The Time of Troubles is called about 20 years in the history of Russia after 1598. It is believed that it began with the death of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the son of Ivan IV the Terrible, and ended in the first years of the reign of Mikhail Romanov.
The peasant uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov, the war with the Swedes and Poles, constant robberies by any armed detachments - all this led to the fact that people tried to reliably hide their goods. The Time of Troubles is considered the era of treasures - from very small to amazing. These treasures have not yet been discovered, although they exist in oral legends and written eyewitness accounts.
And someone finds …
Interest in hidden treasures is fueled by the regular finds of relatively poor treasures that date back to that distant era.
For example, before the First World War in Moscow, during the construction of a house on Solyanka, a large clay pot with pennies from the time of Boris Godunov was discovered: about nine thousand silver circles!
In 1957, in Borovsk, they found a bag with silver coins issued under four Russian tsars: John IV the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, Boris Godunov and Vasily Shuisky. The treasure was hidden in the territory of St. Pafnutyev Monastery, where at that time many civilians were hiding from robberies.
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In the Moscow Kremlin in 1969, a stove tile in the form of a rectangular box without a top cover was removed from the foundation of a cracked old column in which 1237 coins were kept for a not too large amount of 12 rubles 12 altyn 2 money. But for the employees of the numismatics department of the State Historical Museum, the find turned out to be extremely valuable.
And in 2009, during the restoration of the building of the Moscow State Theater of Nations, workers found a ring and three gold coins, also related to the Time of Troubles: it was in 1610, during the war with the Poles, due to a lack of silver, it was first decided to mint Russian coins from gold. One such coin could buy 12 poods of rye. If not for its historical value, the course is quite comparable to the current cost of grain.
Golden Treasury of False Dmitry II
The list of finds can be easily continued. But the main treasures of the Time of Troubles are considered to be completely different treasures. Their total cost, according to researchers' estimates (of course, rather approximate), can now reach several billion dollars.
In 1610, the "Tushinsky thief" fled from the walls of Moscow - an impostor False Dmitry II, who had at his disposal a treasury with a huge amount at that time - 300 thousand rubles in gold coins, inherited partly from the Poles, partly from regular robberies and donations from the cities that recognized him (Pskov, Suzdal, Uglich, Yaroslavl, etc.). The impostor ended up in Kaluga, where his former comrades-in-arms killed him during a hunt. True, the treasury was not found in his camp. Where could such money be spent in one year? A member of the Boyar Duma of that time received from 100 to 120 rubles a year, archers - from four to seven. And everyone could live in grand style. But 300 thousand?
It is not surprising that the people started talking: the money was buried somewhere. But where? In Tushino, Kaluga, somewhere on the way between them? Or did they manage to transfer the treasury to Voronezh, which the impostor planned to make the new capital?
Judging by the forums of treasure hunters, most of them believe that the gold of False Dmitry II is hidden in the area of the former village of Tushin. However, regular walks with metal detectors have not yet helped to attack the trail of the missing treasury.
Treasures of King Sigismund III
Another undiscovered treasure of the Time of Troubles is almost certainly the most valuable. In 1611, the boyars who ruled after Vasily Shuisky called Vladislav, the son of the Polish king Sigismund III, to the Russian throne, and allowed the Polish army into Moscow. The invaders, entering the city, plundered the royal property, cathedrals and churches. The booty was enormous. In the same year, she was sent on 923 carts from Moscow towards Mozhaisk, where the camp of Sigismund III was located, to be transported from there to Poland.
However, the treasures never reached Poland. According to legend, fearing an attack by Russian militias, the Poles decided to bury the loot near the Smolensk road. The recording of the signs by which one can find the right place was made for Sigismund III on a copper plate in Polish and Latin. Since the end of the 17th century, treasure hunters have been trying to find Moscow treasures from this record, secretly copied and translated into Russian. The signs of the buried treasure are quite clear: 650 meters from the churchyard of Nicholas the Wonderworker, which stands on the Khvorostyanka River. In the vicinity of the churchyard there is an embankment, a dry meadow, a "well" with a spring and boulders.
