Settlement goose-iron of Kasimovsky district - goose - history - catalog of articles - unconditional love. A trip to Zhelezny Goose: a manor and an amazing church Why is the iron goose so named

Towering over a small village, the Trinity Cathedral is clearly visible from the highway. Its unnatural forms for these places are amazing. Why is there such a huge temple in the middle of a small village? The cathedrals of all neighboring cities, including the second largest city in the region, Kasimov, would envy its size. Perhaps Andrei Rodionovich Batashev, the owner of the factories, the landowner and patron of the arts, simply could afford this and there was no need for other reasons.

1.

Here, on the banks of the river with a strange name - Goose (which, of course, has nothing to do with geese), the iron foundries of the industrial empire of the Batashev brothers were once located. There was also the estate "Eagle's Nest" of one of the brothers - Andrei Rodionovich. He was here both the king and God, probably it was thanks to his will that the monumental Trinity Cathedral was erected after his death.

2.

Andrey Rodionovich, although he was an Old Believer, there were a variety of rumors about him. Perhaps he was a Freemason, but as I understand it, there is no unambiguous evidence for this, but there are plenty of oddities and legends. The cathedral was built over 60 years from 1802 to 1868. Batashev died in 1825 and did not see the completion of construction, by that time they had only reached the construction of the dome. I heard that the project changed a little in the process and there is even a legend that this is why the cathedral is devoid of Masonic symbols.

3.

When you stand in front of the cathedral there is a strong feeling that something is wrong. At a glance, it may seem that you have been transported somewhere to England, but turning around you see the same Russian province. The author of the project is unknown, possibly belonged to Bazhenov or one of his students. Bazhenov himself and his buildings are also associated with Freemasonry.

4.

The temple with its appearance subtly resembles British abbeys. Despite all the eclectic appearance, it looks solid.

5. Almost Cambridge.

6. Up!

7. It's a pity the plastic windows are standing.

8.

9. It's hard to believe that this is the Ryazan outback.

10.

11. The location of the apses is very atypical. Such a cathedral would not be lost in Lviv.

12. A small part of the temple is open for parishioners, probably they do not use the full premises.

13. A service was held in the temple, they sang very beautifully.

14. Cathedral inside the cathedral.

15. Batashev's estate has also been preserved.

Andrei Rodionovich retained a bad memory of himself. There are many legends about him in which the owner of the estate is presented in a completely unfavorable light. They say that when buying up the surrounding lands, he greatly intimidated and blackmailed the landlords that he had a secret gang of bandits from the Meshchera forests. They also say that entering Potemkin's entourage, Batashev turned out to be out of reach for commissions and inspections at his factories. As I already wrote, Freemasonry is attributed to him, which may well be true.

16. Until recently there was a children's sanatorium here, now the estate looks abandoned.

They say that secret passages and rooms were built under the estate, where they either minted a fake coin, or were engaged in alchemy. I heard something similar about Demidov in Nevyansk. There is a legend that once, due to an unexpected check, Batashev flooded the secret passages right along with the workers. There was no evidence of this, although there really could be underground passages, they have not yet been found.

17. The columns are original, but the balcony has not been preserved.

18. Date at the main entrance.

19.

20. Manor from the back.

21. The manor and the park were surrounded by a wall, I read that it was high and resembled a fortress, but I did not find any images. Now the park is overgrown, and the estate is full of ruins.

Gus-Zhelezny (the photos in this article show the sights of this settlement) - this is located in the Ryazan region (Kasimovsky district), is the administrative center of the Gusevsky urban settlement. It is located near the dam, built in the eighteenth century, about twenty kilometers from the administrative center - Kasimov. The village is surrounded by mixed and coniferous forests.

"We lived with my grandmother..."

