If we have heard about Atlantis absorbed by the water element, few know about the Russian city of Mologa. Despite the fact that the latter can even be seen: the level of the Rybinsk reservoir drops twice a year - and this ghost town appears.
Since time immemorial, this place has been called the fabulous interfluve. Nature itself took care to make the vast space at the confluence of the Mologa River into the Volga not only very beautiful, but also abundant.
In spring, water flooded the meadows, supplying them with moisture for the whole summer and bringing nutritious silt - juicy grass grew. It is not surprising that the cows gave wonderful milk, from which they obtained the best butter in Russia and amazingly tasting cheese. The saying "Milk rivers and cheese banks" is about Mologa.
The navigable river Mologa is wide at its mouth (over 250 m), with crystal clean water- was famous throughout Russia for fish: sterlet, sturgeon and other valuable varieties. It was the local fishermen who were the main suppliers to the imperial table. By the way, this circumstance played decisive role in the birth in 1777 of the decree of Catherine II on conferring the status of a city on Mologa. Although at that time there were only about 300 households there.
The favorable climate (even epidemics avoided the region), convenient transport links and the fact that wars did not reach Mologa - all this contributed to the prosperity of the city until the beginning of the 20th century. And in economically(12 factories operated in the city), and socially.
By 1900, with a population of seven thousand, Mologa had a gymnasium and eight more educational institutions, three libraries, as well as a cinema, a bank, a post office with a telegraph, a zemstvo hospital and a city clinic.
A memorial sign on the site where the Epiphany Cathedral stood. Every year on the second Saturday of August, Mologans meet at this sign.
hard times Civil War The years 1917-1922 only partially affected the city: the new government also needed products and their processing, which provided employment for the population. In 1931, a machine and tractor station and a seed-growing collective farm were organized in Mologa, and a technical school was opened.
A year later, an industrial complex appeared, combining a power plant, a starch and oil mill, and a mill. There were already over 900 houses in the city, and 200 shops and shops were trading.
Everything changed when the country was swept by a wave of electrification: the number of coveted megawatts became the main goal, to achieve which all means were good.
FATAL 4 METERS
Today, every now and then you hear about rising sea levels and the threat of flooding of coastal cities, and even countries. Such horror stories are perceived somehow detachedly: they say, it can happen, but it will never happen. At least not in our lifetime. And in general, it’s hard to imagine this rise of water by several meters...
In 1935, residents of Mologa - then the regional center of the Yaroslavl region - initially also did not imagine the full extent of the impending danger. Although, of course, they were informed of the decree of the USSR government issued in September on the construction of the Rybinsk reservoir. But the water rise level in the project was stated as 98 m, and the city of Mologa was located at an altitude of 100 m - safety was guaranteed.
But then, without much fuss, the designers, at the suggestion of economists, made an amendment. According to their calculations, if the water level is raised by only 4 m - from 98 to 102, then the power of the Rybinsk hydroelectric station under construction will increase from 220 to 340 MW. Even the fact that the flooded area doubled at the same time did not stop it. Momentary gain decided the fate of Mologa and hundreds of nearby villages.
However, the alarm bell sounded back in 1929 in the famous Afanasyevsky Monastery, founded in the 15th century. It was adjacent to Molota and was rightfully considered one of the most magnificent monuments of Russian Orthodox architecture.
In addition to the four churches, the monastery also kept a miraculous relic - a copy of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. It was with her that the first Mologa prince Mikhail Davidovich arrived in his patrimony in 1321 - the lands were inherited by him after the death of his father, the Yaroslavl prince David.
So, in 1929, the authorities removed the icon from the monastery and transferred it to the Mologa District Museum. The clergy regarded this as a bad omen. And indeed, the Afanasyevsky Monastery was soon transformed into a labor commune - the last service took place here on January 3, 1930.
Just a few months later, the icon was requisitioned from the museum - for representatives new government it was now listed only as “an item containing non-ferrous metal.” Since then, traces of the relic have been lost, and Mologa was left without holy patronage. And the disaster was not long in coming...
CHOICE FOR DISAGREEMENTS
Residents of Mologa wrote letters to various authorities asking them to lower the water level and leave the city, and presented their arguments, including economic ones. In vain!
Moreover, in the fall of 1936, a deliberately impossible order was received from Moscow: to resettle 60% of the Mologans before the new year. It was still possible to survive the winter, but in the spring the townspeople began to be taken out, and the process lasted for four years until the flooding began in April 1941.
