Ivan the Terrible possessed a truly unique library in which there were thousands of the rarest books, even for that time, among which were the works of ancient Roman and ancient Greek scientists and the most advanced minds of those times.
For more than 500 years, the mystery of the disappearance of this library has not been revealed, and its searches continue to this day. Historians believe. that traces of the unique collection of books are lost during the Time of Troubles, when Moscow survived several major fires, but according to legends, the library did not burn in a fire, but now it is waiting in the wings to show the world a real sensation. It is believed that it is hidden in a secret vault somewhere in the Moscow Kremlin or in the Pashkov house or in Kalomenskoye.
Legendary library
The grandmother of Ivan the Terrible, Sophia, who was a relative of the Byzantine emperor Constantine 11, became the wife of the great Moscow prince Ivan III, brought with her as a dowry not only gold, pearls and precious stones, but also 80 carts loaded with priceless manuscripts and books.
Wooden Moscow of that time often burned, fires broke out one after another, and books were carefully stored in underground storage facilities equipped with ventilation. In this huge collection of books brought by Sophia, there were books in ancient Greek, Hebrew and Latin. as well as part of the equally famous library of Alexandria.
It was Sophia who convinced her husband to reconstruct the Moscow Kremlin and replace the wooden buildings exposed to fire with stone chambers. White stone was used during the construction, and that is why Moscow was called white stone. There is historical evidence that Sophia ordered the creation of vast underground vaults in which invaluable tomes were placed.
It is interesting that his grandmother did not reveal the location of the library storage to Ivan the Terrible and he searched for it for a very long time, ordering him to explore the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. While the search was going on, Grozny was collecting his library, and books for it were bought for huge sums of money all over the world. He nevertheless found Sophia's library and later combined two book collections into one, creating a huge and unique library, already his own.
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There is information that this collection also included manuscripts from the library of Yaroslav the Wise, which were taken out and delivered to Moscow from the St. Sophia Cathedral in the city of Kiev. Later, after conquering Kazan, Ivan took from there to Moscow a medieval collection of books of Arabic manuscripts that had previously belonged to the Kazan Khan. These collections contained books on magic and witchcraft.
The curse of the library of Ivan the Terrible
One of the legends about the missing library says that Ivan the Terrible used magic books and put a terrible curse on the entire library, anyone who dares to enter the library without his knowledge will go blind.
The victim of this spell could be Apolos Ivanov, who served in the 30s in the protection of the Kremlin and searched for the lost library. He discovered many underground passages and tunnels, and even found skeletons chained to the walls in them, and the underground passages themselves were separated by strong iron doors. The search for an amateur enthusiast was stopped by representatives of the NKVD, and Apolos himself, for some reason, lost his sight, maybe that very curse of Grozny worked, who knows …
Confirmation of the existence of the library of Ivan the Terrible
There are still debates among historians about the very existence of this mysterious library, but there is historical evidence that indicates that it really existed. For example, it is reported in the manuscript "The Legend of Maximus the Greek", where it is not only indicated that the library existed, but even there is a list of books, manuscripts and folios stored in it.
The search for the library continues
The search for the missing library was carried out constantly, both by enthusiasts and officially, but so far they have not had any success. There are versions that the library is hidden somewhere under the Moscow Kremlin, and possibly in underground storage facilities under the large hills near the village of Kolomenskoye, or under the house of Dyakov located not far from these hills. There are also versions of an underground storage facility near the village of Taininskoye, which is now located in the southern part of Mytishchi. It is also considered as the location of the library of Ivan the Terrible - Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda and even in Vologda.
So far, no one has managed to find the legendary library, but if it is found, it will be a truly sensational and epochal event.