Нежный Нижний by Litera

ББК 26.89(2Рос-2Ниж)я61 УДК 913 Н43 Изданию присужден грант Президента Российской Федерации для поддержки творческих проектов общенационального значения в области культуры и искусства (распоряжение Президента Российской Федерации от 24 марта 2011 года № 180–рп)

Автор идеи, руководитель проекта – кандидат филологических наук Анастасия КОНСТАНТИНОВА

Н43

Нежный Нижний: Десять прогулок по русскому городу: альбом. – Нижний Новгород: Литера, 2012. – 312 с., ил. ISBN 978-5-905163-13-5 Кажется, что двойственность заложена в Нижнем самой природой. Две реки: светлая бурая Ока и темная сизая Волга, два берега: высокий, холмистый и низкий, болотистый. Здесь степь встречается с лесом, Восток с Западом, прошлое с будущим. Все сходится в одной точке... Наверное, точнее (тоньше!) всех не только ощутить, но и передать двойственную сущность города («Волга волка» и «Волга иволги») удалось создателю «звездного языка» Велимиру Хлебникову, оставившему нам строки о Нежном Нижнем. Именно так мы и решили назвать свой альбом: «Нежный Нижний: Десять прогулок по русскому городу». Мы не могли пройти мимо города купеческого и города промышленного – двух его основных ипостасей, мимо города уходящего и города будущего. Нам хотелось убедить вас, что прогулки по городу сродни чтению авантюрного романа или детектива, а случается – и фантастической повести. Нам нравилось наблюдать, как микрокосм заросшего крапивой старого двора сменяется макрокосмом заволжской и заокской дали. Нравилось подойти совсем близко, коснуться стен дома, построенного гениальным Шехтелем или «безвестным мастером из народа» – плотником-сказочником. Так сложились десять глав нашего путешествия. Часть из них снабжена культурно-историческим комментарием, объективным или субъективным. А иногда мы оставляем вас один на один с Нижним – его крышами, окнами, реками, чтобы вы могли ощутить ответный отклик живого города. Именно поэтому каждая глава завершается историей про чудеса вокруг нас – они по сей день творятся в Нижнем... В общем, нам, как волшебнику из «Обыкновенного чуда», захотелось поговорить о любви. И нежности к Нижнему...

GENTLE NIZHNY NOVGOROD

* ДЕСЯТЬ ПРОГУЛОК ПО РУССКОМУ ГОРОДУ TEN WALKS THROUGH THE RUSSIAN CITY

ББК 26.89(2Рос-2Ниж)я61 + 85.113(2Рос-2Ниж)я61 УДК 913 + 72

ISBN 978-5-905163-13-5

© А. Зубатов, Н. Капелюш (наследники), И. Ляшков, В. Макаров, Н. Морохин, Н. Мошков, Н. Смородинова, Л. Урусов, фотографии, 2012 © Е. Константинова, концепция, рисунки, 2012 © Л. Букарина, А. Константинова, Е. Константинова, В. Морозов, Н. Свечин, П. Урусов, текст, 2012 © Е. Волошина, Т. Локоть, К. Паценкер, перевод, 2012 © Литера, изд. оформление, 2012 © Рождественская сторона, QR-коды, 2012

2012

of houses built by the genius Schechtel or by an unknown talented man of the people, a carpenter and storyteller. This is how the ten chapters of our travel were created. A part of them is provided with cultural and historical comments which can be considered either objective or subjective. Sometimes we leave you alone with Nizhny Novgorod, with its roofs, windows, and rivers, so that you can feel it is responding to you. This is why each chapter is completed with a story about miracles around us; they are still happening in Nizhny Novgorod – just ask your neighbour, or grandmother, or a LiveJournal friend to make sure. By and large, we, like the Wizard from the 1978 Soviet film An Ordinary Miracle, thought of speaking about love and gentleness with Nizhny Novgorod. P.S. We would like to apologize to strict local historians for our nonacademic manner and possible mistakes. As the monk Laurenty used to write, "for God's sake, read this and correct but do not scold..."

* See: T. Gautier. A Trip to Russia. Moscow: Mysl, 1990. ** See: I. Repin. The Close and the Distant. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1964. *** In the Chuvash language Nizhny Novgorod is called "Chulkhula" (the stone city), in the Mari language "Ugarman" (the new fortress).

*4 A code including the most ancient copy of The Primary Chronicle, the first Russian chronicle dating from the early 12th century that is believed to have been made up by Nestor, a monk of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The main part of the work was done by Laurenty whose name was included into that of the book. *5 According to some researchers, Nizhny Novgorod could have become a powerful centre of "another Russia", not the Moscow-based one but a multicentric one. Unlike Moscow with its xenophobia, in Nizhny Novgorod where Eastern speech was heard almost everywhere, an open and East-oriented policy could form. Laissez-faire economics based on the model of western countries that at that time were about to enter the Renaissance epoch, could form in the principality that lived off transit trading. (See: Total Recall. Historical Project by Evgeny Arsyukhin. www.archeologia.narod.ru). Might this unconscious reminiscence of the might-have-been events result in "metropolis fits" (according to the reporter Alexander Zmeul) that Nizhny Novgorod is regularly suffering from? *6 The architect and restorer S. Agafonov who reconstructed the demolished Kremlin found out that the Nizhny Novgorod fortress was an implementation of Leonardo da Vinci's idea; "his drafts of fortress towers with dungeons concealed behind thick walls, to a great extent remind of the plans of Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin towers" (See: S. Agafonov. Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. Nizhny Novgorod: Kvarts, 2008). *7 In 1505, Nizhny Novgorod fought against numerous troops of Tatars and Nogais. According to a legend, the city was saved by a miracle; a well-aimed cannon shot made by Fyodor Litvich of Lithuania killed the Nogai morza. The Nogais thought that the morza was killed by Tatars and started a fight against them. The Kazan khan had to retire the troops from the city. *8 Bart Goldhoorn is a Dutch architect, editorial director and issuer of the Project Russia magazine and a mentor of the Moscow architectural biennale. *9 See: A. Zmeul. Museums within the City's Cultural Space. Moscow, 2004. *10 Kirill Kobrin is a mediaevalist historian, prose writer and essayist. He was born in Gorky in 1964. At present he is the editorial director of Radio Liberty. Resident of Prague. One of his projects is called The Last European (see: Somewhere in Europe: Non-Fiction Prose. Moscow: Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye, 2004). *11 See: Yu. Khopta. Nizhny in the Highest. www.art.nnov.ru/archoteca. *12 In Russian, the words "gentle " (pronounced as /nezhni/) and "lower" (pronounced as /nizhni/) sound alike.

В НИ Æ НЕМ ДОМА КАМЕННЫЕ, А ЛЮДИ Æ ЕЛЕЗНЫЕ STONE HOUSES AND IRON MEN O F N I ZHN Y N O V G O R O D

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141 Gordeyevskaya Str.

3. Дом Костроминых, ул. Большая Покровская, 4 * Kostromin house, 4 Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Str. 4. Усадьба Рябининой, ул. Ильинская, 56 * Ryabinina estate, 56 Ilyinskaya Str. 5. Особняк Рукавишникова, Верхневолжская наб., 7 * Rukavishnikov mansion,

7 Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment

6. Доходный дом Блиновых (Блиновский пассаж), ул. Рождественская, 24 * Blinov tenement building (Blinov Passage), 24 Rozhdestvenskaya Str. 7. Доходный дом Бугрова, ул. Рождественская, 27 * Bugrov tenement building, 27 Rozhdestvenskaya Str.

