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In August 2014, the city of Mologa (Yaroslavl region), completely flooded in 1940 during the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station, again appeared on the surface due to the extremely low water level in the Rybinsk reservoir. In the flooded city, the foundations of houses and the contours of streets are visible. Babr offers to remember the history of 6 more Russian cities that went under water
View of the Afanasevsky Monastery, destroyed in 1940 before the city was flooded
Mologa is the most famous city, completely flooded during the construction of the Rybinsk reservoir. This is a rather rare case when the settlement was not moved to another place, but completely liquidated: in 1940 its history was interrupted.
Celebration in the town square
The village of Mologa has been known since the 12th-13th centuries, and in 1777 it received the status of a county town. With the advent of Soviet power, the city became a regional center with a population of about 6 thousand people.
Mologa consisted of about a hundred stone houses and 800 wooden ones. After the impending flooding of the city was announced in 1936, the resettlement of residents began. Most of the Mologzhans settled far from Rybinsk in the village of Slip, while the rest dispersed to different cities of the country.
In total, 3645 sq. km of forests, 663 villages, the city of Mologa, 140 churches and 3 monasteries. Relocated 130,000 people.
But not everyone agreed to voluntarily leave their home. 294 people chained themselves and were drowned alive.
It is difficult to imagine what a tragedy these people, deprived of their homeland, experienced. Until now, since 1960, meetings of Mologa residents have been held in Rybinsk, where they remember their lost city.
After each little snowy winter and dry summer, Mologa appears like a ghost from under the water, exposing its dilapidated buildings and even a cemetery.
Center of Kalyazin with Nikolsky Cathedral and Trinity Monastery
Kalyazin is one of the most famous flooded cities in Russia. The first mention of the village of Nikola on Zhabna dates back to the 12th century, and after the foundation of the Kalyazin-Troitsky (Makarevsky) monastery on the opposite bank of the Volga in the 15th century, the significance of the settlement increased. In 1775, Kalyazin was given the status of a county town, and from the end of the 19th century, the development of industry began in it: felting, blacksmithing, and shipbuilding.
The city was partially flooded during the creation of the Uglich hydroelectric power station on the Volga River, the construction of which was carried out in 1935-1955.
The Trinity Monastery and the architectural complex of the Nikolo-Zhabensky Monastery, as well as most of the historical buildings of the city, were lost. All that remained of it was the bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral sticking out of the water, which became one of the main attractions of the central part of Russia.
3. Korcheva
View of the city from the left bank of the Volga.
On the left side you can see the Church of the Transfiguration, on the right - the Resurrection Cathedral.
Korcheva is the second (and last) completely flooded city in Russia after Mologa. This village in the Tver region was located on the right bank of the Volga River, on both sides of the Korchevka River, not far from the city of Dubna.
Korcheva, early 20th century. General view of the city
By the 1920s, the population of Korchevka was 2.3 thousand people. Mostly there were wooden buildings, although there were also stone buildings, including three churches. In 1932, the government approved the plan for the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal, and the city fell into the flood zone.
Today, on the unflooded territory of Korchevo, a cemetery and one stone building, the house of the Rozhdestvensky merchants, have been preserved.
4. Puchezh
Puchezh in 1913
City in Ivanovo Oblast It has been mentioned since 1594 as a settlement Puchische, in 1793 it became a settlement. The city lived by trade along the Volga, in particular barge haulers were hired there.
The population in the 1930s was about 6 thousand people, the buildings were mostly wooden. In the 1950s, the territory of the city fell into the flood zone of the Gorky reservoir. The city was rebuilt in a new place, now its population is about 8 thousand people.
Of the 6 existing churches, 5 turned out to be in the flood zone, but the sixth also did not reach our days - it was dismantled at the peak of Khrushchev's persecution of religion.
5. Vesyegonsk
City in the Tver region. Known as a village since the 16th century, a city since 1776. It developed most actively in the 19th century, during the period of active functioning of the Tikhvin water system. The population in the 1930s was about 4 thousand people, the buildings were mostly wooden.
