Mologa. The city is doomed. Mologa: what myths surround the flooded city and who is its most frequent guest
Mologa - Russian Atlantis. A city located at the confluence of the Mologa River and the Volga and flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir. The place where the city was is located in the southern part of the reservoir, five kilometers east of the island of Svyatovsky Mokh, three kilometers north of the Babiya Gora alignment - shields on concrete foundations, marking the navigable fairway running over the old bed of the Volga.
The history of this city is simply amazing and makes you think about the cruelty and short-sightedness of man. The city-paradise with houses, church domes and centuries-old history went under water by the will of people. Now, at low tide, the remains of a ghost town emerge from the water.
In the fall of 1935, the construction of the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes began. Creating a hydroelectric power station means creating dams and flooding hectares of land. The country wanted to create one of the largest man-made seas by blocking the Sheksna and Volga rivers with dams. People began to prepare for resettlement long before construction began, but no one believed that this was possible. The indigenous population continued to live their normal lives.
Deforestation began, old temples were blown up. According to eyewitnesses, these silent witnesses of history resisted such barbarity in their own way. After the explosion, some of them, soaring upward, returned to their original place. People were forced to leave their homes. Some took them apart log by log, numbering each one to make it easier to assemble, and transported them on carts. Those who did not have time floated the logs on the water.
After the giant thicket of the Rybinsk Reservoir was filled, an eighth of the Yaroslavl land went under water and was withdrawn from economic use, including 80 thousand hectares of the best precious floodplain floodplain meadows in the Volga region, the grass of which was not inferior in quality to the grass from alpine meadows, more than 70 thousand . hectares of cultivated arable land for centuries, more than 30 thousand hectares of highly productive pastures, more than 250 thousand hectares of mushroom and berry forests.
But the heaviest losses are associated with the resettlement, or more correctly, the eviction of tens of thousands of people. In total, during the construction of the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes and the filling of the reservoir, about 800 villages and hamlets, 6 monasteries and more than 50 churches were destroyed and flooded.
Its entire historical part with three ancient temples went under water. The ancient village of Breytovo, which stood at the confluence of the legendary Sit River and Mologa, was moved to a new location. Ancient chronically known villages and temples located along the former banks of the Mologa were flooded, in particular, the village of Borisogleb - the former Kholopy Gorodok, first mentioned in the 12th century.
The most comfortable hermitage in the Yaroslavl diocese, the Yugskaya Dorofeev Hermitage, located halfway from the city of Mologa to the city of Rybinsk, went under water; the extensive complex of the Mologa Afanasyevsky Monastery, founded in the 14th century. The complex included 4 temples. The Leushinsky St. John the Baptist Convent, located between Cherepovets and Rybinsk near the Sheksna River, with a majestic five-domed cathedral, was flooded.
However, the real tragedy of the socialist reconstruction of the Upper Volga is the broken destinies of people expelled from the territory they inhabited for centuries. 130 thousand residents were forcibly evicted from the Mologo-Sheksninsky interfluve and 20 thousand from the Upper Volga valley. They left behind their lived-in homes and households created by many years of hard work, as well as the graves of their relatives and friends. Almost 27 thousand farms sank to the bottom of the Rybinsk reservoir and more than 4 thousand fell into the flood zone.
In the museum of the history of the city of Rybinsk, in the archives, a report was found from the head of the Mologsky department of Volgolag, state security lieutenant Sklyarov, to the head of Volgostroy - Volgolag of the NKVD of the USSR, Major Zhurin. This is the first document confirming the presence of people in the territories that, through a short time became the bottom of the world's largest reservoir.
On April 13, 1941, at a construction site in Perebory, near Rybinsk, the last opening of the dam was blocked, and the flood waters of the Volga, Sheskna and Mologa, having encountered an insurmountable obstacle on their way, began to overflow their banks, spill onto the floodplain, getting closer and closer every day approaching the city of Mologa and flooding the Mologo-Sheksna interfluve. Together with Mologa, about 700 villages and hamlets, hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile arable land, famous water meadows, pastures, green oak groves, forests, monuments of antiquity, culture, and the way of life of our distant ancestors went under water.
