“This pompous, marble palazzo, built a few years ago, seemed to be transported to a quiet, decorous street straight from Venice, at once squeezing and shading the age-old noble mansions with peeling columns and identical triangular roofs. Even now, in the midnight hour, neighboring buildings were drowning in darkness, and the handsome house was all shining and shimmering, like a fabulous ice palace: the luxurious pediment was illuminated by electric lights in the most modern American fashion ”. This is how B. Akunin describes the banker Litvinov's mansion in his novel “The State Councilor”.
It looks like it or not, judge for yourself. In the novel, the house is located on Trekhsvyatskaya Street, and since there has never been such a street in Moscow, why shouldn't it be located here? And most importantly, the house really has a double, and not just anywhere, but in Italy. Compare these two buildings - and if you can, find at least a couple of differences. The house was built as a private residence of the merchant of the first guild Gabriel Aslanovich Tarasov from Yekaterinodar. Initially, the surname sounded like Torosyan, but later, with the advent of wealth, it was "Russified". The founder of the dynasty is considered Aslan Tarasov, who got rich on the cotton wool trade, and later was engaged in grain and oil. His sons founded the "Tarasov Brothers Manufactory" and moved to Moscow.
Gabriel Aslanovich, wishing to have a home no less impressive than that of his neighbors in Spiridonovka, Morozov and Ryabushinsky, ordered the project to Academician Ivan Zholtovsky. He, being an admirer of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, took as a basis the Palazzo Thiene, a palace built by the great architect in the middle of the 16th century. True, the Russian architect slightly changed the proportions of the building - Palladio's upper half is larger than the lower, Zholtovsky did the opposite. In keeping with the traditions of Mediterranean architecture, the house has a courtyard overgrown with greenery, and on the roof there is a terrace with a balustrade and a veranda. It used to be possible to move along it from one part of the house to another, but the Russian climate does not forgive such liberties, so when the roof started leaking, the terraces had to be made covered (in Soviet times, they turned into office premises).
Technically, the building was very modern: there was a freight elevator next to the back staircase, heating boilers were located in the basement, which supplied steam to the heating radiators, and hot water to the machines of its own laundry. Zholtovsky tried to make an impeccable Renaissance stylization: from door portals inlaid with jasper and granite to a patio with terraces and a small fountain in the form of a stone bowl with three seahorses. The image of the Renaissance palace was created by enfilades of halls with huge frescoes on coffered ceilings, chandeliers made according to special sketches, antique furniture and lamps. Ignatiy Nivinsky, Evgeny Lansere and Vikentiy Trofimov were invited to paint the ceilings (copies of works by Pinturicchio, Tintoretto, Titian and Giulio Romano were located there).
But no matter how hard the builders and artists tried, the customer did not have a chance to celebrate the housewarming: he died before the end of work in 1911. On the facade of the mansion, facing Spiridonovka, there was a proud inscription in Latin GABRIELUS TARASSOF FECIT ANNO DOMINI, that is, "Gabriel Tarasov built in the year of our era", but no one ever put the date. The sons of Gabriel Aslanovich, Georgy and Sarkis, did not have a chance to live in this house. Wanting to reduce the amount of inheritance tax, the heirs tried to understate the value of the house, but these figures were protested, and the litigation that began dragged on for several years - until the revolution, which in one fell swoop removed all the property issues of the Tarasov family.
After the Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow, the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs worked here, then the American Aid Administration (ARA) and the Supreme Court of the USSR, the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, the embassies of Poland and Germany, and since 1979 the building has been occupied by the Institute for African Studies. Nothing has survived to this day from the original furnishings of the house, but the ceiling frescoes are well preserved. Surprisingly, in the storms and wars of the past century, the Tarasov family also managed to survive. A representative of another branch of this family, Aslan Alexandrovich, after the revolution, took his family out of Moscow and reached Paris through Constantinople. His son Leon grew up there and became a French writer. Awarded the Goncourt Prize, elected a member of the French Academy, he entered world culture under the name of Henri Troyat.
The descendants of Gabriel Tarasov who remained in Russia not only did not disappear, but also managed to preserve the family "commercial vein". During the years of perestroika, as soon as an opportunity to engage in private entrepreneurship opened up in the USSR, one of the first cooperatives was registered by Artem Mikhailovich Tarasov. Less than two years later, the TV program "Vzglyad" introduced him to the country as the first legal millionaire.
(click on the photo to enlarge it)
Historical reference
The construction of this house was ordered by the architect Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky, the merchant of the 1st guild, Gabriel Aslanovich Tarasov, the owner of the Yekaterinodar Big Manufactory, a patron of the arts. The cotton trade brought wealth to Tarasov. Later, he significantly expanded the profile of his activities, traded in oil and grain. Tarasov came to Moscow from Yekaterinodar. Gabriel Aslanovich belonged to the Armenian Tarasyan family. The surname was Russified and after him everyone became the Tarasovs.
This site on Spiridonovka was bought by Tarasov in 1902, and in 1907 he began to demolish the old buildings. In 1908 the architect I.V. Zholtovsky (assistant - engineer A.N. Ageenko) began construction of a new mansion. The interior decoration turned out to be much more interesting than the laconic, even gloomy facade. The richest decoration in the rooms located along the Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane. This part was intended for living of G. A. Tarasov himself and his family. He did not live to see the end of the construction - he died in 1911. His sons were finishing the mansion. They also did not have to live in the mansion - they spent almost all the time after the end of construction and before the revolution in litigation over inheritance. The sons tried to reduce the cost of this building in order to pay less taxes. In 1917, the sons of Gabriel Aslanovich left Russia.
Now the only branch of Tarasov lives in France. One of his descendants entered world culture under the name of Henri Troyes, a French writer, laureate of the Goncourt Prize and a member of the French Academy. Tarasov's descendants do not visit this house.
The building has never been a residential building, although it was built as a residence. This word, perhaps, most accurately reflects the intention of Gavriil Aslanovich. After the revolution and until 1937, the building was occupied by the Supreme Court of the USSR, then, before the Great Patriotic War, the mansion was transferred to the diplomatic services. For some time, the embassy of Germany was located here, then Poland. The Institute for African Studies received this building in 1979 and still occupies it.
In one of the beautiful days of September, warm from the sun and memories of the summer, I entered the front (he is the only) entrance of the Institute for African Studies in Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane. I asked the concierge where the deputy director’s office was and briskly walked straight down the corridor ... On the stairs I climbed, from behind each of the two doors I was told that they didn’t have an office with that number. Rushing in the direction opposite from the stairs, I got into the courtyard of the mansion ... I had to return to the concierge. He was not surprised at my story and suggested another way. The second attempt turned out to be more successful and, the main staircase took me to the second floor, where I met the deputy director of the institute. The feeling of incomplete understanding of the space that I entered, accompanied me throughout the trip ... Only later, when I was processing photographs and preparing the text for the sketch, did I comprehend the idea of the client and the architect ...
Tarasov's mansion is a copy of the Tiena Palace in Vicenza (Italy) by the architect Andrea Paladio, the favorite architect of Zholtovsky. Almost all architectural forms are borrowed from the Italian original. The proportions are taken from the Doge's Palace in Venice; the height of the first floor is one third higher than the height of the subsequent floors. This is done to give the house a monumentality. The height of this three-story building is 17 meters, but despite its impressive size, it consists of only two apartments. This Moscow house is interesting for the integrity of the Renaissance style, expressed in it from the facade to the fittings of doors and windows. Chandeliers, sconces were partly purchased from antiquaries, partly made according to drawings by artists. Door portal with marble platbands inlaid with granite and jasper. Nothing from the original situation has survived to this day. And in general, it is not known whether the furniture was delivered after the end of construction. Therefore, in our essay we will only talk about architecture.
