ATTENTION! The book is divided into chapters for ease of navigation only. The information of the book is a continuous 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 consistently read the entire book. .
The legend of the death of Kitezh city.
“I wrote about what I heard, not knowing, maybe others wrote about it, knowing more than me”
Yermolai 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 this legend is based on 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 very word "kidysh" means a ruined, abandoned city. The classic version of the legend claims that he drowned at the bottom of Lake Svetloyar, which is located in the 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. Ancient World, including in the Baltic Sea. Mythological dictionaries state that the legend of Kitezh-grad is a classic eschatological legend, similar to the legends godly kingdoms of the righteous, kingdom of presbyter John, city of Ignat, heaven on earth and islands of the blessed, that is, about the epicenters of cosmic catastrophes. In the Russian epic, these are also legends about Belovodye, where from under the water you can still hear the bell ringing from the sunken churches of the city. That's why white water or white land called free, church land. In the Orthodox tradition in Russia white called Orthodox faith, king 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 Lunda River, a tributary of the Vetluga: the water surface area is 7.5 ha.
Its almost rounded shape has a peculiar raised in the form of a shaft, edging the adjacent coastal lines. It does not fit into scientific ideas about the processes of formation of the earth's surface in these places, and only later studies have established that it is a meteorite crater, but for a long time it was believed that this karst failure was formed as a result of a small earthquake. Clean, clear water of the lake, according to local residents, has healing properties. According to legend, in the old days, Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich set up the city of Maly Kitezh (Gorodets) on the banks of the Volga, and later, crossing the rivers Uzola, Sanda and Kerzhenets, and going to the river Lyudna, which originates from Lake Svetloyar, put on its banks, city of Kitezh the Great. Let's refresh the legend of Kitezh-grad in our memory, because it is often compared with the disappeared Atlantis, the reality of which has also been repeatedly tried to prove or disprove. Here 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, the glorious city of Kitezh stood on the site of the lake ... Tatars attacked Russia, conquered many of our lands. Batu Khan, having learned about the rich Kitezh-grad, sent his hordes to him. Approaching the walls of the city, the Tatars were very surprised. The inhabitants calmly prayed in their churches and did not think of defending the city. And when the infidels burst into the city, the bells suddenly rang out of their own accord and clogged the water sources. In fear, the invaders fled from the city plunging into the water. ... And after the water stopped coming, only the water surface spread on the site of the city, and only the lonely head of the church, crowned with a cross, was still visible above the surface of the lake, but it soon went under water"... Another, church legend, is no less mysterious: “... all of a sudden everything around became dark, and the temples of God disappeared, silently plunged into the waters with their battlements. And since then, the whole city has been covered with a quiet lake, like a tearStKitezh. The ringing is wonderful, iridescent, the singing of angels, the faces of all the saints, in the temple of God, all serenely glorify the Lord our God and the Mother of God. According to historical legend, this 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 permission, the city, before the eyes 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 site of the death of the city, became a place of pilgrimage for believers. During Nikon's persecution of the Old Believers, schismatic sketes and secret refuges-settlements of adherents of the "old faith" began to appear here in abundance. Among the Old Believers, from generation to generation, a strange legend was passed on about a city drowned in a lake, and that only true believers can see Kitezh and hear the ringing of Kitezh bells still coming from under the water. Here is how V.G. writes about this penetratingly and touchingly. 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 boundaries. Here in the shade of the trees, under the open sky, singing is heard day and night, sounds ... chanting, disputes about the true faith boil. And at dusk and in the blue darkness of a summer evening, lights flicker between the 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 chips into the water, crouch to the ground, and listen. Tired, between two worlds, with fires in the sky and water, they surrender to the lulling swaying of the shores and the indistinct distant ringing ... And sometimes they freeze, no longer seeing or hearing anything from the environment. The eyes are as if blinded to our world, but clear to the unearthly world. His face cleared up, there was a “blissful” wandering smile and tears ... And those who aspired, but did not merit due to lack of faith, stand around and look in surprise ... And shake their heads in fear. Means, he is, this other world, invisible, but real. They themselves did not see, but they saw those who see ... » In memory of the space disaster Alatyr, 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 a matter of faith. Lake Svetloyar, exalted tourists call "Shambhala of Russia". Prishvin, Maximilian Voloshin, Sergey Gorodetsky, Nikolai Klyuev, N.K. Roerich, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov…
But already from the middle of the nineteenth century, the legend of Kitezh city became the subject of close attention of researchers. Scientific expeditions were repeatedly sent to Lake Svetloyar. In the 50-70s of the twentieth century, it was possible "certainly install" 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 really took place here. While working on this legend, I did not yet know the true extent of the catastrophe of 1240, 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 repeatedly occurred in the memory of people, over time becoming mysteries for subsequent generations, wondering where did the city mentioned in the chronicles go, the reality of whose existence was not in doubt among contemporaries. Therefore, I began to look for additional information that could help understand the mystery 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 sank approximately 700-800 years ago. This quite accurately corresponds to the time of the Mongol-Tatar raids and is consistent with the legend of the sunken city, and therefore it can be said that the researchers did their job expertly.
