The Nizhny Novgorod Demidovs — the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the famous Russian noble family of industrialists, the Demidovs.

The Essence of the Phenomenon

The Demidovs occupy a special place among Russian noble families: the name is a symbol of the new Russia transformed by Peter I.

The talent and energy of the Tula gunsmith Nikita Demidovich Antufyev (later Demidov) laid the foundation for Russian industry in the Urals during the eighteenth century.

The blacksmith and his sons, who became masters of the Stone Belt, founded more than 50 factories. The Demidov iron works, which produced over forty percent of the country's pig iron, made an enormous contribution to Russian military victories in the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea during the Northern War. It was no coincidence that Nikita Demidov was the first merchant to be elevated to the nobility.[1]

To confer baronial dignity upon the Demidovs, land was granted to them in the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. The central estate was the selo of Bykovka, now part of Vorotynsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region.[1][2]

Historical Background

From the early eighteenth century, Nikita Demidov received the Nevyansky iron foundry in the Urals by special charter from Peter I. By taking on state weapons contracts, the industrialist effectively became master of the Urals. Nikita's son Akinfiy Demidov, inheriting his father's legacy, threw himself into the enterprise with zeal and became the creator of the Demidov "empire," which by the mid-eighteenth century produced 52% of all Russian metal.

In 1720, Nikita Demidov purchased from Nikolai Fyodorovich Golovin an ancestral estate in the Barminskaya volost of Nizhny Novgorod Uyezd, thereby acquiring noble status.[2][1] The Demidov selos of Bykovka, Fokino, Ognyov-Maydan, and Pokrovskiy Maydan, along with their villages, became a source of labor replenishment for the Ural factories.

The Nizhny Novgorod estates passed by inheritance from Nikita to Akinfy, then to Prokopy. Catherine II ordered Prokopy Akinfeevich to transfer the estate to his children Akaky, Lev, and Ammos, fearing that the latter would be left without means of subsistence, as their father might spend considerable sums of money on charity and other purposes. On 5 May 1769, following a fraternal division, Lev Prokofyevich received the selo of Bykovka. The line of Prokopy's descendants, the senior branch in the Demidov family tree, is known as the Nizhny Novgorod branch, and the selo of Bykovka is considered its principal ancestral seat.

The approaching nineteenth century in Bykovka is inseparably linked with the name of Vasily Lvovich Demidov, who, after his father's death, became the full master of the estate — and a talented, prudent, and caring master at that.[2] A three-field crop rotation and the cultivation of fodder crops (clover, sainfoin, and alfalfa) were novelties at the time.[3] Vasily Lvovich carried out the first planting of potatoes, which had not yet been grown in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. The potatoes yielded an excellent harvest.[4][1] It is therefore entirely justified to consider Bykovka the birthplace of the Vorotynsky — and indeed the Nizhny Novgorod — potato.

In modern terms, the Bykovka estate was a multi-sector enterprise: grain crops and beekeeping, the breeding of Kholmogory cattle and Orlov trotters, pig farming and beekeeping, horticulture and greenhouse farming (orangeries in which peaches, apricots, plums, and even grapes were ripened).[1][3] The operation was brought to a state of perfection: even the director of the Petrovskaya Academy came to acquaint himself with it, and the Dokuchaev expedition also visited.[5]

Vasily Lvovich died in 1861. Two years later, the Bykovka peasants, with the help of communal capital established at the initiative of their "progressive" landowner, were able to buy out their allotments.[5][4] A unique case in the history of Russia!

Vasily Lvovich and his wife Neonila Ivanovna — a former serf girl — built a strong and close-knit family in which, over several generations, relatives loved one another and maintained close ties. The spiritual center, the capital as it were, of this family branch remained Bykovka — a true ancestral seat where not only all of Vasily Lvovich's children were born, but also nearly all of his grandchildren and most of his great-grandchildren. Almost all of them, even when serving elsewhere, tried to come to Bykovka at least for the summer, and upon retirement returned if not to Bykovka then at least to the district town of Vasilsursk — still called Vasil in the old fashion — or to the provincial capital of Nizhny Novgorod.[1] Nearly all of them were engaged in zemstvo affairs: a glance at the list of official persons of Vasilsursky District for any given year shows that almost half of them were either Demidovs or their relatives.

