The mention of Yakov Vilimovich Bruce still excites the minds of scientists, mystics and treasure hunters. Rumor attributed to him communication with evil spirits, for which he was once nicknamed "Russian Faust", although he should have been called "Russian da Vinci" for his extensive interest in various fields of knowledge and invention.
One of the greatest inventors and naturalists of his time was born in 1670 in Moscow into a family of a descendant of Scottish and Irish kings.
Fleeing from Cromwell, Bruce Sr. arrived in Moscow in 1647 and entered military service with the Russian Tsar.
Yakov began his career in the "amusing" troops of Peter I, and in the late 1690s became the closest associate of the reformer tsar, and, in particular, it was his interested participation that largely transformed the Russian army.
At least the fact that Jacob Bruce became the first holder of the main award of the empire - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, speaks of his merits in the eyes of Peter.
But Bruce was not limited to military science. The owner of truly encyclopedic knowledge, he was engaged in natural sciences and mathematics and history, owned a huge library, collected works of art and archaeological objects, minerals and bones of prehistoric animals, herbariums and ancient coins.
In 1727, Bruce retired with the rank of Field Marshal General and, leaving Petersburg, settled near the village of Glinkovo near Moscow, starting to build the Glinka estate.
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The location was not easy, and by the will of the owner, the estate turned into a real fortress: Glinka is located on a peninsula between the Borey and Klyazma rivers, protected from all sides by impenetrable forests and swamps. Under the very same estate, by order of Bruce, extensive dungeons were laid.
The estate, however, was famous not only for fortifications and security. Bruce, who was also interested in the latest European trends in gardening art, created a magnificent estate ensemble, one of the most remarkable in Russia. And the palace was a striking example of baroque architecture, combining Italian, Dutch and Russian motives. (This manor has survived to this day, but today it is in a very sad dilapidated state.)
Also in the estate were arranged: an astronomical observatory, a chemical laboratory and extensive storage facilities for a library and a unique collection of "curiosities".
Peter I often visited Bruce, and one of the outbuildings of the estate is still called "Peter's house".
Bruce's scientific experiments are still legendary, one more colorful than the other. They say that in the summer Bruce, having frozen the manor pond, skated on it, that "iron birds" flew out of his windows, and the mechanical "Yashkina Baba" walked around the manor. And many of these legends find their documentary confirmation today!
In Moscow, Bruce was given the Sukharev Tower, about which, perhaps, there are no less legends than about the Glinki.
Candle merchant Alexei Morozov once saw in the twilight that iron birds were flying out of the windows of the tower and, making several circles around the building, were returning.
The next night he brought his household and servants to the tower. Indeed, one of the windows opened and "iron birds with human heads" flew out of it. Both Morozov and her relatives fled from the tower in the greatest terror, cursing the Lutheran devil worshiper
There is no documentary evidence of flying Bruce's "dragons", but in the twenties, drawings of aircraft were found in his archives. These papers are now kept in the Russian Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, in the thirties, some of these drawings (after the visit of German pilots who were practicing in the USSR) were lost.
Another legend was confirmed. Peasants Glinok from generation to generation told each other the legend about "Yashkina Baba", "a mechanical doll that can talk and walk, but has no soul." The iron maid allegedly served the Count in the Sukharev Tower, and after his resignation she ran around Glinka and scared the peasants. And when they started to approach her, she flirted with them … In Bruce's archives, drawings of the first Russian robot were found. But again, there is no reliable evidence that the unique machine was brought to life and operated.
But, if you think about it, the illiterate peasants could hardly have invented all this - they didn’t read Bryusov’s drawings ?!
But this is not the end of the mysteries and miracles associated with the name of Bruce. Extensive underground galleries were dug under the Glinka estate. They not only connected all the buildings of the estate, but had exits several kilometers from it.
It is in these dungeons, according to rumors, that Bruce's magic books and treasures are still kept.
According to legends, Peter the Great repeatedly asked Bruce to let him read the Magic Book, hidden in the secret room of the Sukharev Tower, which once belonged to Tsar Solomon himself. But Bruce insisted that he didn’t have such a book, but the Philosophy of Mysticism in German, which was also “very wonderful,” could be read.
They did not believe Bruce too much, and when he died in 1735, Catherine I ordered to search the observatory and its scientific archive, which was kept at the Academy of Sciences. However, the Magic Book was not there. But the empress, apparently, had very good reason to believe that the mysterious book exists, and even set up a guard at the Sukharev tower so that bad people could not find and read this book.
The post at the Sukharev Tower was removed only in 1924, in the eighth year of Soviet power!
Stalin was also interested in the mysterious book, which was the reason for the decision to demolish the tower. The tower was dismantled brick by brick, trying to find, if not a mysterious room, then at least a niche where the magic tome could be hidden. The results were reported to Stalin every day, and all the rarities found were taken to the Kremlin.
The remains of the tower were eventually blown up. Until now, many are wondering about this decision: either what they were looking for was found, or Stalin was simply angry with an empty search …
It is known that Lazar Kaganovich, who was present at the explosion of the tower, believed that he saw Bruce himself in the crowd.
No matter how Yakov Vilimovich was accused of witchcraft and mysticism, in the memoirs of his contemporaries, he remained an absolute skeptic and the owner of a materialistic worldview. It is known that when Peter showed him the incorruptible relics of the holy saints in Novgorod Sophia, Bruce "attributed this to the climate, to the property of the earth in which they were previously buried, to the embalming of bodies and to a temperate life."
Although the book has apparently never been found, Bruce had a hand in building Stalin's Moscow. In Peter's times, science was intertwined with what we now call mysticism, and Bruce compiled not only the first map of Russian territory from Moscow to Asia Minor, but also an astrological map of Moscow.
The latter, and documents about it have survived, was used in the construction of the Moscow metro. That is why there are 12 stations on the circular line, symbolizing the 12 signs of the zodiac. Stalin, laying the Garden and Boulevard Ring, also used Bruce's astrological developments.
It is also known that back in the 18th century, Bruce argued that it was impossible to conduct dense buildings on Dmitrovka because of underground voids. Modern Moscow sinkholes of the earth have confirmed this. As well as Bruce's ban on building on Sparrow Hills due to the possibility of landslides. The new building of the Academy of Sciences began to be strengthened immediately after construction. Why, in this case, Stalin did not listen to Bruce is also understandable. Yakov Vilimovich marked the Vorobyovy Gory on his map as a place conducive to study and science.
Bruce was buried in the church fence in the German settlement. When in the thirties they began to dismantle the church on Radio Street, they found a coffin with the body of the count in the crypt. Bruce was identified by his family ring. The remains of Peter's colleague were transferred to the laboratory of the anthropologist and sculptor Gerasimov, but soon they disappeared without a trace. Only Bruce's clothes remained, which are now in the funds of the State Historical Museum. Bruce's ring also disappeared without a trace. They said that Stalin took him.
In the biography of Bruce, as you already understood, there are much more riddles than guesses. The situation is approximately the same with the search for his treasure.
A professor at Moscow University Kovalev in 1857 conducted excavations in Glinki and searches in the Sukharev Tower, but to no avail.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, under the patronage of Nicholas II, archaeologist Alexei Kuzmin tried to search for the magic book of Bryusov. Large funds were allocated, but the archaeologist, only confessing to his friends that he finally understood something about the Bryusov secrets, suddenly died …
Bruce's secrets are still waiting for their treasure hunter.