“The grandmother lived with two cheerful geese: Gus-Zhelezny and Gus-Khrustalny,” the inhabitants joked in the old days. Both of these villages with similar names were located in the Melenkovsky district, on the same river Gus. If the first of the Gus brothers, located in the upper reaches of the river, was the center of the glass industry of the famous Maltsovs, then the brother in the lower reaches of the Gus (near the river's confluence with the Oka) became the capital of the no less famous and famous "iron kings" - the Batashev brothers. For more than one hundred and fifty years, "two merry geese" were in the Vladimir region, but in the twentieth century, the villainous fate separated them with one stroke of the pen. So, after a series of administrative-territorial reforms, at the behest of officials, Gus-Zhelezny ended up in the Ryazan region. However, its history is inseparable from the past of the Vladimir region, and even today it is only ten kilometers from Gus to the border with it.

Let's hit the road…

Usually Gus-Zhelezny (Ryazan region) tourists visit in passing, on the way to the ancient merchant city of Kasimov. There are two paths leading to this area. The first is from Moscow to Ryazan along the Novoryazanskoye highway (M 5), and from there - along the road R 123 - R 105. The second - from Moscow immediately to Kasimov (or Gus) along the Egoryevskoye highway (R 105). Most often, tourists choose the second option to visit Gus-Zhelezny (the map will help you figure out the route), because this is a direct path. However, not all that glitters is gold. It has a lot of minuses, the Egoryevskoye highway is mostly narrow and winding, it is not easy to overtake on it. Along it there are many suburban areas, so the workload is high, as a result, the average speed is 60-70 kilometers per hour. But after the ninetieth kilometer (dacha villages become noticeably smaller), it is a pleasure to drive.

And the story ends...

And now Moscow is behind, the harsh Russian roads begin. As soon as the car crosses the sign "Ryazan region", the road becomes either bad or very bad. Here there are sections with continuous potholes (and of considerable size), which alternate with relatively good, but, unfortunately, very short segments. In some areas, sometimes up to ten kilometers, you have to move (if you can call it movement) at a snail's speed (15 km / h). Driving here at night is not recommended.

First Impressions

The first thing you pay attention to when you get to this settlement is the majestic silhouette of the temple. It literally reigns over a small river and squat houses. Here the temple subjugates everything, you can see it from everywhere. It seems that the life of the inhabitants of Gus-Zhelezny is concentrated exclusively around him. There is a small provincial market in front of the temple. And even among the merchants, one can feel the unhurried, measured rhythm of local life. In the town there is a "relic" of the Soviet era - a traditional statue of V. I. Lenin. As in any other settlement of the former Union, it occupies a central place. In Gus-Zhelezny, but here the leader of the world proletariat timidly looks out from behind the bushes, he does not even pretend to play some more or less significant role in the life of the village. The hulk of the temple simply reduces Ilyich to the rank of an ordinary object. Earlier, during the heyday of metallurgical production, this Trinity Church was a real city cathedral. But we'll talk about it a little later.

Andrey Batashov

The active development of the surrounding villages on the Gus River began in the middle of the eighteenth century, when Ivan and Andrei Batashov, representatives of the well-known in Russia dynasty of Tula blacksmiths and gunsmiths (a monument was erected to them on the main square of the city of Gus-Zhelezny), founded their own iron foundry. It was part of an impressive empire, which included 18 metallurgical plants in different provinces (second only to the factories of the Yakovlevs and Demidovs in iron smelting). This village first received the name of Gus-Batashovsky, and then, over time, was renamed Gus-Zhelezny, in contrast to its fellow Gus Maltsovsky-Khrustalny, and one of the brothers, Andrei Batashov, became its sole owner.

Batashov's estate

Andrey Rodionovich arranged the estate "Eagle's Nest" in the village. In addition, a dam was erected on the river at his expense (it was partially preserved). The main house of the estate (end of the 18th century) is close in architectural style to the typical urban public buildings of that period: it is very strongly elongated along the longitudinal axis, it has strict facades, practically devoid of decorative elements. He is of little note. But for provincial contemporaries, the mansion evoked completely different feelings, with all its appearance resembling "either a medieval castle, or a fortress." And this is easily explained, because the house with the adjacent garden was surrounded by a stone wall up to seven meters high (today it is partially preserved), and at the entrance to the dam a watchtower with a huge iron goose on its spire was erected. In addition, the estate housed a poultry house, a menagerie and a fortress theater. In the garden divided into three parts, greenhouses and gazebos were arranged, in which various exotic fruits were grown: peaches, oranges, lemons.

