Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky. Sights of Yasnaya Polyana
From the ancient princely family of the Volkonskys. He owned the Yasnaya Polyana estate, which passed as a dowry to his daughter Maria when she married Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy.
Lev Tolstoy
Military service
Information about Volkonsky's service is scarce and not always accurate. Recorded, according to the custom of that time, for military service as a child, N.S. Volkonsky at the age of 27 - the captain of the guard, was in the retinue of Catherine II at her meeting with the Austrian Emperor Joseph II in Mogilev, and after 7 years accompanied the empress on her trip across the Crimea. In 1781 he became a colonel, in 1787 - a brigadier, in 1789 - a major general, who was with the army. There are data and family traditions about the participation of Volkonsky during the Russian-Turkish war in the capture of Ochakov (December 6, 1788). In 1793 he had to be ambassador in Berlin, in 1794 - to be with the troops in Lithuania and Poland.
In 1794, for unknown reasons, he retired on leave for two years. With the accession of Paul I, Volkonsky returned to the service, was appointed military governor of Arkhangelsk. In 1799, he retired, taking up the upbringing of his only daughter.
Written testimonies of Leo Tolstoy about his grandfather - Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky
- “My mother lived her childhood partly in Moscow, partly in the countryside with an intelligent, proud and gifted man, my grandfather Volkonsky” (L.N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 351).
- “My grandfather was considered a very strict master, but I never heard stories about his cruelties and punishments, so common at that time ... I heard only praises for the mind, economy and care for the peasants and, in particular, my grandfather’s huge household” ( Tolstoy L. N. t. 34, p. 351).
- “Probably, he had a very subtle aesthetic sense. All his buildings are not only durable and comfortable, but extremely elegant. Such is the park he laid out in front of the house ”(L.N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 352).
- “To continue serving under Paul with his petty nit-picking was too painful for the proud, independent character of the prince. He decided to change his life, retire from the court with his intrigues and take up the upbringing of his daughter - she was already nine years old. The last twenty-two years of his life the prince spent with his daughter in Yasnaya Polyana. Volkonsky was not forgotten in his seclusion ... Even Alexander I, during one of his travels, having passed Yasnaya Polyana, returned to pay a visit to the old prince.
Moscow House of Volkonsky
In Moscow, in 1816, he bought a house, on Vozdvizhenka Street, 9, from Praskovya Grushetskaya, the daughter of Senator and Major General Vasily Vladimirovich Grushetsky (from the noble family of the Grushetskys), who owned these houses since 1774 (the Volkonskys had already been in kinship with the Grushetskys - room steward (1681-1692) and boyar Mikhail Fokich Grushetsky was married to Princess Avdotya Volkonskaya, daughter of the royal steward V.I. Volkonsky). The building belongs to the city estate Kon. XVIII century, rebuilt after the fire of 1812 and representing the first. floor. 19th century a magnificent example of an empire ensemble with symmetrically located gates and outbuildings. Volkonsky owned this house for five years, which is why this house is also known in Moscow as the main house of the estate of the Volkonsky princes, or as the “Bolkonsky house” from War and Peace. In the early 1830s he passed to the Ryumins, the Ryazan landowners. According to a contemporary, the son of the writer M. N. Zagoskin, their "luxurious dinners and dance evenings on Thursdays always attracted a large society." L. N. Tolstoy was well acquainted with this house - he used to be here young at balls, where he courted the charming Princess Praskovya Shcherbatova. “With boredom and drowsiness, I went to the Ryumins, and suddenly it washed over me. Praskovya Shcherbatova charm. It hasn't been fresher for a long time." The princess soon married Count A. S. Uvarov and became one of the most famous figures in Russian archeology.
There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.
L. N. Tolstoy
Yasnaya Polyana is the state museum-estate of Leo Tolstoy. If we follow the opinion of the greatest Russian philosopher and writer, which is given in the epigraph, Yasnaya Polyana is a majestic estate. But the estate is rich not in luxury, from which Lev Nikolayevich diligently fenced himself off all his life, but in simplicity, which is read in all architectural buildings and the arrangement of gardens, the kindness established by Tolstoy on the estate in relation to the peasants, and the truth, carefully stored by the museum workers on the shelves with books writer.
Yasnaya Polyana got its strange name, according to one version, from the vast sunny valley, located at the turn to the estate, according to another - from the Yasenka river, which flows nearby, or the village of Yasenka, standing on it.
L. N. Tolstoy was born in Yasnaya Polyana in 1828, lived most of his life, wrote all his main works in this estate, and here he was buried in 1910.
Even if you have not seen Yasnaya Polyana yet, you can imagine it when reading the description of the Bald Mountains in the novel War and Peace. The prototype of the Bolkonsky estate was Lev Nikolayevich's own estate, as, indeed, the writer's relatives and friends became the prototypes of all the main characters of the epic. You can see their portraits in the house-museum of Leo Tolstoy and, of course, you will immediately recognize from whom the author of "War and Peace" "copied" Ilya Andreevich Rostov, from whom - Natasha Rostova herself, from whom - Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky , from whom - Pierre Bezukhov.
History of Yasnaya Polyana
The family estate of the great Russian writer and philosopher is located in the Shchekino district of the Tula region.
The estate was founded in the 17th century. Initially, it belonged to the Kartsev family: in 1627, boyar Grigory Kartsev and his son Stepan were granted land in the Solovskiy (later Krapivenskiy) district for their faithful service to the tsar. In 1763 Prince S. F. Volkonsky bought Yasnaya Polyana. In 1822, his only heir, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, married Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy - since then, Yasnaya Polyana has been forever attached to the Tolstoy family.
However, the main merit in creating the image of the estate belongs not to Tolstoy at all, but to the grandfather of the great writer, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky. It was he who created the harmonious world of Yasnaya Polyana, which everyone can visit today.
