Plan
Introduction
1 Biography
2 Sources
3 Perpetuation of the name
Bibliography
Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich
Introduction
Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov (XVI century - October 18, 1608) - military and political figure Time of Troubles in Russia, leader of the uprising of 1606-1607.
1. Biography
Presumably, Ivan Bolotnikov came from impoverished boyar children. He sold himself as a slave to Prince Andrei Telyatevsky and served in his armed retinue as a combat slave. Then he fled from his master and found refuge in the free Cossack outskirts. According to some reports, he was an ataman Don Cossacks. He was captured by the Tatars and sold into slavery to the Turks. As a slave rower he participated in a number of naval battles. He was released from captivity by the Italians. Returning to Russia, Bolotnikov visited Germany and Poland. Rumors about the rescue of Tsarevich Dmitry attracted him to Sambir, where Mikhail Molchanov, an associate of False Dmitry I, was hiding with the wife of Yuri Mnishek Jadwiga, who introduced himself to Bolotnikov as the tsar who escaped after the May uprising in Moscow. Molchanov talked with Bolotnikov for a long time, and then sent him a letter to Prince Grigory Shakhovsky and sent him to Putivl as his personal emissary and “grand governor.”
Bolotnikov organized his own army in southern regions Russia, near Moscow, Kaluga, Tula. He started fighting against the government of Vasily Shuisky, calling himself “the governor of Tsarevich Dmitry.” He was actively supported by Cossacks, service people (nobles) under the leadership of Prokopiy Lyapunov, archers led by Istoma Pashkov, as well as slaves and serfs; in Soviet historiography, the Bolotnikov uprising was viewed as peasant war, on a par with the uprisings of Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev.
Near Kromy, Bolotnikov’s army was defeated by the army of governor Mikhail Nagogo (September 1606). The rebels, on their way to Moscow, approached Kolomna. In October 1606, the Kolomna settlement was taken by storm, but the Kremlin continued to stubbornly resist. Leaving a small part of his forces in Kolomna, Bolotnikov headed along the Kolomenskaya road to Moscow. In the village of Troitskoye, Kolomensky district, he managed to defeat government troops. Bolotnikov’s army was located in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow.
In October 1606, Bolotnikov’s army besieged Moscow, but on December 2 it was defeated at Nizhniye Kotly and retreated to Kaluga. In May 1607, the rebels managed to defeat the tsarist troops near Kaluga, after which they retreated to Tula. On June 12, on the Voronya River, the army led by Bolotnikov was defeated and thrown back to Tula. During June-October 1607, Bolotnikov led the defense of the Tula Kremlin, besieged by the troops of Vasily Shuisky. Shuisky ordered the construction of a dam on the Upa River, which flows next to the Kremlin, which flooded part of the Kremlin’s premises, including those that contained food supplies. On October 10, 1607, the defenders surrendered.
After the victory of Shuisky's troops in October 1607, Bolotnikov was exiled to Kargopol, blinded and drowned.
2. Sources
Basic, albeit contradictory, information about Bolotnikov’s life is contained in the notes of foreign authors - Isaac Massa and Konrad Bussov (Bussov served under Bolotnikov’s command).
3. Perpetuation of the name
· In Lipetsk there is Bolotnikov Lane
· In Moscow there is Bolotnikovskaya Street.
· In Tula there is a street named after. Bolotnikov, a monument to Bolotnikov was erected in the Tula Kremlin.
· In Kaluga there is a street named after. Bolotnikov, a monument was erected in honor of the uprising led by Bolotnikov.
· In Krasnodar there is a street named after. Bolotnikov and Bolotnikov Lane.
· In Magnitogorsk there is a street named after. Bolotnikova
· In Tyumen there is Bolotnikov Street
· In Kazan there is Bolotnikov Street
· In Gorlovka there is Bolotnikov Street
· IN Nizhny Novgorod there is Bolotnikov street
and also in Kargopol Arkhangelsk region there is Bolotnikova street
Bibliography:
1. See Skrynnikov R.G., “Vasily Shuisky”. M.: AST, 2002, p. 202; Kozlyakov V.N., “Vasily Shuisky”, M.: Young Guard (ZhZL), 2007. p. 110
10.04.2015 0 5418
Ivan Bolotnikov- assistant False Dmitry II, was a man with a very extravagant biography.