But the version about the meteorite 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, visiting this lake . At the same time, students paid attention to to nearby lakes called Nestiyar, Kuzmiyar, Svetloye and Ozerskoye, and, having studied local lore and topographic material, reasonably assumed that 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 their version, an expedition of schoolchildren in 2006 discovered in the region of these lakes a large number of funnels 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, in a southerly direction. One of the arguments in proving the meteorite origin of Lake Svetloyar is the discovery by them of numerous impactites(from English. impact - impact). On Nestiyar, they also found melt-dense, clearly iron-bearing rocks. The locals, who have also repeatedly found impactites, call them oar farmers, 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 should be said about this. Schoolchildren, together with their teachers, did an excellent job, but, unfortunately, they could not correctly assess the scale of this extraordinary catastrophe. In fact, no one has been able to do this until today. 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 the story about them is ahead. For me, the legend of Kitezh-grad served as an impetus for understanding the mystery of the giant space disaster Alatyr, which occurred in the vast expanses of the European part of Russia in 1240. Lake Svetloyar is the site of a cosmic explosion, deified by religious legends and numerous pilgrims. And far from the only one. And we have one more thing to say deified the site of a cosmic explosion of a fragment of the comet Alatyr, on the site of which there 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 melted rock taken from the site of a cosmic catastrophe. And this artifact of the catastrophe of 1240 can be seen by any pilgrim, or the reader of this book, if he visits the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra.
Kitezh (Kitezh-grad) - in the legends, a mystical city 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 near the Lunda River.
For many years, submarine archaeologists 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 of Kitezh
According to legend, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich built the city of Bolshoy Kitezh on the banks of the Svetloyar. 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 Russia of that era. When the hordes of Batu invaded Russia, they captured and ravaged the city of Small Kitezh (or Gorodets) and, fleeing from the Mongol army, Prince Yuri took refuge in Big Kitezh, lost among the thickets of the Volga region.
But Batu found out the way to Bolshoi Kitezh and laid siege to it. Its inhabitants tirelessly prayed to the Mother of God to stand up for them. The defenders of the city stood to death, Prince Yuri was killed in battle. However, the forces were too unequal. Just about the enemies were supposed to break into Kitezh-grad, when suddenly a miracle happened. The city began to disappear before the eyes of Batu - Kitezh churches and buildings disappeared under 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 is 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 also get into the enchanted city and stay there forever...
The legend of the invisible city of Kitezh existed for a long time in oral form, 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 in the 18th century first wrote down the legend of Kitezh in the work “The Book of the Chronicler”. 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 Kitezh bells, as mentioned above.
“The fog cleared, and the domes of Kitezh shone with an unearthly light over the lake. The heavenly city of the righteous appeared in all its splendor. The main gates of the city opened, and a radiant old man appeared from them. He invited to enter the miracle city and stay there forever.” This is how a pilgrim who crawled around Lake Svetloyar three times on her knees described her meeting with the legendary city. 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 monastery of the righteous.
Belief in the reality of the existence of Kitezh was preserved in the vicinity of Svetloyar and 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 ladle. It's just very hard to find it. In winter, the ice on Svetloyar is clean, clean. So you have to come, shovel the snow, and you can see what is happening there, at the bottom. And there, they say, all sorts of miracles: white-stone houses stand, trees grow, bell towers, churches, chopped towers, living people walk ... But not everyone will find it, not everyone will be able to find this hole.
