November 1472 saw a revival in Moscow - the royal bride Sofia Paleolog arrived in the capital. A few days later, in the Assumption Cathedral, she was married to Ivan III, widowed five years earlier. Sofia did not come to Moscow empty-handed. In her large wagon train, among the dowry were books belonging to the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI. It is generally accepted that these manuscripts made up a significant part of the library of Ivan the Terrible, the secret of which is still unresolved.
Treasures of the Basileus
Researchers suggest that Thomas Paleolog, a despot of the Byzantine province of Morea, managed to save the imperial library during the siege by the Turks of Constantinople. Having fled to Italy, he brought a collection of tomes to the Vatican, where he was favorably received by the pontiff. We can say that from this moment the story of the creation of the library of Ivan the Terrible originates, because the daughter of the deposed despot was the same Sofia, who several years later married Ivan III.
The Latin word liber, which means “book,” formed the basis of the name given to this collection of manuscripts - liberia. For many centuries, the Byzantine emperors collected the works of ancient and medieval authors, so their library, according to experts, consisted of a considerable number of rare books, the value of which was great even in the 15th century, not to mention our time.
Stone dungeon
So, the history of the library of Ivan the Terrible began more than five centuries ago in the Vatican, from where the Byzantine Princess Sophia set off to far Russia. According to legend, by birth she got one of the best book collections in the world of that time. No one can say with certainty which particular volumes were brought by Sofia Paleolog. However, legends claim that among them were the works of alchemists, ancient authors, books that once belonged to the kings of the Holy Roman Empire, etc.
To save the library in a wooden city, where fires often broke out, the Grand Duchess instructed an Italian architect to build a stone dungeon near the Kremlin. After the death of Sofia, Liberia was inherited by her son Vasily III, and then by her grandson, Ivan IV. How to get into the treasured cache, knew only the great princes and the most trusted servants.
Royal book lover
Ivan IV was known for his well-read, therefore, having taken the throne, he ordered to review all the books inherited in order to fix the damaged ones. In addition, a catalog was compiled, which included new arrivals. Knowing the king’s love of reading, ambassadors and merchants brought him folios from abroad as a gift, and after conquering the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates, many books in Arabic were delivered to Moscow. Thus, the library of Ivan the Terrible was constantly updated.
There were rumors that the tsar’s grandmother was a sorceress, she allegedly poisoned the son of Ivan III from her first marriage, so that her first-born Vasily would inherit the princely throne. Researchers call the source of the witching knowledge of Sofia the Byzantine library - liberia.
In the first years of his reign, Ivan the Terrible studied for a long time books inherited from his grandmother, and delved into the meaning of sacred knowledge. He was occupied with questions of searching for a philosopher's stone and methods of unraveling the ideas of his subjects.
The mystery of the royal book depository
Grozny greatly valued his liberia, in the first years of his reign he spent a lot of time reading, but then he found a kind of obscurity on the tsar, not explained either by his contemporaries or by scholars of our day. Blood flows poured across the country: a campaign to Novgorod, the Livonian war, the oprichnina, the Tsar’s flight to Alexander’s settlement, the transfer of the capital to Vologda, the execution of yesterday’s associates, orgies turning into battles.
According to legend, shortly before his death, Ivan IV ordered that the liberia be hidden so that no one else could use it. The library was placed in deep secret caches.
It is believed that, being a well-read and educated person, the tsar not only recognized the value of ancient folios, but also the danger of the knowledge imprinted on their pages: heretical texts, magic spells, Christian apocrypha, etc. Moreover, according to researchers, Grozny with the help of occult the knowledge gleaned from all of the same books, he cast a spell on the library: whoever approaches it will lose sight.
According to another version, the spell was imposed only on books, which contained the most secret and dangerous knowledge. No one knows how true this is, since there is no evidence that anyone saw a cache of books after they were buried.