8. Конюшенный корпус и флигель в усадьбе Башкирова, ул. Семашко, 7 * Horse stable and

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1. Палаты Пушникова, ул. Гоголя, 52 * Pushnikov chambers, 52 Gogolya Str. 2. Церковь Смоленской Божией Матери, ул. Гордеевская, 141 * Our Lady of Smolensk Church,

«В Нижнем дома каменные, а люди железные...» По преданию, сказано это было в ХIV веке святителем Алексием обо всех нижегородцах. «С сокрушенным сердцем произнес он эти слова», когда в ненастную ночь стучался в разные дома, но ни одна дверь не открылась для усталого путника. Со временем, говоря о «людях железных», стали иметь в виду прежде всего купцов. Пушниковы, Строгановы, Костромины, Башкировы, Марковы, Каменские, Сироткины... В истории волжского города они сыграли весьма заметную роль. Именно благодаря им Нижний стал «карманом России». Больше ста лет во главе города стояли представители купеческого сословия. Институт градоначальников в России ввела Екатерина II в 1785 году. До Октябрьской революции кресло городского головы занимало двадцать восемь человек, и только двое из них не являлись купцами. Должность эта была выборной (в отличие от должности генералгубернатора, которого назначал император), и до 1893 года на выборах нижегородцы неизменно оказывали доверие купцам (некоторые становились градоначальниками два и три раза). Жалования городскому голове долгие годы не полагалось (оплата за труд была введена в 1870 году), но, несмотря на это, большинство градоначальников верой и правдой служили городу. Своей планировкой Нижний Новгород во многом обязан купцу 2-й гильдии Ф. П. Переплётчикову, трижды занимавшему пост городского головы. Во время аудиенции по случаю коронации Николая I нижегородский градоначальник произвел самое благоприятное впечатление на императора. Царь обещал посетить Нижний Новгород и обещание свое сдержал. Во время визита в 1834 году государь остался недоволен планировкой города и, будучи человеком, сведущим в архитектурных делах, дал городским властям много ценных рекомендаций по перестройке. Указания Николая I были исполнены. Велика роль Переплётчикова и в переносе сгоревшей в 1816 году Макарьевской ярмарки в Нижний Новгород. Понимая выгоду самого большого российского торжища для развития города, он предпринял немало усилий, чтобы временно размещенная на левом берегу Оки, напротив Нижнего, ярмарка 1817 года понравилась торговым людям и получила здесь постоянную прописку.

wing at Bashkirov estate, 7 Semashko Str. – 20 Bolshaya Pechyorskaya Str.

9. Особняк Маркова, ул. Ильинская, 61 * Markov mansion, 61 Ilyinskaya Str. 10. Доходный дом Переплётчикова (Переплётчиковский корпус), ул. Рождественская, 6 * Pereplyotchikov tenement building (Pereplyotchikov Building), 6 Rozhdestvenskaya Str.

11. Особняк Каменской, Верхневолжская наб., 11 * Kamenskaya mansion, 11 Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment 12. Особняк Сироткина, Верхневолжская наб., 3 * Sirotkin mansion, 3 Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment

На шмуцтитуле: ВОЕННО-ПРОМЫШЛЕННЫЙ КОМИТЕТ Городской думы Нижнего Новгорода, фото М. Дмитриева, 1915; РОССИЙСКИЕ МОНЕТЫ XVII–XX веков Half title: MILITARY AND INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE of the Nizhny Novgorod State Duma, photo by M. Dmitriyev, 1915; RUSSIAN COINS, 17th c. – 20th c.

А самая грандиозная в истории России ХVI Всероссийская промышленная и художественная выставка 1896 года была проведена в городе благодаря именитому купцу Н. А. Бугрову, который сумел убедить министра финансов С. Ю. Витте, что Нижний Новгород – самое подходящее место для столь значимого мероприятия. Крупные суммы денег жертвовали купцы на нужды города: на их средства был проведен водопровод (жители пользовались им бесплатно), благоустраивались улицы, площади, спуски к Оке и Волге, открывались больницы, театры, учебные заведения, дома призрения... Творить добрые дела было важной составляющей их деятельности. Без этого не видать почета и уважения, и пойдет о тебе дурная слава – «не по лесу молва ходит, а по миру». Худой молвы страшились, поэтому жили по неписаным заповедям, которым многие века свято следовали предки: «Сделав худо, не жди добра», «Худо тому, кто добра не делает никому». Бугровы, Рукавишниковы, Блиновы и другие не просто отдавали часть своих доходов на благотворительные цели, но и нанимали лучших архитекторов, чтобы церкви и «дома каменные», построенные на их средства, стояли столетиями и удивляли людей красотой. Эти здания и сегодня продолжают украшать Нижний Новгород, с их «помощью» город еще способен радовать гостей «лица необщим выраженьем». Нелегок был путь к большим деньгам. Многие купцы вышли из крестьян, кто-то в молодости тянул бурлацкую лямку на Волге-матушке, работал грузчиком... в общем, познал лиха. И, скопив капиталы усердным трудом и сметливым умом, немалое мужество должен был иметь человек, чтобы добровольно расставаться с ними – помогать малоимущим, попечительствовать в учебных и лечебных заведениях, открывать и содержать дома для бедствующих вдов, строить церкви и общественные здания. На такое способны только целеустремленные люди, жизнестойкие, сильные, железные... но вовсе не жестокие. Сегодня, спустя много десятилетий, после раздумий о делах нижегородских купцов не напрашивается ли мысль об ином подтексте у известной поговорки?..

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141 Gordeyevskaya Str.

7 Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment

8. Конюшенный корпус и флигель в усадьбе Башкирова, ул. Семашко, 7 * Horse stable and

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wing at Bashkirov estate, 7 Semashko Str. – 20 Bolshaya Pechyorskaya Str.

ЦЕРКОВЬ СМОЛЕНСКОЙ БОЖИЕЙ МАТЕРИ, ул. Гордеевская, 141, 1680-е – 1697 Эта миниатюрная церковь была домовой в усадьбе Г. Строганова, крупного солепромышленника, сподвижника Петра I. Построенный в стиле русского барокко храм отличается богатым убранством. Впечатляет контраст цветов – красного (открытая кирпичная кладка) и белого (белокаменная резьба, побеленные детали декора). Белые колонны, динамично распределенные по поверхности ярусов, рождают эффект устремленности вверх. Его усиливают главки на высоких двухъярусных барабанах и ажурные кованые кресты. Сотворил это чудо кузнечного искусства К. Прокофьев, известный балахнинский мастер. А вот имена архитекторов, строителей, резчиков по камню, к сожалению, неизвестны. Уникальная Гордеевская церковь стоит в одном ряду с шедеврами храмового зодчества ХVII века, уцелевшими в древних русских городах Суздале, Ярославле, Костроме, Муроме, Ростове Великом...

* Род купцов Строгановых – один из старейших в России, он ведет свое начало с ХV века. Солепромышленники Строгановы были очень успешными предпринимателями (бытовала поговорка: «Богаче Строганова не будешь!»). Они нередко оказывали денежную помощь московским государям, и те в свою очередь одаривали купцов вниманием. Василий Шуйский присвоил им титул «именитые люди», Иван Грозный пожаловал 3,5 миллиона десятин земли по рекам Каме и Чусовой. Григорий Дмитриевич входил в ближайшее окружение Петра I, а его сыновей царь удостоил титула барона. Г. Строганов создал собственные иконописные, золотошвейные, ювелирные мастерские, собрал артель талантливых зодчих. В Нижнем Строгановым было выстроено три каменных храма, два из которых сохранились до наших дней.

OUR LADY OF SMOLENSK CHURCH, 141 Gordeyevskaya Str., 1680s – 1697 This tiny ornate Russian Baroque church was a family chapel at the estate of G. Stroganov, a major salt producer and companion of Peter I. It has an impressive appearance due to the contrasting red brickwork and white skyward columns, stone carvings and decorations, as well as domes upon two-layer drums and laced wrought crosses made by the famous blacksmith K. Prokofyev of Balakhna. The names of architects, carvers and builders are unknown.

Р. Никитин. Портрет Григория Строганова. Не позднее 1715 Portrait of Grigory Stroganov. R. Nikitin, in or prior to 1715

This unique church is one of the 17th century masterpieces preserved in old Russian cities. * The Stroganovs, wealthy and successful salt producers, are one of the oldest Russian merchant families dating back to the 15th century. They used to provide material support for monarchs and were rewarded with titles and land. G. Stroganov founded icon painting, gold sewing and jewellery workshops and an artel of talented builders; he also built 3 stone churches in Nizhny Novgorod (two of them still preserved).

