O-37-65-B Map of Volgostroy. Yaroslavl region, Mologsky district. Compiled from the filming of Sredvolgostroy and Molog. M.T. Section of the relief every 2 m. Work print (blue, blueprint).
Mologa- since 1777, the district town of Mologsky district in the Yaroslavl province. The city was 120 km away. from Yaroslavl and 32 km. from Rybinsk at the confluence of the Mologa river and the Volga. The first mention in chronicles is 1149 (2 years later than Moscow).
Map of the city of Mologa
In the 1930s, there were more than 900 houses in the city, about a hundred of which were made of stone, and there were 200 shops and shops in and around the shopping area. The population did not exceed 7 thousand people.
Neighborhood Mologa
In the Mologsky district at the beginning of the 20th century, there were 714 villages and 933 land communities. The total population of the county at the beginning of the 20th century was 130 thousand people. List of populated places in Mologsky district as of 1901 .
Flooding of the city
On September 14, 1935, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution to begin construction of the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes. The height of the water surface above sea level of the Rybinsk reservoir was supposed to be 98 m. But subsequently, on January 1, 1937, this value was increased to 102 m, which made it possible to significantly increase the production capacity of the Rybinsk hydroelectric station. Mologa was at a level of 98 m, so as a result of these adjustments it fell into the flood zone.
The resettlement of city and county residents (a total of about 130 thousand people) began in 1936 and continued until 1940. In the fall of 1940, the Volga channel was blocked and on April 13, 1941, filling of the reservoir began, which continued until 1947.
Volgostroy- a special construction and installation department of the NKVD-USSR, which was engaged in the construction of waterworks on the Volga River. The main labor force during construction were prisoners Volgolaga. In the 30s, Volgostroy topographers carried out detailed topographic surveys of the area, which was planned for flooding. The site contains just such a map worksheet related to Mologa and its northern environs.
Former attractions of Mologa
The archived version contains both the original map sheet and two sheets with overlaid directions for the Rybinsk Reservoir.
In an area rich in water, at the confluence of the Mologa River and the Volga. The width of Mologa opposite the city was 277 m, the depth was from 3 to 11 m. The width of the Volga was up to 530 m, the depth was from 2 to 9 m. The city itself was located on a fairly significant and flat hill and stretched along the right bank of Mologa and along the left bank Volga. Before the railway communications, from which Mologa remained aloof, the busy St. Petersburg postal route ran here.
Since the 17th century, the settlement has been classified as a city Epsom salt(named after the river flowing nearby), located 13 km up the Mologa River from the city. Immediately outside the city there began a swamp and then a lake (about 2.5 km in diameter), called Saints. A small stream flowed from it into the Mologa River, bearing the name Kop.
The time of the initial settlement of the area where the city of Mologa stood is unknown. In the chronicles, the name of the Mologa River appears for the first time in 1149, when the Grand Duke of Kiev Izyaslav Mstislavich, fighting with Yuri Dolgoruky, the prince of Suzdal and Rostov, burned all the villages along the Volga all the way to Mologa. This happened in the spring, and the war had to stop, as the water in the rivers rose. It was believed that the spring flood caught the combatants exactly where the city of Mologa stood. In all likelihood, there has long been a settlement here that belonged to the princes of Rostov.
From the inventory compiled between 1676 and 1678 by the steward M.F. Samarin and the clerk Rusinov, it is clear that Mologa at that time was a palace settlement, that there were then 125 households in it, including 12 belonging to fishermen, that these latter, together with the fishermen of Rybnaya Sloboda, they caught red fish in the Volga and Mologa, delivering 3 sturgeon, 10 white fish and 100 sterlets each year to the royal court. It is unknown when the residents of Mologa stopped paying this tax. In 1682 there were 1281 houses in Mologa.
The coat of arms of the city of Mologa was Supremely approved on August 31 (September 11), 1778 by Empress Catherine II along with other coats of arms of the cities of the Yaroslavl governorship (PSZ, 1778, Law No. 14765). Law No. 14765 in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire is dated June 20, 1778, but on the drawings of coats of arms attached to it, the date of approval of the coats of arms is indicated - August 31, 1778. In the complete collection of laws it is described as follows: “a shield in a silver field; part three of this shield contains the coat of arms of the Yaroslavl governorship (on the hind legs there is a bear with an ax); in two parts of that shield, part of an earthen rampart is shown in an azure field; it is trimmed with a silver border or white stone.” ). The coat of arms was created by a fellow herald, collegiate advisor I. I. von Enden.