“HERE’S 30 DUCATS FOR YOU...”
Bolotnikov's origins are unclear. The year of his birth is unknown, and it is also unknown who he was by origin. The most common version is that the future ataman came from the impoverished “children of the boyars,” that is, he was a nobleman, but a poor nobleman, forced to sell his saber to someone who was richer and more noble by birth.
Bolotnikov became a military slave to Prince Andrei Telyatevsky. Let us clarify that the fighting serfs had nothing to do with the powerless serfs and servants. They were something like bodyguards for the current oligarchs. Service as a combat slave was satisfying, but dangerous. However, Bolotnikov quickly got tired of her, and soon he ran away from the prince to the Don Cossacks.
Together with them, Bolotnikov went on campaigns against the Crimean Tatars and Nogais. In one of these campaigns he was captured. By official version, the Tatars who captured the prisoner sold him to the Turks, and he became a galley rower.
For several years he had to wave an oar while he fumbled around Mediterranean Sea the galley was not captured by certain “Germans” who freed the slave and sent him to Venice. However, there is a version that in captivity he converted to Islam, becoming on the galley not a simple oarsman, but an overseer.
In Venice, Bolotnikov lived for some time on a German trading estate located near the Rialto Bridge (connecting the banks of the Grand Canal), doing who knows what, but learned to speak German.
Another version says that the former Orthodox Christian was welcomed in Venice by the Jesuits, who decided to involve him in the unrest that flared up in Russia.
By that time, Moscow had already dealt with False Dmitry I and the Tsar on Russian throne Boyar Vasily Shuisky was “shouted out”. But a replacement was found for the killed impostor. A new one has appeared, " miraculously"saved" Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich. So Ivan Bolotnikov decided to go to him as a governor (on the advice of brothers from the Jesuit Order).
He left for his homeland through Germany and Poland. In Sandomierz I met with one of False Dmitry’s associates, Mikhail Molchanov. After questioning Bolotnikov and making sure that he was dealing with an experienced warrior, he allegedly told him on behalf of the impostor: “I can’t give you much now, here are 30 ducats, a saber and a cloak. Be content with little this time. Go with this letter to Putivl to Prince Shakhovsky. He will give you enough money from my treasury and make you a commander and commander over several thousand soldiers. Instead of me, you will go further with them and, if God is merciful to you, you will try your luck against my perjured subjects.”
It is noteworthy that the 30 ducats given to Bolotnikov are very similar to the 30 pieces of silver received by Judas for the Savior betrayed to them.
WITH FIRE AND SWORD
With a letter from False Dmitry II, Bolotnikov headed to Putivl. Prince Shakhovskoy, convinced of his knowledge of military affairs, gave him command of a detachment of 12 thousand people.
Bolotnikov goes to the Komarnitskaya volost and announces to everyone that he himself saw “Tsar Dmitry,” who appointed him chief governor. Vasily Shuisky sent a detachment against him under the command of Prince Yuri Trubetskoy, but the latter, having met Bolotnikov’s forces, retreated.
This served as a signal for a large-scale uprising. City after city recognized False Dmitry as king and sent detachments to Bolotnikov. In addition, the self-proclaimed governor was joined by the militia of Istoma Pashkov, a detachment of freemen who came from Lithuania.
Bolotnikov's gang passed through Kromy, Mtsensk, Odoev, Aleksin and Kaluga with fire and sword. The massacres of the rebels are described in the “Karamzin Chronograph”: “And in those Ukrainian, Polish and Seversk cities, people, out of hostility and obsession, beat boyars and governors and all sorts of people with various deaths, threw them from towers, and hung others by their feet and crucified them to the city walls and they executed many different deaths and robbed people of subsistence, and those they beat and called them traitors, but they seem to stand for Tsar Dmitry.”
In anonymous letters, he kindled the basest instincts of his army. Bolotnikov called for killing the boyars, taking their wives and daughters for themselves, and robbing merchants and merchants.
With a large army of the “voevoda Tsar Dmitry” (as Bolotnikov began to call himself), he headed towards the capital. The cities standing in the way surrendered without a fight. Only in Kolomna did residents dare to resist, which resulted in the complete looting of the city.