Sights of Yasnaya Polyana
The first architectural creation that every visitor to Yasnaya Polyana encounters is the white entrance turrets. Passing through them, you will see the Great Pond on the left - the largest in size of the three ponds of the estate. From the entrance gate, a preshpekt leads far into the distance - a birch alley, planted even before coming to the Bolkonsky estate - around 1800. If you go straight along the prefecture, you will get to the house of L. N. Tolstoy.
N. S. Volkonsky erected a whole architectural ensemble in a picturesque garden, including a large manor house and two two-story outbuildings on the sides. It was also planned to connect both wings with the main Yasnaya Polyana house with galleries, but this idea never came to fruition.
Main Yasnaya Polyana house
Unfortunately, today in the estate you will not see the main manor house, in which in 1828 Leo Tolstoy was born and spent his childhood. The large Yasnaya Polyana house was sold by the writer himself in 1854 for debts to a neighboring estate. Then the young count had just returned from service in the Caucasus, where he voluntarily went for patriotic reasons in 1852. Tolstoy already then gained popularity as a writer, but the people did not know his hero by sight: he constantly fought somewhere, he had no time for fans, no time for fees.
House-Museum of Leo Tolstoy
In 1856, realizing that war is a senseless evil, Tolstoy returns to his homeland - to Yasnaya Polyana. He had to settle in one of the outbuildings, since there was no longer a house. In 1862, the 34-year-old count, convinced that one can marry, like dying, only once, finally meets his ideal and marries 18-year-old Sofya Andreevna Bers. The Moscow young lady, who, according to contemporaries, has nineteen talents, Tolstoy brings to the village and turns into the wife of his dreams. Sofya Andreevna gave him 13 children, five of whom died before reaching adolescence; all 48 years of her life together, she rewrote the diaries and works of art of Lev Nikolayevich in legible handwriting; led the house, raised children, and in the last years of Tolstoy's life, when he decided to completely retire and literally run away from the nobility, she was in charge of all of Yasnaya Polyana. The successful choice of a wife allowed Lev Nikolaevich to engage in self-improvement all his life, learn 14 foreign languages, become an encyclopedically educated person, and become famous as a talented teacher, philosopher and writer.
It is clear that for such a large family as Tolstoy's, the wing was cramped. It was significantly expanded, and it became completely different from the second wing, it was transformed into a house in which the writer lived for 50 years.
Today, in the house-museum of L. N. Tolstoy, you can see the same atmosphere that was at the time of the writer’s departure from Yasnaya Polyana in 1910. Here are the personal belongings of Lev Nikolaevich, his library, consisting of 22,000 books, portraits of family members, the writer's workplace, where great works of Russian literature were born.
Wing Kuzminsky
The wing of the Kuzminskys is the only one of the three buildings of the ensemble that has managed to retain its original appearance. It was in it from 1859 to 1862 that L. N. Tolstoy's school for peasant children operated. As you know, the count himself gave lessons here, which was nonsense for the then world community. Later, this outbuilding served as a guest house. Most often, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya's sister Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya stayed in it with her family: the name of this guest gave the name to the previously unnamed wing.
Volkonsky House
The Volkonsky House is the oldest building in Yasnaya Polyana. There is an assumption that it was here that the “chief architect” of the estate, the grandfather of L. N. Tolstoy, N. S. Volkonsky, lived. At the time of the writer himself, servants lived in the Volkonsky House, a laundry room and a “black kitchen” were located. In the east wing, Tolstoy's daughter Tatyana organized her art workshop.
Today, the Volkonsky House is an administrative building - the residence of the director of the museum-estate Yasnaya Polyana, the great-great-grandson of the famous writer, V. I. Tolstoy.
Other architectural sights of Yasnaya Polyana
In the estate of L. N. Tolstoy, some outbuildings are still functioning: a stable and a carriage house, an inventory shed, a living room and a barn, a greenhouse. The greenhouse, by the way, was also created under N. S. Volkonsky, and as a girl, L. N. Tolstoy's mother loved to work in it.
Of course, in Yasnaya Polyana there are many ancient buildings that have lost their main purpose today and have simply turned into museum exhibits. These include a coachman's, blacksmith's and carpenter's, a bathhouse on the Middle Pond, a bathhouse, a gazebo-tower, a garden house in which one of the daughters of Leo Tolstoy treated the peasants.
Of particular interest to tourists are the birch bridge, located to the right of the preshpekt, in the ravine, and the writer's favorite bench in Yolochki. The newlyweds are photographed on the bridge, everyone can sit on the bench and meditate, like Lev Nikolayevich did in his time, everyone.
Natural composition of Yasnaya Polyana
Tolstoy's estate still pleases the eye with its picturesque parks, well-groomed gardens and clean forests. Once in Yasnaya Polyana, you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a Russian noble estate of the 19th century.
You won't have a day to walk around all the woodlands of the estate, but a walk through any of them will give you a real pleasure. If you are attracted by the old plantings of the 17th century, go to the Kliny park, if you like silence and solitude, make your way to the Yolochki to the bench of Lev Nikolaevich or to Chepyzh to admire 300-year-old wide oaks. If you are averse to dense forests and prefer to relax under the sun, take a walk in the Oblique Glade or get to the Voronka River, which flows right through the estate.
Old Order - a zone of silence
It makes no sense to describe the numerous gardens and ponds of Yasnaya Polyana, it is better to see them once with your own eyes. However, one manor forest still requires special attention. This is the forest of the Old Order, in which Leo Tolstoy liked to play with his brothers as a child. The older brother Nikolai then came up with a story about a green stick, which was supposedly buried on the bank of a ravine in the Old Order. The children firmly believed that if this wand was found, there would be no more troubles in the world, and for a long time they tried to find it. Shortly before his death, the philosophically minded Leo Tolstoy remembered the parable of his beloved brother about the green stick that brings world happiness. The writer then felt very bad: he was excommunicated for the theory of the earthly origin of Jesus, the wife, on whom all the estate and publishing affairs hung, did not share the ascetic views of her husband, the children also could not follow the example of their father. Then Tolstoy, suffocating in his native home, in a loving noble family, puts on peasant bast shoes and runs away from Yasnaya Polyana to die on the way.