Gus-Zhelezny: health resort

Today, a children's sanatorium is located on the territory of the mansion. This specialized medical and preventive institution provides rehabilitation for children after acute illnesses, and also works to prevent chronic diseases and improve the health of children aged 5-15 years.

Legends of the old manor

One of the parts of the park zone bore a very eloquent name - "The Garden of Horrors". Her appointment was corresponding to the name - for torture and punishment. In addition, according to legend, there is a rather extensive underground complex under the estate, thanks to which the main house was connected to the factory and various buildings. Many creepy legends are associated with the estate. For example, according to one of them, runaway convicts minted in the Batashov dungeons. And when the commission of inquiry arrived to investigate these rumors, Andrei Batashov ordered to fill up the exit, thereby burying the workers alive. According to another legend, the police officer who arrived at the plant to investigate a criminal case disappeared without a trace, and after some time a human skeleton was found in the wall of the plant, and only by the copper buttons on the suit could they identify the missing official in him.

In general, legends about secret burials and countless treasures hidden in the dungeon of the estate throughout the nineteenth century excited the minds of many people, but to this day they have not found reliable evidence. Andrey Rodionovich Batashov peacefully ended his life in the estate, without getting on trial, despite the fact that his "track record" is very impressive: it includes murders, bribing officials, seizure of property.

Gus-Zhelezny: temple

The monumental Trinity Church was laid after the death of A. R. Batashov, in the presence of his son, already in 1802. The construction work was completed in 1840-1860. The church interestingly intertwined features of various trends and styles (classicism, neo-gothic, baroque); there is something Moorish in the arrow-shaped niches directed upwards. All elements (profiles, pilasters, windows) are not just decor, but "flesh from the flesh" of the architecture of the building itself. All of them make up a single whole, it is this harmony of the image that strikes the most: the church even now, despite the cracks that have appeared in the walls and the collapsing masonry, resembles a monolithic block sticking out of the ground.

Today, the Batashov estate is somewhat reminiscent of the idylls depicted in the paintings of old masters. So, in the park, against the background of pavilions and walls, cows graze, somewhere in the distance a church rises with a tower clock that has long stopped. Observing such a picture, you involuntarily catch yourself thinking that all this exists, as it were, in timelessness, and the life boiling nearby has no power over this space.

"If "Satan" was not a poetic fiction, but existed in reality and would take it into his head to incarnate in a human image, then, of course, he would take Andrei Rodionovich Batashev for his incarnation."

From the descriptions of the owner of these places.

The village with the unusual name Gus Zhelezny has been attracting more than one generation of lovers of everything mysterious. Here, in addition to an unusual temple, which asks rather for the area of ​​​​a European city, and not for the Ryazan outback, there is also the estate of the industrialist Andrei Rodionovich Batashev - a place overgrown with many legends. All thanks to the owner, whom contemporaries called "Dracula of the Ardatovsky district", his qualities and character. A savage, cruel gentleman, a counterfeiter who minted money in the cellars and killed hundreds of workers alive there, frightened of the check, a deceiver - such, according to rumors and some real facts, Andrei Rodionovich went down in history.
Local residents still believe that ghosts live in an abandoned manor house, and they ask a little excitedly if they really want to visit the ruins. Of course, you want to visit such a place. Let's get acquainted in more detail with the temple and the estate.

1. Everyone who travels along the Moscow-Kasimov highway at the entrance to Zhelezny Goose has such a view. "What is this, a mirage? How could such a temple be here?" - thoughts arise one after another. No, this is not a mirage, but a pseudo-Gothic Trinity Church

2. An unusual temple for 1200 believers (and this is in a small village!) was built for 66 years - from 1802 to 1868, with some interruptions. It is noteworthy that it was built not from common brick, but from white stone.