On October 22, 1606, Bolotnikov stopped in the village of Kolomenskoye, seven miles from Moscow. Here he built a fort, strengthening it with a wooden palisade and rampart. Bolotnikov’s army grew, separate gangs emerged from it, mainly from serfs, who, with their raids and robberies, kept the capital in a state of siege. Muscovites were already ready to submit to the “chief governor,” asking only to show them Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich, and even began negotiations with him on this matter. But the king still did not appear.
In addition, a split occurred in Bolotnikov’s army: one camp consisted of nobles and boyar children, the other - serfs, Cossacks and other people. The latter were led by Ivan Bolotnikov, the former by Istoma Pashkov and the Lyapunov brothers. Disagreements arose between the leaders; as a result, first the Lyapunovs and then Istoma Pashkov went over to Shuisky’s side.
TULA SIDELETS
Bolotnikov was forced to leave Kolomenskoye. Having reached Kaluga, he gathered up to 10 thousand soldiers and prepared for defense. The troops of Tsar Vasily Shuisky surrounded the city and tried to take it by storm. But neither big losses, nor the lack of food supplies could force Bolotnikov to surrender, although he was promised complete forgiveness.
A detachment under the command of Prince Telyatevsky, the same one who once had him as a slave, went to help the ataman. Telyatevsky broke royal governors near Kaluga. Bolotnikov made a sortie and brought such fear to the besiegers that they fled, leaving behind guns, convoys and supplies. Then the “chief governor” from Kaluga went to Tula, where he was joined by Cossack chieftain Ileika Muromets, posing as the never-existent Tsarevich Peter - the son of the late Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.
On June 30, a 100,000-strong army led by Tsar Vasily Shuisky himself approached Tula. The siege of Tula began, lasting more than three months. And it is unknown how long it would have lasted and how it would have ended, especially since disagreements arose between the royal commanders. But then the “big cunning man” Meshok Kravkov came to Shuisky, proposing to build a dam on the Upa River. As a result, Tula was flooded.
According to one version, Bolotnikov and False Petra were handed over to Shuisky by the townspeople themselves. According to another version, the besiegers agreed to surrender only on the condition that they were all granted forgiveness. “And if not,” they said, “we will hold on, even if we have to eat each other.” The tsar promised to grant forgiveness, and on October 10, 1607, boyar Kolychev occupied Tula.
THE GOVERNOR COMMANDED...
Bolotnikov appeared to Vasily Shuisky in full armor, took off his saber, laid it in front of the tsar, hit him with his forehead to the ground and pronounced his oath promise to serve the sovereign faithfully, until the grave, if he, according to his promise, did not order him to be killed.
On October 18, the Tsar arrived in Moscow with victory. Bolotnikov and other leaders of the rebellion were also brought here in chains. Two of them - princes Telyatevsky and Shakhovskoy - were exiled to Siberia. Bolotnikov’s military advisers, German mercenaries who served in his army, were also sent there.
Vasily Shuisky did not dare to take the “voevoda Tsar Dmitry” into the service and ordered him to be exiled to a prison in the distant northern city Kargopol. During the time of Grand Duke Ivan III, families of prisoners were sent there Tatar khans, and in 1538, the sister of the favorite of Elena Glinskaya (mother of Ivan the Terrible), boyar Telepnev-Ovchina-Obolensky Agrafena, was exiled. In 1587, Prince Andrei Ivanovich Shuisky died in exile in Kargopol.
Bolotnikov was placed in prison, where he was kept in chains. But he didn't stay there long. Fearing the escape of a dangerous convict, the Tsar ordered Bolotnikov’s eyes to be gouged out and then drowned in an ice hole. This is what was done in the winter of 1608.