On April 14, the waters of the Sheksna, Volga and Mologa encountered an obstacle on their way and overflowed their banks, flooding the Mologo-Kizhin interfluve. 294 people, not wanting to leave their homes, chained themselves to their houses and went under water along with their city. Several dozen more were forcibly removed from the flooded area. Thus, the large and beautiful city-paradise of Mologa with almost eight centuries of history went under water, and with it several dozen villages, arable lands, meadows, forests, six monasteries, 50 temples and almost three hundred living people. The city of Mologa became a ghost town.
Kalyazinskaya bell tower
At the same time, the Kalyazin bell tower was flooded. The bell tower was built in 1800 at the St. Nicholas Cathedral (erected in 1694) of the former St. Nicholas Zhabensky Monastery in the style of classicism; had five tiers, a dome with a dome and a spire. The bell tower (height 74.5 m) was built in 6 years. It had 12 bells. The largest bell, weighing 1,038 pounds, was cast in 1895 with money from the monastery in honor of the accession to the throne of Nicholas II.
By the 1940s, the Volgostroy project was approved, which began in the 1920s. This project provided for the artificial expansion of the Volga River and the creation of hydroelectric power stations in its waters. When the Uglich reservoir was created, the old part of Kalyazin found itself in a flood zone; the cathedral was dismantled, and the bell tower was left as a lighthouse. Immediately, as loaded barges began to sail along the Volga, it became clear that it was impossible to navigate by other signs, since there are very sharp turn rivers. In archival documents of that time, the bell tower appears as a lighthouse.
In Soviet times, there was talk that the bell tower should be demolished. They said that it would be advisable to dismantle it, since it tilted a little due to the fragility of the foundation, but at the end of the 80s of the 20th century, the foundation of the bell tower was strengthened, and an artificial island with a pier for boats was created around it. On May 22, 2007, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the bell tower.
In April 2014, it found itself surrounded by land due to a drop in the water level in the reservoir, which was caused by a winter with little snow and a malfunction of the dams. Currently, the flooded bell tower is perhaps the main symbol of Kalyazin and attracts many tourists. In the summer, regular prayer services are held at the bell tower. In the winter, it is not always possible to get close to it, and in the summer, during the Upper Volga religious procession, this is where the Upper Volga procession ends procession, which begins at the source of the Volga in Ostashkov. Here he stops to perform a prayer service.
Flooded Church of the Nativity
The flooded Church of the Nativity, built in 1780. The only surviving building of the village of Krokhino, which was flooded in 1962. Enthusiasts are trying to preserve and restore this unique church. Those who care can provide all possible assistance.
The village of Krokhinskaya was first mentioned in 1426 in the scribe book of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. It was located on the site of the former city of Beloozero and repeated its topography. It belonged to a certain boyar son Gavrila Laptev. After the death of Gavrila, who left no heirs, in 1434 Krokhinskaya was granted to the Mozhaisk Prince Ivan Andreevich Ferapontov Monastery. Due to its location, the village became important shopping center. Probably, back in the 15th century, Krokhino had its own church.
The brick, whitewashed, two-story church was built in 1788 and is designed in the late regional Baroque style. The composition “ship” is made up of a single-domed temple of the “octagon on a quadrangle” type, a four-tiered bell tower and a refectory connecting them. The church was the architectural dominant of the entire surrounding landscape.
In the "Small Towns" section today we will go to Mologa, Yaroslavl region. This city has not been on the map of Russia for more than seventy years. It was destroyed and flooded when the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station was being built. But periodically - due to a drop in water level - the ruins of Mologa appear on the surface.
This year there is low water on the Volga. The captain of a tourist steamer, leaving through the locks into the Rybinsk Reservoir, one of the largest on the river, first of all asks the dispatcher about the water level.
“The average level of the Rybinsk reservoir today is ninety-nine thirty-six,” the dispatcher reports.
This is a record low over the past decade. Which, however, is only good for this flight. The water, which dropped two meters, revealed what people came here for: ruins of the city of Mologa, destroyed and flooded seventy years ago during construction Rybinsk hydroelectric power station.
The journey from Rybinsk to the place where the city of Mologa used to be located takes three hours by boat. Now it’s hard to believe that there was once a city here. But there is confirmation: on the islands that appeared in the middle of the Rybinsk Reservoir, the foundations of buildings have been preserved.
The steamer cannot get close to the shoals; tourists are transferred to a small boat, which slowly, guided by an echo sounder, approaches Mologa.