Р. Никитин. Портрет Григория Строганова. Не позднее 1715 Portrait of Grigory Stroganov. R. Nikitin, in or prior to 1715

ДОХОДНЫЙ ДОМ БУГРОВА, ул. Рождественская, 27, арх. В. Цейдлер, 1894–1896 Одной из главных строительных площадок в преддверии ХVI Всероссийской промышленной и художественной выставки в Нижнем стала улица Рождественская. Здесь на месте скромного родительского дома решил построить новое современное здание и Н. Бугров. Проект разработал академик В. Цейдлер (прибывший из столицы в качестве главного производителя работ на Выставке), надзор за ходом строительства осуществлял Н. Фрелих. В двухэтажном доходном доме разместились магазины, отделение Волжско-Камского коммерческого банка, который контролировал Бугров. В архитектуре здания поздняя эклектика сочетается с модерном: так, второй этаж парадного фасада облицован темно-зеленой муравленой плиткой, что было новинкой для Нижнего. На правом углу фасада – цилиндрический эркер с куполом, в который вписан вензель хозяина дома: Б – Бугров. В 1957 году здание передали Горьковскому театру комедии, облик дома был существенно искажен. С 2001 года, после того как дом Бугрова, получивший статус памятника, был отреставрирован, в нем находился «Японский центр» (деньги на реставрацию выделило правительство Японии). На установленном над угловым эркером флюгере указаны даты начала строительства здания и проведения его научной реставрации: «1894–2001». * Крестьянин-старовер Пётр Егорович Бугров, создатель «мукомольной империи», славился своей честностью и вниманием к нуждам простого люда. Со своей строительной артелью Пётр Бугров ремонтировал ярмарочные здания и стены кремля, укреплял Волжский откос, мостил булыжником кремлевский плац-парад. Его сын Александр построил ночлежный дом для босяков и так называемый Вдовий дом – приют для одиноких женщин с детьми. Николай, последний из рода Бугровых, был одним из богатейших людей не только Нижнего, но и России, знаковой фигурой ушедшей эпохи. Финансировал многочисленные общественные проекты. Благодаря авторитету Бугрова было принято решение о проведении в Нижнем Новгороде ХVI Всероссийской промышленной и художественной выставки.

Николай Бугров Nikolay Bugrov

BUGROV TENEMENT BUILDING, 27 Rozhdestvenskaya Str., architect V. Tseydler, 1894–1896

Many new buildings were erected in Rozhdestvenskaya Street before the 16th Russian National Industrial and Art Exhibition, including Bugrov tenement building which had two storeys and housed shops and a branch of Volga and Kama Commercial Bank managed by N. Bugrov. The building has both eclecticism and modern features. On the right façade corner there is a bay window with the monogram B (for Bugrov). In 1957 the building was handed over to Gorky Comedy Theatre; its appearance was materially altered. In 2001 the building was recognized as a landmark and restored on the money of the Japan government (it housed the Japan Centre in 2001–2011). The weather vane above the bay window indicates the dates of construction and scientific restoration: 1894–2001. * The Old Believer Pyotr Bugrov, former peasant and founder of "a milling empire", was honoured for his honesty and attention to the poor. He participated in the repair of fair pavilions, stabilization of Volga slopes and pebbling of the Kremlin training ground. His son Aleksandr built a poor house and a lodgement for single mothers (a.k.a. Widows' House). Nikolay Bugrov (the last one from the Bugrov family) funded multiple social projects and facilitated the mounting of the 16th Russian National Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.

Николай Бугров Nikolay Bugrov

BUGROV TENEMENT BUILDING, 27 Rozhdestvenskaya Str., architect V. Tseydler, 1894–1896

Our belief does not accept this. And you must feel uncomfortable, too. I can see that things are going wrong with you. And they will – until you move from here. Ask you governor or mayor to find a new place for you. In a new place your business will rise; a person will come from the capital and get everything going and stage a play by Lyoshka*4 that will surprise and move people. I say better move out of here. Serious people from the East will get this place*5. Take my word for it.” “Having finished his monologue, the man got up, walked to the door and then stopped, looking back at me. “You can have the tea, my friend. I can see you like it.” “At that time I did not really understand whether he rehearsed his part or simply talked nonsense (sometimes actors do even crazier things). He never visited me again, and I did not see him among the actor staff. The tea he left got very popular. Even now, with all the Oolong and Pu-erg teas on sale, Iʼve never managed to find anything like that. Itʼs a pity I ran out of it soon. “The tea was done with, but our ordeals were not. Later, when the Comedy Theatre moved into a new building in Gruzinskaya Street, everything changed. The producer Belyakovich from Moscow staged plays by Shakespeare and Gorky, and lots of people visited the theatre. Some spectators came twice or even more. I watched A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream by Shakespeare twice and The Lower Depths by Gorky three times. The performance was moving and exciting. And then it dawned on me – here it was, the play by Alexey Peshkov, by Maxim Gorky, about poor people! Just like the man had said. But how did he know?” Granddad gave us a wink. “So, remember that it is very important for everybody to find his own place. And if you fail, youʼll get into troubles; like the fire and flood at our theatre, or something else. And if, even then, youʼll still not grasp it, let us hope that a mysterious visitor will come to you and show you the way.” “Anyway,” Vitya said, “Most important is, will he treat us to some nice tea?”

* Max Frei (born in 1965) is a Russian writer and artist (real name Svetlana Martynchik). ** From 1932 to 1990, Nizhny Novgorod was named after the writer Maxim Gorky (real name Alexey Peshkov) who was born there. *** Ivan Vasilyevich: Back to the Future (also known as Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession) is a 1973 Soviet comedy film. *4 Lyoshka is a short name for Alexey; the stranger means the writer Alexey Peshkov known as Maxim Gorky. *5 “Serious people from the East” apparently implies Japanese: Bugrov house in Rozhdestvenskaya Str. was restored on the money of the Japanese government. In 2001–2011 it housed a Japan centre.

Д ТСКiЙ МiРЪ CHILDREN'S PARADISE

ЖИЛОЙ ДОМ, ул. Ульянова, 33, XIX век RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, 33 Ulyanova Str., the 19th c.

ЖИЛОЙ ДОМ, ул. Ильинская, 53, первая половина XIX века RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, 53 Ilyinskaya Str., first half of the 19th c.

“I am visiting Nizhny upon the invitation of Fyodor Bogorodsky**. He happens to live nearby, you know. I was walking by, thought this house was of interest and came to investigate.” I was stunned into silence, and meanwhile, the madman continued: “Your brick box doesnʼt hold a candle to it, of course,” – he said, shaking his head. I opened my mouth, but he held a finger to his lips – no interruptions, please – and went on. “A cityʼs life span unfolds into the past, present and future far beyond thousands of years. During this time the city is born thrice, matures thrice, grows old thrice and dies thrice in three new incarnations. The Gentle Nizhny now stands on the brink of its third life. Most interestingly, these lives donʼt have to be separated in time and space. It sometimes happens that the ancient city meets its infant self.” “Like this time?” I was surprised to hear myself ask. “Yes, like this time,” the madman nodded. “In such moments the rhythm to which the strings of time beat is broken and a collision happens. It may sometimes last for an Earthʼs day and night, and sometimes for a Sunʼs nychtemeron. But never longer, because the length of the string remains constant. Every 317 years must be marked with a beat, a total of six beats, which gives us 1902. Every twenty centuries but one the precise mechanics of the celestial dance between the Earth and the Moon turns history backwards, dries some rivers and fills others, pushes together East and West, North and South.” He peered at me with interest. “The book youʼre reading also states this, doesnʼt it?” I flinched and looked at the small tome lying in my lap. “It might be that among houses, just like among men, there are doppelgangers born to fate of a similar curvature,” he laughed. “In this case your temple of science may soon be replaced with a new building, one looking like a bat.” I woke up when my neck grew numb. Nikitinʼs book was lying on the floor next to my chair, open to a chart which explained the sequence of peat layers in the holocene bogs – recurring every 2000 years... The funny thing is that I completely forgot about this dream, despite its singularity. Only two weeks later, when Marinka complained about falling asleep at work, I remembered the whole ordeal and laughingly retold her the gist of my sleepy conversation. “Gentle Nizhny, you said?” she asked me strangely. “The strings of time?” She set aside her mug of ginger tea, walked to the bookshelf and removed a well-worn, pale green paperback. “Does this look like him?” she asked, showing me the portrait in the front.

