The architecture of ancient buildings has attracted people's attention for more than a century. Beautiful centuries-old buildings fascinate the eyes and imagination, captivate with their patriarchal, splendor and exoticism.
People once lived in them, with the same feelings and problems as ours. What did they think and dream about? What did they strive for and what did they want? Perhaps their home will lift the veil over the mysterious and incomprehensible that happened hundreds of years ago.
Visiting beautiful historical buildings will help us to see the life of previous generations from the inside, get in touch with the chronicle of bygone days and better know the present.
One of these historical architectural monuments is the Pehra-Yakovlevskoye estate, which amazes its visitors with a wealth of architectural thought and modern ... desolation.
Location
It turns out that it is very easy to get to the significant estate by public or private transport. Entrance is free. Locals love to wander along the virgin overgrown alleys, admire the delightful noble architecture and watch the cruel time that destroys a beautiful powerful building.
Where is the estate Pehra-Yakovlevskoe located? Balashikha - the city on whose territory the estate is located - is located several kilometers from the capital of the Russian Federation. This is a pretty famous area.
The city of Balashikha is the oldest largest city in the Moscow region, the center of the centuries-old textile industry, famous for its factories. Despite a well-developed scientific and industrial complex, the area is widely known for its picturesque landscapes and landscapes.
Balashikha is located on the Pekhorka River. On the territory of the city and in the vicinity there are about sixty other bodies of water - lakes, ponds and reservoirs. The city is surrounded by forests, which are harmoniously combined with water reservoirs and ancient buildings.
One of them - the estate Pehra-Yakovlevskoe - is a monument of federal significance and is protected by the state. In addition, it is under the patronage of a university located nearby. The Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University is doing its best to give the estate a decent look, but huge funds and resources are needed for this. Unfortunately, at the moment the buildings and the manor park are abandoned and poorly maintained.
However, let's not stop at the sad and go back - to the exciting and wonderful world of history and architecture.
Briefly about the main thing
The estate Pehra-Yakovlevskoe was erected in a picturesque place of the shallow river Pekhorka. Over its long history, it was rebuilt several times and changed owners. The most famous owners of the estate are the princes Golitsyn. We’ll start our story with them.
The beginning of the chronicle
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the village of Yakovlevo was ruled by the boyars of the Yakovlevs. In those days, the estate did not yet exist.
Soon the estate passed into the hands of Grigory Sukin, and a little later became the property of his daughter Euphemia.
In 1591, the village, together with its land, was granted to the boyar Andrei Ivanovich Golitsyn, the illustrious captain and governor.
He did not consider it necessary to build a manor house on it, since he lived in Pskov.
After the death of the first Golitsyn, Yakovlevo went to his eldest son, who, in turn, passed it on to his firstborn. It was then that began the construction of residential and entertainment facilities, which now have a common name - Manor Pehra-Yakovlevskoe.
Start of construction
In the early 1690s, Pyotr Mikhailovich Golitsyn built a small wooden house on the hereditary land and set up a garden near it. Since the elderly prince had no children, after his death, a fragile structure and fruit trees were inherited by his younger brother, Mikhail Mikhailovich. He is the most eminent and noble owner of the estate, since at one time he served as a diplomat and president of the Admiralty, had the rank of admiral general and enjoyed the favor of royalty.
However, the main creator of the estate in the village of Yakovlevo was the son of a wealthy nobleman - Pyotr Mikhailovich. He decides to seriously engage in construction, writes out a talented architect from St. Petersburg and sets to work.
Golitsyn era
Pyotr Mikhailovich - lieutenant general, one of the leaders of the suppression of the Pugachevsky uprising, rebuilt a large house with two wings, built a church and expanded the park area and garden plantings. However, in connection with the accident in a duel, he was killed and left the estate to his eldest son, Mikhail.
The boy at that time was not even twelve years old, so the reins of the estate were taken over by his uncle and guardian, Alexander Mikhailovich, the Russian envoy to the UK and vice chancellor. He renovated the built house, luxuriously decorating it inside and out.
Rare works of art - paintings and sculptures - were brought into the estate. Also, Alexander Mikhailovich built the patrimonial church, which has come down to us as the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The architectural structure of this cult building was a rarity in the suburbs, as the rotunda of the church did not consist of one bell tower, but two.
The heir to the estate - Mikhail Petrovich, continued the creative undertakings of his father and uncle. He improved the building itself and the architectural and ensemble around it.
However, this did not save the estate from the Napoleonic invasion. In 1812 it was severely attacked, but was soon rebuilt and ennobled again.
New owners
Since then, the estate Pehra-Yakovlevskoe often changed its owners. They were Prince Ivan Alekseevich Gagarin (real state adviser and senator), and Princess Anna Dmitrievna Naryshkina (acting chamberlain), and many others.
They say that the estate was honored to host the highest persons - Empress Maria Fedorovna (in 1817) and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (in 1826).
Twentieth Century
After the October Revolution, the estate of Princes Golitsyns near Moscow was nationalized. At first, it housed the civil commissariat, then a colony for the homeless, and even later the Institute for Fur Hunting.
Since 1955, the estate was owned by the Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University.
Negative incidents
Naturally, such a change of ownership negatively affected the estate itself. The house dilapidated and fell into decay, was robbing and polluting.
In the early 1920s, the main building of the estate was badly damaged by fire. It was rebuilt, but without the restoration of its previous layouts and architectural forms. It was also impossible to restore the former decoration and luxurious design of the building.
Estate structure
What, according to the architects, was supposed to be part of the estate complex? It is now difficult to consider what was built several centuries ago and what was so mercilessly destroyed.
However, official documents were preserved, according to which you can recreate the beauty and grandeur of the estate Pehra-Yakovlevskoe.
Its most important structure, of course, is a mansion with two wings, a theater, a greenhouse and a church.
The manor house, made in the style of early classicism, was a strictly symmetrical building, consisted of two floors and was crowned with a dome. Pilasters on pedestals decorating the walls of the building smoothly turned into porticoes. The interior of the mansion was magnificent and luxurious. Marble fireplaces, valuable vases, large mirrors, expensive cladding - all this was typical of the noble buildings of that time.
The outbuildings of the estate, located quite far from the mansion, have not survived to our time. The two-story brick outbuildings attached to the house by colonnade galleries were built in the Empire style and decorated with Italian porticoes.
The church was built of brick, but in some of its finishes there is also a white stone. In the center of the building was a luxurious iconostasis.
Two identical buildings were built next to the mansion, one of which housed a gallery, and the other an open theater.
And, finally, the park zone is a vast picturesque square, which is a system of alleys, broken down into the French style, diverging from the glade with a six-pointed star.
Between the park and the mansion, a bulengrin platform was established, which has survived to this day. It has a semicircular stone staircase, in the basement of which grottoes and parapets are decorated, decorated with a round sculpture.
Also in the park was a “katalnaya gorka” - an embankment hill located on the banks of the Pekhorka River.
As you can see, the estate is poorly preserved to this day and now appears before visitors in an abandoned form. However, this does not detract from its historical, architectural and aesthetic value.