Radar and manual search are used to find the library of Ivan the Terrible in Vologda

Vladimir Garmatyuk, Vologda

In November 2016, a number of media published an article: “Search for Liberia (library) of Ivan the Terrible in Vologda. This topic is widely known in Russia and abroad, and therefore naturally aroused interest among people who are not indifferent to history.

The complexity of the search previously consisted in the absence of search instruments (ground penetrating radars) in Vologda and the Vologda region, due to their rather high cost, the need to have the skills of research and subsequent computer processing of the information received. And also due to the lack of sufficiently accurate information about the location of underground structures (cellars) dating back to the construction of a fortress and a new royal stone palace by Ivan the Terrible in the city of Vologda in 1565-1571.

First difficulties and first results

However, despite these difficulties, in May 2017, the search business finally moved forward, and in the city of Vologda, an initiative group of researchers selectively conducted georadar reconnaissance in several urban open areas.

Geomagnetic measurement of underground soils with the Loza-V georadar and subsequent software-computer processing of materials was carried out by Gennady and Zhanna Repin, specialists of the Moscow Historical Club GSD.

The study began on May 18, 2017 from Cathedral Hill. From the place indicated in the materials of the "Geographical Dictionary of the Russian State" of 1801 and according to references in the Diocesan Gazette of 1866 No. 16 of the former Vologda Metropolitan Eugene, set forth in the book of G. K. Lukomsky: "Vologda in its antiquity." 1914 editions, on pages 329,338,339.

Below is an excerpt from p. 329 from the text of the book (the spelling is preserved): “At the same time, when these stone walls were laid, a huge underground building was made on the eastern side in the embankments of the Vologda River in the mountains, and there is a rumor that the intention was over to build the Sovereign's stone palace along the shore, instead of the wooden one in the same place; but the whole building was dilapidated and destroyed; and the stone one was chosen for the correction of the cathedral church.

And also the text from p. 338. “Indeed, there is a cathedral mountain opposite the Vologda Sophia Cathedral over the rocky right bank of the Vologda River and in this mountain there is a stone burial building, but not rounded like a mountain, but equilateral in two rows, stretching along the coast. It was excavated not in the middle of the last century, but in the middle of the 17th century. According to archival notes, it is known that during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Archbishop Simon of Vologda, having dug out the cellars of this building, found silver and jewelry there.

After the departure of Ivan the Terrible in 1571 from Vologda, a wooden church was built near the indicated place, and later in the 18th century it was rebuilt into a stone one (currently the church is called Alexander Nevsky). And judging by the first results of the georadar search, this church closed the entrance to the underground room, which is indicated in the above-mentioned old sources.

The very first pass with a georadar in the above place (8 meters east of the Alexander Nevsky Church in the direction from the Vologda River to Sergei Orlov Street) showed in the middle of the radargram at a depth of 2.5 meters the characteristic shape for the basement section "blue arch" in width 4 meters and a height of about 2 meters. The lower base of the basement (arches) is located at a depth of 4.0 - 4.5 meters. (Fig. 2. Schematic plan of VL-01).

Blue and yellow colors on the radargram plan show the change in the potentials of the electromagnetic field (positive and negative).

On the vertical axis, the chart shows the depth of the studied soil in meters, and on the horizontal axis, the length of the GPR pass in meters (for a better reading of the radargram, the length is multiplied by a factor of - 2).

The second GPR pass 5 meters east of the first one also showed the presence of an identical “arch”, which is typical with the same dimensions and at the same depth (Fig. 3. Schematic plan of VL-02).

For greater coverage of the reconnaissance area, the passage line was shifted towards the Vologda River, therefore the arch on the second radargram was shifted from the center to the end of the scheme. The uniformity of the image on different profiles indicates the coincidence and the presence of the same object - an “arch” measuring 2 by 4 meters (by modern standards, not such a large-scale structure), but quite significant for those times. As you know, not a single coincidence (in this case, profiles of different distances) is not an accident.

In total, 13 georadar passes were made on Cathedral Hill on a section about 100 meters long. Measurements from the western side of the Alexander Nevsky Church towards the monument to the poet Konstantin Batyushkov did not find such an “arched” pattern. Also, it was not recorded in remote areas near the current building of the Vologda Pedagogical Institute.