Most of the city was flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir, the city was rebuilt on non-flood marks. The city lost most of the old buildings, including several churches. However, the Trinity and Kazan churches survived, but gradually fell into disrepair.
Interestingly, it was planned to move the city to a higher place in the 19th century, since 16 of the 18 streets of the city were regularly flooded during floods. Now about 7 thousand people live in Vesyegonsk.
6. Stavropol Volzhsky (Tolyatti)
City in Samara Oblast. Founded in 1738 as a fortress.
The population fluctuated greatly, in 1859 there were 2.2 thousand people, by 1900 - about 7 thousand, and in 1924 the population decreased so much that the city officially became a village (the city status was returned in 1946). In the early 1950s, about 12 thousand people lived.
In the 1950s, it ended up in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev reservoir and was moved to a new location. In 1964, it was renamed Tolyatti, and began to actively develop as an industrial city. Now its population exceeds 700 thousand people.
7. Kuibyshev (Spassk-Tatarsky)
Volga near Bolgar
The city has been mentioned in chronicles since 1781. In the second half of the 19th century, there were 246 houses, 1 church, and by the beginning of the 1930s, 5.3 thousand people lived here.
In 1936 the city was renamed Kuibyshev. In the 1950s, it ended up in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev reservoir and was completely rebuilt in a new location, next to the ancient settlement of Bulgar. Since 1991, it has been renamed Bolgar and soon has every chance of becoming one of the main tourist centers in Russia and the world.
In June 2014, the ancient settlement of Bulgar (Bulgarian State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Kalyazin bell tower is the main attraction and symbol of the city of Kalyazin. This is a real wonder of the world for city residents and visiting guests. She survived the flood and still rises unshakably in the middle of Mother Volga. Time has no power over it, as well as the water washing it.
Fast passage:
flooded bell tower
The Kalyazinsky bell tower is called differently: a church on the water, a flooded church, a bell tower in the middle of the Volga, a church under water, but for the inhabitants of the city it is a symbol of unbending faith and stamina, as, probably, for all other people who have seen it. The bell tower is known to many in Russia and over the years of its existence has acquired a large number of various rumors, legends and stories. As a resident of the city, I personally know some of them, but first things first.
History of the bell tower
The bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral was erected in 1800. Nikolsky Cathedral itself was built in 1694. The Kalyazinsky bell tower already at that time made a tremendous impression! It consisted of five tiers, a dome with a head and a spire. With its spire, it went into the very sky and its height was 75 meters! It is worth noting that now it seems much lower, which is logical, because its first floor was backfilled to prevent its destruction and washing. And in the times before the flooding, the bell tower itself was on a hill, which gave it additional grandeur.
The bell tower of the Nicholas Cathedral was built for quite a long time, as much as 6 years. Although at that time for the available technologies it was quite an acceptable period. The Kalyazinsky bell tower had 12 bells, but one was especially memorable. He weighed, just think, 17 tons! Even by today's standards, this seems like a lot, to say nothing of past times. The bell was cast in 1895. The sponsor was the monastery itself, and such a significant event was timed to coincide with the accession to the throne of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
History of the sinking
But, as we all well know, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Soviet authorities were not so supportive of religion and the church in general, and despite the protests of the city's residents, they began to plan the Volgostroy project. This project involved the expansion of the Volga River, for the electrification of the country, through the construction of a dam in the city of Uglich and the creation of the Uglich reservoir. The creation of this reservoir inevitably led to the flooding of part of the city of Kalyazin, and with it the Nikolaevsky Cathedral with a bell tower. Considering all this, it was decided not to destroy the monastery, but to dismantle it. It was decided to leave the bell tower as a lighthouse and a guide for passing ships, because. at this point, the Volga makes a sharp 90-degree turn, and it was impossible to think of other landmarks nearby. The project was started in 1920, and it was approved in 1940.
