The glory and poverty of the Tver estates

Imagine the situation: a group of 2 people, a husband and wife, she is a famous Moscow writer, he is a famous photographer plus a newspaper editor, traveled the whole world. You have to surprise me with something new. What about? Everyone's seen it. Here we go.

And then in Georgians collapsed corner in the house of Poltoratsky. It is so simple to say - the house of Poltoratsky. This isn't the Palace. Under Mark Fedorovich, Rastrelli built it, and under Konstantin Markovich - Stasov. Wow, Stasov! From Tver - 80 km, from Torzhok - 20 km, and here is a house designed by Rastrelli and Stasov. How can that be? What if I told you it wasn't a house but a 120-room palace? Then will you be surprised?

So, in the palace in the estate of the Poltoratskys, the corner of the northern wing collapsed. And so successfully it turned out that it was May month, the dirt from the melted snow dried up and even the country roads became passable, what about the asphalt to talk. So I suggested to my famous guests to go to the wilderness to be surprised by what is happening.

Of course, it would be better to invite a minister there. Like cultures. But ministers don't know each other. So we went together – two photographers and two writers, because I – both in the same bottle.

It was an incredible trip. The buds on the trees only bowed, the grass shone with that inexpressibly salad color, which only happens at the end of May. And most importantly - the complete absence of nettle - go where you want, take off - whatever you want.

The corner of the house lay on the ground, as it should be – a pile of bricks. Failed stairs, the vaulted ceilings, the spaciousness of the halls, fenced into the chambers of the Soviet madhouse (and what, except for a madhouse, you can settle in the palace built by Rastrelli and Stasov) caused a rush and an irresistible desire to get into where you absolutely should not go. But my photographer works in black and white and does not recognize color photos. I'm learning from him. In short – climbed, shot perspectives, panoramas, geometry of angles, close-ups ... I didn't tell them ghost stories. There are so many stories here, you can't tell in a year. One Agathokleia Alexandrovna with her fanatical love for Catherine the Great is worth what. And the relationship of Mark Fedorovich and Prince Potemkin... And Napoleon, who personally interrogated Konstantin Markovich, There were no fake Pushkin autographs. Let's go to Bernovo.

On the way there is a church according to the Gornastayev project. How did she come here? After all, these are the rudiments of eclecticism... And on the window, on the casing - Gornostaev, you can not confuse with anyone! Plus, the story is mind-blowing about how the lord and his serfs signed a contract that he would release them all to freedom, and they would serve him for it) And let go.

And in Mlevichi on the church Masonic Order signs, and in Bogatikovo - a man's wooden house with columns. The one that did not get into the route “Pushkin’s Ring of the Upper Volga”, although Pushkin visited it.

So quietly, for conversations and reached Bernov. And in the museum there are copper pens, the constipation on the windows is authentic, the park is full of sun and bird singing. And then to Red with the incredible history of Yuri Felten’s construction of the Transfiguration Church. And even a writer who saw her, who had not been surprised by any foreign wonders for a long time, suddenly said: “It’s like the cherry on the cake.” It would be hard to say because she is a very talented writer.

After this trip, the photographer published a wonderful album, which he called “The splendor and poverty of Tver estates”. I was so offended - for Mark Fedorovich, for Rastrelli with Stasov, for Gornastaev. I tell him, “You take you, you surprise, you show you.” The pictures were put on a beautiful pile. Is there anything other than devastation and desolation?

He got upset and went to rename the album. I started looking at the pictures again. And suddenly I realized that through all this devastation, collapsed walls and stairs, abandoned parks and overgrown ponds, the former grandeur is passing through. Brilliant. Smart, prudent government. There's nothing to hide. No poverty. It’s like gilding, like the ruins of the Colosseum. And the talented photographer felt it with his skin, but I didn't. And under no circumstances should anything be changed. You can't!

That's the name. And then we called our tour - "The brilliance and poverty of the Tver estates." Because people have to see that. There's still a lot to see...