We continue our journey through the Rostov region and today our stop is in the village of Starocherskasskaya. Cities will still be on our way. I just wanted to diversify our trip a little today.
The city of Cherkassk - the capital of the Don Army - now bears the name of the village of Starocherkasskaya and is one of the main tourist centers of the Rostov region. In 1970 on the initiative of the writer M.A. Sholokhov, the Starocherkassk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve was created here, thanks to which the traditional Cossack life remained carefully preserved in the architecture of the village and the arrangement of streets. The main architectural attraction of Starocherkassk is the nine-domed Military Resurrection Cathedral (1706-1719), in which the oath of allegiance was taken to the tsar and fatherland the legendary Cossack ataman Platov. This is unique in architecture and interior decoration, the most ancient temple of the Don, built on the initiative of Peter I and with his personal participation; the tsar laid several bricks in the altar part of the cathedral. Next to the cathedral, a hipped bell tower, 48 m high, shot up (the only one in the south of Russia), in the basement of which there used to be a prison and a military archive was kept. The square in front of the cathedral - Maidan - has the status of a separate landmark 6 this is the place of traditional Cossack gatherings. Starocherkassky The historical and architectural museum-reserve is included in the UNESCO international tourist directory, and the entire village of Starocherkasskaya is included in the “List of historical cities (settlements) of the Russian Federation” that have valuable urban ensembles, complexes, and an ancient cultural layer.
35 km from Rostov-on-Don up the Don River, on the right bank, there is the village of Starocherkasskaya - the oldest settlement in the Aksai region. The village has road and river connections with the regional center. On the territory of the Don there is no more interesting place associated with the history of the Don Cossacks than the village of Starocherkasskaya. It was already a Cossack town in 1570, and the first documentary mention dates back to 1593. Half a century later, Cherkassk (that was the name of this town) became the capital of the Don Cossacks. Here Stepan Razin called on the poor Cossacks to go to Moscow; Cherkassk was the center of the peasant war under the leadership of Kondraty Bulavin. On August 18, 1696, the first salute in Russian history was given in Cherkassk in honor of the capture of Azov. In 1805, the capital of the Don Army Region, due to the constant flooding of the river, was moved to Novocherkassk, and Cherkassk was “demoted” to the village. Attractions. The streets and monuments of the former Cossack capital have a very remarkable feature: they lead not only from house to house, from monument to monument, but also from century to century, from era to era, each of which gave birth to heroes who became the pride of the history of our Motherland. Here you can almost physically feel long-gone times and events, as if you were touching the shoulders of people who lived a long time ago and hearing their voices.
An interesting memorial complex is the Ataman Compound of the 18th - 19th centuries, the only Ataman estate in the south of Russia. Of particular interest is an old house with bars on the windows and cast-iron metal doors - this building belonged to the trading Cossacks Zhuchenkovs. Various thematic exhibitions are located here, which will give tourists many pleasant moments. In Starocherkassk, the house where the leader of the Peasant War of 1707-1709 died is still preserved. Kondraty Bulavin. The Peter and Paul Church (1751), in which the famous Ataman Platov was baptized, is of enormous memorial value. The magnificent Transfiguration (Ratnaya) Church (1740) rises on the Ratny tract. From here, in ancient times, Cossack freemen went on campaigns against the enemies of the Russian land. By attacking the Turks and Tatars, the Cossacks thereby defended the southern borders of the Russian state. Nowadays it is quiet on the Ratny tract, peaceful in the ancient cemetery. Only history experts can tell where the Platovs, Ilovaiskys, and Orlovs are buried. Atamans of the 17th-18th centuries and many heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 found their final resting place here. Three kilometers from the village of Starocherkasskaya, on the Vasilievsky Hills, the majestic ramparts and ditches of the Annensky fortress (1730) have been preserved. The monastery tract, located not far from the village, is known for the fact that the remains of Cossacks who heroically fought in all the wars that Russia has ever waged rest here.
Ataman Efremovsky Compound. This architectural complex contains architectural monuments of the 18th–19th centuries...
Bulavin's house (first half of the 18th century). Photo: Yaroslav Blanter
On the protected territory of the village of Starocherkasskaya there are about 100 historical and cultural monuments of the 18th - 19th centuries. And the first among these monuments is the military Resurrection Cathedral, built on the swampy Cherkassy Maidan. It was founded on the initiative of Peter I and with his personal participation. Tsar Peter I laid several bricks in the altar part of the cathedral. The history of the Resurrection Cathedral is inextricably linked with the name of the ataman of the cathedral, Stepan Razin. He was born in Cherkassk. A powerful metal chain is still preserved here, with which, according to legend, Stepan Razin was chained while waiting to be sent to Moscow for execution. The chain was specially displayed in the gallery of the cathedral in order to intimidate the freedom-loving Cossacks and force them to abandon their attempts to overthrow tsarism.
In 1756-1761, the Efremovs built a house Donskaya Church in the name of the Don Mother of God on the territory of the farmstead.
