Gagarin legacy
For the first time, historical sources mention the settlement on the Plava River near the then southern borders of the Russian state, which eventually became the city of Plavskoye, in 1563. Since 1762, this settlement has been known as Sergievskoye.
The development of this village was most positively influenced by the fact that it found itself at the intersection of three busy roads at once: the Bolshaya carriageway from Mtsensk to Tula, the new Moscow highway and the branch of the Moscow-Kursk railway.
But these places really flourished when the Gagarin princes settled here.
In Sergievsky (now Plavsk) there was a wooden reserve palace for possible royal visits. By 1766, it had fallen into disrepair and required major repairs. The Collegium of State Economy decided to transfer this palace to Prince S.V. Gagarin for his own establishment, but with the right of the royal family to stay in it during casual trips.
After that, Prince Gagarin built a stone palace in the village of Sergievskoye. Perhaps the palace was built according to the plan of architect I.E. Starov. This is the only explanation for the fact that the palace resembles the Bobrinsky Palace in Bogoroditsk.
The Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh was built nearby. A mechanical clock was installed on the bell tower, brought by the merchant – philanthropist Boris Filippovich Cheremushkin from France worth three and a half thousand gold. The clock struck the hour until 1938, its ringing could be heard for 11 miles
After his father's death, Prince Sergei Sergeyevich Gagarin became the owner of Sergievsky.
Prince Sergei Sergeyevich Gagarin (1795-1852) was an oberhofmeister and director of the Imperial Theaters. He began his service at the College of Foreign Affairs; in 1815, he became a chamber junker, from 1820 he moved to the court department, master of ceremonies and full state councilor, from 1827 he was the expedition manager of the chapter of Russian Orders, in 1828 he was chamberlain, in 1929-1833 he was director of Imperial Theaters, from 1844 he was oberhofmeister, Since 1849, he has been president of the Quartermaster General's office. He was married to Izabella Adamovna Valevskaya (1800-1890) and was buried in the Sergiev Desert near St. Petersburg.
His son– Prince Sergei Sergeyevich Gagarin (1832-1890), was a master of the horse at the imperial court. In 1851, he graduated from the page corps and was commissioned as a cornet in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. During the Crimean War, he served as a lieutenant in the troops guarding the Baltic Coast from 1854, adjutant to Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich from 1855, and retired as a colonel in 1864. Since 1883, he has been a master of the horse of the highest court. In 1860, he was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
He was married to Countess Vera Fyodorovna Palen (1832-1923), the daughter of the chairman of the Kiev Judicial Chamber. He was buried, like his father, in the Sergiev Desert, near the northern capital. S.S. Gagarin had six sisters, about whom very little information has been preserved.
"In 1860-1895, a hospital for villagers (with 45 beds) was built in Sergievsky by S.S. Gagarin and his wife, Princess V.F. Gagarina, which became one of the best private hospitals in the province in the 1890s. The hospital complex included medical buildings, an "infectious barracks", a doctor's house, a gatehouse, a glacier, and various residential and outbuildings. In 1914, the hospital housed a military hospital, which was also opened at the expense of the Gagarin princes. The hospital complex has been preserved and has been used for its intended purpose throughout its existence. Now the state healthcare institution Plavskaya District Hospital named after S.S. Gagarin is located here (named in 2015), S.I. Demidov says in his research. - Prince Gagarin contributed a lot to the development of education in S. Sergievsky – after the construction of buildings at their expense, the following were opened in the village: the House of Needlework, where girls of different classes studied needlework (Shvegorka), and the Black Courtyard, where young men of all classes studied carpentry, turning, and carpentry (1890), men's (1863) and women's (1867) elementary schools schools, a 4-year (one–year) school of the Ministry of Education (1880, now Plavskaya secondary school No. 3), as well as a men's primary school in the village of Rakhmanovo, Krapivensky district. Currently, the buildings of the House of Needlework and the "Black Courtyard" have also been preserved.
Thus, by the end of the 19th century, the village of Sergievskoye was a large settlement in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province.
Plavsk could become Leningrad
Here's what a local old-timer, V.E. Kutsik, recalled about it:
In 1920, we petitioned the provincial executive committee to name Sergievskoye Lenin's city. But they corrected us, saying it's too early to call it a city, build more, raise culture, then we'll see. In 1923, when the districts were organized and Sergievskoye became the district center, one of the teachers suggested naming the village after the Plava River – Plavsky. It has been included in the category of the city of Plavsk since May 1949. Now each of us calls Plavsk a city. But, of course, we did a lot for this in the first decade of Soviet rule. We built the Smychka factory, a dairy, workshops for MTS, and much more."
(The Soviet newspaper "Path to Communism" for November 18, 1966).
Therefore, under certain circumstances Sergievskoye could become Leningrad even before Petrograd.