Oleg SEMENOV, journalist (St. Petersburg)
Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich
A rebel from the time of Shuisky. He was a slave of Prince Telyatevsky, was captured by the Tatars as a child, was sold to the Turks, worked in chains on Turkish galleys and was released along with other prisoners, according to some news - by the Venetians, according to others - by the Germans, and upon release he was brought to Venice. Here he stayed for some time and decided to return to his fatherland through Poland. Driving through it, he heard about the stay of Tsarevich Dimitry (Molchanov) in Sambir, came to him and, as a shrewd and enterprising man, was sent last with a letter to the Putivl governor, Prince. Shakhovsky. Seeing his desire to stand up for Dmitry and convinced of his knowledge of military affairs, Shakhovskoy entrusts him with a detachment of 12,000 people. With them, B. went to the Komarnitsa volost and announced to everyone that he himself had seen Demetrius and Demetrius named him chief governor. Vasily Shuisky sent a detachment against him under the command of Prince. Yuri Trubetskoy, but the latter, having met B-m near Kromy, retreated. This served as a signal for the uprising of cities, serfs and foreigners. City after city they proclaimed Demetrius king and sent auxiliary detachments to B.; serfs and peasants, hearing B.'s call, almost everywhere rose up against their masters and joined his detachment. The Mordovians were also indignant in the hope of freeing themselves from Moscow power and, together with serfs and peasants, forced some cities to fall away from Shuisky. In addition, the militia of Istoma Pashkov joined B., the Lyapunovs - Zakhar and Prokopiy, and a detachment of freemen who came from Lithuania also joined him. With such formidable and numerous forces, B. headed towards the capital. The cities that stood in the way all recognized the authority of the chief governor, Demetrius; Only in Kolomna did they dare to resist, and this led to the complete looting of the city. 50 versts from Moscow, near the village of Troitskoye, B. was met by the Moscow army under the command of Mstislavsky, who, without entering into battle, barely escaped B.’s persecution. On October 22, 1606, B. stopped in the village of Kolomenskoye, seven versts from Moscow. Here he built a fort, strengthening it with wood and a rampart, and began sending letters throughout Moscow and various cities, inciting the poor and lesser against the rich and noble and calling on everyone to kiss the cross to the rightful sovereign Dimitri Ivanovich. B.'s militia increased here even more; From it, separate gangs stood out, mostly slaves, cat. with their raids and robberies they kept the capital in a state of siege. The Muscovites were ready to submit to B., asking him only to show them Dimitri, and even began negotiations with him on this matter. But Dimitri did not show up. B. several times turned to Shakhovsky with a request to send him to the army as soon as possible, pointing out to him the importance of his presence, but he hesitated. Some cities had already begun to express their doubts about the existence of Demetrius and went over to Shuisky’s side. In addition, a split occurred in B.’s army itself: on one side stood the nobles and boyars’ children, on the other there were serfs, Cossacks and generally small nameless people. The latter were headed by B., and the leaders of the former were Istoma Pashkov and the Lyapunov brothers. Disagreements arose between the leaders, and their result was the defection of first the Lyapunovs and then Istoma Pashkov to Shuisky’s side. Shuisky, meanwhile, had actively set about strengthening Moscow from the very appearance of B., now began to receive reinforcements from the cities that had come over to his side, which sent militias of nobles and boyar children to him. Seeing that Shuisky’s military forces were increasing more and more, B. decided to act more energetically: an attack was made on the Simonov Monastery, but was repulsed with damage. But neither the loss of the army (from the attack and the constant departure of his people), nor Shuisky’s exhortations to surrender and promises to give him an important rank broke the loyalty of B. Dimitri and the determination he had previously accepted to fight for his cause to the last opportunity. He answered Shuisky: “I kissed the cross to my sovereign Dimitri Ivanovich - to lay down my life for him. And I will not break the kiss. I will faithfully serve my sovereign and will see you soon.” Having received such an answer, Shuisky decided to move from a defensive war to an offensive one; a series of successful attacks on B.'s prison forces the latter to flee from Moscow. Moscow military men pursue him to the village. Zaborya, where the governor loyal to Demetrius managed to gain a foothold again; but the Zabor fortification also fell; part of the Cossacks, led by Ataman Bezzubtsev, was transferred to Skopin-Shuisky, the head of the Moscow army. B. fled further and finally settled in