Ataman's Compound:
Matvey Ivanovich Platov (1751-1818) - Russian military leader, count (1812), cavalry general (1809), Cossack. He took part in all the wars of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Since 1801, he has been the ataman of the All-Great Don Army. Right on the facade of the building there is a memorial plaque to our hero, erected in 2003 by the Cossacks of the East Kazakhstan region of the All-Great Don Army.
In 1756-1761, the Efremovs built a house Donskaya Church in the name of the Don Mother of God on the territory of the farmstead. According to legend, the church in the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where Danila Efremov was a ktitor (elder), was taken as a model.
rare old photograph of the church:
The church was rebuilt several times; in 1817, the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was added to it, the bell tower was connected to the main part of the temple, and on the left, in 1843, another chapel appeared - that of Daniel the Stylite. Behind the church on the eastern side is the Efremov family cemetery.
Now let's go to one of the museums of Cossack life
Right in the middle there is this large model of Starocherkassk (also Cherkassk):
fisherman's paradise:
And here they are, beloved by some people who are fond of stamped bricks:
Luxurious examples of interiors from different times:
There are small holes in the imp. When the decanter was filled, the imp was also filled. When the guests drank the entire decanter, it seemed empty. However, due to the small holes, a glass or two was poured out of the little devil by the morning. Thus, the original owner always had a drink in the morning to help with his hangover. They knew how!)
armor:
The famous fortress of St. Anna:
Let's go back to the museum. To arms!
at the bottom in the middle is a military cash box, which, by the way, still contains money:
Church of the Transfiguration.
The second oldest temple in Cherkassy. It was erected on the site of the burnt wooden Ilinskaya Church, apparently by the same Moscow craftsmen who built the bell tower of the Resurrection Cathedral. According to some sources, it was founded in 1731 under Ataman Danil Efremov, according to others - in 1751. The second name - Ratnaya - the church received from the Ratny tract, where Cossack armies had long gathered before campaigns. The church burned several times and was rebuilt again. The interior of the church has not survived to this day.
Next to the church is the Ratnoe Cemetery - a Cossack necropolis - where the heroes of the Azov siege Osip Petrov and Naum Vasilyev, Ataman Ivan Krasnoshchekov, atamans of the 17th-18th centuries, the parents of Ataman Platov and his brother Peter and many heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 are buried.
More views of the village of Starocherkasskaya:
Peter and Paul Church, where Matvey Platov was baptized, Art. Starocherkasskaya.
River Station.
Starocherkasskaya. Palace of the Efremov atamans. Ser. XVII century
The Rostov diocese brought in heavy artillery to take over the Ataman's palace and three more buildings of the Starocherkassk Museum. At the invitation of Metropolitan Mercury, Abbess Ksenia Chernega, head of the legal service of the Moscow diocese, came to Rostov. She brought with her new arguments in favor of transferring the church buildings and presented them at the next meeting of the Arbitration Court.
Ksenia Chernega, photo pravsormovo.ru
The Russian Orthodox Church's claims to the buildings became known in early October 2015. Then the Ministry of Property of the Rostov Region published a document according to which it is planned to transfer part of the Starocherkassk Museum-Reserve to the ownership of the Rostov-on-Don diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The document mentions four non-residential premises, including the palace of the Efremov atamans and the atamans’ kitchen. The buildings must be transferred in accordance with the federal law “On the transfer of state or municipal property to religious organizations,” since, according to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Efremov family gave them to create a nunnery. In 2010, the museum already transferred 12 objects to the church, including the Resurrection Military Cathedral, the House Church and the Transfiguration Ratnitsky Church. Now it’s the turn of the buildings, which are the core of the museum’s exhibition.
In court, the diocese abandoned its previous arguments that the house was transferred by the Efremovs to serve as nuns’ cells, and that the kitchen was even built for monastic needs. Now the diocese insists that the buildings should be transferred to the church because they form a single architectural complex. The new point of view of the diocese was presented by Abbess Ksenia Chernega.
— In the documents, these objects are listed either as simply a non-residential building, or as an Ataman’s palace, or as the house of an abbess. As for the second controversial building, this is the Efremov kitchen, which also has another name - the monastery refectory. What grounds does the diocese have for requesting these facilities? We believe that they form a single monastery complex with the already transferred Church of the Don Mother of God. Firstly, because they are located within the monastery fence. You may know from the literature that lay people could not live on the territory of Orthodox monasteries, and the assertion of the opposite side that after the creation of the monastery the heirs of Efremov lived in these two buildings is unfounded. The heirs could come for pilgrimage, for pilgrimage, for temporary residence in these buildings. But they could not live on the territory of the monastery in the fence, then the Synod would not have approved the creation of such a monastery, and the monastery would not have come into existence in principle. Therefore, we believe that these buildings are part of the monastery complex historically. Moreover, note that in all documents, starting with the resolution of the Council of Ministers in 1964, which was amended in the 1970s, this group of buildings is designated as a complex. It doesn’t matter that in Soviet times it was called the “Efremov Metochion Complex” - it was a secular time, when concepts such as the monastery complex, in principle, did not appear in Soviet documents. Yes, the buildings were initially built by the Efremovs not for religious purposes at all. The so-called Ataman Palace was built for the Efremovs to live in; the kitchen was used to prepare food for this family. But we are requesting these objects on the basis that these buildings form a single monastery complex, both historically and documented. And we insist on the transfer of these buildings.