Courtyard
It was a complete surprise to me that the house has a courtyard. In the center of the courtyard there is a fountain (not functioning) and a garden sculpture. The time of their appearance is unknown, but exactly after the completion of construction and before the placement of the Institute for Africa here. This courtyard in the style of an Italian palazzo is always equally quiet and cozy ...
Front part of the house
Entering the house
From the side of B. Patriarshy Lane, where closed arches are visible, there was an entrance to the house. People came here by carriages, and since 1914, Tarasov's sons have used cars. Entrance arches connected the two apartments and at the same time separated them. There were open terraces above the arches. On the roof there was a balcony with a balustrade and a veranda, along which one could go from one part of the house to another. The terraces had to be closed; it is inconvenient to operate them in our climate. In their place, office rooms are equipped. The entrance arches were also closed; the library is now located here. The enfilade doorways have been preserved, but covered with bookcases. The key to the library door has been preserved; it used to open the entrance to the front part of the house.
In that part of the mansion, which is located along the Spiridonovka, there is no entrance on the facade and this gives the building a special monumentality. This part of the house was for receptions. The arrangement of the rooms along B. Patriarshy Lane and along Spiridonovka is enfilade, i.e. from one part of the house to another one could go not along the corridor, but through the rooms.
Blue room (1st floor)
Tarasov completely gave the external and internal design of the mansion to the will of the architect and artists, setting only one task: the main thing is luxury. In general, the mansion is famous for its ceiling painting, which attracted such famous theater decorators as Ignatiy Ignatievich Nivinsky and Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere (a member of the World of Art association). Nivinsky painted the owners' apartment, and Lanceray - the reception halls. Ceiling paintings are stylized in the Renaissance style. Painters painted on wet plaster. Nevinsky and Lanceray were then very popular, fashionable artists, which is probably why they were invited. In general, the Tarasov family was known as patrons and theatergoers. Maybe that's why they ordered the painting to theater artists. Now the mansion is sometimes visited by Lanceray's great-grandson, he writes a scientific work based on the works of his great-grandfather.
In the Blue Hall, as in the small and large reception rooms, cornices for carpets, paintings or tapestries are placed on the walls. The original fittings have been preserved on the doors and window frames.
Hall (1st floor)
The walls have a laconic decor, all the viewer's attention, according to the architect's plan, should be directed to the ceiling. The combination of horizontal beams of smoked wood on the ceiling and light vertical columns on the walls give the space a noble understated luxury.
Large reception hall
From the hall we enter the Great Reception Hall. Nowadays it is used for holding meetings of the institute.
It contains one of the house's three fireplaces. All of them are active, the staff of the institute use them. The fireplaces are made of artificial stone. The ceiling is coffered, made of stained wood. This room has a special atmosphere, I would say that solemnity dominates of all sensations. How is this achieved? Due to the combination of colors: muted shades of a high frieze on the ceiling, plain walls, a fireplace and ceiling beams ... And there on the ceiling, among stained wood, the gold and blue color of small pictorial details stands out ... Everything else is just a background for these small colored spots.
Small reception hall
Inscriptions in Latin are visible on the ceiling, for example "Danae pluvio auro Perseum conceperat" ("Danae from the rain of the golden conception"). Now there is a reading room.
First front staircase
The eagles on the ceiling appeared at a time when the building was occupied by the Polish embassy. What drawing here was initially not known. The mosaic panel on the stairs is a gift from the African people to the institute (1980s).
Hall on the second floor
In the hallway, on the ceiling, leaks are visible, loss of decor, the reason is that there was an open terrace on the roof (transition from the front part of the apartment to the living area). The roof was of poor quality and was constantly leaking. The terrace was closed.
The columns in the lobby are made of reconstituted marble. This can only be determined by going very close to them.
When the walls were opened, they found the original colors, the walls were then gray-olive tones. The second fireplace of the mansion is located here.
Cabinet
The ceiling in the study is an art gallery. Above the visitor's head, within frames, in a beautiful symmetry, there are drawings on antique subjects. This room contains the 1st copy of Nivinsky (calculus inside the mansion) of Tintoretto's painting The Birth of the Milky Way. According to legend, the god Kronos puts little Hercules on the chest of the goddess Gaia to deify him, since he was born from a simple woman. Milky splashes from the breast become the stars of the Milky Way. Tintoretto also had the lower part of the picture, where milk falls to the ground and so white lilies are born. We saw the first version of this painting in the Small Reception Hall in the residential part of the house. Tintoretto had seven versions of this painting. But his paintings also have no lower part and the presence of white lilies is passed from mouth to mouth as a legend. Maybe the bottom of the paintings was removed by the artist to keep the proportions? Unknown.
Residential part of the house
Second main staircase
The second staircase leads from the hall, into which every visitor of the Institute of Africa enters in our time, who entered through the only door of the house from the side of B. Patriarshy Lane. It was along this path that I went up to the second floor during a happy attempt to find the office of the deputy director of the institute. It may seem that there is a mosaic on the vaulted ceiling, in fact it is a painting that skillfully imitates mosaics.
Hall 1
Next to the stairs on the ground floor there are three rooms in a suite. They don't have names, so I use numbers. The door portals are decorated with natural stone imported from Italy. From Italy, as I was told, two very beautiful large Venetian mirrors were brought by carts. All the chandeliers in these rooms are Russian work, but the glass elements are Venetian. Wall processing is the simplest (plaster), in some places natural stone brought from Venice is used. The walls are made of reconstituted marble.
Basically, the ceilings are coffered, broken into caissons of different sizes. In the caissons there is a painting based on ancient Greek mythology. Plots and images of gods and goddesses are quite recognizable.
Hall 2
This part of the mansion, which is located along B. Patriarshy Lane, has the richest paintings. Nevinsky's autograph is clearly visible on one of the paintings (this is not a copy from a painting by Italian masters, but an original work). The painted ceilings are copies of Tintoretto's paintings; his most famous painting, The Birth of the Milky Way, is presented in two versions: in the Small Hall for Receptions and here in the second hall.
Hall 3
The coat of arms over the fireplace is not related to the time of construction; it was made later by one of the tenants.
Heating for each of the two apartments was separate (heating boilers were in the basement). In general, the house uses the most advanced technical solutions of that time. Pipes are laid in the thickness of the walls; steam heating radiators are located in all rooms. The house had electricity and sanitary facilities. For lifting and lowering linen, dishes, for auxiliary work on the back stairs, a freight elevator was made. The building had its own laundry.
There are a lot of rooms in the Tarasov mansion. We examined only the most valuable from an artistic point of view and the most beautiful from an aesthetic point of view.
Restoration
In the coming years, a scientific reconstruction will be carried out in the Tarasov mansion. Reconstruction must update engineering communications, roofing. It is necessary to put in order the floors, doors; clean, update architectural elements: beams and stucco. The restorers will take care of the painting if there is time and money left; it is now perfectly intact.
So the journey to the Renaissance ended. I have seen few buildings in this style, but this is the first time I have been inside. The impression is strong ..., so much so that it would be difficult for me to go to work every day. Thinking this way, I found myself on the Patriarch's Ponds near the pavilion. The swan family fed on bread crumbs. On the shore, a young mother asked her daughter not to get too close to the birds. The girl held out her fist to the swans anyway; the male did not seriously scare her away. The female swam at some distance from the coast and looked at people with curiosity ...