The locals say they know cases when the people of Kitezh helped people in the most mundane matters. “To me, as a little boy, my grandmother told me that an old man lived alone here in a village by the lake. That old man once went to the forest for mushrooms. Walked and walked, and all in vain. Tired, he sat down on a stump... Then he thought: "If only the old men of Kitezh would help." No sooner had he thought about it than drowsiness overtook him. After some time, the old man woke up, opened his eyes, looked into the basket - and does not believe his eyes: there are mushrooms in it to the brim. Yes, even some - 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 the 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-grad, which had gone under water. And already a hundred years ago, the idea of search for the legendary city at the bottom of Lake Svetloyar appeared.
Lake Svetloyar
Research
However, underwater archeology was not even dreamed of in those days. Searches are engaged only in our days. At first, 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 burned by the Tatar-Mongols. Well, what about Big Kitezh, which went to the bottom of Lake Svetloyar? 1959 - the first expedition of submarine archaeologists went to the lake. She was not successful. But, perhaps, we need to conduct a more thorough search?
1968 - the department of science of the Literaturnaya Gazeta organized a complex expedition to Lake Svetloyar. It included folklorists, an archaeologist, a historian, a geologist, a lake historian, a hydrologist and a group of scuba divers. The purpose of the expedition was to find out what is the connection with reality, with Lake Svetloyar, of the legend of Kitezh-grad, which has become a symbol of faith in undying Russia, in the incorruptibility of Russian culture, in the final victory over all disasters. Could the city really go 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, which filled with water and became a lake. Having sunk to its bottom, scuba divers and hydrologist D.A. Kozlovsky was able to establish that the coastal slope of Svetloyar goes under 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 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 terrace was formed.
Perhaps the city of Kitezh once stood on one of the terraces? After all, the time of the formation of the second terrace surprisingly coincides with the date of his death, which is mentioned in legends ... Archaeologists-submariners began to study the bottom of the lake in detail. The “shallow” terrace was examined using a special waterscope. It is a sheet steel cone with a Plexiglas bottom. Its diameter is 60 cm. The rubber part of the mask was fixed on the narrow part of the cone of the waterscope, and the “viewing” began. The water in Svetloyar is very clean and transparent, visibility is excellent.
In the southwestern part of the lake, in shallow water, archaeologists have found the remains of piles. City of Kitezh No. Locals say that in the 19th century there was a bathhouse built by a local landowner. Nothing could be found on the second terrace either. Scuba divers A. Gogeshvili and G. Nazarov went down 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 multi-meter layer of silt. 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 a shallow terrace, calculated by D.A. Kozlovsky!
So, one of the terraces was actually formed as a result of a "failure"? And if the dates proposed by Kozlovsky are accurate, then the second "failure" occurred in 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 along with a group of Leningrad scientists armed with a geolocator. The ZGL device was hoisted onto a fishing boat. 62 echo-sounding lines were made at Svetloyar, the lake was cut along and across by “profiles”, which made it possible to penetrate through a many-meter layer of silt. In the northern part of Svetloyar, on the terrace of the "Batu" times, the sound sonar showed a certain formation of an oval shape. Traces of a fenced structure? However, this formation may also have a natural origin.
“A year later, in the middle of the lake, exploration geologists made 5 test drillings according to our instructions,” wrote the expedition leader Mark Barinov. - They removed pieces of wood from under a 10-meter layer of silt, on which forensic experts in Moscow found traces of human activity. Thus ended our reconnaissance on Lake Svetloyar. Did we find Kitezh? There is no answer to this question yet. The floor is up to the archaeologists, armed with powerful modern technology.”
The Nizhny Novgorod land is rich in minerals, except that geologists have not found oil and diamond placers in it for the time being. However, three and a half decades ago, a geological exploration party from Yaroslavl, while drilling a well near the village of Vorotilovo (Koverninsky district), discovered “pebbles”! Black crystals of irregular shape lay at a depth of one and a half kilometers. They turned out to be technical diamonds. These are found in the Arctic and Yakutia. These gems are lamellar, which is not the case with traditional diamonds. And scientists still do not understand how they arose. One thing is clear: it could not have done without the impact of high temperatures and geological underground shifts. Kovernin diamonds cannot be turned into diamonds, they cannot be cut because of their lamellar structure. But these stones have the same strength as ordinary minerals, and they can be used in manufacturing or in jewelry for polishing cubic diamonds. Experts believe that geological exploration in the north of the region should be continued, since, perhaps, these places are part of the Diamond Belt of Russia.
City next to the volcano
Where would diamonds with oil come from in the Volga forests? Their appearance depended on temperature changes in the bowels of the earth, in the movements of layers and rocks that took place in time immemorial. Subsoil and still "do not sleep."