The abbess once again emphasized that the museum will not be evicted from the territory.
“We don’t intend to evict people from there.” The fact is that the charter of the diocese provides for the implementation of cultural and educational programs. And it is possible to conclude contracts and agreements. After receiving this object, we expect to conclude an appropriate agreement with the museum. The legal nature of this agreement will be determined by agreement of the parties.
According to Abbess Ksenia, precedents for such cooperation already exist in Russia: this is a museum in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, it is located right outside the monastery fence. And also the museum on Solovki, which is also located in the monastery and operates on a contract basis.
The museum workers are trying to prove that the palace of the Efremov atamans, and the ataman’s kitchen, and even more so the carriage house (yes, the diocese wants to get that too) never belonged to the church, and also that the Ministry of Property of the Rostov Region violated the legal procedure and did not transfer consideration of the issue on the legality of the Russian Orthodox Church's claims to the buildings to the dispute resolution commission. Thus, the diocese filed a statement of its claims on August 30, 2015, and on September 29 there was already a decision to begin the procedure for transferring the buildings. Moreover, during this period there were at least three appeals that the claims of the Russian Orthodox Church were unfair: from residents of Starocherkasskaya, from museum workers, as well as from the Ministry of Culture, which in its conclusion opposed the transfer of buildings. Despite these objections, the Ministry of Property decided to begin the procedure for transferring the buildings.
On the side of the museum workers were the eleventh generation descendants of the Efremov Cossack family - Pyotr and Sergei Skripnik. They wrote a letter asking not to transfer the buildings to the Rostov diocese. The letter is at the disposal of the deputy director of the Starocherkassk Museum, Irina Chebaturova, and donnews.ru has a copy.
“We are asking for the preservation of the historical memory of the Efremov family - the Efremovsky metochion in the village of Starocherkasskaya.<...>The house church in the name of the icon of the Don Mother of God, the Ataman's palace, the house of Stepan Efremov, the Transfiguration and Peter and Paul churches - all these architectural monuments of the 17th century preserved in the village remain a living memory of our family. All the churches of the village have already been transferred to the diocese, and this is correct. The only thing left is the Efremovsky farmstead with the Ataman's palace and kitchen. These were residential mansions, and they did not belong to the church.<...>The compound of the Efremov atamans is the last island of the bygone history of the former greatness and heroism of the Don Cossacks. Guests from all over our vast country like to come here, to the homeland of the legendary Don atamans, to touch our heroic past, the identity of the Don Cossacks. And we, the descendants of this illustrious family, learn with pain that there is a question of transferring our family home into the ownership of the Rostov diocese. This cannot be allowed. We talked with our relatives living outside its borders and came to a mutual agreement - the palace of the Efremov atamans is alive as long as it is a public property. As soon as it becomes the property of the diocese, access to it will be stopped not only for tourists who come to Starocherkassk from all over the world, but also for us, the legal representatives of the Efremovs.”
In 1738, the government approved Danila Efremov as military chieftain. And in 1753, with the help of an influential parent, his son Stepan Efremov also became an ataman. Their family accumulated great wealth. The construction of many buildings in Cherkassk is associated with their name. First of all, this is the Efremovsky courtyard.
The Efremov Palace was built in the 1750s. This is a large two-story building, with utility rooms on the first floor and residential premises on the second. The second floor was originally wooden, but burned down in a fire in the mid-19th century and was replaced with stone. As a result, the palace acquired porticoes and became similar to classic estates near Moscow.
Inside, on the walls of the luxurious chambers hung portraits of reigning persons, famous atamans, Stepan Efremov himself and his third wife, the beautiful Melania Karpovna. A simple Cossack woman who used to sell bagels at the Cherkassy market was 20 years younger than her husband. Ataman fell in love with her at first sight. For her sake, he got rid of his second wife: he sent her to a monastery. The wedding of Melania and Stepan was so magnificent and cheerful that it remained forever in people's memory. “Prepare like for Melania’s wedding” - they still say in the Don. The chieftain loved his young wife very much, spoiled her, and did not refuse her anything.
What is inside the Ataman Palace is worthy of a separate story, and therefore now there are only a few external views
Gate of the Ataman's courtyard
In their courtyard, the Efremovs built a house Donskaya Church in the name of the Donskaya Mother of God (1756-1761, they say that Stepan was terribly jealous, and Melania was devout, so the ataman ordered the ataman to build a house church for her). According to legend, it was taken as a model by the church located in the nearby caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where Danila Efremov was a ktitor (elder). Probably, the design of the temple was commissioned from some famous architect of the school of Rastrelli or Rinaldi. The interior decoration of this church was distinguished by its richness: icons painted by Greek and Italian masters, silver royal doors, gold, diamonds, diamonds, yachts, emeralds, pearls. The church suffered greatly under Soviet rule, but in the 1970s, during restoration, its appearance was restored. Now it is a functioning church.
