In today’s post, we will talk about the practically unknown estate Matrenino, located in a remote area, in the southwest of the Tver region. The stately home preserved there is little known not only to a wide circle of antique lovers, but also to the attention of historians and architects. In fact, there will be no historical component in this report, but only an unforced first-person narration.
Contrary to expectations, the road to this remote place, in appearance and according to the stories, turned out to be quite simple. Which, it should be noted, took away some of the impressions. Still, the inaccessibility of an object affects its perception, especially for a lover of the “bear angle”, which I certainly am. So, having covered 350 km from Moscow along the M-9 highway, we turn to the mining town of Nelidovo and for another 25 km we drive towards the city of Bely, after which we make a branch towards the tract we need. Meanwhile, the good asphalt surface of the highway is replaced by broken asphalt of village roads, and a little later it is covered with sand.
So, having covered another short section of the path from the shore, we rise to a small hill, where in the open space a manor house appears before our eyes, hidden behind the same lonely larches. Our first attention is drawn to the veranda topped with a hipped dome.
The place is, of course, picturesque. One can only guess how in lordly times the samovar puffed in the fresh air, bagels lay on the table, and the owners of the estate sipped tea from saucers. For a general overview I had to step back into the field. It turned out that such a perspective was made long before us – even during the existence of a pioneer camp here, whose wooden buildings still surround the ancient brick house on all sides.
This is what the local mansion looked like in the recent past. This manor house was used as the main building of the Komsomol-Pioneer boarding school camp. Note the small pioneer statues decorating the front porch. I will tell you about the children’s summer pastime here in a separate post dedicated specifically to the pioneer camp.
The cloudy sky, which I had long been accustomed to on our trips, the withered, golden-colored grass, and the bare branches of tall trees covered with moss gave this house a special, indescribable flavor. In a word, despite the ease of accessibility, the atmosphere was created appropriately. Judging by the brickwork and architectural style, and there are definitely modern features here, the years of construction of the house can be attributed to the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. or by the beginning of the 20th century. Alas, the exact dating of construction is unknown to me. There is also no more or less reliable information about this estate. For which “thank you” – just thank you in huge quotes – to the director of a neighboring rural school. But more on that below.
Unfortunately, the estate was not registered as an architectural and historical monument, and therefore was not studied by specialists. Until 2005, there was still a recreation center for the younger generation here, since then the house has been abandoned and falling into ruin, and recently looters partially removed the sheet roof (it’s good that local enthusiasts laid advertising banners instead).Moreover, the building has been put up for auction for several years now, so anyone who wants and has the means can purchase it. Only its location is not conducive to participation in the purchase auction. It’s painfully inconvenient to get here – it’s far from all major cities, and the region itself is slowly dying out, as can be judged by my recent report from the surrounding areas.
Well, the time has come to go inside the house through the original, not unattractive portal of the front porch.
No less original was the design of the doorway in the form of “concave” double doors, on which, under a thick layer of paint, you can still see a simple but authentic design. From the inside there is a gorgeous view of the territory adjacent to the house, which at one time was uniquely decorated with lawns and park paths.
It was useless to expect at least some surviving manor interior/decor after decades of existence of the pioneer camp. How to expect anything preserved from the camp times. Therefore, I will begin to tell you about the history of this place, and by the way, we ended up in the Matrenino estate. Alas, there will be crumbs of local history. Although there is quite detailed local history material on Matrenino, collected by schoolchildren from the neighboring village of Novoselki and local historians. Having learned that the material was located directly within the walls of the school, I wrote a letter to the postal address with information about me and with a request to share the story.