Kaluga; strengthened it, gathered up to 10,000 fugitives and prepared for defense. The detachments sent here by Shuisky (the largest under the command of Mstislavsky) besieged the city from all sides, carried out frequent attacks, and defeated the militia under the command of Prince. Masalsky, but his courage and energy remained unshakable. He successfully repulsed their attacks and made successful forays himself; neither the loss of military men nor the lack of food supplies, especially severe towards the end of winter, forced him to surrender, although he was promised complete forgiveness; Only one thing confused him: the named Demetrius had not yet appeared, and soon disappeared completely. Then a new impostor appeared among the Terek and Volga Cossacks, taking on the name of Tsarevich Peter, supposedly the son of Fyodor Ioannovich, replaced by a daughter who soon died; he was already approaching Putivl, and it was then that Prince. Shakhovskoy decided to use it to support the uprising. He sent him to Tula, and then moved himself. To B.'s rescue, he sent a detachment under the command of Prince. Telyatevsky. The latter defeated the royal governors, the princes of Tatev and Cherkassy, near Kaluga, on Pchelva (May 2). Then B. made a sortie and brought such fear to the besiegers that they all fled in embarrassment, leaving the enemy with guns, convoys and supplies. After that, he set out from Kaluga and headed to Tula, where Shakhovskoy and Peter were already there. On June 30 he approached Tula with large army(about 100 thousand people) and Tsar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky himself. The siege of Tula began, lasting a little more than 3 months. Neither the attacks of the besiegers, nor the depletion of supplies here weakened the energy and firmness of B. and his warriors. And it is unknown how much longer this siege would have continued and how it would have ended, especially in view of the disagreements that arose between the commanders of the tsarist army, if the “big cunning man” Meshok Kravkov had not come to Shuisky, who flooded Tula with the dam of the Upa. With the flood in Tula, hunger also increased; many rebels came in droves to Shuisky to confess, but the main villains continued to resist and agreed to surrender only when they were granted forgiveness. “And if not,” they said, “we’ll hold on, even if we have to eat each other.” The Tsar promised them mercy, and on October 10, 1607, boyar Kolychev occupied Tula. B. appeared before Shuisky in full armor, took off his saber, placed it in front of the tsar, hit him with his forehead to the ground and pronounced his oath promise to serve the tsar faithfully until the grave, if he, in accordance with his kiss, did not order him to be killed. On October 18, the Tsar arrived in Moscow. B. and other leaders of the rebellion were also transported here and, after interrogation, they were thrown into prison in Kargopol. Here, first B.'s eyes were gouged out, and then he was drowned.
(Brockhaus)
Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich
Leader of the uprising against Tsar Vasily in 1606-07. By origin, B. was a slave of the prince. Telyatevsky, in his youth he was captured by the Tatars, and from there he was taken to Turkish galleys. Having been freed, he was in Venice and returned to his homeland through Poland. With a letter from Russian. fugitives B. came to Putivl in 1606 to Prince Shakhovsky, a supporter of Demetrius, when Shakhovsky rebelled against Shuisky. The only thing missing was an energetic leader, which is what B. was. His program expressed the interests of the lower classes: the land and wealth of the boyars and guests were given to serfs, peasants and Cossacks, and crowds of lower classes and peasants began to flock to B. Near Kromy, B. defeated Prince Trubetskoy, sent against him by Tsar Vasily. After this, the uprising spread widely from the Smolensk land to Astrakhan. Connecting with Pashkov(see) and Ryazan (small service people under the command of Lyapunov), B. reached Kolomna. Tsar Vasily moved Prince Mstislavsky against him with a large army, but B. defeated him too, approached Moscow itself and set up a camp in the village of Kolomenskoye. But here the nobles, led by Lyapunov, came to an agreement with Shuisky and went over to his side. The northern merchant cities sent reinforcements to Shuisky, and his troops, under the leadership of Skopin, defeated B. During the battle, Pashkov and his comrades also betrayed Bolotnikov. Serpukhov did not let B. in, and he settled in Kaluga, then in Tula. Here he gave up tsarist troops, was exiled to Kargopol and drowned there. B.'s uprising was the first manifestation peasant movement at the beginning of the 17th century. under the slogan of Cossack equality and free use of land.
Lit.: Pokrovsky, M. N., Russian history in the most concise outline, GIZ, M.-P., 1923; Platonov, S. F., Essays on the history of the Troubles in Moscow. state of the 16th-17th centuries, ed. 3, St. Petersburg, 1910.
Large biographical encyclopedia. 2009 .