In total, according to the construction plan for the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes, over 130 thousand residents were forcibly evicted from the Mologo-Sheksninsky interfluve. In addition to Mologa, they lived in 700 villages and hamlets. Most of them were sent to Rybinsk and neighboring areas of the region, and the most qualified specialists were sent to Yaroslavl, Leningrad and Moscow. Those who actively resisted and campaigned to stay were exiled to Volgolag - a huge construction site needed workers.
And yet there were those who stood their ground and did not leave Mologa. In the report, the head of the local branch of the Volgolag camp, state security lieutenant Sklyarov, reported to his superiors that the number of “citizens who voluntarily wished to die with their belongings when filling the reservoir was 294 people...
Among them were those who firmly attached themselves with locks... to solid objects.” The authorities officially recognized such people as suffering from nervous disorders, and that was the end of it: they died in the flooding.
Sappers blew up tall buildings - this was an obstacle to future shipping. The Epiphany Cathedral survived the first explosion; explosives had to be planted four more times to turn the recalcitrant Orthodox monument into ruins.
ERASE FROM BIOGRAPHY
Subsequently, the very mention of Mologa was banned - as if such a region did not exist. The reservoir reached its design mark of 102 m only in 1947, and before that the city was slowly disappearing under water.
There were several cases when resettled Mologans came to the shore of the Rybinsk Reservoir and entire families lost their lives - they committed suicide, unable to bear the separation from their small homeland.
Only 20 years later were Mologans able to organize meetings of fellow countrymen - the first took place in 1960 near Leningrad.
Houses were rolled out onto logs, piled into rafts, and floated down the river to a new location.
In 1972, the level of the Rybinsk reservoir dropped noticeably - finally there was an opportunity to walk along Mologa. Several families of Mologans who arrived identified their streets by sawn down trees and telegraph poles, found the foundations of houses, and in the cemetery, by tombstones, the burials of relatives.
Soon after this, a meeting of Mologans took place in Rybinsk, which became an annual event, attracting fellow countrymen from other regions of Russia and neighboring countries.
...Twice a year flowers appear at the Mologa city cemetery - they are brought by people whose relatives, by the will of fate, found themselves buried not only in the ground, but also under a layer of water. There is also a homemade stele with the inscription: “Forgive me, the city of Mologa.” Below - “14 m”: this is the maximum water level above the ruins of the ghost town. Descendants keep the memory of their small homeland, which means Mologa is still alive...
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. For him tragic fate People call it the Russian Atlantis.
For the first time, the Mologa River is mentioned in the annals of 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, on the city territory there was 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.
Began preparatory work- 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 have brought with them to the families of migrants! 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 of log cabins.
The owners of the houses were paid meager monetary compensation, which was barely enough to pay for the demolition of the house. And lonely, sick people were distributed to the homes of the disabled located nearby.
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 terrible 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 forcibly removed them from the dangerous zone of the upcoming flooding, sending them to psychiatric 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 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 on April 14, 1941, they dug up the last opening of the dam. 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 the 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. In addition, for many years in the Soviet Union it was forbidden even to 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 one could see the remains of the ancient city: the foundations of 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. The ancient city of Vesyegonsk shrank by 3/4, and flooding affected Uglich, Myshkin, and 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 belfry! 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.
For visiting tourists, an original attraction has appeared. 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, once people lived there - they were sad and laughed, dreamed and hoped for a happy future ...
Although, according to today's researchers, almost nothing is left of those times. All the stories that you can see ancient buildings, temples and tombstones and crosses under water are a myth. Only stones and shell rock are visible at the bottom. Only occasionally do searchers discover small hardware and coins.
Do not forget that almost all stone buildings were blown up before the flooding, and wooden buildings sorted it out for firewood.
On the site of the flooded city, enthusiasts erected a symbolic monument-pointer 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 inhabitants of Mologa. It is located in Preobrazhensky Lane, building 6 a. 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 of those years. Here we have an edition of 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 map of 1938, the inscription is visible: the zone of the alleged flooding.
And next to it is a more modern map with the Rybinsk reservoir. Its outlines surprisingly repeat the contours of the former fertile lowland.