Acknowledgments:
The author expresses gratitude to Olga Anatolyevna Myskina, Deputy Director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Natalya Anatolyevna Kott, Chief Specialist of the Office for Control over the Preservation and Use of Architectural and Historical Objects, for their enormous help in preparing this essay.
Text and photos Sergey Selikhov
Many people know this famous mansion. One has only to move away from the Patriarch's Ponds in the direction of Spiridonovka, and a magnificent building appears to your eyes. However, few managed to get inside.
And today we offer you to get acquainted with its interiors ->
At the corner of Spiridonovka Street and Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane, there is a large gray mansion, very reminiscent of Italian Renaissance palazzo. This corner of Italy in Moscow is called the Tarasov Mansion or simply the Tarasov House, now it is occupied by the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It is worth telling a little about the Tarasov family. This is a family of Circassian Armenians from Armavir. Initially, their surname sounded like Torosyan, but later it was Russified, and they all became Tarasovs. The founder of the dynasty is considered Aslan Tarasov, who was engaged in business in the south of Russia. His son, Gavriil Aslanovich Tarasov, became the owner of the Yekaterinodar Big Manufactory. The main wealth came from the cotton trade. Later, he significantly expanded the profile of his activities, traded in oil and grain. Finally, in 1902, together with his brothers Alexander and Mikhail, he moved from Yekaterinodar to Moscow.
The famous Moscow collector Pyotr Shchukin recalled: “At first, the Tarasov brothers lived very modestly; they traveled by rail in the third class, carried sacks of black bread with them, which they ate on the road, wore shabby lamb coats in winter, but then they got rich, and we saw them in sable coats with beaver collars. "
Gavriil Tarasov acquired the site for the construction of the mansion in 1907 and chose this place carefully. Here, on Spiridonovka, the city elite lived. Suffice it to say that Tarasov's mansion stands directly diagonally from the famous mansion of Zinaida Morozova, built by architect Shekhtel, now it is the Foreign Ministry's Reception House (see). This place was very prestigious and Gabriel Tarasov, who had moved to Moscow not so long ago, needed to have a status house worthy of the place he wanted to occupy at the top of the social pyramid of Moscow.
Strictly symmetrical, without entrance doors, the facade along Spiridonovka practically literally reproduces the drawing of the facade of the Palazzo Thiene, built by Andrea Palladio in Vicenza in 1542-1553. The only change in the copy relative to the prototype is the increased height of the first floor. Following the proportions of the Venetian Doge's Palace, the architect Ivan Zholtovsky made the first floor 1/13 higher than the second. Thus, the upper floor is perceived as lightweight relative to the massive first floor. How and why Zholtovsky chose Palazzo Thiene as the model for the facades remained unknown.
This Moscow house is interesting for the integrity of the Renaissance style expressed in it, from the facade to the fittings of doors and windows. By the way, nothing of the original furnishings of the mansion has survived to this day. Moreover, it is generally unknown whether the furniture was brought here after the end of construction.
In the yearbook "Moscow Architectural World" for 1912, Tarasov's mansion was called "a fairy tale of bygone times." The house on Spiridonovka became one of the richest and most interesting buildings in Moscow at that time in terms of architecture. Its front facades are solid and massive. The cladding of the first floor imitates granite, and the second - marble, but the house is made of concrete.
In that part of the mansion, which is located along Spiridonovka, there is no entrance on the facade and this gives the building a special monumentality. This part of the house was for receptions.
If the premises along Spiridonovka were ceremonial, then the rooms along Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane were intended for the residence of members of the Tarasov family, but their interior decoration was no less magnificent than in the ceremonial halls. The arrangement of the rooms along Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane and along Spiridonovka is enfilade, i.e. from one part of the house to another one could go not along the corridor, but through the rooms.
The most advanced technical solutions of that time were used in the house. Heating for each of the two apartments in the house was separate. Pipes are laid in the thickness of the walls; steam heating radiators are located in all rooms. The house had electricity and sanitary facilities. For lifting and lowering linen, dishes, for auxiliary work on the back stairs, a freight elevator was made. The building had its own laundry.
The construction of the mansion lasted from 1909 to 1912. Gabriel Aslanovich died in 1911, before the end of construction. The customer is reminded of the Latin inscription on the front facade "GABRIELUS TARASSOF FECIT ANNO DOMINI M", which means: "Gabriel Tarasov made 1000 in the year from Christmas ...". Apparently, after the Latin M, denoting a thousand, the final year should have been put down, but it was never put down due to subsequent events, the beginning of the First World War and then the revolution.
The house was completed by the sons. They even had to write a statement to the council about their disagreement with such a high inheritance duty: stone, granite, but the same building, built of simple bricks, which by means of concrete gave the appearance of blocks of wild stone, will have a different character, i.e. not rich ... The interior decoration of these mansions is also common, except for the plafond of the ceiling painted by the artist, but this decoration is not so expensive at all, which we can confirm by accounts. " However, the council did not agree with the claims of the heirs, and they had to pay the full amount.
The heirs George and Sarkis never had a chance to live in this house, since in 1917 the sons of Gabriel Aslanovich left Russia forever. Now the only branch of the descendants of Gabriel Tarasov lives in France.
It is worth noting that the notorious theater-goer and philanthropist Nikolai Lazarevich Tarasov was Gabriel Aslanovich's nephew. One of the descendants of the Tarasovs, Lev Aslanovich Tarasov, entered world culture under the name of Henri Troyat, a famous French writer, laureate of the Goncourt Prize and a member of the French Academy. Artem Mikhailovich Tarasov, the first legal Soviet millionaire, who became famous in the 1980s, comes from the family of the same Tarasovs. Note, although he always presents himself as a descendant of Gabriel, in fact he is a descendant of one of Gabriel's brothers.
After the revolution and until 1937, the building was occupied by the Supreme Court of the USSR. In 1937, the German embassy moved in here. In the post-war years, it was occupied by the Polish Embassy. Since 1979, the house has been home to the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is believed that the Institute received the magnificent mansion thanks to its then director, Anatoly Gromyko, the son of the almighty Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Andrei Gromyko. Anatoly Gromyko was the director of the Institute from 1976 to 1991. By the way, he is still alive, but his dynasty continues. The son of Anatoly Gromyko, Alexei Gromyko, in 2014 replaced Academician Nikolai Shmelev as director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in 2016 he was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, like his father.
Modern office furniture, which is now in the premises of the institute, is of no interest, therefore, the story will focus on the decoration of the ceilings. However, let's not start with them.
It is not for nothing that this building is called the Italian palace; it also has a courtyard - a characteristic feature of real palazzo. It is always equally quiet and cozy.
In the center of it there is a fountain (now not functioning) and garden sculptures.
The time of the appearance of the sculptures is unknown, but exactly after the end of construction and before the placement of the Institute for Africa here.
The entrance to the house was from the side of Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane and now looks like this:
It was a through arched passage leading to the courtyard. People came here by carriages, and later Tarasov's sons used cars. Entrance arches connected the two parts of the house and at the same time separated them. There were open terraces above the arches. On the roof there was a balcony with a balustrade and a veranda, along which it was possible to go from the front part of the house to the living area.
Unfortunately, in the 1920s, the terraces had to be closed; it was inconvenient to operate them in our climate. The modern photo above shows that there is now glazing between the white columns of the terrace.
The entrance arch was also closed. Now at the site of this through passage is the library of the Institute for African Studies.