The reason for the city's prosperity was discovered by chance. At the opening of the city duma, the residents passed a secret public verdict of the following content: since the established duma can only dispose of the income specified in the law, and for purposes also determined by law, under the control of the highest authorities, they decided to maintain the previous public administration under the supervision of the same city mayor and the same members of the Duma and at the disposal of this management to provide special capital, formed according to a general layout. Thus, from 1786 to 1847, there were actually two city governments in Mologa: one official, with 4 thousand rubles of income; another secret, but essentially real, with an income of 20 thousand rubles. The city flourished until the state accidentally learned the secrets; the head was put on trial, the illegal capital was transferred to the government and as a result, as I. S. Aksakov, who audited the city administration of the Yaroslavl province in 1849, wrote, “the city fell into decay and quite quickly.”
In 1862, it was announced in Mologa that there were 1 merchant capital for the 2nd guild and 56 for the 3rd guild. Of those who took guild certificates, 43 were engaged in trade in the city itself, and the rest - on the side. In addition to the merchants, 23 more peasants traded here at that time. Among the trading establishments in Mologa at that time there were 3 shops, 86 shops, 4 hotels and 10 inns.
On May 28, 1864, a terrible fire occurred, destroying to the ground the best and largest part of the city. Within 12 hours, more than 200 houses, a guest courtyard, shops and public buildings burned down. The loss was then calculated at over 1 million rubles. Traces of this fire were visible for about 20 years.
In 1889, Mologa owned 8.3 thousand hectares of land (first place among the cities of the province), including 350 hectares within the city limits; stone residential buildings 34, wooden 659 and non-residential stone buildings 58, wooden 51. All residents in the city were about 7032, including 3115 men and 3917 women. Except for 4 Jews, all were Orthodox. By class, the population was divided as follows (men and women): hereditary nobles 50 and 55, personal 95 and 134, white clergy with their families 47 and 45, monastics - 165 women, personal honorary citizens 4 and 3, merchants 73 and 98, burghers 2595 and 3168, peasants 51 and 88, regular troops 68 men, reserves 88 men, retired soldiers with families 94 and 161. By January 1, 1896, there were 7064 residents (3436 men and 3628 women).
There were 3 fairs in Mologa at that time: Afanasyevskaya - on January 17 and 18, Sredokrestnaya - on Wednesday and Thursday of the 4th week of Lent and Ilyinskaya - on July 20. The cost of bringing goods to the first place was up to 20,000 rubles, and the sale was up to 15,000 rubles; the rest of the fairs were not much different from ordinary bazaars; weekly trading days on Saturdays were quite lively only in the summer. Crafts in the city were poorly developed. In 1888, there were 42 craftsmen in Mologa, 58 workers and 18 apprentices, in addition, about 30 people were engaged in the construction of barges; factories and factories: 2 distilleries, 3 gingerbread-bakery-pretzel factories, a cereal factory, an oil press factory, 2 brick factories, a malt factory, a candle and tallow factory, a windmill - 1-20 people worked at them.
The townspeople mainly found their means of living locally, although there were also absences. Residents of the Gorkaya Sol settlement, when free from field work, were hired to raft barges. Some of the residents of Mologa were engaged in agricultural work, renting arable and meadow lands from the city for this purpose. In addition, there was a huge meadow opposite the city; all the inhabitants who signed up for the unit used the good and plentiful hay from this meadow. The mowers were hired by the city, and the hay was raked by the shareholders themselves.
In terms of income, Mologa, among other cities of the Yaroslavl province, ranked fourth in 1887, and in terms of expenses - fifth. Thus, city revenues in 1895 amounted to 45,775 rubles, expenses - 44,250 rubles. In 1866, a bank was opened in the city - it was based on money collected by residents for emergencies since the 1830s; by 1895 its capital reached 48,000 rubles.
At the end of the 19th century, Mologa was a small, narrow, long city that took on a lively appearance during the loading of ships, which lasted only a short time, and then plunged into the usual sleepy life of most of the county towns. From Mologa began the Tikhvin water system, one of three connecting the Caspian Sea with the Baltic Sea. Despite the fact that out of about 4.5 thousand ships passing through, only a few stopped here, their movement could not but affect the well-being of the residents, opening up the opportunity for them to supply the ship workers with food supplies and other necessary items. In addition to the passage of the mentioned ships, more than 300 ships were annually loaded at the Mologskaya pier with grain and other goods worth up to 650,000 rubles, and almost the same number of ships were unloaded here. In addition, up to 200 forest rafts were brought to Mologa. The total value of unloaded goods reached 500,000 rubles.