Aleksandr Vasilyevich Demidov (1811–1872) was elected chairman of the nobility of Vasilsky District in 1841. In 1865 he was elected the first chairman of the zemstvo Board of Vasilsursky District.

Arkady Vasilyevich Demidov (1819–1902) was appointed in 1861 as a member of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Presence for Peasant Affairs. He received a silver medal on the Aleksandrovskaya ribbon for his work in the emancipation of the serfs. Over several three-year terms he was elected in the Governorate Assembly to the position of permanent member of the Vasilsky Uyezd Presence for Peasant Affairs.[1]

His grandson Platon Aleksandrovich Demidov (1840–1892) served as a district justice of the peace for the Vasilsky circuit, then as an honorary justice of the peace and gubernatorial chairman of the Congress of Justices of the Peace. He was married to Olga, the daughter of Vladimir Ivanovich Dal.

His son Igor Platonovich (1873–1946) was a prominent public figure and journalist, a deputy of the Fourth State Duma representing the Constitutional Democratic Party, an active participant in the February Revolution, a very brief member of the Provisional Government, and a participant in the White movement (counterintelligence) before emigrating. In Paris, from the 1920s until the arrival of the Germans, he served for many years as assistant editor to P. N. Milyukov at the newspaper Poslednie Novosti. Three of his great-grandchildren currently live in France.[6]

The second son of Aleksandr Vasilyevich — Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (1842–1918) — began his career as a clerk in the chancellery of the Vasilsky Uyezd marshal of the nobility, then served as a section head in the police administration, a district justice of the peace, and even chairman of the Vasilsky Uyezd zemstvo board.[6] He pursued music seriously and at length, corresponding with the composers Mussorgsky and Balakirev, the latter of whom visited Bykovka, and was of course well acquainted with the composer Lyapunov, who was married to Yevgeniya, the daughter of his brother Platon.[6]

The third son — Mikhail Aleksandrovich (1850–1871) — died very young.

The fourth — Nikolay Aleksandrovich (1859–1891) — also died young, but left behind a work titled "A Historical Outline of Vasilsursk Uyezd of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate."

Pavel Arkadyevich Demidov (1858–1927) graduated from the law faculty of St. Petersburg University and was elected district justice of the peace for the Nizhny Novgorod circuit. He was subsequently appointed zemstvo chief in Vasilsky Uyezd. In 1908 he was appointed a member of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Zemstvo Board, was soon elected chairman of the Governorate Zemstvo Board, and was repeatedly re-elected to successive three-year terms.[7]

In 1917 he received a telegram signed by the chairman of the Provisional Government and Minister of the Interior, Prince G. E. Lvov, reading: "Attaching the utmost importance, in the interests of establishing order within the country and ensuring the success of the state's defense, to the uninterrupted functioning of all governmental and public institutions, the Provisional Government has found it necessary to temporarily relieve the governor and vice-governor of their duties STOP the administration of the governorate is hereby temporarily entrusted to you in your capacity as Governorate Commissar of the Provisional Government."

In 1918–1919 he served as a member of the liquidation zemstvo commission, briefly worked as head of the organizational department of the handicraft administration under the Supreme Council of the National Economy in Moscow, then at Glavkustprom, the People's Commissariat of Food, and Gosstrakh, and from 1923 was employed once again in Nizhny Novgorod, at the Provincial Planning Commission (Gubplan), as head of the local economy section.[7] On 2 February 1927, Pavel Arkadyevich passed away in his sixty-ninth year.[7] The newspaper "Nizhny Novgorod Kommuna" published an announcement and an obituary.[6] The obituary read: "In the person of the late Pavel Arkadyevich Demidov, Gubplan has lost a superbly educated, outstanding, and irreplaceable worker of broad vision who knew the governorate and its economy excellently, and his colleagues have lost a wonderful and responsive comrade. Before the October Revolution, during his tenure as Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod Zemstvo Board, Pavel Arkadyevich labored greatly to improve the well-being of the governorate.

Under him, the network of zemstvo schools and public libraries was considerably expanded… a zemstvo museum was organized, measures were put in place… for studying cottage industries and fostering their development and improvement… Pavel Arkadyevich's final work was the drafting of the general plan for the communal economy of the governorate. He carried out this work while confined to his bed by grave illness, and right up to the very end he never ceased to take the liveliest interest in it." Pavel Arkadyevich died at the right time — the repressions did not touch him.