The island is littered with broken bricks. The wreckage of some building stands out. It turns out that this is the former Epiphany Cathedral. Over the years spent under water, the ruins of Mologa were overgrown with mud and shell rock.
A strange feeling arises when you step through this place, which used to be a street in the city of Mologa, but turned out to be under water. This sandbank appeared on the reservoir in July, and in November, when the water level rises, it will disappear again.
A historian from Uglich, Viktor Kiryukhin, is perhaps the most frequent guest in Mologa. As soon as he sees that the Volga is getting shallow, he immediately buys a ticket on a tourist boat and goes here.
Victor Kiryukhin, historian: “That’s where there was probably the Resurrection Cathedral. But you can’t get to it now. But there was the city All Saints Cemetery...”
The city was located on a hill - at the confluence of the Volga and Mologa rivers. The island that appears is the central square - Sennaya, from which the main streets diverged.
Design engineer of the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex Nikolay Malyshev called Mologa “a run-down town that doesn’t represent anything.” Looking at rare newsreel footage and photographs from the beginning of the last century, it is difficult to agree with this. There were several schools, a gymnastics school, a hospital, and two almshouses.
In terms of income, Mologa ranked fourth in the province. Most of the male population went to work in St. Petersburg, where Mologans worked as cab drivers, waiters, and builders. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the photo of the mowing at the Leushinsky Monastery there are only women.
Vladimir Shatkov’s relatives did not have to leave Mologa; good carpenters always had work here: they built houses and baths. In 1936, they dismantled their house and moved to Yaroslavl.
Construction of a hydroelectric power station was underway and the city began to be demolished. Newsreels recorded how Red Army soldiers planted explosives in the wall of the cathedral in order to clear the so-called bed of the future reservoir.
: “Moreover, when they moved, many families, including their family, in addition to belongings, cattle and other things, they transported the remains of their relatives and also resettled new land, to the high banks."
Most families dismantled their houses and floated them to Rybinsk. A whole district of settlers appeared here - Zavolzhsky. Rumor claims that not all residents left Mologa.
Vladimir Shatkov, relative of immigrants from Mologa: “More than a hundred people died in the flood zone. People simply did not believe that water could come so far from the rivers that have always existed here.”
The director of the cascade of Upper Volga hydroelectric power stations, Andrei Derezhkov, does not believe in this story.
Andrey Derezhkov, director of the Upper Volga hydroelectric power station cascade: “This is probably one of the most widespread and numerous myths. The Rybinsk reservoir was filled over the course of four years, so no one could drown there in such a situation, no matter how hard they wanted.”
The Rybinsk hydroelectric station was built during the period of the so-called “Great Leap Forward” in the industrial development of the country, while “turning people’s life away from its historical course and driving it to new shores.” These are the words of the historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, who characterized the times of Peter the Great in this way, and are valid for all eras of change in Russia. One can only regret that for Mologa, as well as many other flooded towns and villages, there was no place for new life on the shores.
Victor Kiryukhin, historian: “We probably shouldn’t send curses to those people who built power plants and reservoirs. Who helped us find a new quality of life and survive the war. We should not make such mistakes again.”
According to the decision of the Ministry of Culture, the Rybinsk Hydroelectric Power Station is an architectural monument. However, at the same time it is also a memorial in honor of those who built the station and the countless Gulag prisoners who died here.
This year Mologa also had its own memorial sign, erected by the descendants of the settlers. True, when the autumn rains begin, the water level will rise, and the Rybinsk Reservoir will hide it along with the shoals. In the 1930s, before the flooding, there were almost a thousand houses in Mologa. At the same time, there were 200 shops and small shops in the central shopping area and on the streets nearby. That is, one store for nine houses. In total, about 7 thousand people lived in the city at that time.
In the Yaroslavl region, on the Rybinsk reservoir, the buildings of the ancient city of Mologa appeared from the water, which was flooded in 1940 during the construction of a hydroelectric power station. Now there is low water in the region, the water has gone and exposed entire streets: the foundations of houses, the walls of churches and other city buildings are visible.
These days Mologa would celebrate its anniversary - 865 years.
The city of Mologa in the Yaroslavl region, which disappeared from the face of the earth more than 50 years ago, again appeared above the surface of the water as a result of low water levels that came to the region, ITAR-TASS reports. It was flooded in 1940 during the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Rybinsk Reservoir.