On the eve of the writer's death, heavy thoughts often visited. Anathema also haunted him for a long time: he suffered from the fact that he would never be buried in an Orthodox cemetery next to his relatives. But soon Lev Nikolaevich found solace in his own reflections: he realized that a person is a soul, and it doesn’t matter where after death she dumps her mortal body. Tolstoy bequeathed: “So that no rituals are performed when my body is buried in the ground; a wooden coffin, and whoever wants to, will take or carry the Old Order into the forest, opposite the ravine, in place of the green stick. The last will of Leo Tolstoy was exactly carried out in November 1910.
Family
Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy (1757-1820) - grandfather of Leo Tolstoy
He studied in the Naval Corps, was a midshipman in the Navy, later transferred to the Life Guards, to the Preobrazhensky Regiment, retired in 1793 with the rank of brigadier. He owned estates in the Tula province and a magnificent mansion in Moscow, but preferred to live in Polyany, a vast estate in the Belevsky district. Ilya Andreevich had four children: two sons (the youngest of them, Ilya, died in childhood) and two daughters. “My grandfather Ilya Andreevich ... was ..., as I understand him, a limited person, very soft, cheerful and not only generous, but stupidly winded, and most importantly - trusting. On his estate ... there was a long, unceasing feast, theaters, balls, dinners, skating, ... it ended with the fact that his wife's large estate was so entangled in debt that there was nothing to live on, and the grandfather had to procure ... place of the governor in Kazan ”(L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 359).
Pelageya Nikolaevna Tolstaya (nee Gorchakova, 1762-1838) - wife of I. A. Tolstoy
The family of the princes Gorchakov, descending from Rurik, became famous in the 18th and especially in the 19th century as military leaders, of which one, the second cousin of Pelageya Nikolaevna Alexei Ivanovich Gorchakov, was the minister of war, and the other, Andrei Ivanovich, was a military general. Pelageya Nikolaevna - daughter of Prince. Nikolai Ivanovich Gorchakov - “she was narrow-minded, poorly educated - she, like everyone else then, knew French better than Russian (and this limited her education), and very spoiled - first by her father, then by her husband, and then ... by her son - woman. In addition, as the daughter of the eldest in the family, she was highly respected by all the Gorchakovs ... ”(L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 359).
Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky (1753-1821) - grandfather of Leo Tolstoy
Information about N. S. Volkonsky is not numerous and not always accurate. According to the custom of his time, he was enrolled in military service at the age of 7, served in the guards as a young man, and in 1787, as part of the retinue of Catherine II, accompanied the Empress during her trip to the Crimea. In 1794, for unknown reasons, he retired on leave for two years. With the accession of Paul I, Volkonsky returned to the service, was appointed military governor of Arkhangelsk. In 1799, he retired, taking up the upbringing of his only daughter. “My mother lived her childhood partly in Moscow, partly in the countryside with an intelligent, proud and gifted man, my grandfather Volkonsky” (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 351). “My grandfather was considered a very strict master, but I never heard stories about his cruelties and punishments, so common at that time ... I heard only praises for the mind, economy and care for the peasants and, in particular, my grandfather’s huge household” ( Tolstoy L. N. t. 34, p. 351). In 1784, after the death of his father Sergei Fyodorovich Volkonsky, Nikolai Sergeevich received the Yasnaya Polyana estate into his personal possession and began to arrange it. “Probably, he had a very subtle aesthetic sense. All his buildings are not only durable and comfortable, but extremely elegant. Such is the park he laid out in front of the house ”(L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 352).
Ekaterina Dmitrievna Volkonskaya (nee Trubetskaya, 1749-1792) - wife of N. S. Volkonsky
Ekaterina Dmitrievna is the youngest daughter of Prince Dmitry Yurievich Trubetskoy. The Trubetskoy family belonged to the old Russian aristocracy and was famous for its liberalism and broad cultural interests. The Volkonskys had two daughters: Varenka, who died in childhood, and Maria. Ekaterina Dmitrievna died when her daughter Maria was barely two years old.
Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794 - 1837) - father of Leo Tolstoy
Nikolai Ilyich is the eldest of the four children of gr. I. A. Tolstoy. He had all the qualities of a young man of good taste: he knew French and German excellently, was interested in poetry, music, painting, danced the mazurka and the waltz... campaigns against Napoleon (1813-1814). For distinction in battle, he received the Order of Vladimir, 4th class, and the rank of staff captain. In 1822 he married Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya. After the death of his wife, he lived in the Yasnaya Polyana estate, shortly before his death he moved with his children to Moscow. He died on June 21 in Tula, where he arrived on business, from a "blood stroke", as was said in the medical report. “Father was of medium height, well-built, lively sanguine, with a pleasant face and always sad eyes” (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 355). “... Father never humiliated himself before anyone, did not change his lively, cheerful and often mocking tone. And this self-esteem, which I saw in him, increased my love, my admiration for him ”(L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 357).
Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya (nee Volkonskaya, 1790-1830) - mother of Leo Tolstoy
N. S. Volkonsky made sure that his only daughter received an excellent education. Teachers and governesses taught her German, English, Italian, and the humanities; from childhood, she spoke French like a mother tongue. The exact sciences were taught to her by her father. Maria Nikolaevna devoted a lot of time to music lessons, read a lot. Her diaries testify to her undoubted literary talent, which is confirmed by her other works: poems, novels, literary translations. At the age of 19, Maria Nikolaevna was introduced to the high society of St. Petersburg. By the time she entered the world, she had become a reasonable, lively and independent girl. She was not a beauty, they said that the most remarkable thing about her appearance was her expressive, radiant eyes. Her portraits have not been preserved, only one image of her has come down to us - a silhouette in childhood. “... In my idea of her there is only her spiritual appearance, and everything that I know about her, everything is fine ...” (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 349). On July 9, 1822, Maria Nikolaevna married N.I. Tolstoy. For 8 years of marriage, five children were born in their family: Nikolai, Sergey, Dmitry, Lev and Maria. Six months after the birth of her daughter, Maria Nikolaevna died of "birth fever", as they said then. “She seemed to me such a high, pure, spiritual being that often in the middle period of my life, during the struggle with the temptations that overwhelmed me, I prayed to her soul, asking her to help me, and this prayer always helped me” (Tolstoy L. N 34, p. 354).