Pavel Arkadyevich's son — Arkady Pavlovich (1902–1937) was not close to his father. In the early 1920s he served in the organs of public education; in 1926 he became a monk, taking the name Rufin upon his tonsure (as recorded in church documents).[6][7] After the monastery was disbanded, he became a village priest. He was arrested and convicted for the first time in 1932, and a second time in 1937.[7] Rufim (as recorded in NKVD documents) Pavlovich Demidov was charged with organizing a counter-revolutionary group of kulaks, but this count could not be proved. What remained was the charge of agitating against the population census (some peasants believed it came from the Antichrist) and of seeking, through methods of coercion, to pit the masses against Soviet Power. The methods of coercion consisted in his refusing to baptize, marry, or conduct funeral rites for families that did not attend church. This, however, proved sufficient for the UNKVD troika to sentence him to death. He was shot on 4 November 1937.[7][8] In 1989 he was rehabilitated.[7]

Another son of Arkady Vasilyevich — Valery Arkadyevich (1861–?) was confirmed in 1891 as zemstvo chief in Vasilsursk Uyezd and served as ex officio member of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Presence. In 1917 he held the rank of actual state councillor.[6]

Of the entire large family of descendants of Vasily Lvovich — and, it appears, of Prokopy Akinfievich — only a few Demidovs now remain in Paris: Georges, Igor, and Alexander Igorevich. They were born in 1963, 1965, and 1971, respectively.[6]

How the lands of Vorotynsky District are connected to the Demidovs

The selo Pokrov-Maydan in Vorotynsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region, is connected to the descendants of the renowned Demidov dynasty of industrialists: one of the Demidov estates has survived here to this day. The "Vanishing Landscape-2009" expedition of the Nizhny Novgorod regional public cultural foundation "Dat Ponyat" ("Make It Clear") was accompanied, as an expert, by Alexander Mikhaylovich Dyuzhakov, Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation and director of the Vorotynsky District children's excursion bureau "Rodnoy Kray" ("Native Land").[2]

— Alexander Mikhaylovich, please tell us how the lands of Vorotynsky District in Nizhny Novgorod Region are connected to the Demidovs?

— The Demidov lands were originally situated on the territory of what are now Vorotynsky, Spassky, and Lyskovsky Districts. Initially they belonged to the Vorotynsky family, then to the Golovins (the first admiral, Fyodor Alekseyevich Golovin). But in 1720 Nikita Demidov began buying them up gradually. Below runs the Urga River. And so all of Pourzhe — the Urga basin lands — was formerly Demidov territory. By purchasing those lands, Nikita Demidov became a nobleman, and it was precisely these lands that made it possible. As is well known, only a landowner could receive the title of nobility. On September 21, 1720, a decree was issued by which Demidov was "elevated and granted the honorable dignity of the nobility." On March 24, 1726, Catherine I issued a patent to his sons Akinfiy, Grigory, and Nikita, in which they were already styled noblemen "of Nizhny Novgorod" — that is, by virtue of the purchased estate. By the early nineteenth century, however, these lands had fallen into terrible neglect. The reason was that as early as July 30, 1720, Nikita Demidov had received permission from Peter I to purchase serfs for his ironworks, and as a result the local peasants were systematically dispatched to the Urals to work at the Demidov plants.

— Yet the Demidov estate in Pokrov-Maydan, which has come down to our time, suggests that there was a thriving enterprise here. Evidently, at some point the Demidovs changed their attitude toward their Nizhny Novgorod hereditary domain?

— The thing is that Nikita Demidov's grandson — Prokofiy Akinfeevich, who inherited a third of his father's property — had no interest at all in the Ural plants. In January 1769 he sold them to Savva Yakovlev. Along with the plants he also sold houses in various cities and many villages. An eccentric, a petty tyrant, and at the same time one of the greatest philanthropists of his day, Prokofiy Demidov was passionately devoted to botany. Do you remember the well-known portrait by Levitsky, in which Prokofiy Demidov is depicted in a dressing gown, a nightcap on his head, a watering can in his hands?