Bell tower today
The question of dismantling the Kalyazinsky bell tower was raised again, some time later. Time and the river left their imprint and, over time, the bell tower gave a roll. But common sense and engineering solutions prevailed, and the bell tower was saved. To preserve it, the foundation was strengthened, an embankment and an artificial island for mooring boats were made.
The Kalyazinsky bell tower has been transformed again and has become even stronger. Evidence of this can be considered the fact that in 2007, namely on May 22, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Kalyazinsky bell tower.
The city considers the bell tower as its symbol and takes care of it regularly. So in 2016, 5 bells were installed on the flooded bell tower. The bells were cast by special order, and they performed it in the city of Moscow in the famous workshop of Ilya Drozdikhin. Each service in Kalyazin is now accompanied by the long-forgotten and lost, but newly found, ringing of the bells of the Kalyazin bell tower.
The flooded bell tower is starting to come to life and even now regular prayers are held near it in the summer months, and even the Upper Volga procession ends at the walls of this unbending symbol of perseverance!!
This is only a small part of the whole story that we are going to tell you about the famous church on the water. Follow our news and we will try to please you with new stories and exciting stories about our symbol!
One of the symbols of Kalyazin is the flooded bell tower. Kalyazin himself is located relatively close to Moscow on the banks of the Volga. Bell tower
built in 1800 at the St. Nicholas Cathedral, which was erected in 1694. The bell tower (height 74.5 m) was rebuilt in 6 years. She had 12
bells. The largest bell of 1038 pounds was cast in 1895 with the money of the monastery in honor of the accession to the throne of Nicholas II.
Photos and text Kireeva Andrey
2. By the 1940s, the Volgostroy project was approved, the beginning of which was laid back in the 1920s. This project provided
artificial expansion of the Volga River, the creation of hydroelectric power stations in its water area. When creating the Uglich reservoir, the old part
Kalyazina was in the flood zone; the cathedral was dismantled, and the bell tower was left as a lighthouse.
3. The Volga River.
4. As soon as loaded barges began to move along the Volga, it became clear that it was impossible to navigate by other signs, since it is very
sharp bend in the river. In archival documents of that time, the bell tower appears as a lighthouse.
5. So the bell tower looks close.
6. In Soviet times, there was talk that the bell tower should be demolished. They talked about the fact that it is advisable to disassemble it, since it is a little
tilted due to the fragility of the foundation, but at the end of the 80s of the XX century, the foundation of the bell tower was strengthened, an artificial island was created around
with a mooring for boats.
7. Church of the Ascension. It was built in 1783. Initially, it was a cemetery church, assigned to the Nikolsky (Nikolaev) Cathedral. It was built when the cemetery of the Nikolaevsky parish was moved from the cathedral to a place more distant from the city center. Eminent Kalyazinians, merchants, clergy, intelligentsia, and philistines rested in the cemetery. In Soviet times, the Ascension Church was closed, used as a bakery. The church gradually fell into disrepair, and only in the 1990s did its revival begin.
8. The expanses of the Volga are impressive.
9. At sunset.
10. During this trip (June 2014) it was incredibly hot. And everything around was just hot from the sun.
12. In Kalyazin, you can negotiate with the locals and ride with the breeze on a motor boat along the Volga.
13. White nights. June 2014.
16. Before sunrise. The sun has just set and in a couple of hours it will be sunrise.
17. Sunrise.
Someone will write in the comments again that I posted a bunch of the same type of photos. But I want to show you how the same place changes depending on the time of day.
18. I liked this moment of the whole trip along Kazyazin the most. The sun breaks through the narrow openings of the bell tower.
19. The sun is already high. Another hot day ahead. And my path lay further north. In Uglich. And as a result, I arrived on this trip to Solovki and then even further, almost to Murmansk.
21. Kalyazin before flooding. Artist Gennady Sotskov. Canvas. Oil.
I did not copy it, as many have already done it before me. Whether this is a myth or reality is anyone's guess.