Mologa - the pearl of Russia
There can be no unambiguous 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 building of the hydroelectric power station was already ready, only the roof had not yet been built. It was replaced with a tarpaulin and, despite the fighting, the work continued. The country, 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.
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In August 2014, the city of Mologa (Yaroslavl region), completely flooded in 1940 during the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station, again appeared on the surface due to extremely low level water at the Rybinsk Reservoir. In the flooded city, the foundations of houses and the outlines of streets are visible. Babr suggests recalling the history of 6 more Russian cities that went under water
View of the Afanasyevsky Monastery, destroyed in 1940 before the city was flooded
Mologa is the most famous city, completely flooded during the construction of the Rybinsk reservoir. This is a rather rare case when the settlement was not moved to another place, but was completely liquidated: in 1940 its history was interrupted.
Celebration in the city square
The village of Mologa has been known since the 12th-13th centuries, and in 1777 it received the status of a county town. With coming Soviet power the city became a regional center with a population of about 6 thousand people.
Mologa consisted of about a hundred stone houses and 800 wooden ones. After the impending flooding of the city was announced in 1936, the relocation of residents began. Most of Mologans settled far from Rybinsk in the village of Slip, and the rest dispersed to different cities of the country.
In total, 3645 square meters were flooded. km of forests, 663 villages, the city of Mologa, 140 churches and 3 monasteries. Relocated 130,000 people.
But not everyone agreed to voluntarily leave their home. 294 people chained themselves and were drowned alive.
It is difficult to imagine what tragedy these people experienced, deprived of their homeland. Until now, since 1960, meetings of Mologans have been held in Rybinsk, at which they remember their lost city.
After every winter with little snow and dry summer, Mologa appears from under the water, like a ghost, revealing its dilapidated buildings and even a cemetery.
Kalyazin center with St. Nicholas Cathedral and Trinity Monastery
Kalyazin is one of the most famous flooded cities in Russia. The first mention of the village of Nikola on Zhabnya dates back to the 12th century, and after the founding of the Kalyazin-Trinity (Makaryevsky) Monastery on the opposite bank of the Volga in the 15th century, the importance of the settlement increased. In 1775, Kalyazin was given the status of a county town, and from the end of the 19th century the development of industry began in it: fulling, blacksmithing, and shipbuilding.
The city was partially flooded during the creation of the Uglich hydroelectric power station on the Volga River, which was built in 1935-1955.
The Trinity Monastery and the architectural complex of the Nikolo-Zhabensky Monastery were lost, as well as most of the historical buildings of the city. All that remained of it was the bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral sticking out of the water, which became one of the main attractions of the central part of Russia.
3. Korcheva
View of the city from the left bank of the Volga.
On the left side you can see the Church of the Transfiguration, on the right - the Resurrection Cathedral.
Korcheva is the second (and last) completely flooded city in Russia after Mologa. This village in the Tver region was located on the right bank of the Volga River, on both sides of the Korchevka River, not far from the city of Dubna.
Korcheva, early 20th century. General form to the city
By the 1920s, the population of Korchevka was 2.3 thousand people. There were mostly wooden buildings, although there were also stone structures, including three churches. In 1932, the government approved the plan for the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal, and the city fell into the flood zone.
Today, on the unflooded territory of Korchev, a cemetery and one stone building have been preserved - the house of the Rozhdestvensky merchants.
4. Puchezh
Puchezh in 1913
City in Ivanovo region. Mentioned since 1594 as the Puchische settlement, in 1793 it became a settlement. The city lived by trade along the Volga, in particular barge haulers were hired there.
The population in the 1930s was about 6 thousand people, the buildings were mainly wooden. In the 1950s, the city's territory fell into the flood zone of the Gorky Reservoir. The city was rebuilt in a new location, and now its population is about 8 thousand people.
Of the 6 existing churches, 5 turned out to be in the flood zone, but the sixth also did not survive to this day - it was dismantled at the peak of Khrushchev’s persecution of religion.
5. Vesyegonsk
City in the Tver region. Known as a village since the 16th century, a city since 1776. It developed most actively in the 19th century, during the period of active functioning of the Tikhvin water system. The population in the 1930s was about 4 thousand people, the buildings were mostly wooden.
Most of the city's territory was flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir; the city was rebuilt on non-flooded areas. The city lost most of its old buildings, including several churches. However, the Trinity and Kazan churches survived, but gradually fell into disrepair.
