Conspiracy apartment of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP

The house belonged to V. I. Orlov, a small grocery merchant whose eldest son, Vasily, was one of the organizers and leaders of the Simbir group of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party . Built in the spring and summer of 1904 at the address: Vvedensky (Malosadovy) lane, building 1.

Orlov’s house on Vvedensky Lane began serving the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP as a conspiratorial apartment in July 1904. In May 1904, Orlov’s father, busy with his business affairs, entrusted the supervision of construction to his son Vasily. This he and his friend and associate V.V. Ryabikov took full advantage of for their purposes. They equipped hiding places on the mezzanine of the house for storing an illegal library, party documents, and weapons.

Caches were also made in the barn, bathhouse, woodcutter and even in the restroom in the garden.

On the ground floor of the house lived a large Orlov family. Vasily Orlov and Valentin Ryabikov lived in a fire in the mezzanine. It held secret meetings of the governing nucleus of the Simbir group of the RSDLP, the first leaflets were printed on a hectograph .

On Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street (now Goncharova Street), a book kiosk was opened under the company of V. I. Orlov, selling books and brochures from Petersburg publishing houses (Hammer, Knowledge, and so on). The kiosk received and sold not only fiction, but also political literature. Thus, S. Verkhoyantsev’s book “Horse-skating horse”, received in a kiosk in 1906, which allegorically depicted the events of the 1905 revolution, was sold in 300 copies in three days, although it was confiscated by the police in other Volga cities. The kiosk was a place for illegal meetings; it was managed by Nikifor Spirin, a member of the Simbir group of the RSDLP.
Subsequently (in the second half of the 1980s), the kiosk was recreated on the territory of the museum and entered the museum complex related to one theme - the activities of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP.

The collapse of the safe house occurred on September 11, 1906: the Moscow police arrested several people during a gathering of members of the organization of the RSDLP of the Central District, and one of them had a leaflet in the pocket with the address of the Simbirsk safe house. A telegram was sent to the Simbirsk police. Police ransacked the Orlov’s house. They managed to capture a number of important documents, as someone from the group did not manage to put a number of documents and a group seal in the cache. V. Orlov and the third organizer of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP Yu. Krolyunitsky managed to escape, but Ryabikov was arrested in the house. However, he managed to leave.

After the death of Orlov’s father, the house was sold (after 1911) for debts and the new owners rebuilt it several times. So, the main facade of the house was redone, decorated with carvings and studded, a roof was made on poles and a carved porch in front of the terrace, the shape and place of most doors was changed, the walls were glued with wallpaper on the log house.

After the revolution and until the mid-1960s, house No. 7 in Zeleny Lane (as the former Vvedensky Lane began to be called) was privately owned.

On November 15, 1955, the bureau of the Ulyanovsk city ​​committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted a resolution on the need to create as a branch of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore the memorial museum "Conspiracy apartment of the Simbirsk Bolsheviks of 1904-1906."

In 1957, the former Orlov house was taken under state protection as a historical and revolutionary monument of republican significance. Similar decisions were adopted on May 9, 1963 and in August 1967, the Bureau of the Industrial Committee of the CPSU. In connection with the construction of the regional Palace of Pioneers, the house was dismantled, but was soon recreated according to the drawings of 1904 in a new place, closer to the Obelisk of Glory, which was being built at that time, on the 30th Anniversary of Victory Square.
In the summer of 1973, the house was restored and on July 30 - the day of the 70th anniversary of the II Congress of the RSDLP - the grand opening of the memorial plaque in honor of V. Orlov and V. Ryabikov on the facade of the house took place.

From the memoirs of M. Kh. Valkin (1922-2012), who was the director of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in 1950-1982:

“In 1973, the clause on the creation of the museum was included in the activities of the city party committee in preparation for the 70th anniversary of the city party organization. Intensive work began on a thematic and exhibition plan and an artistic and architectural project. Museum staff established ties with relatives and friends of the Simbirsk revolutionaries. V.V. Ryabikov handed over to the museum a number of valuable materials characterizing the activities of the Simbir group of the RSDLP. Relatives of V.V. Orlov also gave the museum a collection of interesting materials.

In the course of work, employees constantly consulted with local scientists, amateur historians. It should be noted the assistance provided by Grigory Nilovich Fedorov. He was active, emotional and competent in the history of the local party organization.
The help was also provided by the head of the propaganda and agitation department of the city committee, Yu. A. Rombovsky, in creating the museum’s material base (placing orders for the production of exhibition equipment, carrying out repair and restoration work).

