ATTENTION! The book is divided into chapters for ease of navigation only. The information of the book is a solid presentation of the material about the cosmic catastrophe of the comet Alatyr, which almost coincided in time with the Mongol-Tatar invasion. For a correct understanding of the events that took place, we advise you to read the entire book one by one. ...

Legend of the death of Kitezh grad.

"I wrote about what I heard, not knowing, maybe others have written about it, who know more than me."

Ermolai Erasmus, church writer

Probably, there is no person in Russia who would not have heard the famous Russian legend about the mysterious and perishable Kitezh-grad (Kidish, Kidysh), but few people thought that the basis of this legend is the real tragic events that occurred July 15, 1240... According to legend, this ghost town, drowned in ancient times, disappeared before the eyes of people, along with houses, temples, people and animals, under very mysterious circumstances. The word “kidysh” itself means a destroyed, abandoned city. The classic version of the legend claims that he drowned at the bottom of Lake Svetloyar, which is located in the Trans-Volga forests of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The rest, later versions, compare the sunken Kitezh with cities and towns that have ever disappeared without a trace in other places of the Ancient World, including the Baltic Sea. Mythological dictionaries claim that the legend of Kitezh-grad is a classic eschatological legend, similar to the legends about godly kingdoms of the righteous, the kingdom of presbyter John, the city of Ignata, earthly paradise and islands of blessed, that is, about the epicenters of cosmic catastrophes. In the Russian epic, these are also legends about Belovodye.where you can still hear bells ringing from the sunken churches of the city from under the water. That is why white water or white earth was called free, church land. In the Orthodox tradition in Russia whitecalled orthodox faith, tsar and fatherland... A few words should be said about the Trans-Volga Lake Svetloyar and the settlement that once stood here. Svetloyar is a small lake, up to forty meters deep. Lake Svetloyar is located in the basin of the Lyunda River, a tributary of the Vetluga: the area of \u200b\u200bthe water mirror is 7.5 hectares.

Its almost rounded shape has a peculiar raised in the form of a shaft, the edging of the adjacent coastal lines. It does not fit into the scientific understanding of the formation processes of the earth's surface in these places, and only later studies made it possible to establish that it is a meteorite crater, but for a long time it was believed that this karst sinkhole was formed as a result of a small earthquake. The clean, transparent water of the lake, according to local residents, has healing properties. According to legend, in the old days, the Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich set up the town of Small Kitezh (Gorodets) on the banks of the Volga, and later, crossing the rivers Uzola, Sanda and Kerzhenets, and coming out to the river Lyudna, which originated from Lake Svetloyar, placed on its banks, the city of Kitezh the Great. Let's refresh in our memory the legend of Kitezh-grad, because it is often compared with the disappeared Atlantis, the reality of which has also been repeatedly tried to prove or disprove. This is what the legend tells about the mysterious death of the city of Kitezh, once located on the site of the lake: “Once upon a time on the site of the lake stood the glorious city of Kitezh ... The Tatars attacked Russia, conquered many of our lands. Khan Batu, having learned about the rich Kitezh-grad, sent his hordes to him. Having approached the walls of the city, the Tatars were greatly surprised. Residents quietly prayed in their churches and did not think to defend the city. And when the bassoons burst into the city, the bells suddenly rang by themselves and the springs of water began to clog. The invaders fled in fear from the submerged city. ... And after the water stopped arriving, only the surface of the water spread out in the place of the city, and only the lone head of the church, crowned with a cross, was still visible above the surface of the lake, but she soon sank under the water"... Another church legend, no less mysterious: “… Suddenly everything around darkened, and the temples of God disappeared, sank silently into the waters with their jagged walls. And since that time, the whole city has been covered with a quiet lake, like a tearsaintKitezh. The sounds are wonderful, iridescent, angelic singing, the faces of all saints, in the temple of God, serenely glorify all the Lord our God and the Mother of God. "According to historical legend, it happened in 1240, when Kitezh-grad was besieged by the Tatar-Mongol hordes, led by Batu Khan himself. It was in this year, by God's will, the city, in front of the Tatars, suddenly disappeared along with people, cattle, churches and houses. The reason for the death of Kitezh-grad was gradually forgotten, but Lake Svetloyar, which remained at the place of the city's death, became a place of pilgrimage for believers. During Nikon's persecution of Old Believers, schismatic hermitages and secret shelters-settlements of adherents of the "old faith" began to appear here in great numbers. Among the Old Believers, a strange legend about a city drowned in a lake was passed down from generation to generation, and that only true believers can still see Kitezh and hear the ringing of Kitezh bells still ringing from under the water. This is how V.G. Korolenko: “Crowds of people converge on the banks of Svetloyar, striving to shake off the deceptive vanity of vanities at least for a short time and look beyond the mysterious edges. Here, in the shade of trees, under the open sky, day and night, one can hear singing, sound ... chanting reading, disputes about the true faith are in full swing. And at sunset twilight and in the blue darkness of a summer evening, lights flash between trees, along the banks and on the water. Pious people on their knees crawl around the lake three times, then put the remnants of candles on the water on the chips, fall to the ground, and listen. Tired, between two worlds, with lights in the sky and water, they give themselves to the lulling swaying of the shores and the inarticulate distant ringing ... And sometimes they freeze, no longer seeing or hearing anything from the environment. The eyes seemed to have blinded to our world, but they saw their sight for the other world. The face cleared up, on it a "blissful" wandering smile and - tears ... And around are standing and looking with surprise those who aspired, but were not rewarded due to lack of faith ... And with fear they shake their heads. Hence, he is, this other world, invisible, but real. We ourselves did not see, but we saw those who saw ... » In memory of the Alatyr space disaster, on the shore of Svetloyar Lake, people installed three orthodox crosses... According to legend, they are installed in memory three epic Russian heroes... For many, this historical legend is an object of faith. Lake Svetloyar, exalted tourists call "Shambhala of Russia". Prishvin, Maximilian Voloshin, Sergei Gorodetsky, Nikolai Klyuev, N.K. Roerich, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov…