According to the results of measurements, experts with caution (so as not to be mistaken) made a preliminary conclusion: “Sections of underground objects are recorded that have signs of tunnels and underground passages.” - In this regard, additional geo-prospecting is required. In the language of medicine: "an autopsy will truly show."

In addition to the study of soils on the Cathedral Hill in Vologda, selective single GPR passes were made from the western and northern sides of the St. Sophia Cathedral, as well as on the territory of the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery. The research was carried out to verify the legend among the people about the underground passage from Vologda to the monastery. However, nothing “interesting” was found near St. Sophia Cathedral (with the exception of one “drawing”, but it’s too early to talk about it in the affirmative, since it requires further clarification).

The checked layers of the Vologda earth are saturated with moisture (after the spring melting of snow and from the general high level of groundwater in the city of Vologda). Ancient builders apparently faced the same problem - a high level of groundwater, which did not allow them to build underground structures at great depths, being afraid of being flooded. At the same time, the shallow depth of the royal dungeons simplifies the subsequent work on their discovery.

For further exploration of underground "arches" (according to the general opinion of researchers), at the second stage of the search, it is necessary to drill a small hole with a small drill (the diameter of the drill in the maximum thickness is 4 cm), insert an endoscope with illumination and a video camera into the hole in order to visually establish and shoot the inside the content and dimensions of the underground structure. To perform drilling work, you will need to obtain permission from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Why did Ivan the Terrible hide his books in Vologda?

Let's talk a little about this topic.

About "Liberia" (from the Latin word liber - book), otherwise the library of the Russian tsar of the 16th century Ivan the Terrible, consisting of a legendary collection of documents and books dating back to the time of the Byzantine emperors of Constantinople, there is a lot of information in written sources and on the Internet.

The search for the missing library in the Moscow Kremlin was undertaken by the Russian Tsar Peter I, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and in the years of the USSR, Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. But the result was not achieved. To achieve the goal was not enough: knowledge, desire, will, perseverance and small material resources.

According to the estimated composition of the library's books and experts' estimates, its current cost may be more than one billion dollars.

The library is the property and property of the Russian state, and therefore, when it is discovered, no monetary reward is expected for those who find it.

So, let's start the search, using the information already available.

In total, about 60 versions of its different locations are offered today.

Logical reflection will cut off where it could not be before.

Firstly, the library existed even before Ivan the Terrible, which means that it was located where the corresponding room was previously prepared for it.

Secondly, she was where the king was most of the time.

Thirdly, due to the large number of books, it was impossible to carry all of it with you.

This means that she is in the dungeons of the Moscow Kremlin.

If Ivan the Terrible had decided to move the library somewhere, he would not have taken all of it, but only a small part (one or two chests of books), which he considered the most valuable for himself, and would have kept them with him, where he temporarily lived.

This may be the city of Aleksandrov, Vladimir Region (Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda) or the city of Vologda, the temporary capital of the Russian state in the period 1565 - 1571.

Let's start the search with the "easy" one - from the city of Vologda, where perhaps the most valuable and selected part of the library's books is located, so that later, by pulling the "end of the string" to find everything else.

The history of the Russian city of Vologda, located in the North-West of Russia, under the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible (his life time 1530-1584) attracts modern researchers in connection with the period of construction in Vologda in 1565-1571 of a stone fortress - with the intention move the capital of the state to it from Moscow.

The political events in Russia preceding this decision were as follows.

Russia in the 16th century did not yet have its own outlet to the Baltic Sea.

On August 24, 1553, an expedition of English navigators led by Captain Richard Chancellor, who had a letter from the English monarch to the Russian Tsar and was looking for a trade way to Russia.

Rising (with the help of guides) up the rivers of the Northern Dvina, Sukhona, the British were escorted to the city of Vologda, and then escorted to Moscow by land.

Captain Chancellor had a meeting with Ivan the Terrible and received a letter from the tsar for duty-free trade. In 1556, during the second visit to Russia, together with Chancellor, the first Russian ambassador to England, Joseph Nepeya, was sent to London from Moscow. In 1557, for the first time, trade and diplomatic relations were established between Russia and England.

Merchants, builders, architects, all kinds of craftsmen familiar with the construction of ships, maritime affairs, the search for precious ores and metals, doctors, engineers and other European specialists were invited to Russia from England and arrived.

The northern route from England around Scandinavia was long and far from safe for navigation. Ivan the Terrible understood that in order to develop and trade with Europe, Russia needed an open outlet to the Baltic Sea. The consequence of this in 1554-1557 between Russia and Sweden was a war that did not lead to the desired result.