That passion for agriculture was apparently in the Demidov blood and passed from generation to generation. The flourishing of the lands in Vorotynsky District is associated with Prokofiy Demidov's great-grandson, Vasily Lvovich. A former naval officer — in 1802, already retired, Vasily Lvovich was granted the rank of captain-lieutenant by imperial decree — he arrived in the selo of Bykovka in 1795, according to E.I. Krasnova, a researcher of the Demidov genealogy. In 1801, after his father's death, Vasily Lvovich became master of the Nizhny Novgorod hereditary estates, and a prudent, intelligent, and caring master at that. It was he who began actively developing new lands that had previously gone uncultivated.

It is not entirely clear when the Demidovs purchased Pokrovsky Maydan from the Golovins, who were major landowners in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. Some historians believe it was Vasily Lvovich himself who acquired it in the early nineteenth century. Originally, Pokrov-Maydan housed a remote estate, far from the masters' residence, which supplied foodstuffs to Moscow. Vasily Lvovich lived in Bykovka and sent his orders here to Pokrov-Maydan in writing. There was a specially elected overseer on the spot (incidentally, the surname Vybornov derives from this — "vybornoy" meaning an elected or appointed man, chosen from among the peasants by Vasily Lvovich). He himself visited only occasionally, but the rules were strict. As punishment, the master could have an offender flogged with a rod.

Above all, however, Vasily Lvovich was a man of the Age of Enlightenment. He kept meticulous accounts, managed the estate, and attended to the living conditions of the peasants. Fearing epidemics and fires, he detailed in his orders how, for instance, one should deal with a cow that fell ill. More than that, he introduced smallpox vaccination. When the vaccine was brought from Moscow and he began inoculating the peasants — children first — a wail would go up over the village: "They're taking the children to be stuck!" Even so, the master gave every child a baked roll after the inoculation.

— What is known about the owners of the estate complex in Pokrov-Maydan?

— In 1851, Vasily Lvovich stepped back from affairs (he was about eighty years old) and divided his estate among his sons. The selo of Pokrovsky Maydan first passed to Nikolai (1817 — late 1850s), where he was buried alongside his wife Alexandra Ivanovna Tatarina. After his death, the estate passed to Konstantin Nikolayevich. Following the abolition of serfdom, the Demidovs sold their estate, and their traces in Pokrov-Maydan disappear. In 1899 the building was purchased by the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese, and a "second-class ecclesiastical school" for training future priests was opened here. Subsequently — right up to the present day — the estate building has housed a school.

The structures here date from the nineteenth century and display elements of eclecticism. They are characteristic of the late Classical period. The main manor house once looked somewhat different: it was adorned with semi-circular window arches and brick surrounds, but these were lost after the school underwent a major renovation. Changes were also made to the interior. Rooms that had previously been interconnected were partitioned off to create a classroom system for the school. Inside, almost everything has been rebuilt. Of the original fabric, the staircase has survived, as have the cellars — vast underground storerooms with a remarkable vaulted brickwork. Also noteworthy is an interesting decorative element on the façade resembling dormer windows. The Demidov estate in Pokrov-Maydan was once surrounded by a stone wall, within which stood the manor house, a range of outbuildings (a yard building, a paramedic's station, a kitchen), and a park planted in the style typical of the era.

— What kinds of plantings, exactly?

— Linden, maple, elm, bird cherry, pine, spirea shrubs, and of course lilac. Lilac was particularly beloved here. The nineteenth century was in general a "lilac century" — especially its latter half. Lilac was considered a symbol of noble Russia. Incidentally, the Demidovs laid out the park in a ravine, along a stream. The stream was dammed — there were, and still are, ponds there. For fifteen or twenty years the park was left uncleared. It was properly cleared at last by pupils of the local school in 2008. It turned out that in the intervening years we had lost the "Star" glade, whose sides in the Demidov era radiated outward like rays.

— In 2007, a photograph of the Pokrovskaya Church, part of the Demidov estate complex, was published in the journal Nizhegorodsky Muzey. The photograph showed a church with tilted crosses — evidently someone had tried to remove them during the Soviet period. Today the picture is completely different: the church is being restored. Has an investor come forward?

