According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest recorded person in the world is American Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918-1940). Before his death, his height was 272 centimeters. True, a citizen of the Russian Empire Fyodor Andreevich Makhnov (1878-1912), whose height reached 285 centimeters, could have challenged the palm.
In the homeland of Fyodor Makhnov in the Vitebsk region of the Republic of Belarus, the memory of the famous countryman is honored. Despite the fact that no documents confirming the growth of the giant have survived, no one here doubts that it is Makhnov who is the tallest man in the world. Last year, for the next birthday anniversary, a bronze monument was erected in Vitebsk, and his height - 285 centimeters - was immortalized on the memorial plaque as a historical fact. According to some reports, it was precisely this height of Makhnov that was measured and officially recorded by the Austrian anthropologist Felix von Luschan. In any case, photos of Lushan with Makhnov have survived.
The giant's skeleton disappeared
During his short life, and Fedor lived only 34 years, he managed to glorify the Russian Empire abroad as a circus artist, became the father of five children, was introduced to the Pope and US President Theodore Roosevelt. And even after his death, his incredible physical data haunted scientists and researchers. More than two decades after his death, Makhnova's wife sold his remains. They were transferred to the Minsk Medical Institute for study. But during the Great Patriotic War, the giant's skeleton, unfortunately, was lost. There are only photographs and a description made by Professor D. M. Golub. There is an oral tradition that during the exhumation a pair of bones of the “Vitebsk Gulliver” were lost, and they may still be in his grave.
By the way, on the monument erected at the burial place of Makhnov, the height is indicated - 3 arshins 9 vershoks, which is 254 centimeters. Fedor was so tall at the age of 16. The data are taken from the contract signed by Makhnov when he began performing in the traveling circus of the German Otto Bilinder. Since that moment, the Vitebsk giant has grown by at least another 30 cm.
And this is not one mistake on the headstone. It also indicates that he died at the 36th year of life, while in fact - at the 34th. The giant's wife Euphrosyne later wanted to correct these oversights on the tombstone and remake the fence, but the outbreak of the First World War, the revolution and subsequent events did not allow this to be done.
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Mountain man enters the arena
Fyodor Makhnov was born into a poor peasant family in the Staroselskaya volost, Vitebsk district, Vitebsk province. Why he turned into a giant will remain a mystery. It is known that his parents were tall, just like his brothers and sisters, but none of them came close to two meters. He was born very large, his mother could not bear the difficult birth and died. In early childhood, Makhnov was raised by his grandparents. At first, he was no different from his peers, but by the age of eight he began to grow very quickly, slept a lot and was a very strong boy.
At the age of 10, he could already pull a cart laden with hay up a mountain, raise an adult on a dispute, helped to carry whole logs during the construction of houses. At the same time, the huge growth created big problems, to order it was necessary not only to sew clothes and shoes, but also to make a bed, increase the door openings in the house, and expand the house itself.
At the age of 14, Makhnov was noticed by the German Otto Bilinder, who owned a traveling circus. For two years he taught the boy the art of circus. At the age of 16, having signed a contract, Fedor began performing in Europe and America. By that time, the young man was already about 2.5 meters tall. The length of his foot was 51 cm, the length of his palm was 31 cm. He weighed 182 kg and had 15-centimeter ears and 10-centimeter lips. Despite decent earnings, Makhnov was burdened by constant everyday inconveniences: for such tall people, nothing was provided for in hotels or transport. And after nine years of nomadic life, Fyodor Makhnov returned to his native places.
The money he earned allowed him to acquire his own house and plot of land. Izbu Makhnov rebuilt to fit his height and furnished it with suitable furniture. I found a Vitebsk giant and a wife to match. His chosen one was the teacher Efrosinya Lebedeva with a height of 215 centimeters. Five children were born in the Makhnov family, but none of them crossed the two-meter line. The descendants of the giant now live in Minsk, the Gomel region and in Russia, but there are no giants among them either.
Power for the giant
Among the curious facts that distinguish Fyodor Makhnov from ordinary people is his diet. At breakfast, "Vitebsk Gulliver", for example, ate 8 round loaves of bread and butter, 20 eggs and drank two liters of tea. His dinner consisted of one kilogram of potatoes, 2.5 kilograms of meat and three liters of beer. At dinner, Makhnov easily “gagged” another 2.5 kilograms of meat, three loaves of bread and a whole bowl of fruit, washing it down with two liters of tea. And before going to bed, so as not to sleep on an empty stomach, Fyodor Andreevich still feasted on bread, eating a whole loaf at a time, with eggs and drinking a liter of tea or milk.
Fyodor Makhnov died at the age of 34 on September 10, 1912. One of the reasons for such an early death was called pneumonia; other documents indicated that he died of tuberculosis. There were versions of poisoning. There is no evidence of this, but Fedor at one time feared for his life. In 1905, the Makhnov family went on a foreign tour, traveled to Western Europe and the USA. During the voyage, Makhnov was besieged by various scientists who wanted to study his skeleton after death and offered to conclude a contract. Fearing that he might be killed for the sake of scientific research, Fedor interrupted his foreign tour and returned home with his family.
Anyone who visits Vitebsk can measure their height with the tallest man in the world. The author of the monument to Makhnov, sculptor Ivan Kazak, depicted it in full size. Together with the cylinder, the giant's height is 312 centimeters. And you can find out details about the life of the "Vitebsk Gulliver" in the museum, which is open at the school of the village of Staroye Selo. Here are collected things, household items, photographs of the Makhnov family. Among them there is a unique exhibit - a bed frame, which gives an accurate idea of the growth of Fyodor Makhnov.
Marina Makarova