My lunatic acquaintance was staring at me reproachfully from the badly printed black-and-white photograph in the book. “Thatʼs him,” I acknowledged. “Well, in your dream you were visited by none other than the Chairman Of the Earth himself,” she smiled. “Velimir Khlebnikov***. And it looks like your meeting occurred in the house which used to stand in the place of your institute. I walked by it quite a lot when I was little – it was so gloomy, it really did look remarkably like a large bat*4. How quaint.” The next day I went to our local library and rented out a stack of books from the local history section. It turned out that the Bogorodsky manor had once stood just a few blocks away from our institute, and Khlebnikov had indeed visited it at the hostsʼ invitation in 1918*5. To this day I have no idea what happened that time. It could be that the dream unearthed some fragments of chance facts, once heard and then discarded as useless. Or maybe I really did witness the ancient city meeting its infant self? * The laboratory must be situated at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPF RAN) standing right opposite to Mental Hospital No. 1. ** Fyodor Bogorodsky (1895–1959) was a famous Soviet painter born in Nizhny Novgorod in a lawyerʼs family. He had an interesting life and was very talented; he wrote Futurist poetry (befriended with Khlebnikov and Mayakovsky), danced, performed in circus, sailed in the Baltic region, flew a plane, held a commissary title at the Volga Military Fleet, was a member of the Extraordinary Commission, a painter and a set designer teacher. Making illustrations for one of the first editions of The Twelve Chairs by Ilf and Petrov, the Kukryniksy drew Ostap Bender from Bogorodsky who was their friend. *** “Khlebnikovʼs work unites classical verse and linguistic experiments with ancient and latest mathematics and with the then new natural science of the beginning of the century – general and special relativity, quantum mechanics, genetics and cosmogony... The attractiveness of Khlebnikovʼs understanding of time lies in the identification of duration and life, ʻPeacefully is the dawn of the future grazing side by side with shadows of the pastʼ” (see: V. Babkov. Velimir Khlebnikov ⫽ Chelovek (The Man). 2000. No. 6; 2001. No. 1). See also: Velimir Khlebnikov. The Boards of Fate / Text reconstruction, composition, commentary and feature by V. Babkov. Moscow: Dipol T, 2001. *4 Prior to the 1980s, Skvortsovʼs house was situated at the place now occupied by IPF RAN (13 Proviantskaya Str.). See the half title picture on page 43. *5 “A wooden two-storey house where my childhood used to ring,” as Bogorodsky wrote in his memoirs, was at the corner of Tikhonovskaya and Bolnichnaya Streets (presently Ulyanova and Nesterova Streets). It is in this house that Khlebnikov stayed for a short visit in 1918.

ПРОМZOHA THE INDUSTRIAL AREA

МЕЛЬНИЦЫ МАТВЕЯ БАШКИРОВА, ул. Гаршина, 40, арх. Р. Килевейн, 1870-е – 1914 Во второй половине ХIХ века в общем объеме местной промышленной продукции мукомольная занимала почти половину: по железной дороге и водным путям в Нижний поставляли зерно из хлебородных губерний, а отсюда – муку в обе столицы Российской империи. Одной из знаменитых «хлебных» династий были Башкировы. Высокое качество башкировской муки отмечено золотыми медалями в Вене, Париже и Лондоне. На XVI Всероссийской промышленно-художественной выставке мука Башкировых получила высшую награду, и предпринимателям было даровано право маркировать свою продукцию Государственным гербом. В 1870-е годы в Предтеченской слободе по проекту Р. Килевейна Е. Башкиров начал строительство паровой мельницы, получившей название «Слободской». В начале ХХ века мельничный комплекс, унаследованный М. Башкировым, занимал уже целый квартал в районе Благовещенской набережной (а объем годового производства на нем составлял 4 млн рублей). В 1914 году строятся третий производственный корпус (завершено его строительство было только в 1930-е годы), другие каменные здания: склады, жилые дома для рабочих и служащих и пр. В советское время, после пожара, случившегося в 1952 году, старые здания были реконструированы, построены новые. Ныне промышленный комплекс башкировских мельниц формирует панораму Нижнего со стороны Оки. Доминантой комплекса является элеватор с башней (все здания, за исключением элеватора, кирпичные с неоштукатуренными фасадами). Наиболее выразителен в архитектурном плане семиэтажный корпус, «тяготеющий» к рациональному модерну.

MATVEY BASHKIROV MILLS, 40 Garshina Str., architect R. Kileveyn, 1870s – 1914 In the second half of the 19th century, milling encountered for almost half of the total local production volume; grain was railed and boated from cereal-growing provinces into Nizhny Novgorod where flour was manufactured and then delivered to St. Petersburg and Moscow. The Bashkirovs were one of the best-known bread-making dynasties. They got golden medals for their high-quality flour at exhibitions in Vienna, Paris and London. At the 16th Russian National Industrial and Art Exhibition, the flour was marked with a grand prix, and the Bashkirovs were granted the right to label their products with the national coat of arms. In the 1870s in Predtechenskaya Settlement Ye. Bashkirov commenced the construction of a steam mill under R. Kileveyn's design. At the beginning of the 20th century, the group of mills inherited by M. Bashkirov stretched out over a whole quarter along Blagoveshchenskaya Embankment; and the annual production volume equalled 4 million rubles. In 1914 the construction of the third production building was commenced (it was only finished in the 1930s) and of other brick facilities like warehouses, accommodation for workers and office employees, etc. In the Soviet times, after a fire in 1952, the old buildings were reconstructed and new ones added. Now the industrial estate of the Bashkirov mills sets up the view of Nizhny Novgorod from the Oka. The towered elevator is dominating over the estate (except for the elevator, all the other buildings are brick-built and unplastered). The seven-story rational modern building is most expressive from the architectural point of view.

СОРМОВСКИЙ СУДОСТРОИТЕЛЬНЫЙ ЗАВОД, ул. Баррикад, 1, XIX – начало ХХ века Сормовский судостроительный завод основан в 1849 году компанией Нижегородской машинной фабрики и Волжского буксирного и завозного пароходства под руководством Д. Бенардаки. В 1850 году был готов первый пароход – «Ласточка». Помимо речных паровых судов завод стал изготавливать рельсы и вагоны, запустив в 1870 году первую в России мартеновскую печь и организовав собственное сталелитейное производство. В 1887 году со стапелей завода сошла шхуна «Минин» – это положило начало производству судов морского флота. К ХХ веку Сормовский завод был уже одним из лидеров российской промышленности. Здесь выпускали трамвайные вагоны, дизельные двигатели, пролетные конструкции мостов, оборудование для буровых установок, золотопромышленные драги... В годы Первой мировой и Гражданской войн завод получал огромные военные заказы. В 1920 году на «Сормове» был создан первый советский танк. Во время Великой Отечественной войны предприятие, которое называлось теперь «Красное Сормово», также работало на оборону. Подводные лодки (в том числе атомные), первые суда на подводных крыльях и экранопланы прославили завод в советское время. Территория старого сормовского завода представляет собой своеобразный город в городе. Кирпичные корпуса литейного цеха с трехнефной структурой, характерными круглыми окнами сопряжены вместе. В ритмике фасадов с большими витражами и мощными контрфорсами чувствуется влияние готики.

SORMOVO SHIPYARD, 1 Barrikad Str., 19th c. – early 20th c. Sormovo Shipyard was founded in 1849 by Nizhny Novgorod Machine Plant and Volga Shipping Company for Tows and Imported Ships managed by D. Benardaki. The first ship, The Swallow, was produced in 1850. Apart from river steamboats, the yard made rails and carriages. In 1870 it commissioned the first Russian open hearth furnace and organised its own steel production. In 1887 the schooner The Minin marked the beginning of marine ship manufacturing. By the 20th century Sormovo Shipyard had turned into one of the leading industrial enterprises in Russia. Tram carriages, diesel engines, bridge span structures, drilling equipment, and dredgers for gold mining were made there. During World War I and the Civil War the yard got large military orders. In 1920 it released the first Soviet tank. During the Great Patriotic War the yard, renamed into Red Sormovo, also supported the defence industry. During the Soviet times the yard got famous for its common and nuclear powered submarines, first hydrofoils and ground effect vehicles. The Sormovo Shipyard territory is like a city in city. The three-aisled and round-windowed brickwork foundries are closely joined together. The rhythmic façades with big stained glass windows and hefty buttresses show signs of Gothic influence.

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Вот они – чудища, крылатые, с выпученными глазами, с открытой пастью, зубов в которой явно недостает, – по обеим сторонам входа в детскую стоматологическую поликлинику на Покровке. Ребятишки, посещая это пугающее заведение, уже не могут забыть его стражей-страшилищ. Разместить зубных врачей в изящном образчике модерна придумал не безумный сказочник, а обыкновенный советский чиновник. Детство уходит, а зверюги на фасаде дома остаются. Теперь они кажутся старыми добрыми знакомыми. Меняется город, строй, мир – а милые крылатые монстры все еще стерегут вход (или выход?) детской стоматологии.