The courtyard also includes the one-story Stepan Efremov House (Cookhouse) (1770s) and the cell building (1891), which arose after the entire courtyard, except the palace, was transferred to the Starocherkassky Convent in 1837. The entire eastern part of the courtyard is occupied by the Danilov Monastery; Public access is closed there.
And the back gate of the courtyard
Historical information taken
Starocherkasskaya village, Rostov region.We continue our journey through the Rostov region and today our stop is in the village of Starocherskasskaya. Cities will still be on our way. I just wanted to diversify our trip a little today.
The city of Cherkassk - the capital of the Don Army - now bears the name of the village of Starocherkasskaya and is one of the main tourist centers of the Rostov region. In 1970 on the initiative of the writer M.A. Sholokhov, the Starocherkassk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve was created here, thanks to which the traditional Cossack life remained carefully preserved in the architecture of the village and the arrangement of streets. The main architectural attraction of Starocherkassk is the nine-domed Military Resurrection Cathedral (1706-1719), in which the oath of allegiance was taken to the tsar and fatherland the legendary Cossack ataman Platov. This is unique in architecture and interior decoration, the most ancient temple of the Don, built on the initiative of Peter I and with his personal participation; the tsar laid several bricks in the altar part of the cathedral. Next to the cathedral, a hipped bell tower, 48 m high, shot up (the only one in the south of Russia), in the basement of which there used to be a prison and a military archive was kept. The square in front of the cathedral - Maidan - has the status of a separate landmark 6 this is the place of traditional Cossack gatherings. Starocherkassky The historical and architectural museum-reserve is included in the UNESCO international tourist directory, and the entire village of Starocherkasskaya is included in the “List of historical cities (settlements) of the Russian Federation” that have valuable urban ensembles, complexes, and an ancient cultural layer.
35 km from Rostov-on-Don up the Don River, on the right bank, there is the village of Starocherkasskaya - the oldest settlement in the Aksai region. The village has road and river connections with the regional center. On the territory of the Don there is no more interesting place associated with the history of the Don Cossacks than the village of Starocherkasskaya. It was already a Cossack town in 1570, and the first documentary mention dates back to 1593. Half a century later, Cherkassk (that was the name of this town) became the capital of the Don Cossacks. Here Stepan Razin called on the poor Cossacks to go to Moscow; Cherkassk was the center of the peasant war under the leadership of Kondraty Bulavin. On August 18, 1696, the first salute in Russian history was given in Cherkassk in honor of the capture of Azov. In 1805, the capital of the Don Army Region, due to the constant flooding of the river, was moved to Novocherkassk, and Cherkassk was “demoted” to the village. Attractions. The streets and monuments of the former Cossack capital have a very remarkable feature: they lead not only from house to house, from monument to monument, but also from century to century, from era to era, each of which gave birth to heroes who became the pride of the history of our Motherland. Here you can almost physically feel long-gone times and events, as if you were touching the shoulders of people who lived a long time ago and hearing their voices.
An interesting memorial complex is the Ataman Compound of the 18th - 19th centuries, the only Ataman estate in the south of Russia. Of particular interest is an old house with bars on the windows and cast-iron metal doors - this building belonged to the trading Cossacks Zhuchenkovs. Various thematic exhibitions are located here, which will give tourists many pleasant moments. In Starocherkassk, the house where the leader of the Peasant War of 1707-1709 died is still preserved. Kondraty Bulavin. The Peter and Paul Church (1751), in which the famous Ataman Platov was baptized, is of enormous memorial value. The magnificent Transfiguration (Ratnaya) Church (1740) rises on the Ratny tract. From here, in ancient times, Cossack freemen went on campaigns against the enemies of the Russian land. By attacking the Turks and Tatars, the Cossacks thereby defended the southern borders of the Russian state. Nowadays it is quiet on the Ratny tract, peaceful in the ancient cemetery. Only history experts can tell where the Platovs, Ilovaiskys, and Orlovs are buried. Atamans of the 17th-18th centuries and many heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 found their final resting place here. Three kilometers from the village of Starocherkasskaya, on the Vasilievsky Hills, the majestic ramparts and ditches of the Annensky fortress (1730) have been preserved. The monastery tract, located not far from the village, is known for the fact that the remains of Cossacks who heroically fought in all the wars that Russia has ever waged rest here.
Ataman Efremovsky Compound. This architectural complex contains architectural monuments of the 18th–19th centuries...
