Legendary treasures of Stenka Razin: where to look. Stories about the untold treasures and treasures of Stepan Razin - legends or reality

Do you think Stenka Razin's treasure does not exist? No matter how it is! I will tell my story of finding it! So! I live in Togliatti (formerly Stavropol-on the Volga), when I was only 4 years old, my Father (Heavenly Kingdom to Him) always took me on a fishing trip (because there was no one to leave with) and I was "not a gift"! So he always dangled with him and his friends all over the Volga! By the way, my Father was a professional, tireless, and lucky in fishing! He was always invited to go fishing! Because they knew where he was, and the fish! Can't you imagine yourself now? But then (in the 70s) we brought the caught fish in a "Zila" with an overturning body !! FULL BODY !!! Then they didn’t take "weedy" fish: perch, high-melting, bastard, cucumber, chakhon, etc. but they took: a sterlet, a bester (if anyone knows what it is) is a cross between a beluga and a sterlet !, and a pike perch! In! what a fish we had in the Volga literally 40-45 years ago! But I will continue! On the next fishing trip in the morning our men are pulling seines! On the one hand "zil" on the other "Tragus" - they are pulling! And the men beat with "mallets" or "grease" (who does not know thick sticks) on the water - they drive the fish into the net! From this I woke up, climbed out of the tent and said to Father: "Dad, I'm thirsty." to which my father: "Do not bother you, that the Volga is not enough? I took a mollusk, climbed into the water up to my knees, scooped up and drank water! Yes !!! we used to drink water directly from the Volga-Mother! It was about 5 o'clock. 6 am! I drink water, raise my eyes and see on the clouds (and Zorka is just rising) a city with streets, cobbled stones, towers, houses made of stone, a protective wall! In short, a fortress! With all communications! Wells, plums (external sewerage) , streets, built according to architecture !!! FOOL !!! I ask Father: "Dad, what is this?" He told me: "This is the lost city where Stenka Razin hid his treasures!" and full of people like me) to look for the Treasure of Stenka Razin! The first outing was when I was 12 years old! I agreed with my comrades, who were 17 and 21 years old. I persuaded them. plywood boat "for hire" for 20 kopecks. at one o'clock. And they sailed to the caves! Through the Zhigulevskoe Sea! A complete gamble! Do you know what the Zhiguli Sea is? There are also storms! But we were lucky! Dropped on 2 oars across the fairway! (Give me a million dollars now - I won't go) And most importantly, the Stenka Razin caves open only when the water is gone! This is when the volume of the hydroelectric power station is filled. And there is less water below! This is what we are waiting for, to "rub" where the depth was! But further! There are a lot of such caves on the Zhigulevskie Gory, cut by Stenka and his comrades! There is a labyrinth and all sorts of traps (very tricky). So we waited on the Zhiguli for 2 days. Then the water left and we went to the Central Cave! knee-deep in water! I'm 12, my friends are bigger. I have prepared an expedition (as I thought)! The Big Cave is the main entrance and passage of Stenka to Perevoloki! The crossings are named because Stenka and his comrades dragged their boats along the ground along the logs, greased with grease! There we have an isthmus of 3-3.5 km.! When he was caught on the right bank of the army, he ferried his boats on dry land, and the army calmly with horses and all belongings passed through the tunnels cut in the mountain! So when he was "pressed", then naturally he left all the loot only in our Mountains! Because they were squeezed from all sides, and all his army, sensing the gallows, scattered in 2 days! On the scaffold, when he was "quartered", he shouted to his brother: "Be quiet!" So that the treasure was somewhere in the Zhigulevskie Gory! We know this and that is why we are looking! I will continue! Expedition (we thought so): prepared correctly: Food, matches, flashlights! We go into the Main cave! You will not believe! The height of the cave is 3-4 and where it is 5 meters! It was cut down with axes (so that the rider on the horse could pass! And the width is decent! We go in, then the unpredictable begins! After 50 meters, everyone's flashlights go out! We go a meter back, work! torches go out! And some kind of animal necessity to leave! We are leaving! Again across the sea on a boat we are returning back! On the fairway we were almost crushed by a dry cargo ship! Thanks to the captain-turned! And again we are going! Already with experience! During this time we learned everything, thought it over. Prepared thoroughly! No longer children, there is experience, we found a "caveman" -pro! Then they put arrows in chalk! When they came out, for some reason they weren't there! The second expedition! They took the rope (like Ariadne's thread) Two friends stayed outside! And let's go! The torches were made of alcohol, gasoline, ether! (to check) and I took the glow-in-the-dark sticks when you break them! Tied with a halyard (rope) and let's go! Passed 300 meters, the lanterns went out, only the etheric burned, but not for long! Broke the sticks, they work! Let's go! And then all sorts of miracles begin! Voices, disgusting gloom, shadows! In short, they do not want to let us in! We confer and continue! We go into the labyrinth, we do not know where and how much! We leave into the Big Cave! The cave is 30-40 meters high, 120 meters wide. We see in the middle a black polished stone with a skeleton on it! Do not be scared, and further 4 weekend caves! And we have one halyard! We decided to go back and analyze! Come on, my friend stumbles and pulls out a crooked saber! Go ahead, the second falls, finds a coin! Falls again - finds a saber, but a broken one! The water has begun to arrive! Let's go ankle-deep! We run past that stone, but the skeleton is no longer on it! We see the light on him! Behind the wild consonance, eerie! The water has begun to arrive! Let's run out! We have neither torches, nor torches, nor a ROPE with which everyone was tied !!! It is clear that they could have lost everything in the confusion! But the cavers! You can't even cut it off with a knife right away! We looked back into the cave, where they tied him, no, not even a hint! Then our friends came up to us and said that we had been gone for 6 hours! and our watch (one had an electronic one) we have a mechanic! showed that we were in the cave for 2 hours! The most important thing is that we carried out these sabers, and for some reason I had a stone in my hand that was glowing! Still trying! But then a lot of expeditions disappeared! Even the pros! You can read it in the Internet! This entrance was blown up! But there are 200 more caves! We know! If you are in our area? hours 5-6 in the morning look (in clear weather) at the sky! This City is still displayed! Clear, clear! You can take a photo! And my stone is glowing !!!

The treasure hidden in the ground is not just coins and jewelry. As soon as the treasure is buried, it is believed that invisible guarding forces are formed over it. Therefore, usually "wealth" is put on a vow, that is, its owner, before hiding the treasure, says or writes on paper a certain phrase that should predetermine the further fate of the jewelry.

The zarok contains information about who, when and under what conditions will be able to master this treasure. When the hidden treasures expire, and they have not yet found the owner, the treasure becomes wandering and finds its place of residence.

It happens that treasures, especially in our century, are hidden completely without a vow. Such treasures also seek their own master and are themselves given into his hands. There are also such treasures that it is impossible to master at all ...

The first, Persian, campaign of the Cossack ataman Stenka Razin began in the spring of 1667. Then he, with one and a half thousand donations from the Don, went to the distant lands, to the Caspian, with the main goal: "to go after zipuns", that is, to plunder more goods and return to the Don with rich trophies. "Oh, you guys, you, brothers, unfortunate gol, you guys go for a walk in the blue sea, smash ships with goods at sea, and sink merchants and the rich in the blue sea." This is how Razin addressed his comrades in a folk song.

On light plow boats, the Razins went down the Volga. The dashing cry of the Cossacks: "We will swing the oar - we will knock down the caravan" - was justified at Tsaritsyn, where they boarded merchant ships loaded with various goods. And when Razin's huge detachment reached Persia, fabulous riches awaited him here.

The removed squad devastated the palaces of the shah and the warehouses of Persian merchants, "robbed to the skin" of the houses of the local rich. Thoroughbred horses were even taken from the stables of the Persian Shah.

Having filled their ships to the brim with expensive goods and jewelry, the Cossacks headed for their native shores. The news of the unusually rich booty and the bravery of the Don people swept ahead of them. One foreigner who saw the Razin people in Astrakhan wrote: "The Cossacks were dressed like kings, in silk, velvet and expensive clothes woven with gold."

