I decided to make a series - since I already wrote about Odessa and Kiev, then you need to combine everything under a common denominator. This time we will talk about Sevastopol - another brainchild of Ekaterina Nevelikaya. Under this wise ruler, about 29 new provinces were formed and 144 (!) Cities were founded, and all are distinguished by the sophistication of architecture and originality. Here are some of them - Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch, Feodossia (Catherine saw the ruins of the city, therefore, either restored or rebuilt), Nikolaev, Kherson, Kharkov, Pyatigorsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk, Simferopol, Mariupol, Zaporozhye, Krasnodar, Kirovograd, Tiraspol, Yekaterinburg and many others. In general, in the life of one person, there has been a colossal boom in the growth of everything that is possible:
The army from 162 thousand people was strengthened to 312 thousand, the fleet, which in 1757 consisted of 21 ships of the line and 6 frigates, in 1790 included 67 ships of the line and 40 frigates and 300 rowing ships, the amount of state revenues from RUB 16 million increased to 69 million, that is, more than quadrupled, the success of foreign trade: the Baltic - in increasing import and export, from 9 million to 44 million rubles, the Black Sea, Catherine and created - from 390 thousand in 1776 to 1 million 900 thousand rubles in 1796, the growth of domestic turnover was indicated by the issue of coins in 34 years of the reign for 148 million rubles, while in the 62 previous years it was issued only for 97 million - Vasily Klyuchevsky, historian
Only this, in the opinion of those who forged the istoria, can explain such an unprecedented urban planning, and at the same time they will manage to wage two huge and long wars with the Ottoman Empire in 1768-1774 and 1787-1791, plus liquidate the Zaporozhye Sich - I do not think that the Cossacks voluntarily surrendered their native alma mater just like that, for trinkets, like the Indians in America a few times earlier. Not their "handwriting", let's say. Plus, in almost every city, truly megalithic objects were built - fortresses, defensive structures, etc. Or such fortresses remained from the wild Turks - such as the Khadzhi-Bey fortress in Odessa, the diameter of which along the major axis is 600 meters!
There was a fortress, and a city was built next to it.
And in Zaporozhye the same fortress is the handiwork of not the Turks, but of the Russian builders under Catherine.
It turns out - we spied on the technology from the Turks and let's build. All this is good, but let's take a calculator and roughly calculate how much money is needed in order not just to found, but to start building (and in record time) 144 cities, even without taking into account the war, which requires GREAT costs, we will not count also city infrastructure, pipeline, machine - ship - whatever, construction shipyards, factories, factories, etc. etc. Let's take the most approximate figure - let's jump into super - incredible - alternatively - fantastic reality, and suppose that it costs to build one stone house, well, let it be $ 500,000 (excuse me for taking wrappers, and not in rubles, for example, I just think so will be clearer). For comparison, the cost of building a 16-storey building in Kiev is approximately 2,7 million dollars - with modern technologies solely on concrete alone, without any finesse. Look at here. So, let's take the average number of houses in a city - well, let's say, 30, not counting churches and other religious buildings. And by the way, the architecture that is present in the "Catherine's" cities with all the decorations and moldings will cost at least three times more, but we will ignore this fact. We multiply and get the figure of 2 billion 160 million dollars. Plus, we still have to settle accounts with the workers, but we will omit that too. Suppose that the cities were built by ragged peasants in torn sheepskin coats as slaves. And by the way, the architecture that is present in the "Catherine's" cities with all the decorations and moldings will cost at least three times more, but we will ignore this fact. We multiply and get the figure of 2 billion 160 million dollars. Plus, we still have to settle accounts with the workers, but we will omit that too. Suppose that the cities were built by ragged peasants in torn sheepskin coats as slaves. And by the way, the architecture that is present in the "Catherine's" cities with all the decorations and moldings will cost at least three times more, but we will ignore this fact. We multiply and get the figure of 2 billion 160 million dollars. Plus, we still have to settle accounts with the workers, but we will omit that too. Suppose that the cities were built by ragged peasants in torn sheepskin coats as slaves.
Promotional video:
But how much was the ruble worth in those days? As a starting point, let's take "Pskov Provincial Gazette" No. 40. Wednesday 05 October 1838
The state of prices on the market in small sale:
Perch pound - 0.25 rubles
Pike pound - 0.20 rubles.
Fresh ides - 0.10 rubles.
Fresh smelt - 0.25 rubles
Dry smelt - 0.50 rubles
Beef Livonian pound - 0.15 rubles
Russian beef - 0.14 rubles
Live goose - 1.20 rubles
A dozen eggs - 0.23 rubles.
Live chicken - 0.70 rubles
Chickens (pair) - 0.60 rubles.
Cow butter - 16 rubles
Fresh honey pood - 20 rubles.
Rye flour - 2.20 rubles.
RUB 2.10
Rye chetverik - 2.00 rubles
RUB 1.90
Buckwheat groats - 3.00 rubles
2.80 RUB
Egg groats - 2.80 rubles
2.70 RUB
Chetverik oats - 0.90 rubles
Buckwheat chetverik - 1.40 rubles
Lean oil (pood) - 16 rubles
Chetverik potatoes - 0.50 rubles
Soap of Kazan pood - 16 rubles.
Candles of greasy poods - 18 rubles.