But already from the middle of the nineteenth century, the legend of the Kitezh city became the subject of close attention of researchers. Scientific expeditions were sent to Lake Svetloyar several times. In the 50-70s of the twentieth century, it was possible "Reliably establish"that the lake was formed as a result of a sudden "failure" of the soil, of unclear etiology. At the bottom of the lake, a "strange anomaly" was discovered - a half-meter layer of liquid rock, in which fragments of various wood processed by human hands were found in abundance. And this suggested that the legend of Kitezh-grad is an echo of the events that actually took place here. While working on this legend, I did not yet know the true scale of the 1240 catastrophe, but as a working hypothesis, I assumed that Lake Svetloyar was formed on the site of a once-existing settlement that suddenly died as a result of an electric discharge explosion of a meteorite. After all, similar cases have already repeatedly occurred in the memory of people, over time becoming riddles for subsequent generations, wondering where the city mentioned in the chronicles went, the reality of whose existence was not in doubt among contemporaries. Therefore, I began to look for additional information that could help understand the secret of the legend of Kitezh-grad. Scientists have established that the central basin of the lake was formed approximately 1100-1200 years ago, and the lower terrace subsided approximately 700-800 years ago. This quite accurately corresponds to the time of the raids of the Mongol-Tatars and agrees with the legend of the sunken city, and therefore we can say that the researchers skillfully performed their work.

But the version about the meteoric origin of Lake Svetloyar was expressed not by scientists, but by an amateur expedition of local schoolchildren, under the guidance of teachers from gymnasium No. 38 in Dzerzhinsk A.K. Kiseleva and T.Yu. Kuzmicheva,who visited this lake . At the same time, the students paid attention and to nearby lakes, called Nestiyar, Kuzmiyar, Svetloye and Ozerskoe, and, having studied local history and topographic material, reasonably assumedthat these lakes could have formed simultaneously with Lake Svetloyar, as a result of the fall of fragments of a large celestial body split in the Earth's atmosphere... In support of its version, an expedition of schoolchildren in 2006 found in the region of these lakes a large number of craters and craters with a diameter of 2 to 50 m. This is how schoolchildren represent the scheme of this cosmic catastrophe. In their opinion, a fragment of a cosmic body that fell here had a mass of about 2000 tons, and flew, presumably, southward. One of the arguments in proving the meteoric origin of Lake Svetloyar is the discovery by them of numerous impactites (from the English. impact - impact). On Nestiyar, they also found melt-dense rocks that clearly contain iron. The locals, who have also found impactites on numerous occasions, call them wastelands, but their petrographic analysis, the schoolchildren failed to carry out. Lake Kuzmiyar, located near the village of Kuzmiyar, turned out to be the deepest, its depth is 46 meters. What needs to be said about this. The schoolchildren, together with their teachers, did an excellent job, but, unfortunately, they could not correctly assess the scale of this extraordinary catastrophe. As a matter of fact, until today no one has been able to do this at all. And my research, for the first time, sheds light on the details of this catastrophe, and makes it possible to assess its scale. There were many such places in Russia, and a story about them lies ahead. For me, the legend of Kitezh-grad served as an impetus to understanding the secret of the gigantic cosmic catastrophe Alatyr, which occurred in the vast expanses of the European part of Russia in 1240 year... Lake Svetloyar is space explosion site deified by religious legends and numerous pilgrims. And far from the only one. And we have one more thing to tell deifiedthe site of the cosmic explosion of a fragment of comet Alatyr, in the place of which is currently Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra... Remarkably that in the ark, which the monks keep in the Pochaev Lavra, is still, as the main religious relic, there is a piece of molten rock taken from the site of a cosmic catastrophe. And this artifact of the catastrophe of 1240, any pilgrim, or the reader of this book, can see with his own eyes if he visits the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra.

The Nizhny Novgorod land is rich in minerals, except that oil and diamond placers in it for the time being were not found by geologists. However, three and a half decades ago, a prospecting party from Yaroslavl, while drilling a well near the village of Vorotilovo (Koverninsky District), found "pebbles"! Black crystals of irregular shape lay at a depth of 1.5 km. They turned out to be technical diamonds. These are found in the Arctic and Yakutia. These gemstones are lamellar, which is not the case with traditional diamonds. And scientists do not yet understand how they arose. One thing is clear: it was not without the impact of high temperatures and geological underground shifts. Kovernin diamonds cannot be turned into polished diamonds; they cannot be cut due to their lamellar structure. But these stones have the same durability as ordinary minerals, and they can be used in manufacturing or in jewelry to polish cubic diamonds. Experts believe that geological exploration in the north of the region should be continued, since, possibly, these places are included in the Diamond Belt of Russia.

A city next to a volcano

Where would diamonds with oil come from in the Trans-Volga forests? Their appearance depended on changes in temperature in the bowels of the earth, in the movements of layers and rocks that occurred in time immemorial. The bowels of the earth and to this day "do not sleep."