Another recalled that when Razin "walked the streets, he threw gold and other coins he had stolen at the people, and that is why the people greeted him with friendly shouts." The Astrakhan governor Razin generously granted a fabulous price of a sable fur coat, and the governor - "a bunch of priceless things, especially pearls, fine horse harnesses, strewn with amber and turquoise, and a large number of gold and silver ".

The Razin people returned to the Don with fame and wealth. But the chieftain did not stay here for a long time and again with his huge army moved to the Volga. They took Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan. A lot of goods were taken from the boyars, merchants and wealthy noble estates.

Of course, Razin could not help thinking about the future, about how, for example, to ensure the continued existence of his "gang". That is why he filled secret caves and secret passages with stolen gold and jewels ...

As you know, the uprising was suppressed in 1671. Stepan Razin and his brother Frol were taken prisoner and brought to Moscow under heavy guard. They were brutally tortured in dungeons on the orders of Secret Affairs: they beat them with whips, raised them on a rack, burned them with a red-hot iron, trying first of all to find out where the treasury of the rebels, gold and silver was hidden. It was believed that Razin buried one landlord's property in his hiding places for 10 million rubles in gold. However, neither on the rack, nor under the pincers, the ataman did not reveal his secrets. Razin was executed in Red Square by quartering.

In June 1671, the newspaper Northern Mercury was published in Hamburg. It contained the correspondence of the English merchant Thomas Hebdon, who was in Moscow. As an eyewitness, he described in detail the execution of Stepan Razin.

Hebdon wrote: “The news has already spread throughout the world about how the rebel Stepan Razin a year ago became the leader of many Cossacks and Tatars, how he captured the city of Astrakhan and the entire Astrakhan kingdom, committed various other tyrannies, and how, finally, he tried in every possible way to attract his side of the Don Cossacks in order to deliver a strong blow to Moscow.

You should know that the above-mentioned Don Cossacks pretended to agree with him. However, they did so out of cunning in order to trap the fox. Finding out that Razin and his brother had stayed in a refuge, where he was not afraid of anything, the Cossacks attacked him and took him and his brother prisoner.

Last Friday, a thousand musketeer archers brought him here, and today, two hours before I write this, he was punished as he deserved. They put him on a carriage specially built for this occasion - seven feet high. There Razin stood in such a way that all the people - and there were more than a hundred thousand of them - could see him.

A gallows was erected on the cart, under which it stood while it was being carried to the place of execution. A plank was nailed in the middle of the gallows that supported his head; the arms were stretched out to the sides and nailed to the edges of the wagon, blood flowing from them.

His brother, too, was in chains on his arms and legs, and his hands were chained to the cart, after which he had to go. Frol seemed very shy, so the leader of the rebels encouraged him: "You know, we started something that even with even greater success, we could not expect a better end." This Razin, as it was evident, was not at all afraid of death.

His royal majesty showed mercy to us, Germans and other foreigners, as well as to the Persian ambassador, and under the protection of many soldiers they took us closer so that we could see this execution better than others, and would tell our compatriots about it. Some of us were even splattered with blood.

First, his hands were cut off, then his legs and, finally, his head. These five body parts were planted on five stakes. The body was thrown to the dogs in the evening. After Razin, another rebel was executed, and tomorrow his brother is also to be executed.

And here, after the execution of Stepan Razin on Red Square, an interesting and mysterious action begins. After the executioner had finished with Razin and his henchmen dragged his brother, Frol Timofeevich to the block, he suddenly shouted in a voice breaking from strain: "The word and deed of the sovereign!" And he said that he knew the secret of Razin's treasures. The execution was postponed.

According to an eyewitness - a foreigner Konrad Stuertzfleisch - Stepan Razin, already turned into a bloody stump, suddenly came to life and hissed: "Be quiet, dog!" These were last words Razin.

Frol Razin was brutally tortured two days later in the Kremlin's Konstantino-Yeleninskaya tower. All testimonies were immediately reported to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who showed great interest in Stepan's treasures.

The news that during the execution on Red Square Stepan Razin's brother shouted: "The word and deed of the sovereign" and that the tsar wants to find out the places of the treasures from him quickly spread among the Moscow people, and then throughout Russia. Soon there were legends about Stenka Razin's treasures and terrible stories about his conspired treasures, buried in different places on the banks of the Volga ...

It is not known whether they tried to find the Razin treasures at that time. The very first attempt, described in the documents, refers only to 1893. Then the captain of the Gatchina regiment Lashcherov undertook a search in the Nizhny Novgorod province, in four of the twelve camps of the Razin people along the Alatyr River.

The captain decided to try his luck and began to petition in St. Petersburg for permission to engage in treasure hunting. Permission from the Imperial Archaeological Commission was given to him, and in late autumn Yascherov and his assistants went to the Volga.

Alas, the search brought nothing. Winter soon came, and work had to be postponed until summer. Meanwhile, the local police received information that in the area of ​​the Volga villages of Pechi and Mikhailovka, at a depth of forty meters, a spacious underground with solid oak doors, locked with iron bolts and locks, was discovered. The dungeon apparently had a ventilation pipe.

The horse fell into this pipe with its hind legs during arable land. A hole the size of an ordinary wheel was formed. There were two daredevils who descended there on a rope. The first was pulled out numb with horror. He died that same night. Another, a local psalmist, stayed in the dungeon for several minutes and also suffered a lot of fear. It was he who reported about the doors seen there ...

Only in 1904, the captain of the Yascherov, now retired, again took up the search for Razin's treasures. Some successes have been achieved this time. Firstly, signs of a treasure were found: a stone with a sign carved on it, the remains of a dam, near which, according to rumors, there should have been a flooded boat with gold.

Perhaps Yascherov would have been able to find the treasure, but the Russo-Japanese War broke out. The retired captain went to long-term service, went to the Far East and died somewhere in Manchuria.

The last searches were undertaken in 1914, but already in Tsaritsyn, near the Church of the Holy Trinity. Then a four-meter deep hole formed here. At the bottom were coffins and skeletons. They remembered that there was an underground passage here, built in the time of Stepan Razin and going from the church to the Volga. The planes of the formidable chieftain, laden with precious good, pestered here. They began to search - and again no result.

There is one more "address" of the treasure. This is the famous Tsarev Kurgan near the mouth of the Sok River, a tributary of the Volga - a huge high hill. It rises to a height of 100 meters. It has mysterious underground passages.

Russian traveler I.I. Lepekhin, who visited this mound in 1768, wrote: “The signs make one think that this bulk has been blown up by human forces, and they claim that the once glorious robber Stenka Razin, who was once glorious in the Volga surroundings, built this memorable bulk, which in many cases, and especially in the hollow water, served as protection and shelter. " In the Saratov province there was also the so-called Stenkina cave on the Uvekovka river. They found coins and things of Tatar use there.

Finally, there is one more episode to tell. Participant of the Great Patriotic War captain 1st rank G.I. Bessonov wrote that during the battles in the Stalingrad region, after a raid by Goering's bombers, the Volga bank crumbled.

By chance, one of the soldiers noticed that at the top of the cliff, several old cast-iron cannons, stacked tightly in a row, were exposed. The muzzle of one of the cannons, which was heavily rusted, chipped off, and gold bracelets, earrings, pearls, rings, silver and gold objects spilled out of it along the slope, which quickly went to the hands.

There was a rumor that this was the treasure of the "Volga robbers" of Stenka Razin himself. Some tried to remove the cannons from the frozen ground, but this proved to be difficult. In addition, the area was shot through by the enemy. And soon after the next bombing, the coast crumbled, it snowed profusely. The fighting was heavy, and soon an offensive began on Paulus's grouping. The treasure was quickly forgotten.