Geologists can tell a lot of interesting things about phenomena that still affect our lives today. Thus, specialists from Volgogeology from Yaroslavl, together with diamonds, discovered a volcano in the Kovernino wilderness. More precisely, the crater of a volcano at a depth of fifty meters.
Studies of rock samples told that this fire-breathing giant went out even when they walked around the territory of our area. And before his death, the "dragon" spat out lava flows that crawled up to today's Balakhna. After the giant exploded, so much rock escaped from its bowels that it filled up the vent.
Did you know?
The only hints of the real existence of Kitezh can be found in the book "Kitezh Chronicler". This book, according to scientists, was written at the end of the seventeenth century
Vorotilov ledge
It is difficult to imagine this picture: huge stones weighing several tons and up to a hundred meters in diameter rolled down from the top. Then they were scattered across the territory of Chkalovsky, Koverninsky, Sokolsky and Gorodetsky districts.
All of them are safely buried under layers of soil along with the crater of the volcano. This formation is called the Vorotilov 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.
Will we ever find something similar? Cameroon is also located on the plains, and not in the highlands, like most fire-breathing mountains. Is there a chance that the volcano will wake up?
- Not! geologists answer. The giant fell asleep millions of years ago in eternal sleep.
Did you know?
The length of Lake Svetloyar is 210 meters, the width is 175 meters, and the total area of the water surface is about 12 hectares.
Shaking chandeliers, the house is dancing
Geologists find an explanation for strange tremors in the "sustainable" regions of central Russia. About forty years ago, Nizhny Novgorod residents 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 shocks turned out to be weak, more like the echo of some distant one. And then no one thought about why we began to shake (by the way, for the second time in recent times), what kind of cataclysm sent its formidable echo to our region? It turned out that they did not think in vain. There are no accidents in nature. According to geologists, the repetition of tremors is very likely in the future.
Versions
There is still no consensus on how Lake Svetloyar arose. Someone insists on the glacial theory of origin, someone defends the karst hypothesis. There is a version that the lake arose after the fall of a meteorite.
Lithospheric plates move slowly over the surface of the mantle
In general, Nizhny Novgorod residents walk along their streets, roads, fields, confidently, believing that there is nothing harder 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 falls by 3-4 millimeters per year. This platform looks like a giant block wall, which lies horizontally and is covered with a thick layer of soil. The junction of its lithospheric plates passes under the Nizhny Novgorod region, along the Volga and Oka channels.
This is clearly visible to the ordinary eye: the right bank of the water arteries is highly elevated, and the left is low, flat. This joint gradually diverges, very slowly turning into a crack. The lithospheric plates themselves are also dotted with small cracks. The whole structure moves and causes light earthquakes in our area. Many years ago, these natural phenomena were devastating.
Legend
A variant of the legend says that George the Victorious himself descended 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, frightened people left the territory of the Volga-Vyatka region.
Now earthquakes are much weaker, but still noticeable, 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 windows, doors slamming by themselves, and clocks stopping. No more.
However, even venerable scientists do not know all the secrets of nature, which gives people unexpected surprises. Strong fluctuations of bowels are not necessary to us also because of landslides. Many Nizhny Novgorod residents remember how one of the clay slopes of the Dyatlovy Mountains collapsed in 1974. The earth completely blocked the Oka congress.
Svetloyar lake. Voskresensky district
Neighbors from Kirov have long had problems with earthquakes. Natural disasters haunted them five times over the past century. One of the earthquakes was a magnitude six on the Richter scale!
Legend
And this city of Big Kitezh became invisible and guarded by the hand of God - so at the end of our many-rebellious century and worthy of tears, the Lord covered that city with his hand."The Tale and the Penalty of the Secret City of Kitezh"
And such shocks are not limited to swinging chandeliers, they move furniture around the room, draw deep crevices and ravines on the surface of the earth, and destroy houses. And this does not at all look like a subsiding shock wave, which, allegedly, has reached the northern regions from the seismically disadvantaged southern latitudes.
Involuntarily, the thought comes that the source of tremors is somewhere nearby. By the way, the territory of central Russia was shaking before.
Chroniclers have repeatedly noted such facts. Some hydrobiologists today even believe that the famous lake Svetloyar was formed as a result of an earthquake in 1230.