Tatyana Alexandrovna Yergolskaya (1792-1874)
Tatyana Alexandrovna, after the death of her mother, was brought up in the family of I. A. Tolstoy. She probably loved Leo Tolstoy's father, but did not marry him so that he could marry the wealthy heiress M. N. Volkonskaya. Both of these generous women became friends, and after the death of Maria Nikolaevna, Tatyana Alexandrovna took care of the orphaned children. “... Tetinka Tatyana Alexandrovna had the greatest influence on my life. This influence was, firstly, in the fact that even as a child she taught me the spiritual pleasure of love ... The second is that she taught me the delights of a leisurely, lonely life ”(Tolstoy L.N. t. 34, p. 366 -367). “She never taught how to live, with words, she never read moralizing, all moral work was processed inside her, and only her deeds came out - and not deeds - there were no deeds, and her whole life, calm, meek , submissive and loving not anxious, admiring itself, but quiet, inconspicuous love ”(Tolstoy L.N. t. 34, p. 368).
Nikolai Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1823-1860) - elder brother of Leo Tolstoy
Of the brothers, Nikolai was more like his mother than others, inherited from her not only character traits: “indifference to the judgments of people and modesty ...” (Tolstoy L.N. vol. 34, p. 350), tolerance for others. “The sharpest expression of a negative attitude towards a person was expressed by a brother with subtle, good-natured humor and the same smile” (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 350). Like his mother, he had an inexhaustible imagination, a gift for telling extraordinary stories. About Nikolai Nikolaevich, I. S. Turgenev said that “he did not have those shortcomings that are needed in order to be a great writer ...” (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 350). It was Nikolai who told his younger brothers “that he has a secret by which, when it is revealed, all people will become happy, there will be no illnesses, no troubles, no one will be angry with anyone and everyone will love each other ... . .. The main secret ... was, as he told us, written by him on a green stick, and this stick was buried by the road, on the edge of the ravine of the Old Order ... ”(L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 386). Nikolai Nikolaevich studied at the mathematical faculty of Moscow University, and in 1844 he graduated from Kazan University. In 1846 he entered the military service, was enrolled in an artillery brigade, sent to the Caucasus. In 1858 he retired with the rank of staff captain, spent time in his small house in Moscow and in Nikolsky-Vyazemsky. In May 1860, he went to Soden, Germany, for treatment, then moved to the south of France, to Gier, where he died of tuberculosis on September 20, 1860 at the age of 37.
Sergei Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1826-1904) - the elder brother of Leo Tolstoy
Sergey Nikolaevich stood out among the brothers with his stateliness and beauty, he was witty, brilliant, gifted in various ways, and easily achieved success in his studies. “I respected Nikolenka, I was a comrade with Mitenka, but I admired Seryozha and imitated him, loved him, wanted to be him. I admired his handsome appearance, his singing—he always sang—his drawing, his gaiety, and especially, oddly enough, his spontaneity, his selfishness... I loved Nikolenka, and I admired Seryozha as something completely alien to me, incomprehensible. It was a human life, very beautiful, but completely incomprehensible to me, mysterious and therefore especially attractive (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, pp. 387-388). S. N. Tolstoy in 1849 graduated from the mathematical faculty of Kazan University, where he was a student of the great Lobachevsky. In 1855-1856 he participated in the war with Turkey, in 1856 he retired with the rank of captain. In 1876-1885. was the leader of the nobility of the Krapivensky district. In 1867, he married M. M. Shishkina, a “state peasant woman from gypsies”, with whom he had been in a civil marriage since 1850. The children of Sergei Nikolaevich: son Grigory, daughters Vera and Varvara were not happy and brought their father more grief than joy . Once a brilliant aristocrat, cheerful, sociable, Sergei Nikolaevich became irritable in old age, lived in solitude on his estate Pirogovo, where he died on August 23, 1904.
Dmitry Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1827-1856) - the elder brother of Leo Tolstoy
“... He grew up imperceptibly, communicating little with people, always, except in moments of anger, quiet, serious, with thoughtful, strict, big brown eyes. He was tall, thin, rather strong... with long, large arms and a stooped back. “He was always serious, thoughtful, pure, resolute, quick-tempered, courageous, and what he did, he brought to the limit of his strength” (Tolstoy L.N. vol. 34, p. 380). In 1847, Dmitry Nikolayevich graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of Kazan University, tried to enter the civil service in St. Petersburg, but finding no support, he entered a modest position in the Kursk province. He owned the Shcherbachevka estate. He died of consumption on January 21, 1856.
Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya (1830-1912) - younger sister of Leo Tolstoy
Maria Nikolaevna studied at the Kazan Rodionov boarding school for noble maidens. I. S. Turgenev, who once had tender feelings for her, wrote about her: “... one of the most attractive creatures that I could only meet! Sweet, smart, simple - I wouldn’t take my eyes off ... - I haven’t seen so much grace, such a touching charm for a long time ”(S. M. Tolstoy“ The Only Sister ”). In 1847 she married c. Valerian Petrovich Tolstoy, her second cousin, with whom she divorced in 1857. She had 4 children from this marriage. In 1861, while traveling abroad, she met Viscount Hector de Maplene, from whom a daughter, Elena Sergeevna, was born from a civil marriage. Returning from abroad, she lived with her brother Sergei Nikolaevich in Pirogov, where a house was built for her. She owned the estate of her mother Pokrovskoye in the Chernsky district of the Tula province. After the premature death of her son Nikolai in 1879, Maria Nikolaevna experienced a period of in-depth religious quest. In 1888 she visited Optina Pustyn, met and talked with Elder Ambrose, in 1889 she settled near Optina Pustyn, in the Shamorda Monastery, and in 1891 she took monastic vows. Having lived in the monastery for 21 years, she left the best memory of herself there.
Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken (1795-1841) - aunt of Leo Tolstoy, guardian of the children of the deceased brother of Nikolai Tolstoy
As a young girl, she shone in the light of St. Petersburg and more than once was the queen of the ball. An unsuccessful marriage to Count Karl Ivanovich Osten-Saken, who suffered from a mental disorder, turned her from a carelessly cheerful, flirtatious girl into a recluse, a “boring praying mantis,” as she called herself. “Auntie... was a truly religious woman. Her favorite pastimes were reading the lives of saints, conversations with strangers, holy fools, monks and nuns... Aunt Aleksandra Ilyinichna was not only outwardly religious, kept fasts, prayed a lot... but she herself lived a truly Christian life, trying to avoid all luxury and services, but trying, as much as possible, to serve others ”(L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 363).
Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya (nee Bers, born August 22, 1844; died November 4, 1919) - wife of Leo Tolstoy
Sofya Andreevna is the second daughter of the Moscow doctor Andrei Evstafievich and Lyubov Alexandrovna Bers. Having received a good home education, in 1861 she passed the exam at Moscow University for the title of a home teacher. In 1862 Sofya Andreevna married Leo Tolstoy. The first years of their married life were the happiest. Tolstoy wrote in his diary after his marriage: “Incredible happiness ... It cannot be that all this ends only in life” (L. N. Tolstoy, vol. 19, p. 154). In 1862, Tolstoy's friend I.P. Borisov remarked about the spouses: “She is a charm, all beautiful. Healthy smart, simple and uncomplicated - she must have a lot of character, that is, her will is in her team. He is in love with her until Sirius. No, the storm in his soul has not yet calmed down - it has calmed down with the honeymoon, and, there, probably, more hurricanes and seas of angry noise will sweep through. These words turned out to be prophetic; in the 1980s and 1990s, as a result of Tolstoy's changing views on life, discord occurred in the family. Sofya Andreevna, who did not share her husband's new ideas, his aspirations to give up property, to live by his own, mainly physical labor, nevertheless perfectly understood to what moral and human height he had risen. In the book “My Life”, Sofya Andreevna wrote: “... He expected from me, my poor, dear husband, that spiritual unity, which was almost impossible with my material life and worries, from which it was impossible and nowhere to escape. I would not have been able to share his spiritual life in words, but to put it into practice, to break it, dragging a whole large family behind me, was unthinkable, and beyond my strength. For many years, Sofya Andreeva remained a faithful assistant to her husband in his affairs: a copyist of manuscripts, a translator, a secretary, and a publisher of his works. Possessing a subtle literary flair, she wrote novels, children's stories, and memoirs. Throughout her life, with short breaks, Sofya Andreevna kept a diary, which is said to be a noticeable and peculiar phenomenon in memoirs and literature about Tolstoy. Her hobbies were music, painting, photography. The departure and death of Tolstoy had a hard effect on Sofya Andreevna, she was deeply unhappy, could not forget that before his death she had not seen her husband in her mind. On November 29, 1910, she wrote in the Diary: “Intolerable anguish, remorse, weakness, pity to the point of suffering for her late husband ... I can’t live.” After the death of Tolstoy, Sofya Andreevna continued her publishing activities, releasing her correspondence with her husband, and completed the publication of his collected works. Sofya Andreevna died on November 4, 1919. Knowing that her role in the life of Leo Tolstoy was ambiguous, she wrote: on weak shoulders, a high appointment - to be the wife of a genius and a great man.
Sergei Lvovich Tolstoy (born June 28, 1863; died December 23, 1947) - son of Leo Tolstoy
In 1872, L. N. Tolstoy, in a letter to A. A. Tolstoy, described his son as follows: “The elder, blond, is not bad. There is something weak and patient in the expression and very meek... Everyone says he looks like my older brother. I'm afraid to believe. It would be too good. The main feature of the brother was not selfishness and not self-sacrifice, but a strict middle .... Seryozha is smart - a mathematical mind and a sensitivity to art, he studies excellently, he is dexterous in jumping, gymnastics; but gauche (clumsy, fr.) and distracted. Sergei Lvovich studied at the Tula gymnasium, in 1881 he entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, at the Department of Natural Sciences, at the same time attended courses at the conservatory, studied music theory, composition and features of Russian song. After graduating from university, he worked in the Tula branch of a peasant bank, then went to St. Petersburg, served in the management of a peasant bank. In 1890 he was appointed Zemstvo head of one of the districts of the Tula province. Sergei Lvovich was married by his first marriage to Maria Konstantinovna Rachinskaya, and by his second marriage to Maria Nikolaevna Zubova. In 1898-1899. engaged in the resettlement of the Doukhobors to Canada. Sergei Lvovich seriously studied music, from 1926 to 1930 he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, known as the author of musical works: “Twenty-seven Scottish Songs”, “Belgian Songs”, “Hindu Songs and Dances”; wrote romances based on poems by Pushkin, Fet, Tyutchev. He was also engaged in literary activities, wrote stories about the life of the people, memoirs, biographical essays. He was one of the founders of the Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, took part in commenting on the Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. He died in 1947 at the age of 84.
