In the Nizhny Novgorod region on the border with the Republic of Mordovia there is an amazing city of Sarov. Probably, not a single settlement in the world has been renamed so many times in just 70 years. Far from all people born in the Soviet Union, he was known as Sarych, Base No. 112, KB-11, Gorky-130, Arzamas-75, Kremlev, Arzamas-16, Moscow-300. Only in 1995 the historical name Sarov was returned to the city. This name is connected with the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov, revered in the Christian world, who performed deeds of prayer in the Holy Assumption Monastery - the main spiritual attraction of Sarov. At the same time, Sarov is a closed regional science city due to the fact that nuclear weapons development enterprises are located here.
History of the city
The history of the city can be conditionally divided into several periods of different length and content: ancient, monastic and nuclear. Archaeological excavations have discovered on the site of the city the remains of the ancient Sarov settlement of the 2nd half of the 1st century. BC e. From ancient chronicles it is known that until the XII-XIII centuries. on the settlement at the confluence of the Satis and Sarovka rivers, there was a Mordovian settlement, which was part of the Purgas volost of the Erzya prince Purgaz. The settlement was often subjected to raids by the troops of the Golden Horde. In 1310, on the site of the Sarov settlement, the Tatar fortress Saraklych ("golden saber") was built, abandoned by the Horde after the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
Sarov desert
Some time before the arrival of the Russian monks, the settlement remained in desolation, surrounded by dense forests and clean springs. In 1664, the monk Theodosius became the first desert dweller.
The organizer of the Sarov desert in 1705 is considered to be Hieroschemamonk Isaac, who came from Arzamas and received the land of the settlement from Daniil Ivanovich Kugushev, a baptized Tatar prince. The following year, in 50 days, a wooden church was built here to the glory of the Most Holy Theotokos - the first temple of the monastery. Having learned about the monastery, the monks began to arrive and build cave dwellings around the church - cells in the mountain.
Seraphim of Sarov
The great old man, revered in the Christian world, St. Seraphim of Sarov, who dedicated his life to sincere prayers and helping the suffering, glorified the desert, who came here as a youth from Kursk in 1776. His biography was compiled by the local hieromonk Sergius, iconsmiracle worker were painted from a portrait painted by the artist Semyon Serebryakov. Saint Seraphim was canonized in 1903 in the Sarov Hermitage in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II. Gradually, the appearance of the monastery changed, new stone churches were built, pilgrims from all over Russia sought to visit the shrine. In the 1920s the monastery was closed, the relics of the elder disappeared for many years and were miraculously re-found in St. Petersburg in 1991
Closed City
In Soviet times (before the war), the premises of the monastery housed an orphanage, a labor commune, a quarantine camp, a sports equipment factory; during the Great Patriotic War - a plant for the manufacture of shell cases. Since 1946, the city has become secret, disappearing from all maps in connection with the opening of a design bureau for the design of nuclear weapons by Academicians Yu. B. Khariton and I. V. Kurchatov. The builders of that time solved two tasks: to create a superbly equipped scientific and production base of the nuclear center and to build a modern city with advanced infrastructure.
After a successful test in 1953 in Semipalatinsk of a hydrogen bomb, the US monopoly in possession of nuclear weapons was eliminated, and the city began to be called the "nuclear shield of the USSR." The most important role of the city in the defense of our country remains today. And since the 1990s. The Sarov desert also began to recover. Despite the status of a closed city, the sights of Sarov are very diverse: architectural and spiritual monuments, cultural and natural objects.
The architectural appearance of the city center was formed under the influence of Stalinist classicism and on the basis of standard projects of low-rise buildings for nuclear cities of the Lengiprostroy organization. In one of the photos of Sarov's sights - a house with a spire, a bright representative of the architecture of that time, it is located on Lenin Avenue.
Sarov Orthodox
The creation and prosperity of the Holy Assumption Monastery - the Sarov Hermitage - is a significant part of the history of not only the city, but the whole of Russia. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov, who labored in the field of prayer, accomplished 7 of his main feats here: novitiate, monasticism, hermitage, pilgrimage, silence, seclusion and eldership. Few are given such strength from above for incredibly difficult and fruitful spiritual work. Monastic life was resumed in the monastery in 2006.
The composition of the Sarov desert includes:
- Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov;
- temple in the name of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Near Hermitage) at the pond Borovoe;
- Church of St. Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves (underground, restored);
- Church of Saints Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky (restored);
- Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord (restored);
- gate church in the name of St. Nicholas (restored);
- Far Desert (in the forest where St. Seraphim labored, a cell was restored and a chapel was built).
In the monastery -the main attraction of the city of Sarov - there is a tour desk offering routes for different age groups.
