came, was located. In addition, according to one version, it is on the territory of the temple that the grave of the most famous Russian tour guide and part-time national hero Ivan Susanin is located.

Susanin was also from Domnino and, as we know from anecdotes, he had leadership qualities and the ability to lead people. By 1613, however, he already lived in Derevenki, a settlement a couple of kilometers from Domnino. Apparently, it was there that Susanin met the Polish detachment, scouring the Kostroma outback in search of the newly elected Russian sovereign. Realizing that the meeting with the misguided Polish "tourists" did not bode well for Mikhail Fedorovich, Susanin sent his son-in-law to Domnino with alarming news, and himself, promising the uninvited guests to show the way there, led them in exactly the opposite direction.

Unlike the well-preserved Domnino, only a small brick chapel, built for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, reminds us of the existence of Derevenki today - it seems like on the very spot where Ivan Susanin's hut stood. The chapel can be seen from the road that leads here from Domnino. A couple more minutes of driving along the "highway" of densely packed snow, and the next fork meets us with an unusual road sign. That is, the pointer looks quite ordinary - white letters on a blue background - everything is according to GOST, only the inscription on it is non-standard: "The place of I. Susanin's feat." And most importantly - no arrows that set the direction of movement. And around there is only a snow-covered forest, snowdrifts - and not a soul. In general, a slightly mystical place - you will not envy a motorist who, having gone astray, will find himself in front of this sign. Worse, probably, only a shield warning that you have entered the territory of the Bermuda Triangle.

Having overcome the goosebumps, we decide to turn right and very soon we run into a huge boulder standing on the edge of the cliff, from which an impressive view of the Isupovskoe swamp overgrown with low forests with an area of about two thousand hectares opens up. From bad weather, the boulder is covered with a layer of hoarfrost, through which another laconic inscription appears: "Ivan Susanin. 1613". This commemorative sign was installed here in the late 80s, when the country celebrated the 375th anniversary of Susanin's feat. At the same time, an asphalt road was laid here. They say that for this the locals are still grateful to their famous countryman no less than for saving the tsar from the Poles.

As soon as we got out of the car, a colorful grandfather in felt boots, a hat with earflaps and a luxurious mustache swirled upwards swam out from behind a stone. Poured Susanin, we decided. "Just don't leave trash behind you!" He warned first. It turned out that this is one of the elderly residents of Domino who chose himself responsible for keeping the historical place clean and now walks here every day on duty.

"Vooon Susanin died there," our new acquaintance pointed to a red pine in the middle of the swamp and held out army binoculars so that we could see it better. A 2.5-kilometer path through the swamp is lined with boards to the pine tree. The descent to it begins right behind the memorial stone. Is it worth it to meddle in the swamp without a guide (especially in winter) - decide for yourself. But remember that, given the historical experience, taking a local guide is also not a good idea. Although, they say, in fact, for tourists, whole theatrical programs are arranged here. The sightseers rush along the wooden walkways deep into the swamp after the mummers Susanin, and the escort in the costume of a Polish gentry closes the group, who periodically asks Susanin if he has forgotten the way.

If, unlike the Polish pioneers, you are lucky to return safely from the Isupovsky swamp, on the way back you can still stop by the regional center and visit the museum of Ivan Susanin's feat. Moreover, it is located just in the very church that is depicted in the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived". The exposition of the museum tells not only about the feat itself, but also about the cult of Susanin, the perpetuation of his deed in art (one of the most interesting exhibits is a music box that is in working order, playing a fragment of Glinka's opera "Life for the Tsar"), and about the followers of the "guide" -patriot.

The museum stores the stories of more than fifty people who repeated the feat of Susanin in different years and wars. For example, in August 1919, the Altai peasant Fyodor Gulyaev not only led 700 Kolchak cavalrymen into the swamp, but also managed to get out of this alteration unharmed. For this feat, the revolutionary received a silver watch and a saber from Lenin's hands, and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, by a special decree, gave him an honorary surname - Susanin.

405 years have passed, but the memory of the feat of the national hero is alive

Little is known about the personality of Ivan Susanin. In fact, almost nothing is known. It was a troubled time, hard times. Anarchy, confusion. Enemies tormented the Fatherland. Blood flowed, unfortunate Russia moaned...