Kitezh city. Legend, interesting facts
There are a lot of legends about the city of Kitezh, on the site of which Lake Svetloyar is located today. According to one of them, it was built in just three years, it was completely made of stone, which was an unprecedented phenomenon for Russia in those years. There were no merchants, no artisans, no nobility in the city, and exceptionally righteous people, philosophers, spiritual teachers lived behind its stone walls. The shrines of the Russian land were also kept here.
Legend
According to the legend, Kitezh should "appear" on the day of the Last Judgment. On the day when the dead rise from their graves, Kitezh will also rise from the water
Prince Vladimir-Suzdal Yuri Vsevolodovich
In the thirteenth century, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich encountered 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 Bolshoi Kitezh by secret paths. According to the official version, he was killed there by the enemy, who overtook him. However, the Kitezh chronicler claims that the prince survived. He entered the city, after which he to the sound of bells.
According to another version, Kitezh did not dissolve, but sank to the bottom of Svetloyar, where it remains 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 Turka. But after Turka became angry, her horse hit the ground with its hoof. At this place, a spring immediately scored, 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 Forests". 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. Batu Khan heard about Kitezh and became eager to conquer it. From a captured Russian warrior, the Tatars learned about secret paths leading to a 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 immediately, jets of water burst out of the ground, under which the magical city hid.
People from parallel worlds. Data
Later and 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 to the store, marveled at the outlandish delicacies in bright packages with pictures, but only bread and cereals dared to buy, trying to pay off with old silver coins.
They also say 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, cures many diseases.
Did you know?
Lake Svetloyar was painted by artists Nikolai Romadin, Ilya Glazunov and many others. The poets Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva mention the city of Kitezh in their works.
But according to hydrobiologists, the city of Kitezh (if there was one) was destroyed not by the evil intentions of Batu Khan, but by two deep soil faults. At their node is the most mysterious body of water in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
This version sounds very plausible. Everyone knows that during a strong earthquake, failures absorb entire blocks of modern cities. And as a result of a natural disaster, a small settlement with wooden houses could easily disappear from the surface.
N.K. Roerich "Battle at Kerzhents"
“He bloomed on fertile land until greedy enemies attacked him. The city was defended for three days. And when there were no more warriors capable of holding weapons, the enemies rejoiced. But the proud Kitezh did not surrender, and before the eyes of the astonished enemies, it slowly disappeared, sinking into the abyss of the sea. God made the city invisible to the human eye, but the time will come and Kitezh will return,” says the ancient legend.
According to another version of this legend the earth opened up and engulfed the city. Enemies fled in fear, and Lake Svetloyar appeared on the site of the city. That city is still intact with white-stone walls, churches, monasteries, princely towers, boyar stone chambers, cut down from kondovy not rotting forest houses. The city is intact, but invisible. Only the righteous and saints can see this city, only the true believer is worthy to hear the chime of its bells."
This legend became an inspiration for Rimsky-Korsakov, who wrote the brilliant opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia, to which Nicholas Roerich made a picturesque curtain.
Did this city really exist? If yes, where? There is such a book "The Chronicler of Kitezh", created in the 80-90s of the 18th century by the Old Believers, which says: "Grand Duke Vladimir Georgy Vsevolodovich set up the city of Small Kitezh on the banks of the Volga. And then he moved deep into the forests, across the Kerzhenets River, on the banks of a beautiful lake Svetloyar, he ordered to build the city of Great Kitezh. And that city of Great Kitezh was two hundred sazhens wide, and a hundred sazhens wide. And they began to build it on the first day of May, and they built that city for three summers. If Kitezh is just a legend, then where did these details come from? The conclusion that the book appeared in the 18th century was made by linguists.
In the forests of Nizhny Novgorod, 40 kilometers from the city of Semyonov, there is an amazingly beautiful lake called Svetloyar. There is a belief that it is here that the invisible city of Kitezh is located. They say that on a quiet summer morning it can be seen reflected in the water with towers and domes. And from somewhere below comes the quiet ringing of bells.
The lake has long been considered sacred. Many pilgrims have always flocked to it and are now flocking in the hope of either being healed by washing there, or atoning for their sins by crawling along the shore. Near the lake there is a chapel, a bow cross. A few kilometers away is the village of Vladimirskoye, which has become tourist center. It is now called Russian Shambhala, and Kitezh - Russian Atlantis. In general, the place is popular. Kitezh has become such an Orthodox fetish, a spiritual center, a symbol of the heroic struggle of Orthodox Russia against the "Mongol-Tatar hordes".
