Castle of Khrapovitsky. Muromtsevo, the castle of Khrapovitsky. Sights of the Vladimir region

Perhaps, today the main attraction of the Vladimir region, the fantastic neo-Gothic castle of Khrapovitsky, can be said to be under the power of unkind enchantments, from which you need to find the magic curse of salvation.

Interesting places

Many sights of the Vladimir region are famous all over the world. There are many relics that you can see here, because this includes the cities of the "Golden Ring" of Russia, there are preserved historical monuments of Vladimir-Suzdal Russia. In these places, evidence was found of people's lives more than 25 million years ago - the sites of the Upper Paleolithic. In the XII-XIII centuries the flourishing and strengthening of the Vladimir-Suzdal princedom took place, it occupied the dominant position and took precedence over the Russian lands. The city of Vladimir was the capital of the North-Eastern Russia. Today in Vladimir, which is famous for its churches, it is necessary to visit the Assumption Cathedral, see the Golden Gate, through which the entrance to the city, the white-stone Dmitrievsky Cathedral, the Virgin-Christmas Monastery. In the region - see the unique cable-stayed bridge across the Oka in the Murom area, visit the Suzdal Kremlin and the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, made into the world heritage of UNESCO.

The path to the castle

Thousands of tourists visit these places every year. Everyone is attracted to Khrapovitsky's manor. How to get to the place, many find out long before the trip. This information is incredibly important. Between the cities of Vladimir and Murom is a small village of Muromtsevo. Castle of Khrapovitsky will tell his story here. From Vladimir you can get on any scheduled bus going to Sudogdu, Krasnaya Gorbatka or Moore. Get off at the bus station in Sudogda, then walk for about 3 km. By car, in the same way, after reaching to Sudogda, drive along Lenin's main street, across the bridge to cross the Sudogda River. At the fork to Red Khimik village turn right, drive to Muromtsevo. Our landmark is the yellow gate in the inscription "technical school" and the bus stop. We drop in at this gate. Behind them awaits a real gothic palace - the castle of Khrapovitsky, whose photo is similar to the footage from the old film.

Family of Khrapovitsky

The Khrapovitsky family is famous and ancient, listed in the sixth genealogical book of Russian noble families. The Khrapovitsky coat of arms is a cross-shaped shield divided into four parts, on which are depicted two lilies with interlacing stems: one flower looks down and the other one looks up. Lily was definitely considered a symbol of the genus, the image of the flower can be seen on the facade, on windows, fireplaces and bars. The coat of arms is crowned with a noble helmet with a crown and peacock feathers, among which is a silver lily. Since the 17th century, the territory of the manor, on which the castle of Khrapovitsky will appear in the future, belonged to the noble family Khonenev. In the 19th century, the village of Muromtsevo passed into the possession of Ivan Khrapovitsky, who married a representative of the Khonenev family. Khrapovitsky was a secret state adviser and governor of the St. Petersburg province, he came from an ancient Polish-Belarusian aristocratic family Gozdov, his ancestors accepted Russian citizenship after the entry of the lands of the former Commonwealth into Russia.

Vladimir Semenovich Khrapovitsky

In 1884 the estate was inherited by Vladimir Semenovich Khrapovitsky, a hussar colonel. The Earl inherited wonderful lands, where a dense forest rustled. The richness of the surrounding nature prompted him to engage in the sale of timber. As a result, Khrapovitsky becomes the largest timber merchant in the country. But at that time the estate inherited was in decline, in the center stood an old wooden manor house, and around it was a neglected park. The Count enthusiastically set about rebuilding the estate and building a new main house. So, over time, a magnificent Khrapovitsky manor appeared here.

History of the construction of the castle

A local legend says that after visiting France, Khrapovitsky remained impressed by the beauties of the local castles. The French have thrown a peculiar challenge, saying that in Russia there has never been such beauty. As they say, if it is untrue, it is well thought out. And now through time in the Vladimir region grew a neo-gothic palace with a magnificent park and more than 70 buildings on the territory of 40 hectares of land. At the time of construction, in 1884, this creation of the architect Peter Samoilovich Boytsov was a triumph of architectural and landscape art, despite the fact that at that time in Russia was dominated not by the Gothic style, but by the style of eclecticism. Electricity, plumbing, sewerage, central heating, telephone and telegraph were conducted here. On a huge adjoining territory ponds, greenhouses, fountains and an arboretum have been broken. Specially constructed was a railroad 41 km long, their estate was connected with the Murom Railway. This road was taken out of the forest. And, it is rumored that the fruit from the gardens of the estate was supplied to the entire Moscow region. The Khrapovitsky Manor was designed to decorate itself with the district and all of Russia.

