Estate Bridge, Kiev Highway, 106, Rozhdestveno, Leningrad Region, Russia, 188356
The history of "Rozhdestveno" begins with the decree of Empress Catherine II on the establishment of seven districts in the Saint Petersburg province and the order to designate the settlement of Oranienbaum and the village of Rozhdestvenskoye as towns. The coat of arms of the town of Rozhdestven was approved: "In a blue field, a chalk hill, upon which strikes a sunbeam from a cloud, from which the hill flourished." At the place where the beam falls on the hill, three birch trees are depicted, symbolizing the beginning of Catherine II's new policy aimed at raising the prestige of the town. From that moment, construction began here of residential and administrative buildings for the officials of the district and city administrations. The center of Rozhdestveno started with two wooden buildings: houses for the city chief and the district court assessor.
The town of Rozhdestven existed for only 16 years. According to the approved city development plan, a stone cathedral in the name of the Ascension of the Lord was built, a building for the "presence places," and a house for the city chief. However, Paul I, who ascended the throne, revoked Rozhdestveno's city status. By decree dated February 26, 1797, Rozhdestveno was granted "in eternal and hereditary possession" to the court councilor Nikolai Yefremovich Yefremov. Based on this decree, on September 16, 1797, the buildings of the "presence places" and the city chief's house were also handed over to him. Archival research uncovered documents suggesting that the modern Rozhdestveno estate and the city chief's house, which was the first building, are one and the same. As soon as the former city chief's house became private property, a park was laid out next to the building, gradually merging into the forest.
With the estate passing into private hands, the formation of the estate complex began. The family of the first owners – Nikolai Yefremovich Yefremov (court councilor, head of the chancellery of Count Bezborodko) and his wife Olga Dmitrievna (née Karatygina, a ballerina of the Hermitage Theatre), and later their grandchildren – owned the estate until 1857. From 1857 to 1872, the house belonged to Yulia Dmitrievna Manukhina, then to her husband Nikolai Nikolaevich. From 1872 to 1878, the estate belonged to Riga merchant of the first guild Karl Yakovlevich Bush. After the Bush family, the owner of the estate became collegiate assessor Vladimir Fedorovich Dmitriev, and from October 25, 1879, it passed by inheritance to his widow and sons.
The estate house in Rozhdestveno is one of the few surviving wooden palace-type houses in the style of late classicism. The peculiarity of this wooden mansion, built in Russian classicism, lies in the "ceremonial" nature of all four facades. All four facades are decorated with developed multi-column classical porticoes of the Ionic order, supporting the cornice. The building is crowned with a light classical belvedere under a flat roof. Every detail of the palace's decoration is carefully thought out. The main entrance through the portico-loggia opens onto the main alley of the park. Behind the preserved vestibule is a staircase to the second floor. During its existence, the estate has never undergone significant reconstruction. To this day, the name of the architect who built this example of classicism remains unknown.
In 1890, the estate was purchased by Ivan Vasilyevich Rukavishnikov. By that time, Rukavishnikov already owned another estate on the opposite bank of the river, acquired in 1872 by Olga Nikolaevna – "Nasha Vyra." Ivan Vasilyevich Rukavishnikov was an actual state councilor, gold miner, owner of a controlling stake in the Lena gold mines, with a fortune estimated at one million rubles in gold, and his wife Olga Nikolaevna was the daughter of the president of the Saint Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, Nikolai Illarionovich Kozlov.
From this moment, the estate came to life anew. The park was fully planned and planted, featuring gazebos, sculptures, fountains, and a tennis court. A wooden staircase was built from the road to the hill where the observation deck was located. Evidence of these changes is captured in photographs stored in the museum's collections. The house also changed, undergoing major repairs. The floors in the halls were covered with linoleum, which at that time was considered a great novelty and luxury. In the extensive 16-hectare park area grow century-old trees, and healing springs flow from the red-colored rocks located at the end of the garden.
