The manor castle was built in 1881. At that time, the owners of the estate were the Shcherbatova spouses : Count Alexander Grigoryevich and Countess Olga Alexandrovna.
Castle description
In terms of the stylistic affiliation of the building, the castle belongs to the English "Victorian" neo-Gothic architecture of the 19th century. The combination of the main volume of the building and its side wing with an angular tower called the “donjon” creates asymmetry and gives the castle the medieval mystery of “foggy Albion”. The English style is really visible in everything. Pipes built according to the traditional canons of old England come out of the gable roof. The castle is surrounded by an English-style lawn with stone walkways. The pathos and grandeur of the building are emphasized by the presence of turrets, different heights of the roof, decorated with openwork lattices. In the interior there are a lot of elements from oak panels, on which generic coats of arms are depicted.
Wood, in general, is the predominant material in the design of rooms and corridors. The main staircase is also made of solid oak. There are several fireplaces. A special decoration of the castle is a cigar room. It was here that the owners of the castle rested and met guests, including Count Shcherbatov. The manor and the castle were in a state of neglect for a long time. On the territory of the estate is a sanatorium named after Herzen. And in 2015, repairs were completed in the castle of Count Shcherbatov and now there is the 2nd neurological department of the sanatorium.
The estate of the count is located in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. The village of Vasilyevskoye is a settlement on whose territory is the estate of Count Shcherbatov. The location of the castle itself is Maryina Gora.
Count Shcherbatov - the last owner of the estate
Alexander G. received the estate from his father in 1877. At that time, he himself performed the duties of the authorized Red Cross in one of the units in the Balkans, where there were fierce battles of the Russian-Turkish war. Shortly after the war ended, he married. Countess Olga Aleksandrovna Stroganova became his wife. Together they traveled a lot. Having visited almost all corners of the world (Asia, Europe, India, Ceylon), they began to breed Arabian horses in their homestead for the first time in Russia. The stud farms owned by their family supplied horses for the Imperial Court.
The wonders of the estate
The current castle was built when the owner of the estate was Count Shcherbatov. The estate became the place of permanent residence of the count's family only by 1912. But constant travel did not prevent Olga Alexandrovna from setting up a real paradise there. In the greenhouses grew many outlandish, brought from India, Syria, Java, flowers and trees; incredible southern plants could be seen in the manor park, and tame chamois and roe deer walked peacefully on the lawns. The count also equipped a menagerie, where various exotic animals lived. Also, the couple were great hunters, so they kept a big kennel.
The contribution of the Shcherbatovs to the development of Vasilievsky
After returning from a long trip to England and Cyprus, the couple settled in Vasilyevsky forever. There they opened a school, a hospital, in which a maternity ward was provided. Their efforts restored and restored the temple. Needy peasants always turned to the Count and Countess for help, and they never refused. At the direction of Alexander Grigoryevich, the elderly villagers received a pension. And Olga Alexandrovna took great care of the children, and opened a kids club for them, where classes were organized for the kids, and every time a Christmas tree was arranged.
The most reliable evidence of the kindness, nobility and other properties of the soul of Prince Alexander Grigoryevich is a mountain of letters sent by ordinary people who fought on the fronts of the First World War. They thanked Shcherbatov for their invaluable help. At the request of the soldiers, he sent many necessary things to the front: from warm clothes and boots to bandages and medicines. The letters are filled with gratitude, good health wishes to the count and his family. Based on the foregoing, we can conclude how merciful, pious, sensitive and kind was Count Shcherbatov.
The estate, thanks to the efforts of the owners, became known throughout the district. Peasants came here who had no one to turn to for help. The descendants of the old-timer Vasilievsky recalled such an incident. Once, a poor peasant came to Alexander Grigorievich with a prayer to borrow a horse for the summer. He fulfilled the request. And when the grateful man brought the horse back in the fall, Alexander Grigoryevich also gave him money. As people said, for hard work and honesty.
As Count Shcherbatov passed away. Manor under Soviet rule
Alexander Grigoryevich died on April 24, 1915. He was 65 years old. 20 days before the death of the count, his eldest son suddenly passed away. Many contemporaries said that he could not survive this grief. A lot of people gathered (by those standards) to conduct the count on the last journey — more than 300 people. This mournful event shocked the residents of Vasilyevsky and other surrounding villages, because Alexander Grigoryevich was the patron of all ordinary people, neither sparing, nor the strength, nor the money to help the suffering. The manor of Count Shcherbatov became the burial place. Where is Alexander Grigoryevich’s ashes now? According to some reports, the body was reburied, and now the ashes of the count are resting in St. Petersburg.
After the death of her son and husband, Olga Aleksandrovna, her daughter and daughter-in-law (the widow of Alexander) were engaged in organizing the work of the ambulance train, which the countess arranged. This train traveled on all fronts of the war: they delivered drugs with it, transported the seriously wounded to hospitals, and provided first aid. In 1918, the countess, together with her daughter and daughter-in-law, left Russia forever. They took all valuables from the castle with them. Olga Alexandrovna lived a long life, having died at the age of 87 in France.
After the revolution, the remaining property was looted by looters. Soviet power was established here in 1918, and in 1919 a holiday house was organized here, renamed in 1923 the Herzen sanatorium. Years later, new buildings of the sanatorium were built, and the estate of Count Shcherbatov was in ruins and almost turned into ruins. This was until recently, at the moment, the castle has been overhauled and now the 2nd neurological department of the Herzen sanatorium is working there.
Closed school and estate of Count Shcherbatov: history or fiction?
According to the plot of the series "Closed School", which has earned great popularity, an educational institution in which events unfold - this is the estate of Count Shcherbatov. In fact, the shooting of the series did not take place at all in Vasilievsky, but in the Serednikovo estate near Moscow , which is the family nest of the Stolypin-Lermontovs.
And the mysterious dungeons that we see in the series have nothing to do with what is in this estate. The similarity is, perhaps, in the presence of narrow corridors and ornate turns. During the Soviet Union, there were utility and kitchen facilities.
That is, the estate of Count Shcherbatov, the dungeon (photo during the oblivion below) have nothing to do with the events of the series. And everything told by the scriptwriters is a fiction that has nothing to do with the history of the castle.