In Russia – with love. Supreme Volochek. City of rains and canals

I met Vyshny Volochok in 1984, when I arrived here for active military service. The so-called “training school” – ShMAS, a school for junior aviation specialists, was located here.

Of course, at that moment I knew absolutely nothing about the glorious history of this city. Only got eternal dampness and mosquitoes. Any scratch turned into an abscess, but a cheerful soldier’s life reconciled with the ulcers of life.

Our unit occupied a vast territory. In the area of ​​the warehouses and football field there were strange structures, very similar to church buildings, but devoid of any visible signs such as domes or crosses.

Later I learned that until 1917 it was the Kazan convent. The buildings remained and were adapted for warehouses, and in 1930 the famous comedy of Yakov Protazanov “The Feast of St. Jorgen” with Ilyinsky and Ktorov in the lead roles was filmed here.

And, of course, I was unaware then that our regimental parade ground, where we studied drill and took the oath, is nothing more than a monastery cemetery, rolled up with asphalt.

By the way, my sister and my long-dead mother came to me for the oath. They stayed at the only hotel in Volochka, more like a hostel with a toilet and a shower in the corridor. The administrator, registering them, said:

“In the evening, lock yourself up in your room and don’t leave it, no matter what happens. Whatever drunken cries and screams you hear, sit quietly and keep your head down.

This parting word gave optimism to my mother and sister. What was my surprise when, three years ago, I drove into Volochek and found the same hotel in the same place and in the same form. Surprisingly, it still occupies a leading position in the Vyshnye tourist services market.

Our “Uchebka” was disbanded back in the 90s, only a few warehouses remained, ordinary warehouses hidden behind the modest building of our former checkpoint. The rest of the land was returned to the church, the monastery began to be restored.

Now on its territory there is the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, three churches, two chapels and outbuildings. The cathedral is located close to the railway, so that it can be seen from the train window, passing by Volochok. But it is better to find an opportunity to stop in the city on the way from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Either make a small detour, leaving the toll highway, or get off at the station and continue your journey a few hours later on another train. It is not necessary to stay overnight here.

The name of the city is quite understandable. There is a watershed between the Caspian and Baltic basins. Here they dragged ships overland. And at the beginning of the 18th century, the first canal in Russia was dug, which laid the foundation for the most complex hydraulic structure – the Vyshnevolotsk water system.

Canals and reservoirs occupied Volochek, and the number of bridges and bridges made it possible to call it Russian Venice (hence the dampness and mosquitoes – well, it’s true, there are also solid swamps around). It is clear that the heyday of the city lasted exactly until the moment when the railway was launched from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

After the collapse of the USSR, everything collapsed altogether. The weaving and spinning industry fell into decay (and I remember how our sergeants in the evenings fled to dances with weavers who crowded at the rear checkpoint in anticipation of gentlemen). The glass-blowing industry also perished. But it was here that the “ruby” stars for the towers of the Moscow Kremlin were made.

So this pretty Russian and Soviet town, which has lost its transport and trade significance, is slowly dying. But the Kazan Monastery is being revived little by little.

Alexey Vishnevetsky.