The persistence of this tradition is amazing. Maybe it really has some basis? It often happens that legends reflect the distant past. For example, the legends of the peoples of the north reflect the events of the flood, when there was no land, and the supreme god Nomi-Torum got it from the bottom, etc. Or maybe it's still a beautiful legend that has become popular thanks to poets, a composer ...
For more than a hundred years, scientists have been trying to prove or disprove the existence of a mysterious city here. That's what's weird. By its origin, Svetloyar cannot be attributed to any of the known types of lakes: neither glacial, nor karst, nor meteoric. How did this amazing lake appear? An amazing incident occurred in 1903 in the neighboring Kazan province not so far from the lake. Here is a newspaper report from that time: “Recently, the inhabitants of the village of Shari were terribly frightened by the crackling and noise, incomprehensible to them, coming from somewhere out of the ground. The inhabitants rushed in the direction of the sounds and saw that a huge hole had formed in the middle of the forest, into which mature trees easily entered. And even more it is surprising that water immediately came out from under the ground, and a lake formed at the site of the failure.
Maybe something similar happened here? Maybe there was a city on the shore and it sank to the bottom of the failure?
In 1968, an expedition was organized to Svetloyar and she made a strange discovery. With the help of a sound geolocator, an anomaly was found at the bottom. The image of one section of the bottom differed sharply from the others. The expedition named this zone the "K" zone. To determine what is in the anomalous zone, several wells were then drilled in it. Unexpectedly for everyone, they turned out to be a lot of small wooden chips. But how did they get there? For some reason, not a single scientific institute undertook to study these pieces of wood. Nobody wanted to waste time studying legends. And then the police helped. Forensic experts compiled a document stating that 6 out of 10 pieces of wood they examined had traces of cutting tools. This means that they were processed by human hands.
Enthusiasts planned to continue research at Svetloyar in the 70s. However, these plans were not destined to come true. Already in our time, specialists came to the lake with a unique device - a ground penetrating radar. Its capabilities allow using electromagnetic radiation to literally enlighten the bottom of the lake. The depth of the lake turned out to be very large - 37 meters. Of these, more than ten make up a layer of silt. Georadar detects many small objects in the thickness of the silt. They certainly do not look like any buildings. But what kind of anomaly was discovered in 1968? Then the sample samples showed that the silt layer of zone "K" was different from the others.
Geologists suggested that these samples contained a large amount of minerals, that is, the "K" zone was the bottom of an ancient paleo reservoir. That is, the anomaly of the zone is a natural phenomenon, and everything else is nothing more than guesswork. But then what about wood chips with traces of processing? Then no one determined their age.
If you turn to the book "Kitezh chronicler". It says that Prince George Vsevolodovich began to build the city in the summer of 6673, that is, in 1165 according to the usual calendar. But historians say that this same prince was born only 24 years later in 1189. Such a hassle. At the indicated time, George's grandfather Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow, ruled. What if the Old Believers who wrote the book at the end of the 18th century simply confused the princes? Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky also has confusion with the date of birth, and besides, Yuri and Georgy are the same name.
In 2012, near Lake Svetloyar, Nizhny Novgorod archaeologists discovered traces of a medieval settlement. Found shards of ceramic dishes, fragments of iron knives, flint flint and stone millstones. The finds date back to the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries, that is, it is later than the date indicated in the book. Artifacts were found on the Exaltation of the Cross Hill behind the chapel. In the ruts, the cultural layer was exposed at a depth of half a meter with an area slightly less than a hectare. Archaeologists believe that there was a settlement here - an unfortified settlement with one residential courtyard for 10-15 people. Perhaps the settlement was larger, part of it could go with landslides to Svetloyar.
It is known that in Moscow there is the oldest district Kitay-gorod ("china" - a wall, fortification, the wall built by the Slavs in the Far East to protect against southern neighbors was also called). Note that the beginning of words Whale- ah and Whale- hedgehog match. There is a legend that not far from the walls of the Kremlin, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky ordered to dig a huge dungeon. In the XII century, there were numerous internecine wars, when the princes fought for power and seized cities from each other. Perhaps Yuri Dolgoruky created an underground shelter. Now on the territory of Kitay-Gorod there are some of the most ancient underground structures in Moscow.