3. The name of the author of the project History has not saved. Someone attributes the creation to the famous Vasily Bazhenov, someone talks about the Kasimov architect I.S. Gagin, and archival documents do not name the architect at all, only calling him "famous". Why it happened, no one knows

4. I already talked about the Batashev industrial brothers (links at the end of the post), but I focused more on the younger, Ivan

5. Now let's talk about the eldest, Andrey.
The Batashevs come to these places in search of iron ore for their business somewhere in the mid-50s of the 18th century and establish several factories here. Later, the brothers disperse - Ivan left for and gave rise to a local one there, and Andrei settled in the village of Verputets. Soon after the Gus River and the ironworks, it became known as Zhelezny Goose.

6. Andrei Rodionovich was a born entrepreneur, the smartest and most capable owner. His business went uphill, and the plant prospered (it's no joke - it produced a ninth of all the then iron in Russia). Excellent business management gave huge profits, and in the 1780s in Gusa, Batashev built his estate-fortress called "Eagle's Nest"

7. Now the estate is in far from the best condition. Until recently, a children's sanatorium was located here, but now it is not here - only a sign remains with the door closed

8. What would Andrei Batashev say, looking at such a state of his estate? What do you think?

9. The only plus from the fact that the complex is falling apart is the opportunity to see the Batashev brick. It is larger and darker than those used then.

11. What is this door hiding?

They say that under Batashev's house there is a network of secret cellars. Further - even more interesting. Allegedly, 300 people worked in these cellars at night for the master. No one was told about their activities, and the workers themselves, avoiding questions, were silent, while receiving a decent salary from something.

And then it turned out that there was supposedly a secret mint in the dungeons. Whether he was or not, now no one can say. But the locals will surely tell you the legend of how this courtyard ceased to exist. Upon learning that a check was going to Gus-Zhelezny, which heard rumors about the minting of counterfeit coins, Batashev allegedly ordered either to wall up the exits from the dungeon, or to blow it up. 300 workers were buried alive in basements

12. They also say that the descendants of Batashev, inspired by family traditions, tried to explore the underground corridors, but each time they stopped the research - either they ran away in fear, not daring to continue, or they ordered all work to be curtailed. And the last owner of the estate, in search of hiding places, found a room where there was a round table on three lion's paws, on which lay a special hat, hammer and nail - the symbols of Freemasonry.

It is interesting that the legend about the mint is confirmed by the find - two of the three coins found here from the time of Catherine II turned out to be fake. But maybe it's just a coincidence, I don't know. The presence of dungeons (underground cavities) was recently proved by georadar. However, no major studies have been conducted here.

14. The Batashevskaya estate was surrounded by a wall with towers, which made the complex look like a real fortress. Here is part of the fence

15. And it was not by chance that I pressed the camera button, but captured the approximate place where supposedly Batashev had a special pavilion. It had floors that, when a special lever was pressed, diverged, and the one whom the owner disliked fell to die in the basement of the pavilion. They say that many enemies of Andrei Rodionovich died here. In order to get rid of them, the master invited everyone to his estate, gave water, fed, well received, after which he kindly offered to inspect the park. And then, as a hospitable host, he invited me to be the first to enter the pavilion ..

16. Another notable place. Somewhere here stood a "temple of love", in which the most beautiful serf girls were kept for lovemaking. And it allegedly happened that after such stormy nights with the master's guests, some unfortunate people from shame went to drown themselves in the pond

18. This is where the pond used to be. Navigable, almost 40 km in circumference

17. Some lordly utility rooms. However, even here there are legends - allegedly they were tortured inside, or maybe Batashev’s treasures were hidden there: after the death of Andrei Rodionovich, all the wealth evaporated somewhere

19. Most likely the ruins of some hydraulic industrial structures. The highway passes over a former dam that was used in manufacturing, widening and strengthening as the plant grows. You can see its height from the trees on the right. The length of the dam was about half a kilometer and had several locks.
In the flood of 1923, the water from the overflowing pond broke through the locks and merged

20. This is such a unique place where there are more legends than water after rain. Ideally, something attractive for tourists should be opened here, like a "master's horror museum", where guests would be told legends and invited to participate in some of them themselves. Like "you are an auditor, track down the counterfeiters" or "have time to hide all the coins before the commission arrives", "find a ghost or a secret passage", "do not fall into the basement yourself, push Batashev" and so on. This is how they do it in some European castles. That's when the place will live.

