In the Western Administrative District of Moscow, amongisland of coniferous forest reserves, is strictly protected object. In the past, it was the so-called near dacha of Stalin - a place where the father of nations not only rested from a noisy and restless Moscow, but also worked, meeting with fellow party members and making decisions on which the fate of the world sometimes depended.
Land in Kuntsevo
A lot of secrets keeps this two-story, hiddenfrom prying eyes building. Half a century ago, only those who knew this from their official position knew about its existence. Stalin's immediate dacha was a place both attractive and creepy. It was here that dizzying careers began, but from here they also went to the terrible world of prison bars and guard towers.
After the government moved to MoscowStalin chose the former estate of the oil owner Zubalov (distant cottage), located thirty-two kilometers from the capital, as his country residence, but he later decided to move closer. For this, the station in Kuntsevo, where the government sanatorium was located, in which Stalin repeatedly happened to be, was the best suited.
Cottage construction
It is known that the nearest cottage of Stalin in Kuntsevoit began to be built in 1931 according to the design of architect M.I. Merzhanov. And without that, the urgent work was significantly accelerated after the suicide of his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva, as the leader was in a hurry to leave Zubalovo, where too much reminded him of the recent tragedy.
The house was completed in 1933, and everything in it wasdone in strict compliance with the instructions given by Stalin during his frequent visits to the construction site, but after five years he suddenly disliked him, and the capricious owner demanded that everything be dismantled and rebuilt. At the beginning of the forties, construction of an underground bunker shelter began on the territory of the dacha.
Continuation of construction work
It should be noted that the constant redevelopment andthe reconstruction of the building continued until the death of its owner. Originally, Stalin’s dacha was one-story, but after the war a second floor was built for guests. It was in his rooms that the head of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong, who arrived on a visit in 1949, stayed.
On the territory of the cottage there was also a service housedesigned to protect the leader and his servants. In the same place, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, there was a swimming pool for live fish, since Stalin did not use canned food, and cabinets in which stocks of wine were kept. In the same room, a special place was set aside for bottles with homemade wine (the old hobby of the cottage owner).
Small house of Stalin's dacha
Одновременно с главным домом недалеко от него был another one was built - a small one, which also had a study, a bedroom and an entrance hall. During her visits to his father, his daughter Svetlana stopped here. The owner himself lived here infrequently. It is known, for example, that when, in 1941, the surrender of Moscow to the Germans seemed inevitable, the nearest dacha of Joseph Stalin was mined along with other important state objects. All these disturbing months the owner lived in a small house.
The path of the tuple
As a result, convenient and close to the capitalthe location of the government motorcade usually covered the path of Moscow - Stalin’s nearest dacha in no more than fifteen minutes. As contemporaries recall, the cars, of which there were no more than three or four, moving at a speed of eighty kilometers per hour, followed through Mozhayskoye Highway to Smolenskaya Square and further to Old Arbat. Similarly, in the opposite direction.
But the usual route often changed bythe requirement of Stalin himself. Suffering from pathological suspiciousness, constantly fearing ambushes and attempts, he used to unexpectedly order the driver to turn off on a particular street and continue on his way in the most unexpected way.
Interior hallway
Since Stalin’s nearest dacha was not intendedonly for his residence, but also for work, and consequently, for receiving visitors, its internal layout and furnishings were suitable for this purpose. Each arriving hit first of all in a spacious, fifty-meter hallway, on the sides of which there were hangers, and the master was on the left, and none of the outsiders were allowed to use it.
The walls of the hallway were lined with woodenpanels, and on one of them hung a map of the world, on the other - Europe. In the center of the hanger, intended for guests, was placed a wide mirror that has survived to the present day. It is curious that it was just before him that Stalin was daily shaved by two hairdressers. Why in the hallway, and not in the bathroom or in the office? The answer probably also lies in its suspiciousness. Presumably, the leader feared to allow strangers, although clearly checked people into the internal premises of the house.
Stalin's cabinet
The usual workplace of Stalin was spacious.room, more precisely, the hall located to the left of the hallway. In the middle of it was a large-sized desk, specially designed so that it was convenient to lay out military cards on it. Completed the interior of the room installed here for the comfort and warmth of a wood-burning fireplace and leather sofa, the same as in other rooms.
Furnishing a dining room
As he wrote in his book, which appeared in print inIn 2011, the well-known Russian writer and historian Sergey Devyatov, Stalin’s nearest dacha was the site of receptions and celebrations. For them, a large hall-dining room was specially designed, in which guests got directly from the hallway. The first thing that caught the eyes of those who had entered was the large portraits of Lenin and Gorky hanging in the piers between the windows.
In the middle of the dining room was a polished table,surrounded by fairly simple and unobtrusive chairs. The corner of the room was occupied by a small but very elegant salon grand piano, and after the war an automatic machine for playing records, donated by an American delegation, was added to it. Here were two sofas.
A characteristic feature of the room were curtains,not reaching the floor, as is customary, but only to the level of heat radiators. This was done on the instructions of Stalin himself. Obviously, it was not dictated by aesthetic considerations, but by the same suspiciousness: short curtains did not allow a possible intruder to hide behind them.
Strictly guarded facility
But anyway, it was this room that becamehim fatal. It was here that on March 5, 1953, on one of the sofas already mentioned, his life was cut short. Immediately after the death of the leader, a decision was made to organize a memorial museum on the territory of the country house, but subsequent events - an unmasking speech by N. S. Khrushchev at the XX Congress of the CPSU and a number of publications appeared in the press - did not allow to implement this project.
Today, among other objects related tothe history of our country, great interest and the dacha of Stalin. "How to get there?" - a question that many would like to get an answer. But here they will be disappointed. Despite the fact that it is located within the city, in the Fili-Davydkovo region, well-known to Muscovites, near the Poklonnaya Hill, the territory of the dacha is still a closed object protected by FSO officers. In order to go inside and personally see the environment in which many years of Stalin’s life have passed, you need to have a special pass.