Bulavin's house (first half of the 18th century). Photo: Yaroslav Blanter
On the protected territory of the village of Starocherkasskaya there are about 100 historical and cultural monuments of the 18th - 19th centuries. And the first among these monuments is the military Resurrection Cathedral, built on the swampy Cherkassy Maidan. It was founded on the initiative of Peter I and with his personal participation. Tsar Peter I laid several bricks in the altar part of the cathedral. The history of the Resurrection Cathedral is inextricably linked with the name of the ataman of the cathedral, Stepan Razin. He was born in Cherkassk. A powerful metal chain is still preserved here, with which, according to legend, Stepan Razin was chained while waiting to be sent to Moscow for execution. The chain was specially displayed in the gallery of the cathedral in order to intimidate the freedom-loving Cossacks and force them to abandon their attempts to overthrow tsarism.
In 1756-1761, the Efremovs built a house Donskaya Church in the name of the Don Mother of God on the territory of the farmstead.
Ataman's Compound:
Matvey Ivanovich Platov (1751-1818) - Russian military leader, count (1812), cavalry general (1809), Cossack. He took part in all the wars of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Since 1801, he has been the ataman of the All-Great Don Army. Right on the facade of the building there is a memorial plaque to our hero, erected in 2003 by the Cossacks of the East Kazakhstan region of the All-Great Don Army. 
In 1756-1761, the Efremovs built a house Donskaya Church in the name of the Don Mother of God on the territory of the farmstead. According to legend, the church in the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where Danila Efremov was a ktitor (elder), was taken as a model.
rare old photograph of the church: 
The church was rebuilt several times; in 1817, the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was added to it, the bell tower was connected to the main part of the temple, and on the left, in 1843, another chapel appeared - that of Daniel the Stylite. Behind the church on the eastern side is the Efremov family cemetery.
Now let's go to one of the museums of Cossack life
Right in the middle there is this large model of Starocherkassk (also Cherkassk): 
fisherman's paradise: 
And here they are, beloved by some people who are fond of stamped bricks: 
Luxurious examples of interiors from different times: 
There are small holes in the imp. When the decanter was filled, the imp was also filled. When the guests drank the entire decanter, it seemed empty. However, due to the small holes, a glass or two was poured out of the little devil by the morning. Thus, the original owner always had a drink in the morning to help with his hangover. They knew how!) 
armor: 
The famous fortress of St. Anna: 
Let's go back to the museum. To arms! 
at the bottom in the middle is a military cash box, which, by the way, still contains money: 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
The second oldest temple in Cherkassy. It was erected on the site of the burnt wooden Ilinskaya Church, apparently by the same Moscow craftsmen who built the bell tower of the Resurrection Cathedral. According to some sources, it was founded in 1731 under Ataman Danil Efremov, according to others - in 1751. The second name - Ratnaya - the church received from the Ratny tract, where Cossack armies had long gathered before campaigns. The church burned several times and was rebuilt again. The interior of the church has not survived to this day. 
Next to the church is the Ratnoe Cemetery - a Cossack necropolis - where the heroes of the Azov siege Osip Petrov and Naum Vasilyev, Ataman Ivan Krasnoshchekov, atamans of the 17th-18th centuries, the parents of Ataman Platov and his brother Peter and many heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 are buried.
More views of the village of Starocherkasskaya:
Peter and Paul Church, where Matvey Platov was baptized, Art. Starocherkasskaya.
River Station.
Starocherkasskaya. Palace of the Efremov atamans. Ser. XVII century
Ataman Palace of Efremov. The palace has 21 rooms, and its total area is 1000 sq.m. The palace was built for the ataman of the Don Army, Danila Efremov, appointed in 1738.
Tent bell tower (height 45.8 meters). From its height there is a stunning view of the surrounding area, the entrance is closed, but you can always negotiate. By the way, the square in front of the cathedral is called Maidan - the meeting place of the Military Circle (governing body), here decisions were made on campaigns and other equally important matters.
Cossack architecture. Cossack kuren (“round kuren”) is a house on a high foundation (as there were frequent floods), square in shape with a hipped roof. Sometimes the houses were two-story. The first floor is for storage, the second for living.
On a sunny summer day it is very pleasant to bask in the sun on the banks of the Don.
The village of Starocherkasskaya is located 27 km east of Rostov-on-Don. One of the oldest Don Cossack villages. From 1644 to 1805 - the capital of the Don Cossacks. Since 1970, on the initiative of M.A. Sholokhov, the Starocherkassk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve was founded here.
Story
Written mentions of the Cherkassy town have been found since 1593, although there are versions about its foundation in 1570 by Zaporozhye Cherkasy Cossacks. The town arose on the Don Island. From here and from the Monastic town located 7 kilometers down the Don, the famous Cossack campaign against the Turkish fortress of Azov began, its capture and four-year retention (Azov Seat of 1637-1641). The Turks did not forgive the Cossacks for this: in 1643, Cherkassk and the Monastery town were destroyed by an unexpected blow, but already in 1644 Cherkassk was not only rebuilt, but also fortified. And in the same year the Main Camp moved here - Cherkassk became the capital of the Don Army. On one of the most elevated places on the island in 1650, a wooden Resurrection Military Cathedral was built, near which there was a wide square - the Maidan, where Military Circles gathered to solve pressing problems. The cathedral was built according to a vow made by the Cossacks during the Seat of Azov.