Former residents of the city came to the banks of the reservoir to watch unusual phenomenon. They said that the foundations of houses and the outlines of streets appeared from the water. Mologans are going to visit their former houses. Their children and grandchildren plan to sail on the Moskovsky-7 motor ship to the ruins of the city to walk around their native land.
“We go to visit the flooded city every year. Usually we put flowers and wreaths in the water, and the priests serve a prayer service on the ship, but this year there is unique opportunity set foot on land,” said Valentin Blatov, chairman of the public organization “Community of Mologans.”
The city of Mologa in the Yaroslavl region is called the “Russian Atlantis” and the “Yaroslavl city of Kitezh”. If it had not been sunk in 1941, it would now be 865 years old. The city was located 32 km from Rybinsk and 120 km from Yaroslavl at the confluence of the Mologa and Volga rivers. From the 15th to the end of the 19th century, Mologa was a major trading center, with a population of 5,000 people at the beginning of the 20th century.
On September 14, 1935, a decision was made to begin construction of the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes, as a result of which the city found itself in a flood zone. Initially, it was planned to raise the water level to 98 meters above sea level, but then the figure increased to 102 meters, since this increased the power of the hydroelectric power station from 200 megawatts to 330. And the city had to be flooded... The city was flooded on April 13, 1941.
Incredibly lush grass grew in the fields of Mologa because during the spring flood the rivers merged into a huge floodplain and unusually nutritious silt remained in the meadows. The cows ate the grass that grew on it and produced the most delicious milk in Russia, from which they produced butter. They don’t get this kind of oil now, despite all the ultras modern technologies. There is simply no more Molog nature.
In September 1935, the USSR government adopted a decree on the start of construction of the Russian Sea - the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex. This implied the flooding of hundreds of thousands of hectares of land along with the settlements located on it, 700 villages and the city of Mologa.
At the time of liquidation the city lived full life, it housed 6 cathedrals and churches, 9 educational institutions, plants and factories.
On April 13, 1941, the last opening of the dam was blocked. The waters of the Volga, Sheksna and Mologa began to overflow their banks and flood the territory.
The tallest buildings in the city and churches were razed to the ground. When the city began to be ravaged, the residents were not even explained what would happen to them. They could only watch as Mologa-paradise was turned into hell.
Prisoners were brought in to work, who worked day and night, demolishing the city and building a waterworks. Prisoners died in hundreds. They were not buried, but simply stored and buried in common pits on the future seabed. In this nightmare, residents were told to urgently pack up, take only the essentials and go for resettlement.
Then the worst thing began. 294 Mologans refused to evacuate and remained in their homes. Knowing this, the builders began flooding. The rest were forcibly taken away.
After some time, a wave of suicides began among former Mologans. Whole families and one by one they came to the banks of the reservoir to drown themselves. Rumors spread about mass suicides, which reached Moscow. It was decided to evict the remaining Mologans to the north of the country, and remove the city of Mologa from the list of ever existing ones. Mentioning it, especially as a place of birth, was followed by arrest and prison. They tried to forcefully turn the city into a myth.
GHOST TOWN
But Mologa was not destined to become the City of Kitezh or the Russian Atlantis, which forever plunged into the abyss of water. Her fate is worse. The depths at which the city is located, in accordance with dry engineering terminology, are called “vanishingly small.” The reservoir level fluctuates, and approximately once every two years Mologa emerges from the water. Street paving, house foundations, and a cemetery with tombstones are exposed. And the Mologans come: to sit on the ruins of their home, to visit their father’s graves. For every “low-water” year, the ghost town pays its price: during the spring ice drift, the ice, like a grater, scrapes along the bottom in shallow water and takes with it material evidence of past life...
REPENTANCE CHAPEL
A unique museum of the flooded region was created in Rybinsk.
Now on the remaining Molog lands there are the Breitovsky and Nekouzsky districts of the Yaroslavl region. It was here, in the ancient village of Breytovo, located at the confluence of the Sit River into the Rybinsk Reservoir, that a popular initiative arose to build a penitential chapel in memory of all the flooded monasteries and temples resting under the waters of the man-made sea. This ancient village itself revealed the image of the tragedy of the Russian interfluve. Once in the flood zone, it was artificially moved to a new location, while historical buildings and temples remained at the bottom.