We do not know the year of his birth or his parents. He was not young - at least that's how he was portrayed in portraits - he lived in the village of Domnino, about seventy miles from Kostroma. Was Ivan Osipovich Susanin not like a simple peasant, but the headman of the patrimony. Married? He had a married daughter Antonina with children, his grandchildren.

Exactly how it happened is not known. Only the legend remains...

In the early spring of 1613, a Polish-Lithuanian detachment was scouring near Domnino. The invaders knew that Tsar Mikhail Romanov, the founder of the dynasty, and his mother, nun Martha, were hiding nearby - or in that very Domnino. Further, the legend splits into two versions. According to the first, Susanin, who met the Poles, agreed to show the enemies a secluded place. However, he cheated and led them into a dark and cold night into a dense forest. There, the deception was revealed, and the headman accepted a painful death from the enraged infidels. It happened on the Isupovsky (Clean) swamp.

According to another version, Susanin from the very beginning opposed the plans of the enemies. For which he was subjected to sophisticated and cruel torture and was cut into small pieces.

So Susanin became the savior of Tsar Michael. His son-in-law, Bogdan Sobinin, was granted a royal charter and half of the village with “whitewashing” (liberation) from all taxes and duties “for serving us and for blood, and for patience ...” This charter is, by the way, documentary evidence of the feat . And later royal favors rained down on Susanin's relatives.

As time went on, literary monuments began to appear. The poet Kondraty Ryleev wrote a poem with the following lines: “Where are you taking us?.. not a single sight is visible! - / Enemies cried out with heart to Susanin ... / Where did you lead us? - Lyakh old cried out. / – “Where you need it!” Susan said. / – “Kill! torture! - my grave is here! / But know, and rush: - I saved Michael! / They thought you found a traitor in me: / They are not and will not be on the Russian land! / In it, everyone loves his homeland from infancy, / And he will not destroy his soul by betrayal ... "

It was a true hero's manifesto, a patriot's oath. A simple man did not spare his life for the king!

The poet described how the sabers of enraged enemies whistled over the brave man, and “solid Susanin fell all in ulcers! The snow is clean, the purest blood stained ... "

A stern bearded old man with a sharp look becomes a character historical dictionaries and textbooks. His feat was sung by the composer Mikhail Glinka in the famous opera A Life for the Tsar. Sergei Glinka - writer - in the article "Peasant Ivan Susanin" made the Kostroma peasant a symbol of valor and self-sacrifice.

In 1835, the central square of Kostroma was named Susaninskaya by royal decree. After more than a decade and a half, a monument designed by the sculptor Vasily Demut-Malinovsky was solemnly opened in the city, on which Susanin was depicted together with Mikhail Romanov.

However, not everyone accepted the official version on faith. Among the doubters was the well-known historian Nikolai Kostomarov, who concluded: “... in the history of Susanin, only the fact that this peasant was one of the countless victims who died from the robbers who roamed Russia in Time of Troubles; whether he really died because he did not want to say where the newly elected Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich was - this remains in doubt ... "

Kostomarov wrote that a similar story happened later - in 1648 in Little Russia. There, the peasant Mikita Galagan from the army of Bohdan Khmelnitsky "undertook to be a leader Polish troops, deliberately led him into swamps and forest slums and gave the Cossacks the opportunity to defeat their enemies.

Another historian, Sergei Solovyov, believed that "Susanin was tortured not by the Poles and Lithuanians, but by the Cossacks or, in general, by their own, Russian robbers ...". The root of his doubts is that the Poles were expelled from Moscow back in November 1612, and they went west. Where, then, did the Lithuanian-Polish detachment come from in the Kostroma wilderness?

One can, of course, assume that it was some kind of sabotage group, the "commandos of the 17th century", abandoned in order to kill the first Tsar Romanov, turn the whole of Russian history and plunge the country into an abyss of anarchy ...

But the point is not in the “details”, but in the very essence of the feat of a man from the People. In Russian history, more than one "Susanin" happened.