The period of ownership by the Rukavishnikov family was marked by the flourishing of the estate complex – the park territory was finally formed, a tennis court was laid out, greenhouses and conservatories were built, park alleys were decorated with sculptures and gazebos, and the building itself was renovated. In 1901, Rukavishnikov died, and shortly after, his wife passed away. The house was inherited by their son Vasily (and the neighboring Vyra estate was given as a dowry to their daughter Elena in 1896). Vasily, who mostly lived abroad (in Italy) and traveled extensively, filled the house with numerous souvenirs and amazing items from different parts of the world; in the main hall, there was even an Egyptian sarcophagus and an organ.
According to Vladimir Nabokov's recollections: "The Rozhdestvenskaya estate — purchased by him specifically for his eldest, who died young — was said to have been built on the ruins of the palace where Peter the Great, who knew a thing or two about terrible tyranny, imprisoned Alexei. Now it was a charming, extraordinary house. After almost forty years, I can easily recall both the general impression and details in my memory: the marble checkered floor in the cool and resonant hall, the heavenly light from above, the white galleries, the sarcophagus in one corner of the living room, the organ in another, the bright scent of greenhouse flowers everywhere..."
The future writer Nabokov lived in Rozhdestveno for only one year before leaving Russia forever. But this year was reflected many times in his works: the description of the house with columns appears in his poems and in the novels "Other Shores" and "Speak, Memory." Two kilometers from the village of Rozhdestveno, in the neighboring village of Batovo, there was another estate connected to the birth of the great writer Vladimir Nabokov. It belonged to his grandfather and grandmother – Dmitry Nikolaevich Nabokov (who served as Minister of Justice under Alexander II and his son Alexander III) and his wife Maria Ferdinandovna (née Baroness von Korff).
Vladimir Dmitrievich – the future father of the writer – was the sixth child in the Nabokov family. He received an excellent education, initially at home until the age of thirteen – taught by French and English governesses, then replaced by Russian and German teachers. In 1887, he graduated with honors from the best school of that time, the Third Petersburg Gymnasium, and entered the law faculty of Petersburg University, which Vladimir Dmitrievich also graduated from with honors in January 1892 (department of criminal law).
Very little is known about Vladimir Dmitrievich's courtship of Elena Ivanovna Rukavishnikova. The writer's parents first met at a fishing trip. Vladimir Dmitrievich proposed to Elena Ivanovna during a bicycle ride on a road steeply rising from Nasha Vyra to the village of Gryazno. They were married on November 14, 1897, and in 1899 their firstborn and beloved son Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was born. In 1916, when Nabokov's uncle on his mother's side – Vasily Rukavishnikov – died, the estate by will passed to Vasily's beloved nephew – Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, but alas, the future writer did not own the estate for long. The revolution of 1917 forced the Nabokov family to leave Russia.
Many years later, Nabokov recalled: "...a charming, extraordinary house" and easily restored in his memory "...the general impression and details: the marble checkered floor in the cool and resonant hall, the heavenly light from above, the white galleries, the sarcophagus in one corner of the living room, the organ in another, the bright scent of greenhouse flowers everywhere..."
In 1917, the Nabokov family left Russia. Rozhdestveno shared the fate of other noble estates. After the owners left, the building was nationalized, then it housed a dormitory for students of the veterinary technical school, which itself was located in the estate building at the Vyra manor. During the Great Patriotic War, a German engineering unit was stationed in the estate. In the post-war years, the house was converted into a school, the two-story hall was partitioned, and the first floor was divided into several rooms. Later, it housed a laboratory of the local variety testing station.
The museum in Rozhdestveno opened back in 1957 for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, when an exhibition "Past and Present of the Village of Rozhdestveno" was held in the local library. The first public director and ideological inspirer of the museum was Vera Leontyevna Simiryagina. The exhibition was visited by more than 2,000 local residents, who donated many antique items preserved in their families to the museum. In 1959, the museum was allocated its own premises in the House of Culture building, where it remained until moving to the estate house.
In 1994, Alexander Alexandrovich Semoсhkin became director, and active preparations for restoration began. But on April 10, 1995, a terrible fire occurred, and only thanks to the faith and golden hands of Alexander Alexandrovich, the work of a restoration team consisting of local residents, and the help of people caring about historical values, the house was restored.
Sources:
https://kvsspb.ru/obekty/novoe-sertolovo/muzey/usadba-nabokova-v-rozhdestveno/