In 1895 there were 11 factories (distillery, bone grinding, glue and brick factories, a plant for the production of berry extracts, etc.), 58 workers, the amount of production was 38,230 rubles. Merchant certificates were issued: 1 guild, 1 guild, 2 guild 68, for petty trading 1191. The treasury, bank, telegraph, post office, and cinema functioned.
There was a monastery and several churches in the city.
There were 3 libraries and 9 educational institutions: a city three-class men's school, the Alexander two-class women's school, two parish schools - one for boys, the other for girls; Alexandrovsky orphanage; “Podosenovskaya” (named after the founder of the merchant P. M. Podosenov) gymnastics school - one of the first in Russia; bowling, cycling, fencing were taught; Carpentry, marching and rifle techniques were taught, and the school also had a stage and stalls for staging performances.
There was a zemstvo hospital with 30 beds, a city hospital for incoming patients and with it a warehouse of books on popular medicine, available for reading for free; city disinfection chamber; private eye clinic of Dr. Rudnev (6,500 visits per year). The city, at its own expense, supported a doctor, a nurse-midwife and two nurses to care for the sick at home. There were 6 doctors in Mologa (1 of them was a woman), 5 paramedics, 3 paramedics, 3 midwives, 1 pharmacy. For walks on the banks of the Volga, a small public garden was built. The climate was characterized as dry and healthy, and it was believed that it helped Mologa avoid epidemics of such terrible diseases as plague and cholera.
Charity for the poor was staged beautifully in Mologa. There were 5 charitable institutions: including the water rescue society, guardianship for the poor of the city of Mologa (since 1872), 2 almshouses - Bakhirevskaya and Podosenovskaya. Owning enough timber, the city came to the aid of the poor, distributing it to them for fuel. The guardianship of the poor divided the entire city into sections, and each section was in charge of a special trustee. In 1895, the trusteeship spent 1,769 rubles; there was a canteen for the poor. It was very rare to meet a beggar in the city.
Soviet power in the city was established on December 15 (28), 1917, not without some resistance from supporters of the Provisional Government, but without any bloodshed. During the Civil War, there was a food shortage, especially acute at the beginning of 1918.
In 1929-1940, Mologa was the center of the district of the same name.
In 1931, a machine and tractor station for seed production was organized in Mologa; its tractor fleet, however, numbered only 54 units in 1933. In the same year, an elevator for seeds of grassland grasses was built, and a seed-growing collective farm and technical school were organized. In 1932, a zonal seed production station was opened. In the same year, an industrial complex arose in the city, combining a power plant, a mill, an oil mill, a starch and syrup plant, and a bathhouse.
In the 1930s, there were more than 900 houses in the city, about a hundred of which were made of stone, and there were 200 shops and shops in and around the shopping area. The population did not exceed 7 thousand people.
Most of the Mologans were settled near Rybinsk in the village of Slip, which for some time was called Novaya Mologa. Some ended up in neighboring regions and cities, in Yaroslavl, Moscow and Leningrad.
The first meetings of Mologans date back to the 1960s. Since 1972, every second Saturday in August, Mologans gather in Rybinsk to commemorate their lost city. Currently, on the day of the meeting, a trip by boat to the Mologa region is usually arranged.
In 1992-1993, the level of the Rybinsk reservoir dropped by more than 1.5 meters, allowing local historians to organize an expedition to the exposed part of the flooded city (paved streets, contours of foundations, forged gratings and gravestones in the cemetery were visible). During the expedition, interesting materials were collected for the future Mologa Museum and an amateur film was made.
In 1995, the Museum of the Mologsky Region was created in Rybinsk. In June 2003, on the initiative of the public organization “Community of Mologans”, the Administration of the Yaroslavl Region organized a round table “Problems of the Mologa region and ways to solve them”, at which V. I. Lukyanenko first put forward the idea of creating the Mologa National Park in memory of the flooded city .
In August 2014, the region experienced low water, the water receded and entire streets were exposed: the foundations of houses, the walls of churches and other city buildings are visible. Former residents of the city come to the banks of the reservoir to observe the unusual phenomenon. The children and grandchildren of the Mologans sailed on the motor ship “Moskovsky-7” to the ruins of the city to set foot on their “native land”.
In the Yaroslavl region, on the Rybinsk reservoir, the buildings of the ancient city of Mologa appeared from the water, which was flooded in 1940 during the construction of a hydroelectric power station. Now there is low water in the region, the water has gone and exposed entire streets: the foundations of houses, the walls of churches and other city buildings are visible.