On April 4, 1866, Alexander II completed his walk through the St. Petersburg Summer Garden. Wishing to see the king, a small crowd gathered there. When the monarch approached, a long-haired young man with burning eyes rushed towards him. He pulled out a revolver from the pocket of his old coat and started aiming. The defenseless emperor slowed down the steps, the gendarmes accompanying him froze ...

And trouble would happen if there was not a nondescript, poorly dressed, blond-haired man nearby. He pushed young man under the arm. A shot rang out, but the bullet did not cause the king the slightest harm. And then the gendarmes, who came to their senses, pounced on the long-haired man and tied him up.

The attacker turned out to be a participant secret society, former student Dmitry Karakozov. Well, the tsar's savior was 25-year-old Osip Komissarov, a modest St. Petersburg hat maker. Interestingly, he was from the Kostroma region, a countryman of the legendary Ivan Susanin.

Komissarov's life has changed dramatically. And on the same day! Already in the evening he was honored with a meeting with the emperor in winter palace and his warmest thanks. The Savior was awarded the Vladimir Cross of the IV degree and elevated to hereditary nobles with the assignment of the surname Komissarov-Kostroma.

A stream of congratulations, honors and gifts literally fell upon him. ON THE. Nekrasov composed a poem in which the hatmaker was called "the guardian of sovereign life." Moreover, he was given the unspoken title of "Second Susanin"!

A telegram flew from the capital to Kostroma addressed to the chairman of the provincial zemstvo council: “We congratulate the people of Kostroma on the feat of the former peasant of the Buysky district, the village of Molvitin, Osip Ivanov Komissarov, now a nobleman who saved the life of the Tsar.” The answer was this: “The sudden news of the impending danger to the Tsar-Liberator deeply struck us; the news of salvation gave rise to a joyful feeling and reinforced the conviction that the spirit of Susanin lives in the hearts of Kostroma residents ... "

Several years passed, and the name of the “second Susanin” began to be forgotten ... The real Ivan Susanin remained the main hero of the Kostroma land and a patriot of Russia. So it was before the October Revolution.

Under Soviet rule, the hero was literally overthrown. But not at once. First came the "third Susanin". They became the 53-year-old resident of Altai Fedor Gulyaev, who in 1919 led a large White Guard detachment into an impenetrable swamp. He himself managed to escape.

Gulyaev was not only awarded the Order of the Red Banner, but also given the surname ... Susanin. The hero came to Moscow, met with Lenin. And he carefully kept a photograph of Clara Zetkin with the inscription "In good memory to Comrade Susanin."

Lenin's plan for monumental propaganda provided for the destruction of monuments "erected in honor of the tsars and their servants." And so the monument was taken down.

The church in the homeland of the hero in Domnina turned into a grain warehouse, and Susaninskaya Square in Kostroma was renamed Revolution Square (the historical name was returned in 1992). Nobody wrote about the hero anymore, and Glinka's opera was no longer performed. The new era has its own heroes...

However, in the late 30s of the twentieth century, the legendary peasant was rehabilitated. However, in a peculiar way: Susanin lost his former appearance, throwing off his old political “clothes”. By new version he accomplished his feat not in the name of the tsar, but to save Moscow.

In 1939, the famous musical performance by M.I. Glinka was staged in a new version at the Bolshoi Theatre. Its content and design were corrected and approved by Stalin himself. The opera called "Ivan Susanin" became more colorful, pompous. The stage was flooded with streams of light, the jubilant music of the victory "Glory!" In the final scene, people in bright clothes walked past St. Basil's Cathedral to meet Minin and Pozharsky, leaving the Kremlin gates. Soon the opera went on the stages of the theaters of Leningrad, Kharkov, Gorky, Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkov, Saratov, Kuibyshev and other cities of the USSR.

They remembered more than once the name of Susanin during the Great Patriotic War. He was elevated to the category of national heroes along with Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Mikhail Kutuzov, Minin and Pozharsky.

Susanin's feat was repeated by a resident of the village of Kurakino in the Pskov region, 83-year-old Matvey Kuzmin. When the Germans demanded that they be led secretly to the positions of the Red Army, the old man agreed for the sake of appearances. He himself sent his grandson Vasya to warn our fighters. They set up an ambush along the route of the German column. Kuzmin failed to get out of the shelling ...