The Sarov wooden church of John the Baptist was built over a piedmont spring and consecrated in 1752. Then, in 1821, with the money of the Astrakhan merchant K. F. classical style, to which a wide stone staircase led from the monastery.
Another church in Sarov - the Church of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon - was built in 2004 at the request and at the expense of city organizations and ordinary Sarov residents, patients of the local hospital town.
Sculptures
Guests of the city, who happened to visit it, are convinced that everyone who visits this place needs to see the sights and monuments in Sarov associated with the rich history of the city and the spiritual revival of the country.
The monument to Seraphim of Sarov, designed by V. M. Klykov, the author of the monument to G. K. Zhukov in Moscow, was erected in 1991 in the forest on Dalnaya Pustynka, 5 km from the monastery where the elder lived and prayed. In this place, on the elevated bank of the Sarovka River, a small wooden cell was built for the monk, a garden was planted, and a cave was dug in the hillock. According to legend, a bear came out of the virgin forest, which Seraphim fed from his hands. Sarov residents celebrate Orthodox holidays here. Near the monument grows a large pine tree of the reverend elder, which you need to hug and make a wish. This is where everything startsexcursions around Sarov.
The monument of the architect N. V. Kuznetsov and the Victory square with an eternal flame have existed in the city since the 1960s. and are dedicated to the memory of three hundred Sarov residents who died and went missing in the Great Patriotic War. On the alley of the square there is also a monument to soldiers who served in hot spots, installed at the expense of folk funds - a sculpture of a soldier sitting after the battle (author M. M. Limonov).
Nikolai Vasilyevich Kuznetsov, a talented painter and chief architect of Sarov, was the author of projects for the creation of squares, boulevards, parks, a hospital campus and a suspension bridge across the Satis - a favorite place for newlyweds since 1964. He is also the author of pedestals to monuments V I. Lenin on the main square (designed by S. O. Makhtin) and A. M. Gorky at the Palace of Creativity (works by P. V. Koenig).
The monument to the outstanding nuclear physicist, the founder of the city, Yu. In the theater square in 2010, a bronze bust was opened to the director of Uralmash, and later to the director of the Sarovsky KB-11, B. G. Muzrukov, the author is the Ural sculptor K. Grunberg.
The monument of 1986 in the style of Soviet realism by local architect G. I. Yastrebov is dedicated to the builders of the city, it is located at the intersection of Chapaev and Silkin streets.
Natural Monuments
Sarov has magnificent unique natural monuments, which in 1999 received regional significance. In a dense mixed forest on a round, overgrowngrasses, glade is the Holy tract Keremet - a cult place of the Finno-Ugric tribes. On the banks of the Satis in the deciduous forest, there is another attraction of Sarov - eight cold, pleasant taste and low mineralization, purest springs called Silver Keys. The natural urban landscape near the monastery includes a monument of local nature in the Satis floodplain - the Water Meadow, densely overgrown with herbs and primroses. The tracts of Sysovskiy cordon and Filippovka, surrounded by mixed forests and ponds formed by monks on streams flowing here for timber rafting, are of water protection and historical importance. For the same purpose, the monastery ponds Varlamovsky, Broach and Shilokshansky pond, visited by tourists and pilgrims, were used.
Museums and theaters
As in every city with an interesting and multifaceted history, the sights of Sarov are represented by cultural and educational institutions.
Yu. B. Khariton's Museum-apartment was established in 1999 for the 95th anniversary of the academician, where he lived with his wife and worked for 25 years. A comfortable cottage with a garden was specially built for him in 1971 and now carefully preserves the environment surrounding the great scientist.
On Academician A. D. Sakharov Street there are cottages of the 1950s, where scientists who came here to work lived. On one of them there is a memorial plaque indicating that the Nobel laureate lived here for 18 years.
The local history museum has been operating since 1956. Its rich collection of historical and cultural monuments of local residents allowsconduct tours of 40 different topics.
The Drama Theater was established in 1949 for intellectual recreation and entertainment in Sarov for employees of a closed facility and was originally located in a monastery building. The new building, built in 2004 in the eclectic style, has become the center of the architectural composition of the modern residential area of the city.
On the basis of the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics there is a unique museum of the nuclear center with original exhibits and models of legendary products from the first atomic bomb in 1949 to modern nuclear weapons, ten of which are official monuments of science and technology. Creative evenings are held here for Science Day.
Today's Sarov in the photo with a description of the sights is a neat and well-groomed city with comfortable working and living conditions, the city is still in a special position. In connection with some "warming" of the international situation, atomic research is increasingly moving to peaceful "rails", and the city reveals some of its secrets. There is a prospect of developing tourism and turning Sarov into a university center. But no one has announced the dates yet, because the mission of improving the nuclear shield is very important for Russia.