Indeed, there is an important historical detail in the story of the front-line soldier: it is reliably known that the ataman hid part of the obtained jewelry in old, "spoiled" cannons, gagged the barrel, and buried it on the banks of the Volga; a memorial sign or landmark was put up, and the place itself and its description were entered into a "letter" so that, if necessary, this place could be found.

In 1989, new evidence suddenly surfaced. The editorial board of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" received a letter from its reader from the Vitebsk region. This reader (signed "MK") reported that in 1942 he became the owner of important documents belonging to a German officer. They talk about the treasures of the Golden Horde, once buried beyond the Volga, and indicate the exact places. "In the same papers, I found, - wrote MK, - the location of Stepan Razin's treasure on one of the Don islands."

What is the conclusion? I think there is only one: no one has seriously looked for Razin's treasures. And although there are many stories about them, none have yet been found. Historians also do not deny the existence of "treasures of the robber Razin". The rebels took several cities by storm, while expropriating significant material values, therefore, the question is quite pertinent: where did all the riches that fell into the hands of Razin go?

In the memory of the people to this day, many places have been preserved associated with the name of the ataman Stepan Razin, especially on the right bank of the Volga. Tour guides often show tourists the Stenkiny Bugry.

Standing on the deck of the ship, one can hear: "Here Stenka camped, here, according to legend, he left his hat. That is now the name of this place - Stenka's cap. On that hill Stenka was a stolnich, they say the treasure is laid there." For example, near the village of Bannovki, between the village of Zolotoy and the mouth of Bolshoy Eruslan (Saratov region), the cliff to the Volga is called Bugra Stenki Razin.

According to legend, one treasure is hidden near the village of Shatromany in the Simbirsk province. Another treasure is located near the village of Peskovatovka in the Tsaritsyn district, and they say that there is a whole ship hidden there in the mound, filled to the brim with gold, brought there during the flood by Stepan's associate Usom.

They also talk about a treasure in the Saratov province, laid near the mouth of the Bolshoi Eruslan river under the Razin mound. Or maybe the treasures are hidden where the chieftain kept his captives - in the Durman gorge (or in another way Stenkina's Prison), not far from the city of Kamyshin. They also say that on the Don or on the Volga there is Nastya Gora - a mound where Stepan buried his beloved and buried in the same treasures innumerable ...

In June 1671, the newspaper Northern Mercury was published in Hamburg. It contained a note by the English merchant Thomas Hebdon from Moscow. As an eyewitness, he described in detail the execution of Stepan Razin and did it very quickly, sending correspondence to Europe two hours after the execution, thereby informing the merchants and diplomats that trade with Russia was resuming again. The note (besides the description of the execution itself and the history of the issue in general) contains the following lines: "... the recently executed rebel really was their main rebel Stepan Razin. His brother was healed of his wounds after torture, and soon he should be sent to Astrakhan to find treasures buried there by Stepan. "

What does brother have to do with it? The fact is that after the executioner had finished with Razin and his brother Frol was dragged to the chopping block, he suddenly shouted: "The word and deed of the sovereign!" And he said that he knew the secret of Razin's letters (?) And treasures. Frol's execution was postponed.

According to the testimony of a foreign eyewitness Konrad Stuertzfleisch, already turned into a bloody stump, Razin suddenly hissed: "Be quiet, dog!" These were his last words, and Sturtzfleisch wrote them down in Latin letters.

Frol Razin was severely tortured two days later, and his testimony was communicated to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich: his brother, Stenka, buried everything in the ground ... the load in a jug, and he buried pitch in the ground on an island along the Don River, on a tract, on a breakthrough, under a willow. ...

The tsar showed great interest in Razin's treasures, for according to the "unsubscribes" of the voivode, from the boyars and rich people "the robber robbed a lot of every good thing." Under torture, Frol showed that after the defeat of the uprising, when the ataman fled to Kagalnik, there was a "chest with junk" and jewelry.

These testimonies were published by the famous historian N.I. Kostomarov, and a certain psychological detail can be seen in them: Constantinople, made by an unnamed master from ivory, apparently liked Stepan very much, and he did not want to part with him even in a moment of mortal danger, having sent for it his brother's treasure.

The news that during the execution Frol shouted "Word and deed" and that the tsar wanted to find out the places of the treasures from him quickly spread among the Muscovites, and then throughout Russia. Soon there were legends about Stenka Razin's treasures and terrible stories about conspired treasures buried in different places on the banks of the Volga.

Historians do not deny the existence of the "treasures of the robber Razin", but no one seriously dealt with this topic. Although the rebels took several cities and at the same time expropriated significant material values, the question is quite pertinent: "Where did all the wealth that fell into the hands of Razin go?"

In folk legends, the theme of Stenka's treasures begins from the time of his Persian campaign. There was a lot of talk that Razin left Persia with an extremely great booty. From the Persian land Stenka also brought out a beautiful woman - the sister of the Iranian shah.

There was also a legend (and even during the life of the chieftain) that Stepan was a "spoken man", that is, invulnerable: “Stenka had other strength besides human strength - he sold himself to the unclean from an early age: he was not afraid of a bullet or iron; he did not burn on fire and did not drown in water. because he was a warlock ... They put him in prison more than once. And he will take coal, write a boat on the wall, ask for some water, splash this water on the wall - the river will become! Volga Stenka! " For historians and folklorists, these flights of Razin through the air are rather mysterious. The old buoy-keeper on the Kama heard from the grandfathers that the Razins sent signals to each other with the help of large kites, called "doves", which the uninitiated common people perceived as witchcraft.

By popular belief, it is difficult for a person to get rich from treasures, tk. most of them are spellbound and do not just fall into the hands. Stepan Razin's treasures are special, they are hidden in the ground on a human head or several heads. To get them, the treasure hunter must destroy a certain "conspired" number of people, and then the treasure will be obtained without much difficulty ...

Sometimes the treasure is buried "for the lucky one", but rarely. Then the "treasure sign" appears in the form of a black cat or dog. In this case, a person must follow such a cat, and when she stops and tortures her, he must hit her with all his might and say: "Crumble!" And then you have to dig in this place ...

They also say that the conditions of the conspiracy are too difficult for the treasures of Stepan Razin. But where are they - that's the question!

In general, many places are associated with the name of Stepan Razin, especially on the right bank of the Volga, and tourists are often shown "Stenkiny Bugry". Standing on the deck of the ship, one can hear: "Here Stenka camped ... Here, according to legend, he left his hat. This is the name of this place:" Stenka's cap. "

For example, near the village of Bannovki in the Saratov region there is a cliff called "Stenki Razin's Bugr". Locals claim that even at the beginning of the XX century. at sunset, when the shadows are long, on the hillock one could discern the outlines of a pit, where Razin allegedly had his "office". Many human bones were found in it. According to legend, Razin lived for a long time on this hillock in a luxurious tent with a gang. He lived richly - everything was upholstered in expensive velvet and silk. And on the "shihan" itself there was a chair with an ivory notch. From him, it happened, Razin looked out for merchants on the Volga and repaired the reprisals ... A large treasure, as they say, is buried here.

The 1900 guidebook contains the following lines: “Above Kamyshin, 40 versts, they also show“ Stenka Razin Hillock. ”And 8 versts above Danilovka lies the Stenkina Prison gorge, also called“ Datura. ”In the old years it was surrounded dense forest, in which it was easy to get lost. Here nearby there are many caves and Urakov the robber mountain. This is a high, 70 sazhen hill, where, according to legend, Razin hacked to death Urakov, after which he shouted in a loud voice for seven years to the ships passing along the Volga : "Screw it up!" - giving people awe "...

Now it is pertinent to ask the question: is there any reliable information about Razin's treasures found by anyone? In the "Donskoy Gazeta" for 1875 there was an article entitled "Ancient treasure hunters". It reported on an attempt to get Stepan Razin's treasure: "... From the inquiry it was revealed that, indeed, the treasure was dug in 1824 from June to October. The reason for this was the complaint of two persons to Ilovaisky about one Cossack who did not allow digging the treasure." ...

