Scheme of the undergrounds of Moscow When in the early 1960s a thin crack appeared on the building of the Mausoleum, in order to find out the reasons for its occurrence, it was decided to explore the bowels next to it. Imagine the surprise of the researchers when, at a depth of 16 meters, they stumbled upon a vault of a secret passage sheathed with oak. It led from the Mausoleum to the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. Perhaps, so that the information did not become available to the public, the course was quickly concreted. But rumors about the dungeons under the Mausoleum still captured the city …
It should be noted that underground Moscow is of great interest, and at the same time gives rise to many rumors and legends. Nobody knows for sure about dungeons and secret passages. But they are constantly being talked about. Underground Moscow is a huge mystery. They say that this is a whole city, and the diggers have 12 levels.
And researchers argue that the bowels of the capital resemble a termite mound or a head of Dutch cheese: by the beginning of the 19th century, the center of Moscow had already been dug in all directions. And the XX century added new ones to the paved passages, along which the metro trains passed and communications stretched.
Why does Moscow need dungeons?
Although the secret passages known to us date back to the 15th-17th centuries, the underground space of the city has been used since ancient times. In some dungeons, hiding places were arranged and valuables, church relics, and weapons were stored. Others became necropolises. Third, they kept prisoners. Often, underground cellars were built. Moscow often burned, and such caches made it possible to save valuable things and food supplies from the fire. Moscow alchemists and counterfeiters set up their laboratories and workshops underground.
But the underground passages were of particular importance in wartime! In the towers of Kitai-Gorod, for example, there were rumor dungeons and passages for secret sorties. And the underground galleries of the Novodevichy and Simonov monasteries led to the ponds for a hidden intake of water in case of a siege.
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Some hiding places were sheathed with boards or massive logs, while the walls of others were lined with white stone or red brick. It was possible to go down to some of the passages only through the cellars, while in others it was possible to get through the stairs arranged in the walls of the chambers and towers. Some of the dungeons were filled with water and asphyxiant gas, and some were almost entirely covered with sand and silt.
Research of underground passages in Moscow
Caches near Moscow have long attracted attention, but only a few attempts are known to investigate them. And even so all the time something was in the way.
For example, in the 17th century, by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the master Azancheev repeatedly tried to build an underground passage under the Moscow River. All was unsuccessful, although soon the master-muzhik was suddenly granted the nobility. And the tunnel under the river was no longer mentioned.
And during the time of Peter I, the sexton Konon Osipov asked to be allowed to reconnoiter "two chambers, full of chests." It was assumed that the famous Liberia - the library of Ivan the Terrible - could be hidden there. The tsar allowed the investigation, but the sexton "did not find any luggage." And soon he died altogether.
At the end of the 19th century, Prince N. S. Shcherbatov, but the First World War prevented him.
"Underground Moscow" Stelletsky
In Soviet times, Ignatiy Stelletsky, an archaeologist and enthusiast, who devoted his whole life to searching for the book treasures of Ivan the Terrible, tried to explore the underground of the Kremlin. Repeatedly he turned to various organizations, raising the question of the use of underground structures of antiquity and referring to the experience of Paris, Rome, London:
Dungeons of the Kremlin Everywhere and everywhere, dungeons by time and people have been brought into a state, if not complete, then very great destruction. The Kremlin did not escape a common fate, and therefore one cannot deceive oneself with the thought that it is enough to open one passage and it is already easy to walk along it under the entire Kremlin, if not under all of Moscow. In reality, a journey through underground Moscow is a jump with obstacles, moreover, very significant, the elimination of which will require a lot of effort, time and money. But all this is nothing in comparison with the possible ideal result: underground Moscow, cleaned up, restored and illuminated with arc lamps, would be an underground museum of scientific and any interest …
Stelletsky's appeals remained unanswered, all of his finds and discoveries were concreted or preserved according to the principle of "whatever happens." And soon Stelletsky's research was completely banned: the increased interest in the dungeons was interpreted as a conspiracy against the Soviet regime.
The final chord of this story was the law of 1949 "On Subsoil", which declared the subsoil of the country to be the exclusive property of the state. It was then that Stelletsky's discoveries were classified.
And there were many discoveries. For example, an archaeologist warned that the building of the Lenin Library could collapse if the "historical voids" underneath were not examined. And cracks and faults were not long in coming. Similar deformations appeared in the buildings of the Bolshoi and Maly theaters, and the Metropol. And the Historical Museum, according to Stelletsky, was also threatened by quicksand. Perhaps that is why the monument to Georgy Zhukov is so deeply deepened into the ground with a pedestal: it serves as an additional support for the building, like plantations that strengthen the slopes of the ravine.
Stelletsky's research was remembered during the years of the Khrushchev "thaw" and even a commission was created to search for the library. But with the coming to power of Brezhnev, the Kremlin was closed to scientists, and diaries containing the documentary history of the tsarist library were stolen from the widow of Stelletsky.
Where are the underground passages found in Moscow?
The authorities of the capital admit that the map of the underground passages of Moscow does not exist. There are diagrams drawn based on the results of diggers' research, according to the memoirs of Stelletsky, according to archival materials … but even their authenticity cannot be guaranteed.
Perhaps this was done so that data on caches did not become available to the enemy side in wartime. Therefore, listing the known caches and underground passages, you always have to say the word "possible".