So far, only some lovers of estates and those who are on their way to Kasimov are coming here. The flow of guests is also reduced by the fact that getting here on your own without a car is hard, there is nowhere to stay. Yes, and by car to go a few hours from Moscow. But let's hope that the estate will not fall apart completely and will still be needed by someone

At the entrance to the former residence of the Iron King Batashev, from the highway, a couple of kilometers away, the bulk of the “Gothic” temple is clearly visible, which could become the pride of any district or even capital city. Its silhouette dominates the panorama of the area, it attracts like a magnet. You definitely want to be at its foot and throw your head back high in order to appreciate the height and grandeur of the building.

The Tula merchant Andrei Rodionovich Batashev appeared almost out of nowhere in these places in the middle of the 18th century, and immediately began to build ironworks. By the middle of the century, as multiple legends say, the Batashevs, through bribery and machinations, bought up huge estates around Kasimov and began to reign supreme here. In Gus-Zhelezny, ominous legends and traditions are still passed from mouth to mouth.

To this day, only the Trinity Church, an extended manor house with a four-column portico, fragments of a high brick fence, and a dam along which a modern highway was laid, have survived. The temple in the name of the Holy Trinity was laid in 1802, but the work was completed only in 1847-1868.

The Batashev Corporation is no more, but rumors about mysterious dungeons do not subside, and the secret of centuries remains unsolved.

The huge temple is perfectly preserved, the manor houses a children's sanatorium.

Coordinates: 55.05831500,41.15444200

The most popular attractions in Gus-Zhelezny with descriptions and photos for every taste. Choose the best places to visit the famous places of Gus-Zhelezny on our website.

The small provincial town of Gus-Zhelezny in the Ryazan region has a rich and full of legends history. The cathedral, unusual in its architecture, is the main highlight of these places. What to see in the town and its environs, this article will tell.

The modern look of the city

Gus-Zhelezny is located in the Kasimovsky district of the Ryazan region on the banks of the Gus river in a picturesque place surrounded by pine and spruce forests. The name of the river and the iron ore processing and iron smelting factories founded in the 18th century gave the settlement its name.

Officially, the settlement has the status of an urban-type settlement; less than two thousand people live in it. A mechanical plant, a timber processing plant, a food processing plant, and a forestry enterprise operate on its territory.

The town has a hospital, a school and a kindergarten, and folk ensembles rehearse on the basis of the local House of Culture.

The building of Gus-Zhelezny is predominantly one-story. The main attractions are the Trinity Cathedral towering over the village, the estate of the Batashevs' large industrialists of the 18th century "Eagle's Nest" and a monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

A bit of history

The history of Gus-Zhelezny begins with the purchase of land in these parts by the big industrialists, the Batashev brothers.

Andrey Rodionovich Batashev organized the extraction of iron ore and the iron foundry. A settlement began to form around the plant. Later, the industrialist built the Eagle's Nest estate here. The name of Andrei Batashev is also associated with the main attraction of the village - the Trinity Cathedral, which began to be built during the life of the industrialist at his expense, according to the project of an unknown architect. And the flourishing of Gus-Zhelezny in the Ryazan region is directly connected with the enterprises of the Batashevs. It falls on the middle of the 19th century, when the population of the town was about five thousand people.

During the Soviet period, the village became part of the Ryazan region, formed in 1937, and since 1964 has had the status of an urban-type settlement.

Legends and traditions

From most of the small provincial towns of Gus-Zhelezny, there are mysterious stories and legends associated with the name of the industrialist Batashev. He went down in history not only as a major entrepreneur, but also as a cruel landowner, a tyrant, fascinated by the occult.

