Interesting Moscow: the notorious Taganka

Taganskaya prison was built by order of Alexander I in 1804 on the then outskirts of Moscow, on the banks of the Moskva River, between Taganskaya Square and Novospasska Male Monastery. It had the name "Moscow Provincial Criminal Prison" and the exact address - where now houses 16-18 on the street Malye Masons. In total, in Moscow in the XIX-XX centuries there were three large prisons: the central transit (Butyrskaya), correctional (on the Matrosskaya Tishina) and provincial, it is also Taganskaya. And Taganskaya prison was the most famous and most serious in Moscow, it was impossible to escape from it. In addition, Taganka became the champion in the number of songs dedicated to "state houses with a chequered sky."

In Taganka was composed the song "Bold, comrades, in step!" (words L. Radin, 1897). The text was written during Radin’s stay in Taganskaya prison on the case of the Moscow Workers’ Union; the arrest was made on the night of November 10 to 11, 1896. At the end of February 1898, before being sent to Siberia, a party of prisoners learned this song from the author’s words to the motif of the old student melody “Time moves slowly” (verses by Ivan Nikitin); this motif was changed by L. Radin in the rhythm of the march. In March 1898, the song L. Radin with the same motive sang prisoners Butyrskaya transit prison. Further distribution of the song contributed to its numerous publications. It was one of the most popular Red Army songs during the Civil War. Also, "Bold, comrades, in step" served as the basis for new revolutionary songs and songs of the Civil War: for example, "The Will of the People" of the February Revolution of 1917, "Friendly, comrades, in step" of the Civil War. Anarchists may sing, “Let us raise the Black Banner of Labor above the earth.”

The great adventurer of the beginning of the 20th century Trachtenberg, who “dropped” there because he successfully sold the Moroccan mines to France, had no idea even where it was located. By the way, he compiled a dictionary of noble expressions.

Do you know what "bread balanda" is? It was in Taganka that the cook Balandin worked, who prepared SO HOW CHRENOVO that the word "balanda" became a household word.

There were still in Taganka Nicholas "Grach" Bauman, St. Seraphim in the 37th (he was shot soon after), "general" Vlasov and his sixes (they were hanged in the inner courtyard of Taganka), even Porfiry Ivanov ...

Taganka was blown up in '58 on Khrushchev's orders. What is it now? Yeah, office plankton. The set of firms in those houses is staggering - from sales of glue and woodworking tools to the management of a plumbing company and LCD.

In the minds of Muscovites of older and middle generations, the very word "Taganka" still causes increased alarm. In the postwar years, Tagan hooligans were considered almost the coolest in Moscow. Taganka - prison - nights full of fire. Here's a little gentlemanly set of associations reflected in urban folklore.

It's a quiet alley right now. It seems like nothing special. Lots of trees, the river looms ahead. On the even side - a little on the heel of the five-story building behind the number eighteen. They were built in the place of Taganka. There are many amazing stories and legends about these places. Locals say that under these five-story buildings there are still "catacombs", secret passages and loopholes that prisoners once used. They also talk about the prison cellars, preserved under the houses, but the entrances to these basements are tightly sealed. Remember the hurricane of 1998, when large human bones were found in the pits left after the trees were uprooted.

Maxim Shvedov