The writer Boris Polevoy first spoke about his feat in Pravda - the same one who told the world about the valor of the pilot Alexander Maresyev. Kuzmin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.

Nowadays, Susanin began to be forgotten. Unless the monument in Kostroma (pictured) opposite the descent to the Volga reminds of him - this monument was erected in 1967. Tourists who find themselves in those parts can take part in excursions to historical places. They are accompanied by a majestic bearded man - "Susanin" himself. In the middle of the forest is a red brick chapel. And - a blue plate with the inscription: "The place of the feat of I. Susanin." As if it is known for certain that this is where the tragedy happened ...

Until the 90s of the last century, the three-deck ship "Ivan Susanin" plowed the Russian water expanses. Then the ship rested for a long time, then it was refitted and given a new name: "Peter the Great." It seemed to someone that the old words on board vehicle harbored an ambiguity: suddenly the snow-white bulk would sail to the wrong place, or even really bring it into impenetrable swamps. But what if there are Polish and Lithuanian travelers on the liner?

Susanin has long been not just a surname, but a common noun.

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Ivan Susanin is a folk hero, a symbol of "peasant" devotion to the tsar. For four centuries, his name and the legend of the miraculous rescue of the first sovereign of the Romanov family have become part of folklore.

How did you know?

The story of the feat of Ivan Susanin before early XIX passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. The general public learned about it only in 1812, thanks to the publication of the story of the writer Sergei Nikolaevich Glinka in the Russky Vestnik magazine.

Later, it was on this publication that the play "Ivan Susanin" and the famous opera by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka "A Life for the Tsar" were based. Glinka told the story about Ivan Susanin like this. In 1613, the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, their gangs looted in the interior regions of Russia. In February of the same year, the Zemsky Sobor in Moscow proclaimed Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov tsar, and, moreover, in absentia. But Mikhail Fedorovich himself at that time was in his estate in the Kostroma region, and one of the Polish gangs decided to destroy him. But where to look for him, the Poles did not know.

Entering the village of Domnino, they met the peasant Ivan Susanin and decided to ask him where the newly elected tsar was. But Susanin, realizing that the Poles wanted to destroy the young sovereign, not only did not tell them where he was, but also led them in the opposite direction. On the way, he went into his hut and quietly sent his little son to the king to warn him of the danger. Leading the Poles into an impenetrable thicket, Ivan Susanin said: “Villains! Here is my head; do with me what you will; whom you are looking for, you will not get it! After that, the Poles hacked the hero to death with sabers, but they themselves could not get out of the thicket and the king was saved.

son-in-law

Thus, the story of Ivan Susanin, 200 years later, acquired new details of a literary nature. Naturally, Ivan Susanin's dying words were invented by Glinka himself. He also added many details to the story about Susanin "for the sake of words." But what exactly were the details? What do we really know about Ivan Susanin?

Something can be assumed. For example, that Susanin was a widower and he had a daughter who succeeded him. In the royal charter given on November 30, 1619 (a unique and earliest source about the existence of a Kostroma peasant), Ivan Susanin's son-in-law Bogdan Sabinin is granted half of the village with "whitewashing" from all taxes and duties "for service to us and for blood, and for patience ... ". There is no doubt that such a document could only be a recognition of the great merits of the family to the king.

Susanin's relatives

Some assumptions that Susanin's mother's name was Susanna, and he himself was a village headman, are more likely speculation. But Susanin's patronymic - Osipovich, was invented by historians already in the 19th century and is not confirmed by any documents.

However, the very fact that the tsar descended to the level of a simple peasant and twice more from Moscow confirmed the privileges that exempted him from taxes, in 1633 and 1691 deserves attention.

In Glinka's story, in comparison with the text of the diploma, there are two main fictional plots. The first is the son of Susanin. As we know, Antonida's daughter succeeded him (including royal privileges), which was possible only in the absence of male offspring. But after all, the son could have died earlier? Studies show (Velizhev, Lavrinovich) that this is not the case. Back in 1731, the descendants of Susanin made an attempt to introduce another relative into the story about the salvation of the king - the future husband of Antonida. He was allegedly sent by Susanin to warn the king of the danger.