If from the facade the passage to the courtyard had one arch, then from the side of the courtyard there were three arches. They are now glazed. The enfilade doorways have been preserved, but covered with bookcases.
The library has vaulted ceilings, Ionic columns, and a large lantern on a chain. Looking at it, you immediately understand that the lamp is a street lamp.
Pre-revolutionary view of the arch:
The double doors and the space between them indicate that there was an exit to the street here.
The library door is the former entrance. A key has been preserved from her - a real golden key!
Previously, the entrance to the front part of the house was opened for them, but now the library is locked. The door handle is also preserved.
Tarasov completely gave the interior and exterior design of the mansion to the will of the architect and artists, setting only one task: "The main thing is luxury!" The mansion is famous precisely for the ceiling painting, to which the famous theater artists Ignatius Ignatievich Nivinsky and Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere were attracted. Nivinsky painted the owners' apartment, and Lanceray - the reception halls. Ceiling paintings are stylized in the Renaissance style. Painters painted on wet plaster. The frescoes of the house are copies of famous works by Pinturicchio, Tintoretto, Titian, Giulio Romano and stylized Renaissance painting.
In the Blue Hall there is a luxurious coffered ceiling, decorated with stucco and painting, along the perimeter a frieze with bas-reliefs is a gilded dancing putti. Now this hall belongs to the library.
The Small Reception Hall is located at the corner of Spiridonovka and Bolshoy Patriarshy Lane. Now it houses the reading room of the library.
The full feeling of an Italian palace is already created here. The ceiling is also coffered. In this room, his cassette cells are large, there are nine of them. They are filled with frescoes by Eugene Lanceray on the theme of "The exploits of Perseus." Under the ceiling there is a fresco frieze with Atlanteans, which, as it were, are holding this ceiling. On the same frieze, under scenes from myths, one can see signatures to them in Latin.
Central picture: "Perseus, the hero of ancient Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Danae, receives a helmet from Hermes"
There is a beautiful chandelier in this room.
Perseus and Andromeda. 
Perseus defeats Medusa the Gorgon.
On the frieze below there is a signature in Latin "Medusa with snake hair Perseus wins." Pay attention, the mighty Atlanteans are holding the ceiling and the "heavy curtain", there is also a theatrical effect. This is no coincidence, because the author of the frescoes, Eugene Lansere, worked a lot as a theater artist.
Danae. Signature on the frieze: "Danae from the rain of the golden conception."
Perseus and Atlas, holding the firmament on their shoulders. The inscription on the frieze below “This is how the Atlas Mountains appeared”.
Zeus is the father of Perseus
Danae is the mother of Perseus.
Perseus himself.
From the Small Hall we find ourselves in the Great Hall of Receptions. Nowadays it is used for holding meetings of the institute. It became so at a time when this house was occupied by the court, and before that it was divided into two rooms, the border of which is clearly visible (the protrusion of the wall).
In the first part, in the deep cells of the coffered ceiling, there are frescoes with muses and girls with musical instruments. The frieze along the perimeter of the ceiling is painted in the same way. Perhaps there should have been a music salon.
At the back of the room was the grand dining room. There are doors on either side of the fireplace. New dishes were brought into one of them, they were taken out into the other.
One of the three fireplaces of the house is located here. All of them are active, the staff of the institute use them. The fireplaces are made of artificial stone.
Along the perimeter there is a very wide frieze with paintings using the grisaille technique, which creates the effect of volumetric bas-reliefs. The vertical parts of the ceiling beams are full of tiny paintings. This is the work of the students of the Stroganov School, so all the pictures are unique and not repeated. These are not volumetric bas-reliefs or mosaics, these are all murals.
The main staircase is made of artificial stone, which is so durable that the steps have not been worn out for over 100 years. As they say, the steps of the stairs are of such a height that you can run along it for a long time and not get tired.
Attention is drawn to the mosaic panel "Liberated Africa" located above the stairs, which appeared at the institute in the 1980s. It does not fit with the decoration of the mansion, but in itself it is very unusual and is also a monument to its time.
Again, we turn our attention to the ceiling, it is also coffered wood, very effective. Here, black and gold images of eagles and oak branches alternate on a black and gold background.
For some reason, in some of the descriptions you can read: "The eagles on the ceiling appeared at a time when the building was occupied by the Polish embassy." In fact, this is not the case. The eagle on the coat of arms of Poland is not black, but white, and there is no oak in the coat of arms of Poland at all. Now is the time to remember the oaks that were already found on the frieze in the Blue Hall. The oak was one of the symbols of the Tarasovs, meaning the strength of the owner of the house, and the eagle is a symbol of power. However, the main argument is the photographs taken before the revolution, in which we already see such a ceiling.
At the end of the story, it is worth showing the main staircase of the residential part. The lobby of the lower floor has a vaulted ceiling, all painted by Nivinsky. There is a combination of imitation of mosaic and volumetric painting.
I was able to see the premises occupied by the library. However, the mansion has many other superbly finished spaces. In some, the management of the institute sits, while others are leased to tenants, and it is not so easy to see them. But even what we managed to see is impressive.
The publication was prepared by: Vasily P. Photo by the author.
May 18 - Day of Historical and Cultural Heritage. Today the doors of old mansions are opening, and thanks to the project "Entering the City", we managed to drop by Gabriel Aslanovich Tarasov.
The luxurious mansion, built on the motives of the famous Italian palazzo by the architect I.V. Zholtovsky, undoubtedly adorns Spiridonovka Street and gives it a special charm.
And before walking inside the house, a short story about the Tarasov family. The Tarasovs were an Armenian family from Armavir. Initially, the surname sounded like Tarasyan, but later it was Russified, and they all became Tarasovs. The founder of the dynasty is considered Aslan Tarasov, who was engaged in business in the south of Russia. His son, Gavriil Aslanovich Tarasov, became the owner of the Yekaterinodar Big Manufactory. The main wealth came from the cotton trade, then the profile of his activities expanded.
The Tarasovs moved to Moscow from Yekaterinodar and in 1902 bought a plot of land on Spiridonovka from the Armenian Kharatyan family. In 1909, the architect I.V. Zholtovsky and his assistant, engineer A.N. Ageenko, began the construction of the mansion. The interior decoration turned out to be much more interesting than the laconic, even gloomy facade. The richest decoration in the rooms located along the Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane. This part was intended for living of G.A. Tarasov himself and his family. He did not live to see the end of the construction - he died in 1911. His sons were finishing the mansion. The Moscow city government assessed the property at a huge, unbearable amount for them, which had to be paid to enter the inheritance. The sons tried to reduce the cost of this building, wrote applications to the council, but they failed to do so. In 1917, the sons of Gabriel Aslanovich left Russia.
Now the only branch of Tarasov lives in France. One of his descendants entered world culture under the name of Henri Troyes, a French writer, laureate of the Goncourt Prize and a member of the French Academy.
Tarasov's descendants do not visit this house, and the memory of their once famous surname lives on in the proud inscription on the facade in Latin "GABRIELS TARASSOF FECIT ANNO DOMINI" (Gavriil Tarasov built in the year of our era).
After the revolution and until 1937, the building was occupied by the Supreme Court of the USSR, then, before the Great Patriotic War, the mansion was transferred to the diplomatic services. For some time, the embassy of Germany was located here, then Poland. The Institute for African Studies received this building in 1979 and still occupies it.
And now you can walk around the mansion.
It is not for nothing that this building is called the Italian palace; it also has a courtyard - a characteristic feature of real palazzo.