Then in the spring of 1557, near Ivangorod on the border river Narva, which flows into the Gulf of Finland, Ivan the Terrible attempted to build a shipyard and a port for Russian ships to enter the Baltic Sea and further to Europe through the bay. But this construction was opposed by the Hanseatic League (a group of about 300 port cities in northern Europe), as well as Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As a result, in 1558 Ivan the Terrible began in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia) a protracted "Livonian War" for the mastery of a section of the coast of the Baltic Sea.

At different times, all the European states of the Baltic Sea basin participated in this war to varying degrees. The war with varying success with the occupation and liberation of cities on both sides lasted 25 years until 1583 and ended in nothing. All participants in the war remained in their original positions.

Along with this, in the period from 1552-1572, Russian troops waged non-stop wars on the southern borders of Russia: they advanced on Kazan and Astrakhan on the lower Volga, in 1558 they fought with the Turks near the city of Azov in the Kuban, in 1559 with the Tatars in the Crimea . And at the same time, in 1563 and 1569, they repulsed the oncoming raids of the troops of the Crimean Tatars and Turks on Astrakhan and the almost annual campaigns of the Tatars on Tula, Moscow and Ryazan.

In 1564, the Russian army, advancing on Vilnius, was ambushed by the Lithuanian prince Radziwill and was defeated on the Ulla River near the city of Orsha.

Grozny wanted to make a new capital out of Vologda

Ivan the Terrible blamed several princes and boyars for this defeat and ordered all of them to be executed. In response to this cruelty, in the autumn of 1564, an attempt was made in Moscow by a boyar conspiracy and an armed rebellion against the tsar. Fearing conspirators, on December 4, 1564, Ivan the Terrible, together with his family, took the sovereign's treasury, put his personal library, icons and symbols of royal power in chests, hastily departed from Moscow to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.

Then, in the winter of 1565, he arrived in Vologda with the serious intention of building a new capital in the city and, remembering the British, a transit river port to Europe.

By that time, in addition to English merchants, many other merchants from European countries began to arrive in Vologda. In the suburbs of the city downstream of the Vologda River of the same name (on the left bank), berths were already being built for ships. And in the vicinity of the city, a large foreign settlement "Fryazinovskaya Sloboda" arose. Vologda became one of the largest cities in Muscovy, both in terms of the number of households (more than 1,500) and in terms of trade turnover. Furs and expensive furs came to Vologda from Siberia, merchants from all over Russia came to buy European goods.

With the arrival of Ivan the Terrible in Vologda, events developed as follows.

Foreign architects planned the construction of a stone fortress on the site of the city. Already in the summer of 1565, large-scale earthworks began to be carried out.

Around the future walls of the fortress, deep ditches were dug 6-8 meters deep (about two kilometers long). Earthen ramparts were poured along the perimeter of the walls, a palisade was built from logs (partially ditches and ramparts in Vologda have survived to this day). They dug a deep canal from the Shogrash river to the connection with the Sodema river, more than two kilometers long, in order to fill the fortress moat with the waters of these rivers.

In total, about 10,000 people participated in the construction. The earthworks were mainly Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars. The area along the canal was subsequently nicknamed "Tatar mountains" in Vologda because of the mounds of clay.

Earlier, in 1552, Kazan was conquered, and in 1554, Astrakhan.

The Kazan and Astrakhan khanates - fragments from the once-great "Golden Horde" that had collapsed, became part of Russia and paid tribute to the state treasury in money and "manpower". Well-armed Tatar cavalry detachments fought on the side of Russia in the Livonian War.

On April 28, 1566, in Vologda, after earthworks, they began to build stone and wooden walls of the fortress - about 3 kilometers long (!).

The work was led by the English engineer Humphrey Locke and the Russian specialist in digging secret passages Razmysl Petrov. The fortress being erected on an area of 56 hectares was twice as large as the current Moscow Kremlin.

At the same time, the construction of a large stone St. Sophia Cathedral, as well as a new stone palace of Ivan the Terrible, began. Underground powder cellars, secret passages and stone vaulted cellars were built for various purposes, including the storage of gold and the state treasury.

Construction proceeded quickly.

In 1568, a special English embassy arrived in Vologda from England and settled in the city. According to their description, the new fortress was almost ready.