The tsar died suddenly, playing chess, and from that moment Ivan the Terrible’s library was enveloped in a cloud of mystery. Soon rumors spread that Liberia had disappeared after his death.
Time of Troubles
The successor to the throne, Fyodor Ioannovich, was in poor health. Having reigned only 14 years, he died. If we proceed from the version that the liberia of Grozny still disappeared, then this could happen during the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich. Could a son have a hand in the disappearance of his father’s library? This question remains unanswered. It is possible that this nevertheless happened, for example, Tsar Fyodor decided to hide the liberia more reliably, completely hiding its location, or completely get rid of books on magic, burn it like heretical literature. In any case, Boris Godunov, who was married to the kingdom after him, did not get the library.
Like Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, Godunov was a book reader and a very educated person. Naturally, he could not but know and not be interested in Liberia. If a library existed in his short reign, Godunov would certainly have saved it. However, when the researchers checked the documents dating back to his reign, they did not find any mention of the existence of the tomes of Grozny.
Nevertheless, during the turbulent period of the Time of Troubles, the Poles who captured Moscow were interested in Liberia. There is evidence that, along with Marina Mnishek and False Dmitry the First, a man came from Poland to the city, who was actively looking for the tsar’s library of Ivan the Terrible.
It is also known that several convoys were soon sent from Moscow. Perhaps among the jewels and other good things were books from Liberia. It is not known, however, whether the carts reached Poland or not. It is believed that the onset of the Russian militia caught them near Moscow. Therefore, there is a version that maybe Tushino is the place where you should look for the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible.
Myths and Reality
Liberia has been searched intermittently for several centuries. Nevertheless, not all scientists are inclined to believe in its existence. At different times, various versions were put forward about its possible whereabouts. The debate is still hot. Some are absolutely sure that it is about to be found in one of the Kremlin hiding places, while others believe that there is nothing to look for, since Liberia has long been disbanded.
The reality is this: to date, it has been precisely established that 78 different books that once belonged to Ivan IV are in different libraries of Russia. There are direct indications that they were donated by the king to monasteries or private individuals. Skeptics believe that these folios were previously part of Liberia, and therefore there is no secret. Their main argument is this: if the library existed, they would not be carefully hidden, one way or another, its tracks would have long been discovered.
However, proponents of the existence of Liberia are convinced of the opposite. In evidence, they cite an inventory of his property compiled after the death of Tsar Ivan IV. It also mentions books. Therefore, supporters of the existence of the library tend to believe that at the end of life, supposedly tormented by the crimes committed, the king ordered manuscripts to be hidden and walled up by magic. Just for a long time they are trying to find them.
Many researchers believe that the myth itself developed back in the 16th century. It is associated with the name of Maxim the Greek, a monk and a scholar who made translations of books from the grand duchy collection. Some texts of that time recorded that sovereign Ivan Vasilyevich had a huge library of Byzantine manuscripts that his grandmother brought. Despite this assertion, many historians believe that such a number of books simply could not be, and the description compiled by Christopher von Dabelov at the beginning of the 19th century was falsified.
Thus, no one can say with certainty whether Ivan the Terrible’s library really existed, whether this huge book depository actually existed.
Two hundred years of quest
No matter what, Liberia is one of the most popular search items, it has been searched for for five centuries. After the death of Grozny, all people dedicated to the secret of the library died during the Time of Troubles, however, rumors about it continued to go not only in Russia but also in Europe. Mysterious Liberia was sought by both Peter the Great and Napoleon during his stay in Moscow.
Of course, searches were conducted with long interruptions, and mainly in the Kremlin. For example, in 1724, Osipov Konon, a sexton of the Moscow church, sent a note to the bishop. In it, he argued that under the Kremlin there is a cache with two chambers cluttered with chests. The chambers themselves are allegedly located behind iron doors sealed with lead seals.