Perhaps the underground passages connect the Taynitskaya, Nikolskaya and Spasskaya towers of the Kremlin. Perhaps the passage from the Senate Tower leads to Kitay-Gorod, to the Staro-Nikolskaya pharmacy. Perhaps there is a cache under the chambers of Averky Kirillov. Perhaps you can go down to the secret passage at Myasnitskaya and Lubyanka. Perhaps from the Lubyanka you can quietly walk to the infamous House on the Embankment. Perhaps there are underground galleries under the Sukharev Tower, under Bruce's house on Prospekt Mira, under the building of the English Club on Tverskaya and in the courtyard of Yusupov's house. Perhaps in Tsaritsyno there is a multi-kilometer chain of dungeons. Perhaps an underground passage. the Church of the Resurrection of the Word in Barashi is connected with the Apraksin Palace. Perhaps from the Kremlin underground it will be possible to go straight to the Pashkov house.
Or perhaps all this is fiction. For example, a certain A. Ivanov, who published an article in 1989 about the dungeons of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, assured that this particular underground passage leads to Liberia. But in fact, he brought it into the river and turned out to be a drainage system …
Underground bunkers in Moscow
There is no doubt that the XX century added several mysterious dungeons to Moscow. These are government bunkers that were created in case of a nuclear strike. Three government bunkers are known for sure in Moscow: on Taganka, in Izmailovo (two automobile tunnels go from it to the Kremlin and to the area of the Sokolniki metro station, and the bunker itself can be accessed from the Partizanskaya station) and in Kuntsevo (there too there is a car tunnel from the public reception of the Ministry of Defense on Myasnitskaya).
A lot of interesting things are told about the underground bunkers of Moscow:
Under our feet - under the asphalt, under the thickness of the earth - there is a whole giant dead city, created for survival. In its multi-storey buildings there is air-conditioned air, expensive carpets on the floors, an electronic clock that measures time with a second precision, untouched sheets of paper on the tables, special compartments with beds, covered with clean linen. “The bomb shelter is in conservation mode,” the military say. It is unlikely that anyone other than them would dare to call these underground mansions bomb shelters. Bomb shelters for ordinary mortals are completely different … Elite houses built in Stalin's time, government agencies, factories, some shops are connected by a system of so-called pits - long underground corridors at a depth of five meters, leading to the bomb shelters themselves … The pits are connected by small canals with water supply and sewer wells,which in case of blockages, destruction will serve as emergency exits. Theoretically, you can get from an ordinary hatch into the porch of an administrative building …
They began to dig the first pockets even before the war and continued actively until 1953, the year of Stalin's death. They built it, as it was supposed then, reliably: not a single passage has yet collapsed. Their layout is secret; only the Ministry of Emergency Situations has full maps. There are especially many underground corridors inside the hills on which Moscow stands: near Taganka, Kitay-gorod, under Vorobyovy Gory. The all-encompassing, ramified system of posterns is the first, upper level of the underground defensive structures of our city.
Their second level began to be made after 1953. The buildings of the Central Committee, the KGB, and the Ministry of Defense were growing deeper and deeper into the ground - sometimes five stories high. They did not spare money … These comfortable structures, as in a real city, are connected by "streets" and "alleys". So, from the Lubyanka there is a direct underground passage to the Kremlin, and the tunnel leading to it from the Central Committee building on Staraya Square is so wide that you can drive through it …
Towards the end of Khrushchev's rule, the danger of a nuclear war seemed much more real than it is now. Then there were projects of the third level of underground structures. They began to be realized in the early 70s. … the so-called underground monorail. His first route is from the Central Committee to the Kremlin. Now it is more than 600-800 meters and runs mainly under the Kremlin and in the immediate vicinity … And modern shelters, going underground for 8-10 floors, in terms of comfort could well claim five stars, with rooms of the "presidential ".
Riddles and secrets of Metro-2
But if it is known for sure about underground bunkers, then it is still impossible to say with confidence whether there is a special. metro or "Metro-2". Some say that it exists, and there are even witnesses who have seen these mysterious government lines. Others claim that this is just a story. And the name "Metro-2" was given with the light hand of the magazine "Ogonyok".
The scheme of Metro-2 Adds fuel to the fire that the first information about these metro tunnels appeared in 1992 in one of the "AiF" issues, where they talked about a certain cleaning lady in the KGB, who was taken to special facilities by special metro lines. The editors in response to this stated that this metro system was described in the annual publication of the US Department of Defense on the Soviet Armed Forces for 1991 and even published a simplified diagram. It showed that, for example, from the Kremlin it was possible to get to the Domodedovo airport and the Bor forest boarding house with the bunker of the government and the General Staff.
And here is what Vadim Mikhailov, head of the Digger-Spas service, says about the government metro:
Of course, the secret Metro-2 exists, we diggers have not only seen it hundreds of times, but have explored it in many areas. We used it to get to Ramenki. However, today part of Metro-2, in the area of Arbat Square, received an additional status of secrecy, there is now no way to get there. And today Metro-2 is being built, but at a snail's pace - as always, there is no money. However, the secret metro is only a part of underground Moscow. In total, there are 12 levels of communications in it (these are pipes, collectors, mines, etc.). The maximum habitable depth is 840 meters; there are military bunkers. They would have dug deeper, but then there are granite rocks.
Underground rivers do not have muslin banks, and secret passages are dangerous and impassable. But underground Moscow has its own, special romance. Of course, the undergrounds of the capital are not fully explored. But what has been investigated is not open to all eyes. Scientists admit that even the Kremlin's secret passages have not yet been studied. And now, when the Kremlin towers are being restored, underground Moscow can reveal one of its secrets, which will either excite the public, or hide for a long time under the heading "Top secret".
But they say that once in the capital's underground labyrinths, it is easy to get lost among the many galleries, passages, wells, halls, walled up doors and flooded passages.
And perhaps somewhere here, very close, is hidden the famous library of Ivan IV the Terrible and, perhaps, someday it will be given to a successful explorer of dungeons.
