The fate of the library of Ivan the Terrible - Libereya - is one of the greatest mysteries of Russian history. They have been looking for her for several centuries, but, alas, to no avail.
Kremlin dungeons
It is believed that the library, which originally belonged to the Byzantine emperors, arrived in Moscow with Sophia Palaeologus, who married Ivan III. During the reign of their son Vasily III, an inventory of the unique book collection was compiled. There, among other things, Titus Livy's "History" of 142 books (science currently knows only 35), the works of Tacitus, Suetonius, Virgil that have not come down to us, the full version of Polybius's "History" of 40 volumes (we know five).
Johann Wettermann of Livonia, who was involved in translations by order of Ivan the Terrible in 1570, speaks of more than 800 volumes. This is a lot for a collection of antique manuscripts.
The existence of this book collection was known in the Vatican. No wonder back in 1601 a special mission arrived in Moscow, which the Pope ordered to establish the location of the library and its condition. The Jesuits were unable to collect even rumors. For persistence, they were expelled from the country.
For a long time it was believed that Liberia was kept in one of the secret dungeons of the Kremlin, built at the request of Sophia Paleologus by Aristotle Fioravanti. They said that the Italian was not released to his homeland, but thrown into prison because he could give away the secret of the library.
Previously unknown premises, galleries, spacious halls are still found under the Kremlin. The cultural layer goes down to a depth of 10 meters, so there may well be not only Liberia, but much more hidden here.
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The library was searched for under all the tsars, under the Bolsheviks, and even at the beginning of the 21st century. They didn’t find anything, but no trace of Libereya was found.
Under Nicholas II, a special brochure was published, which substantiated the version of the destruction of the library in one of the Moscow fires of the 16th-17th centuries. Although the author made the assumption that the last owner - Ivan the Terrible - could have hidden it not in Moscow.
Perhaps Grozny simply did not have time to pass on the secret of the library to his successor on the throne, and its location was forgotten.
Hunger is not aunt
But the library did not disappear completely without a trace. Oddly enough, traces were found in Poland. In the 19th century, in the archives of Estonian Pärnu, a list of books from a certain "Library of the Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich" was found. It was drawn up in Polish and marked either in 1611 or in 1617, when Pärnu just belonged to the Commonwealth.
In 1610, Moscow was occupied by the Poles, who wanted to see the prince Vladislav on the Russian throne. First of all, the invaders occupied the well-fortified Kremlin. Together with the army of Hetman Zolkiewski, hundreds of treasure seekers came to Moscow. Particularly noteworthy is Peter Sapega, the son of one of those Jesuits who came to look for Libereya in 1601.
Now no one bothered him. But after a while, the Poles were besieged in the Kremlin. The garrison had to be fed somehow, but supplies were not made. First, as usual, they ate horses, dogs, cats, rats. Then came the turn of leather harness and details of clothing. They were boiled in the vain hope of getting at least some fat.
Soon it came to cannibalism. Some surviving Poles recall that their diet consisted of parchment scrolls found in abundance in one of the cellars. They filled 70 or 80 boxes. Sophia Palaeologus' dowry had about that much. Most of Liberia was written on parchment scrolls. Or, more simply, on well-tanned animal skin. So, it is likely that the Poles literally ate the Liberia they found.
It seems that not all the books were eaten - they took something with them after the surrender. For example, Shimon Koretsky, who survived the siege of the Kremlin, brought with him several ancient scrolls. In the middle of the 20th century, his descendants left for England, where they offered the auctioneers fragments of songs by the ancient Greek poet Pindar.
Probably, the Polish invaders found the library of Ivan the Terrible and destroyed it. Some of the volumes may have survived, but on the whole the precious collection is most likely lost forever.
Boris SHAROV