Astashovo (estate)

Martyan Sazonov (1842-1914) was one of the migrants, that is, peasants who left after the abolition of serfdom to earn money in the city. Sazonov's field of activity was, like that of most Chukhloma migrants, in carpentry and carpentry. Sazonov specialized as a cabinetmaker and worked mainly in summer cottages near St. Petersburg .

Presumably until 1895, Sazonov permanently resided in St. Petersburg, this conclusion can be drawn on the basis that he did not hold any elected posts in the county, unlike his neighbors. At this time, his first wife died, and he married a second marriage to the daughter of the deacon of the Elias Church in the village of Faleevo, Ekaterina Alekseevna Dobrovolskaya (1875-1950).

By the beginning of the construction of the house in 1897, Sazonov, who had grown rich on contracts, decided to retire and return to his native land, after which he built this house for his young wife. A two-story wooden house with a mezzanine was built in the Russian style with a rich and varied carved decor. The house included a large household part (now lost). A carved gazebo was also built at the house, a garden was built, a linden alley was planted, ponds were dug.

Sazonov did not live up to the revolution for three years and did not witness how the house was nationalized in 1918, and his wife was evicted from it. The house was not used in any way until the war, after which all sorts of institutions were located in it: village council, collective farm office, post office, library, paramedic point, movie booth.

After the war, the surrounding villages began to empty. Many did not return from the war, some of the peasants left for the cities from harsh living conditions, only having received a passport in their hands, someone was forcibly resettled, abolishing the "unpromising" villages. By the beginning of the 70s, the institutions located in the house closed as unnecessary and one after another moved to other places.

A roof left unattended and not repaired from the day the house was built quickly deteriorated, after which it was abandoned. For more than thirty years, the house, gradually collapsing, stood unattended in the dense forest that formed on the site of the village, also completely abandoned in the early 90's.

In 2005, Moscow businessman Andrei Pavlichenkov, accidentally learning about the tower, ended up in Astashovo. He was greeted by a picture typical of the Non-Black Earth Region: devastation, abandoned villages and impassability. The tower was so overgrown with forest that it was not easy to find.

Within a few years after this, volunteer work began to conserve the tower. At different times, the project was assisted by Vasily Kireev, the full Chukhloma jeep festival, the Kostroma Department of Cultural Heritage, Arkhnadzor , local residents, volunteers from Moscow, Vologda and other cities.

In the process of restoration - restoration work and during the trips of enthusiasts, the "weed" forest around the house was cut down, collapsed decoration elements were collected and stored, garbage was dismantled, all necessary measurements were taken. The banked turret, which threatened the safety of the entire structure, was removed using a truck crane. A new road 2 km long was poured to the house, electricity was re-supplied.

From 2011 to the present, a full-scale restoration has been carried out. Work is carried out using historical technologies and materials: hewn logs, shingles, felt, waterproofing from birch bark. The bulk of the tower and the annexes, floors, and numerous elements of the external carved furniture were restored by the log cabin bulkhead method. It was possible to save more than 60% of the original design, the remaining details, and this is the logging sheathing, painting, floors, plaster, stoves, doors, etc., are recreated with maximum reliability and proximity to the original source.

In 2015, Astashovo received a grant from the Potanin Foundation in the Museum Start nomination.

In 2016, it is planned to open Astashovo as a museum and cultural center and hotel complex, on the basis of which tourist programs of local history and outdoor activities will be organized.

Today the Forest Terem in Astashovo is one of the best wooden houses in Russia. The guests of the Terem have a unique opportunity to plunge into the elusive culture of Russian provincial life, to witness the restoration process with their own eyes, and if they wish, to help in maintaining the public cultural heritage.

The architects and art historians who studied the house came to the conclusion that the project was based on a house for the royal hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, designed by the famous St. Petersburg architect Ivan Ropet.