But these signs are too general and are suitable for many places. The Smolensk road itself has repeatedly changed its location, and there are more than a dozen Nikolsky graveyards near it.
It is difficult to assume that the treasures from 923 carts are hidden in one pit - most likely, there were at least ten such caches. Although it is also possible that the treasure was hidden in a small natural dungeon.
Researchers believe that it is necessary to look for the precious loss either near modern Mozhaisk, or in the vicinity of Aprelevka, in the Moscow region, where at that time the monastery of Nicholas the Wonderworker was located, and there was a similar churchyard nearby.
It is curious that searches near the village of Sokolovo, near which the old churchyard of Nicholas the Wonderful was located, led to the discovery of a completely different treasure - a cauldron with copper coins of the 18th century, which are of great historical value.
Marina Mnishek's treasure
Marina Mnishek, daughter of the Polish governor Yuri (Jerzy) Mnishek, was in turn the wife of both royal impostors. In 1606 she was crowned as a Russian queen under the name Maria Yurievna. True, she reigned for only one week - until the death of False Dmitry I and the coming to power of Vasily Shuisky.
Mnishek is also known for the first time she brought to Russia a fork, which she used at her wedding feast in the Kremlin, and this act literally shocked the Russian boyars and clergy. The opponents of False Dmitry immediately concluded: since the tsar and the tsarina eat not with their hands, but with some kind of spear, it means that they are connected with the devil.
After the death of the first and then the second husbands, the Don chieftain Ivan Zarutsky became the patron of the Polish woman. Until June 1612, the lovers were in Kolomna, before leaving which the Cossacks of Zarutsky plundered the city and staged massive arson. There was so much loot that it was not possible to take everything with us. Therefore, according to some information, Zarutsky and Marina decided to hide their wealth 25 miles from Kolomna near the farm of Bogorodsky. The treasures were dumped into a pit, covered with sections of forged gates removed from the Pyatnitskaya tower, and then covered with earth. Most likely, Marina's jewelry was placed there (according to written testimonies of contemporaries, it was only on the day of her wedding with the first impostor that she was presented with a huge gem and a box with truly royal decorations, the fate of which is no longer known).
According to legend, Marina put a terrible spell on this place, and everyone who tried to find the treasure began to feel an overwhelming fear and was in a hurry to leave because of fear of losing his mind.
After the victories of the Russian militia, the lovers were caught - and Marina Mnishek was imprisoned in the Round (Marinkina) tower of the Kolomna Kremlin, where she died about a year later.
Oddly enough, the people also consider the Marinkina Tower as a likely burial place for the treasure. Although it is not very clear how, if imprisoned there, the Polish adventurer would have managed to carry money and jewelry with her - and even in huge quantities.
Nevertheless, every year more and more treasure hunters appear in Kolomna, exploring the Round Tower and the walls of the local Kremlin surrounding it. Although it is possible that they are attracted not only by the treasure itself, but also by the opportunity to experience the thrill: to check exactly how Marina Mnishek's spell works.
A little afterword
Recall that, according to Russian laws, the found treasure is supposed to be divided in half between the finder and the owner of the land or premises where the treasure was found (in our country, in most cases, the state is such an owner). Moreover, we are talking only about hidden material values. If the treasure belongs to monuments of history or culture, then the owner of the land and the treasure hunter for two receive half the value of the treasure in monetary terms - and divide it in half between themselves.
And one more point. A treasure hunter who searched without the permission of the owner of the land or house gets nothing. So, leaving with a secret map and a metal detector in nature, do not forget to ask permission in advance from the administration in charge of this section of the forest or ravine. Because otherwise, any valuable find can simply be taken away on completely legal grounds.
Platon VIKTOROV