Since the end of the XIX century. I.Ya.Stelletsky was interested in the hoards of Stepan Razin, who made interesting notes: “Razin buried one property of the landowner near his cliff for 10 million rubles. In 1914, in Tsaritsyn, near the Trinity Church, a mountain fell 4 m deep. there were coffins and skeletons. It was discovered that this gap above Razin's cache, going from the named church to the pier on the Volga, where "Razin's painted boats" sailed, loaded with precious booty. He buried his booty in the same cache. rumor spread widely on his famous cliff, but it was not Stepan's fault — both on the rack and under the pincers, he did not admit where he buried the treasures. I found in them a remarkable document - Razin's original storeroom record of treasures hidden near the cliff. ”I excavated at the indicated place and actually discovered a whole network of underground galleries with powerful oak struts. and further searches and excavations, but the Russo-Japanese war put an end to it ... I was taken to the war, from where I did not return.

In 1910 a new contender appeared, this time an old captain from the region of the Don Coy. Apparently, he got hold of the pantry record of Ya-wa killed in Manchuria. Sh-coy came to Petersburg and presented documents that should be extremely convincing. In 1910, news of the treasure spread around nine newspapers. "

In the materials of Stelletsky's archive there are other records about attempts to unearth Razin's treasures: “There is also a Stenka Razin mound, huge, 100 m in height, there are underground passages in the mound. Stenkina cave is known in the Saratov province. V. Krestovsky ... In 1893, a certain Yascherov was looking for Razin's treasure in the Nizhny Novgorod province in four of his twelve camps along the Alatyr River. the Imperial archaeological expedition allowed him to search first for two days, then for ten. But winter came, and the search was postponed until the summer. Meanwhile, through the police and village elders, information about the vast underground was collected ... "

But, one might say, a recent episode. A participant in the Great Patriotic War, Captain 1st Rank G.I. Bessonov said that during the hot winter battles in the Stalingrad region, after a raid by Goering's bombers, the Volga bank crumbled. By chance, one of the soldiers noticed that at the top of the cliff, several old cast-iron cannons, stacked tightly in a row, were exposed. The muzzle of one of the cannons, which was heavily rusted, chipped off, and gold bracelets, earrings, pearls, rings, silver and gold objects spilled out of it along the slope, which quickly went to the hands. There was a rumor that this was the treasure of the "Volga robbers", and possibly Razin himself. Some tried to remove the cannons from the frozen ground, but this proved to be difficult. In addition, the site was shot through by the Germans. And soon after the next bombing, the coast crumbled, it snowed profusely ... Soon the attack on Paulus's group began, and they forgot about the treasure ...

It should be noted that this story contains an important historical detail: it is reliably known that the ataman hid part of the recovered jewels in old "damaged" cannons, gagged the barrel, buried it on the Volga bank, set a landmark, and the place and its description were entered into the "letter" "so that if necessary this place could be found.

Now let's return to the events that took place after Razin was handed over to the authorities. In April, the chieftain from Cherkassk was taken to Moscow, where he arrived on June 4 and was immediately subjected to terrible torture. But, apparently, he had prepared himself for such an end long ago and therefore endured them with the greatest courage, without a groan and without a single word of pity, while his brother Frolka was screaming in pain.

Frol was taken to the Don, where no treasure was found. Apparently, there Frol hoped to escape from custody with the help of familiar Cossacks. But he did not succeed. He told the archers who accompanied him that he had forgotten the place of the treasure, that he could not find now the large stone put, now the cave, now the tree. This peculiar game lasted quite a long time, almost five years. Then, according to the Tsar's decree, he was taken in a cart, chained in shackles, across the Moskva River, to Bolotnaya Square, where he was beheaded by the executioner.

So the last thread was cut ...

TREATMENT OF STEPAN RAZIN

As soon as the figure of the leader of a large peasant and Cossack uprising appears in Russian history, it will certainly be associated with the story of countless treasures and treasures. So it was with Emelyan Pugachev, whose treasures in the South Urals, according to local legends and beliefs, are found in almost every village. This could not but happen with the leader of the first truly major uprising, the famous Cossack ataman Stepan Razin ...

My brother let me down ...

Numerous stories, often turned into legends, about Stepan Razin's treasure date back to June 6, 1671. On this day, an execution took place on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow.

Stepan Razin himself and his brother Frol, who also played an important role in the uprising, were to be executed, but only Stepan Timofeevich died that day. He was executed first, and through quartering - that is, first, the limbs were chopped off one by one, and then the head.

Foreign eyewitnesses to the execution of Razin (the Russian authorities invited many foreigners to the spectacle - Europe should have learned firsthand that the leader of the most dangerous turmoil was dead) told in their written memoirs: after Stepan had his arms and legs chopped off, Frol Razin, frightened by the bloody spectacle, uttered “Word and the business of the sovereign! "

In pre-Petrine Russia, these were truly magical words - the one who uttered them let them know that he had information of primary state significance, he needed to be delivered to the “competent authorities” and interrogated. Witnesses also say that Stepan tried to silence his brother, but the formidable chieftain was immediately beheaded.

After that, Frol Razin was interrogated and he said that he knew where the hidden treasures of his older brother were. According to his version, the treasure was buried in a secret place on the banks of the Volga.

Soon Frol was sent to Astrakhan as part of a special expedition. This expedition searched several places that fit this description, but found nothing. As a result, in 1776, Frol Razin was still executed on the same Bolotnaya Square.

Treasure as part of folklore

The legends about Stepan Razin's hoard became so widely popular that they became part of Russian and especially Volga folklore, for two main reasons. Firstly, because of the magic of the name of Razin himself - in the popular mind, he was not only a dashing chieftain and a thunderstorm of the boyars and the tsar, but also a kind of superhero endowed with mystical abilities.

It is not for nothing that in many legends Razin is represented as the owner of magical abilities, and the fact that his treasures have not yet been found is simply explained - they are "charmed", that is, bewitched by the chieftain himself.

Secondly, there are rational grounds for the existence of the Razin treasures. First of all, one should not forget that the social component of the speeches led by Razin appeared at a late stage. Initially, Razin and his Cossacks were nothing more than hunters for rich prey.

His uprising began with the famous "campaign for zipuns" in 1667-1669 along the Volga and into the Caspian Sea. It was a predatory campaign, standard for the Cossacks of that time, when under hot hand there were both Russian and foreign merchants.

Razin's campaign reached outstanding proportions, in addition, after entering the Caspian Sea, he managed to defeat the Persian troops and fleet and take rich booty.

There are enough options for everyone

Finally, after the beginning of the uprising, the predatory actions of the Razin people did not stop, but, on the contrary, became more and more large-scale - since now merchant yards, the property of the Church, noble courts, boyar estates and the state treasury in the captured cities were plundered. So Razin has accumulated a lot of values.

It is known that when Razin was captured, his treasury was not with him, therefore, it is highly likely that, having got into a difficult situation, the ataman decided to keep his treasures and hid them. Most likely, not even in one, but in several caches, for reliability. But it is not known for certain where these treasures are.

It is difficult to say whether Frol Razin really knew about the whereabouts of the treasure or whether he simply made up this story in order to prolong his life (which he succeeded). Meanwhile, a huge number of versions about the location of Razin's treasures have survived to this day. It will not be an exaggeration that such hypothetical places are located practically along the entire course of the Volga - because during his campaigns Razin camped in dozens of places.

Great sinner

According to legend, the largest treasure was buried near the village of Shatrashany in the Sursky district of the Ulyanovsk region (formerly the Simbirsk province). According to legend, a sick barge haulers who had been disembarked from the ship met an old man in the forest, to whom he asked for a night's lodging. At first he did not let him in, and therefore allowed him with the words: "Stay, if you are not afraid ..."

Why should the barge haule be afraid? There is nothing to take from him, a rolling need. And the next morning the old man decided to introduce himself. Stenka says Razin. Great sinner. “I don’t know death and here I endure my torments for my sins”.