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And here they are, the winged beasts with bulging eyes and opened mouths, evidently lacking some teeth, on both sides of the entrance to the Children's Dental Clinic in Pokrovskaya Street. Small visitors of this terrifying place would never forget its bogy guards. The idea to place the dental clinic into a graceful Art Nouveau building belonged to no eccentric storyteller, but to an ordinary Soviet bureaucrat. Childhood has passed by, but the monsters are still in their places on the building façade. Now they seem to be our long-time friends. The city, the political system, the world have all changed, but the dear winged monsters are still guarding the entrance to the clinic.

ТОРГОВЫЙ ДОМ КАМЕНЕВОЙ, ныне детская стоматологическая поликлиника Нижегородского района, ул. Большая Покровская, 38, 1914–1915 KAMENEVA TRADING HOUSE, presently Children's Dental Clinic for Nizhegorodsky District, 38 Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Str., 1914–1915

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Над входом в один из магазинчиков на Покровской распростерла крылья большая фантастическая птица (филин? ворон?), залетевшая из времен туманного русского декаданса. В лапах у нее – круглый фонарь, загоравшийся когда-то сапфировым светом, если дверь открывали, а теперь, в наступившем рекламном беспределе, – варварски замазанный глухой желтой краской. Да и сама чудо-птица, как говорят, только чудом и уцелела. Надолго ли?.. Above the entrance to one of the shops in Pokrovskaya Street, a big fantastic bird (is it an owl or a crow?) spreads its wings, dating back to the obscure time of Russian decadence. It is holding a round lantern in its claws that used to light sapphire each time the door was opened, and now, in the era of advertising chaos, is totally covered with yellow paint. They say the bird is very lucky to have survived. But for how long will it stay there?

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ДОМ ОСТАТОШНИКОВОЙ, ул. Большая Покровская, 12, арх. Д. Вернер, 1905 OSTATOSHNIKOVA RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, 12 Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Str., architect D. Verner, 1905

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Granny has told nobody but us which of the lions is the one. Lately the lions have been restored and covered with a layer of new plaster, so now one can hardly tell “dear Leo” from the others. * Lines from a song from the Soviet film Heart of a Dog based on Mikhail Bulgakovʼs novel with the same title. ** “Song of the Stormy Petrel” by Gorky (1901) is an allegoric omen of the coming revolution in Russia.

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It was when Granny, called by her short name Lilya by her friends, was sixteen. The coming storm prophesied by Maxim Gorky** and the following chaos seemed but another horror storey; it was not long since the train pulling into a station (by Auguste and Louis Lumière) had scared people in a similar way. Totally different things bothered her then. He was an architect from St. Petersburg (judging by Russian classical works that is the place most hunters for young innocent girls come from) and came to Nizhny Novgorod to build something for a local magnate merchant. He was a scion of an ancient house, on friendly terms with the Russian poet Alexander Blok, and, to add to this, owned hi-tech wizardry, a camera and a fancy car (at that time in Nizhny Novgorod those were considered gimmicks). His name, Leo, fitted him to a nicety. It so happened that at some music event the refined Leo saw Lilya, asked somebody to introduce them – and then it all started. One day he would make pictures of Lilya, another day he would envelop her in verses or drive her in a car away from her envious-looking friends. Certainly, she had been warned against being enveloped in verses and other things; but taming a Leo seemed too tempting to her.

Once, walking along the embankment, they examined the sculptures decorating the Rukavishnikovʼs palazzo (the youngest brothers Rukavishnikov, a poet and a sculptor, were Leoʼs friends). Leo commented that there was evidently little place for the atlantes and caryatids because they were crowded close together. Lilya laughed and said that one of the lions on the façade (seeming to be alike) resembled “her dear Leo”. Several days later, when Lilya was hurrying home from her friendʼs, she met “her dear Leo” at that very place accompanied by another girl. There could be no doubt about their relations; they did not even see poor Lilya. Lilya spent some time in distress and tears, terminating any attempts to clear the air, decided that an end should be put to lies (that is, to love), and left for St. Petersburg to study. But soon everything went haywire. War. Revolution. Back to Nizhny Novgorod. Red Army commander. Once somebody told her that upon her departure Leo had changed a lot and started fleeing the society. It must have been either a drama in his private life or a fit of traditional Russian melancholy. He was seen at the Rukavishnikovʼs palazzo for several times. Rumour went about that he was looking into the face of a lion on the wall, and the lion seemed to be staring back at him. Then Leo disappeared. Lilya shed a tear. That was over, and it seemed to her all that had happened to somebody else. The mansion had been turned into a museum. Once, walking past the mansion, she felt that somebody was watching her. She turned her head – the lion was looking at her from the façade. Near him there were several similar-looking lions, but only one of them was staring at her. And it was her dear Leo. She recognized him.

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blue blood was not paraded yet, but no more concealed either. The demands of Soviet citizens were growing, and those were material requirements (Levis and Wrangler were bought for speculative prices from special people) as well as spiritual needs (books by Bulgakov and Cortázar were read). It was during those agreeable 1970s that we were children; Granny often treated us to some wonderfully tasting dried-prune pie and to stories about her wild youth when in gymnasium. We liked to imagine we were gymnasium pupils, go to the embankment on a clear spring day, when the sky and the Volga river are of the same milky blue colour and seem to merge into one another on the horizon, when it seems you were about to fly up, and only the heavy school bag kept you standing on the ground… We opened the heavy entrance door to the museum in the Rukavishnikovʼs mansion and climbed the marble stairs. Cupids and atlantes on the façades carried us further away, either back to the Renaissance times or to the Palace of Versailles… Once, having learned that we had been wandering up and down the marble stairs once again and imagining we were the owners of that luxurious place, Granny smiled and told us to send her best to her dear Leo the next time we went to the mansion. We wondered who the “dear Leo” was. And Granny told us a story that sheʼd kept a secret for the whole of her life. The story seems to be quite an ordinary one, but…

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КРЫШКА ЛЮКА с надписью «Канализація Г. Д. Бехли», ул. Большая Печёрская

← MANHOLE COVER with inscription "G. D. Bekhly Sewer System", Bolshaya Pechyorskaya Str.

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ФЛЮГЕР с инициалами домовладельца, ул. Большая Печёрская WEATHERCOCK with house owner's initials, Bolshaya Pechyorskaya Str.

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КРЫШКА ЛЮКА с надписью «Канализація Г. Д. Бехли», ул. Большая Печёрская

← MANHOLE COVER with inscription "G. D. Bekhly Sewer System", Bolshaya Pechyorskaya Str.

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ФЛЮГЕР с инициалами домовладельца, ул. Большая Печёрская WEATHERCOCK with house owner's initials, Bolshaya Pechyorskaya Str.

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ФРАГМЕНТ ДЕКОРА В СТИЛЕ МОДЕРН с автографом «Арх. Вернер» (частично утрачен), ул. Большая Покровская

FRAGMENT OF MODERN STYLE DÉCOR with autograph "Arch. Verner" (partially destroyed), Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Str.

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ЗНАК «РОССІЙСКОЕ СТРАХОВОЕ ОБЩЕСТВО. 1827», ул. Пожарского "RUSSIAN INSURANCE SOCIETY. 1827" SIGN, Pozharskogo Str.

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ФРАГМЕНТ ДЕКОРА В СТИЛЕ МОДЕРН с автографом «Арх. Вернер» (частично утрачен), ул. Большая Покровская

FRAGMENT OF MODERN STYLE DÉCOR with autograph "Arch. Verner" (partially destroyed), Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Str.

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ЗНАК «РОССІЙСКОЕ СТРАХОВОЕ ОБЩЕСТВО. 1827», ул. Пожарского "RUSSIAN INSURANCE SOCIETY. 1827" SIGN, Pozharskogo Str.