These days Mologa would celebrate its anniversary - 865 years.
The city of Mologa in the Yaroslavl region, which disappeared from the face of the earth more than 50 years ago, again appeared above the surface of the water as a result of low water levels that came to the region, ITAR-TASS reports. It was flooded in 1940 during the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Rybinsk Reservoir.
Former residents of the city came to the banks of the reservoir to observe the unusual phenomenon. They said that the foundations of houses and the outlines of streets appeared from the water. Mologans are going to visit their former homes. Their children and grandchildren plan to sail on the Moskovsky-7 motor ship to the ruins of the city to walk around their native land.
“We go to visit the flooded city every year. Usually we lower flowers and wreaths into the water, and priests serve a prayer service on the ship, but this year there is a unique opportunity to set foot on land,” said Valentin Blatov, chairman of the public organization “Community of Mologans.”
The city of Mologa in the Yaroslavl region is called the “Russian Atlantis” and the “Yaroslavl city of Kitezh”. If it had not been sunk in 1941, it would now be 865 years old. The city was located 32 km from Rybinsk and 120 km from Yaroslavl at the confluence of the Mologa and Volga rivers. From the 15th to the end of the 19th century, Mologa was a major trading center, with a population of 5,000 people at the beginning of the 20th century.
On September 14, 1935, a decision was made to begin construction of the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes, as a result of which the city found itself in a flood zone. Initially, it was planned to raise the water level to 98 meters above sea level, but then the figure increased to 102 meters, since this increased the power of the hydroelectric power station from 200 megawatts to 330. And the city had to be flooded... The city was flooded on April 13, 1941.
Incredibly lush grass grew in the fields of Mologa because during the spring flood the rivers merged into a huge floodplain and unusually nutritious silt remained in the meadows. The cows ate the grass that grew on it and produced the most delicious milk in Russia, from which butter was produced at local creameries. Such oil is not produced now, despite all the ultra modern technologies. There is simply no more Molog nature.
In September 1935, the USSR government adopted a decree on the start of construction of the Russian Sea - the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex. This implied the flooding of hundreds of thousands of hectares of land along with the settlements located on it, 700 villages and the city of Mologa.
At the time of liquidation, the city was living a full life, there were 6 cathedrals and churches, 9 educational institutions, plants and factories.
On April 13, 1941, the last opening of the dam was blocked. The waters of the Volga, Sheksna and Mologa began to overflow their banks and flood the territory.
The tallest buildings in the city and churches were razed to the ground. When the city began to be ravaged, the residents were not even explained what would happen to them. They could only watch as Mologa-paradise was turned into hell.
Prisoners were brought in to work, who worked day and night, demolishing the city and building a waterworks. Prisoners died in hundreds. They were not buried, but simply stored and buried in common pits on the future seabed. In this nightmare, residents were told to urgently pack up, take only the essentials and go for resettlement.
Then the worst thing began. 294 Mologans refused to evacuate and remained in their homes. Knowing this, the builders began flooding. The rest were forcibly taken away.
After some time, a wave of suicides began among former Mologans. Whole families and one by one they came to the banks of the reservoir to drown themselves. Rumors spread about mass suicides, which reached Moscow. It was decided to evict the remaining Mologans to the north of the country, and remove the city of Mologa from the list of ever existing ones. Mentioning it, especially as a place of birth, was followed by arrest and prison. They tried to forcefully turn the city into a myth.
But Mologa was not destined to become the City of Kitezh or the Russian Atlantis, which forever plunged into the abyss of water. Her fate is worse. The depths at which the city is located, in accordance with dry engineering terminology, are called “vanishingly small.” The reservoir level fluctuates, and approximately once every two years Mologa emerges from the water. Street paving, house foundations, and a cemetery with tombstones are exposed. And the Mologans come: to sit on the ruins of their home, to visit their father’s graves. For every “low-water” year, the ghost town pays its price: during the spring ice drift, the ice, like a grater, scrapes along the bottom in shallow water and takes with it material evidence of past life...
A unique museum of the flooded region was created in Rybinsk.
Now on the remaining Molog lands there are the Breitovsky and Nekouzsky districts of the Yaroslavl region. It was here, in the ancient village of Breytovo, located at the confluence of the Sit River into the Rybinsk Reservoir, that a popular initiative arose to build a penitential chapel in memory of all the flooded monasteries and temples resting under the waters of the man-made sea. This ancient village itself revealed the image of the tragedy of the Russian interfluve. Once in the flood zone, it was artificially moved to a new location, while historical buildings and temples remained at the bottom.