See what “Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich” is in other dictionaries:
Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich, figure in the Time of Troubles, the time of Shuisky. Bolotnikov was a slave of Prince Telyatevsky, as a child he was captured by the Tatars, sold to the Turks, worked on Turkish galleys, and upon release ended up in Venice. Returning to... ... Biographical Dictionary
- (year of birth unknown died 1608), leader of a major anti-feudal uprising of peasants and serfs in 1606 07 in Russia. Former slave of boyar Telyatevsky. In his youth he fled to the Cossacks, was captured by the Tatars and sold into slavery in Turkey on the galleys... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Bolotnikov, Ivan (deacon). Ivan Bolotnikov Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich I. I. Bolotnikov confesses to Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Unknown artist Place of birth unknown ... Wikipedia
- (? 1608), leader of the uprising of 1606 07, runaway slave, was in Turkish slavery. Organizer rebel army in the southern regions of Russia, near Moscow, Kaluga, Tula. In October 1607 he was exiled to Kargopol, blinded and drowned. * * * BOLOTNIKOV Ivan... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
- (? 1607), leader of the uprising 160607. A runaway slave, was in Turkish slavery, fled to Venice, then to Poland. He led the march of the rebel army, consisting of serfs, peasants, townspeople, archers and Cossacks, against Moscow.... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
A rebel from the time of Shuisky. He was a slave of Prince Telyatevsky, as a child he was captured by the Tatars, was sold to the Turks, worked in chains on Turkish galleys and was released along with other prisoners, according to some news, by the Venetians, according to others by the Germans, and... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Bolotnikov Iv. Isaevich- (? 1608) leader of one of the rebel groups of the Time of Troubles. From the slaves of the book. A. A. Telyatevsky, fled to the Don, was captured by Crimean Tatars, returned to Russia through the West. Europe. In Poland from the murderer F.B. Godunov, Mich. Molchanov... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary
Not to be confused with Bolotnikov, Ivan Isaevich. Ivan Bolotnikov, palace clerk under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Participated in the election of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in 1613. From 1612 to 1631 he was a clerk in the order Grand Palace and a judge in... ... Wikipedia
Battle of Bolotnikov's troops with tsarist army(Ernest Lissner) Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov (? 1608) military and political figure of the Time of Troubles in Russia, leader of the uprising of 1606 1607. Biography Presumably, Ivan Bolotnikov came from ... ... Wikipedia
Famous Russian artist-architect, architectural theorist, academician (1765) and vice-president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1799), one of the founders of classicism. Did a lot to save architectural appearance Moscow as the author of projects for the reconstruction of the Moscow Kremlin (1767 - 1775), Moscow region imperial estate Tsaritsyno (1775 - 1785), houses of the nobleman Pashkov (1784 - 1786), Yushkov's house on Myasnitskaya Street (late 1780s), churches in the village. Bykovo near Moscow (1782 - 1789) and others (born in 1737 or 1738 - died in 1799)
Bazhenov is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant Russian architects due to the scope of his plans, freedom, strength and originality creative imagination. Despite the fact that he managed to carry out a negligible part of his grandiose plans, he was one of the best practical builders of his time, distinguished as much by the art of planning as by the grace of the form of the buildings he designed.
Vasily Ivanovich was born in February (according to other sources - March 1) 1737 or 1738 in the family of sexton Ivan Bazhenov, who served in the church of the village. Dolskoye, Maloyaroslavsky district, Kaluga province (researchers are still arguing about the place and date of birth of the famous architect). Soon my father was transferred as a psalm-reader to one of the Moscow churches. He sent his son to study as a singer at the Strastnoy Monastery - according to tradition, he should have followed in his father’s footsteps. But little Vasya wanted to draw. “I dare to mention here that I was already born an artist. “I learned to draw on sand, on paper, on walls,” Bazhenov himself told about himself. “I transferred all the saints from the church in my thoughts to the passages on the walls and made them my composition, for which I was often flogged. In winter I made chambers and statues from snow.”