In the center of it there is a fountain and garden sculptures, around which lilacs and a plum garden bloom. It is not known exactly when they appeared, most likely at the time of the embassies.
In place of these huge windows there were passable arches from Bolshoi Patriarshy Lane. Above the arches were terraces connecting the two parts of the house. Since it was difficult to operate open passages in our climate, they were laid, and now there is a library there. The terraces were also closed.
The library has vaulted ceilings, Ionic columns, and a large street lamp ...
and ... the golden key! Previously, the front door was opened for them, but now the library is locked.
From the library (and if you think in volumes from the times of Tarasov - from the entrance of the travel arch) we get into the hall. Attention is drawn to a huge mirror, which reflects most of the room, which increases the space.
Wall decoration with white pilasters is laconic. And the more contrasting the ceiling looks, painted like a tree, bounded along the perimeter by a dark blue frieze with floral ornaments.
A chandelier is also a work of art that cannot be ignored.
We pass into the "Blue Hall". We look up at the ceiling and ..
Only for the sake of this view it was possible to come here! Luxurious coffered ceiling, decorated with stucco and painting, along the frieze of which cute putti dance.
From the Blue Hall there is a passage to the reception halls, which is now closed by a wardrobe. We returned to the hall and from there we got through the Great first into the Small reception hall, occupied by the reading room. The ceiling in it is painted based on the myths of Ancient Greece and tells about the birth of Perseus and his exploits. Latin inscriptions are visible under scenes from myths.
Murder of Medusa the Gorgon.
Meeting with Atlanta.
Perseus and Andromeda
Having admired the magnificent paintings, we move on to the Great Reception Hall, which is used for the meetings of the institute. It became so at a time when this house was occupied by the court, and before that it was divided into two rooms, the border of which is clearly visible (the protrusion of the wall).
In the first part, the ceilings are painted with muses and girls with musical instruments. Most likely there was a rest room here.
There was a dining room at the back of the room. There are doors on either side of the fireplace. New dishes were brought into one of them, and they were taken out into the other.
The ceiling is also coffered, finished with wood and many minute paintings. It was the work of the students of the Stroganov School, so all the pictures are unique and not repeated.
In this hall there is one of three fireplaces, moreover, an operating one.
From the reception halls we step onto the first main staircase. It has low steps, and, according to an employee of the institute, you can run on it without fatigue all day long! The staircase is made of artificial stone, which is so durable that the steps have not been worn out for over 100 years.
On the ceiling there are repeating images of eagles and oak branches.
The mosaic panel is a gift from the African people to the institute.
On the second floor in the hall there are preserved columns made of artificial marble. The pattern on the marble is the same as for the marble of the Italian deposit.
The second fireplace in the mansion has been preserved here.
Through the second main staircase we find ourselves in the residential part of the house. The main elements are depicted on the vaulted ceiling: air, earth, fire.
The ceiling of the hall in front of the living area skillfully imitates mosaics, but it is skillfully painted.
In the living rooms, the walls are also simply decorated, and the ceilings are richly painted by such renowned masters as Ignatius Ignatievich Nivinsky and Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere. The Tarasov family was known as theatergoers, and perhaps that is why they ordered the painting to theater artists.
A copy of Tintoretto's painting "The Birth of the Milky Way" adorns one of the rooms.
A third fireplace awaits us in the last room. In addition to him and the luxurious ceiling, nothing familiar has been preserved in it, all the furniture is from new tenants.
This was the end of our journey to "Moscow Italy" in the Renaissance.
Materials used:
What secrets of the riddle does Spiridonovka keep - one of the oldest streets in Moscow? Is it true that this place has a special energy? And what famous personalities fell victim to Spiridonovka? Read about this in the documentary investigation of the Moscow Doverie TV channel.
Sensational suicide
In the fall of 1910, sensational news spread around Moscow: a millionaire, a philanthropist, the owner of one of the finest Moscow mansions on Spiridonovka, a womanizer and handsome Nikolai Tarasov committed suicide. The first metropolitan groom was only 28 years old. Moscow newspapers wrote: "In the morning, at 10 o'clock, the servants heard a roar and noise coming from Mr. Tarasov's bedroom and hurried there. A terrible picture was presented to her eyes: Tarasov was lying on the bed in a pool of blood and moaning heavily. Immediately they sent for a doctor. , who had to pronounce death. The deceased did not leave any notes. "
What pushed the young millionaire to the last line? Why did he pull the trigger? How is Tarasov's death and his family estate on Spiridonovka connected? And what other secrets does this ancient Moscow street hide?
The entire metropolitan elite was gossiping about the mysterious suicide of Nikolai Tarasov. This is understandable, the young millionaire was called the darling of fate. He possessed not only a huge fortune, but also excellent taste, and was considered one of the trendsetters of Moscow fashion.
Tarasov House, 1914. Photo: um.mos.ru
"Young Tarasov was a typical Moscow dandy, a representative of the" golden youth "of that time, he had all the very best - one of the fastest first cars in Moscow, the best perfume that he himself prepared in Paris and which existed in only one copy" , - explains the Moscow scholar Alexander Mishin.
Literally on the eve of suicide, fate presented Nikolai Tarasov with a generous gift - he inherited one of the most luxurious mansions in Moscow on Spiridonovka.
“It was a very expensive, costly building. The architect of the project was the wonderful Russian master Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky, who never betrayed his greatest love in this life - the style of classicism, neoclassicism,” says Mishin.
The house on Spiridonovka resembles a palace, and this is no coincidence. During the construction of the mansion, Ivan Zholtovsky was guided by the creation of the famous Italian master Andrea Palladio - the Palazzo Thiene, built in the city of Vicenza in the 16th century. Interior decoration to match the Italian castle. The facing of the first floor imitates granite, the second - marble.
The ceilings of the front rooms are covered with frescoes - these are copies of famous works of Italian artists: Pinturicchio, Tintoretto, Titian and Giulio Romano. And he ordered this "fairy tale of bygone times", as the mansion was called in the yearbook "Moscow Architectural World" for 1912, Gabriel Tarasov, the uncle of the famous suicide.
"This building belonged to a wealthy Armenian family of Tarasyans, who came from the city of Armavir, traded in cotton wool. They move to Moscow and decide to immortalize themselves by building such a family nest," says
However, the mansion on Spiridonovka never became the Tarasov family estate. Moreover, not one of the representatives of the dynasty lived in this house for a single day.
“There is an understanding or a feeling that the owner of this building always ends up very badly. Gabriel Tarasyan, aka Tarasov, never lived in this building. , part of history. Literally a year later, his heir commits suicide, "says Leonid Fituni, deputy director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The death of Nikolai Tarasov gave rise to a lot of gossip. Evil tongues said that the young millionaire committed suicide out of boredom, that is, out of pure decadence, so fashionable in those years.
"This satiety, that is, a very early wear and tear of life, forced Tarasov to behave in a similar way," - says Alexander Mishin.
However, some experts who have studied the history of the famous family and the place where the tragedy unfolded tend to a different version.
"This area in Moscow was traditionally called the Goat Swamp. Like any swamp, it was a place with negative energy," says Leonid Fituni.
However, this area was called a bad place for a short time. In 1627, the only church in Moscow dedicated to St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky was erected on the Goat Marsh. The church immediately became very popular, and the name Spiridonovka stuck behind the street. At the beginning of the 17th century, Patriarch Hermogenes decided to build a residence here. The swamp was drained, leaving three ponds, which the people immediately called the Patriarchs.