There have been other attempts at renaming. The Tula Regional State Archive (GATO) has preserved documents telling about another amazing story related to the renaming of Sergievsky. It turns out that in the autumn of 1922, the Bolshevik government tried to transfer the regional center from Krapivna to Sergievskoye and rename it the city of Yasnopolyansk. But unexpectedly, this initiative of the authorities met with a decisive rebuff from the residents. This is evidenced by the act of the commission of the Tula provincial executive Committee, consisting of T.T. Rudnev, Belolipetsky and Gryzlov, who traveled to investigate a protest raised by citizens of the village of Sergievsky in connection with the relocation of the administrative district center from Krapivna to Sergievskoye and the transformation of the latter into a county town called Yasnopolyansk.
Then the authorities retreated, and Sergievskoye did not become Yasnaya Polyana. But a little later, the renaming did take place - to the city of Plavsk.
The key point of the confrontation
In the summer of 2018, during restoration work at the Plavskaya railway station, an interesting memorial plaque was discovered in one of the utility rooms, according to which on October 9, 1919, in Sergievsky (as Plavsk was then called) "at the Treachnaya railway station, I.V. Stalin signed the directive of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front on the creation of a shock group of troops to defeat Denikin's army near Orel."
In Soviet times, this fact of the Civil War was given great importance and was interpreted by historians as evidence of Stalin's brilliant military leadership abilities, who shrewdly guessed the plans of the enemy and managed to start the defeat of the white armies from Sergievsky.
In fact, impartial documents show that before arriving in Sergievskoye, Stalin attended a meeting of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (October 2, 1919), chaired by the People's Commissar of the Armed Forces of the Republic, L. Trotsky, where all the most important decisions were taken to defeat Denikin. Stalin corrected the events, exposing himself as a brilliant strategist and commander.
With his own hand, J.V. Stalin introduced into the text of his own Short biography an assessment of his own military leadership skills shown on the fronts of the Civil War:
"With ingenious foresight, Comrade Stalin deciphered the plans of the enemy and reflected them. The battles in which Comrade Stalin led the Soviet troops embodied outstanding examples of military operational art. "
How far from the truth is this self-glorification!
Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the real role of J.V. Stalin in the Civil War and his real contribution to the successful repulse of the military attack by the White Guards and the interventionists. Therefore, the museum at the Plavsk railway station, which truthfully tells about the difficult times of the struggle for power in Russia, is important and necessary for posterity.
Famous guests
On September 6, 1847, at the postal station in Sergievskoye (Plavsk), Emperor Nicholas I informed Tula Governor N.N. Muravyov of his appointment as Governor-General of Irkutsk and Yenisei and commander of troops in Eastern Siberia. Muravyov then promised the emperor to justify his trust and kept his word. The main achievement of N.N. Muravyov was the return to Russia of the Amur coast, ceded to China in 1689. For this, he was awarded the title of Count of Amur.
On July 27, 1962, N.S. Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, "blessed" Plavsk with his visit. The one who proclaimed to the whole world that "the current generation of Soviet people will live under communism." But he never kept his word.
Instead of communism, Russia returned to capitalism.
Such are the grimaces of history - Plavsk (Sergievskoye) has become a place where a variety of leaders have visited, with different attitudes to word and deed. With different fates and different memories.
Other historical names are associated with Plavskaya zemlya. Here are some of them:
1. Akulinichev Nikolai Pavlovich (1926-1988), member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
2. The Decembrists Bodisko brothers Boris Andreevich (1800-1828), killed in a campaign against the Highlanders, and Mikhail Andreevich (1803-1867), participants in the uprising on Senate Square on December 14, 1825.
3. Boriskin Ivan Dmitrievich (1926-1976), full knight of the Orders of Glory.
4. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gerbel, poet, translator, editor and bibliographer. He was buried in 1882 in the village of Baburino on the banks of the river Plava.
5. Pyotr Ivanovich Ilyukhin, born in 1924, Hero of Socialist Labor, Honored Worker of Agriculture of the RSFSR.
6. Krasikova Alexandra Egorovna, born 1919, village of Krekshino - Hero of Socialist Labor, collective farmer, machine operator, animal breeder.
7. Sukhovo-Kobylin Alexander Vasilyevich (1817-1903), writer and playwright. He lived on the family estate in Kobylinka (now Plavsky district), where he was engaged in economic activities, forestry, and kept a diary. The writer considered Kobylinka to be his small homeland.
8. Salnikov Pyotr Georgievich (1926-2002), member of the Writers' Union of the RSFSR.
9. Ivan Fedorovich Trusov (1903, village of Krasnoe), writer, war correspondent, editor.
10. Evgeny Alekseevich Chudakov (1890-1953), Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), scientist in the field of machine science and automotive engineering.
11. Safonov Boris Feoktistovich (1915-1942), naval pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, colonel of the Guards. He flew 234 sorties and destroyed 30 enemy aircraft.