Fires were a real disaster in the life of Cherkassy, despite very strict rules for handling fire. Several times the town burned almost to the ground; after one of these fires, on the site of the burnt wooden Resurrection Cathedral, the first stone nine-domed church on the Don was built, which has survived to this day almost in its original form. The construction of the cathedral lasted from 1706 to 1719, Peter I provided great assistance in its construction, and according to some documents, he personally laid several bricks in the altar part of the cathedral. From 1725 to 1730, a 45-meter tented bell tower, unique for the south of Russia, was built next to the cathedral. Until 1805, the Resurrection Cathedral was the main temple of the entire Don Army.
On the trading square of Cherkassk in 1749-1751, a stone church of the apostles Peter and Paul was built, in which the future hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, the famous Don ataman Matvey Ivanovich Platov, was baptized. Another church - the Transfiguration of the Lord - from the beginning of the 17th century was located in the Ratny tract, in the cemetery of Cherkassk. This place was famous for the fact that all Cossack campaigns began from here. Here, at the Ratny cemetery, they served a memorial service for the dead and those killed in the war, here they said goodbye to their parents and from here they took a handful of Don soil, which they carried on their chests with them in a foreign land. Originally wooden, in 1740 the Transfiguration (Ratnaya) Church was again erected in stone.
Stepan Razin was born in Cherkassk, and here, in 1667, his uprising began. Emelyan Pugachev also visited here several times; here, in a strong two-story fortified house, not far from the Church of Peter and Paul, on July 7, 1708, the leader of the peasant uprising, Kondraty Bulavin, was treacherously killed. And in 1800, on the Maidan, during the reign of Paul I, who in words felt “the deepest affection” for the Cossacks, a demonstrative execution of Peter and Evgraf Gruzinov, who protested against the transformation of the Cossack lands into a Russian province, was carried out.
Here, in Cherkassk, in the mid-18th century, the first building of a unique complex that exists to this day appears - the Ataman Palace of Danila Efremov. The Ataman courtyard also includes the Don House Church (1756-1761), located opposite the palace, a number of outbuildings and the Efremov family cemetery. Later, in 1837, the widow-colonels Ulyana and Evdokia Efremov founded a convent, which included all the buildings of the courtyard, except for the palace. Later, in 1895, a cell building was built on the territory of the compound for the nuns to live in.
As new lands are annexed to the Russian Empire and it moves towards the Black Sea, Cherkassk loses its military significance. In addition, being a living reminder of the “Troubles” and the Cossack freemen, the very name of the town irritates the tsarist authorities. But officially the transfer of the capital was explained exclusively by prosaic reasons: constant floods in the spring and constant fires the rest of the time. And in 1805, military ataman Matvey Ivanovich Platov founded the new capital of the Don Cossacks - Novocherkassk, despite the disagreement of the majority of the Cossacks... And Cherkassk becomes Starocherkassk, remaining within the boundaries of its very first villages - within the boundaries of the Don island on which its first appeared the buildings...
Attractions
Resurrection Military Cathedral
A nine-domed stone temple 46 meters high, built in the Ukrainian Baroque style, the architect is unknown. An interesting fact is that the temple was built during the decree of Peter I banning the construction of stone buildings everywhere except St. Petersburg. However, Peter I himself contributed to the construction of the temple in Cherkassk, helping with money, utensils, specialists and, allegedly, personally taking a symbolic part in the construction. The cathedral is surrounded by a two-tier gallery - a walkway, which visually connects it with the architecture of the Cossack kurens of Cherkassk.
The interior of the cathedral is striking in its decoration, which contrasts with its restrained appearance. The unique five-tiered gilded carved iconostasis measuring 19x23 meters contains 149 icons.
Among the unusual details, the metal plates in front of the altar attract attention, where there are cast inscriptions stating that Russian emperors and grand dukes once prayed at this place. And at the entrance to the temple, on the wall hang massive shackles and chains, in which Stepan Razin was supposedly shackled before being sent to execution. Not far away, in the gallery, behind a metal slab, there is the ashes of that man - military ataman Kirill Yakovlev - who treacherously betrayed his godson Stepan to the tsarist government...
Tent bell tower
The two-tier tented bell tower has a height of 45.8 meters. It consists of a basement, a quadrangle, an octagon and a tent topped with a cross. The size of the tent is quite small compared to the octagonal tier that precedes it, but in combination with the nearby cathedral it looks harmonious, forming one architectural ensemble. For some time in the basement there was a prison in which especially important criminals were kept. In the octagon - the octagonal, highest part of the bell tower - there is a stone staircase running through the thickness of the wall. And in the round windows - “rumors”, located in this part, during the celebrations, lit bowls were displayed, creating festive illumination.
The archives of the Don Army were kept in the bell tower for some time.
From the height of the bell tower there is a stunning view of the surroundings of Starocherkassk, but currently the bell tower has been transferred to the jurisdiction of the Holy Don Starocherkassk Monastery and access to it is closed to tourists.