Tatyana Lvovna Tolstaya - Sukhotina (born October 4, 1864; died September 21, 1950) - daughter of Leo Tolstoy
In Tatyana Lvovna, the features of the characters of both her parents were combined. Made of flesh and blood, she, like her father, fought against their dominance. She inherited practicality from her mother, the ability to do a variety of things, like her mother, she loved toilets, entertainment, and was not without vanity. Tatyana was equally close to her father and mother. In 1872, L. N. Tolstoy, in a letter to A. A. Tolstoy, gave his daughter the following description: “Tanya is 8 years old. If she were Adam's eldest daughter and there were no children smaller than her, she would be an unfortunate girl. Her best pleasure is to mess with the little ones... her dream is now conscious - to have children... She does not like to work with her mind, but the mechanism of the head is good. She will be a beautiful woman if God gives her a husband...” Tatyana Lvovna showed early ability to draw. In 1881 she entered the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow. Her teachers were V. G. Perov, I. M. Pryanishnikov, L. O. Pasternak. Often she turned to N. N. Ge for guidance, who wrote to her in 1886: “I am glad that you want to do art. Your abilities are great, but know that abilities without love for work will not do anything. In 1899, Tatyana married Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin, they lived in the estate of Sukhotin Kochety. On November 19, 1905, Tatyana Lvovna gave birth to her only daughter, Tanya. From 1914 to 1921 She lived in Yasnaya Polyana. In 1917 - 1923 she was the curator of the museum-estate. In 1923 - 1925. was the director of the Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow. In 1925, together with her daughter, Tatyana Lvovna went abroad, lived in Paris, where Bunin, Morois, Chaliapin, Stravinsky, Alexander Benois and many other representatives of culture and art were her guests. From Paris, she moved to Italy, where she spent the rest of her life.
Ilya Lvovich Tolstoy (born May 22, 1866; died December 11, 1933) - son of Leo Tolstoy
L. N. Tolstoy in 1872, describing his children, prophetically wrote about this son: “Ilya, the third ... Shirokokost, white, ruddy, shining. He studies badly. Always thinks about what he is not told to think about. He invents games himself. Accurate, thrifty, "mine" is very important to him. Hot and violent (impetuous), now to fight; but also gentle and very sensitive. Sensual - loves to eat and lie down calmly ... Everything that is forbidden has charm for him ... Ilya will die if he does not have a strict and beloved leader. The character traits marked by the father became aggravated with age. A talented man, but more fond of pleasure, he could not realize his abilities, was scattered in numerous hobbies. Despite his talent, he did not finish high school. He entered military service in the Sumy Dragoon Regiment. In 1888 he married Sofya Nikolaevna Filosofova. Constantly experiencing financial difficulties, Ilya Lvovich served alternately as an official, then as a bank employee, then as an agent of the Russian social insurance company, then as an agent for the liquidation of private estates. During World War I, he worked for the Red Cross, tried to become a journalist, and in 1915 founded the New Russia newspaper. According to L. N. Tolstoy, Ilya was the most literary gifted of all children. In 1916, Ilya Lvovich left Russia and went to the USA. In America, he married the Theosophist Nadezhda Klimentyevna Katulskaya. He earned his living by lecturing on the work and worldview of Tolstoy, took part in film adaptations of the novels Anna Karenina and Resurrection, which were unsuccessful. Died December 11, 1933 in New Haven (USA).
Lev Lvovich was one of the most talented in the family. L. N. Tolstoy described his three-year-old son as follows: “Pretty: dexterous, pantive, graceful. Every dress sits as it is sewn on it. Everything that others do, he does, and everything is very clever and good. I don't quite understand yet." Passionate, generous, sensitive to beauty and nobility, ambitious, he was a musician, a portrait painter, a sculptor, a writer, and a journalist. Lev Lvovich graduated from the L.I. Polivanov gymnasium, then for a year he studied at the medical faculty of Moscow University, and in 1889 -1892. - on the historical and philological. He served as a private in the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Imperial Family in Tsarskoye Selo. In his youth, Lev Lvovich was passionately fond of his father's ideas, but later his thoughts began to take a direction opposite to Tolstoy's views. Lev Lvovich dreamed of becoming a great writer and moral philosopher, he was seriously engaged in literature. L. N. Tolstoy wrote to his son on November 30, 1890: “You, I think, have what is called talent and ... the ability to see, notice and convey ...”. In 1896, Lev Lvovich married the daughter of a famous Swedish doctor, Dora Westerlund. In 1918 he emigrated and lived in France, Italy and Sweden. In exile, he continued to engage in literature, painting, and sculpture. He perfected his talent as a sculptor under the great Auguste Rodin. Died December 18, 1945 in Sweden.
Maria Lvovna Tolstaya-Obolenskaya (born February 12, 1871; died November 27, 1906) - daughter of Leo Tolstoy
When Maria was two years old, her father wrote about her: “A weak, sickly child. Like milk, white body, curly white hairs; big, strange, blue eyes: strange in deep, serious expression. Very smart and ugly. This will be one of the mysteries. He will suffer, he will search, he will not find anything; but will always seek the most inaccessible. Maria from childhood admired her father. Having read his religious and philosophical works in adolescence, she fully believed in his ideas and became in theory and practice the most consistent sweatshirt of all the writer's children. Clever, tactful, brilliantly knowing several foreign languages, she became her father's best friend and assistant. Following his ideas, she renounced her share of the inheritance during the division of property in 1892, did not go out into the world, worked physically to exhaustion, taught peasant children to read and write, and treated peasant women. Alexandra Lvovna, Maria’s younger sister, wrote about her in her memoirs: “... Everyone loved her, she was affable and sensitive: whomever she met, there was an affectionate word for everyone, and it came out of her not deliberately, but naturally, as if she felt which string to press so that the reverse sounded. On June 2, 1897, Maria Lvovna married Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky, her second cousin. Maria Lvovna died on November 27, 1906 at the age of 35 from pneumonia.