It is known that Dolgoruky built a lot of white stone. Buildings of that time can be recognized by amazingly carefully fitted stones. It was not possible to find such buildings in the dungeons of Moscow.
Prince George Vsevolodovich
That's what's interesting. The pronunciation of Kitezh with an accent on "and" came into use only after Rimsky-Korsakov wrote his famous opera. Prior to this, the emphasis was on "e" and came from the Old Russian "kitekhsha", which means "abandoned place". This word appeared in Russia at the time of the advent horde ("the Mongol-Tatar invasion" as it now turns out in our awesomely funny story was not). Just then Georgy Vsevolodovich ruled. The book says that the prince gathered an army and set out to meet the khan. However, he lost the battle. Russian chronicles mention a major battle between the Russians and the Horde on March 4, 1238 on the Sit River. It is believed that the Rkus were completely defeated, and the prince died. However, the "Kitezh chronicler" says that it was after this battle that Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich retreated to Kitezh.
Maybe traces of a mysterious city should be sought in the area of the Sit River? Now this river flows along the border of the Tver and Yaroslavl regions. its length is only 150 km. This small river got into history thanks to the battle. And although the exact place is not known, barrows are scattered all over the Sitya, according to legend, they are the mass graves of Russian soldiers. Until now, the feeling that everything here is filled with the memory of that terrible slaughter. Back in the 19th century, in the villages located along the banks of the City, folklore collectors recorded most of the legends about the city of Kitezh. But now the lower reaches of the river are flooded with the waters of the Rybinsk reservoir, built in Stalin's times. It absorbed 700 villages. Just like the legendary Kitezh, the ancient Russian cities of Maloga and others went under water. A beautiful legend turned into a tragic reality.
There is another version. Researcher Vladimir Ratov studied ancient pagan legends and rituals for many years and came to the conclusion that traces of Kitezh should be sought on the Maloga River. Why? Firstly, this is the legend of Veles - the Slavic god, who, being in the Black Sea, fought against the dark forces. His soul became hardened, he needed to get to Svarga. Svarga is an earthly paradise according to Slavic Vedic mythology, a place where the gods live and milk rivers flow with jelly banks. Maybe Kitezh, which in legends is considered the abode of all the afflicted, is that very Svarga? On the banks of the Mologa, Vladimir Ratov discovered stones with mysterious drawings. But do they have anything to do with Kitezh?
The "Kitezh chronicler" says that Kitezh was located among the dense forests. A secret road led into it from the river, along which the enemies came to the city. This road is called "Batu's path" in the book. Batu ravaged the Russian cities on the right side of the Volga. Now, according to alternative history, it is believed that the Horde - the same Slavs - ruined only Christian Russian cities, while the Vedic ones did not touch. Batu (Batya) crossed over to the left side and for some reason went deeper into the dense forests. What for? There is a version that there was a pagan Slavic temple. Since the goal of the Horde invasion was the destruction of Christianity, and Kitezh was an Orthodox city, it should have been destroyed.
The Slavic Vedic faith says that the path to Svarga goes along the river RA (Volga). Further along the Smorodina River. So they called, and even now they call the Mologa River for the huge number of currant bushes growing along its banks. By the way, the very word MOLOGA is consonant with the Milk River, which, according to legend, flows in a secret country. Huge stones really lie near Mologa, although there are no drawings. But still, a stone with some drawings was found not on the shore, but in the forest. According to Ratov, Kitezh is located there. There are lines on the stone, a triangle, but what is it? It is impossible to say with certainty that these drawings are man-made.
They say that back in the 30s, before the flooding, the abbess of a monastery wrote down her dream - a vision. She goes to the monastery by the field and suddenly water begins to arrive from everywhere. Soon the water covered both the monastery and the surrounding area. And the nun walked and walked until the water began to recede. And the monastery reopened to the light of God.
So and the invisible city of Kitezh, as the legend says, will appear again to the world when faith and goodness are reborn in people.
From the book by Irina Nilova
It was a city of ancient Russians who lived on the banks of the great river. The Drevlyans, under the influence of aliens from other tribes, quarreled with their Wise Men and Leaders and wanted to appropriate power over the rest of their relatives. That is, they began to live along Krivda. After that, the vibrational components in the service of the Sages were distorted and the city received a blow equal to the explosion of a nuclear bomb. The news of the instant death of the whole city from the fiery energy quickly spread, and the place began to cause fear. The lake that formed at the site of the explosion is the remnant of a bygone river that has gone underground.