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PiTERNN ST. PETERSBURG – NIZHNY NOVGOROD

ЕМ ДР НАОВ КА КИ s ОР ... В ЛЕС re f ОБ НЬЯ ТБ lpTue o .. И С АЯ Х О u d ls. ЕН ИЗВ КИ sc sha ra ed В Т Т УЗ ... • he hed ecT The ЛЮЛАХНЕЙ in TcaT refl of ls... ОГ BerThe are ers anne m s T slu hT wa ch lig The ow in arr n

ОД, НАР ОТ, Й Р О , СВ ВО T БЫЙ РЯД .Tha СО АШНИ,И... • ..e, ThaTills О , Б АЛ ЕТ er ph ЖИВ ТЕНЫ ИЕ Д e Th sTee ТАМЕСТЬ С СНУщ ple livgaTes, О ... ЧТ ТАМ ОРЫ, ГАkin peo ers, . ЧТОУТЫЕ Г ecial, ls, Towizon.. r l p КР me s e wa g ho so ere ar fadin Th d The an

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ВЫСОКО ОКОШКО НАД ЛЮБОВЬЮ И ТЛЕНЬЕМ... • The window is high aBove love and decay...

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НИЖНИЙ НОВГОРОД, ул. Ильинская NIZHNIY NOVGOROD, Ilyinskaya Str.

БЛАГОСЛОВЕН, БЛАГОСЛОВЕН И САД, И ДОМ, И ЖИЗНЬ, И ТЛЕН. КРЫЛЬЦО, ГДЕ МИЛЫЙ ДРУГ ЯВИЛСЯ, БАЛКОН, ГДЕ Я ЛЮБВИ УЧИЛСЯ... • Blessed, blessed be The orchard, the house, life, and decay, The porch where I met my sweetheart,The balcony where I took first love lessons...

САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ, пер. Большой Казачий SAINT PETERSBURG, Bolshoy Kazachy Lane

ВЫСОКО ОКОШКО НАД ЛЮБОВЬЮ И ТЛЕНЬЕМ... • The window is high aBove love and decay...

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НИЖНИЙ НОВГОРОД, ул. Ильинская NIZHNIY NOVGOROD, Ilyinskaya Str.

САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ, пер. Большой Казачий SAINT PETERSBURG, Bolshoy Kazachy Lane

САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ, Большой пр. Петроградской стороны SAINT PETERSBURG, Bolshoy Avenue at the Petrograd side

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НИЖНИЙ НОВГОРОД, Театральная пл. NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Teatralnaya Square

Апрельский ветер тюль колышет, Сиреневый трепещет мир... • The April wind is playing with the curtain, The lilac world is quivering...

Виднеется вдруг словно вымерший дом – По снам позабытым он сердцу знаком... • I suddenly see a seemingly deserted house – Familiar to my heart from the forgotten dreams...

САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ, Большой пр. Петроградской стороны SAINT PETERSBURG, Bolshoy Avenue at the Petrograd side

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НИЖНИЙ НОВГОРОД, Театральная пл. NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Teatralnaya Square

Апрельский ветер тюль колышет, Сиреневый трепещет мир... • The April wind is playing with the curtain, The lilac world is quivering...

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Mining Institute. Michael looked sad: “All of this seems to have been here. Though…” he got animated again, “This wasnʼt here. Krasin? Is it the ship that rescued the Italians?**” We crossed the bridge to Bolshaya Morskaya Street. (Again, “Dear Morskaya Street” and Nevsky Avenue “besotted me and reminded me of the blissful time…***”). We reached the Stray Dog Cafe*4 at the corner of Italyanskaya Street. (“What a vulgar sign. The one by Dobuzhinsky*5 was much better”). We turned from Fontanka into Bolshoy and Maly Kazachy Lanes. (“Here, in family sauna houses, Pallada used to keep a salon.” – “What saunas?.. Who is Pallada?..” – “Pallada Bogdanova-Belskaya*6.”) Our feet started aching, but Michaelʼs senile body was carried over St. Petersburg like a dry leave carried by the wind. We had similar alternating excursions in Uglich and Yaroslavl. Michael had already been to Nizhny Novgorod. “My sister used to live there,” he explained to us. When we were approaching the city, it turned out to be covered with smoke from wildfires. Our friend remarked that he had already seen something like this, the “hazed evening, and the sun, purple and beamless.*7” We walked along Rozhdestvenskaya Street and climbed the hill to the Kremlin. Then, all of a sudden, Michael wanted to go to the Petropavlovskoye Cemetery. “Petropavlovskoye Cemetery? Oh, you must be talking about the Kulibin Park.” “Park?” “Yes, the cemeteryʼs no more there.” But Michael insisted that he had to go there and see the place where the poor boy had found peace; they did not tell him at first that he had died fighting the Germans when his plane had crashed… We did not want to disappoint Michael, though he was surely talking nonsense; during the Second World War there was already no cemetery, it had been turned into a recreation area at the end of the 1930s. We glimpsed his boater and his stick as he was walking among the trees. “But was there a boy after all?*8” When Michael came back, we saw that he had lost his ancient scary expression and looked just like a punished child one would like to hug and treat to a candy. We said goodbye to each other in a rush – the way it usually is with fellow travellers. But I could not help thinking about Michael. I told my aunt who was a philologist about it. Aunt Anya gave me a strange look, fetched a black book and gave it to me. I read: “When you see Kuzmin for the first time you would think of wondering about his age, but never dare ask because of the fear to hear the answer, ʻTwo thousand.ʼ” “... to be reasonable, he shall be under thirty, but his appearance has something so ancient about it that it makes you believe he were one of the Egyptian mummies who got its life and memories back by way of some witchcraft.”

“...But how come heʼs appeared here and now, among us, in the tragic Russia, with a beam of Hellenic joy in his clear songs, and is looking at us affectionately with his huge eyes tired of thousands of years?*9” “Well, yes, they seem to look alike, but Michael is far from being thirty…” Then my aunt took an old magazine from a pile and opened it; there in a picture I saw our old Michael at a table with a samovar on it. The inscription read “Mikhail Kuzmin. Leningrad, 1929” “This cannot be true. Just cannot be true,” it was blood hammering in my temples, “cannot be true…” P.S. Extract from Kuzminʼs letter to Chicherin*10(dated July 1903): “A strange occasion; when the four of us, my sister, my nephew Sergey, me and Sergeyʼs friend Alexey Bekhli, rode to a nunnery through the woods, I suddenly felt an inadequate desire to imitate a number of scenes from the Italian Renaissance, with passion…” “To A.B.” was dedicated the verse cycle by Kuzmin entitled The Thirteen Sonnets (The Green Collection published in St. Petersburg in 1905). Extract from the list of officers from Nizhny Novgorod who performed heroic deeds and were killed in action during the World War I: ALEXEY BEKHLI, second lieutenant aviator. Died during landing after an air fight on July 25, 1916. Buried at the Petropavlovskoye Cemetery on August 10. Poor Michael!

* German; in English “Mother Volga”. ** Krasin is a Russian icebreaker named after the politician Leonid Krasin that in 1928 saved the Italian Polar expedition lead by Umberto Nobile. *** From Mikhail Kuzminʼs diary; “Dear Morskaya Street” evidently implies Bolshaya Morskaya Street. *4 The Stray Dog Café in St. Petersburg was a meeting place of poets and writers. *5 Mstislav Dobuzhinsky (1875–1957) was a Russian-Lithuanian artist. *6 Pallada Bogdanova-Belskaya (1885–1968) was a Russian poet and a socialite. *7 Quotation from Mikhail Kuzminʼs diary. *8 An aphorism from the novel The Life of Klim Samgin by Maxim Gorky. It implies that the speaker doubts whether something has really happened. *9 See: M. Voloshin. Alexandrian Songs by Kuzmin ⫽ M. Kuzmin. Ground Streams. St. Petersburg: Severo-Zapad, 1994. *10 Georgy Chicherin (1872–1936) was a Soviet politician and one of Kuzminʼs major influences.

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ВНЕДРЕНИЕ В КОНТЕ Т

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«ГАРАНТИЯ», банковское здание, ул. Малая Покровская, 7 арх. Е. Пестов, А. Харитонов, И. Гольцев, С. Попов, 1993–1995 THE GUARANTEE, bank building, 7 Malaya Pokrovskaya Str., architects Ye. Pestov, A. Kharitonov, I. Goltsev, S. Popov, 1993–1995

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«ДОМ НА НАБЕРЕЖНОЙ», жилой дом с конторскими помещениями, Верхневолжская наб., 2а, арх. В. Быков, А. Гельфонд, А. Сазонов, Д. Слепов, 2001–2003 THE EMBANKMENT HOUSE, residential and administration building, 2a Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment, architects A. Bykov, A. Gelfond, A. Sazonov, D. Slepov, 2001–2003

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Около четверти века окские воды в устье разбивались об опоры только одного моста – Канавинского. В 1956 году приступили к строительству второго. Им стал Сартаковский, который прочертил по Оке верхнюю границу города. Это радующая глаз своей красотой конструкторская работа. Мост не перегружен деталями, на вид легкий и пластичный. В русловой (надводной) части четыре высоких полукруглых арочных пролета, полоса железнодорожного полотна проходит посередине, добавляя сооружению изящества. В береговой части рисунок моста меняется: арочные пролеты невысокие, железнодорожное полотно лежит на них, словно прижимая их к земле.