Turnstiles were manufactured at the high technical and aesthetic level in the experimental workshop of the aircraft design engineering bureau under the guidance of an engineer Krupsky. Design work was performed by the Ulyanovsk branch of the Art Fund. ” ^[1]

On May 29, 1974, the museum was inaugurated in the presence of the regional and city party and Soviet leadership as a branch of the regional museum of local lore. By Decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 624 of December 4, 1974, the museum as a monument of national importance was assigned a code in the automated system of the State Information and Computing Center of the Ministry of Culture (No. 7300000014).

(In 1997, the status of the museum was lowered from a monument of history and culture of federal significance to the regional level.) ^[2]

In the entrance hall in front of the little girl, two unique hiding places have been preserved - a large cache in the wall and a small cache in the door. How skillfully they were made and disguised, says the fact that for 46 years (since the failure of the safe house of the Simbirsk Bolsheviks in September 1906 until 1952) they remained unknown to anyone. They could not be found by the police, who searched the safe house in 1906.
The new owners of the house, who bought it in 1912, and the subsequent owners, who have repeatedly changed over the years, did not know anything about these hiding places.

In 1952, V.V. Ryabikov, then living in Moscow, announced the existence of caches and only then were they found.

M. Kh. Valkin recalled their discovery as follows:

“The story of their [caches] revealing is curious. Once, the director of the party archive M. I. Krivov and associate professor of the agricultural institute M. A. Butaev visited V. V. Ryabikov in Moscow. In a conversation with them, Ryabikov mentioned the caches in the Orlovs' house and described their approximate location. We went in search of them as a whole group: M. A. Butaev, M. I. Krivov, museum carpenter V. I. Pugachev and myself. As a result of a thorough inspection, the carpenter found barely noticeable canopies in the crevice between the boards on the wall of the staircase of the mezzanine. Continuing the inspection, he drew attention to a small knot on one of the boards that seemed suspicious. The knot was removed, and under it was a keyhole. In the end, we saw a horizontal door dropping down, and behind it a niche inhabited by a thick layer of felt, in which three people could hide or weapons, illegal literature, replicating equipment, etc. could be stored. And at the bottom of the door there are managed to find a small cache where you could hide a gun, leaflets, etc.
Along the way, I note that when the underground communists from third world countries came to Ulyanovsk, visiting the museum, they were very interested in the design of the cache and said that they used this, in their opinion, interesting experience. ” ^[3]

Visiting the museum in August 1974, V. I. Lenin’s niece (daughter of his younger brother D. I. Ulyanov , who in 1905-1906 was a member of the leading core of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP) Olga Dmitrievna Ulyanova wrote in her review book: “This is one of the most interesting places related to the history of our party in Russia. "

The museum worked as a memorial monument to the Simbirsk Bolsheviks from the moment of its opening until the beginning of the 1990s. In the 1990s, the museum exhibited exhibitions dedicated to the Decembrists of the Decembrists, modern political parties, and the Great Patriotic War.

In the early 2000s. the idea arose of opening an exhibition in the museum dedicated to local war veterans (largely due to the museum’s proximity to the obelisk of the 30th anniversary of the Victory and monuments dedicated to participants in local wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya ). Collaboration was established with local war veterans, the mothers and widows of the dead Ulyanovsk residents, and veteran organizations (for example, “Combat Brotherhood”), which allowed us to begin acquiring museum funds with the necessary materials. The most significant project on this topic was the opening in May 2006 of the exhibition “Time chose us” about the Ulyanovsk participants in the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Currently, the museum has the following two permanent exhibits:

• "The creation and activities of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP in 1904-1906," which consists of two parts. The historical and documentary part of the exposition is comprised of an exhibition of photographs, documents and objects from the museum’s photo-documentary and clothing collection, which characterize the activities of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP, and the memorial section of the exposition includes the Svetelka room, in which in 1904-1906. lived V. Orlov and V. Ryabikov (the interior of the beginning of the 20th century was restored in this room during restoration) and the exposition “Unique hiding places”;
• "Time has chosen us" - about the Ulyanovsk participants in the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

In addition, the museum regularly creates interchangeable exhibitions using both the photo-documentary and clothing fund of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore and the exhibition of paintings (for example, for many years the museum’s partner is the Children's Art School No. 9, which provides students with paintings for exhibitions on various topics )

The museum carries out cultural, educational, patriotic, educational work, collaborating with various educational institutions (including universities), public organizations, and cultural figures. These types of work include lectures (both in the museum and outside it), meetings, scientific consultations. Students of the history department of the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University practice regularly at the museum. Moreover, they participate in the creation of various educational projects. For example, in 2008, students, together with museum staff, developed and conducted an educational event called “Find Caches” containing an interactive-gaming component with options for visitors of different ages.