Only at the age of 15, the talented boy was taken out of favor and taught by some artist. Unexpectedly, the two of them found themselves participating in a state construction project - the wooden royal mansions on the outskirts of Moscow burned down, and Empress Elizabeth ordered their restoration as soon as possible. The young painter painted the stoves to imitate marble in the Golovinsky Palace, which still smelled of wood. Here his abilities were noticed by the chief Moscow architect, Prince D.V. Ukhtomsky. He took the talented teenager as a free listener into his architectural team and began to entrust him with independent work. Dmitry Vasilyevich, knowing that Vasily was strapped for money, gave him the opportunity to earn extra money. He directed young student on construction sites as an apprentice to inspect buildings in need of repair, draw up estimates, etc. In 1755, the future architect began studying at the gymnasium at Moscow University, and a year later, university trustee M.I. Shuvalov demanded that those who were appointed to study “arts and architecture” be sent to St. Petersburg. On the banks of the Neva, Vasily studied at the Academy of Sciences with S.I. Chevakinsky, and then at the recently opened Academy of Arts under A.F. Kokorinova and Zh.B. Wallen-Delamotte. Upon completion of his studies in 1760, the graduate received a large gold medal and was sent with the young painter Anatoly Losenko to Paris to improve his skills at the Academy of Arts. Bazhenov captivated the Parisian examiners with his erudition and excellent knowledge. He presented them with a model of the Louvre Colonnade, made with pinpoint precision, as well as drawings, drawings and engravings. The Russian was taught by the brilliant architect Charles de Wailly. Vasily was one of the best, stood out among his fellow students for his ingenuity and vivid imagination. He recalled: “My comrades, the young French, stole my designs from me and greedily copied them.” Having received a diploma as an architect from the Paris Academy, at the end of October 1762 Bazhenov went to Italy to study architectural monuments of various eras and architectural styles. He spent almost two years in the country of ancient ruins and magnificent baroque, where he gained fame as a brilliant architectural draftsman and designer and was awarded diplomas from the Florence, Clementine and Bologna academies. Returning to Paris, the young man received a personal invitation from Louis XV to remain in France as a court architect, but refused, deciding to return to the Russian capital. There, as an academician, he was promised a professorship.
On May 2, 1765, he returned to St. Petersburg right in time for the great celebration in honor of the new charter of the Academy of Arts. But the alma mater offended its former student, since the new management here did not need him. He was officially promoted to academician, but the long-promised professorial position, and therefore the salary, was not assigned - either because of the machinations of colleagues who were afraid of a talented competitor, or because “a Russian is not given an advantage over foreign masters.” In addition, the architect was given a test from which other academicians were spared - they were asked to create a high rank small project. He completed it with brilliance and scope, far exceeding the given modest program. Empress Catherine instructed Bazhenov to develop a version of the Institute for Noble Maidens at the Smolny Monastery. Unfortunately, the majestic and elegant composition, which amazed many with its organic combination of diverse forms and architectural ingenuity, remained on paper. But the order of Tsarevich Paul to erect a palace in the style of classicism on Kamenny Island came to life. The queen's favorite, Count Orlov, as commander of artillery and fortification, asked Catherine II for the unexpected rank of artillery captain for an architect and invited him to serve in his department as chief architect. In this position, Vasily Ivanovich built an arsenal building in St. Petersburg on Liteinaya Street (now the building judicial institutions). At the beginning of 1767, the architect returned to his native Moscow. Soon he married Agrafena Krasukhina, the daughter of a Kashira nobleman who died early.
Meanwhile, Catherine II decided to rebuild the Moscow Kremlin, which was in extreme desolation and disrepair. Bazhenov dared to propose his own option, where the Kremlin was to turn into community Center cities with an oval square, to which the main radial highways of Moscow would converge. On the line of the Kremlin walls there was to be a palace with a powerful base and a solemn colonnade on the facade. By the summer of 1768, Vasily Ivanovich finished work on the sketches and began creating a large model of the Kremlin Palace. Its dimensions were such that courtyards several people could be walking around. However, in the spring of 1771, work had to be stopped due to the plague epidemic. Tough but ineffective measures by the authorities caused discontent among the townspeople. A riot broke out, Bazhenov feared for the fate of his precious copy, reduced 50 times, built from dry wood. But the rebellion was suppressed in two days, and the model survived (it is kept in the Moscow Museum of Architecture). The following summer, digging of a pit for the palace foundation began, which was laid a year later in a solemn ceremony. Years passed, but the construction did not rise above the foundation due to lack of funds and changes political situation in Russia. In 1775 construction works were interrupted by order of the Empress.
The distressed Bazhenov switched to the construction of wooden pavilions of non-classical architecture outside the city, on Khodynskoye Field, to celebrate the victory over the Turks. Catherine II liked the elegant, unusual buildings of conventionally oriental architecture, and in 1776 she commissioned the architect to develop a plan for the construction of her residence near Moscow in Tsaritsyno.