“The Patriarch's Sloboda, indeed, belonged to the Russian patriarchs, vegetables were grown here, black goats were raised, whose fur is wonderful - anything can be made from it,” says Mishin.
Explosive yard
In 1930, the church of St. Spyridon was dismantled, but another building of that era was more fortunate. At the corner of Spiridonovka and Granatny Lane, the chambers of the Granatny Dvor are still located today - one of the most interesting monuments of Moscow pre-Petrine architecture.
"This is an industrial enterprise that manufactured that explosive device, which was called a grenade. Moreover, the Spanish province of Granada, the fruit of a pomegranate and a grenade as an explosive device in its old, original version - these are all the same root words. The first versions of the grenade were really similar, if you cut it," on a pomegranate fruit, where pieces of lead played the role of seeds. And when the shell exploded by setting fire to a wick inserted from above into an open space, it had a very strong striking character, "says Alexander Mishin.
Pomegranate yard
The explosive products produced by the Pomegranate Dvor eventually played a sparkling, but very cruel joke with him.
“In 1711, the Pomegranate Dvor flew into the air, a strong fire began, which, unfortunately, were characteristic of Moscow at that time. As contemporaries write, 200 yards burned down. And then the Pomegranate Dvor was transferred to the outskirts of Moscow,” Mishin explains.
For a long time it was believed that nothing remained of the Granatny Dvor, but over time, the buildings were restored, mainly by the efforts of the employees of the design bureau, which rented the dilapidated building about 15 years ago.
"This is the 17th century, and it has been proven, in this house, firstly, genuine samples of 17th century tiles were actually found," says the director of the school of design Tatyana Rogova.
During the clearing, another equally interesting discovery awaited the researchers. It turned out that the Granatny Dvor is connected by underground communications with another area of Moscow.
“We have a small pavilion on the territory of our kindergarten, from where gas comes to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, that is, the eternal flame is under our vigilant control,” says Rogova.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Moscow was expanding, and the once swampy suburb became one of the central districts of the capital.
"In the second half of the 19th century, many students lived here. The fact is that housing here was quite cheap, inferior, but just right for students. And this area of the Patriarch's Ponds was called the" Moscow Latin Quarter "by analogy with Paris," says Mishin.
Unequal marriage of the Morozovs
By the end of the 19th century, Spiridonovka was already one of the most prestigious streets in Moscow, a kind of Rublyovka of that time. Representatives of many famous Moscow families - the Ryabushinskys, Belyaevs, Morozovs - are building luxurious mansions here.
Savva Morozov
“You can often find its name in the literature - the mansion of Zinaida Morozova. I think that any woman at all times would like to have such a wedding gift as Savva Timofeevich Morozov presented to his wife Zinaida Grigorievna,” says Alexander Mishin.
The marriage of Savva and Zinaida Morozov was preceded by a huge scandal.
"The fact is that in the Old Believers' environment, divorce was equal to a crime of the worst kind. And besides the fact that Zinaida Grigorievna divorced, in order to marry Savva Timofeevich, he also took her away from his own cousin nephew. And Zinaida Grigorievna's father said:" Daughter, I'd rather see you in a coffin than under such circumstances, "explains Mishin.
Nevertheless, the wedding took place. And here, in the aristocratic district of Moscow, on Spiridonovka, according to the project of the architect Fyodor Shekhtel, the construction of a mansion began, which would later be called one of the pearls of Russian Art Nouveau.
“The finishing went for more than three years, and I would say that it was the house of receptions for the Morozov family. From a young, in their early twenties, the girls began to make a secular lioness, teachers were urgently hired for her to make a diamond out of diamond. But, as they say When a person is taught something too quickly and persistently, it turns out that this is visible. Maxim Gorky wrote that Zinaida Grigorievna's private chambers with an abundance of porcelain products resembled a china shop, "says Mishin.
Social events in incredibly luxurious interiors were only one side of Zinaida Morozova's life, the outside. In my soul, a black resentment against her husband was accumulating. Behind her, all of Moscow was gossiping about his new hobby. The entrepreneur and philanthropist was increasingly seen in the company of the first beauty of the Russian stage, Maria Andreeva. This love affair is considered one of the reasons for the death of Savva Morozov.
“When Savva Morozov wanted to make the workers co-owners, that is, shareholders of the enterprise, his strong, domineering mother said:“ Only through my corpse. ”And he was declared insane. And people believed it, because in the Morozov family, unfortunately, there are mental ailments He and his wife Zinaida Grigorievna went south to Cannes, and in May 1905, under not entirely clear circumstances, a sort of suicide took place. benefit of actress Andreeva ", - says Alexander Mishin.
Another legend of Spiridonovka is connected with the mansion of Zinaida Morozova. It was rumored that the widow of the philanthropist literally in every corridor dreamed of the ghost of her deceased husband.
Morozova's mansion. Photo: um.mos.ru
"As you know, in the United Kingdom - Great Britain - the price of locks always increases if there is a ghost there. I think that the Russian people, oddly enough, are more rational. Yes, she got rid of this place so that the memory of her first wife would become a thing of the past. ", - says Mishin.
Like Savva Morozov, millionaire Nikolai Tarasov was also a big fan of the theater. His name became known in the artistic circles of Moscow after a generous gift that he presented to the leaders of the Moscow Art Theater.
“The fact is that Nikolai Lazarevich Tarasov paid special attention to the Art Theater. Once he even helped Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko with money when they were in debt on tour in Germany,” says Alexander Mishin.
Tarasov donated 30 thousand rubles to famous directors, a considerable amount at that time. The gift was accepted, and the generous donor was made a shareholder of the theater. As a result, not only the tour was saved, but also the reputation of the Moscow Art Theater. From that moment on, Nikolai Tarasov became one of the main sponsors of the theater. And together with her business partner and friend Nikita Baliev, she started a new business at the Moscow Art Theater - he opened a cabaret called "The Bat", in which the famous Moscow Art Theaters were arranged. When the friends went down into the dungeon for the first time, a bat darted towards them. This is how the name came about. However, the young millionaire was fond of not only the stage and spectacles, but also actresses and had the fame of a full-time metropolitan heartthrob.
“His great love was a young talented actress, a protégé of Nemirovich-Danchenko, Olenka Gribova,” says Mishin.
Roman Tarasov and Gribova was impetuous and hopeless. Soon the beauty got another admirer, who turned out to be a desperate gambler and once squandered state money.
“And this businessman turned to Olenka Gribova, whether she could borrow the necessary amount of money from Tarasov. Naturally, Tarasov did not help his, so to speak, rival for the heart of the actress,” says Alexander Mishin.
No one then could have imagined that this seemingly minor unpleasant incident would cost Tarasov his life.
The pinnacle of Russian Art Nouveau
Inna Andreeva visits Spiridonovka every day. Today, this street leads her to work, to the Alexei Tolstoy Museum, and in her youth it was just a favorite place for walking.
"Almost Spiridonovka Street begins with the Great Ascension Church. I go out of my gate and immediately see this temple. And the fact that Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova in this church means a lot to me. Then my beloved Shekhtel begins. Russian modern is something that, in my opinion, simply defies all sorts of epithets, "says Inna Andreeva, director of the A. Tolstoy Museum-Apartment.
Another remarkable creation by Fyodor Shekhtel is the mansion of Stepan Ryabushinsky, a representative of the richest Moscow dynasty. A magnificent building of the mature Art Nouveau era, erected at the very beginning of the twentieth century, is adjacent to the temple of the Great Ascension.
