There are prosperous, dying settlements, and there are dead. The latter always attract a large number of tourists and extreme sportsmen. The main topic of this article is the abandoned villages of the Moscow Region. It is very difficult to say how many of them are in the Moscow region, and indeed in Russia in general. After all, every year new abandoned villages appear. You can also see photos of these villages in this article.
Abandoned villages are a problem for Russia
No wonder they say that a village, a village is the soul of a country and people. And if a village dies, then the whole country dies. To disagree with this statement is very difficult. Indeed, the village is really the cradle of Russian culture and traditions, the Russian spirit and Russian poetry.
Unfortunately, the abandoned villages of Russia are not uncommon today. Modern Russians increasingly prefer urban lifestyle, breaking away from their roots. And the village, meanwhile, is degrading and more and more abandoned villages appear on the map of Russia, photos of which strike with their gloom and longing.
But, on the other hand, such objects attract a large number of tourists and the so-called stalkers - people who are eager to visit various kinds of abandoned places. Thus, the abandoned villages of Russia can become a good resource for the development of extreme tourism.
However, the state should not forget about the problems of the Russian village, which can be solved only by a complex of various measures - economic, social and propaganda.
Abandoned Russian villages - causes of village degradation
The word "village" comes from the old Russian word "to tear" - that is, to cultivate the land. It is very difficult to imagine an authentic Russia without villages - a symbol of the Russian spirit. However, the realities of our time are such that the village is dying, a huge number of once flowering villages simply cease to exist. What is the matter? What are the causes of these sad processes?
Perhaps the main reason is urbanization - the process of rapidly increasing the role of the city in society. Large cities attract more and more people, especially young people. Young people leave for cities to get an education and, as a rule, no longer return to their native village. Over time, only old people remain in the villages who live there their age, as a result of which the villages die out. For this reason, almost all the abandoned villages of the Moscow region appeared.
Another fairly common cause of village degradation is the lack of jobs. Many villages in Russia suffer from this problem, as a result of which their residents are also forced to go to cities in search of work. Villages may disappear for other reasons. For example, it can be a man-made disaster. Villages can also degrade due to changes in their economic and geographical position. For example, if the direction of the road changes, due to which a particular village has been developing all this time.
Further, the subject of our consideration will be the abandoned villages of the Moscow region.
Moscow Region - the land of ancient temples and estates
Moscow Region is an unofficial name for the Moscow Region. The historical province of this region can be considered the Moscow province, which was formed back in 1708.
Moscow Region is one of the leading regions in terms of the number of cultural heritage sites of Russia. This is a real paradise for tourists and travelers: more than a thousand ancient temples and monasteries, dozens of beautiful estates, as well as numerous places with many years of tradition of folk art crafts. It is in the suburbs that such ancient and interesting cities as Zvenigorod, Istra, Sergiev Posad, Dmitrov, Zaraysk and others are located.
At the same time, the abandoned villages of Moscow suburbs are also widely heard. There are a lot of them in this region. The most interesting abandoned villages of the Moscow region will be discussed later.
Abandoned villages near Moscow
Such objects attract primarily extremals, as well as local historians and various lovers of antiquity. In the Moscow region there are a lot of such places. First of all, it is worth mentioning the Fedorovka farm, the villages of Botovo, Grebnevo and Shatur. These abandoned villages near Moscow on the map:
Farm Fedorovka
This farm is located 100 kilometers from Moscow. In fact, this is a former military camp, so you will not find it on any of the maps. Around the beginning of the 90s, a village of 30 residential buildings was completely deserted. At one time there was its own boiler room, substation, as well as a store.
Village of Botovo
The old village of Botovo is located in the Moscow region, near the Volokolamsk station (Riga direction). Once in this area was the estate of Princess A. M. Dolgorukova. The center of this estate was a wooden church, which was built in the 16th century (the church did not survive). The last owner of the estate in Botovo, as you know, gave it to peasants at the beginning of the 20th century.
Of the surviving objects in Botovo you can see only the ruins of the Resurrection Church, built in the 1770s in the pseudo-Russian style, as well as the remains of an old park with an area of twenty hectares. There are still old birch and linden alleys in this park.
Village of Grebnevo
Grebnevo is a 16th-century manor with a rich interesting history and a rather tragic fate. It is located forty kilometers from the capital, on the Shchelkovo highway.
The first owner of the manor was B. Ya. Belsky, the arsenal of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, then the Vorontsov and Trubetskoys owned the manor. In 1781, Gavril Ilyich Bibikov became the owner of the Grebnevo estate , it was with him that the estate acquired the form in which it has survived.
The dramatic pages of the history of the estate in Grebnevo are connected with the beginning of the Soviet era. The nationalization of the complex led to the fact that the buildings gradually began to lose their historical appearance. First of all, all the interiors of the structures were damaged. At first, a tuberculosis sanatorium was located within the walls of the manor complex, then a technical school. And only in 1960, the Grebnevo estate was declared an architectural monument of republican significance.
In the late 1980s, the estate, it would seem, received a new impetus for its development and preservation. A cultural center was formed here, and various concerts, events and exhibitions were regularly held on the estate's territory. Active restoration work began on the restoration of the complex. But in 1991 there was a great fire, after which only the frames of manor buildings and structures remained from it. In this state, the Grebnevo estate remains in our days, more and more turning into ordinary ruins.
Village Shatur
The old village of Shatur has been known since the 17th century. It is located on poor soils, so the main occupation of local residents has always been hunting. Perhaps for this reason, the village fell into decay in the middle of the twentieth century.
Today the village is completely empty. Occasionally, the owners of individual houses come here (several times a year). Among the abandoned village, the old brick bell tower, towering above a deserted village, looks great.
Memo for extreme tourist
Despite its gloom and decrepitude, the old uninhabited villages and other abandoned places are of great interest to many tourists. However, traveling to such objects can be fraught with certain dangers.
What should the so-called extreme tourists know?
- firstly, before embarking on such a trip, you should notify your loved ones or friends of your trip, its timing and route of movement;
- secondly, you need to dress accordingly; remember that you are not going for an evening walk to the park: clothes should be closed and shoes must be reliable, durable and comfortable;
- thirdly, take with you the necessary supply of water and food, also in your backpack should be a flashlight, matches and a standard set for first aid.
Finally...
The old villages of Moscow suburbs amaze travelers with their desolation and picturesqueness. I can’t even believe that such objects can be located just a few tens of kilometers from the capital - the largest megalopolis of the planet! Getting to one of these villages is like using a time machine. It seems like time has stood still ...
Alas, the number of abandoned villages in Russia is growing every year. Perhaps sometime this problem can be solved. But while the abandoned villages serve only as objects of interest for all kinds of extreme sportsmen, stalkers and lovers of gloomy antiquity.