However, this fiction was not believed and the petition (which was aimed at obtaining wider benefits) was not approved. Thus, both the son and son-in-law of Susanin did not exist and were added to the legend about the salvation of the king later. The same can be said about the fact that Susanin led the Poles into the thickets (or swamps). In the documents of the 17th century, it is only known that Susanin did not give out the location of the king, and a romantic episode with remote places was added later.

Ivan Susanin and DNA

In the early 2000s, several reports appeared in the press about the discovery of the grave of Ivan Susanin. Archaeologists based their hypothesis on the fact that on several skeletons found in the results of excavations near the village of Domnino, traces of cold weapons, possibly sabers, were found.

However, they proceeded from the hypothesis that Susanin was buried, which also still needed to be proven. Forensic doctors who studied the found remains, although they noted many similarities in the anthropometric structure of the found skeletons and Susanin's descendants in 8-15 generations, evaded the unambiguous identification of the most probable skeleton. The fate was to be decided by DNA analysis of the bones, but the study did not give any reliable positive results.

Ivan Susanin of the 20th century

Nevertheless, one can hardly doubt now that the feat of Ivan Susanin was invented. Documented examples of such acts are well known in Russian history.

The most famous is the feat of the peasant Matvey Kuzmin in the winter of 1942. In the area of his village in the Pskov region, a battalion of the German 1st mountain rifle division wanted to make a round of positions Soviet troops. The Germans chose 83-year-old Matvey Kuzmin as their guide. However, he, having volunteered to lead the detachment, quietly sent his 11-year-old grandson Sergei (this was no longer an invention of later narrators) to the location of the Soviet troops and transmitted through him the time and place of the ambush.

At the agreed time, Matvey Kuzmin led the Germans to the positions of Soviet machine gunners. This story was transmitted by the Soviet Information Bureau, and Matvey Kuzmin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

At the same time, Matvey Kuzmin himself hardly knew about Ivan Susanin - the Pskov hunter was probably illiterate. Well, if you knew, then this is also not surprising. In Russia, as well as later in the USSR, the feat of Ivan Susanin was widely used in mass propaganda. Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar changed its name to Ivan Susanin; writers, artists, and poets addressed the patriotic image of the Kostroma peasant throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. We know very little about the real Ivan Susanin, but more than about any other peasant of that time. His existence is documented, he even accomplished a feat with his silence and did not betray the young Mikhail Romanov, who was hunted by the Poles.

The proposal to ride “along the Susanin route” is alarming: after all, it is known from history that for the Polish detachment this route became a one-way road. But in Kostroma region there is no getting away from the heroic legends of the Time of Troubles, and anyone interested in history will surely want to go on an excursion “in the places of Susan”. Moreover, these places are very picturesque!

History reference

Despite the abundance of legends about the feat of Susanin, very little historical evidence of the events associated with him has been preserved. It is authentically known that Ivan Susanin was the headman in Domnino - the family estate of the noblewoman Martha, the mother of Mikhail Romanov, and in 1619 the son-in-law of the peasant Bogdan Sobinin received a royal charter, according to which half of the village of Derevenki passed to him, and he himself and all his descendants were exempted from taxes and duties "for service to us and for blood, and for the patience of his father-in-law Ivan Susanin." The letter said that the Lithuanian people tortured the peasant about the whereabouts of Mikhail Romanov, but he, although he knew the necessary information, did not give it away and was tortured to death. The details of the incident are known from the descendants of the Susanin family, and these stories over time have acquired a mass of dubious details. The classical version of the legend says that in the winter of 1613, Martha and her son, Mikhail Romanov, already elected Tsar, were in Domnino. Since Sigismund III and his son Vladislav also claimed the Russian throne, the Polish detachment was sent to Domnino "to remove the competitor." In the village of Derevenki, Ivan Susanin was with his daughter, who agreed to see the Poles off to Domnino. But instead, the peasant led the enemy into the forests and the impenetrable swamp, where he was killed.

Researchers rightly point out the shortcomings of this story. Firstly, it would be very difficult for the Poles to find themselves in Derevenki without first getting to Domnino. Secondly, in winter, an impenetrable swamp usually freezes over. Thirdly, it is not clear who and how found out about the heroic death of Susanin, if he, together with the Polish detachment, disappeared in the surrounding forests.