Ivan the Terrible since 1567 conducted secret correspondence with the English Queen Elizabeth through ambassadors. In case of danger to his life, the king asked Elizabeth to grant him an honorable asylum in England and keep this arrangement secret.

Ivan the Terrible was really afraid of the boyars' conspiracy and reprisals. In response, Elizabeth promised him: "In the event of an unforeseen action in the Muscovite state, a friendly reception in England."

Mutual correspondence continued throughout the years of Ivan the Terrible's life.

Building a new capital in Vologda, Ivan the Terrible intended to leave at any moment by ship along the rivers to the White Sea, and then to England. In this regard, everything valuable that Ivan the Terrible was preparing to take with him, including the library (if he considered it valuable for himself), had to be prepared and located in Vologda, waiting for his day and hour. All the valuables were stored in the stone royal dungeons, since in the first place people were very afraid of the fires destroying everything.

Along with the fortress on the river in Vologda, ships were also built by order of Ivan the Terrible. The English ambassador Jerome Horsey noted in his subsequent notes that large ships were being built in Vologda, on which the tsar, with his family and court, intended to sail to England in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Having suffered a defeat in the Baltic states and not seeing great prospects there, Ivan the Terrible intended to build a northern sea route to Europe from Vologda. To do this, at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River, which flows into the White Sea, he planned to build a fortress.

Which is what was done. In 1583, by his decree, a city was founded around the Arkhangelsk Monastery, which eventually developed into the current northern seaport of Arkhangelsk.

In Vologda in 1565 - 1571 there was also an imperial army of 500 archers. 300 new guns were brought to the fortress under construction. All work on the construction of the fortress and the fleet had to be paid from the treasury. The royal treasury of Ivan the Terrible was kept in Vologda in underground cellars.

But the construction of the Vologda fortress was not destined to be completed ...

Since in the spring of 1571 the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey, dissatisfied with the fact that the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible captured the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, which paid tribute to the Crimea, went to Moscow with a large army. Ivan the Terrible left Vologda to confront the Crimean Tatars. But he couldn't do it. The main forces of the Russian troops at that time were in the Baltic states in the Livonian War. The oprichny internal troops of Ivan the Terrible betrayed the tsar without speaking out against the Tatars.

On May 24, 1571, without encountering serious resistance, the Tatars captured the outskirts of Moscow and set fire to the city. Moscow was completely burned down, so that not a single person remained in the city. As the chronicle writes: “Neither a cat nor a dog remained. Everything burned out, even those who hid from the fire in the cellars, standing knee-deep in water, were not saved.

Soon, Ivan the Terrible executed many oprichnina boyars, liquidated the oprichnina and imposed a ban on the very name of the oprichnina for "deliberately bringing the tsar under the blow of the Tatars."

In 1572, Davlet-Giray again attacked Russia, but this time his entire army was met and defeated 60 kilometers south of Moscow in a battle near the town of Molodi.

The Livonian war continued. Ivan the Terrible in this regard was mostly in the Alexander Sloboda, and later in the Moscow Kremlin.

Together with his sudden death on March 18, 1584, Ivan the Terrible took with him the secret of the existence of "Liberia" and its location.

One hundred years later...

Presumably, around 1664-1659, the enterprising Vologda Archbishop Simon, choosing stones from the foundation of the begun construction of the royal stone palace, dug out the dungeons and reached the royal treasury of Ivan the Terrible. With this money, in 1671-1675, the Vologda stone Kremlin was built in Vologda, which now stands in the center of the city.

In the book “Vologda in its antiquity”, published in 1914, the author G. K. Lukomsky quotes the words of the Vologda Metropolitan Eugene (1808 - 1813): “Indeed, there is a cathedral mountain against the Vologda St. Sophia Cathedral over the rocky right bank of the Vologda River and in this mountain there is a stone burial building, but not rounded like a mountain, but equilateral in two rows, stretching along the shore. It was excavated not in the middle of the last century, but in the middle of the 17th century. According to archival notes, it is known that during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645 - 1676 - ed.), Vologda Archbishop Simon (1664 - 1685 ed. ed.), having dug out the cellars of this building, found silver and jewelry there.

Taking gold, silver and precious jewelry, the entrance to the cellars was covered with earth so that no one else could enter there, and since then no one knows where the underground structures are.

The cellars of the palace of Ivan the Terrible were made of stone and no one, of course, dismantled them underground, and since then there has not been a sufficient labor force to do such a big and useless work. That is, basements - and are underground.