According to legend, the old man-Stenka gave a letter to the barge haule with clear instructions on how much, what and how to take from the treasure. First of all, part of the treasure should be given to the poor and in the church. Then take the spoken gun, loaded down with grass, with Stenka's death, shoot from it and shout three times: "Stepan Razin's eternal memory!"

At that very moment, the torment of the chieftain will end, and his soul will rest in peace. Yes, that's just the trouble - the wrong person met. The treasure was not given to an illiterate barge haule. He gave the letter to another person, a treasure from that in the ground and left ...

Guarded by evil spirits

Stenka's freemen had so much good that they buried it along the hillocks and along the hills. In the former Tsaritsyno bridle (now the Saratov region), near the village of Peskovatki, there is a mound, in which, according to legend, Stenka hid the whole ship as it is, stuffed with gold and silver.

The chieftain started the ship on the water aground, and when the water was gone, he “swept a mound”. I planted a willow for a sign. The people knew that the treasure was hidden in the mound, but they were just afraid to dig - with every attempt, every evil spirits jumped out, which, you see, guarded Stenka's good.

Hillock of Stenka Razin

Not far from the village of Bannovka, near the cliff on the Volga, between the village of Zolotoy and the mouth of the Bolshoi Eruslan river, there is the so-called "Stenki Razin's Hillock". This place, according to local residents, at the beginning of the century could easily be seen at sunset. They say that there was the ataman's "office". Allegedly, Razin with his gang stood for a long time on the indicated hillock.

A luxurious tent, upholstered with velvet and silk, at the top of the hillock is a throne chair with ivory notches, from which the chieftain looked out for new victims on the Volga. The treasure here, they say, was buried in a fabulous one, but apart from human bones nothing has yet been found.

Lizard Treasure Hunter

The captain of the Gatchina regiment Yascherov began his search in 1893. He got permission to carry out work on the search for the treasure from the Imperial Archaeological Commission in St. Petersburg. With assistants he went to the Volga in late autumn, but winter interrupted the plans of the treasure hunters.

At this time, information appeared that in the area of ​​the Volga villages of Pechi and Mikhailovka, a dungeon was found, the entrance to which was blocked by oak doors, locked with bolts and locks. The dungeon was supposed to be equipped ventilation pipe, into which the horse fell, plowing the ground.

Two daredevils descended into a hole the size of a wheel. The first was pulled out with a face distorted with horror. He died that same night. The second was a local psalmist, he held out in the dungeon for several minutes, and, despite the horror, managed to make out those very doors.

He made a new attempt to find the Razin treasures of the Lizardmen in 1904. He was rewarded for his tenacity. He found a stone with secret sign and the remains of a dam, next to which a submerged treasure boat was allegedly located. But again, Yashchurov's affairs were interfered with - this time Russo-Japanese war, with which the officer did not return.

Without losing hope

Another attempt to find Stenka Razin's treasure dates back to 1914. Near the Tsaritsyn Church of the Holy Trinity in Volgograd, the land went 4 meters away.

Burials were found at the bottom of the sinkhole. The watchmen recalled that, supposedly, once upon a time a secret underground passage was built on this place, which led from the city to the Volga itself, where the "painted Stenki Razin's boats" sailed loaded with good.

The search for the treasure was not crowned with success - when trying to walk along the underground passage, the earth began to collapse. There were no people willing to give their lives for stekka's treasure!

A front-line soldier's story

The story of a participant in the battles at Stalingrad, Captain 1st Rank Bessonov, has survived. According to him, as a result of the raid of fascist bombers, the Volga coast was crumbling. The soldiers noticed the bare barrels of old cannons, which were tightly stacked in a row. The muzzle of one of the cannons broke off, and treasures spilled out of it: earrings, bracelets, pearls, rings, silver and gold objects, which quickly disappeared into the bosoms of the soldiers.

It was suggested that these might be the treasures of Stenka Razin himself. Short attempts to extract guns from the frozen ground under enemy fire were unsuccessful. Soon the offensive began, and it became somehow completely out of place.

By the way, Razin liked to hide jewelry in “damaged” cannons, gagging their trunks and burying them on the Volga banks. The place of the treasure was marked with a landmark, and the description of the place was entered into the letter. But even under the terrible torture that Razin underwent before quartering, he did not name a single such place ...

I. LEGENDS AND WAS

"There are records about these treasures: it is written there where the treasure is buried, what kind it is and with what vow it is laid ... These treasures are terrible ...". This is what Melnikov-Pechersky, a well-known expert on the Volga antiquity, wrote about the robber's treasures. Many similar stories were told in Russia on long winter evenings by the stove or around a campfire at a halt. Quite a few seekers of a better life were served in torture - professional treasure hunters. There were entire villages engaged in this trade.
And almost every second treasure was associated with the name of Stepan Razin. And this story began on June 6, 1671, when the earthly life of the famous chieftain was cut short. At the same time, the legend of the Razin treasures began its journey through the centuries. And not just a legend.

Razin's brother Frol at the last moment shouted: "The word and deed of the sovereign!", Which meant readiness to talk about an important crime against the state, and Stepan managed to tell him: "Be quiet, dog!" This last phrase of the chieftain was heard and written down by the German Konrad Sturtzfleisch, who was standing near the very platform. Not relying on his knowledge of the Russian language, he even did it in Latin letters.

The English merchant Thomas Hebdon reported a week later: “It is reliably known that the recently executed rebel really was their main rebel Stepan Razin. His brother was healed of his wounds after torture, and soon should be sent to Astrakhan to find the treasures buried there by Stepan. "
Many years later, the famous Russian historian Kostomarov, having gained access to the old investigative files, will restore the picture of what was happening in more detail.
The authorities very quickly became convinced that you would not get any information from Stepan Timofeevich, but Frol, not heeding his brother's last order, the very next day “... , then his brother Stenka buried everything in the ground ... he put it in a jug and buried it on an island on the Don River. " In addition, he showed that when the chieftain, who fled after the defeat from Simbirsk on the Don, there was a chest with junk and jewelry. Frolu especially remembered the model of Constantinople for some reason made of ivory, which the elder brother carried with him all the time.
Thus, the secret Razin archive was hidden in the Don, but the mysterious chest with jewels, apparently, disappeared somewhere along the way. In any case, the detachment sent by the tsar's decree with Frol Razin spent five years searching not only on the Don, but also in the foothills of the Zhiguli. There was nothing surprising in this, because Razin, wounded near Simbirsk, sailed past Samara on plows, and then moved to the upper reaches of the Don by a dry route. Somewhere on this site, he got rid of the bulky luggage. Frol and the archers never found anything, the further fate of Razin's brother is lost in the darkness of obscurity. Either he died under torture, or he was exiled somewhere forever.
This is where the documentary history of the treasure ends and the legendary begins. As we can see, it does not start from scratch. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich would not just drive a detachment of archers along the Volga for five years. Razin also had considerable values. This is how a foreign eyewitness described the return of the Cossacks from the Persian campaign. “They came from there in detachments to the city, and simple Cossacks were dressed like kings, in silk, velvet and other clothes, woven with gold. Some wore crowns of pearls on their hats and precious stones... The Cossacks came to the city every day and sold there incredibly expensive booty. They sold a pound of silk for three stavers, and it was bought mostly by the Armenians and Persians, who in this way made up great treasures and riches. I bought from a Cossack a large chain, 1 klaft long, consisting of links, like a bracelet, and five precious stones were melted between each share. For this chain I gave no more than 40 rubles, or 70 guilders. " Then, during the uprising, the city of Astrakhan, then the center of Russia's eastern trade, fell into the hands of the Razin people for two years. As follows from official documents, then many Persian, Indian, Armenian, Tatar merchants were robbed, the royal treasury was seized. The same wealth these merchants possessed can be judged by their gifts, which are now on display in the Kremlin Armory. An Armenian company, for example, presented Tsar Boris Godunov with a gilded throne studded with diamonds.
It is not surprising that the brilliance of these treasures so strongly influenced the image of the famous chieftain, who is known to us from numerous legends, tales and songs. Moreover, Stepan Timofeevich himself was an outstanding person. The Tsaritsin's voivode, in all seriousness, reported to Moscow: "That ataman does not take a squeak or a saber - he does not take anything," and the same English merchant Thomas Hebdon, who was present at the execution of the rebel, wrote: "This Razin kept his angry appearance of a tyrant and it was evident that he was not at all afraid of death. "