Explorers can tell a lot of interesting things about the phenomena that still affect our lives today. So experts of "Volgogeology" from Yaroslavl, together with diamonds, discovered a volcano in the Kovernin wilderness. More precisely - a volcano crater at a depth of fifty meters.

Studies of rock samples revealed that this fire-breathing giant went out even when they were walking around the territory of our area. And before his death, the "dragon" spat out streams of lava, which crawled up to today's Balakhna. After the giant exploded, so much rock escaped from its bowels that it filled the mouth.

Did you know?

The only hints at the real existence of Kitezh can be found in the book "The Kitezh Chronicler". This book, according to scientists, was written at the end of the seventeenth century.

Vorotilovsky ledge

It is difficult to imagine this picture: huge stones weighing several tons and up to a hundred meters in diameter rolled from the top. Then they were scattered over the territory of Chkalovsky, Koverninsky, Sokolsky and Gorodetsky districts.

All of them are reliably buried under layers of soil along with the volcano's crater. This formation is called the Vorotilovsky ledge. According to geologists, the ledge is very similar to the African volcano Cameroon. It is there that the largest diamond deposit on the planet is located.

What if we find something similar? Cameroon is also located on a plain, rather than a mountainous area like most fire-breathing mountains. Is there a chance that the volcano will wake up?
- No! - the geologists answer. The giant fell asleep millions of years ago with eternal sleep.

Did you know?

Lake Svetloyar is 210 meters long, 175 meters wide, and the total area of \u200b\u200bthe water surface is about 12 hectares

Shaking the chandeliers, the house is dancing

Geologists also find an explanation for the strange tremors in the "stable" regions of central Russia. Forty years ago, residents of Nizhny Novgorod looked with surprise and fear at the rattling dishes in their cabinets and swinging chandeliers.

A particularly strong poltergeist was seen in Sormovo and Shcherbinki. As it turned out, at that moment an earthquake was recorded in the city. Fortunately, the tremors were weak, more like the echo of some distant. And then no one thought, why did we begin to shake (by the way, for the second time in recent years), what kind of cataclysm sent its terrible echo to our region? It turned out that they did not think in vain. There are no accidents in nature. According to geologists, a repetition of tremors is very likely in the future.

Versions

There is still no consensus about how Lake Svetloyar came into being. Someone insists on the glacial origin theory, someone defends the karst hypothesis. There is a version that the lake appeared after a meteorite fell

Lithospheric plates move slowly across the mantle surface

In general, the citizens of Nizhny Novgorod walk along their streets, roads, fields, confidently, believing that there is nothing firmer under their feet. After all, at one time, everyone read in a geography textbook about the stability of the platform on which our region is located.

However, geologists know: it inexorably drops by 3-4 millimeters per year. This platform looks like a giant block wall that lies horizontally and is covered with a thick layer of soil. The junction of its lithospheric plates runs under the Nizhny Novgorod region, along the riverbed of the Volga and Oka.

This is clearly visible to the ordinary eye: the right bank of the waterways is high, and the left is low, flat. This joint gradually diverges, very slowly turning into a crack. The lithospheric plates themselves are dotted with small cracks. The whole structure moves and causes light earthquakes in our area. Many years ago, these natural phenomena were destructive.

Legend

A version of the legend says that George the Victorious himself went down to earth to help the defenders of Kitezh. But George's horse stumbled. Then the saint realized that saving Kitezh was not his task and retreated

After one of them, which happened in 493, the frightened people left the territory of the Volga-Vyatka region.

Now earthquakes are much weaker, but still tangible, judging by the events of the beginning of the century. During the new century, Nizhny Novgorod residents are threatened only - in extreme cases - by bursting glasses, doors slamming by themselves, and clocks stopping. No more.

However, even venerable scientists do not know all the secrets of nature, which presents people with unexpected surprises. We do not need strong subsurface fluctuations due to landslides. Many residents of Nizhny Novgorod remember how one of the clay slopes of the Dyatlovy Mountains collapsed in 1974. The land completely blocked the Oka exit.

Svetloyar lake. Voskresensky district

The neighbors of Kirov residents have long had problems associated with earthquakes. Natural disasters haunted them five times over the past century. One of the earthquakes was magnitude six on the Richter scale!

Legend

And this city of Big Kitezh has become invisible and is being protected by the hand of God, - so at the end of our century of many rebellions and worthy tears the Lord covered that city with his hand. "The Tale and Punishment of the Secret City of Kitezh"

And such shocks are not limited to the swinging of chandeliers, they move furniture around the room, draw deep crevasses and ravines on the surface of the earth, and destroy houses. And this is not at all like a dying shock wave, which allegedly reached the northern regions from the seismically unfavorable southern latitudes.

Inevitably, the thought comes that the center of tremors is somewhere nearby. By the way, the territory of central Russia was shaking before.

Chroniclers have noted such facts more than once. Some hydrobiologists today even believe that the famous Svetloyar Lake was formed as a result of an earthquake in 1230.

Kitezh grad. Legend, interesting facts

There are a great many legends about the city of Kitezh, on the site of which Lake Svetloyar is today. According to one of them, it was built in just three years, it was completely stone, which was an unprecedented phenomenon for Russia in those years. There were no merchants, no artisans, no nobility in the city, but only righteous people lived behind its stone walls, philosophers, spiritual teachers. The relics of the Russian land were also kept here.