I will only give a story about the removal of the bell and which allegedly lies in the flooded basement of the bell tower.
All buildings in the flood zone had to be either destroyed or moved to a non-flood area. It is impossible to move the stone cathedral and, like all stone buildings, they began to demolish it. However, one of the enthusiastic architects stood in the way of the breakers, even went to Moscow, but persuaded them to leave the bell tower of the cathedral as a lighthouse, because the Volga makes a sharp turn in this place, almost at an acute angle. True, there is a version that the bell tower was not blown up because they simply did not have time before the spring flood, but it does not stand up to criticism, because the demolition was controlled by the almighty NKVD, it was not blown up this year, it would be blown up next.
The version about the lack of explosives is also untenable, for the same reason.
Another thing is the bell that hung on the topmost tier of the bell tower. It had to be taken off. We have all seen the footage of the newsreel, where the bell is pushed through the arched opening of some bell tower, and it falls, breaking on the ground. The same should have happened in Kalyazin. The bell was removed from its suspension and lowered onto logs laid in the arch opening. And then it turned out that the bell simply does not fit into this opening, either higher or wider than it. Since there was already an imperial order not to blow up the bell tower, they did not begin to demolish the tier, but to comb the arched opening for a long time (and the spring flood is just around the corner), it was necessary to lower the bell a tier lower, where the opening is wider. When lowering, the temporary suspension could not stand it, and the bell collapsed onto the lags prepared below. A multi-ton (501 pounds) colossus easily broke through them, like all the floors of the lower tiers. It so happened that the bell fell smoothly and not rapidly, lingering on each ceiling, and, in the end, stood on the vault of the basement of the bell tower, which thought and thought, and broke through too. From the open doors of the gates of the lower tier, clouds of brick dust, some pieces of paper, and chips were carried out, there was a rumble, the earth trembled. As a result, the bell ended up in a deep cellar.
It is clear that the comrades were not ready for such a turn of events. Everything was prepared to lower the bell, not to raise it. It was clear that it was simply impossible to manage before the flood, and they simply waved their hand at the bell. By the beginning of summer, when the flood subsided, it turned out that the basement was flooded with water. And they waved their hand at the bell again.
The Kalyazinskaya Belfry has long attracted my attention, but I never got the chance to touch its secret. Even during last year's trip around the Tver region, we did not manage to stop by Kalyazin to look at the flooded church.
How wonderful that our dreams come true! And even a little later than we would like. This time we decided to start our independent trip by car from the city of Kalyazin. And the first sight that we met on our way was the sunken Nikolsky Cathedral with its famous bell tower.
“Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord!” Bible, New Testament
But no less wonderful are the deeds of the children of the human race. It was this thought that pierced me when for the first time I really saw the cross of the flooded Kalyazin bell tower rising above the surface of the lake.
This story began a long time ago, back in the 12th century. In the place where the Zhabna River flows into the majestic Volga, a defensive structure was erected, and on its basis a monastery arose in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In those days, monasteries had not only religious and spiritual significance, but also, in general, carried protective and defensive functions.
Yes, of course, the men who lived there were monks and prayed. But above all, they were the defenders of settlements for many miles around. Under their protection, people built dwellings, cities and villages appeared. This is how the settlement with the name Nikola-on-Zhabne grew up.
As time went. The borders of the state expanded, and the urgent need for defense disappeared. Nikolsky Monastery lost its defensive purpose and soon completely ceased to exist. But at this place there has always been a small church, consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Pleasant.
As a result of the wars and battles that took place in these places, the church was often destroyed, but over and over again it was stubbornly restored. And in the 18th century, a beautiful Nikolsky Cathedral was built in Kalyazin on this site.
Now only the bell tower remains of it, and even then - not all.
Unusual solution to the problem
But let's get it right. In the 1930s, the Government of the USSR decided to build a reservoir on these lands. This was supposed to make the Volga deeper and wider, and therefore navigable. And most importantly - electrification! The country badly needed an additional source of electricity. To do this, it was necessary with the help of dams to flood a huge, already inhabited by people, land area.