In November 2003, the first monument to the victims of the flooded Mologsky district appeared. This is a chapel built exclusively with human donations on the shore of the Rybinsk Reservoir, in Breytovo. This is the memory of those who did not want to leave their small homeland and went under water along with Mologa and the flooded villages. This is also the memory of all those who died during the construction of the hydroelectric power station. The chapel was named “Our Lady of the Waters.”
Penitential chapel in Breytovo
Icon of the Mother of God “I am with you, and no one else is against you” or Leushinskaya
Yaroslavl Archbishop Kirill blessed this chapel to dedicate to the Mother of God “I am with you, and no one else is against you,” the icon that became a symbol of flooded Rus', and to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of swimmers. Therefore, the chapel also received another name: Theotokos-Nikolskaya.
While we have heard a lot about Atlantis, which was absorbed by the water element, few know about the Russian city of Mologa. Despite the fact that the latter can even be seen: twice a year the level of the Rybinsk reservoir drops - and this ghost town appears.
Since time immemorial, this place has been called the fabulous interfluve. Nature itself took care to make the vast space at the confluence of the Mologa River and the Volga not only very beautiful, but also abundant.
In the spring, water flooded the meadows, supplying them with moisture for the whole summer and bringing nutritious silt - lush grass grew. It is not surprising that the cows gave wonderful milk, from which they obtained the best butter in Russia and amazing-tasting cheese. The saying “Rivers of milk and banks of cheese” is about Mologa.
The navigable Mologa River - wide at the mouth (over 250 m), with crystal clear water - was famous throughout Russia for its fish: sterlet, sturgeon and other valuable varieties. It was local fishermen who were the main suppliers to the imperial table. By the way, this circumstance played a decisive role in the appearance in 1777 of the decree of Catherine II granting Mologa the status of a city. Although at that time there were only about 300 households there.
The favorable climate (even epidemics avoided the region), convenient transport links and the fact that wars did not reach Mologa - all this contributed to the prosperity of the city until the beginning of the 20th century. Both economically (there were 12 factories in the city) and socially.
By 1900, with a population of seven thousand, Mologa had a gymnasium and eight more educational institutions, three libraries, as well as a cinema, a bank, a post office with a telegraph, a zemstvo hospital and a city clinic.
A memorial sign on the site where the Epiphany Cathedral stood. Every year on the second Saturday of August, Mologans meet at this sign.
The hard times of the Civil War of 1917-1922 only partially affected the city: the new government also needed products and their processing, which provided employment for the population. In 1931, a machine and tractor station and a seed-growing collective farm were organized in Mologa, and a technical school was opened.
A year later, an industrial complex appeared, combining a power plant, a starch and oil mill, and a mill. There were already over 900 houses in the city, and 200 shops and shops were trading.
Everything changed when the country was swept by a wave of electrification: the number of coveted megawatts became the main goal, to achieve which all means were good.
Today, every now and then you hear about rising sea levels and the threat of flooding of coastal cities, and even countries. Such horror stories are perceived somehow detachedly: they say, it can happen, but it will never happen. At least not in our lifetime. And in general, it’s hard to imagine this rise of water by several meters...
In 1935, residents of Mologa - then the regional center of the Yaroslavl region - initially also did not imagine the full extent of the impending danger. Although, of course, they were informed of the decree of the USSR government issued in September on the construction of the Rybinsk reservoir. But the water rise level in the project was stated as 98 m, and the city of Mologa was located at an altitude of 100 m - safety was guaranteed.
But then, without much fuss, the designers, at the suggestion of economists, made an amendment. According to their calculations, if the water level is raised by only 4 m - from 98 to 102, then the power of the Rybinsk hydroelectric station under construction will increase from 220 to 340 MW. Even the fact that the flooded area doubled at the same time did not stop it. Momentary gain decided the fate of Mologa and hundreds of nearby villages.
However, the alarm bell sounded back in 1929 in the famous Afanasyevsky Monastery, founded in the 15th century. It was adjacent to Molota and was rightfully considered one of the most magnificent monuments of Russian Orthodox architecture.
In addition to the four churches, the monastery also kept a miraculous relic - a copy of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. It was with her that the first Mologa prince Mikhail Davidovich arrived in his patrimony in 1321 - he inherited the lands after the death of his father, the Yaroslavl prince David.
So, in 1929, the authorities removed the icon from the monastery and transferred it to the Mologa County Museum. The clergy regarded this as a bad omen. And indeed, the Afanasyevsky Monastery was soon transformed into a labor commune - the last service took place here on January 3, 1930.