Legend

According to the legend, Kitezh should "manifest" on the day of the Last Judgment. On the day when the dead rise from their graves, Kitezh will rise from the water

Prince Vladimir-Suzdal Yuri Vsevolodovich

In the thirteenth century, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich faced a horde of Tatars and entered into battle with them not far from another city with a similar name, Small Kitezh. The battle was lost by the prince, and he with a small detachment made his way to Big Kitezh by secret paths. According to the official version, he was killed there by the enemy, who caught up with him. However, the Kitezh chronicler claims that the prince survived. He entered the city, after which he was ringing bells.

According to another version, Kitezh did not dissolve, but sank to the bottom of Svetloyar, where it is to this day.

The third legend tells that before on the site of the lake there was a settlement of the people who worshiped the goddess Turk. But after the Turk became angry, her horse hit the ground with its hoof. At this point, a spring immediately gushed out, from which the lake was formed.

Did you know?

The legend of the city of Kitezh excited the minds of writers, musicians and artists. The writer Melnikov-Pechersky told his legend in the novel "In the Woods". The lake was visited and written about by Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Korolenko, Mikhail Prishvin

Another option for the disappearance of the city is as follows. Khan Batu heard about Kitezh and was eager to conquer it. From the captured Russian warrior, the Tatars learned about the secret paths leading to the wonderful city. When Bata's army approached the place, they saw that the city was not fortified. In anticipation of a quick and easy victory, the khan moved the horde to the walls. But right there from under the ground jets of water burst out, under which the magic city disappeared.

People from parallel worlds. Data

Later and more advanced versions say that a tunnel has formed in the lake that leads to. As proof, they cite the stories of local residents who have seen people in strange clothes here more than once. The last such case was recorded in 2015. Some of them even went into the store, marveled at the outlandish delicacies in brightly colored packages with pictures, but dared to buy only bread and cereals, trying to pay off with old silver coins.

It is also said that the lake is mysteriously connected with Shambhala. One way or another, but every summer thousands of people from different countries and different cities come here. They say that the water here is holy, it cures many diseases.

Did you know?

Lake Svetloyar was painted by artists Nikolai Romadin, Ilya Glazunov and many others. Poets Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva mention the city of Kitezh in their works.

But according to scientists-hydrobiologists, it was not the evil intentions of Khan Batu that destroyed the city of Kitezh (if there was one), but two deep faults in the soil. The most mysterious reservoir of the Nizhny Novgorod region is located at their junction.

This version sounds very plausible. Everyone knows that in the event of a strong earthquake, sinkholes consume entire blocks of modern cities. And as a small settlement with wooden houses, as a result of a natural disaster, it could easily disappear from the surface.



"Little Russian Atlantis", "Nizhegorodskaya Shambala" .. The legendary ancient city was built in 1165 on the shore of Lake Svetloyar by the noble prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, who was amazed by the beauty of those places. A reliable written source, "The Kitezh Chronicle", has reached us, where it is said that the prince named the city of Big Kitezh, and "that place was unusually beautiful, and on the other side of that lake there was an oak grove." Little was known about the city itself, except that in the middle of it there were six domes of churches, and the city itself was built of white stone, which symbolized spiritual purity.

And the city stood for a hundred years, until, during the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol horde, Batu Khan heard about the wealth of the wonderful city and set out to seize it. When the Mongols approached Kitezh-grad, they saw that the city was not at all fortified and not ready for battle. The inhabitants did not even think about defense: they all prayed. Stunned for a moment with amazement, the Tatars nevertheless moved forward, but immediately stopped. There was a ringing of bells and fountains started pouring out from under the ground, which began to flood the city, and soon it disappeared under the waters of Lake Svetloyar. The last thing the astonished invaders saw was the cross on the dome of the main cathedral. Seeing such a miracle, the Tatars rushed in all directions, and many died, wandering in the forests. Local residents say that the water did not harm the worshipers .. and the city itself did not go under water, but into another dimension, and continues to exist to this day.

It must be said that repeated attempts were made to find the sunken city, but they were all unsuccessful. And at the same time, the water of the lake has healing properties, does not deteriorate for three years, and the lake itself is considered holy. Local residents talk about strange newcomers, dressed in old Russian clothes and paying for bread with old Russian coins. "Isn't it time for Kitezh to rise?" One such old man asked.

They also talk about a lost mushroom picker who returned a week later and was reluctant to answer questions. However, being forced to explain his absence, he said that he was visiting in Kitezh-grad. And as proof, he held out a piece of bread, which was treated to him there.

One of the museums still keeps a letter from his son to his father, written in the Old Church Slavonic language. The young man writes that by some unknown miracle he ended up in Kitezh, but he is alive and well, and asks not to serve funeral services for him and not be particularly sad. He also said that the prayers of the inhabitants of this secret place are so pure and strong that they ascend into the sky like pillars of fire, and in the light you can even read and write.

Periodically, people disappear near Lake Svetloyar in our times. Returning, they say that while wandering in the ravines, they came out to a wonderful city inhabited by the righteous, where they stayed for a few days. It has been noticed that not everyone can find the way to the invisible city, but only those who truly believe with their souls. Apparently, not all guests are ready to receive the citizens of Kitezhgrad, but only their own kind.

People pass from mouth to mouth that Kitezh-grad will appear before the end of the world, but even now the one who is pure in heart can see it. It is believed that if you gaze into Lake Svetloyar in clear weather, you can catch the image of a city with domed churches and hear singing and bell ringing.