Contacts with representatives of organizations of war veterans in local wars contribute to the expansion and updating of the exposition, and the holding of educational and patriotic events. In 2007, the museum, together with the Ulyanovsk Regional Organization of Local War Veterans “Combat Brotherhood”, won a governor grant . A compilation-photo album about the Ulyanovsk participants in the hostilities in Afghanistan and Chechnya was compiled and published.

The contingent of museum visitors is made up of students of different ages, military personnel, residents of Ulyanovsk, nonresident, as well as visitors from neighboring countries and abroad ( USA , Germany , Denmark , Slovenia , Arab countries , etc.).

According to estimates, from the opening until the end of 2012, the museum was visited by more than 800 thousand people.

In the summer and autumn of 2012, the museum underwent cosmetic repairs of the building (painting of the roof, walls, window frames, repair of the basement) at the expense of private individuals.

In April 2013, thanks to the resumption of contacts between the museum and relatives of the Simbirsk revolutionaries to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of one of the organizers of the Simbirsk group of Bolsheviks V.V. Ryabikov, his grandson and great-granddaughter Sergei Vladimirovich and Alexandra Sergeevna Ryabikov came from Moscow, who replenished the museum’s collection with several valuable exhibits - personal items of Valentin Vladimirovich. During the anniversary events, the opening of the mini-exhibition "Baby Elder", the laying of flowers at the memorial plaque in honor of V. Ryabikov, located on the street. Ryabikov Zasviyazhsky district of Ulyanovsk (opened in September 1986) and the meeting of the Scientific Council of the Museum of Local Lore.

Decree of the Government of the Ulyanovsk Region No. 188-P dated May 23, 2013 approved a list of objects of cultural heritage that are not subject to privatization. These included the museum "Conspiracy apartment of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP (1904-1906)." ^[four]

In September 2013, with the funds donated by S.V. Ryabikov, the balcony of the museum was reconstructed due to its emergency condition.

In April 2014, as a result of charitable assistance from the Simbirsk Restoration Company, limited liability company, drainpipes were replaced, and in September 2014 the porch was updated.

• Tolochko F. Sh. Conspiracy apartment of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP // Ulyanovsk-Simbirsk Encyclopedia of 2 volumes / tonnes 1. Ulyanovsk: “Simbirsk Book”, 2000. P. 289.
• Fedorov G. N. On the history of the Simbir Bolshevik organization of the RSDLP. Ulyanovsk: Volga Book Publishing House (Ulyanovsk Branch), 1964.
• Fedorov G.N. Baby Jr. Saratov: Volga Book Publishing House, 1983.
• Bodrostina O. B., Turkin A. V. “Design activities of the memorial museum“ Conspiracy apartment of the Simbir group of the RSDLP “in modern conditions” // Bulletin of the Lenin Memorial. Materials of the All-Russian Scientific Conference "Memorial Museum: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the V. I. Lenin House-Museum. Issue No. 10. Ulyanovsk, 2009. S. 187-189.
• Ilyich Territory: Memorial places [Ulyanovsk and the region] / Editorial board: N. A. Kuzminsky (editor-in-chief and editor M. Kh. Valkin, G. N. Fedorov.-2nd ed.-Saratov: Volga book Publishing House (Ulyanovsk Branch), 1985. S. 124-125.
• Valkin M. Kh. On the work of the museum staff in 1950–80. // Museum yesterday, today, always. Pages of the history of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore named after I. A. Goncharov. Ulyanovsk, 2005.P. 73-75.

• Museum "Conspiracy apartment of the Simbir group of the RSDLP" on the website of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore
• Museum "Conspiracy apartment of the Simbirskaya group of the RSDLP" on the site "Museums of Russia"
• Museum exhibitions and lectures
• The condition of the museum “Conspiracy apartment of the Simbirsk group of the RSDLP 1904-1906” was passed - Committee on Cultural Heritage of the Ulyanovsk Region
• Photo of the museum from the blog of the Chairman of the Committee of the Ulyanovsk Region on Cultural Heritage Sh. M. Khautiev
• Anniversary events dedicated to the 130th anniversary of V.V. Ryabikov - Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
• Descendants of Ryabikov arrived in Ulyanovsk
• List of cultural heritage objects not subject to privatization