All these stories, real and invented over time, mixed with the stories of other Volga robbers, legends and legends created on our shores by numerous peoples who lived here and, as a result, gave rise to that amazing image of an enchanted ataman-sorcerer who floats on the water on a magic mat and one with a wave of his hand, breaks up entire caravans. And how many gloomy superstitions were added by the annual anathemas uttered to Stepan Razin in churches.
Perhaps the most beautiful legend is associated with our places. It tells that the island on the Volga opposite Syzran, in fact, is the roof of an underwater palace that stands in the middle of the enchanted Peaceful City. A beautiful river princess lives in it. There Stenka Razin took refuge for the time being. Only occasionally on moonlit nights does he come to the surface and float down the Volga on his magical rug or fly in a boat full of gold. And sometimes the Mirny city itself rises from the water.
Jokes as a joke, but for centuries, many people have seen, there is a mysterious mirage over the southern bend of the Samara Luka. They say it looks like a city. The Kalmyks-Buddhists who once roamed in our area considered him a vision of Shambhala. The tale is a lie - but there is a hint in it. After all, the action of our story about Stepan Razin's treasure will take place at the same place. In treasure hunt stories, surprising coincidences often occur.
It is a pity, of course, but you have to leave the halls of the enchanted palace and the romantic world of legends and travel back to the beginning of the pragmatic XX century. This was the time when fairy tales became reality, the science of archeology was developing with might and main, and scientists again became interested in many ancient secrets. Schliemann found the legendary Troy, Carter's tomb of Tutankhomon, and here in Russia they were looking for the famous library of Ivan the Terrible. The archaeologist Ignatius Stelletsky who was engaged in this, among other things, drew attention to the story of Stepan Razin's treasures. To his surprise, he found in it not only fairy tales and dusty old documents.
It turned out that a certain Myatlev was looking for these treasures just before the First World War. A serious man, a military engineer, he probably had good reasons for such an occupation. And it soon became clear that the maternal officer belonged to the family of the Baltic nobles von Rode. This already gave the whole story a completely different shape.
According to the numerous publications that have appeared in Lately and to the authors of the program "Seekers", then a certain Auguste von Rode, a Swedish nobleman in the Russian service, was just at the time of the Razin uprising in the Volga region and even knew the legendary chieftain. Then he got away from our places and peacefully lived out his life in a small estate, granted for faithful service. He allegedly hid in himself, and then betrayed to the authorities a certain Alena, whom rumor considered Razin's mistress. Here are some papers of this same von Rode and caught the eye of the military engineer Myatlev two centuries later. But they are not the only ones.
It turned out that before, someone from the von Rode family had been engaged in mysterious searches in the Middle Volga region. It ended unsuccessfully. During the excavation work, a landslide occurred, three workers were crushed to death, and the unlucky seeker himself was put on trial.
A very definite picture was now emerging. Alas, not supported by documents in any way. After the arrest of Razin, a certain esaul Luka Cherepok became the owner of the secret of his treasures. After his death, either the ataman or the Esaul mistress, Alena, took refuge with von Rode, to whom she revealed the secret. Many years later, a descendant of the Baron stumbled upon these papers and went in search, which ended tragically. And after a while the secret fell into the hands of the military engineer Myatlev. Alas, the story ends there. Myatlev himself died, what and where he was looking for remained a mystery. Only a faint trace remained. When an officer took leave to go in search, he, as a military man, was obliged to indicate his location. In the papers of Myatlev, Samara is listed as such.
This is the trail that modern search engines have followed. For some time, the authors of the television cycle rummaged through the caves and quarries in the vicinity of Samara and got away, not eating salty. Nothing that, one way or another, could be correlated with Stepan Razin, or at least the engineer Myatlev, they did not come across. It seemed that now this story will sink into oblivion forever.
But the expedition did not travel a hundred kilometers downstream of the Volga in vain. There, where to this day the enchanted Peaceful City still appears to some lucky people. It was there, in the bowels of the State Archives of the city of Syzran, that one curious document lay waiting in the wings.

II. FIND IN THE SYZRAN ARCHIVE

Several years ago I rummaged through the papers of the Syzran District Court of the late 18th century. This lesson, as well as possible, is characterized by the words of Pushkin: "The past passes before me." Slowly you turn over the thick pages of bluish paper, decorated with filigree of long-forgotten factories, you peer at the handwriting of the clerks. No, no, and will blow at you the snuff that was so loved in this gallant century. And as if long-gone shadows will come to life.
What can you not find here. Protocols of interrogations and inspection of places of incidents, inventory of property, complaints, claims, deeds of sale. A real encyclopedia of the life of that time. Among other things, I came across a mention that a certain Fyodor von Rode had hired a local landowner Vasily Samarin to make cars. Such a story could not fail to interest. Cars at the end of the 18th century, and even in our provincial wilderness. And the personality of Samarin himself was very remarkable.
He just just moved to our area. He acquired vast lands in the Syzran Trans-Volga region and began to settle down here. The new holdings were completely deserted. Previously, they were owned by some princes, but purely nominally. There were summer camps of Kalmyks right next to them, why it was dangerous to live there. Only in the summer did Syzran inhabitants come to the farmsteads, and the peasants of the landowners Dmitriev and Bestuzhev for haymaking.
Samarin decided to stand firmly in the Volga region, fortunately, the means were available. He moved more than 2,000 peasants to the Syzran district, founded several villages and villages. At the time being described, they have not even managed to acquire permanent names yet. Everything settlements that belonged to Samarin were named either by the name of the owner Vasilievskys or Annins. The village of Vyazovka with vast lands on the right bank of the Volga was also jointly owned by Prince Urusov. During the described time, a lengthy legal battle was conducted over the division of this estate, which, by the way, played an important role in the entire subsequent history.
Samarin was in charge of the latest achievements of the then economic science. Subscribed from abroad breeding cattle, built a distillery to process surplus grain. Moreover, part production processes wanted to mechanize. For which he hired a certain Baron von Rode, a retired major in the engineering corps. But this case turned out to be in the Syzran district court because the work was never completed. Throwing business halfway, the major left. That, in fact, is the whole story.
The same story about Stepan Razin's treasures made me come back to it again. After all, a certain Baron von Rode was mentioned there, who was looking for treasure somewhere on the Middle Volga and was put on trial. Moreover, during the earthworks there was a collapse, and three people died. So after all, in the Syzran case, a landslide was also mentioned, which claimed three lives! I read the case more closely, and immediately discovered a lot of oddities in it.
Let's walk together through the chain of events that took place near Syzran more than two centuries ago.
An ad appeared in No. 43 of the newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti. Major Fyodor Ivanovich von Rode, a retired military engineer, wrote that, “knowing the mechanical and hydrological art, he can correct thin mills, dams and sluices with a very small amount of money. He can lift water up with the help of a machine he invented. " At the same time, the author expressed his readiness to conclude a long-term contract for several years.
Quite a long time passed until the newspaper caught the eye of the Syzran landowner Vasily Samarin. He wrote to his friend Colonel Yakov Aprelev in Moscow, asking him to offer von Rohde a contract. He readily agreed, demanding 1,200 rubles an annual salary and food for three people accompanying him in the amount of one and a half poods of rye flour and one and a half pounds of cereal per month. In October 1790, the baron arrived in Simbirsk.
Here, as usual, the final contract has already been drawn up. The baron did not know Russian well, so the document had to be translated into German. Von Rohde had to make a sawmill, a device for grinding roughage and much more. But the most important were the water-lifting machines for supplying the Volga water. After short negotiations, during which the feed chopping machine was excluded from the document, on October 23, 1790, a contract between Samarin and von Rode was finally signed in the Simbirsk broker's office, after which the engineer received 1200 rubles, provisions for the servants and left for the Syzran district.