What Archbishop Simon took from the treasury of Ivan the Terrible, what he found there, and what he left is not known. It is possible that he did not touch the royal books, not considering them valuable.

Having studied the available materials on this issue, with a high percentage of probability, already in 2016 I could indicate the place where the very royal underground stone cellars are located. For confirmation, it was necessary to find a georadar and specialists who would shoot. Georadar in the entire Vologda region was not and is not. Therefore, half a year was spent searching for a georadar. Helped in finding the media.

As a result, in May 2017, Gennady and Zhanna Repin, specialists of the Moscow Historical Club "GSD", carried out ground-penetrating radar reconnaissance at the indicated and proposed location. They made a short film about it.

After Ivan the Terrible in 1571 left Vologda forever, after his death, a wooden church was built near the indicated place, which was later rebuilt into a stone church in the 18th century. Currently, the church is called Alexander Nevsky. And apparently, she closed the entrance to the underground room, which is indicated in the "Geographical Dictionary".

Below in the picture is the center of Vologda, the Church of Alexander Nevsky and the place on the bank of the Vologda River, where the geradar survey was made.

According to the results of measurements, experts with caution (so as not to be mistaken) made a preliminary conclusion: “Sections of underground objects are recorded that have signs of tunnels and underground passages.”

The checked layers of the Vologda earth are saturated with spring moisture. Ancient builders apparently faced the same problem - a high level of groundwater, which did not allow them to build underground structures at great depths, being afraid of being flooded. If this is taken into account, then the construction of the brick dungeons of the palace of Ivan the Terrible at a relatively shallow depth (4 - 4.5 m) proceeded as follows. - First, they dug a large trench, then arched (vaulted) low cellars were erected at its bottom, and then they were covered with earth from above. After that, they could do anything at that place - either store lime, brick, or prepare mortar for construction, and so on.

The figure of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible is not so much regional Vologda, but all-Russian.

In this case, the participation of archaeologists from Moscow, the Moscow Institute of Archeology or from the St. Petersburg Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences is desirable.

An appeal has already been sent to the IA RAS and IIMK RAS. Materials of georadar reconnaissance, computer processing, written materials were provided to them, but, unfortunately, there is no answer from them.

Dungeon of the stone palace of Ivan the Terrible in Vologda

When there is no direct and accurate information, then in this case indirect information is analyzed that complements the reflection.

"Opinion is not an argument." In the 4th century BC, the ancient Greek thinker Plato formulated this idea as follows: “What is comprehended with the help of reflection and reasoning is obvious, and there is an eternally identical being; but what is subject to opinion ... arises and perishes, but never really exists.

Where in Vologda was the stone palace of Ivan the Terrible and its dungeons built?

Let's think together, analyze the few facts that we have.

Census monastic books on Vologda (inventory of property) contain later information after 1565 (from the beginning of the construction of the fortress) and do not say anything about the construction site of the stone palace of Ivan the Terrible, if only because the palace was not completed, but because and it is not in the census.

The wooden palace in which Ivan the Terrible lived while in Vologda in 1565-1571 survived until the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (who ruled in Russia in 1613-1645). Later, on the site of the old wooden palace of Ivan the Terrible, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin at the Market was built (on Kazanskaya, and later its name was Torgovaya Square).

“The place where this church was placed was court and under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, there was a wooden court church ... How did the throne in the name of the Intercession of the Virgin, became the main one - through an extension to the palace church or through perestroika, for lack of annals, it is difficult to say” . (From the book of G.K. Lukomsky, 1914 "Vologda in its old days", pp. 60, 216-217).

This information only indicates that Ivan the Terrible built his new stone palace in a different place. - In which one exactly?

As mentioned in 1565 in Vologda, the construction of a fortress began - they built a canal between the rivers Shogrash and Sodemka, and dug ditches along its future walls. One must think that simultaneously with the excavation work, the construction of a new stone palace of Ivan the Terrible was to begin. After all, the erection of walls is always preceded by excavation of the foundation and the digging of a foundation pit for the construction of dungeons. Although the royal palace was not completed, the stone dungeons, without which not a single palace could do, had to be made.

Here is what the Geographical Dictionary of the Russian State says about this, Part I, A-G, Moscow, 1801, Vologda: like a cellar and a rumor circulates that the intention was to build a stone Sovereign's palace over it along the shore , instead of the wooden one in the same place; but the whole building was dilapidated and destroyed; and the stone one was chosen for the correction of the cathedral church. (A copy of the text in the book "Vologda in its old days", p. 329).