In November 2003, the first monument to the victims of the flooded Mologsky district appeared. This is a chapel built exclusively with human donations on the shore of the Rybinsk Reservoir, in Breytovo. This is the memory of those who did not want to leave their small homeland and went under water along with Mologa and the flooded villages. This is also the memory of all those who died during the construction of the hydroelectric power station. The chapel was named “Our Lady of the Waters.”
Penitential chapel in Breytovo
Icon Mother of God“I am with you, and no one else is with you” or Leushinskaya
Yaroslavl Archbishop Kirill blessed this chapel to dedicate to the Mother of God “I am with you, and no one else is against you,” the icon that became a symbol of flooded Rus', and to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of swimmers. Therefore, the chapel also received another name: Theotokos-Nikolskaya.
The city of Mologa was located 32 km from Rybinsk and 120 km from Yaroslavl in an area rich in water, at the confluence of the Mologa River with the Volga. The width of the Mologa River opposite the city was 277 m, the depth was from 3 to 11 m. The width of the Volga was up to 530 m, the depth was from 2 to 9 m. The city itself was located on a fairly significant and flat hill and stretched along the right bank of the Mologa and along the left bank of the Volga.
By the beginning of the 20th century, 34 stone houses and 659 wooden houses were built in Mologa. Of the non-residential buildings, there were 58 stone, wooden - 51. Population in the city: total - 7032, of which 3115 were men, 3917 women.
Victims of electrification
The resolution on the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station (one of the seven Volga-Kama cascade of hydroelectric power stations) was adopted in 1935. According to the original project, the area of the Rybinsk reservoir was to be 2.5 thousand km2, and the height of the water surface above the level of the world ocean was 98 m. In this case, the city of Mologa, located at levels 98-101 m, would remain alive. However, the gigantomania of Stalin's five-year plans forced a reconsideration of plans, and in 1937 it was decided to raise the water level to 102 m. The power of hydroelectric power stations increased by 65%, and the area of flooded land almost doubled. Then the migration of people began. And on April 14, 1941, the last opening of the dam was blocked and the filling of the reservoir began, which lasted about six years. In 1991, this date was recognized as the day of memory of Mologa.
As a result of the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station, an original city with an 800-year history, which was once the center of an appanage principality, disappeared from the face of the earth. It included more than 700 villages and hamlets; unique ancient estates and three monasteries also perished. The flooded meadows, the pride of the Mologo-Sheksninskaya lowland, which had the status of a nursery for seed production of grassland grasses of Union importance, went under water. The area's ecosystem was disrupted and the climate began to change. But most importantly, the fates of 130 thousand people who suddenly lost their homeland changed dramatically. The eviction proceeded in accordance with the order established by Volgostroy. The museum archives contain documents in which people asked to postpone the move until spring in order to be able to dry the logs after rafting and assemble their houses before the onset of cold weather. They received answers that threatened disaster: “You are talking anti-Soviet.” “Volgostroy” was under the jurisdiction of the NKVD and, according to official data, during the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric facility, 150 thousand prisoners were killed, convicted mainly under Article 58, the anti-Soviet article.
However, there were other victims of the great construction. In materials round table on the problems of the Mologa region, which took place in June 2003, there is a reference to an archival document according to which 294 residents of Mologa chose death over forced relocation, chaining themselves or locking themselves in flooded houses.
For the sake of objectivity, it is worth saying that some migrants left for new places with pleasure. For example, those who lived near the flooded meadows of the Mologo-Sheksninskaya lowland, which was regularly subject to flooding. The majority was consoled by the thought that this was necessary for the good of the country. It’s hard to move to an empty place, it’s painful to leave homes, farms, and the graves of relatives, but there is no other way out! “Our hydroelectric power station supplied Moscow with electricity throughout the war,” says Nikolai Novotelnov, who was a representative of the Molgostan community for 30 years. - The Volga has become navigable. It was important then."
hydroelectric power station
Hydroelectric power station complex in the Volga-Kama river basin. During their construction, seven reservoirs were formed: Ivankovskoye, Uglichskoye, Rybinsk, Gorky, Cheboksary, Kuibyshevskoye and Volgogradskoye. Many cities were flooded, some partially and some completely. The bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kalyazin stands as a monument to the lost lands in the middle of the Uglich reservoir. Two-thirds of this city fell into the flood zone, including the Trinity Monastery, once the largest on Tver land. The bell tower was saved from complete destruction by the decision to adapt it for paratrooper training. Later, an island was built around it to protect it from destruction caused by water and ice drift.
