More than two hundred years have passed since the time when Napoleon's army ignominiously fled from Moscow and from Russia. The treasures stolen by Bonaparte did not reach Paris, but settled, as historians believe, somewhere in Belarus or the Smolensk region. The first attempts to find the disappeared values were made during the life of the French emperor. As a result of the search, much of what was stolen was found. But the interior items of the Armory, the Kremlin, as well as the cross that rang from the Ivan IV Bell Tower were never found.
HORDES OF FRENCH
As you know, Kutuzov's decision to leave Moscow was a great surprise for many of its residents, therefore they did not have time to prepare the values for evacuation: Governor-General Fyodor Rostopchin tried, first of all, to take out and save people. Nobody even thought about material values. Then the capital burst into flames. House after house was consumed by an insidious fire. Residents left their homes in a hurry, threw the acquired property, property, savings. The fire that broke out caused panic. And only the French were jubilant - they devastated the city like real barbarians, just to plunder more and faster.
The main values of the capital went, of course, to the emperor, who, being a subtle connoisseur of beauty, quite sincerely admired the remarkable historical and cultural monuments of the ancient city. And when the rapid retreat of the "great army" from the inhospitable Russian capital began, the carts loaded with Moscow treasures began to move along with it in the direction of Smolensk. According to the French soldiers, the troops decided to take so much goods with them that they began to resemble the Mongol hordes carrying loot on carts.
However, not all Frenchmen - members of Bonaparte's army during the invasion of Moscow proved to be grabbers and marauders. Thus, the history of the Moscow Danilov Monastery keeps the legend about the French officers who came here on the day of the capture of the Russian capital. They studied the treasures kept in the monastery, and managed to warn its servants so that they would reliably hide the items with the greatest historical and monetary value.
LIKE IN THE WATER CANULI
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After the military operations conducted near Vyazma and Tarutin (that is, after the start of the retreat of Bonaparte's troops), both the Russians and the French military leaders realized that the initiative had clearly gone over to the side of the Russian army. The French experienced constant hunger and froze in an unusual frost for them, which turned into constant defeats. Kutuzov's tactics also played a role: he did not give the enemy a general battle, but pursued him, moving so that the French army at any moment risked being surrounded. Therefore, everyone, including Bonaparte, understood that at best they would be able to deliver only a small part of the stolen treasures to France.
According to many historians, Lake Semlevskoe, located near Vyazma, is a place where many valuable items stolen by Napoleon's army found their refuge. But none of the numerous search groups that worked on Lake Semlev could find artifacts of those times.
With the development of modern technologies, it became possible to conduct a chemical study of water taken from Lake Semlevskoe. After checking it in the laboratory, the historians' version was confirmed: there was 10-20 times more gold, copper and silver in the water than in neighboring water bodies. In 1979, the USSR Academy of Sciences equipped its own official expedition to Lake Semlevskoe, which worked on the reservoir for nine months. However, the researchers could not find a single item related to the treasures looted by Bonaparte.
But where else could they be? For example, near the famous river Berezina. Napoleon, retreating, managed to dissolve a false rumor in the Russian army about his whereabouts and route. Misinformation, alas, reached Admiral Chichagov. As a result, Bonaparte received two extra days of freedom of action and, according to historians, used them to build bridges across the Berezina. The Bavarian cavalryman, who took part in that campaign, wrote that Bonaparte, immediately after the completion of the crossing, ordered the burning of vans, carriages and carts that were used to export valuables from Moscow. However, the loot itself was not destroyed by the French commander, but was buried in the local forests.
1813 - the date of the first search operation, formed to find treasures near the Berezina. Despite the fact that the decree on the formation of the commission was given by the Emperor Alexander I himself, the search was unsuccessful. Since that time, attempts to find the gold taken away by Napoleon have been made by local residents, Nazi invaders, archaeologists, and gentry from Poland. They are still looking for it to this day, but near the Berezina no one managed to find anything valuable from a historical point of view.
Sergey BORODIN
VERSIONS
Where to look for the treasures exported from Moscow?
Historian Edward Kazalsky
I think that Moscow treasures should be sought in the swamps near Smorgon (northern Belarus). After all, it was from there that Napoleon, dressed in simple clothes, fled to France. In addition, it is known that severe frosts struck just in those days when the French army crossed the Berezina. Consequently, the enemy could not bury anything there - the ground was frozen, and the people were hungry, frozen, exhausted, demoralized. By that time, Napoleon's army already looked like a rabble. They could hide treasures only in some lake or swamp on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (this is today's Belarus). I think it was there, near Smorgon that Napoleon hid his Moscow valuables.
Numerologist Oleg Shumilin
If historians and archaeologists had the opportunity to look into the Pythagorean square on the day of the capture of Moscow, they would understand that the search for treasures is absolutely futile! It is sad to admit this, but the absence of fives in the square is the most reliable proof that the valuables taken out of Moscow have disappeared without a trace.
Psychic Maya Kiriy
I am convinced that the treasures are reliably protected by an ancient magical rite, so no one can find them for many years. Indeed, in the old days, even ordinary treasures were closed from outsiders with some kind of magic formula. And here is Napoleon's treasure! By the way, Bonopart was a very superstitious person. He always used the help of magicians and sorcerers and did nothing without their approval. I think he understood that they would be looking for treasures, so he asked to put a spell on them. Moreover, according to my feelings, this spell is very ancient, unfamiliar to modern magicians.
Astrologer Victor Sumin
Let's turn to the horoscope of Napoleon himself and consider the position of the two main planets responsible for his wealth - Venus and Jupiter. Venus in Bonaparte's horoscope is located in the sign of Cancer, Jupiter in the sign of Scorpio.
Both of these signs of the zodiac belong to the water element, and therefore we have the right to assume that most of the Moscow treasures, including the cross from the bell tower, Bonaparte still ordered to be drowned in Lake Semlevskoe. Here a general astrological rule manifested itself: a person in whose horoscope the planets of wealth are located in the water signs of the Zodiac (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), if he had to hide the treasure, most likely, he would drown him.
In the 17th century, when the intensive development of the Kremlin's territory began, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, gigantic in its time, arose there, on which the very same cross was erected. This event dates back to 1600. According to the elemental system of the eastern horoscope, this is the year, the symbol of which is Metal. The alleged sinking of the cross took place in 1812, under the sign of Water. In the cyclical scheme of the relationship of the elements, Metal passes into Water, so it is quite possible that the cross that ascended over the capital in 1600 was drowned in Lake Semlevsky 212 years later.