And also, here is what was said about this in the journal Severny Vestnik, in the Archeology section, 1804, No. 11. The author, the Vologda doctor Flerov, writes: “In the middle of the last century, they broke the cathedral mountain ... In the inside they found arched caves, separated from the further ones by locked iron doors, so strong that they could not break them. Behind these doors a dull noise was heard, which proves the vastness of the locked part of this dungeon and the movement of air in it.

And this is also mentioned in the journal "Bulletin of Europe", for 1813, No. 11, and later the Vologda "Diocesan Gazette", for 1866, No. 16, repeated the statement of the Vologda Bishop Eugene (1808 - 1813) . “Indeed, there is a cathedral mountain opposite the Vologda Sophia Cathedral over the rocky right bank of the Vologda River and in this mountain there is a stone burial building, but not round like a mountain, but equilateral in two rows, stretching along the coast. It was excavated... in the middle of the 17th century. According to archival notes, it is known that during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645 - 1676 - ed.), Vologda Archbishop Simon (1664 - 1685 ed. ed.), having dug out the cellars of this building, found silver and jewelry there.

These sources are sufficient to assert that the dungeons of the palace of Ivan the Terrible in Vologda exist. The enterprising Vologda Bishop Simon, choosing old stones and bricks from the walls and foundations of the unfinished stone palace of Ivan the Terrible (comparing the dates of the life of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the reign of Bishop Simon, approximately, it turns out in the period from 1664 to 1669), accidentally stumbled upon the dungeons, in which he found royal supplies - "silver and jewelry." Perhaps the very jewels that Ivan the Terrible took out of Moscow and hid in the dungeons of his new palace under construction, preparing to flee with his court to England. And it is also possible that these were the remains of the state treasury, which were set aside to pay the construction workers of the fortress. This was discussed in more detail in the material: “The search for Liberia (library) of Ivan the Terrible in Vologda.

What real value was represented, modestly named by Bishop Eugene - "silver and jewelry" (silver hryvnia bars, jewelry - gold items with precious stones), one can only guess. But one must think that this was the most valuable thing that Ivan the Terrible had, and was preparing to take with him in the calculation that the valuables would be enough for life in England and for his close associates from the royal court.

Here we can note another historical fact.

In Vologda in 1565 - 1571, the digging of canals, ditches, and the construction of dungeons was led by the close tsar, the hero of the capture of Kazan in 1552, who distinguished himself there by constructing secret digs under the walls of the city - Litvin Razmysl Petrov. For his service to the tsar, he was awarded an estate in the Kolomna district near Moscow. But after the construction of the dungeons of the palace, approximately in 1569 - 1570, Razmysl Petrov, among other Vologda builders, was executed by hanging, approximately at the very place where they built the dungeons for the king. The pretext for the execution was the dissatisfaction of the autocrat with the slow progress of work. It is possible that in fact Ivan the Terrible was afraid for the safety of the treasures hidden in the dungeons and eliminated the builders (witnesses), as often happened in history.

Whether the discovery of royal treasures by the Vologda Bishop Simon and the subsequent construction activity in Vologda is somehow connected is not known. However, immediately in 1670-1672, the stone walls of the Vologda Kremlin were built - 267 sazhens long, 5 sazhens high, towers at the corners 6 sazhens (1 sazhen - 213 cm.). New stone churches of the Nativity of Christ (in 1670) and Apostle Andrew the First-Called (in 1672) were built, new “scaly” domes of St. Sophia Cathedral were made (in 1672 - 1674) and more.

In one case, in the year 1669, the monks picked up old stones and bricks, dismantling the foundation and walls of the palace of Ivan the Terrible, and in another, there were enough funds for such a huge construction. Bishop Simon himself about this in 1684 in a petition to the young Tsar Peter I (1672-1725), who was only 12 years old that year, writes modestly that in Vologda in 1671-1672 there was a terrible famine and “ many Orthodox Christians worked in construction because of the bread penniless.”

Bishop Simon in his report did not say a word about finding the treasures of Ivan the Terrible. It is possible that Bishop Simon left part of the low-value property of Ivan the Terrible in the dungeons, it is possible that he himself did not find everything that was there.