Maidan
This is the legendary gathering place of the Military Circle, a memorial monument to the history of the Cossacks. Here, decisions about campaigns were made; here began the “turmoil” of Stepan Razin; here Kondraty Bulavin was elected ataman. Here, on August 31, 1696, the first fireworks display in Russia was performed in honor of the victory of Russian weapons near Azov. Here, on the Maidan, the trophies of the famous Azov siege of 1637-1641 are kept - ancient Turkish cannons, a cast-iron fortress gate, two gates and the yoke of the city trading scales.
Transfiguration (Ratnaya) Church, Ratnaya Cemetery
The second oldest temple in Cherkassy. It was erected on the site of the burnt wooden Ilinskaya Church, apparently by the same Moscow craftsmen who built the bell tower of the Resurrection Cathedral. According to some sources, it was founded in 1731 under Ataman Danil Efremov, according to others - in 1751. The second name - Ratnaya - the church received from the Ratny tract, where Cossack armies had long gathered before campaigns. The church burned several times and was rebuilt again. The interior of the church has not survived to this day. Next to the church there is the Ratnoye Cemetery - a Cossack necropolis - where the heroes of the Azov siege Osip Petrov and Naum Vasilyev, Ataman Ivan Krasnoshchekov, atamans of the 17th-18th centuries, the parents of Ataman Platov and his brother Peter and many heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 are buried.
Church of Peter and Paul
Located on the square of the former Pribylyanskaya village. The wooden church on this site was mentioned in the charters of the Don Army back in 1692. After the great fire of 1744, it was built in stone very quickly, in three years - from 1749 to 1751. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna helped Ataman Danila Efremov in the construction, sending a Moscow master and ten plasterers and masons. In 1751, the future famous chieftain M.I. was baptized here. Platov.
Inside the church there were paintings and an iconostasis from the early 19th century, but they have not survived to this day.
Ataman's Compound
Located on the territory of the former Srednyaya Stanitsa (between Cherkasskaya and Pavlovskaya), it belonged to one of the richest and most noble family families in the Don - the Efremovs. Appointed in 1738 as ataman of the Don Army, Danila Efremov accumulated untold wealth. Together with myn Stepan, he owned shops in shopping arcades, taverns, mills on Tuzlov and Medveditsa, herds of horses, and arbitrarily seized thousands of acres of communal land...
The Ataman Palace was the first building on the territory of the courtyard. The second floor was originally made of wood, but after a fire in 1848 it was rebuilt in stone. It was a real palace, like the estate palaces of the Moscow and St. Petersburg nobility. Its original appearance has not been preserved as a result of numerous reconstructions. The palace has 21 rooms, and its total area is 1000 sq.m. Its vast territory now houses the exposition of the Starocherkassk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.
In 1756-1761, the Efremovs built a house Donskaya Church in the name of the Don Mother of God on the territory of the farmstead. According to legend, the church in the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where Danila Efremov was a ktitor (elder), was taken as a model. The church was rebuilt several times; in 1817, the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was added to it, the bell tower was connected to the main part of the temple, and on the left, in 1843, another chapel appeared - that of Daniel the Stylite. Behind the church on the eastern side is the Efremov family cemetery.
After being located on the territory of the monastery courtyard, a cell building was built; The courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall with a one-of-a-kind arched holy gate, which visually connected the buildings of different times inside the courtyard into a single architectural ensemble.
House of Kondraty Bulavin
The house in which Kondraty Bulavin, besieged by thrifty Cossacks, was killed, stands somewhat apart and is a good example of Cossack architecture of the houses of wealthy Cossacks. This is a kind of fortress house: the windows are protected by bars, the doors are lined with iron; there was no yard or outbuildings at the house... In such a house it was possible to hold a siege not only during an attack by external enemies, but also against the encroachments of rebellious Cossacks in hard times. It is a monument of stone architecture of the first half of the 18th century. Currently, a high staircase and a porch are attached to it, although previously both floors were connected by an internal staircase.
House of Zhuchenkovs
Monument of residential architecture of the 18th century. Just like the house of Kondraty Bulavin, it is a fortress house. The windows are in forged bars; Moreover, on the ground floor the windows of the upper floor are much smaller in size and have corners sloping inward, which resembles fortress loopholes. According to surviving photographs, inside the house there was a Dutch oven lined with colored tiles. The stove has not survived to this day.
Cossack architecture
The general type of Cossack dwelling in Starocherkassk is a “round kuren,” that is, a square house on a high foundation with a hipped roof, often two-story with a lower stone and wooden upper floor; in front of the entrance there is a porch-locker and on the side of it there is an external staircase to the “galdarya” that encircles the entire house at the level of the second floor. They lived at the top of the house, and kept household equipment below. The Old Believers sometimes had a prayer room there.