Pyotr Lvovich Tolstoy - son of L. N. Tolstoy
Nikolai Lvovich Tolstoy - son of L. N. Tolstoy
Varvara Lvovna Tolstaya - daughter of Leo Tolstoy
born and died November 1875
Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy (1877-1916) - son of Leo Tolstoy
Andrei Lvovich was loved by many for his kindness, generosity, and nobility. He was an impulsive, passionate man, brave and self-confident. He loved his mother very much, who adored him and forgave him everything. Father, appreciating Andrei's kindness, "the most precious and important quality, which is dearer than anyone else in the world," advised him to apply his ideas for the benefit of the people. Andrei Lvovich did not share the views of his father, believing that if he is a nobleman, then he should enjoy all the privileges and advantages that his position gives him. He studied at the Polivanov gymnasium and the Katkov Lyceum, but did not complete the course. In 1895 he entered the military service as a volunteer. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War with the rank of non-commissioned officer as a mounted orderly. In the war he was wounded, received the St. George Cross for bravery. In 1907, he entered the service of an official for special assignments under the Tula governor. The first marriage was to Olga Konstantinovna Diterichs, the second - to Ekaterina Vasilievna Goryainova, by her first husband Artsimovich. The second wife of Andrei Lvovich left her husband, the governor, and six children for him. Tolstoy resolutely disapproved of his son's way of life, but said of him: "I don't want to love him, but I love him because he is genuine and doesn't want to seem different." Andrei Lvovich died on February 24, 1916 in Petrograd from a general blood poisoning.
Mikhail Lvovich Tolstoy (1879-1944) - son of Leo Tolstoy
Mikhail Lvovich was a calm, healthy, cheerful child, full of life and hating quarrels. He studied at the Polivanov gymnasium, then at the Katkov Lyceum, but did not show any inclination for learning. Like his brothers and sisters, he was musically gifted, learned to masterfully play the balalaika, harmonica, piano, composed romances, and learned to play the violin. Everyone loved him for his spontaneity and humor. In 1899 served as a volunteer in the 3rd Sumy Dragoon Regiment, in 1900. promoted to lieutenant of the reserve army cavalry. In 1901 he married Alexandra Vladimirovna Glebova. During the First World War, he served in the 2nd Dagestan Regiment of the Caucasian Native Cavalry Division. In 1914-1917. participated in the battles on the South-Western Front. He was presented for awarding the Order of St. Anne 4th degree. In 1920 emigrated, lived in Turkey, Yugoslavia, France and Morocco. In Morocco, like all his relatives, he took up the pen. Died October 19, 1944 in Morocco.
Alexei Lvovich Tolstoy - son of Leo Tolstoy
Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya (1884-1979) - daughter of Leo Tolstoy
Alexandra Lvovna received an excellent education at home. She was a difficult child. Her mentors were governesses and older sisters, who worked with her more than Sofya Andreevna. Her father had little contact with her as a child. When Alexandra was 16 years old, she became closer to her father. Since then, she devoted her whole life to him. She performed secretarial work, mastered shorthand, typewriting. According to Tolstoy's will, Alexandra Lvovna received copyright for her father's literary heritage. During the First World War, she graduated from the sisters of mercy courses and voluntarily went to the front, served on the Turkish and Northwestern fronts. For participation in the war, for inexhaustible energy, for her organizational skills, for dedication and courage, she was awarded three St. George's crosses and awarded the rank of colonel. After the war, Alexandra Lvovna devoted herself to the preservation and dissemination of her father's spiritual heritage, took part in the publication of the Posthumous Artistic Works of L. N. Tolstoy, the preparation of the Complete Works. In 1920, she was arrested by the GPU and sentenced to three years in a camp at the Novospassky Monastery. Thanks to the petition of the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana, she was released in 1921, she returned to her native estate, and after the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, she became the curator of the museum. Over the next 8 years, she organized a cultural and educational center in Yasnaya Polyana, opened a school, a hospital, and a pharmacy. In 1924, slanderous articles about Alexandra Lvovna began to appear in the press, in which she was accused of misconduct. In 1929, she decided to leave Russia, went to Japan, then to the USA. Abroad, she gave lectures on Leo Tolstoy at many universities, in 1939 she organized and headed the Tolstoy Foundation for Assistance to All Russian Refugees, whose branches are now located in many countries. In 1941, she became an American citizen. Her philanthropic work has received worldwide recognition. Alexandra Lvovna died on September 26, 1979 at Valley Cottage, New York.
Ivan Lvovich Tolstoy (born March 31, 1888, died February 23, 1895) - son of Leo Tolstoy
The last son of Leo Tolstoy was unusually similar to his father. He had grey-blue eyes that saw and understood more than he could put into words. Tolstoy believed that this son would continue his work on earth after his death, the work of love for people. The hopes of the parents did not come true. Vanechka (as he was most often called in the family) died in a day and a half in Moscow from fulminant scarlet fever when he was 7 years old.
In 1928, in connection with the liquidation of the cemetery of the Spas-Androniev Monastery in Moscow, the ashes of N.S. Volkonsky and the monument were transferred to the Kochakovsky cemetery.
"Prince N.S. Volkonsky should interest us not only because he is the grandfather of L.N. Tolstoy and that his grandson inherited some of his character traits, but also as one of the prominent and typical representatives of his era and his environment, as a prototype of the book Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky in "War and Peace" and as the former owner of Yasnaya Polyana, where he planned the estate, planted a park and erected buildings that still exist, "- this is how the son of the writer Sergei Lvovich Tolstoy, the author, began his story about N.S. Volkonsky published in the late 20s of the book "Mother and grandfather of L.N. Tolstoy".
The coat of arms of the Volkonsky family included the coats of arms of the Kyiv and Chernigov princes, which was a sign of an ancient and noble family. The surname is formed from the name of the Tula-Kaluga river Volkona, at the location of the Volkonsky estates. The first of the princes Volkonsky - Ivan Yurievich - died in 1380 on the Kulikovo Field. Many of his descendants became famous in the military field.
Recorded, according to the custom of that time, for military service as a child, N.S. Volkonsky at the age of 27 - captain of the guard, was in the retinue of Catherine II at her meeting with the Austrian emperor Joseph II in Mogilev, and after 7 years accompanied the empress on her trip across the Crimea. In 1781 he became a colonel, in 1787 - a brigadier, in 1789 - a major general, who was with the army. There are data and family traditions about the participation of Volkonsky during the Russian-Turkish war in the capture of Ochakov (December 6, 1788). In 1793 he had to be ambassador in Berlin, in 1794 - to be with the troops in Lithuania and Poland.