It's interesting that moving the city to a more high place were collected in the 19th century, since 16 of the 18 streets of the city were regularly flooded during the flood. Now about 7 thousand people live in Vesyegonsk.
6. Stavropol Volzhsky (Tolyatti)
City in Samara Oblast. Founded in 1738 as a fortress.
The population fluctuated greatly, in 1859 there were 2.2 thousand people, by 1900 - about 7 thousand, and in 1924 the population decreased so much that the city officially became a village (the city status was returned in 1946). In the early 1950s there were about 12 thousand people.
In the 1950s, it ended up in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev reservoir and was moved to a new location. In 1964, it was renamed Tolyatti, and began to actively develop as an industrial city. Now its population exceeds 700 thousand people.
7. Kuibyshev (Spassk-Tatarsky)
Volga near Bolgar
The city has been mentioned in chronicles since 1781. In the second half of the 19th century, there were 246 houses, 1 church, and by the beginning of the 1930s, 5.3 thousand people lived here.
In 1936 the city was renamed Kuibyshev. In the 1950s, it found itself in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev Reservoir and was completely rebuilt in a new location, next to the ancient settlement of Bulgar. Since 1991, it was renamed Bolgar and soon has every chance of becoming one of the main tourist centers in Russia and the world.
In June 2014, the ancient settlement of Bulgar (Bulgarian State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Due to drought, the great Russian river Volga has become very shallow. It became so shallow that the city of Mologa, which was flooded in 1940 during the construction of a hydroelectric power station, came to the surface.
It was a tragedy for many, many families. But there cannot be an unambiguous assessment of these tragic events... after all, at the same time, it was the emergence of the Rybinsk reservoir in 1941 that provided Moscow with electricity and numerous factories that produced weapons and equipment for the front.
Soviet history tried to hush up how an entire ancient Russian city disappeared from the face of the earth and was flooded. Then one of the main slogans was:
"Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country."
For the sake of this “great” goal, an entire city was sacrificed.
The city has been preparing for flooding for more than one year. Centuries-old trees were cut down, ancient churches were blown up - everything that could interfere with further navigation was destroyed. How could city residents watch buildings being destroyed and temples being blown up? What could they do? They had to leave their homes.
The resettlement of people lasted four years. Wooden houses they sorted them into logs and numbered them so that later it would be easier to assemble them in a new place. And they were transported on horse-drawn carts or floated down the river along with their things.
On one August Sunday, the descendants of those who once lived in Mologa gather in Rybinsk and sail by boat to the site of the sunken city.
Stories like these make us wonder at what price industrialization was given to our people, and for some reason in the nineties its fruits were seized for next to nothing by a handful of traitors to our homeland - the USSR.
Russian Atlantis - the story of a flooded city
Nowadays, even such huge settlements, with almost a thousand-year history and original culture, as cities with a population of many thousands and developed infrastructure, are born, live and die. Neither from war, nor from natural disasters, nor from earthquakes, but simply at the whim of the ruling elite, who imagine themselves to be masters of nature and conquerors of rivers. It doesn’t matter at what cost and what sacrifices.
I can already hear the cries of the “hurray-patriots” who shout in the comments that this was necessary for victory and for great achievements. There is no point in explaining to them that on the vast territory of the USSR no more than 15%-20% of the land was used, and even now is used. Everything else is taiga, mountains, rivers, lakes and swamps. A prudent owner would have found a less crowded place to create a reservoir, so as not to flood villages, towns, and cities.
For the first time, the Mologa River is mentioned in the annals of 1149. They say that
“... in battles with Grand Duke Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince Mstislavich burned all the villages on his way to Mologa...”
The city of the same name was already flooded in the 20th century by the will of possessed people and circumstances.
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.
Near the city stood the majestic Afanasyevsky Monastery.
Near the city stood the majestic Afanasyevsky Monastery.
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.
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.
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.
Beginning 1940s Remains of the Southern Dorofeevsky Desert before flooding
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.
Photo con. 1930s Evicted village of Verkhovye
Photo con. 1930s Evicted village of Verkhovye
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 have brought with them to the families of migrants! 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 of log cabins.
Report, The Flooded City of Mologa House owners were paid meager monetary compensation, which was barely enough to pay for the dismantling of the house. And lonely, sick people were distributed to the homes of the disabled located nearby.