Historians have other versions: probably, the Poles arrived here not in the winter of 1613, but in the late autumn of 1612, before the election of Michael to the kingdom. In Domnino, they found the headman and tried to find out from him about the whereabouts of Martha and Mikhail, who at that moment were on pilgrimage in the Makaryevo-Unzhensky monastery. Susanin did not tell the truth and, in order to play for time, led the detachment through the swamp to the village of Isupovo, located on the other side. Already there, realizing the deception, the Poles killed him in front of his fellow villagers. By the way, it was in this village, on the graveyard, that the alleged remains of Ivan Susanin were found in 2003 (which, however, historians also doubt).

Susanino village

To get to the Susaninsky district, you need to leave Kostroma along the main street - Mira Avenue, which gradually turns into Kostroma Street, and then into the Kostroma - Bui highway. On this road you have to drive about 60 kilometers to the village Susanino, and count on a long trip - this road has a bad reputation because of its poor condition, an abundance of patches and potholes, you won’t be able to drive along it at high speed.

In Susanino it is worth making the first stop. To Ivan Susanin this locality is not directly related and was called Molvitino in the past. But here is Museum of Susanin's feat, which tells not only about the hero himself, but also about others historical figures who performed similar feats at different times. Even in the museum you can see a 17th century saber found not far from the Isupovsky swamp - it is believed that it belonged to someone from that same Polish detachment.

The museum is located in the building of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, depicted in the painting by Alexei Savrasov “The Rooks Have Arrived”, so of course, you cannot miss such an interesting object. Just keep in mind that this museum has a slightly non-standard opening hours: it is open on Monday, but closed on Friday. And getting here is easy - after the bus station you need to turn left from the highway, onto Karl Marx Street, and drive along it to the center of the village.

In the footsteps of Susanin - without a car

You can travel around the “Susanian places” on your own if you are ready to drive a car along bad roads and are not afraid of walking through a swamp. However, you can come here without a car: for example, by intercity bus "Kostroma - Bui" to the turn to Domnino, and then a few kilometers on foot along Susaninsky places. If you doubt your ability to navigate the terrain, you can join an excursion to Susanino - such routes are regularly offered by local travel agencies. Excursions usually include a theatrical performance "I. Susanin's Path", so you can clearly imagine what was happening in these parts 400 years ago.

To the village Derevenki

As we remember, according to the official version of events, the Poles intercepted Ivan Susanin in a village with a tautological name Villages near Domnino. Perhaps there was the family home of the Susanins, where the daughter of Ivan Antonida lived with her family. In any case, in this village in 1913 appeared memorial chapel consecrated in honor of John the Baptist.

The village no longer exists - it is depopulated, abandoned and overgrown with forests. But the chapel has been preserved and can be reached. To do this, leave Susanin and move further along the highway for about 5 kilometers, past the turn to Shipilovo and Domnino. You need the next turn (towards Sumarokovo). It is about 2 kilometers to the chapel, there will be a sign along the way.

A red-brick chapel with one cupola rises in the middle of the forest. It is usually locked, but you can see the painting on its outer wall and the memorial plaque “The chapel was built in 1913 at the expense of local peasants in memory of the 300th anniversary of the feat of Ivan Susanin. According to legend, in this place in the village of Derevenki stood the house of I.O. Susanina".

By the way, do not think that the chapel is a very insignificant object! In 2006, a series of stamps “Russia. Regions”, where the stamp of the Kostroma region was decorated with a monument to Susanin, a view of the Volga and this same chapel.

How to choose the right time to travel

You can visit Susanin places at different times of the year, but the ideal time is dry autumn, when there are no mosquitoes in the swamps, and the forests in yellow-red foliage look especially picturesque. But if you want to see all the sights, including the legendary path through the swamps, take rubber boots with you: you have to walk on boards that have rotted and are flooded in the swamp mud, so any shoes will get wet and dirty.