Round glass of a submarine porthole. Behind it is a white stone temple, leaden waters closed over the neat onions of the domes. This model is one of the exhibits of the Mologsky Region Museum in the city of Rybinsk. In reality, however, no buildings remained at the bottom of the reservoir, only piles of stones. What they were unable to disassemble and move to a new location before the flooding, they tried to blow it up. They did not have time to destroy 20 of the 140 churches in the doomed region. For many years they emerged from the water as lonely ghosts, collapsing gradually and steadily. But the flooded city does not want to accept its fate. In dry years, the water level in the artificial lake drops, exposing the skeletons of houses, preserving the traces of ancient streets that can once again be walked. And those people who managed to keep in their hearts the memory of their small homeland pass by.
The Rybinsk Reservoir occupies 13% of the territory of the Yaroslavl region, in addition partially covering the Vologda and Tver regions.
Museum
The Mologa Region Museum is located in the building of the former chapel of the Afanasyevsky Convent. The monastery itself, located 3 km from the city of Mologa, was lost during the flooding. The chapel built on his Rybinsk courtyard was able to survive. When the museum opened in 1995, it was consecrated again. Where generations of Mologans who came to Rybinsk prayed, you can still light a candle in front of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow.”
The basis of the museum collection was made up of exhibits evacuated from the Mologsky Museum of Local Lore in 1936. Much was given by the Mologans themselves and their descendants. Another source of income was expeditions to the flooded city, organized by the founder of the museum, Nikolai Alekseev, in those years when Mologa was opening, emerging from the waters pacified by drought.
From Rybinsk to Mologa - 32 km. They go there on a specially rented ship, then sail on boats. “Imagine: people who are over 80 years old are moving into lifeboats from the high side of the ship. It’s shaking - the wind there is terrible,” says the director of the museum.
Today, few people remember that there is a flooded city of Mologa in Russia, which was sacrificed for civilization and electrification of the country. Nowadays, even such entities as cities with a population of many thousands and developed infrastructure are born, live and die.
Among these dead cities is a small provincial town that was previously located not far from. Because of his tragic fate, people call him the Russian Atlantis.
The Mologa River was first mentioned in chronicles in 1149. They say that “... in battles with Grand Duke Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince Mstislavich burned all the villages on his way to Mologa...” The city with the same name was already flooded in the 20th century by the will of people and circumstances.
History of Mologa
As a place already inhabited by people, Mologa is mentioned in the records of the 13th century - fairs were held here, famous for many miles around. Many foreigners - Greeks, Lithuanians, Poles, Germans - brought their goods here to exchange them for raw materials. Various furs were in great demand. The city grew, expanded, and the number of its inhabitants grew.
In the 17th century, there were 125 houses in Mologa. Of these, 12 belonged to fishermen who caught various fish, and even red ones, in the Volga and Mologa. And then, among other things, they brought it to the royal table.
By the end of the 18th century, the city area had a town hall, 3 churches - 2 stone and one wooden - and 289 wooden houses. In 1767, the Resurrection Cathedral was built in the traditions of Russian architecture.
Near the city stood the majestic Afanasyevsky Monastery.
At the same time, the city received its coat of arms, which depicted a bear with an axe.
In the 19th century, Mologa was already a small port city - many ships loaded and unloaded a variety of goods there. The city had 11 factories, had its own bank, post office, telegraph, monastery, churches, libraries, educational institutions.
A gymnastics school, one of the first in Russia, was also opened here. There, those interested were taught fencing, bowling, cycling, and carpentry. The city had a population of about 6,000.
In the 20th century, the city's population increased to 7,000 people. There were 9 educational institutions, 6 cathedrals and churches, many plants and factories.
Mesopotamia
The location of the city of Mologa was initially very successful: in the Mologo-Sheksninskaya lowland. The Volga River made a turn here and flowed further towards Rybinsk.
And in the interfluve between the Mologa and Sheksna rivers there were flooded meadows, which at that time fed the third part of all Russia. Bread, milk, sour cream - all these products were supplied in huge quantities to different parts of the country.
