Hello, friends. We continue to extract very strange materials from history. This time the subject of attention will be the unusual artifacts of the Russian Empire, which have been preserved in old photos (many thanks to those who took part in the selection of this collection).
This is the photo, at the beginning of the article, of the first museum in the city of Tobolsk. Actually, this building is now a museum. But the top of the building has changed a lot. Both the dome and the superstructure of the arches on the facade have been almost completely redone. Earlier, in many articles, and actually not only for me, it was argued that in 90% of cases these parts of buildings were deliberately dismantled so that the ancient secrets of engineering networks were lost. Simply put, look at the old and modern photos, compare, and the resulting delta will be the part where the secret was kept. In any case, a museum is a public place that needs to be illuminated somehow. Watching exhibits by candlelight, you know, is not much fun. It was commissioned in 1887; the first power plant in Moscow appeared a year later. This is only a single case, and there were a great many such buildings around the country at that time.
This is Omsk in 1885. As you can see, the roofs of all rich houses were decorated with circled devices. It was they who gave light to the houses. At school we were taught that before the arrival of the Bolsheviks, everyone sat by candlelight or by kerosene lamps. Alas, this is far from the case. Now everywhere, all these installations have been demolished or replaced with props. This happened in a fairly short period of time, in the period 1925-1940, along with the temples, the principle of which was approximately the same.
This is Irkutsk in 1891. On the roof of the house, one of the varieties of such power plants. It was also installed mainly on well-to-do houses. Its characteristic features are the presence of at least two spiers and a massive lattice between them. In engineering terms, these spiers, grating and metal roofing material were used to create electrical vibrations. To damage this installation, it is enough to dismantle the spiers, which was done by the Bolsheviks (* - at the same time, this dismantling took place all over the world, from Japan to America). But what about economy-class houses?
In fact, residents of such houses could also afford the same technical solution, only in a simplified form. This is Kurgan in 1876. Or like this:
Promotional video:
This is Blagoveshchensk in 1891. Insufficient houses could also use such a technical unit, the only thing was that they did not have a dome installation on their houses. Not surprisingly, this is an expensive thing, not everyone could afford it. In this case, there was another technical solution:
This is Vologda in 1893 (in fact, there are a lot of similar photos in all the cities of the Empire of that time). There were pillars with certain gratings of various shapes, which carried vibrations from the general dome installation along the streets, realizing a kind of approach of this dome installation to each house (the wires are already their refinement and adaptation). This collective dome installation could look different.
This is Moore in 1864.
This is Perm in the period 1880-1890. Actually, such installations had many applications, in addition to everyday ones. For example, such:
This is a water-dispensing column in some city of the late 19th century.
This is Kurgan again in 1895. A very bold and purely Russian engineering solution, an oscillating installation is used both at home and at the temple at the same time.
This is Khabarovsk in 1899, a triumphal arch on the occasion of Nikolai's arrival2. Pay attention to the illuminated items.
This is the construction of the Amur railway in the region of the Zeya River at the end of the 19th century. There are incomprehensible devices on the pipes.
And this is a floating lighthouse at the Kerch crossing of the same period. Something similar is located on the masts. How the device works on these two photos is now even difficult to imagine. And in conclusion, I will cite one more purely Russian invention.
This is a postal bus on the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. But he doesn't use electricity.
So, as you can see, there are many secrets buried in Russian history. He did not upload many other photos so as not to clog the article. Although no, I'll post a couple.
This is the well-known Golden Gate in Vladimir at the end of the 19th century. Why would six-pointed stars hang on them? In what state were they built?
And this is the courtyard of the monastery in Tyumen at the end of the 19th century. Pay attention to the monuments in the cemetery. These are some kind of temples in miniature, or the same vibrational installations, if you like. The thought involuntarily comes to mind that it was not in vain that the Bolsheviks swept away all such cemeteries along with churches. They also had some secrets.
Until next time.