Just a few months later, the icon was requisitioned from the museum - for representatives of the new government it was now listed only as “an object containing non-ferrous metal.” Since then, traces of the relic have been lost, and Mologa was left without holy patronage. And the disaster was not long in coming...
Residents of Mologa wrote letters to various authorities asking them to lower the water level and leave the city, and presented their arguments, including economic ones. In vain!
Moreover, in the fall of 1936, a deliberately impossible order was received from Moscow: to resettle 60% of the Mologans before the new year. It was still possible to survive the winter, but in the spring the townspeople began to be taken out, and the process lasted for four years until the flooding began in April 1941.
In total, according to the construction plan for the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric complexes, over 130 thousand residents were forcibly evicted from the Mologo-Sheksninsky interfluve. In addition to Mologa, they lived in 700 villages and hamlets. Most of them were sent to Rybinsk and neighboring areas of the region, and the most qualified specialists were sent to Yaroslavl, Leningrad and Moscow. Those who actively resisted and campaigned to stay were exiled to Volgolag - a huge construction site needed workers.
And yet there were those who stood their ground and did not leave Mologa. In the report, the head of the local branch of the Volgolag camp, state security lieutenant Sklyarov, reported to his superiors that the number of “citizens who voluntarily wished to die with their belongings when filling the reservoir was 294 people...
Among them were those who firmly attached themselves with locks... to solid objects.” The authorities officially recognized such people as suffering from nervous disorders, and that was the end of it: they died in the flooding.
Sappers blew up tall buildings - this was an obstacle to future shipping. The Epiphany Cathedral survived the first explosion; explosives had to be planted four more times to turn the recalcitrant Orthodox monument into ruins.
Subsequently, the very mention of Mologa was banned - as if such a region did not exist. The reservoir reached its design mark of 102 m only in 1947, and before that the city was slowly disappearing under water.
There were several cases when resettled Mologans came to the shore of the Rybinsk Reservoir and entire families lost their lives - they committed suicide, unable to bear the separation from their small homeland.
Only 20 years later were Mologans able to organize meetings of fellow countrymen - the first took place in 1960 near Leningrad.
Houses were rolled out onto logs, piled into rafts, and floated down the river to a new location.
In 1972, the level of the Rybinsk reservoir dropped noticeably - finally there was an opportunity to walk along Mologa. Several families of Mologans who arrived identified their streets by sawn down trees and telegraph poles, found the foundations of houses, and in the cemetery, by tombstones, the burials of relatives.
Soon after this, a meeting of Mologans took place in Rybinsk, which became an annual event, attracting fellow countrymen from other regions of Russia and neighboring countries.
...Twice a year flowers appear at the Mologa city cemetery - they are brought by people whose relatives, by the will of fate, found themselves buried not only in the ground, but also under a layer of water. There is also a homemade stele with the inscription: “Forgive me, the city of Mologa.” Below - “14 m”: this is the maximum water level above the ruins of the ghost town. Descendants keep the memory of their small homeland, which means Mologa is still alive...
Today, few people remember that there is a flooded city of Mologa in Russia, which was sacrificed for civilization and electrification of the country. Nowadays, even such entities as cities with a population of many thousands and developed infrastructure are born, live and die.
Among these dead cities is a small provincial town that was previously located not far from. Because of his tragic fate, people call him the Russian Atlantis.
The Mologa River was first mentioned in chronicles in 1149. They say that “... in battles with Grand Duke Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince Mstislavich burned all the villages on his way to Mologa...” The city with the same name was already flooded in the 20th century by the will of people and circumstances.
As a place already inhabited by people, Mologa is mentioned in the records of the 13th century - fairs were held here, famous for many miles around. Many foreigners - Greeks, Lithuanians, Poles, Germans - brought their goods here to exchange them for raw materials. Various furs were in great demand. The city grew, expanded, and the number of its inhabitants grew.
In the 17th century, there were 125 houses in Mologa. Of these, 12 belonged to fishermen who caught various fish, and even red ones, in the Volga and Mologa. And then, among other things, they brought it to the royal table.
By the end of the 18th century, the city area had a town hall, 3 churches - 2 stone and one wooden - and 289 wooden houses. In 1767, the Resurrection Cathedral was built in the traditions of Russian architecture.
Near the city stood the majestic Afanasyevsky Monastery.
At the same time, the city received its coat of arms, which depicted a bear with an axe.
In the 19th century, Mologa was already a small port city - many ships loaded and unloaded a variety of goods there. The city had 11 factories, had its own bank, post office, telegraph, monastery, churches, libraries, educational institutions.