From the very beginning of the operation of the Uglich hydroelectric station, more than half of the city of Kalyazin was flooded. The central square of the city, streets with architectural monuments of the past, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Trinity Makaryevsky Monastery with all the buildings adjacent to it disappeared under water.
Only three churches and a few houses remained. And the symbol of the city - the Kalyazinsky bell tower, its cross, lonely and proudly began to rise above the water area surrounding it.
St. Nicholas Church in Kalyazin remained in the water as a beacon for ships sailing along the Uglich reservoir. Initially, according to the plans of the builders of the new country, it also had to be under water along with other historical and cultural monuments.
The impressive history of the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
At present, the flooded bell tower stands on the spot where once there was a high bank, a noisy trading square, where the inhabitants of Kalyazin walked or hurried about their business.
The bell tower, consisting of 5 tiers, over 70 meters high, was built in 1800. It was built by the peasants of the village of Nikitsky, which then belonged to Colonel Ushakov.
According to the contract, they promised to build "according to the plan and the settlement." And if something goes wrong in the work, then they undertook to rebuild it at their own expense.
Didn't have to rebuild, the job was done well the first time. And the bell tower has been standing for more than 200 years, of which more than 70 years have been in the water, contrary to all laws and regulations.
On the bell tower of that time, 12 bells created an iridescent chime, announcing the beginning of divine services. The largest bell weighing approximately 8 tons was cast in 1895, marking the coronation of the new Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
It was planned to remove the bell from the uppermost tier back in the early 30s, but when the water flooded the lower tier of the bell tower, it itself, apparently under its own weight, fell down to the seabed and it was impossible to raise it, or maybe they just didn’t do.
Myths and legends of the temples of the city of Kalyazin
And now the story of eyewitnesses of those events, when the bell at the bottom of the Uglich Sea began to ring, passes from generation to generation. This happened before global catastrophes. Before the start of the war with the Nazis, before the most terrible and bloody battles: the battle near Moscow, near Stalingrad, before the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Several times, divers, on orders from "above", tried to fix the tongue of the bell with steel wire, but this did not help. Before the start of the war in Afghanistan with the participation of Soviet soldiers, the bell sounded again.
After such a terrible warning from the flooded church in Kalyazin, a team of workers created an artificial island around the tower rising above the water, burying the bell under a layer of rubble and stone. This legend is even reflected in the film "The Shore", which was released in 1984.
The secret of the monastery dungeon
There is still a version, not even a version, but a confirmed fact, about the existence of an underground passage from the bell tower to the Makariev Monastery of the Holy Trinity. And also the story that when the Trinity Monastery had just been blown up, a messenger appeared a few minutes later with a paper about the decision of the Government to save the monastery.
According to rumors, in the underground caches of the monastery, the monks hid a large number of church utensils from looting: golden bowls, censers, books richly decorated with precious stones, and much more. A few minutes of delay, and the history of the life of the whole city could have gone the other way!
City with a flooded bell tower: a place of sadness and reflection
The sunken church in Kalyazin was the goal of our trip. Several motor boats are moored on the Kalyazinsky coast in summer to take tourists to the bell tower.
When the issue of payment (I will write about this below) was resolved in our favor, we loaded into the boat and set off. Our guide-captain told us the details, local legends and folk tales about the events that took place in those long sad years.
The boatman gave us a ride with a breeze, making the first stop near the world-famous space telescope. It struck us with its gigantic size, but read more about it in the next article.
The weather favored us. We moved along the water surface of the reservoir to the Monastyrsky Islands, where a Memorial Cross was erected on the site of the former Trinity Monastery. We were surrounded by the majestic beauty of pristine nature and a man-made creation in the form of a huge expanse of water around.
But against the background of this beauty, we had thoughts about the sad fate of the city buried at the bottom. It seemed that we hear the ringing of all 12 bells of the Kalyazinsky bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral. They also remembered the completely flooded one, which ended up at the bottom of the Rybinsk reservoir.