The architect devoted ten years of his life to this construction project. In the spring he moved there from Moscow with his family and lived there until late autumn. Unlike Kremlin construction, Vasily Ivanovich himself hired workers, managed finances, and bought materials. During the construction of Tsaritsyn, he did not adhere to any a certain style: he freely combined lancet windows of Western European Gothic with patterned brickwork Russian buildings of the 17th century, used state symbols in white stone carvings. Thus, the architect introduced neo-Gothic techniques, combining them with motifs of the national (“Naryshkin”) Baroque. Bazhenov built the Small Palace, the Opera House, the Cavalry Corps, the Bread Gate, the Administration House, and began the construction of the Main Palace. The construction grew, and money came from the capital in insufficient quantities. Debts and litigation began, and the chief builder fell into despair. In damp Tsaritsyn he fell ill and died. younger son. Around 1779, the architect became a member of the religious Masonic lodge. New friends helped Vasily Ivanovich overcome mental turmoil and despair.
In the summer of 1785, the Empress finally visited the almost finished estate, familiar to her only from the drawings. The elegant houses seemed gloomy and small to her - on paper everything looked more impressive. Catherine II interrupted construction, dissatisfied with the abundance of Masonic symbols in the decor, as well as the proximity of the architect to the disgraced journalist and publisher Nikolai Novikov, who once accepted him into the Masonic order. Bazhenov had long been acquainted with the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, and when he came to St. Petersburg, he gave him Masonic books printed in Moscow. The suspicious empress accused the Freemasons of wanting to “catch the heir into their sect, to subjugate him.” She ordered Tsaritsino to be rebuilt. Some buildings of the estate were demolished and a new palace began to be built in their place, while others were left without interior decoration. The architect, who had fallen out of favor, was fired; he found no work with the mistress of Russia.
After this fiasco, the architect moved on to executing private orders, and his urban planning plans were partially realized in the 1780s. in other Moscow buildings: the Pashkov castle-palace on top of Vagankovsky Hill opposite the Borovitskaya Tower of the Kremlin (now known as the old building of the Russian state library); Yushkov's house on Myasnitskaya street; the neo-Gothic-Baroque Church of Vladimir in the Bykovo estate near Moscow, which was distinguished by monumentality, grace and refined details of the facade.
In 1792, Bazhenov had to move to St. Petersburg, to the modest post of an architect at the Admiralty. He built barracks in Kronstadt, a sugar factory, forest sheds and other primitive buildings for the fleet. Officials did not accept Bazhenov’s project for the reconstruction of the galley harbor on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg after the fire - although it was beautiful, it was expensive, and government money should have been saved.
In 1796, Catherine II died, and the architect's longtime patron, Tsarevich Pavel, became emperor. Vasily Ivanovich immediately received from him the rank of actual state councilor and the village of Glazovo with serfs - a thousand souls. Bazhenov, again close to the court, in 1797 created for the new ruler of Russia a project for the Mikhailovsky (Engineering) Castle in St. Petersburg with canals and drawbridges.
At the beginning of 1799, Paul I appointed him vice-president of the Academy of Arts - a position that was created specifically for Bazhenov. The 60-year-old architect was eager to renovate the decrepit educational institution, improve the education of young artists, find new talents. But, as it turned out, he no longer had time for this. In the summer of 1799, Vasily Ivanovich was stricken with paralysis. On one of the white nights, he asked the children - Olga, Nadezhda, Vera, Vladimir, Vsevolod and Konstantin - to gather at his bedside to hold farewell speech. On August 2(13), 1799, the famous architect died. He was buried in the Glazovo estate.
The legacy of I.E. Bazhenov Grabar described it as follows: “Like all great masters, throughout his career he experienced an evolution in his personal creativity that corresponded to the evolution of the era. Having begun to build in the spirit of early classicism, also marked by Baroque features, towards the end of his life, which coincided with the turn of both centuries, he switched to more strict forms.” After V.I. Bazhenov left a large number of plans, projects, a whole series of artistic and theoretical texts, in particular “The Lay on the Foundation of the Kremlin Palace”, etc. Vasily Ivanovich compiled full translation all ten books of architecture by the Italian Vitruvius with his comments (published in 1790 - 1797).
Valentina Sklyarenko
From the book “100 Famous Muscovites”, 2006