There were also those who, not wanting to leave, chained themselves to some heavy object in the yard of their house.
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. The depth of the flooding was no more than 2 meters.
And then April 14, 1941 years, the last opening of the dam was blocked. 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.
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.
Surprisingly, the Volga in those days was not considered the 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. The capacities of the created Volga hydroelectric power stations played an important role in this event.
Gradually, the history of Russian Atlantis was forgotten. In addition, for many years in the Soviet Union it was forbidden even to pronounce this name: Mologa.
For such a mention one could easily end up in some camp. What they did and how they devastated 700 villages, including the camp "bitches" from "Volgolag", none of the contemporaries can even imagine, even documents marked "Sov.Secret" were destroyed). and will not say, just as he will not confirm the authenticity of this document:
Years passed. There were periods when the water level in the Rybinsk reservoir dropped, and one could see the remains of the ancient city: the foundations of former houses and streets, cemetery tombstones.
But the elements of water, wind and time do their work. And already in the 21st century, little is reminiscent of the former tragedy, the destruction of not only Russian arable land, but also the Russian people themselves.
In Russia, everyone remembers the Holocaust, the Holodomor, Khatyn, but few people guess about Stolypin's "THINING THE EUROPEAN PART OF RUSSIA", about the "FLOWING OF ARABLE LANDS", about "MAN-MADE DISASTERS IN THE URALS", etc. But aren't these links of one chains and isn't it time to find out who is behind all this?
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.
Remains of the Leushinsky Monastery after being flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir
Many historical cities have survived, but due to partial flooding they have become much smaller. The ancient city of Vesyegonsk shrank by 3/4, and flooding affected Uglich, Myshkin, and Kalyazin.
Many cities, towns and villages went under water at the same time. Among them, the notorious city of Kalyazin 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 belfry! 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.
For visiting tourists, an original attraction has appeared. Well, for the residents of Kalyazin - a good reason to earn some extra money, taking travelers to the abandoned bell tower.
Eastern wisdom says - "memory, like conscience, is given to a person as a punishment"!
Now, according to a sad tradition, on one of the August Sundays, the descendants of those who once lived in Mologa gather in Rybinsk and sail on a ship to the place 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, once people lived there - they were sad and laughed, dreamed and hoped for a happy future ...
Although, according to today's researchers, almost nothing is left of those times. All the stories that you can see ancient buildings, temples and tombstones 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 the stone buildings were blown up before the flooding, and the wooden buildings were dismantled for firewood or were stupidly burned by prisoners.
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 inhabitants of Mologa.
There is no clear assessment of these tragic events. We must not forget that it was this, the 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.
But in the same way we must not forget about the Russian land, which fed the Russian people for thousands of years. We cannot erase from memory those 700 villages that were destroyed.
In the USSR, many cities were flooded in the 1930s and 1950s during the construction of hydroelectric power stations. 9 cities fell into the flood zone: 1 on the Ob River, 1 on the Yenisei and 7 on the Volga. Some of them were completely flooded (as, for example, Mologa and Korcheva), and some partially (Kalyazin). Many cities were rebuilt, and for some this was a breakthrough in development: for example, Stavropol (or Stavropol-on-Volga) turned from a small village into a city with a population of 700 thousand inhabitants, which today is called Tolyatti.
Kalyazin- one of the most famous flooded cities in Russia. The first mention of the village of Nikola on Zhabnya dates back to the 12th century, and after the founding of the Kalyazin-Trinity (Makaryevsky) Monastery on the opposite bank of the Volga in the 15th century, the importance of the settlement increased. In 1775, Kalyazin was given the status of a county town, and from the end of the 19th century the development of industry began in it: fulling, blacksmithing, and shipbuilding. The city was partially flooded during the creation of the Uglich hydroelectric power station on the Volga River, the construction of which was carried out in 1935-1955. The Trinity Monastery and the architectural complex of the Nikolo-Zhabensky Monastery were lost, as well as most of the historical buildings of the city. All that remained of it was the bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral sticking out of the water, which became one of the main attractions of the central part of Russia.