By the way, in the ancient chronicles it is not said directly that Kitezh went under water. It says that the city will disappear and "Big Kitezh will be invisible until the coming of Christ, as in former times it happened." There are suggestions that he could sink underground or, conversely, ascend into the sky. But more often than not, they claim that he simply became invisible.

Do you think this is impossible? But the professor of the Penza State Technological Academy Sergei Volkov discovered some plasma substances invisible to the eye near Lake Svetloyar. And he even captured their manifestations on photographic and videotape. The most amazing thing, in his opinion, is that these clots have a logic of behavior. For example, they try to get closer to a group of people praying. These studies were confirmed by the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN). According to them, there are millions of plasma bunches right around us in the electromagnetic range. Maybe they are the ones who represent the "other world" for us, which they reveal themselves only in special places like Lake Svetloyar.

Legends say that during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the whole city of Kitezh went under the water of Lake Svetloyar - all, together with its defenders, along with the elderly and children. It is believed that divine intervention hid him from the eyes of the enemy for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. If you believe the legend, sooner or later another settlement will appear in the Nizhny Novgorod region - the ancient city of Kitezh.

Remember the legend of Atlantis? About the mainland, which plunged into the ocean, punished by the gods for the fact that its inhabitants were mired in sins. There is a similar legend in Russia - however, it has nothing to do with sins. Rather, even on the contrary - the reasons for the flooding of this city should be sought in the spiritual purity of its inhabitants.

Only the righteous and saints can see this city. Only a true believer is worthy to hear the ringing of his bells. City of Kitezh. A legendary city. Until now, many Orthodox Christians are going to make a pilgrimage to the lake, in the depths of which the legendary city supposedly rests. Centuries have passed, but people still strive here. They believe that Kitezh stands at the bottom of the lake, and their faith is unshakable.

So why is the legend about the city of Kitezh so popular? Why can't people forget about this place?

Kitezh as presented by Ivan Bilibin

The emergence of the city

The only hints at the real existence of Kitezh can be found in the book "The Kitezh Chronicler". According to scientists, this book was written at the end of the 17th century.

According to her, the city of Kitezh was built by the great Russian Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir at the end of the 12th century. According to legend, the prince, returning from a trip to Novgorod, stopped on the way near Lake Svetloyar to rest. But he could not really rest: the prince was captivated by the beauty of those places. Immediately he ordered to build the city of Big Kitezh on the shore of the lake.

Yuri Vsevolodovich, the founder of Kitezh, is depicted at the entrance to the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

They got down to business immediately. The built city was 200 fathoms long (a straight fathom is the distance between the ends of the fingers spread out in different directions of the hands, approximately 1.6 meters), width - 100. They also built several churches, and on the occasion the best masters began to "paint images".

There are many churches, icons too - what else does an ordinary Russian need? They did not hesitate to call the city “saints”, and the people reached out to the Svetly Yar lake.

Svetloyar

Lake Svetloyar is located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. It is located near the village of Vladimirsky, Voskresensky District, in the Lyunda basin, a tributary of the Vetluga River. The lake is 210 meters long, 175 meters wide, and the total area of \u200b\u200bthe water surface is about 12 hectares.

There is still no consensus on how the lake came into being. Someone insists on the glacial origin theory, someone defends the karst hypothesis. There is a version that the lake appeared after a meteorite fell. The word "Svetloyar" itself can be translated as "Bright Lake".

The invasion of Batu

Those were far from peaceful and idyllic times. Strife between the principalities, raids of the Tatars and Bulgarians, forest predators - a rare person dared to get out of the city walls without weapons. And in 1237, the Mongol-Tatars invaded Russia under the leadership of Khan Batu.

Now let's forget about the legend for a while and remember history.

Diorama "Heroic Defense of Old Ryazan"

The Ryazan princes were the first to be attacked. They tried to seek help from Prince Yuri Vladimirsky, but were refused. The Tatars ruined Ryazan without difficulty; then they moved to the Vladimir principality. The son Vsevolod sent by Yuri was defeated at Kolomna and fled to Vladimir. The Tatars captured Moscow and captured another son of Yuri - Prince Vladimir.

Prince Yuri, when he found out about this, left the capital to the sons of Mstislav and Vsevolod. I went to gather troops. He set up camp near Rostov on the Sit River and waited for his brothers Yaroslav and Svyatoslav. In the absence of the Grand Duke, Vladimir and Suzdal were taken and ruined on February 3-7, the family of Yuri Vsevolodovich perished in the fire.

The prince managed to learn about the death of the family. His further fate was even more unenviable: Yuri died on March 4, 1238 in a battle with Batu's troops on the Sit River. Bishop Kirill of Rostov found the headless body of the prince on the battlefield and took him to Rostov. Later, the head was found and attached to the body.

The death of Yuri Vsevolodovich

This is where the facts that have been confirmed by scientists end. Let's go back to the legend.

Batu allegedly heard about the riches that were stored in the city of Kitezh, and sent part of the army to the holy city. The detachment was small - Batu did not expect resistance. The troops went to Kitezh through the forest, and on the way they cut a clearing. The Tatars were led by the traitor Grishka Kuterma. He was taken in the neighboring town, Maly Kitezh (present-day Gorodets). Grishka could not stand the torture and agreed to show the way to the Holy City. Alas, Susanin did not work out of Kuterma: Grishka brought the Tatars to Kitezh.