After that, they excavated in the place indicated by the monarch in search of the liberation of Ivan IV the Terrible, but to no avail. Therefore, interest in it subsided for a while, until it flared up again in the 19th century. This time, Prince N. S. Shcherbatov, director of the Armory, took up the matter, with the active support of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was then the governor of Moscow.
Searches were conducted in the area of four Kremlin towers: Vodovzvodnaya, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya. They lasted six months, but were suspended due to the death of Emperor Alexander III. Later, Nicholas II also issued permission to conduct searches of the library both in the Kremlin and in the Alexander settlement. As a result, several medieval books were found, it seemed that Liberia was about to be discovered. However, subsequent events in the country and in the world (World War I, the February Revolution, the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks) postponed further searches for several decades.
Soviet period
The new government remembered the library when it was in dire need of funds and for this purpose sold the values of the ousted monarchy abroad. It is believed that not only books, but also material treasures are an integral part of Liberia. With the permission of Stalin, in the 1920s and 1930s, the Kremlin conducted searches led by Ignatius Stelletsky. He is considered the first Russian explorer of caves and underground objects.
Before the revolution, Stelletsky received permission to excavate, convincing the Moscow mayor of the existence of underground labyrinths under the Tainitskaya tower of the Kremlin. He suggested that it was in this place that material values and books of Liberia could be hidden. However, the caver did not succeed in getting there, since the war began in 1914, and the authorities revoked the permission issued to him earlier.
In Soviet times, despite the opposition from the Kremlin’s commandant’s office, Stelletsky still managed to investigate a part of the underground gallery, which was mentioned by the seekers of the library of the 18th century. He decided to dig around the middle Arsenal tower in the Alexander Garden, where there is a grotto with a colonnade.
In the 15-16 centuries, the Neglinnaya River flowed near the tower . The tower itself was called Granena at that time, it was renamed only after the construction of the Kremlin Arsenal building. During excavations, underground floors with wells, walkways and stairs were discovered here. Nevertheless, Liberia was never found. Soon Stelletsky became seriously ill, for this reason the excavations were stopped.
A new surge of interest in the search for the library of Ivan the Terrible occurred in 1962 after several chapters from the manuscript of Ignatius Stelletsky were published in the journal Week. The publication caused a stream of readers' letters, as a result of which a special Public Commission for the Search for Mysterious Liberia was created under the chairmanship of Academician Mikhail Tikhomirov, a famous Soviet historian.
It was supposed to conduct a study of archival documents, explore the topography of the Kremlin, and begin archaeological excavations. However, nothing was done for two reasons: in 1965, academician Tikhomirov first died, and then Khrushchev was removed. The new party leadership refused the Public Commission to continue research on the Kremlin.
Recent attempts
In autumn 1997, Apalos Ivanov made an appointment with the Moscow mayor. In the 30s, he was an employee of the Kremlin guard. In particular, he was engaged in testing underground communications. Ivanov said that once he was in the old labyrinth, according to his assumption, dug in the XVI century. He went through underground passages from Volkhonka to the Kremlin and stumbled upon decaying skeletons chained to the wall by chains, as well as on the iron doors dividing the compartments of the dungeon.
Ivanov recalled how, as a child, he heard stories of the priceless library of Ivan the Terrible, securely hidden in the caches of the Kremlin. Seeing the iron doors, he decided that the store was located just behind them. However, at that moment he did not have the means to open them. When, after some time, Apalos returned to the underground labyrinth, he discovered that the entrance was laid with fresh brickwork.
Yuri Luzhkov ordered the creation of a special group to search for the tsarist library. The chance to find an ancient treasure seemed too tempting. However, Liberia once again “slipped away”, and there was no sensation.
Skeptics see this as yet another proof that the library of Grozny is nothing but a myth. Proponents of its existence refer to a legend that describes how a dying king called a trusted monk and asked to hide liberia after his death, imposing a ban: no one should find a library for exactly eight centuries. To date, only half of this period has passed.
What did Liberia include?