But there were also many houses of a special type: square in plan, two-story stone with extremely thick walls, and the lower floor rooms had massive brick vaults. In the living rooms there are large Dutch ovens lined with patterned tiles, on the outside windows there are massive iron bars; doors and shutters are also iron, forged; above the windows there are decorations made of brick in the Baroque style. The roof is high, hipped, iron. Typical examples of such houses are the house of Kondraty Bulavin and the house of the Zhuchenkovs.
Monastic tract (Kamplichka, Kaplitsa)
The Cossack town of Monastyrsky appeared here in the 16th century and the first mention of it dates back to 1593. From 1620 to 1637 it was the Main Army - the capital of the Don Cossacks. Cossack Circles gathered here, royal ambassadors were received here. There was also a chapel where hieromonks who came to the Monastery Town at the request of the Cossacks held services - until the mid-17th century, the Don Cossacks did not have full-time priests. Here, on the Circle, on April 21, 1637, it was decided to attack Azov, and on June 18, Azov fell and was held by the Cossacks for 4 years (Azov siege). Since the Moscow government refused to accept captured Azov under the “sovereign hand,” the Cossacks left the city in the spring of 1642, moving to the Monastic Town. Taking revenge for Azov, during 1644 the Turks attacked the town twice; in the spring the attack was repulsed, and in the fall, under the cover of darkness, the attack was a success - the monastic town was destroyed, and almost its entire population was destroyed.
The Cossacks no longer settled there, but in 1696, after the capture of Azov, Peter I ordered a fortification to be built on the site of the Monastery Town - a transient that existed until the appearance of the Anninskaya fortress, where the entire local garrison was transferred.
In 1866, a monument-chapel of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded here, and a year later it was consecrated. The initiator of the construction, priest and historian, Fr. Grigory Levitsky noted that the chapel was built similar to the wooden one that stood here in 1637, when the Cossacks set off to storm Azov.
Every year here, on the first Saturday before October 1 (September 27 - the day the Azov siege ended), memorial services were held. In 1917, a memorial service was held here, which was attended by military ataman Alexei Maksimovich Kaledin and the chairman of the Don government, Mitrofan Petrovich Bogaevsky.
And then, after 1917, new graves appeared here. The Red Army soldiers shot in Starocherkasskaya and the dead White Cossacks were buried here... And in 1941, 11 sailors from the crew of the gunboat “Rostov-Don” were buried here. And in the fall of 1942, celebrations were held here with a memorial service and prayer service, which were organized by the Cossacks who fought on the side of the Nazis.
On May 9, 1974, a memorial of military glory was opened here, and three dates were engraved on a high stele on the banks of the Don: 1641, 1920, 1941.
In August 1990, the first memorial service since 1942 was held in the Monastyrskoye tract. Since then, on October 15, Cossacks from all over Russia gather here every year to prayerfully remember their ancestors. And on October 11, 2005, the restored chapel in the name of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated here...
Fortress of St. Anna
Three kilometers northeast of Starocherkasskaya there is the only earthen fortress of St. that has survived to this day. Anna, the construction of which began in May 1730 by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna.
According to the plan, the fortress was surrounded by an earthen rampart and consisted of six forts, forming an almost regular hexagon, the sides of which were three hundred and eighteen meters long. The smallest height of the shafts is 5.5 m; the depth of the fortress moat is 3.5 m. The length of the fortress ramparts around the circumference is almost 2 km. The northern, southeastern and southwestern gates were further reinforced with redoubts. Inside the fortress there was a brick commandant's house, a soldier's settlement, a powder magazine and the Intercession wooden church.
Construction was completed by the end of 1737 and the fortress was included in the Ukrainian defensive line. The fortress played the role of a support base in the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739.
Another important function of the fortress was control over the “behavior of the Cossacks.” The commandant of the fortress was the superior officer for the atamans of the Don army, with whom they had to coordinate their actions. An example of such control is history, when in 1743 military ataman Danila Efremov, after consulting with the Cossack foreman, began building stone walls around the city of Cherkassk. He did not ask permission for this from the Russian authorities, and therefore the commandant of the fortress of St. Anna immediately reported this to St. Petersburg. The Military Collegium started the case. The wall was allowed to be completed, “but only on the Turkish side,” and “on the Russian side” it was forbidden to erect stone structures “firmly.”
However, the fortress was quite far from the mouth of the Don and the Sea of Azov, which neutralized its military significance. In addition, constant spring floods and illnesses of the garrison soldiers caused by living in swampy areas brought additional difficulties to its activities. And therefore, after receiving the right to build a new fortification lower along the Don under the Belgrade peace treaty with Turkey, the government abolished the Anninsky fortress in 1760 and transferred its garrison to the fortress of Dmitry of Rostov.
After the abolition of the fortress, some merchant people continued to live here; there was also a timber exchange here for some time; The first Cherkasy fair was opened near the fortress under Ataman Platov. In the 30s of the 19th century, two small leper colony houses were built here, where Cossacks with leprosy were treated.
In the second half of the 19th century, these buildings were liquidated, and the vegetable gardens of the residents of the village of Starocherkasskaya were located on the former territory of the fortress.