On that terrible day, not far from the city, three Kitezh heroes were on patrol. They were the first to see the enemies. Before the battle, one of the soldiers told his son to flee to Kitezh and warn the townspeople. The boy rushed to the city gates, but the evil arrow of the Tatar caught up with him. However, the brave boy did not fall. With an arrow in his back, he ran to the walls and managed to shout: "Enemies!", And only then fell down dead.

The heroes, meanwhile, tried to restrain the Khan army. No one survived. According to legend, at the place where three heroes died, the holy key of Kibelek appeared - it still beats.

A version of the legend says that George the Victorious himself went down to earth to help the defenders of Kitezh. But George's horse stumbled. Then the saint understood that saving Kitezh was not his task. And he retreated. And in the place where the horse's hoof fell, the holy spring Kibelek scored.

Vasily Maksimov "Mongols at the walls of Vladimir"

Mongol-Tatars laid siege to the city. The townspeople understood that there was no chance. A handful of people against Batu's well-armed and well-organized army is certain death. Nevertheless, the townspeople were not going to surrender without a fight. They went out on the walls, with weapons, as well as icons and crosses in their hands. People prayed from the evening and all night long. The Tatars, however, were waiting for the morning to start the attack.

And a miracle happened: suddenly the church bells rang, the earth shook, and in front of the astonished Tatars, Kitezh began to plunge into the waters of Lake Svetloyar.

And this city of Big Kitezh has become invisible and is being guarded by the hand of God, - so at the end of our century of many rebellions and worthy tears the Lord covered that city with his hand.

"The Tale and Punishment of the Secret City of Kitezh"

K. Gorbatov. "Invisible city of Kitezh"

The legend is ambiguous. And people interpret it in different ways. Someone claims that Kitezh went under water, someone - that he sank into the ground. There are adherents of the theory that the city was closed from the Tatars by the mountains. Others believe that he ascended into the sky. But the most interesting theory is that Kitezh simply became invisible. It is not clear, however, why then no one stumbled upon the city by chance.

Struck by the power of the "Russian miracle", the Tatars rushed to run in all directions. But God's wrath overtook them: whom the animals devoured, who got lost in the forest, or simply disappeared without a trace, taken away by a mysterious force.

The city has disappeared. According to legend, he must "manifest" on the day of the Last Judgment. On the day when the dead rise from their graves, Kitezh will rise from the water. But you can see it and even achieve it now. A person in whom there is no sin will discern the reflection of church domes and white stone walls in the waters of Lake Svetloyar.

Kitezh modern

Fast forward now to times close to our century.

The legend of the city of Kitezh excited the minds of the intelligentsia. First of all, writers, musicians and artists. The 19th century writer Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky, inspired by Lake Svetloyar, told his legend in the novel "In the Woods", as well as in the story "Grisha". The lake was visited by Maxim Gorky (essay "Bugrov"), Vladimir Korolenko (essay cycle "In desert places"), Mikhail Prishvin (essay "Bright Lake").

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" about the mysterious city. The lake was painted by artists Nikolai Romadin, Ilya Glazunov and many others. Poets Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva mention the city of Kitezh in their works.

Scenery by Ivan Bilibin for the opera by Rimsky-Korsakov

Nowadays, science fiction writers and especially fantasy authors are interested in the legend of Kitezh. It is clear why: the image of the hidden city is romantic and fits perfectly into a fantastic work. Among the works of this kind, one can name, for example, the story "Hammers of Kitezh" by Nick Perumov and "Red Shift" by Yevgeny Gulyakovsky.

In the Soviet television movie The Sorcerers, which was based on the Strugatskys' novel Monday Starts on Saturday, an employee of a musical instrument factory travels to the fictional Kitezhgrad. He wants to save the bride from evil spells, and finds himself in the kingdom of good and evil wizards.

Lake Svetloyar today

Naturally, scientists did not ignore the riddle of Kitezh. Expeditions went to Lake Svetloyar, and more than once. Drilling near the shores of the lake yielded nothing. The search for archaeologists ended in nothing. There were no traces of the mysterious city on the outskirts of the lake. In the 70s of the last century, the expedition was equipped with Literaturnaya Gazeta: trained divers descended to the bottom. Their work was not easy, since the depth of the lake is more than 30 meters. There are many snags and sunken trees at the bottom.

Unfortunately, they did not find irrefutable evidence of the city's existence. For believers, this fact, of course, means nothing. It is known that Kitezh will not reveal its secrets to the wicked.

There were hypotheses that Kitezh was not at all on Lake Svetloyar. Immediately, other supposed "habitats" of the holy city arose. They even talked about China, supposedly Kitezh and the legendary Shambhala are one and the same place.

Nicholas Roerich "Song of Shambhala"

In our times, scientists have forgotten about Kitezh - it was not up to that. But at one time the legend was speculated by businessmen who hoped to turn legends into a source of self-financing.

Currently, the territory of the lake is protected by the state. The lake and its surroundings are part of the reserve, which is under the protection of UNESCO. Every year on July 6, on the day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Orthodox believers make a procession from the Vladimir Church in the village of Vladimirskoye to the chapel in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The chapel was built near Lake Svetloyar in the late 1990s.

Orthodox Christians are praying on the shore of the lake. Someone secretly examines their reflection in the lake - will not Kitezh flicker? Some believe that the earth gathered in the holy place heals ailments. They take it to the graves of the "slain heroes" and then take it home along with plastic bottles in which water from the holy spring splashes. There is a belief that water from Svetloyar will not deteriorate, even if it stays in a bottle for several years.