Batashev's estate is full of legends - these are stories about the meetings of the Masonic lodge, of which Batashev was allegedly a member, stories about the unheard-of cruelty of the landowner and tortured workers, and legends about the production of counterfeit money in the basement of the master's house. Tourists are attracted to the town and stories about the many underground passages and tunnels leading from the "Eagle's Nest" in different directions.

It is difficult now to say what is true and what is fiction. One thing is true - Batashev was an odious personality, a tenacious and tough entrepreneur, he was a close associate of Potemkin, a favorite of Empress Catherine II. The patronage of the favorite of the empress saved the industrialist from punishment.

One of the popular legends of Zhelezny Goose is the story of the production of counterfeit gold coins in the cellars of the Eagle's Nest. Trying to hide the illegal manufactory, Batashev either flooded or walled up the cellars along with several hundred workers. Indirect confirmation of these stories is the discovery of counterfeit coins of Catherine's times during archaeological research in the vicinity of the estate.

The master's house and a huge park with many outbuildings were surrounded by a high stone wall with loopholes, reliably hiding everything that was happening from prying eyes. According to urban legends, Batashev was famous for his cruelty and brutality. In his garden there was a pillory, to which the guilty workers were tied and flogged, many were beaten to death.

The personality and industrial empire of Batashev were also reflected in literature: the novel "On the Mountains" by Pechersky, "Moloch" by Kuprin.

Manor of the industrialist Batashev

The estate "Eagle's Nest" is one of the sights of the village. Only the manor house and various ruins, including the walls that surrounded the estate, remained from its former grandeur. The house is two-storey rectangular in shape, at the entrance there is a four-column portico. Underground passages, about which there are legends in the village, have not been discovered.

There is a children's sanatorium in the building of the estate.

Trinity Cathedral

Huge, in a pseudo-Gothic style with elements of baroque and classicism, the temple in Gus-Zhelezny attracts the attention of tourists. It rises above the village and is perfectly visible from the highway. Trinity Cathedral is more like an English abbey or a church in Germany.

The appearance, unusual for Orthodox churches, gave rise to many rumors and legends. One of the popular ones says that the cathedral was built according to the project of V. Bazhenov himself, who was associated with the Masons. It is possible that the well-known architect developed the project, but he could not participate in the construction due to his death. The temple was built for several decades from 1802 to 1868. It is known that it was built at the expense of the Batashev family and was completed after the death of Andrei Rodionovich.

During the Soviet years, the cathedral was used as a warehouse.

Now it is open to the public and services are held there. The decoration of the temple is quite modest, part of the building is closed and is not used for church needs.

Memorial stele and monument to the memory of fallen soldiers during the Second World War

The sights of Gus-Zhelezny include a memorial stele dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the village and the ironworks of the Batashev brothers. It has commemorative inscriptions and images of the Batashev family coat of arms, full-length portraits of the brothers.

On the square in front of the Trinity Cathedral there is a monument to the memory of the soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War.

The monument is made in the form of an obelisk with portraits of unknown soldiers.

Natural sights of Gus-Zhelezny - small karst lakes Big prickly pit and Small prickly pit. They are part of the natural monument "White Forest", located to the north of the village.

After visiting Gus-Zhelezny and seeing its memorable places, you can go to the nearby town of Kasimov. In the district center there is a museum "Russian Samovar", a museum "Kolokolov", a mosque and a minaret, a monument of Tatar architecture.

You can get to the village from Moscow in about three hours along the P105 highway. If you decide to travel by bus, the trip will take about five hours, flights depart from the "Central" bus station of the capital.

There are no hotels in the village, the nearest ones are in Kasimov, this should be taken into account when planning a trip.

If you are thinking about how to spend the coming weekend, do not rack your brains and go on a trip. After all, the weather in Gus-Zhelezny, according to weather forecasts, will be warm and sunny.

Traveling to small towns and villages of Russia is a great way to learn interesting facts from the history of the country, admire the unusual architecture and natural beauties.