Ryabushinsky's mansion. Photo: ITAR-TASS
ALEXANDER MISHIN (Moscow scholar): For any architect, the decision to build a house, to participate in a building project that is located on the corner is always an exam. So, Shekhtel coped with his task absolutely flawlessly. The fact is that he had to find the volume of the building for the Ryabushinsky mansion, which would correspond to the volume of the Church of the Great Ascension. And these two volumes, almost equal in size, do not interfere with each other, they complement each other and even harmonize.
The construction of Ryabushinsky's mansion was completed in 1902. This work by Fyodor Shekhtel became a real sensation. Against the background of the wooden buildings of Spiridonovka of that time, it looked fantastic.
"The house was divided into two halves: the lower, first floor was occupied by the owner of the house, and the second floor was occupied by his wife and children. And Schechtel marked a peculiar border in the interior appearance, interiors of this house: if you find yourself in the dining room of the mansion, then on the ceiling you see a duckweed , that is, as if we are under water; and the second floor and those ceramic tiled flowers that we see on the external facades are already the earth; and this is all connected together by an amazing, one-of-a-kind staircase - "wave", - says Alexander Mishin.
The mansion amazed contemporaries not only with its decoration, but also with its technical equipment. The first air conditioning system in Moscow was installed in the house. Dishes from the kitchen to the living room were delivered by an elevator. At the same time, the spacious two-story house was designed for one family.
"Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, by the way, he was 26 years old at the time when he could afford to build this house, was an archaeologist by education, in addition to the fact that they had a hereditary business - cotton production. They were talented, educated, highly spiritual people. They were entrepreneurs, people of a new class, "says Yulia Bolkhovitinova, a tour guide at the A. M. Gorky Museum-Apartment.
The mansion also has its own special secret room - the Old Believers' chapel, located in the attic of the northwestern part of the house. The walls and dome are covered with a unique abstract temple painting.
“The Old Believers were banned until the decree of Nicholas II, until April 1905. The decree-manifesto was about the equalization of all religious confessions, and the house was built earlier. at least twice a day, "says Bolkhovitinova.
Writing club
October 1917 crippled the lives of more than one family. The Ryabushinskys, leaving a thriving business, emigrated to Europe, and the luxurious estate on Spiridonovka passed into the possession of the city.
"There was a state publishing house, there was a department of visas and passports, Vasily Stalin came here as a pupil, when there was a kindergarten for government children. There was a psychoanalytic center with an orphanage, a laboratory. And there was also a society for cultural relations with foreign countries. ", - explains Yulia Bolkhovitinova.
In 1931, the mansion got a new owner - Maxim Gorky. He was still pondering whether he should leave the beautiful island of Capri, but rumors were already spreading from Moscow that a palace was being prepared for Gorky. The proletarian writer sent angry dispatches to Russia: "The question of bringing me into the palaces will not be decided before my arrival." The former Ryabushinsky mansion, of course, was not a palace, but Gorky still did not like it.
“He said:“ Great, grandiose, there’s nothing to smile about. ”But then he said that you can work. The fact is that this mansion was considered bourgeois, philistine. Such was the attitude to this beautiful style - the Art Nouveau style. , a garden around the house, and the fact that at that time in the outbuilding, when the writer lived, there were editorial offices of magazines and newspapers, all this allowed him to stay here, "- says Bolkhovitinova.
In this house, the writer often received guests, sometimes up to 100 people a day. The mansion has turned into a kind of writing club. In 1931, Gorky was visited by Bernard Shaw, and four years later - by Romain Rolland. However, not only celebrities climbed this staircase, but also ordinary people who brought gifts to the living classics.
“For example, collective farmers from Tatarstan came and really brought an interesting gift. They brought him a live cow. The fact is that the writer was sick. He suffered from tuberculosis for 40 years, and he needed fresh milk to improve his health. Of course, Gorky I was very moved by this gift, but the fate of the cow is known - she was sent to a kindergarten near Moscow, "says Yulia Bolkhovitinova.
Maxim Gorky lived in the mansion on Spiridonovka for the last five years of his life. He did not know Stepan Ryabushinsky, the first owner of the mansion, but fate brought him together with other representatives of the famous dynasty more than once.
“It so happened that Uritsky was killed in Petrograd, and before that, Dmitry Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, one of Ryabushinsky's brothers, who spent a month in the Cheka, had met with him. says Bolkhovitinova.
Gorky was also acquainted with the youngest son of a noble family - Nikolai Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, who published the popular literary magazine "Golden Fleece" in Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century. However, Nikolai Ryabushinsky was known not only for his success in the editorial field, but also thanks to his numerous novels. He also had a secret passion for the actress Olga Gribova, the beloved of Nikolai Tarasov.
Olenka Gribova herself (as the fans affectionately called the actress) was passionately in love with the cadet Nikolai Zhuravlev. It was for him that she tried to borrow money from Tarasov's former lover. Having received a refusal, the lost Zhuravlev shot himself. Following her lover, Gribova tried to commit suicide.
“Coming from his funeral, Olenka Gribova shoots herself, but she didn’t know how to shoot, she lived for three more days. triangle ", - says Alexander Mishin.
But why did Nikolai Tarasov take his own life? It is known that by the time of this double suicide, he had already lost interest in Gribova and, moreover, was carried away by another actress - the rising star of the Moscow Art Theater Alisa Koonen.
The death of the millionaire excited the imagination of the inhabitants, giving rise to more and more new versions. Moreover, there was one more strange circumstance in this tragedy.
“Ironically, again, when the janitor came running to the shot, it turned out that there was already a coffin in the apartment. Either Nikolai Tarasov himself ordered this coffin, or Olenka Gribova’s friend sent him, hinting at what he deserved,” - Mishin thinks.
The coffin was taken to Bolshaya Dmitrovka - there was Nikolai's apartment. He had not yet moved to the mansion on Spiridonovka, since the sons of Gabriel Tarasov were fighting for inheritance rights.
“The heirs tried to take over the rights, but it turns out that already at that time it was not so easy. The local municipal authorities considered that more money could be taken from the heirs of the Caucasian owner of this building for entering the inheritance rights than it should be. it dragged on, and the heirs did not enter into legal rights. And then the revolution, "explains Leonid Fituni.
Prayers to Saint Spyridonius
After the revolution, the Tarasov mansion, like the rest of the estates on Spiridonovka, was nationalized. At first, the Supreme Court of the USSR was located here, and after 1937 - the Embassy of Poland. Since 1941, Spiridonovka Street itself has been renamed. She began to bear the name of the writer Alexei Tolstoy, who settled in the wing of Stepan Ryabushinsky's mansion.
“The fact is that he had what he thought was a rather modest requirement for his dwelling - two large rooms. One - to work, the other - to eat and receive guests. And it just happened. so that it was this apartment, and Timosha invited to see it, that was the name of Gorky's daughter-in-law, Nadezhda Alekseevna Peshkova, he looked, there was complete devastation, but with a trained eye he realized that if something was fenced off, something was corrected, the result would be the most demanded are two large rooms, "explains Inna Andreeva.
The writer really needed a large room for his work. In his study, there were four desks at once. This was a prerequisite for creativity.
Museum-apartment of A.N. Tolstoy. Photo: ITAR-TASS
“This principle of four tables is an iron armchair for him. He always wrote while standing, then went to the table with a typewriter, typing it, because he physically could not edit his handwritten text. and what I have written is ingenious, and cannot be corrected. "Therefore, having typed the text, he went to a round table by the fireplace, lit one of his favorite pipes and then corrected the text, imagining that it was a page from a manuscript, sent by one of the young writers, "says Andreeva.