After some time, our boat moored to a small artificial island, in the center of which stands the famous water bell tower. Here it was possible to photograph the snow-white beauty from all sides very close.
The doors of the bell tower are now boarded shut to avoid accidents. A girl died here a few years ago. In those days when access was open inside, the guys climbed to the very top to make parachute jumps. And then one girl during the jump was lifted up by a gust of wind, her slings got tangled around the cross, and she was dangled and smashed against the walls by the wind. When it was possible to remove it, the girl was dead.
After this incident, entry inside was forbidden. Only a few times a year the doors of the bell tower are opened. These are the days when festive services are held here.
An artificial island protects the bell tower of St. Nicholas Church from waves and destruction during ice drift.
And in warm summer weather, you can swim here on the cleanest mini-beach
and admire the provincial town of Kalyazin.
By the way, many rich mansions have been built on its banks. For example, Zhirinovsky, Baturina and some other wealthy people have their dacha here. A world celebrity often comes here to visit: Dolph Lundgren. Our guide told us about this when a private helicopter flew over our heads past the bell tower and parked on the site on the territory of one of the estates.
The artificial island has already formed its own flora and fauna. The nephews were happy to catch a grasshopper in the middle of the Kalyazinsky reservoir. And they took him for a photo shoot.
Life goes on! After standing for a short time at the dilapidated walls of the Kalyazinsky bell tower, we set off on the way back, which we did in complete silence.
How to see the sunken bell tower of Nikolsky Cathedral
How to get to the island? You need to negotiate with the locals who are waiting for those who wish on the shore directly opposite the chapel.
On their boats, they organized three types of routes to the flooded bell tower for tourists:
- the smallest circle costs 250 rubles, this price includes just “delivery” to the island and return back;
- medium - 500 rubles, for this money you can make a small circle on a motor boat around the bell tower with a roundabout of the distant monastery island, then land on the island with the Nikolskaya bell tower and return back;
- the largest, according to the full program: and this is about 20 minutes of riding on the river, around the islands, check-in to the radio telescope, a view of the panorama of the city of Kalyazin from the water, and a walk around the island - 1,500 rubles per person.
Keep in mind that this price is per person! It does not matter if 1 person rides in a boat or four (as it was in our company). Of course, we wanted to see all the surroundings as much as possible, but multiplying the cost by 4 turned out to be very expensive.
As a result of negotiations, bidding and the absence of others wishing to use the services of local "businessmen", we agreed on a price of 3,000 rubles for our entire company. And this trip was supposed to include 30 minutes of “rides” with a stop at the radar and with a story about historical events from our captain.
By the way, in winter the path to the bell tower can be overcome completely free of charge: on foot on the ice. 🙂
The city of Kalyazin is located in the Tver region, almost at the very border with Yaroslavl. You can get to it in different ways.
We drove by car from Moscow along the Yaroslavl highway. In the Sergiev Posad area, we turned north towards Uglich and Rybinsk.
Buses leave Moscow from the Tushinskaya metro station at 8 o'clock, at 11:30, at 14 and 18 o'clock. From the Yaroslavsky railway station, you can take a train to Sergiev Posad, and then to Kalyazin by minibus.
And you can sail from Moscow by boat. So the road will take longer, but watching the surrounding beauty, you will not be bored. However, according to local residents, large steamships have rarely come here lately: the water level in the Uglich reservoir has now dropped significantly.
My trip turned out to be so informative, memorable and a little sad.
You can look at the Kalyazinskaya bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral on the map of the city of Kalyazin. Coordinates: 57.24373, 37.85686.
Our long-awaited trip to the city with a bell tower standing in the water took place on July 12, 2016.
And so we take a last look at the sunken bell tower and go for a walk along. Are you ready to continue walking with us? Then GO!
Other sights of the Tver region, where I managed to visit, are on this map.