Hay pood - 0.50 rubles.
Straw pood - 0.25 rubles.
Hay cart - 4-5 rubles.
Carriage straw - 1 - 1.20 rubles
A dozen eggs - 0.23 rubles.
Now (everything, of course, is very relative, but still) a dozen eggs in Russia cost about 52 rubles, in Ukraine - 12 hryvnia. The ruble is now more stable, so we take it as a basis. 1 dollar - 38 rubles. 52 rubles - 1.36 dollars. In 1838, the ruble was worth approximately 5.9, round up to six dollars. Well, let's say that the ruble in the 18th century was even stronger, and was, say, 10 current dollars. Under Catherine, the annual income quadrupled to 69 million rubles. It turns out $ 690 million. Gold reserves? Where did the money come from? Plus, to constantly fight the Ottomans. And constantly build, build and build.
And if all factors are taken into account, then the sums are obtained not only astronomical, but simply intergalactic. Well, or Catherine knew alchemy, found a philosophical stone and turned everything that came along into gold. You can see with your own eyes the whole absurdity of the construction of cities by Catherine here.
Hero City Sevastopol
As Ostap Bender said - "Closer to the body, as Guy de Maupassant said."
The house of Rear Admiral Mekenzi, or the Catherine Palace, is one of the first stone buildings built in Sevastopol. It was located on Ekaterininskaya Square (now Nakhimov Square). On June 1, 1783, the first head of the Black Sea Fleet, Rear Admiral Mekenzi, began building up Sevastopol. The construction was carried out by several far from skillful Balaklava Greeks, but, despite a great lack of workers and building materials, the city was quickly built up, and already on November 1 of the same year the commanding and energetic admiral celebrated his housewarming with a big ball in a stone house he built for himself.
As they say, record time is our middle name.
Want to laugh? After reading this paragraph, you probably immediately imagined the magnificent Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg?
And here are the real technologies of building "palaces".
It can't be, this is a joke, right? But no.
The word "shed" is spinning in my mind, I don't even know why.
But this building, built much later, is somewhat different in architecture.
Peter and Paul Church in Sevastopol. Orthodox. 1844 year.
Balaklava Greeks - foremen, apparently, gave up drinking, remembered their past lives and heroic past and built an almost exact copy of the Parthenon.
And all would be fine, only there is such an artist Carlo Bossoli, and he has a whole album dedicated to the Crimea.
Fortune clearly favored the young Italian. However, like E. K. Vorontsova, on the advice and insistence of which K. Bossoli went to Italy. He spent a little more than a year there (spring 1839-summer 1840): he studied in depth the classical and modern school of painting. Upon his return, the artist accepts M. S. Vorontsov's invitation and goes to the Crimea, to Alupka. Was this the first visit. We have no such evidence. But the fact that K. Bossoli lived here in 1840-1842 is known for certain. Having traveled the entire peninsula as a traveler, explorer, painter, he expressed his impressions in a series of beautiful watercolors and gouaches (some of them are kept in the Hermitage). The works of 1840-1842 convince that it was in Crimea that the artist's creative manner was finally formed: masterly mastery of drawing technique, realism, a deep sense of nature and perspective.
Remember these dates - 1840 - 1842. And now Bossoli's drawing "General view of Sevastopol."
Let me remind you once again that the date of the construction of the temple is 1844. Scaffolding? Any work? A bare foundation? Not. I declare with full responsibility that the date of construction of this wonderful temple should be shifted by at least 4 years, otherwise it turns out awkward.
What was the name of the city then? The clue lies in the navania - Sevastos Polis - the August City. And again, our beloved Octavian flashes invisibly. Earlier, Sevastopol was designated as Inkerman. Or Sarikerman. Later, the suburb of Sevastopol began to be called Inkerman. And Balaklava was called Zembano. And she was a much larger city than Sevastopol Inkerman. Chembalo Chebmalo Chembano Zembano. ABOUT! Eureka!
Please note that the balaclava on the map is not indicated where it is now. But the Balaklava bay is depicted on many maps, only it is 10 times larger in scale than the current one. The penultimate map from the time of Catherine also shows a disproportionately large bay. Why?
It may be a coincidence, but …
Zembano is a very rare tree species that grows in Africa. I did not find any other definitions of this name. More options - Sembaro, Enbano, Sivula source:
Alas, there are almost no leads left. But Fra Mauro did not accidentally mark a large city on his 15th century map in this area:
Here are the things. Unfortunately, there is still very little information on the name and history of the city of Sevastopol, Inkerman and Zembano - Balaklava. But I hope over time something will come to the surface.
And a bit of architecture, as always.
Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity, Sevastopol.
Ornament:
Museum of Sevastopol Defense:
Museum of Sevastopol Defense:
Palace of Childhood and Youth on the other side:
And here is the famous church in the rock, Inkerman:
It reminds me of this:
There are few buildings that have survived to this day, because Sevastopol has repeatedly heroically held the defense, and has repeatedly been bombed. But this does not prevent him from wearing the honorary title of the City - Hero, because not every person can experience what this silent witness of courage, heroism, self-sacrifice and courage has experienced, where every pebble is an outhouse, poured with the blood of our soldiers, and for this he only 200 years were enough.
All health and a sober mind.