General view of the Khrapovitsky Castle

According to the original design, the castle of Khrapovitsky Was to consist of two floors, with a cascade of ponds in front of the building. This is how the architect Boytsov embodied it, and in 1906 - on the right - an unknown architect completed a four-storeyed wing with a beautiful tower in the English style. Near the castle were built several dozen service buildings, made in the same style, among them - summer theater, boat station, pier, horse yard, place for orchestra, manager's house, water tower. Around the ponds, cascading to a magnificent lake, the trees rustled in the park, the gardens blossomed, there was also a magnificent 9 hectare arboretum with more than 70 species of rare trees.

Interior decoration

Today there is nothing left of the rich interior of the castle. And when it was very expensive and exquisite, ranging from tiles and marble stairs to rich interior trim. In the castle there were more than 80 internal rooms, each of which had its own name and purpose, each had expensive furniture ordered from the best furniture makers, interior decorations were decorated with expensive paintings, vases, tapestries, carpets, porcelain, Bott sculptures, mirrors and bronze from Ebert , Tableware from Faberge. The "mirror" room was decorated with Venetian mirrors, but today they are only reminiscent of empty cavities in brick walls.

Life in a fairy-tale castle

The Khrapovitsky Manor (Vladimir Region) suddenly turned into a favorite place for visiting the aristocrats of the capital, local industrialists, everyone was cordially welcomed, luxurious balls and receptions were arranged in the castle, excursions to the park and gardens, boat trips were organized in nature. On the shore of the pond played a specially created graph by the orchestra, which was his pride. Also, the theater became an important merit of the Count. It was a miniature version of the Moscow Small Theater, built of wood. In the orchestra and in the theater the pupils of the local music school played. Khrapovitsky also helped break up theatrical groups, offering them work and shelter. In the theater not only performances were played, but also arranged musical evenings, played classical music. Khrapovitsky was very fond of dogs, they had a special room for them, and in his office there was a window so that he could at any moment look at his pets. It is said that for those who left the world, other favorites were given a place for burial, where the owner stacked the nominal memorial granite slabs. In the stables were the best horses. The very building of many, who used to be here for the first time, was confused with the master's house, so beautiful and impressive it was. The countess devoted much time to animals and flowers in gardens and greenhouses. The Khrapovitskys were engaged in charity in their county, their means were built and fully contained general education schools. They also helped a lot of peasants from the surrounding villages.

Church of St. Alexandra

In 1899, Bishop Vladimirsky allowed the construction of a church in honor of the holy Queen Alexandra on the land of Khrapovitsky. The reasons for the construction became the need for the existence of a church close to the place of residence and work of a large number of people, as well as the strengthening of relations between Khrapovitsky and the imperial family. The architect also became Boytsov, so the temple is designed in the same style as the rest of the buildings, but with elements of Russian late Baroque. The interior of the temple was just as magnificent. Silver and gold here - from Faberge, church utensils - from the house of Sokolov. Today the church again resumed worship services.

The present state of the estate

Of course, in launching the construction of his castle, Khrapovitsky could not foresee the events of 1917 and the revolution. When everything had happened, his only desire was to save his offspring from destruction and plunder. And he wrote a letter to his descendants and handed over the estate to the state. But fate decided otherwise. Material values and paintings were transferred to the museums of the Vladimir region, and the interior of the castle was plundered. Here in Soviet times there was a forest technical school, then a hostel, and then two fires. From the buildings around the castle remained mostly only ruins. The fate of the owners of the castle is no less tragic: they died in France in emigration, in poverty and in anxiety for their estate. Unfortunately, the children of the Khrapovitsky couple did not have children. It is said that a pair of swans lived on the lake until 1925, perhaps in the hope of still seeing their returning masters. Today they say that work has finally begun on the reconstruction of the estate. What happened to it during the years of Soviet power is an irreparable loss for the descendants. Let's hope that the works will be successful, the farm of Count Khrapovitsky will become a protected historical heritage and will make many generations of Russian people proud of their land.