Domnino and Isupovskoe swamp

After standing at the chapel, you need to return to the track and follow it to the previous turn - now the village is waiting for you Domnino, the ancestral patrimony of the boyars Shestovs (it was to this family that the noblewoman Martha belonged, in the world Xenia, until she married Fyodor Romanov). Turning left, drive another 4 kilometers to Domnino. This village, unlike Derevenka, is quite inhabited and boasts very picturesque wooden houses with carved platbands, as well as monastery in the name of saints Royal Passion-Bearers - Nicholas II and his family. This monastery was founded recently - in 2004. But the monastery church of the Assumption was built much earlier - in 1809-1817 on the site where the house of the Shestov boyars once stood (this is indicated by a plaque on the wall of the temple). It is believed that there was also a wooden Resurrection Church nearby, which was destroyed over time - there is even a version that Ivan Susanin was buried in the basement of this old church.

It is easy to find the monastery: you need to go along the main street of the village, you will see the church behind the fence on the right side. It can be more difficult to get into the territory: sometimes it is closed, and you should ask the nuns for permission to take pictures.

Near the temple you can see a white-stone two-story church school building, built at the end of the 19th century at the expense of the Alexander Orthodox Brotherhood - again in memory of the salvation of Mikhail Fedorovich.

From Domnino the road goes on, past the village of Perevoz - to the famous Isupovsky swamp. Its second name is Pure Swamp (which is unlikely to console you much if you fall into it). The swamp is not only a historical place, but also a natural monument of federal significance. There is a large a boulder with the name of a peasant hero. This impressive monument weighing under 60 tons was installed here back in 1988. From the stone opens a picturesque view of the swamp and forests lying below. From here you can see lonely pine tree in the middle of the swamp- for some reason it is considered the place of death of Ivan Susanin.

To get to the pine tree, you need to go down from the boulder to the swamp and set off along the boardwalk. The gat stretches for 2.5 kilometers, the boards are rather slippery, in places rotten and half-flooded in liquid, but you can walk along them, only carefully. First, the path leads through the forest, then leads to an open area with rare birch trees. A few meters from the beginning of the trail there will be a fork with a branch towards the well.

Near the pine tree there is an object that is often called a chapel, although in fact it is just a small candlestick box with icons. Here you can light a candle in memory of Ivan Susanin, wherever he actually died.

"Troubled" monasteries

Susanino, Domnino and the swamp trail is a classic Susanino route, after which most tourists want to return home or to a hotel. But if you are not too tired and full of desire to continue your journey through the places associated with the history of the Time of Troubles, you have a lot of options! For example, you can drive another 24 kilometers on the road to the side Buya- to the village Borok. Here, in the center of the village, on Kolkhoznaya Street, is Predtechensky Jacob-Zheleznoborovsky Monastery, where Grigory Otrepyev was tonsured a monk, the same future False Dmitry I, from whom all the Troubles began.

You can, however, return to Kostroma and visit Ipatiev Monastery, where, after the events that killed Ivan Susanin, Martha and Mikhail Romanov were hiding. In Kostroma, it is worth visiting Romanov Museum where you will be told about the history of the ancient boyar families associated with this area.

But there is a third monastery in the Kostroma region, without mentioning which the history of the origins of the Romanov dynasty would be incomplete. It's about the same Makaryevo-Unzhensky Monastery, where, at a very dangerous time, the future Russian tsar and his mother went on a pilgrimage. The place for the pilgrimage was not chosen by chance: the relics of its founder, St. Macarius of Unzhensky, who was a prisoner of the Kazan Tatars, were kept in the monastery. Mikhail and Martha prayed to him for the release of their father and husband Filaret (in the world - the boyar Fyodor Romanov), who at that moment was a prisoner of the Poles. Probably, the future tsar also prayed for the liberation of Russia from foreigners - and, as is known from history, both requests for prayers to Macarius were fulfilled. Later, having already become king, Mikhail Fedorovich again under a vow made a pilgrimage to this monastery. It was during the second trip that he learned about the feat of Ivan Susanin and granted his descendants land and exemption from taxes.

road to Makariev not close - you need to go through Sudislavl, or rather, through Kostroma and Sudislavl, since the road between the Kostroma-Buy highway and Sudislavl is almost impassable. More than 180 kilometers from Kostroma to Makariev, so you should not combine this trip with a trip to Susanino. But if you still have free days in Kostroma, you can expand the "geography of the Time of Troubles" by visiting this ancient monastery.