Alexei Tolstoy also had a special relationship with the heroes of his own works.
"After all, there are already legends about this that Aleksey Tolstoy, especially when writing Peter the Great, got so accustomed to his heroes, and especially Peter the Great, that he claimed that the heroes came to his office, that is, he hallucinated heroes, he each of these heroes gave his own voice, his own timbre of voice, and so on, "says Inna Andreeva.
Often, from behind the doors of the writer's office, female, male and even children's voices could be heard. Alexey Tolstoy perfectly imitated someone else's speech and was a master of practical jokes.
“Sometimes it was very bad to play friends on the phone, calling either Mikoyan or Stalin’s voice. Can you imagine what the reactions were on the other end of the line,” Andreeva says.
Alexei Tolstoy also considered the apartment on Spiridonovka a special place associated with the legend of his ancient family.
“Once the common ancestor of all Tolstoy, Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, sitting in a seven-tower castle in Turkey, was preparing to be hanged. negotiations, he was nevertheless released, and from that time all Tolstoy began to consider this Spiridonia the patron of the Tolstoy family, "explains Inna Andreeva.
Alexey Tolstoy died in 1945, but the street bore his name for a long time. The historical name was returned to it only in 1994.
The ghost of the rapist marshal
Not only Spiridonovka itself, but also the adjacent streets and lanes are of great interest to historians, also because the almighty Minister of Internal Affairs and State Security of the Soviet Union Lavrenty Beria lived in this area.
Lavrenty Beria. Photo: ITAR-TASS
"Not far from Spiridonovka, at the corner of Vspolny Lane and Malaya Nikitskaya, there is a representative urban mansion of the early 20th century, the mansion of engineer Bakakin. But the most famous resident of this magnificent mansion was, of course, Marshal Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. This is his residence, which he occupied since 1943. before his arrest in 1953, "says Alexander Mishin.
Several dozen security officers-bodyguards were constantly in this house. However, it is known that there was another building nearby in Spiridonyevsky Lane, where the guards also kept watch. The two buildings were connected by a specially laid underground passage.
"Lavrenty Pavlovich understood perfectly well how his colleagues in the Central Committee of the party, the Politburo treated him, and there was something to protect themselves from. And those who planned to arrest and destroy him understood that trying to arrest him in this building was an empty number," - says Mishin.
Lavrenty Beria is perhaps the most sinister character in Soviet political history. The initiator and inspirer of mass repressions, according to some historians, was very partial to the female sex. And rumor, even during his lifetime, considered him a rapist and just a sexual maniac. However, this point of view is not shared by everyone.
“In relation to this house, great legends go that there he had a basement, in which he ground the bones of the unfortunate women, and that there was a bath with hydrochloric acid in which he dissolved all the raped women. There was nothing, nothing. Beria’s wife She was a Georgian woman of very strict morals. You have to understand very well what the mentality of a Georgian woman is. I am a Caucasian, I understand that very well. And in her life she would not have allowed a stranger's foot to step on the square of her house. In life this would not have happened. " , - the historian Arsen Martirosyan considers.
Lavrenty Beria was arrested on June 26, 1953 in the Kremlin and five months later, by a court sentence, was shot. But even after his death, his last place of residence remained the scene of the most terrible urban legends.
"And since then, for more than 60 years, Beria's spirit has been invisibly hovering over this house. They tell stories that at night a black car drives up, doors open, a man in a pince-nez and a uniform gets out, gets into the car, and leaves", - says Alexander Mishin.
A few years after the death of Beria, the embassy of the Republic of Tunisia was housed in the mansion. Over the past 60 years, his employees have never met the ghost of Lavrenty Pavlovich here.
"What are you talking about! This is the most ordinary building. The spirits that people talk about, a game of imagination or some kind of optical illusion. We have not seen anything like this," said Ali Gutali, Ambassador of the Tunisian Republic to the Russian Federation.
Poetry Battles and the "Open Club"
Inna Andreeva, director of the Alexei Tolstoy Museum, can spend hours talking about Spiridonovka, because literally every house here has its own amazing story.
So, on Spiridonovka, another love drama was almost played out. Alexander Blok, jealous of his wife for Andrei Bely, challenged a colleague in the workshop to a duel. The culprit of the conflict, Lyubov Mendeleeva, intervened in the situation in time. And only thanks to her efforts, it was possible to calm down the temperamental friends.
Spiridonovka still attracts artists and poets. Almost every evening they gather in a small club near the Alexei Tolstoy Museum.
Profitable house of the Armenian brothers
"Our club is called" Open ", and it is, indeed, open in all senses, that is, open to any person from the street and open to any topics and discussions, as long as they have some kind of relation to culture, at least indirectly ", - explains the director of the Open Club gallery Vadim Ginzburg.
With small exhibitions and literary evenings, they are trying to defeat the main competitor in the struggle for the viewer - television with the help of living words.
"Television wins. Series wins. Sometimes you call and say:" This is the evening of poet so-and-so, come. "-" You know, I've just turned on my favorite movie. "-" Well, buy a disc. " I'm looking, "Ginzburg complains.
However, there are evenings in the "Open Club" when the apple has nowhere to fall. They are always looking forward to meeting with representatives of the old school: writers, directors, journalists.
"The oldest theater expert, for example, the Russian Boris Mikhailovich Poyurovsky, recently turned 80, there were serious celebrations. This is the man who once invented" Theatrical meetings "on television, led them for many years. What he tells here is impossible to be heard nowhere, "says Vadim Ginzburg.
Literally 500 meters from the "Open Club" at the other end of Spiridonovka, there are also amazing and not too familiar events for Moscow. Ancient tribal melodies and tinka-tinka designs. Today, the Tarasovs' old mansion houses the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Interiors in the Art Nouveau style do not interfere with the study of the culture of the "black" continent, on the contrary, they contribute.
"Very beautiful ceilings. They have survived throughout the building. Not everywhere, but there are very beautiful fragments. A Venetian mirror. Women in the past and in this century look at themselves with pleasure in this mirror when they enter the institute," says the scientist Marina Amvrosova, secretary of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The employees of the institute admit: the mansion requires close attention to itself. Here you want to keep your back straight.
"External influence, especially on women, is always important. It seems that it is not appropriate to enter such interiors in a lax form," Amvrosova said.
Of course, Africa is the main point of application of the efforts of the staff of the institute, but domestic history is by no means alien to them. Everyone who is in the old mansion on Spiridonovka for the first time will certainly hear a story about the tragic fate of the owners of this building.
On that ill-fated day in October 1910, Nikolai Tarasov was in a terrible mood. The newspapers reported: his former lover, actress Olga Gribova, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, for the third day already teetered on the brink of life and death. Nikolai could not find a place for himself.
How could he refuse her, so beautiful and vulnerable, in a mere trifle - in money? How could he stoop to pettiness, pride and disgusting jealousy? Tarasov understood: all theatrical Moscow blames only him for this drama. When the terrible news of Gribova's death came, the young millionaire had already made a decision. He covered himself with a blanket so that the neighbors would not hear, and shot himself in the temple.
The entire Spiridonovka from the Boulevard to the Garden Ring can be walked at a leisurely pace in 10 minutes. But for an attentive pedestrian, every step along its sidewalks is a discovery. Here, even a century later, the incomparable aroma of passion is quite palpable. So do not be surprised that experts in Moscow antiquity have long dubbed the area between Spiridonovka and Malaya Nikitskaya "love triangle", a place where destinies were decided and hearts were broken.