A gymnastics school, one of the first in Russia, was also opened here. There, those interested were taught fencing, bowling, cycling, and carpentry. The city had a population of about 6,000.
In the 20th century, the city's population increased to 7,000 people. There were 9 educational institutions, 6 cathedrals and churches, many plants and factories.
The location of the city of Mologa was initially very successful: in the Mologo-Sheksninskaya lowland. The Volga River made a turn here and flowed further towards Rybinsk.
And in the interfluve between the Mologa and Sheksna rivers there were flooded meadows, which at that time fed the third part of all Russia. Bread, milk, sour cream - all these products were supplied in huge quantities to different parts of the country.
Life went on as usual without any special events or disasters. But in 1935, the Government of the country decided to build the Rybinsk and Uglich hydroelectric stations.
To implement these grandiose plans, it was necessary to build dams and flood a huge territory: approximately the same as the country of Luxembourg.
The city of Mologa stood on a hill and was initially not part of the flood zone. According to engineering calculations, the level of water rise was assumed to be 98 meters above sea level, and the city stood 2 meters higher.
But the plans “at the top” have changed. The country was preparing for war with Germany. Additional powerful energy resources were needed. That is why at the beginning of 1937 a decision was made to increase the level of the reservoir to 102 meters, and therefore to flood Mologa.
Almost doubling the area of the future man-made reservoir increased the power of the hydroelectric power station by 130 megawatts. This figure cost the lives of 700 villages and the city of Mologa with an 800-year history, hundreds of surrounding villages with beautiful forests, fertile fields and arable land.
The life of the city and its inhabitants has turned into a nightmare. 6 ancient monasteries and many churches were subject to destruction.
And, most importantly, people. More than 150 thousand people had to leave their homes. Places where their ancestors once lived and were buried. Go into the unknown.
Since the flooding of Mologa was not planned from the beginning, for the Molozh residents the news of the upcoming event was like “a bolt from the blue.” Residents prepared for winter, stocked up on hay for livestock and firewood for heating. And around October 30, unexpected news came: we urgently needed to move.
Before the start of construction, a separate camp “Volgolag” was created to carry out the planned work, in which there were 20 thousand prisoners. And this figure grew every day.
Preparatory work began - centuries-old trees were cut down, ancient churches were blown up - everything that could interfere with further navigation was destroyed. Residents of the city watched with pain as buildings were destroyed and churches exploded.
The story of how the Epiphany Cathedral was destroyed has been preserved. The majestic building, which was built to last, after the first explosion with dynamite, only rose a small height into the air and fell back into place without damage. We had to make 4 more attempts to finally destroy the century-old structure.
The time has come for people to move. This lasted four years. How much pain, fear and sadness these long four years brought with them to the families of the displaced! The houses were dismantled log by log, numbered to make it easier to assemble later, and transported on horse-drawn carts; some floated them down the river along with their belongings. In villages close to Rybinsk you can still see old houses with numbers on the logs.
Home owners were paid meager monetary compensation, which was barely enough to pay for the dismantling of the house. And lonely, sick people were distributed to nearby nursing homes.
There were also those who, not wanting to leave, chained themselves to some heavy object in the yard of their house.
According to the surviving data, 294 people refused to leave their homes. Popular rumor conveys terrible stories that these people voluntarily remained in their homes and were buried alive under the water.
But eyewitnesses of those events say that this is all fiction. The authorities acted very simply: they recognized these people as crazy and forcibly removed them from the dangerous zone of the upcoming flooding, sending them to psychiatric hospitals.
By the way, the authenticity of the Report given here is questioned. In the archives of the Rybinsk Museum, dedicated to the History of the Mologa tragedy, such a document does not appear.
Very gradually the city of Mologa found itself under water. In the famous film “Mologa. Russian Atlantis” shows that the water surged sharply, and in a few hours the city went under water. But this is fiction. After all, the depth of the flooding was very small: no more than 2 meters.
And so on April 14, 1941, the last opening of the dam was dug. The turbulent waters of three rivers: the Volga, Mologa and Sheksna met the resistance of dams on their way and overflowed their banks. The vast expanse of land began to gradually fill with water, forming a majestic sea created by man. This is how the well-known Rybinsk Reservoir appeared.
As a result of the flooding of the Mologo-Sheksninsky interfluve, the 8th part of the Yaroslavl lands disappeared from the face of the earth. More than 800 settlements, 6 monasteries and 50 churches were under water.