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For about 25 years Kanavinsky Bridge near the Oka outfall was the only bridge over this river within the city. In 1956 the construction of another bridge started. It was called Sartakovsky Bridge and marked the upper boarder of the city across the Oka. Its design looks good to the eye. The bridge has no excessive details, it looks light and ductile. The above-water part is comprised of four hemispheric arch spans; a rail road runs in the middle and adds to the elegance of the construction. The overbank part of the bridge is different; the arches are low, and the rail road rests upon them as if pressing them down into the ground.

САРТАКОВСКИЙ МОСТ, 1956 SARTAKOVSKY BRIDGE, 1956

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САРТАКОВСКИЙ МОСТ, 1956 SARTAKOVSKY BRIDGE, 1956

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И наконец в 2009-м между Канавинским и Молитовским (ближе к Канавинскому) пристроился новый мост, у которого и настоящего имени все еще нет: называется он незатейливо, по своему функциональному назначению – Метромост. Он двухъярусный, убегающий вверх с левого берега и раздваивающийся на правом: автомобильная дорога (она сверху), сделав поворот влево, устремляется зигзагами в гору; метропути уходят в гору по прямой.

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239 In 2009, a new bridge between Kanavinsky and Molitovsky Bridges (closer to Kanavinsky Bridge) was finished at last; it still has no real name and is called simply in accordance with its function – Underground Bridge. It has two tiers, goes up from the left to the right bank, and forks there; the road (the upper tier) turns to the left and zigzags uphill, and the underground rails enter the hill straight.

МЕТРОМОСТ, 2009 UNDERGROUND BRIDGE, 2009

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МЕТРОМОСТ, 2009 UNDERGROUND BRIDGE, 2009

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“Iʼm afraid we can buy as well as nothing here for this money,” Yura said and stuffed a creased 500 rubles note back into his pocket. “Too expensive?” Vadim asked. “Thatʼs not the point. Have a look at the cathedral!” “Where do these damned annexes come from?” “Where are the domes?” If we were characters of a U.S. film, we would start shouting and running every which way. However, we were not in a film, but in our native city. We did not have to fear; we were to try and understand. But we did not have time for that. Two things happened one after another, so quickly that to tell about that would be longer than live that through. First Vadim turned over and looked up at the arch, mumbled something, took his mobile out and made a couple of pictures with the camera. Then there was a cry from the crowd, “Police! Here they are, the spies!”; there was a whistle and then we did start running. “Where are we going?” I gasped. I should have followed my fatherʼs advice and practiced jogging. “To the bridge!” Vadim shouted. “Why? What if…” We stopped dead at the bridge staring at the opposite bank. The ugly red high-risers were not there, which meant that… But at that moment we heard another whistle from behind and rushed over the bridge. “What if itʼs the same over there? What if thereʼs no way back?” I was panic-stricken, but the boys pulled me forward holding me by the hands. The bridge vibrated. The bank outline disappeared in gauze. A riderless horse came out of the smoke, just like in the cartoon Hedgehog in the Fog by Norshteyn*4. We pressed ourselves into the railing – and at that moment the reality enfolded us again; we felt the heat and smelt the smoke. “Home, sweet home,” Yura said with a strange laugh. Another horse passed by, and a small brown pony followed by two girls wearing baseball caps. Evidently, there were few people wishing to have a horse ride in Pokrovskaya Street that day*5. Naturally – “Saturday, heat, and smoke”; but Iʼve mentioned it already… So, what was it? Did our adventure have a real background or did some mystical power carry us over to – where to, by the way? Into the past? Into a parallel world? I have no idea. A quotation from The Hound of the Baskervilles comes to my mind: “We did not remember how we got home.” No one of us can say how we found ourselves in the Phonoteka Bar where we chased away the taste of the incident with delicious cheese cakes.

“You donʼt say,” you might think, “those were no cheese cakes but cocktails, and drinking cocktails when itʼs + 40°can induce even stranger hallucinations.” Whatever. But the wallpaper of Vadimʼs mobile home screen shows a coloured picture of the arch with the sign “Welcome! 1946.”*6

* Nizhny Novgorod is divided by the Oka river into two parts called the Upper City (the downtown and dormitory districts situated on the hills) and the Lower City (industrial and residential areas on the opposite flat bank of the river that were annexed later and are considered to be less satisfactory from the social point of view). ** Alexey Balabanov (born in 1959) is a Russian filmmaker. He was a student of the Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University; his film Dead Manʼs Bluff was shot in Nizhny Novgorod. *** As a matter of fact, A. Balabanov has been not the only one to shoot in Nizhny Novgorod; other renowned Russian stage directors such as G. Panfilov, N. Mikhalkov and A. Rogozhkin worked here. World-famous A. Sokurov started his career at the Nizhny Novgorod TV centre. Silent Souls nominated for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice Film Festival (A. Fedorchenko, 2010) and the youth action film Hooked (P. Sanayev, 2009), the first Russian cyberpunk film, were made in Nizhny Novgorod. *4 Hedgehog in the Fog is an animated short by Yury Norshteyn, a famous Russian animator. *5 Pokrovskaya Street is the main pedestrian street of Nizhny Novgorod where, among other things, people are offered to have a horse or pony ride for a certain fare. *6 In summer 1946, on the left Oka bank in Gorky the first post-war fair was held dedicated to the cityʼs 725th anniversary. Trading pavilions and stages for performance were built. The population was still on food rationing, and at the fair one could buy with money. The “radiant future rehearsal” was caught on pictures of the famous photographer N. Kapelyush (see: Time in Focus by Nison Kapelyush. Nizhny Novgorod: Litera, 2010).

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THE WOODEN CITY ON A STEEP HILL

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THE WOODEN CITY ON A STEEP HILL

At the Moscow Polytechnic Exhibition a significant collection of sketches and drawings of Russian old landmarks was presented for the first time. Till then, information about this subject, if any at all, had only appeared in newspapers, with the purpose to point out the society's barbarian attitude towards houses of our ancestors.

Zodchy (The Architect), 1874

In St. Petersburg restoration is widely funded while in Nizhny Novgorod common wooden buildings are far from being treated with respect and replaced with new ones with as little as no hesitation.

Bart Goldhoorn. Tastes Good! New Architecture of Nizhny Novgorod

Different houses were erected in central streets under projects of professional architects – wooden Empire, eclecticism, Renaissance Revival, modern and Russian style buildings that were in and could be afforded by modest middle class citizens. Ingenious stone building details were made of wood – columned porticos, pilasters, capitals and, later, even modern style bizarre forms. There is certain simple harmony in such houses with mezzanines, bay windows, turrets, balconies and galleries; according to the architecture historian and theoretician I. Zabelin, "the combination of wooden and stone elements" complies with the national idea of beauty. The 20th century was hard on the wooden city; decaying houses were demolished and replaced with panel buildings and, later, with elite houses, and the remaining wooden facilities are in a dilapidated state. The architecture critic Grigory Revzin*5 said, "Nizhny Novgorod residents tell us that they are very fond of their wood." But the Time and the Property Developer are clearly more powerful than this sentimental devotion.