Horrifying news spread across the city
Proposed flood zone
Life went on as usual without any special events or disasters. But in 1935, the Government of the country decided to build the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric stations.
To implement these grandiose plans, it was necessary to build dams and flood a huge territory: approximately the same as the country of Luxembourg.
The city of Mologa stood on a hill and was initially not part of the flood zone. According to engineering calculations, the level of water rise was assumed to be 98 meters above sea level, and the city stood 2 meters higher.
The government changes plans
But the plans “at the top” have changed. The country was preparing for war with Germany. Additional powerful energy resources were needed. That is why at the beginning of 1937 a decision was made to increase the level of the reservoir to 102 meters, and therefore to flood Mologa.
Almost doubling the area of the future man-made reservoir increased the power of the hydroelectric power station by 130 megawatts. This figure cost the lives of 700 villages and the city of Mologa with an 800-year history, hundreds of surrounding villages with beautiful forests, fertile fields and arable land.
The life of the city and its inhabitants has turned into a nightmare. 6 ancient monasteries and many churches were subject to destruction.
And, most importantly, people. More than 150 thousand people had to leave their homes. Places where their ancestors once lived and were buried. Go into the unknown.
Since the flooding of Mologa was not planned from the beginning, for the Molozh residents the news of the upcoming event was like “a bolt from the blue.” Residents prepared for winter, stocked up on hay for livestock and firewood for heating. And around October 30, unexpected news came: we urgently needed to move.
Pain and despair of Mologans
Before the start of construction, a separate camp “Volgolag” was created to carry out the planned work, in which there were 20 thousand prisoners. And this figure grew every day.
Preparatory work began - centuries-old trees were cut down, ancient churches were blown up - everything that could interfere with further navigation was destroyed. Residents of the city watched with pain as buildings were destroyed and churches exploded.
The story of how the Epiphany Cathedral was destroyed has been preserved. The majestic building, which was built to last, after the first explosion with dynamite, only rose a small height into the air and fell back into place without damage. We had to make 4 more attempts to finally destroy the century-old structure.
The time has come for people to move. This lasted four years. How much pain, fear and sadness these long four years brought with them to the families of the displaced! The houses were dismantled log by log, numbered to make it easier to assemble later, and transported on horse-drawn carts; some floated them down the river along with their belongings. In villages close to Rybinsk you can still see old houses with numbers on the logs.
Home owners were paid a meager amount monetary compensation, which was barely enough to pay for the demolition of the house. And lonely, sick people were distributed to nearby nursing homes.
There were also those who, not wanting to leave, chained themselves to some heavy object in the yard of their house.
According to the surviving data, 294 people refused to leave their homes. Popular rumor conveys horror stories that these people voluntarily remained in their homes and were buried alive under the water.
But eyewitnesses of those events say that this is all fiction. The authorities acted very simply: they recognized these people as crazy and took them out of town by force. danger zone the upcoming flooding, sending them to mental hospitals.
By the way, the authenticity of the Report given here is questioned. In the archives of the Rybinsk Museum, dedicated to the History of the Mologa tragedy, such a document does not appear.
Very gradually the city of Mologa found itself under water. In the famous film “Mologa. Russian Atlantis” shows that the water surged sharply, and in a few hours the city went under water. But this is fiction. After all, the depth of the flooding was very small: no more than 2 meters.
And so on April 14, 1941, the last opening of the dam was dug. The turbulent waters of three rivers: the Volga, Mologa and Sheksna met the resistance of dams on their way and overflowed their banks. The vast expanse of land began to gradually fill with water, forming a majestic sea created by man. This is how the well-known Rybinsk Reservoir appeared.
In memory of human tragedy
As a result of the flooding of the Mologo-Sheksninsky interfluve, the 8th part of the Yaroslavl lands disappeared from the face of the earth. More than 800 settlements, 6 monasteries and 50 churches were under water.
On the given map of the Rybinsk Reservoir (it can be enlarged), the beds of former rivers are indicated in dark blue, and next to them with red dots are villages and hamlets that have gone under water forever.
Surprisingly, the Volga in those days was not considered a Great River and was not even navigable. It is known that steamships sailed only between Rybinsk and Mologa.