Mologa is the most famous city completely flooded during the construction of the Rybinsk Reservoir. This is a rather rare case when the settlement was not moved to another place, but was completely liquidated: in 1940 its history was interrupted. The village of Mologa has been known since the 12th-13th centuries, and in 1777 it received the status of a county town. In the 19th century, the Afanasyevsky Monastery and several churches were built here. With the advent of Soviet power, the city became a regional center with a population of about 6 thousand people. Mologa consisted of about a hundred stone houses and 800 wooden ones. After the impending flooding of the city was announced in 1936, the relocation of residents began. Most of the Mologans settled far from Rybinsk in the village of Slip, and the rest dispersed to different cities of the country. Since the 1960s, Rybinsk has been hosting meetings of Mologans, where they remember their lost city.
Mologa, 1910. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Berillium
Korcheva is the second (and last) completely flooded city in Russia, which then ceased to exist. This village in the Tver region was located on the right bank of the Volga River, on both sides of the Korchevka River, not far from the city of Dubna. The village has been mentioned in chronicles since the 16th century, and it received city status in 1781. By the 1920s, the population of Korchevka was 2.3 thousand people. There were mostly wooden buildings, although there were also stone structures, including three churches. In 1932, the government approved the plan for the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal, and the city fell into the flood zone. On March 2, 1937, the center of the Konakovsky district was moved to Konakovo, and the residents of Korchev were also resettled here. Today, on the unflooded territory of Korchev, a cemetery and one stone building have been preserved - the house of the Rozhdestvensky merchants.
Korcheva, early 20th century. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Andrey Sdobnikov
City of Puchezh exists to this day, but its entire old part went under the waters of the Gorky Reservoir in 1955-1957. The village has been mentioned in sources since the 16th century. Its inhabitants were engaged in trade, fishing, and gardening. In 1793, the settlement became a posad, and in the first half of the 19th century it was a center for hiring barge haulers. In 1862, a flax spinning factory was built here. In 1955-1957, in connection with the impending flooding of the city, a decision was made to move Puchezh to a higher place. Some of the wooden buildings were moved to the new city, and all the stone buildings were destroyed. The rebuilt city still exists today: in 2014 its population was 7,624 people.
Vesyegonsk, flooded in 1939 in connection with the creation of the Rybinsk Reservoir, known since 1564. In those days, on the site of the future city there was the village of Ves Yogonskaya. In the 16th-19th centuries this settlement was important shopping center. Here they sold and bought salt, wax, hops, fish, furs and much more. Since 1796, Vesyegonsk has been a provincial town in the Tver province, and since 1803 it has been a district town. It is mentioned in N. Gogol’s “Dead Souls” as an example of a provincial provincial town: “...And the court writes: to transport you from Tsarevokokshaisk to the prison of such and such a city, and that court writes again: to transport you to some Vesyegonsk, and you move yourself from prison to prison and say, looking around the new abode: “No, the Vesegonsk prison will be cleaner: even though it’s a lot of money there, there’s still room, and there’s more society!” By 1930, about 4 thousand people lived in Vesyegonsk. During the flooding, the territory of the old city was completely destroyed, and new buildings were located to the south, on collective farm lands. At the same time, the city was demoted in status to a working village. Vesyegonsk received city status again in 1953. From the old buildings, only the ensembles of the Trinity and Kazan churches and the cemetery church of John the Baptist have been preserved here.
Stavropol(unofficial names - Stavropol-Volzhsky or Stavropol-on-Volga), a city in the Samara region, was founded in 1738 as a fortress. The number of residents fluctuated greatly: in 1859, 2.2 thousand people lived here, by 1900 - about 7 thousand, and in 1924 the population decreased so much that the city officially became a village (city status was returned in 1946). At the time of the flooding in the 1950s, about 12 thousand people lived in Stavropol. The city was moved to a new location, and in 1964 it was renamed Tolyatti. The rapid development of the city is associated with the emergence of large industrial enterprises(“Volgocemmash”, “KuibyshevAzot” and “KuibyshevFosfor”, etc.).
River port in modern Tolyatti. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / ShinePhantom
Kuibyshev city(Spassk-Tatarsky) has been mentioned in chronicles since 1781. In the second half of the 19th century there were 246 houses, 1 church, and by the early 1930s 5.3 thousand people lived here. In 1936 the city was renamed Kuibyshev. In the 1950s, it found itself in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev Reservoir and was completely rebuilt in a new location, next to the ancient settlement of Bulgar. Since 1991, it was renamed Bolgar and soon has every chance of becoming one of the main tourist centers in Russia and the world. In June 2014, the ancient settlement of Bulgar (Bulgarian State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