On the given map of the Rybinsk Reservoir (it can be enlarged), the beds of former rivers are indicated in dark blue, and next to them with red dots are villages and hamlets that have gone under water forever.
Surprisingly, the Volga in those days was not considered a Great River and was not even navigable. It is known that steamships sailed only between Rybinsk and Mologa.
Decades have passed since the tragedy. The Soviet people defeated Germany in the Great Patriotic War. As historians say, the capacities of the created Volga hydroelectric power stations played an important role in this event.
Gradually, the history of Russian Atlantis was forgotten. In addition, for many years in the Soviet Union it was forbidden to even pronounce this name: Mologa. For such a mention one could easily end up in some camp.
Years passed. There were periods when the water level in the Rybinsk Reservoir dropped, and one could see the remains of the ancient city: the foundations of former houses and streets, cemetery tombstones.
But the elements of water, wind and time do their work. And in the 21st century there is little that reminds us of the former tragedy. The remains of many churches and temples that were not destroyed during the flooding, which previously rose above the surface of the water, have almost completely sunk under water.
Many historical cities have survived, but due to partial flooding they have become much smaller. The ancient city of Vesyegonsk shrank by 3/4, and flooding affected Uglich, Myshkin, and Kalyazin.
Many cities, towns and villages went under water at the same time. Among them, the notorious city was partially damaged. St. Nicholas Cathedral located there was built in 1694.
Under him, since 1800, a five-tier bell tower has stood. Its height is 74.5 meters. There were 12 bells in the bell tower! The largest of them was cast in honor of Nicholas II, who became Emperor.
During the preparation of these lands for flooding, the cathedral was dismantled, and the bell tower was left as a lighthouse for ships. In the eighties, its foundation was strengthened, an artificial island of land was created around it, and now in the summer divine services and prayer services are held there.
An original attraction has appeared for visiting tourists. Well, for residents of Kalyazin, this is a good reason to earn a little extra money by taking travelers to.
Now, according to a sad tradition, on one of the August Sundays, the descendants of those who once lived in Mologa gather and sail by boat to the site of the sunken city. Sometimes the water level drops and the city appears out of the water. The spectacle is not for the faint of heart, it just becomes scary. After all, people once lived there - they were sad and laughed, dreamed and hoped for a happy future...
Although, according to today's researchers, almost nothing remains from those times. All the stories that you can see ancient buildings, temples, gravestones and crosses under water are a myth. Only stones and shell rock are visible at the bottom. Only occasionally do searchers discover small metal objects and coins.
Do not forget that almost all stone buildings were blown up before the flooding, and wooden buildings were dismantled for firewood.
On the site of the flooded city, enthusiasts erected a symbolic monument-signpost with the inscription: “Forgive me, the city of Mologa.” And its arrow is directed under the water.
In Rybinsk there is a museum of the Mologa region, where you can learn in detail about these events, see objects of that time and light a candle in memory of the residents of Mologa. It is located in Preobrazhensky Lane, building 6a. Open from 10 to 17, except Monday and Sunday.
And in the city of Myshkin, which was also partially damaged, but the built dams saved it from complete flooding, there is. It is located on Nikolskaya Square, building 5. The caretaker of this museum, a local historian, can also tell a lot about the flooded cities, in particular about Mologa.
We were deeply moved by the story of the curator of the museum, Sergei Vasilyevich Kurov, about the history of the Volga region, about how preparations were made for the flooding. He preserved the memories of eyewitnesses of these events and their descendants.
Also in his collection are many things that in past years he was able to discover in the area of the flooded city. Here, for example, is a brick from Russian Atlantis.
It was also very interesting to see this whole story on ordinary geographical maps of those years. Here we have a publication from the late 30s of the 20th century.
The lowlands are clearly visible here. And this area is circled with a dotted line as a possible object that is planned to be flooded in the future. On the 1938 map you can see the inscription: zone of expected flooding.
And next to it is a more modern map with the Rybinsk Reservoir. Its outlines surprisingly follow the contours of the former fertile lowland.
There can be no clear assessment of these tragic events. After all, we must not forget that it was this newly created Rybinsk reservoir that in 1941 provided electricity to the whole of Moscow, as well as numerous factories that produced weapons and equipment for the front.
By the beginning of the war, the hydroelectric power station building was already ready, but the roof had not yet been built. It was replaced with a tarpaulin and, despite the fighting, work continued. The country and the people needed this additional power plant. Only - at what cost? - that's another question...
This is where the flooded city of Mologa is now located on a modern map.
Other attractions of the Yaroslavl region, where I was able to visit, are on this map.
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