The Vologda author of the article, the physician Flerov, who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, describes what his contemporaries saw - "vaulted cellars are separated from further continuation and closed by strong iron doors."

From the history of the construction of the Church of Alexander Nevsky on the Cathedral (on a limestone) mountain, it is known that it was built in stone no later than 1782, and earlier before it there was a wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on this site, which was not here and it was here "on lime ” was moved at the beginning of the 17th century. And when they moved it, they put it ... - just on the finished foundation of the unfinished stone palace of 1571 of Ivan the Terrible.

That is, the wooden church closed the palace of the king.

That is why for a long time in Vologda they could not find the remains of the stone palace under construction and Ivan the Terrible.

In old photographs from the end of the 19th century (Fig. 1), in the foreground is the Church of Alexander Nevsky and an empty space to the left of it.

The same free place on the river bank near this Vologda church is in the second photo of the beginning of the 20th century. .

Subsequently, in the 19th-20th century, no serious prospecting work was carried out in the above place.

We have to rely on chance

Archaeological observations in the 20th century over the laying of electrical cables, communication lines and heating networks, in principle, could not find anything, since all lines were laid no deeper than 0.5 -1.0 meters from the surface. The heating main that runs in that place is located from the surface of the earth at a depth of soil freezing - 1 meter and to the bottom of its concrete box with pipes a maximum of 1.5 meters.

Archaeological excavations in modern times in the historical center of Vologda are not purposeful historical and scientific, but random.

Archaeologists, chasing money, dig not where it is needed, but where some developer in a protected, historical part of the city chooses a place for building a house. And in this regard, according to the law, he is obliged to finance archaeological excavations before starting construction. This is where archaeologists come in. For other really historically interesting and important places, financial resources are needed, which archeology does not have. Accordingly, the results in modern archeology, sharpened by money, are negligible ...

In our case, the georadar search was carried out in Vologda disinterestedly by researchers - specialists of the Moscow Historical Club. They did a great job. All participants of the GPR Vologda-Moscow expedition worked for free. In this intelligence search for those who want to get a profit - there is no money.

On the computer diagram of the cross-section of the earth at the place of the GPR survey, it can be seen that voids in the form of arches on one side (they disappear from the side of the church - they are covered with earth there), and on the other side they are open. The depth of the dungeons is less than 5 m.

Further, to continue the reconnaissance search, it is required to confirm georadar surveys. The optimal, fast, technical option is drilling. Work in Vologda by exploration drilling is only a couple of hours. In the void of the dungeon discovered by the georadar, bullseye drilling is done with a drill of small diameter (4 cm) with cores, a video camera with illumination is passed into the hole, and everything is filmed from the inside.

This visual inspection will allow subsequent excavations to be carried out without undue effort and without producing empty, laborious and useless work. If a blockage in the passage is noticed by the video camera, then it can be dismantled from above in order to go further. Everything should be done not blindly, but meaningfully using modern means. But for the production of drilling, it is required to obtain permission from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (“open sheet”).

In Europe, specialists have long been practicing modern equipment - ground penetrating radars - in archaeological searches. For example, in England, in the vicinity of the world-famous Stonehenge archaeological site, the georadar explored the entire area around (about one square kilometer) and additionally received interesting information. In the early 2000s, researchers from Germany, in order to drill in a narrow channel of the Cheops pyramid in Egypt, designed a crawler-mounted robot specifically for this purpose and drilled a stone slab with it. Then they inserted a video camera into the drilled hole and looked at what was behind the stove. (You can watch movies about all this on the Internet). But here in the archeology of Russia, many, to our common shame (except for a shovel), do not want to know anything new, and therefore - in the old fashioned way, “bast shoes we slurp”.

During the reconnaissance and subsequent earthworks in Vologda, perhaps valuable historical finds will be found in the dungeons of the palace of Ivan the Terrible. For example, it is possible that there will be some personal belongings of Ivan the Terrible, his contemporaries, some surviving items of those times, perhaps the same books from his personal library - the famous "Liberia".

Perhaps the finds will be so valuable that they will become exhibits of the Moscow Historical Museum in the Kremlin or something else.

P. _ S. _

The material has been compiled and the information can be used by researchers to help them complete and receive an “open sheet” at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. About how they searched for dungeons - in June 2017, the film "In Search of the Vologda Dungeons" was shot. Also, in the news program, Vologda correspondent Evgeny Eroshkin released an information piece.