— The restoration of the church is being carried out by the residents of the selo using their own resources. The domes were rebuilt just about a year and a half ago. And although the interior is still in a state of neglect, we have every hope of restoring the church. All the more so because Vorotynets–Sergach road on which the settlement of Pokrov-Maydan stands, owes its very name to the church of the Intercession of the Mother of God. In this area there are three Maydans: Pokrov, Ognyov, and Beryozov (a maydan is a place where potash is produced and fired; in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries this was one of the most powerful centers of potash production in the region). Archbishop George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas has already visited and given his blessing for the restoration.[9]

— So the Pokrovskaya Church was built here before the Demidov estate?

— Yes. In 1864 a new stone church in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God was built on the site of an earlier wooden one. Like many churches of the second half of the nineteenth century, it was erected in the then-dominant Russo-Byzantine style, under the influence of Konstantin Ton's designs.[9] Naturally, the stone church was built here thanks to the Demidovs. One might say it is the true monument to the Demidovs in Pokrov-Maydan.

"A Spiritual Monument to the Demidovs," Galina Filimonova, the Nizhny Novgorod historiographical project "Places of Memory".[2]

Family

The spiritual center — the capital, so to speak — of this branch of the family remained Bykovka. It was the true ancestral estate, where not only all of Vasily Lvovich's children were born, but also nearly all of his grandchildren and a large portion of his great-grandchildren. Almost all of them, even when serving elsewhere, tried to return to Bykovka at least for the summer, and upon retirement came back — if not to Bykovka itself, then at least to the district town of Vasilsursk or the provincial capital of Nizhny Novgorod. Virtually all of them were involved in zemstvo affairs.

In Bykovka, within a small area, stand several monuments of history, culture, and nature: the Church of the Nativity of Christ and the Church of the Sign, a churchyard fence with gates, a wooden manor house, a retaining wall, and a manor park. Bykovka is beautiful in any season, but especially in spring, when the village is transformed into a true sea of lilac, and the stirring fragrance of the blossoms seems to fill the entire district.[1]

Dyuzhakov Aleksandr Mikhaylovich, Chief Specialist of the ORO of the Administration of Vorotynsky Municipal District

Literature

  1. Demidov N., Historical Survey of Vasilsursky Uyezd of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. Nizhny Novgorod. 1884.
  2. Kagorov V. M., Stages of Formation of Landowners' Estates of the 18th–19th Centuries at the Demidovs' Nizhny Novgorod Estate Bykovka, III Museum Academic Readings "The World of the Russian Manor Estate." Collection of Materials. Nizhny Novgorod: DEKOM. 2007. 208 pp.
  3. Krasnova E. I., The Nizhny Novgorod Demidovs at the Ancestral Estate of Bykovka (Vasilsursky Uyezd). In: Notes of Local Historians. — N. Novgorod, Knigi Publishing House, 2004. — 368 pp., ill.
  4. Smirnova L. M., The Cross. Local History Essays (in two volumes). — N. Novgorod: "Dyatlov Hills," "Begemot," 2001. Vol. 1 — 288 pp., ill.

See also

Sources

  1. gttp.ru — "Places of Memory," a historiographical project by Galina Filimonova (archive)
  2. gttp.ru — "Places of Memory," a historiographical project by Galina Filimonova (archive)
  3. tagil-press.ru — Tagilskiy Rabochiy
  4. tury.ru — Dina Kvasova, "Stories, People and Brands of the selo of Bykovka," June 8, 2011
  5. gttp.ru — "Places of Memory," a historiographical project by Galina Filimonova (archive)
  6. tagil-press.ru — Tagilskiy Rabochiy — E. I. Krasnova, "Contemporary Descendants of the Demidovs in Russia and Abroad," from the book Demidovy na rodine i za rubezhom (The Demidovs at Home and Abroad) (Moscow, Kontsept-Media, 2013)
  7. pravoslavnoe-duhovenstvo.ru — "The Clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th Century," a biographical database (archive)
  8. blagomm.ru — Blagoveschenskiy Muzhskoy Monastery of Nizhny Novgorod — "Memorial Litia for Hieromonks Ruvim (Tsygankov) and Rufin (Demidov)," November 4, 2023 (archive)
  9. sobory.ru — Sobory.ru — "Pokrov-Maydan. Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos," history of the church and its restoration (archive)