Ropet Ivan Pavlovich (real name Petrov Ivan Nikolaevich, 1845-1908) - one of the most famous architects who worked in the Russian style. Many of his works were published in the almanac “Motives of Russian Architecture” in the 70-80s of the XIX century. The projects of different artists were united by their eclecticism: complex, modern layouts were supposed to be carried out in traditional log cabins; all projects were distinguished by a detailed study of incredibly luxurious carved decor. Of course, the motives of folk architecture were just a starting point for the imagination of the authors. All these luxurious towers have very little in common with traditional Russian wooden architecture and have much more in common with the pan-European modern architecture of the turn of the century.

One of the most famous objects built according to the Ropet project is the pavilion of the Russian Empire at the international exhibition in Paris in 1878. To this day, only two houses have survived, associated with the anthology “Motives of Russian Architecture”: the bathhouse-tower in Abramtsevo and the People’s House in Barnaul . Other projects of Ropet reached us only in sketches and drawings. At least, this was the opinion of experts in the history of architecture, until the Internet began to appear photos of the house-tower of the peasant Sazonov in the village of Astashovo.

The tower was built 10 years after the publication of the project that formed the basis for it, and various details were used in its design: a small lamp, a small tower with a balcony, crowned with a keeled attic with a carved top, and also a decorative tent tower. Where exactly Sazonov or the actual builder of the house got the Ropet project is - he saw in the magazine, met personally in St. Petersburg or elsewhere, it is not known for certain. A study of a number of St. Petersburg documents on the life of peasant migrants gives reason to believe that Sazonov was a contractor at Ropet for the construction of the Russian pavilion in Paris, after which he decided to build a similar house in his homeland.

The study of a number of features of the house during the restoration led to the idea that Sazonov built the house himself, without a professional architect. So the roof of the house was redone right in the course of construction, there were no warm canopies at the main entrance, and finally, not a single toilet was planned in the house, although this was already the norm in rich Petersburg dachas.

Thus, the tower in Astashovo is a unique combination of the capital's country cottage in a fashionable Russian style and, at the same time, a peasant estate in the backwoods, the construction of which used traditional tools and construction methods.

There are two variants of the name - Astashovo and Ostashevo. On the map of F.F. Schubert of the 1840s, the village is named Ostashev. This name served as the primary source for the inclusion of the village in the list of Monuments of the Kostroma Region as Ostashevo.

However, Soviet maps refer to the village only as Astashovo. And the post office, which was in the tower from 1944 to 1972, was also Astashovo, and not Ostashevo. Therefore, in the current name of the estate, its most well-established transcription is used.

Astashovo is located 200 km from Kostroma, 280 km from Yaroslavl, 310 km from Vologda, 520 km from Moscow, 950 km from St. Petersburg. By car you need to get any road to Chukhloma.

Having passed the pointer of the settlement "Chukhloma" you need to move straight about 2 km to the intersection, on the right will be the TNK gas station. This is the last refueling on the road. At the gas station you need to turn right and go straight along the grader road 20 km to the village of Petrovskoye. Immediately after entering the village of Petrovskoe, the road turns right. You need to go straight 500 m and at the T-shaped crossroads behind the bridge over the river, turn right to the large temple. After the temple, the road turns left and leaves the village in the forest. After 6 km along the grader road in the forest - a large abandoned church in the village of Faleleevo (aka Ilyinsky). Right opposite the church, turn left. To Astashovo - 2 km year-round suitable for the passage of any car road.

• Astashovo Group on Facebook [1]
• LJ by Andrei Pavlichenkov [2]
• Information about Astashovo on the site of Archnadzor [3]
• Potanin Foundation http://www.fondpotanin.ru/novosti/2015-04-23/8134505

• Monuments of architecture of the Kostroma region, issue. VI, Chukhloma, Chukhloma region. G. K. Smirnov, P. N. Sharmin, E. G. Shcheboleva. The publication was prepared by the Committee for the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Heritage. Kostroma, 2004 http://www.hamlet.ru/?view=item&id=17564
• On the blessed land, Baykova T. N. Historical and local history publication, Kostromaizdat, 2014 http://www.hamlet.ru/?view=item&id=26227