Chapel of the Kazan Mother of God on the banks of Svetloyar

Russian utopia

The city of Kitezh is a symbol of something inaccessible, but desirable. This is a heavenly place where the righteous can flee from the hardships of a cruel world. It doesn't matter if Kitezh existed - a beautiful legend gives hope to the desperate. And in the past, peasants-bastards fled in search of a fertile land, and now there are fanatics who go to the Nizhny Novgorod forests, where they hide from modern life.

Kitezh is a Russian utopia. This is the place where milk rivers flow in the jelly banks. For many, this is the land of Fantasy, a fabulous state in which good and justice rule. The most important thing in the Kitezh utopia is that people need such a city anyway. And if it were not for this legend, they would have invented another. People need to believe that they can escape this painful and desperate world. People need a place to run. At least in thoughts. And this place became the sacred Russian city of Kitezh.

Konstantin Gorbatov "The Sunken City"

Belovodye

Many medieval legends tell about the kingdoms of Good and Justice, like Kitezh. It is as if one can hide in these "secret places", to be saved from the machinations of evil. One of these places is the magical land of Belovodye. This is a fabulous land where sages live, who bestow eternal life and secret knowledge of the past. According to legend, the country is located somewhere in Altai.

After the introduction of serfdom in Russia, many peasants left for the east. In the 17th century, Russian settlers moved to Altai. The reason for this was not only the "tightness" of Central Russia and poverty, but also the hope of finding Belovodye. Around the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, the "Traveler of Mark Topozersky" was created, which described the road to Belovodye. The "traveler" pointed out the way through Krasnoyarsk and China to the "Oponskoe" (Japanese) kingdom, which lies in the middle of the "okiyan-sea" of Belovodye.

In Russia, there are real "Kitezhi" - cities and villages, flooded during the construction of reservoirs. In the photo - Krokhino in the Vologda region

Kitezh (Kitezh-grad) is a mystical city in legends that allegedly became invisible and sank to the bottom of Lake Svetloyar during the Mongol-Tatar invasion of the 13th century. Also, it was believed that Kitezh was inhabited only by the righteous, and the wicked were not allowed there. According to legend, it was located in the northern part of the Nizhny Novgorod region, not far from the village of Vladimirskoye, on the shores of Lake Svetloyar by the Lyunda River.

For many years, archaeologists-submariners have been trying to solve the mystery of Lake Svetloyar, where, as they say in folk legends, the magical city of Kitezh is buried.

Legends about Kitezh

According to legend, on the banks of the Svetloyar, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich built the city of Big Kitezh. Particular emphasis is placed on the fact that the city was built in just 3 years - from 1165 to 1168 - and immediately made of stone, which was an unthinkable feat for forest Rus of that era. When the hordes of Batu invaded Russia, they captured and ruined the city of Maly Kitezh (or Gorodets) and, fleeing the Mongol army, Prince Yuri took refuge in Bolshoy Kitezh, lost among the Trans-Volga forest thickets.

But Batu learned the way to Big Kitezh and laid siege to it. Its inhabitants prayed tirelessly to the Mother of God to come to their protection. The defenders of the city stood to death, Prince Yuri was killed in the battle. However, the forces were too unequal. The enemies were about to break into Kitezh-grad, when suddenly a miracle happened. The city began to disappear before Batu's eyes - Kitezh churches and buildings disappeared under the water ... Frightened by the miracle that had happened, the enemy fled.

From time to time, according to legends, from the bottom of Lake Svetloyar and from under the hills, the ringing of bells can be heard, sometimes old people from Kitezh appear, buy bread from the peasants, talk, and then disappear again. A righteous person can not only "see the vision" of Kitezh, but he himself can get into the enchanted city and stay there forever ...

The legend of the invisible city of Kitezh has existed orally for a long time, passed down from generation to generation. In the 17th century, schismatic sketes began to appear in the forests of the Trans-Volga region - secret settlements of adherents of the old faith, not recognized by the official church. It was the schismatics who first wrote down the legend about Kitezh in the essay "The Book Spoken by the Chronicler" in the 18th century. In their presentation, the legend acquired a pronounced religious character. According to their idea, the underwater city is a monastery in which the righteous elders live, and only people who are true believers can see Kitezh and hear the ringing of Kitezh, as mentioned above.

“The fog cleared, and the domes of Kitezh shone with unearthly light over the lake. The heavenly city of the righteous appeared in all its splendor. The main gates of the city opened, and the radiant old man appeared from them. He invited me to enter the miracle city and stay in it forever ”. This is how a pilgrim described her meeting with the legendary city, crawling on her knees three times around Lake Svetloyar. As a reward for her spiritual feat, the heavenly city appeared before her, and the inhabitants of Kitezh invited the old woman to their place. But she, frightened, refused to enter the abode of the righteous.

The belief in the reality of the existence of Kitezh persisted in the vicinity of Svetloyar in a later period. 1982 - folklorists recorded the story of a local resident: “People say that somewhere in the middle of the lake there is a hole - not very big - well, as if it would be like a bucket. Only it is very difficult to find it. In winter, the ice on Svetloyar is clean, clean. So you have to come, clear the snow, and you can see what is happening there, at the bottom. And there, they say, all sorts of miracles: white-stone houses are standing, trees are growing, bell towers, churches, chopped towers, living people walk ... But not everyone will think, not everyone will be able to find this hole ”.