True, another person was not mentioned here, who, nevertheless, arrived with him. This is the Major's aunt. Why did you need to drag her into our wilderness?
During the winter, von Rode made only a sawmill and a couple of water pumps at the wells. And also prepared drawings. There was time to get a good look around the area. He began to show genuine zeal only in the spring, when he began to make a large water-lifting machine. This work required significant excavation work.
It was evident that Rode was in a hurry. He constantly demanded that Samarin double the number of excavators and, under various pretexts, avoided doing other work. And on October 13, there was a collapse. A three-fathom trench collapsed, burying three workers.
Samarin took this news calmly. He only, according to the existing order, notified the district police about the accident. Even an investigation into this case was not carried out. But von Rohde behaved more than strange.
On the fifth day after the incident, when Samarin left for Syzran to hush up the death case in a local court, a mysterious guest arrived at the major. It was neither more nor less than the messenger of Prince Alexander Kurakin himself.
Those who went to school in the 70s probably remember the portrait of a pompous nobleman, studded with diamonds, which adorned a history textbook for the seventh grade. This was Prince Alexander Kurakin. The Diamond Prince, as his contemporaries called him for his passion for jewelry. And also, a friend of the heir to the Russian throne, Pavel Petrovich. At the time described, Empress Catherine II just sent Kurakin into exile in the Saratov estate in order to protect the Grand Duke from his bad influence. Indeed, in addition to his love for gems, this man also had numerous and very dubious connections in Masonic circles. At this time, persecutions against "free masons" began in Russia, who, not without reason, were suspected of contacts with foreign secret organizations.
Later, when giving evidence to the court, von Rode let slip that the appearance of the envoy of Prince Kurakin was not accidental. He came at the request of the vice-chancellor of the Russian Empire, Andrei Osterman, to whom, in turn, the major had sent a letter shortly before. What connected the powerful nobleman with the hapless builder of sawmills and water pumps remains a mystery. Subsequent events showed too clearly that behind the major were very influential people.
In any case, barely speaking with the prince's messenger, von Rohde immediately appeared to Samarin's wife and announced that he was leaving. She, of course, advised to wait for her husband's return, but for now she forbade him to leave. She directly advised the Kurakino envoy to get out of the way. The Samara manager hinted rather transparently that people often drown here in the Volga.
The fact that these were not empty jokes became clear after Samarin's arrival. He returned late on October 19, and already in the morning he ordered to sound the alarm, summoning the peasants, who then broke down the door of the baron's dwelling and grabbed the envoy. Von Rohde himself, in one frock coat, jumped out the window and fled. He took refuge in the floodplain swamps, of which there were so many before on the banks of the Volga.
The Baron is not to be envied. October 20 is the first of November in the new style. Finding himself without warm clothes in sparsely populated places, where there was practically no one except the Samara peasants, he was doomed. The only hope was the manager of Prince Urusov, the same one who was suing Samarin over the right-bank lands. To him and got von Rode "through the cold and the swamp." There, the fugitive was given a boat and a couple of guides, who at night ferried him across the Volga and provided a cart that brought the major to Repyovka, to the house of the landowner Vasily Bestuzhev.
On October 26, von Rode finally reached Kurakin. He immediately begins to bother to rescue the baron's aunt and his property from "captivity". Already on November 10, the Simbirsk governor Karpov sent to the Syzran district police the strictest order to immediately go to Vasilievskoye and bring the woman.
Samarin, naturally, did not calm down. He had extensive connections at the very top, his brother-in-law was even the governor-general of St. Petersburg, and here some Livonian rogue leads him by the nose. Samarin summoned the provincial architect, examined all the work performed and demanded either their completion or monetary compensation of 5,000 rubles, but the scythe found it on the stone. The case seemed to hit a blank wall. Someone very powerful was clearly not giving it a go.
And after 1796, when Pavel Petrovich became the Russian emperor, and Prince Kurakin became the prosecutor general, the case disappeared altogether, leaving only a few copies of the minutes in the district court journal. There were a lot of interesting documents there. For example, a detailed description of von Rode's work by the architect Tuscany. Testimony during interrogations of many characters. It is clear that the baron did not chatter too much, but they could blurt out something unnecessary through unreason. We can only guess what details this case took with it. We will try to put together what is.
A certain von Rode, whose ancestor Auguste was familiar with Stepan Razin and his entourage, and a descendant of Myatlev was looking for the ataman's treasures somewhere near Samara, goes to Syzran and shows considerable interest in earthworks... The depth to which it deepens at the same time reaches six meters. At the same time, he notifies about his trip not to anyone, but to the Vice-Chancellor of the Russian Empire himself.
In October, events begin to develop at a feverish pace. The Baron notifies his patrons about something, and they send a person to him. At the same time, a landslide occurs, and the diggers die. Then the major stops working and flees the estate. But, it is quite obvious that it is not running because of a landslide. Samarin hushed up the case, demanded the continuation of work, paid good money. So why was the baron running? Why did you correspond so feverishly with Kurakin and someone else? Why did he bring his aunt with him into the wilderness?
It seems that von Rohde did what he wanted. Just what? All that remains is to build versions. It was a very eventful time. Catherine II began persecuting Masons, suspecting them of having connections with foreign organizations, which entailed significant financial difficulties not only for Russian "free masons", but also for the heir to the throne Pavel Petrovich, who at that time, according to rumors, even turned to Old Believers. Quite, someone from his entourage could decide on an adventure with the search for the treasure.
Now about von Rohde himself. Why did he go to the Volga at this time? The answer suggests itself - up to this point south of Syzran were deserted and dangerous. In summer, Kalmyks roamed there, robbers ruled on the river itself. The appearance of an expedition in these parts would inevitably attract the attention of the authorities, and it was all too expensive.
And then Samarin turned up with his economic projects. It remains only to advertise and wait for the prey to bite itself. And you don't have to worry about the diggers. But these are only versions that you can build as much as you like.
I described this whole story in an article that was published a year ago in the magazine "Kvartira 63" and thought that now it is unlikely that I will return to it. But I completely forgot that the treasures live according to some of their own laws known to them. They choose the hour when and how to be born, when to finish the story and when to continue. Very little time passed, and Stepan Razin's treasure again reminded of itself.

III. ANTIQUE CANNON PUZZLE

The more I study the history of our region, the more I am surprised - how rich it is. How many secrets, exciting stories, disappeared treasures are in it. We just don't know about them. "Lazy and incurious" - said the classic. The same legendary treasures of Stepan Razin. Wherever they are not looking for. Films are shot, expeditions are organized. And the trail, apparently, goes here - to our native Syzran.
When I saw a mention in the local newspaper that they found beyond the Volga old cannon, then at first I could not think where this story will lead me. It just got interesting. In the old days, the population had a lot of cannons. Merchants put them on their ships for defense from the dashing people, who then abounded on the Volga Way, the landowners kept them in their estates. Two originals from the village of Komarovka even invited each other to visit with cannon shots. Among other things, ships often sank in the Volga during storms, and then the local population hunted by taking all the good from them. And all kinds of good things happened, including cannons from state-owned Ural factories, intended for the southern fortresses.
However, what he saw immediately puzzled. There was no mark on the gun. And the casting itself was not of very high quality, completely unlike the factory one. The welded seam on the side indicated that the tool had once been cast in two halves and joined together. Strict state regulations did not allow this.


Actually, this gun was not intended for excessive loads. It did not even reach half a meter in length, it was equipped from below with a metal pin for rigid attachment and served, most likely, to protect a river plow or bark.
It was not possible to establish the place of its initial discovery. It was just lying around from time immemorial under the roof of the bathhouse, until they paid attention to it. One detail was especially noteworthy - the cannon was filled with resin. Not wrapped in tarred rags, but completely flooded. For what purpose was this done? But what if the purpose of such a powerful conservation was not a cannon, but some papers hidden in the trunk? I immediately remembered the words from the investigative file of Frol Razin "and buried the pitch." Alas, the cannon was soaked in kerosene, if anything was lost.
And another item was also found with the cannon.