Decades have passed since the tragedy. The Soviet people defeated Germany in the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War. As historians say, the capacities of the created Volga hydroelectric power stations played an important role in this event.
Gradually, the history of Russian Atlantis was forgotten. Besides long years in the Soviet Union it was forbidden to even pronounce this name: Mologa. For such a mention one could easily end up in some camp.
Years passed. There were periods when the water level in the Rybinsk reservoir dropped, and the remains of the ancient city could be seen: the foundations former houses and streets, cemetery tombstones.
But the elements of water, wind and time do their work. And in the 21st century there is little that reminds us of the former tragedy. The remains of many churches and temples that were not destroyed during the flooding, which previously rose above the surface of the water, have almost completely sunk under water.
Many historical cities have survived, but due to partial flooding they have become much smaller. Decreased by 3/4 ancient city Vesyegonsk, flooding affected Uglich, Myshkin, Kalyazin.
Kalyazinskaya bell tower
Many cities, towns and villages went under water at the same time. Among them, the notorious city was partially damaged. St. Nicholas Cathedral located there was built in 1694.
Under him, since 1800, a five-tier bell tower has stood. Its height is 74.5 meters. There were 12 bells in the bell tower! The largest of them was cast in honor of Nicholas II, who became Emperor.
During the preparation of these lands for flooding, the cathedral was dismantled, and the bell tower was left as a lighthouse for ships. In the eighties, its foundation was strengthened, an artificial island of land was created around it, and now in the summer divine services and prayer services are held there.
An original attraction has appeared for visiting tourists. Well, for residents of Kalyazin, this is a good reason to earn a little extra money by taking travelers to.
People's memory
Now, according to a sad tradition, on one of the August Sundays, the descendants of those who once lived in Mologa gather and sail by boat to the site of the sunken city. Sometimes the water level drops and the city appears out of the water. The spectacle is not for the faint of heart, it just becomes scary. After all, people once lived there - they were sad and laughed, dreamed and hoped for a happy future...
Although, according to today's researchers, almost nothing remains from those times. All the stories that you can see ancient buildings, temples, gravestones and crosses under water are a myth. Only stones and shell rock are visible at the bottom. Only occasionally do searchers discover small metal objects and coins.
Do not forget that almost all stone buildings were blown up before the flooding, and wooden buildings were dismantled for firewood.
On the site of the flooded city, enthusiasts erected a symbolic monument-signpost with the inscription: “Forgive me, the city of Mologa.” And its arrow is directed under the water.
Where to learn about the history of the flooding of Mologa
In Rybinsk there is a museum of the Mologa region, where you can learn in detail about these events, see objects of that time and light a candle in memory of the residents of Mologa. It is located in Preobrazhensky Lane, building 6a. Open from 10 to 17, except Monday and Sunday.
And in the city of Myshkin, which was also partially damaged, but the built dams saved it from complete flooding, there is. It is located on Nikolskaya Square, building 5. The caretaker of this museum, a local historian, can also tell a lot about the flooded cities, in particular about Mologa.
We were deeply moved by the story of the curator of the museum, Sergei Vasilyevich Kurov, about the history of the Volga region, about how preparations were made for the flooding. He preserved the memories of eyewitnesses of these events and their descendants.
Also in his collection are many things that in past years he was able to discover in the area of the flooded city. Here, for example, is a brick from Russian Atlantis.
It was also very interesting to see this whole story on ordinary geographical maps those years. Here we have a publication from the late 30s of the 20th century.
The lowlands are clearly visible here. And this area is circled with a dotted line as a possible object that is planned to be flooded in the future. On the 1938 map you can see the inscription: zone of expected flooding.
And there are already more nearby modern map with the Rybinsk Reservoir. Its outlines surprisingly follow the contours of the former fertile lowland.
Mologa - the pearl of Russia
There can be no clear assessment of these tragic events. After all, we must not forget that it was this newly created Rybinsk reservoir that in 1941 provided electricity to the whole of Moscow, as well as numerous factories that produced weapons and equipment for the front.
By the beginning of the war, the hydroelectric power station building was already ready, but the roof had not yet been built. It was replaced with a tarpaulin and, despite fighting, work continued. The country and the people needed this additional power plant. Only - at what cost? - that's another question...
This is where the flooded city of Mologa is now located on a modern map.
Other attractions of the Yaroslavl region, where I was able to visit, are on this map.