He had a chance to go through a two-year vacation, which happened, according to Leo Tolstoy, because of a quarrel with the all-powerful Potemkin. Under Pavel, he, the chief of the Azov Musketeer Regiment, was dismissed from service for a year and a half, and then accepted into the service with a promotion (lieutenant general) and immediately, on December 27, 1798, he was appointed military governor of Arkhangelsk.
Biographer L.N. Tolstoy N.N. Gusev notes on this occasion: “Only a military general could be appointed as a military governor in this city, which, obviously, Volkonsky seemed to Pavel ... having received information about the alleged landing of the French in Arkhangelsk, Pavel ... appointed Volkonsky as the commander of a special corps left for this occasion ... "The name of one of the remote farms of Volkonsky, Grumant, which still exists, is transferred to the Yasnaya Polyana land, transferred to the Yasnaya Polyana land, which corresponds to the ancient name of the Svalbard archipelago.
Regarding Volkonsky's interference in one of the minor civil cases, he received a reprimand from the tsar.
November 23, 1799 was followed by Paul's decree on dismissal from service at the request of the General of Infantry, Prince N.S. Volkonsky. The writer's grandson S.M. Tolstoy wrote about this in his book Tolstoy and Tolstoy: intrigues and raise her daughter - she was already nine years old. The last twenty-two years of his life, the prince spent with his daughter in Yasnaya Polyana. Volkonsky was not forgotten in his solitude ... Even Alexander I, during one of his travels, passing by Yasnaya Polyana, returned to pay a visit to the old prince."
N.S. Volkonsky was married to Ekaterina Dmitrievna Trubetskoy, a representative of an old family with aristocratic traditions and broad cultural interests. One of Volkonsky's daughters died in early childhood. The second daughter, Maria, the future mother of Leo Tolstoy, was only two years old when her mother died. The childhood of M.N. Volkonskaya passed in Moscow, where at that time the Volkonskys also owned houses No. 9 and No. 11 on Vozdvizhenka.
Yasnaya Polyana was acquired in 1763 by the father of N.S. Volkonsky, Sergei Fedorovich, from the landowner Pozdeev, a descendant of the voevodas, then she passed to N.S. Volkonsky, as the youngest son in the family. The image of his grandfather at that time, probably close to the real one, is reproduced by L.N. his beard was blue, clean-shaven. The cambric linen of the cuffs and shirt-front was of extraordinary cleanliness. He held himself straight, carried his head high, and black eyes from under thick, black eyebrows looked proudly and calmly over a curved, dry nose. Thin lips were folded firmly. " This is exactly how he is depicted in two of his portraits preserved in Yasnaya Polyana, in old age and in his younger years. The image of N.S. Volkonsky formed the basis of the image of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky in the novel "War and Peace".
Features of the Yasnaya Polyana way of life provided material for describing the Lysyye Gory estate. "He was strict, but merciful," they say in a sketch for a novel about a gentleman in this village. "The peasants of the Bald Mountains ... worked merrily, on good horses and had an appearance of prosperity greater than one can now meet." "In "Memoirs" (1903), Tolstoy adds: "... I heard only praises for the mind, economy and care for the peasants and, in particular, the huge household of my grandfather." We also read in the same place: "All of his buildings are not only durable and comfortable but extremely graceful. Such is the park he laid out in front of the house. "The description of the prince's walk to the sounds of the serf orchestra, reproduced in the sketches for War and Peace, goes back to the real moments of the Yasnaya Polyana estate history. Tolstoy wrote about the same in his Memoirs:" three girths of an elm that grew in a wedge of a linden alley and around which benches and music stands were made for musicians.
The buildings of that time include the famous entrance turrets of the estate, on which the gates were hung, and two identical stone two-story outbuildings at that time, of which the right one will become the home of L.N. for a long time. Tolstoy. Between the outbuildings, the construction of a large house was begun, completed under the writer's father, but then sold for export. The beautiful building, occupied by Tolstoy's grandfather as a carpet factory - now called "Volkonsky's house", may have been a residential manor house in earlier times.
“N.S. Volkonsky showed exceptional concern for giving an excellent upbringing to his daughter,” writes Tolstoy’s grandson S.M. Tolstoy in the above-mentioned book. “Teachers and governesses taught her German, English, Italian and the humanities. French she spoke the language like a mother tongue, which was common in noble families of that time.But Marie also knew Russian well, which the girls of her circle could not boast of.Finally, with regard to mathematics and other exact sciences, they were taught to their daughter by Prince Volkonsky himself ... The education system, developed by Volkonsky, also provided for the study of the basics of agriculture, necessary for the management of such an estate as Yasnaya Polyana. I happened to look through Maria Nikolaevna's study notebooks, they are kept in the Manuscripts Department of the Tolstoy Museum. Detailed agronomic recommendations are written in neat handwriting on antique paper; in other notebooks - information on astronomy, geography, history ...
By the time of her entry into the world, Princess Maria Volkonskaya had become a reasonable, lively and independent girl.
There is no information about the circumstances of the death of the prince, who died in Moscow. He was buried in the Androniev Monastery. A connoisseur of Yasnaya Polyana antiquity, the oldest employee of the L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Yasnaya Polyana N.P. Puzin writes in his book "The Kochakovsky Necropolis", referring to the cemetery at the Kochakovsky Church near Yasnaya Polyana: "On the east side, between the crypt and the fence, there is the grave of Tolstoy's maternal grandfather, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky.
In 1928, in connection with the liquidation of the cemetery of the Spas-Androniev Monastery in Moscow, the ashes of N.S. Volkonsky and the monument were transferred to the Kochakovsky cemetery.
His tombstone is a red marble stele rounded at the top, on which is carved in early 19th century script:
"The General of Infantry and Cavalier Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky was born on March 30, 1753; died on February 3, 1821."
In the Yasnaya Polyana Museum for many years, a story has been heard every day about Leo Tolstoy's grandfather, the builder of the estate, a man whom the writer called in "Memoirs" "smart, proud, gifted."