Project Russia No. 4, 1996

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"Nizhny Novgorod is a big wooden city with a castle... made of stone and standing upon a hill at the confluence of the Volga and the Oka," wrote in his Notes on Muscovite Affairs the Austrian baron Siegmund von Herberstein who visited Russia twice almost 500 years ago and provided future generations with a kind of "encyclopaedia" of Russia's then life*. A painting by another German, the scientist and traveller Adam Olearius**, captured the appearance of the wooden city in 1636. Actually, till the 20th century Nizhny Novgorod was mostly comprised of wooden houses though from the river it seemed to be a monumental city of stone. However, it was only a deceptive impression. What else shall a city look like when surrounded with primeval forest? Cheerful bearded carpenters, Arguns, Yakushes, Sitskars and Galks***, chopped the wood, built ships, erected houses and decorated them with carved flowers and odd animals. They were all-doers able of telling fairy-tales and even making porridge from an axe*4. There was a good reason for our original architecture to be rewarded by Frenchmen who invited Russian carpenters to participate in the World's Fair in Paris. According to the French architect A. Norman, "the figuration of Russian wooden cottages is so nice that most artists and people with true taste eagerly give proper respect to it; and as for the structure, it is also very interesting and worth being studied." In the 19th century traditional countryside houses underwent a functional modernisation but preserved their carved decorations and were adapted for city conditions; such houses were built by craftsmen and former peasants settling down on the outskirts.

The title of the chapter, "The Wooden City on a Steep Hill", is a line from the song "Volga– Oka" by the St. Petersburg folk-rock-band The Dartz (disc Sometimes Happens, 2007– 2008, http://dartz.spb.ru).

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* See: Siegmund von Herberstein. Notes on Muscovite Affairs. Moscow: Moscow State University, 1988. ** See: Adam Olearius. Commentaries on Muscovy. Moscow: Rusich, 2003. *** Carpenters' nicknames. Arguns and Yakushes were members of carpenter artels from the Vladimir Province, Sitskars from the Yaroslavl Province, and Galks from the Kostroma Province. *4 In a Russian fairy-tale, the shrewd soldier made porridge from an axe decoying the greedy hostess to add grain, salt and butter into the pot. *5 See: G. Revzin. The City Inside Out // Project Russia. No. 17. 2000.

ЖИЛОЙ ДОМ, ул. Студёная*, 42, конец XIX – начало ХХ веков * Историко-культурная заповедная зона, куда входят улицы Славянская, Короленко, Студёная, являет собой целостный фрагмент исторической деревянной застройки.

RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, 42 Studyonaya Str.*, late 19th c. – early 20th c. * A historical and cultural preserved area including Slavyanskaya, Korolenko and Studyonaya Streets represents a whole fragment of historical wooden house development.

Zodchy (The Architect), 1874

In St. Petersburg restoration is widely funded while in Nizhny Novgorod common wooden buildings are far from being treated with respect and replaced with new ones with as little as no hesitation.

Bart Goldhoorn. Tastes Good! New Architecture of Nizhny Novgorod

Project Russia No. 4, 1996

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ЖИЛОЙ ДОМ, ул. Шевченко, 17, конец XIX – начало ХХ века ЖИЛОЙ ДОМ, ул. Большие Овраги, 13, конец XIX – начало ХХ века RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, 17 Shevchenko Str., late 19th c. – early 20th c. RESIDENTIAL HOUSE, 13 Bolshiye Ovragi Str., late 19th c. – early 20th c.

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УСАДЬБА СМИРНОВА*, ул. Дальняя, 15, 1890-е * Единственная сохранившаяся в городе постройка в «русском стиле», получившем признание в 1870 – 1890-е годы благодаря деревянным ансамблям архитектора И. Ропета.

SMIRNOV ESTATE*, 15 Dalnaya Str., 1890s * This is the only preserved building in Russian style that was recognized in the 1870s – 1890s due to wooden ensembles by the architect I. Ropet.

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SMIRNOV ESTATE*, 15 Dalnaya Str., 1890s * This is the only preserved building in Russian style that was recognized in the 1870s – 1890s due to wooden ensembles by the architect I. Ropet.

chance to visit his mates stationing in the wooden house. Rather than archaeological sites, Dmitry explored faded papers covered with dust and mould. Since he knew much about the history of the city, Alexander, the head of the group, told him about the discovered guns. As usual, the good old friends had a discussion resulting in a bet; Dmitry was to try and find any information about the weapons in the city archive. And there he was one day, triumphantly waving handwritten sheets (as a true historian and progress hater, he rejected any kind of typewriting) and shouting, “There now, Iʼve got proof!” “OK, calm down,” grunted Alexander who, with his spade beard, hair parted in the middle and a business-like and somewhat cunning look rather resembled an Old Believer merchant, even if having a modern jacket and rubber footwear on. “Let us talk about it over a cup of tea.”

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“Disappointing as it is, the guns belonged neither to criminals or noble bandits nor to sly spies,” Dmitry started. “So, those were revolutionaries,” Alexander concluded pouring out tea. “Not quite so. The thing is that Tadeusz Verzhevitsky, an exile from Poland, used to lodge in this house, and while here, he was constantly watched by policemen and gendarmes, and, as you understand, there should have been a reason for it.” Seeing a distrustful look on Alexanderʼs face, Dmitry showed him several sheets covered with writing. “Here are inspection acts and reports proving it.” “OK, and what about the guns?” Dmitry smiled, producing another pile of sheets. “Before moving here, Verzhevitsky was under surveillance in Ardatov, but, for some reason, a local captain disliked him and cared for his transfer to Nizhny Novgorod. The interesting thing is that some two months before the transfer his house was searched. Guess what they were looking for!” “The guns?” Alexander said in great surprise. “Indeed! Two Colts and a ladiesʼ revolver were reported to disappear from the house of a retired colonel named Kunitsyn tempted to drinking and gambling by the cunning Verzhevitsky. The police found no evidence, and witnesses gave rather blurred testimony; as for Kunitsyn, he denied having any relations with the Pole. And Verzhevitsky was then sent to Nizhny Novgorod.” “See the rascal! Didnʼt forget to take the guns with him” – “Wait, there is more to come. In Nizhny Novgorod Verzhevitsky did get convicted – not for being revolutionaryminded, though, but for a drunken brawl and fight resulting in bodily damage. The point is that he and his companions were drinking here, in this house, and maybe even in this very room.

As for the guns, I suppose he just wanted to sell them and then run away. Then it was in to flee to America.” “That was a risky affair,” Alexander sighed. “There would be hardly anyone to buy a gun from an exile.” “Maybe that is why he buried the guns in the cellar.” “You must have made it up,” Alexander concluded. “What I did was simply to track a personʼs life,” Dmitry objected. “Well, maybe Iʼve stretched the story, but just a bit... I suppose a woman might have been involved in it.” “Why?” Alexander wondered suspiciously. “Think of the ladiesʼ revolver!” When, after a short discussion about a femme fatalʼs possible role in the story, the archaeologist and the historian were saying good-bye to each other in the house yard, the intern girl came up to them. “Alexander, a man came to see you, but I said you were busy and he didnʼt want to disturb you. He wanted the revolvers for an arms museum; I gave him the two big guns but failed to find the small one.” Seeing Alexanderʼs face taking a furious look, the girl said quickly, “He... well... gave me a receipt... here,” and hurried away. “Oh my God! How could she” – Alexander unwrapped the receipt and read: “You do not need them anyway. Iʼll come back for the small one. T. V.” For two weeks Alexander wandered about angry with Dmitry and the archaeologists for their trick (and for the lost revolvers that had already been included into the inventory list) but, being kind by nature, came off it, all the more so due to the fact that Dmitry insisted Alexander was the first person to have listened to his story and the archaeologists swore that a man did come and take something away and were sorry they had not watched the girl student properly. Over a reconciliation cup of tea with cognac, lemon and chocolate brought by Dmitry in order to gain back his friendʼs favour, Alexander said after a long silence, “I would like to give the girl a picture of Verzhevitsky to see whether he looks like the man she talked to. If a file was kept on him, there shall be a picture, too. But I donʼt think you will be able to find it” – Dmitry jumped to his feet. “Sure I will! You are misjudging me and archive keeping in general, my dear friend. Letʼs have a bet!” The friends shook hands, and Dmitry hurried away to the archive while Alexander stayed in the room and with a pleased smile poured some more cognac into his tea.

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THE HOUSE THAT SCHECHTEL BUILT

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БАНКОВСКИЙ КОРПУС. Парадная лестница BANK BUILDING. Front staircase

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БАНКОВСКИЙ КОРПУС. Парадная лестница BANK BUILDING. Front staircase

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ТОРГОВО-ПРОМЫШЛЕННЫЙ КОРПУС. Фрагменты и детали фасада TRADING AND INDUSTRIAL BUILDING. Façade elements and parts

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ТОРГОВО-ПРОМЫШЛЕННЫЙ КОРПУС. Фрагменты и детали фасада TRADING AND INDUSTRIAL BUILDING. Façade elements and parts