The locals say they know cases when the residents of Kitezha helped people in the most mundane matters. “As a little boy, my grandmother told me that there was an old man living here in the village by the lake. That old man once went to the forest for mushrooms. Walked, walked, and all in vain. Charter, he sat down on a tree stump ... Then he thought to him: "If only the old people of Kitezh would help." Before he could think of it, a nap fell on him. After some time, the old man woke up, opened his eyes, looked into the basket - and he couldn't believe his eyes: there were mushrooms in it to the brim. And what - one to one, but all white! "

It was said that one lost shepherd even dined in the city of Kitezh and wanted to get there another time, but could no longer find a way there.

1843 - The Moskvityanin magazine introduced the Russian people to this beautiful legend. She attracted the attention of scientists, inspired poets and writers. Rimsky-Korsak wrote an opera dedicated to Kitezh-city, which went under water. And already a hundred years ago, the idea of \u200b\u200bsearching for the legendary city at the bottom of Lake Svetloyar appeared.

Lake Svetloyar

Research

However, they did not even dream of underwater archeology at that time. The search was started only in our days. Initially, archaeologists excavated Small Kitezh, that is, Gorodets. There were found traces of a powerful fire that destroyed the city in the first half of the 13th century. It became clear that this was done by Batu's army. This may mean that the legend is right in that part when it says that Small Kitezh was burnt by the Tatar-Mongols. Well, what about Big Kitezh, which has sunk to the bottom of Lake Svetloyar? 1959 - the first expedition of archeologists-submariners went to the lake. She could not achieve success. But perhaps a more thorough search is needed?

1968 - the science department of the Literary Gazette organized a complex expedition to Lake Svetloyar. It included folklorists, archaeologist, historian, geologist, lake scientist, hydrologist and a group of scuba divers. The purpose of the expedition was to find out what is the connection with reality, with the lake Svetloyar, the legend of Kitezh-grad, which became a symbol of faith in undying Russia, in the incorruptibility of Russian culture, in the ultimate victory over all disasters. Could the city really have gone to the bottom of the lake?

Research by submarine archaeologists

Geologist V.I. Nikishin came to the conclusion that Svetloyar is a "failure" of the earth's crust, filled with water and turned into a lake. Having descended to its bottom, scuba divers and hydrologist D.A. Kozlovsky were able to establish that the coastal slope of Svetloyar goes under the water in three ledges to a depth of 30 meters.

The first terrace, with a gentle slope, is located at a depth of 8-9 meters. The second, separated by a steep slope, is at a depth of 22-23 meters and, in the end, the “last bottom”, the deep-water part of the lake, is submerged to a depth of 30 meters. According to Kozlovsky, the deep-water part of the lake was formed about one and a half thousand years ago. Then, 700-800 years ago, a new "failure" occurred, and a terrace appeared at a depth of 22-23 meters. And already, 350-400 years ago, the last, shallow-water terrace was formed.

Perhaps there was once the city of Kitezh on one of the terraces? After all, the time of the formation of the second terrace surprisingly coincides with the date of its death, which is said in the legends ... Archaeologists-submariners began to study in detail the bottom of the lake. The "shallow" terrace was examined using a special wateroscope. It is a sheet steel cone with a plexiglass bottom. Its diameter is 60 cm. The rubber part of the mask was fixed on the narrow part of the wateroscope cone, and the "viewing" began. The water in Svetloyar is very clean and transparent, the visibility is excellent.

In the southwestern part of the lake, in shallow water, archaeologists have found the remains of piles. City of Kitezh? No. Local residents say that in the 19th century there was a bathhouse built by a local landowner. We could not find anything on the second terrace either. Scuba divers A. Gogeshvili and G. Nazarov sank under the water and passed the entire lake from north to south. However, there is no Kitezh-grad with fortress walls and gilded church domes at the bottom of Svetloyar!

True, the bottom is covered with a thick layer of silt many meters long. On a shallow terrace, 50 meters from the shore, at a depth of 6–8 meters, scuba divers found the remains of trees. The top of one of them was cut down and sent for analysis to the Geological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Radiocarbon analysis showed that the tree died 350-400 years ago. And this corresponds to the time period of the formation of the shallow-water terrace, calculated by D.A. Kozlovsky!

So, one of the terraces actually formed as a result of a "failure"? And if the dates proposed by Kozlovsky are accurate, then the second "failure" occurred during the era of the Mongol invasion - at the time associated with the death of the legendary Kitezh-grad!

The following year, submarine archaeologists arrived at Lake Svetloyar with a group of Leningrad scientists armed with a geolocator. The ZGL device was hoisted onto a fishing boat. 62 echo sounder tacks were made at Svetloyar, the lake was cut up and down by "profiles", which made it possible to penetrate through a multi-meter layer of silt. In the northern part of Svetloyar, on the terrace of the Batyev era, sonar showed a kind of oval-shaped formation. Traces of a fenced-in structure? However, this formation may also have a natural origin.

“A year later, in the middle of the lake, prospecting geologists made 5 test drills according to our instructions,” wrote the head of the expedition, Mark Barinov. - They extracted pieces of wood from under a 10-meter layer of silt, on which forensic experts in Moscow found traces of human activity. This is how our exploration at Lake Svetloyar ended. Have we found Kitezh? There is no answer to this question yet. Archaeologists, armed with powerful modern technology, take the floor. "