Rusty nondescript, at first it did not attract any attention, and I even took it for some kind of artillery equipment, like a bathhouse. But, a close look immediately determined that he was not always like this.


Traces of gilding were clearly visible on it. Good, conscientious, made of thick forged foil.


Someone mercilessly scraped it off, but traces remained.
Ceremonial mace! The symbol of the ataman power! It is quite obvious that she hardly belonged to the leader of any small gang. Such regalia was needed only for those who led a very impressive detachment. It was this thought that immediately entered my head.
I think you can imagine with what reverence I now held this mace in my hands. After all, it is possible that it once belonged to one of the Razin atamans, or maybe, the devil is not joking, to Stepan Timofeevich himself. Alas, little has survived from its original appearance. All the jewelry was mercilessly stripped off a long time ago.
Only at the very end of the handle there are several points left, which I initially took for the trace from the braid fastener. Like nail marks. And only later, when I was looking at the photographs, the thought occurred to me that the braid fasteners should be evenly distributed on different sides of the handle.


Here, the mysterious points were very clearly lined up along this line. And they were clearly divided into groups. Two points, rub, four.
Immediately I remembered my childhood, the film "Dagger", mysterious dots and lines on the scabbard. Old Russian cipher - littorea. Is it really the same here? I remember that there was only half of the cipher in the film, and the other half had to be found. Maybe it's the same here? Alas, none of the specialists I turned to could help with anything. They advised me to contact the State Historical Museum.
The situation was complicated by the fact that only photographs remained in my hands.


It's good that I figured out to copy the mysterious signs into the notebook.
It was with this baggage that I turned to the specialists. Their opinion was unanimous - this was the first time he had encountered this type of mace. She's kind of strange. The situation was saved by the very signs copied into the notebook. Barely glancing at them, the restorer immediately slapped himself on the forehead. It's a steelyard! A simple device used in the olden days for weighing heavy loads. It's just that his hook was broken, which made it look like a mace. This is why no one could determine the type of weapon.
Seeing my disappointment, the restorer decided to calm me down. It turns out that all kinds of weighing instruments: weights on strings, steelyards were widely used by dashing people as weapons. This is widely covered in fiction. In the same novel by Valentin Pikul, "Word and Deed," Syzran merchants "departed" with steelyards to Vanka Cain. So it is no coincidence that someone carefully wrapped a seemingly broken and unnecessary object in a tarred rag and hid it along with the gun. But this balance was not a sign of the ataman power.
In the meantime, let's return to the materials of the archaeologist Ignatius Stelletsky. The one who had been looking for the library of Ivan the Terrible in the Kremlin dungeons for many years, and he told us the story of the treasure-hunting odyssey of the descendants of Baron Auguste von Rohde. After all, it is from there that a barely noticeable thread stretches to our edges.
The history of the baron's discovery of the secret of the Razin treasures is as follows. After the arrest and death of the ataman, his associate Esaul, Luka Cherepok, either hid or hid some valuables, and he himself soon died. A certain Alena the vatazhnitsa becomes the owner of the secret, who takes refuge with von Rode. After all, this perfectly explains why the detachment of the royal archers, led by Frol Razin, did not find anything. The shard hid everything.
Here the question involuntarily arises, who exactly are these esaul and Alena. Why did they so decisively and arbitrarily dispose of Razin's secrets, unceremoniously hiding valuables and secret archives?
First of all, Alena is a vatazhnitsa. For some reason, everyone who writes about this story invariably identifies her with the old lady Alyona, the famous chieftain who fought near Arzamas. This personality is undoubtedly legendary. The nun, who led the rebel detachment, successfully defeated the tsarist governors, later declared a witch and burned at the stake. Soviet historiography even tried to declare her the Russian Zhanna Dark.
It is too obvious that only her name unites her with our Alena the vatazhnitsa. Perhaps the secret of Razin's treasures really fell into the hands of a woman not so famous, most likely a mistress, either the chieftain himself, or someone from his inner circle. She was just overshadowed by the image of a more famous namesake.
We didn’t manage to find out anything about Esaul Luka Cherepka either.
There is only one thing left - to travel back to the distant 1671 and see what happened in our area after the execution of Stepan Razin.
The Middle Volga was completely in the hands of the Cossacks. At the very time when Frol Razin was giving his testimony in the tsar's dungeons, ataman Fyodor Sheludyak again stormed Simbirsk. They managed to beat him off with great difficulty, and the Cossack detachments withdrew south to Tsaritsin. But already on July 13, Simbirsk was again subjected to a surprise attack, and from the north. The detachment of Ataman Maxim Osipov, which had previously operated near Nizhny Novgorod, making its way to the lower reaches of the Volga, tried to use the surprise factor. But he had too little strength. Active hostilities continued until late autumn, when Voivode Miloslavsky finally convinced the rebellious Astrakhan to surrender, promising royal mercy and forgiveness.
Tellingly, the nobleman kept his word. By the way, it was on this campaign that Miloslavsky had an icon with him. Mother of God Life-giving source, which he then took to Moscow. It was in front of this image that a solemn prayer service was served there on the occasion of the successful end of the riot. This icon had an interesting fate. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich took her to his rooms, and when, eleven years later, the Syzran fortress was founded, it was this image that was transferred to our city cathedral, erected in her honor.
Only after Miloslavsky left for Moscow in 1672 did the search and persecution of the participants in the uprising begin. During this time, many managed to disappear without a trace, including major leaders. They didn’t find Nikifor Chertk, Stepan Razin’s uncle. Asan Karachurin, who was actively working in our area, eluded the detectives. What can we say about the small fry? Only the lines of later documents speak of what was lost and hidden in all this whirlwind.
Archer Karp Semyonov, who went over to Razin's side, and later lived in Astrakhan, hid a notebook in his underground field, in which sentences and "sheets" were collected. It was given to him by the mortally wounded Cossack Grigory during the battle near Simbirsk. The Don Ataman I. Ivanov, who moved with his detachment to the Volga in 1682, had “the banners and ensign of Stenka Razin” with him. But most of the secrets of that time remained hidden in the protected natural boundaries.
The Razin relics could have got to our land in a variety of ways. Indeed, when the city was founded, almost everyone who received land in its vicinity: the Karsun Cossacks under the command of Vasily Zhemkov, the Mordovian and Chuvash Murzas, were former participants in the uprising. At the same time, the clerks sent to inspect the lands unexpectedly found an unknown Tatar village in a remote valley near the Metley river, the inhabitants of which reported that they had moved here from the Temnikovskaya district. Wasn't it where Asan Karachurin and his comrades found refuge for himself?
But we are still more interested in the trail that leads through Baron von Rohde. Indeed, apparently, in this case we are talking about really great values ​​that could only belong to Razin himself. It is quite obvious that after his death the former comrades-in-arms could not but try to find the chieftain's cache. They had much more opportunities than the Tsar's detectives. But for some reason it did not work. Maybe this is where the reason for the death of that same Esaul Luka Cherepok lurks? Was Alena the vatazhnitsa just a romantic person who inadvertently got involved in bloody men's affairs? After all, something connected her with Baron Auguste von Rohde, was it not for nothing that she sought refuge with him? Considering that some call Alyona Razin's mistress, the most piquant versions come to mind. But this is already a good plot for a novel. It is no coincidence that the first person in Soviet times to pay attention to this story was none other than Yulian Semyonov, who wrote the essay “Closed Pages of History” back in 1984. We will stop our assumptions at this point. Moreover, they perfectly superimpose, as on the official description historical events and on the data of Stelletskiy.
Perhaps it was the Syzran Trans-Volga region that became the last refuge of the famous Razin treasure.