Hypotheses on the composition of the library are very different. For example, from the aforementioned list of Dabelov, made two hundred years ago, it follows that it contained dozens, and even hundreds of volumes of Roman and other ancient authors: Julius Caesar, Tacitus, Aristophanes, Virgil, Efan, Cicero, Bafmas, etc. In addition to this Liberia included the famous treatises of Konstantin Bagryanorodny, biographies of the Byzantine emperors, but the most significant book is the work “On the City of God”, written by Christian philosopher St. Augustine.
Few people saw the legendary book collection of Ivan the Terrible even during the life of the tsar, and those who succeeded in this were amazed at her luxury. Gold bound manuscripts, unknown works of the Greeks and Romans, sacred papyrus of ancient Egypt, etc. According to experts, today the cost of such manuscripts could exceed $ 1 billion.
In the information about the library of Ivan the Terrible, myths and reality are so intertwined that sometimes researchers find it difficult to determine where historical facts end and speculation begins.
For example, in the 50s of the last century, folios unknown to specialists began to be discovered in metropolitan scientific libraries and archives. Books and manuscripts date from the 15th and 16th centuries, that is, the reign of Ivan the Third and his grandson, Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Interestingly, no one knew where these artifacts came from. All this gave rise to rumors that the mysterious library was finally found. This was explained as follows: during the construction of the metro metro tunnels stumbled upon a secret crypt with folios, laying another tunnel. But it was allegedly strictly forbidden to talk about the find.
However, back in the 30s, the Leningrad scientist Zarubin wrote a monograph on a real collection of tsar's folios. It provides a list of books that are in the library of Ivan the Terrible, or rather, were. The list is compiled on the basis of the surviving inventories of the royal treasury and has several dozen books, among them not only theological works, but also herbalists (medical books).
One of them was found not so long ago in the library of Kharkov University, where it ended up in 1914. The treatment book is an original translation of the German encyclopedia. It was commissioned by father Ivan IV, Grand Duke Vasily the Third, an astrologer and court doctor Nikolai Nemchin and decorated with copies of German engravings.
But what about the ancient Egyptian papyri and ancient manuscripts, as evidenced by eyewitnesses of past centuries? They will probably continue to be searched, at least until all the numerous dungeons of the Moscow Kremlin have been explored.
The most famous versions to date
There are many assumptions about the whereabouts of the liberia of Ivan the Terrible. According to the main hypothesis, the collection of books is hidden in the Kremlin dungeons. On the other - in the Alexandrov settlement, where Grozny spent a lot of time, or in Vologda, where the tsar briefly transferred the capital of the state. The library was also searched in the village of Kolomenskoye.
According to one of the main versions, Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda - this is the place where the Ivan the Terrible library is located. The king moved here in the middle of the 16th century, hiding from boyar intrigue. In the early 70s of the last century, large-scale excavations were carried out in the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda under the guidance of the famous Soviet historian Academician Rybakov. Foundations of medieval buildings were found and studied, but no traces of the library were found.
In search of Liberia, experts examined almost the entire territory of the settlement. More recently, even paths along which the sovereign allegedly walked were scanned. However, it did not give any results.
Only the capital's fortress, the Kremlin, remains thoroughly unexplored. Before the arrival of Sofia Paleolog, it was wooden, stone buildings were erected already with it. Then, under the fortress, many underground passages and secret crypts appeared.
The last mystery of Grozny
Why didn’t anyone succeed in lifting the veil of secrecy that enveloped the history of the royal library? According to medieval chronicles, in his declining years, Ivan IV called the Magi to Moscow. Liberian enthusiasts explain this fact as follows: the sovereign did not do this in order to find out his future, but in order to reliably hide the royal treasures, including the legendary library. Since then, all the seemingly true signs of Liberia, by which they have been trying to find it for several centuries, always turn out to be just phantoms.
Will the library of Ivan the Terrible ever be found, time will tell. In the meantime, the controversy over its existence, composition and possible location continues.