An old town of the ancient Meshchera
Alexei Mitrofanov, Vladimir Doukelsky "The true stories magazine" January, 2003.
 

Last summer the highway Moscow-Egorievsk looked like a horror movie decoration. The burning pit bogs filled the air with the puffs of smoke. But when in town, these devil's attractions disappeared. Egorievsk welcomed us with its fresh air, green streets and cozy provincial houses.

Once the famous Russian poet Sergey Esenin wrote that: "Russia has been lost amidst the Mordvins and the Choud'…". He wrote it about this land, once was being the part of Ryazan territory and particularly about the Meshchera Lowland or Meshchera. Meshchera begins not far from Moscow and goes eastward to the Vladimir and Ryazan regions.

The common image of Meshchera has been made of the numerous lakes and pit bogs. It is rather familiar to the Russians who ones gained their tiny patches of land upon these meliorated marshes to build summer bungalows or "dachas". This ex-glacial plain has some sandy elevations. Egorievsk stands on one of them.

The word Meshchera nowadays relates rather to the legends and poetry. Hence once upon a time it was a people. The Meshchera spoke one of many Finnish languages and crafted the fabulous horse-like brass filigree pendants. Part of the Finns of Meshchera mixed with the Slavs. The others went eastward. So, the Finno-Russian breed of the local forest folk became the "Meshcheryaks". The travelers were admitting their ever "sad appearance". The sadness could be easily explained. The local sandy soils and pit are not good to cultivate.

Egorievsk was founded in 1778 but the settlement at this place had been known long before, since the 14th century. The town's coat of arms had both symbols of Ryazan (the prince's green hat) and Moscow (St. George fighting a dragon), which is not surprising. These two big cities always have been fighting over little Egorievsk.

Today's Egorievsk has preserved the charm of the 19th century provincial town. Its main street built up with nice two-stored houses. Three small squares have the benches to sit and rest on. The big Khloudov bros factory clock tower (the local Big Ben) is seen from far away. The clocks does not work which has to complete the relaxed local atmosphere.

An unusual prison ocupies the riverbank. It looks like a bizarre castle for in the end of the 20th century it was designed in a so-called "new Russian style".

There is another place of interest - the old believing St. George cathedral made of… metal. It's not an exaggeration, the upper part of the building is made of the zinc plated iron sheets which are to be painted soon. A local historian named Kazakov walks about the cathedral. He insists the ancient legend Tmoutarakan' principality was located right here, in Egorievsk as well as a home of the Russian epic warrior Ilya Mouromets. Should you mistrust Mr Kazakov shall sell you for his book full of such sensational revelations for just 20 rubles (US$0.6).

There was a monument in one of the central squares - Lenin talks to a rebellious guard-de-marine and a soldier. A local folk called the monument as well as the whole square "na troikh" (for three), meaning the Russian drinking custom to share 0.5l vodka bottle for three. In the time of Perestroika a local gas station owner purchased these three metal fellows and relocated them to its business spot. Correspondingly, he became an owner of "Na Troikh" petrol station.

In the beginning of the 19th century, Egorievsk was not a great place to live. The city major reported: "There are no buildings made of stone or brick… there is a hospital of 5 beds. The agriculture and bakery are the main industries". Quite suddenly to the beginning of the 19th century, the town grew one of the important industrial centers of Russia. In that time, they were 36 factories and 20 thousand people.

The great part of the town's industrial prosperity came due to the extraordinary personality of its major Nikifor Bardygin, its genio loci. The Socialist mythology portrayed Bardygin as a kind of uneducated red exploiting his workers. The Egorievsk folk tells completely different stories. Many improvements were made under his management. The town received streetlights, running water, two city gardens and two classic schools. Egorievsk remember its major and one of its central chops still is called "Bardyginsky".

Nikifor's son Mikhail inherited not only a prospering business but also an extraordinary character. In fact, he was a master of two neighboring districts and had almost everything except for an aristocratic country estate and maybe a private museum. He solved a problem. One day he purchased a suitable aristocratic house one and half miles away, disassembled it and removed to Staroye village near Egorievsk. Except for the house he was constantly buying precious, antic or just bizarre items, which later became "The Museum of the Imperial Archaeological Institute named after the Emperor Nicholas II and founded by M.Bardygin". A little long but appropriate.

For many years, the Bardygin's collection was banned to expose for it had too many royal portraits. This ban did not prevent the big museums from "robbing" the collection. In 1990-s the Egorievsk museum received a big building of merchant Nikitin and a chance to expose the exhibits closed for more than 70 years. It took 10 years for Natalie Artyomova, the museum director to restore the premises and organize the exposition. Eugene Rozenblum, one of the best Moscow museum designers was helping her. The new museum was supposed to be a big fairy tale treasure box in traditions of Russian national Romanism. The museum has became a pride of the town and any passer by will show you the way to it.

Should you go to Egorievsk you won't have much choice for your stay. There is only one hotel "Egorievsk". It's 27 year old, but it looks much older. Shaky furniture, bad plumbing, the lift doesn't work. Thought the price is reasonable, about 200 Russian rubles (US$7) a night for a single room. They have a few de lux rooms which are not much different. The luxury rooms have the same problems, but they are twice bigger and have a telephone. Thought the number of cockroaches is doubled too.