Kurochkin, Nikanor Illarionovich

Early years. Becoming a Profession

Nikanor Kurochkin was born in 1887 in a glazier's family in the village of Gusevo, Kostroma province . He studied at a rural parish school , according to some sources, he graduated from two classes ^[1] , according to others - four ^[2] . In 1903, his father identified the boy as a glassblower student at the Miussky Tram Park in Moscow ^[3] .

The young man became interested in glasswork . Hearing a conversation about curved glasses that have to be acquired abroad due to the lack of their production in Russia, Kurochkin folded a home-made stove and made the necessary forms. Despite the failures in the first experiments, Kurochkin manufactured the first lens in Russia for colored license plates of the Moscow tram ^[3] .

Having gained experience in manufacturing glass of various shapes and sizes, in 1909 Kurochkin opened a makeshift glass workshop on Malaya Pochtovaya Street . In 1917, after the revolution , the workshop was nationalized and transformed into a state-owned glass-mirror equipment factory. Kurochkin remained its head. Under his leadership, the factory conducted research and experimental work on obtaining new types of glass ^{[1] [3]} .

Years of maturity. Government Orders

In 1924 Kurochkin was invited to the commission of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR to perpetuate the memory of V.I. Lenin . He made the glass part of the sarcophagus to preserve the embalmed body of the leader of the revolution — glasses made using special technology practically did not reflect ^[1] . The master received thanks from the Soviet authorities:

Certificate of the Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR N. I. Kurochkin
Hereby, the Commission of the CEC of the USSR on perpetuating the memory of V.I. Lenin expresses its gratitude to you for the urgent and thorough work on installing the sarcophagus (mirror glass) in the Lenin Mausoleum .

For the chairman of the commission V. M. Molotov <...> ^[3]

In 1924, Kurochkin headed the glass-blowing workshop in Tsaritsyn, built on the initiative of the chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy F.E. Dzerzhinsky . Initially, a small workshop with two glass melting pots and primitive furnaces subsequently served as the basis for the creation of a glass factory ^{[3] [4]} .

In 1925, under the leadership of Kurochkin, the first parabolic mirrors for searchlights and telescopes , bent glasses for cars, airplanes, sea and river ships, photocopiers, etc. were made in the USSR ^{[1] [2]}

In 1937, Kurochkin took part in the creation of luminous ruby stars for the five towers of the Moscow Kremlin - Spasskaya , Nikolskaya , Troitskaya , Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya . According to the special technology “selenium ruby” developed by him and under his direct supervision, Donbass Konstantinovsky glass factory welded 500 m² of ruby ​​glass 6–7 mm thick, which was the first precedent for glass melting in such volumes for the Soviet glass industry. Kurochkin’s recipe with the addition of selenium to the glass mass instead of the gold provided by the previous technologies increased the depth of the ruby ​​color and contributed to cheaper products. To preserve the brightness of stars in daylight and mask the built-in electric lamps , a second layer was added - made of milk glass . For this work, the master was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor ^{[5] [3] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]} .

Under the direction of Kurochkin, the windows of the central Moscow stores were glazed - GUM and Detsky Mir ^[1] . The Kurochkin technology of manufacturing curved glass with heat treatment was used in the manufacture of buffets, store shelves, and during the Great Patriotic War - in the defense, aviation and automobile industries in the manufacture of searchlights, aircraft, ships and cars ^[3] .

At the beginning of the war, in 1941 Kurochkin participated in establishing the production of goggles for pilots ^[1] , was involved in consultations on preserving the body of Lenin related to the evacuation of the sarcophagus to Tyumen ^[3] . The head of the laboratory at the Lenin Mausoleum, biochemist B.I. Zbarsky wrote:

For all the years I have used the help of Comrade Kurochkina on all issues related to lighting, ventilation and other complex technological equipment of the Mausoleum . This talented and neat work of Comrade. Kurochkina brought and brings us many benefits in the work to preserve the body of V. I. Lenin ^{[11] [3]} .

Recent years

In 1949, at the request of the Bulgarian government N.I. Kurochkin led the production of the sarcophagus for the Mausoleum of George Dimitrov . For this work he was awarded the Bulgarian " People's Order of Labor " silver degree ^{[12] [3]} .

In 1951, for the creation of new methods and significant improvements in the method of manufacturing complex glass products, he was awarded the Stalin Prize of the third degree ^{[12] [3]} .

N.I. Kurochkin died in Moscow on September 3, 1967 ^[12] .

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1937) ^[3]
• People's Order of Labor of the Silver Degree (1949) ^{[12] [3]}
• Stalin Prize of the Third Degree (1951) ^[3]

In 1974, a memorial plaque was opened on the facade of the glass factory building in Tsaritsyn , where N.I. Kurochkin worked, ^[3] .

In 2016, the Tsaritsyno State Museum-Reserve hosted the exhibition Lenin-Dachnoe. 1918-1940 ”, where archival materials and documents about the life and work of N. I. Kurochkin were presented ^[3] .

Materials about the life and work of N. I. Kurochkin are stored in the museum of the Tsaritsyno glass factory ^[3] .

• Arbatov A. Mausoleum of Lenin. - M .: Mosk. worker, 1963.
• Rusinov V. Glazier from Galich // Galich Izvestia. - 1996. - Vol. May 8th . - No. 52 (9792) .
• Smirnova V. So that descendants remember // Galich News. - 2000. - Issue. August 24th . - No. 100 .
• Alfimov G. The Wizard of Glass // Lenin's Way. - 1972. - Vol. November 12th .

• Kafanova Ya. Star dealers of the master // Spark. - M. , 1962. - Issue. November 4th - S. 11 .
• Sergeev I.N. Tsaritsyno: pages of history . - M .: World of books, 1993 .-- 249 p.
• Galicians - nuggets // Wonderful people of the land of Galich / comp. N. Sotnikov. - Galich, 2004 .-- S. 198-199. - 206 p.
• Yatsunov N. The Everlasting Light of Ruby Stars // Truth . - M. , 2016. - Issue. March 18-21 . - No. 28 (30379) . - S. 4 .
• Assorova A. Kremlin lamps for special purposes // Evening Moscow . - M. , 2015. - Issue. November 2

• Zaborin D. Donetsk stars of the Kremlin (neopr.) . Republic.com.ua (November 30, 2009). Date of treatment April 29, 2017.
• Topolin M. Ruby stars of the Kremlin (neopr.) . Russian cinema: Library: Moscow Kremlin. Date of treatment April 29, 2017.