Without waiting for an answer, I personally called the director of the Novosyolkovo school O.V. Shkadenkova, who flatly turned out to provide at least a bit of information about the history of the estate. After introducing myself, I mentioned that I was calling with an identical request made earlier in the letter. However, in response I heard that yes – they have local history material about the owners of the estate, but they are not going to share it with me. The conversation lasted about ten minutes. The arguments that I am a traveler, a researcher of just such little-known estates, had no effect. “I’m not going to send it to someone who doesn’t know where. Come to us with documents (I don’t even understand what documents we are talking about) then we’ll talk,” was her answer. Also, attempts to explain that I am a blogger and published in print publications were unsuccessful; that I will certainly mention the school and who provided the information; that I’m not asking her for financial statements or a school evacuation plan, but just a history; that it is not possible to come on weekdays, because… I live 400 km from Novosyolki (in response to the fact that I was already at the estate on the weekend, and the school was closed, I answered: “What do you want, we rest on the weekend”). Even the fact that the estate, located in a remote place, is dying and being destroyed, and I’m trying to somehow preserve the memory, take it outside the boundaries of the district and the walls of the school – like peas against a wall – I won’t let it happen and that’s it. This is how they cherish and are proud of the history of a forgotten estate in a dying province. It is unpleasant to realize that the school director, having taken a stubborn position, followed the principle. Among the remarkable, more or less interesting things inside the house, I would note the presence of a large number of nooks and crannies, as well as different sizes and layouts of rooms. Having examined the meager interiors of the first floor, we go up to the second. Once upon a time, another flight of stairs led to the third floor – to a small tower room. As you can see, the railings have long been cut down by “good people”. The roof has leaked and water is slowly making its way to the first floor. And now what I know about Matrenino. The only positive thing from the most unpleasant conversation with the ill-fated director was that I managed to find out that the correct pronunciation and spelling of the name Matrenino
– through “e”, not “e”. The first owners of the local lands were presumably the Ogon-Doganovsky nobles. This family owned several estates in different districts of the Smolensk province. Of the Ogon-Doganovsky estates, the closest to Matrenino I found the former village of Travina, Belsky district (now this is a tract, 25 km from here). At the beginning of the 19th century, the owner there was listed as the landowner Pyotr Onufrievich, who in 1820 added a warm chapel to the local church. The next landowner of the village of Travina was N.S. Ogon-Doganovsky – court councilor, zemstvo chief of the Shostovo volost; in 1911-1915 was considered an exemplary owner. Meanwhile, we found ourselves in a covered “terrace,” or bay window room, located above the front porch. On the “ SB ” and “ Nelidovo ” forums, Matrenino’s past is associated with the merchant Reznikov. Here is such a beautiful legend, in one variation or another, about the estate: “…Reznikov (a merchant of the city of Bely – my note ) met an amazingly beautiful woman named Matryona, who later became his lover. Fascinated by the beauty and kindness of the woman, Reznikov gives her the estate. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Matryona was a wonderful person. She was always ready to help people and took care of her peasants. Residents of surrounding villages came to her for help. Thanks to Matryona’s good fame, the old name of the Akhtyrskoye estate began to be forgotten. And to this day the estate has been preserved under the name Matryonino.” Indeed, the village had a second name – Akhtyrskoye. However, the merchant’s love for Matryona and the renaming of the estate in honor of her are unlikely, because according to the “Lists of populated places of the Russian Empire. Smolensk province.” in Belsky district, in the 3rd camp, along the Toropetsk postal tract, on its right side , the village of Akhtyrskoye (Matrenino) in 4 yards (8 males, 14 females) – and all this according to information from 1859. And the first of the famous merchants of the Reznikov family was Feodor Kosmich, born in 1824, later a hereditary honorary citizen, Belsky mayor (buried in the city of Beloye at the Peter and Paul Cemetery). It is difficult to imagine that by the age of 35 Reznikov had become so rich that he was able to buy and rename the estate. And it is unlikely that the Ogon-Doganovsky nobles had the need to sell their lands before the abolition of serfdom. It is more likely that the son of the mayor, the merchant Mikhail Fedorovich Reznikov, who after the death of his father also took the post of mayor, could have fallen in love with Matryona. However, M.F. Reznikov, died relatively young in 1914 in St. Petersburg. Moreover, he had four young children, whom his wife sent to Moscow at a young age.
So it is difficult to connect the years of the Reznikovs’ life with Matryona, and it is unlikely that the mayor could take upon himself a relationship with a woman on the side. The legend, of course, exists and perhaps there was another merchant Reznikov unknown to me, but so far there are only assumptions. It is more likely that the rich merchants Reznikovs simply bought land in the former owner’s village of Akhtyrskoye (Matrenino), which once belonged to the Ogon-Doganovskys, and built the house in which we are now wandering. I hope that uchazdneg, planning a trip to this estate, will be able to find contact with the school director and we will finally learn the true story. And then we get out of the empty house. We take a last look at the old, but stylish, fading antiquity. And we go for a walk along the dense alley… …on the tree trunks of which beautiful picturesque moss grows. A couple of views of the manor house from afar… …and from behind the small spruce trees. Not far from the house we noticed another brick building, which in lordly times served either as a farm yard or a stable, and in Soviet times it was adapted as a pioneer camp kitchen. After which they began to explore the nearby wooden buildings of the Zvezdny pioneer camp, which had operated on the estate for many decades. After taking a walk among the camp hollow boxes, we leave the Matrenino estate, p/l Zvezdnyi Tozh and again find ourselves on the banks of the Bereza River. Well, having overcome the abyss and mud again, we get into the car that was waiting for us and drive to the city of Bely… When creating this post, the material from the following sources was used: – obituary of the “Smolensk Diocesan Gazette” of 1914. – Lists of populated places of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg: ed. Center. stat. com. Min. internal affairs, 1861-1885. [Vol. 40]: Smolensk province: according to information from 1859 / edited. N. Stieglitz. – 1868 – Search and historical forum SmolBattle – forum in Nelidovo – article “Pages from the Belsky past”
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