Abandoned villages of the Rostov region. In the vastness of the great country we are greeted by the peace of the grave. Where is my farm

A five-story building consisting of three connected buildings. It is 70 meters long and 15 wide. Most of the windows on the first floor are boarded up, the main entrance is blocked with bricks, but you can enter from the stairs, of which there are two in the building. On the ground floor, in many rooms, drawings of various Soviet themes from space to the traditions of Russian peoples are painted on the entire wall. Behind the building there is a cell tower for most of the city's operators...

In accordance with the plan for the development of the coal industry, mine No. 142 was founded in 1926, and in 1929 - mine No. 142-bis, which was put into operation in August 1931. In 1935, mine No. 142-bis was renamed the Kirov mine. Closed in 1995. On the territory there is an administrative and amenity complex for the mine, a health center, a VGSCH, a lamp room, a laundress, a bathhouse and much more. Not far from this complex of buildings there is...

An old Soviet store that has been empty for several decades. The door on the side is not closed. There is almost nothing inside, except for the old Soviet wooden section of the counter and four chairs held together. The glass is intact because the building is being watched by locals due to the fact that the store is located almost in the center of the village.

The three-story administrative building of the mine administration has two wings and a U-shape. Abandoned before 2013 and bought up by tenants. The central and largest building of the building is abandoned and admission is free at the end of summer 2018. The building, despite the devastation, still has Soviet interior attributes inside. The assembly hall is empty, but on one of the walls Lenin and scenes from the times of industrialization of the USSR are depicted. On the third floor there is access to two...

The Soviet four-story dormitory for miners is 40 meters long and about 14 meters wide. On the ground floor there are shops and a hairdresser. In the backyard, almost all window openings are blocked with brickwork or boarded up. The floors on the floors are wooden and have been removed in some places. On each floor, a central corridor runs the length of the entire building. The rooms are empty and littered in places. You can get inside through the second floor. The roof can be accessed through...

A two-story building 30 meters long and 12 wide with an oblong porch and an observation balcony on it. Almost all the glass has been broken, the lintel walls are lying on the floor, and the wooden floors have been removed. Abandoned at least in the 2000s.

The remains of the former Druzhba children's recreation center, which was closed approximately in the late 1990s. The remains of buildings remain on the territory. On the territory there are houses for pioneers, the remains of a canteen, several gazebos, small remains of a sports ground, and someone’s lovingly planted vegetable garden on the outskirts. Until recently, it was empty, paintball games were held on the territory, now the territory is surrounded by barbed wire along the outer perimeter, and with a fence along the inner...

There is no point in hiding that abandoned villages and other populated areas are the object of research for many people who are passionate about treasure hunting (and not only). There is a place for those who like attic searching to roam, to “ring through” the basements of abandoned houses, to explore wells, and much more. etc. Of course, the likelihood that your colleagues or local residents have visited this locality before you is very high, but, nevertheless, there are no “knocked out places”.

Reasons that lead to the desertion of villages

Disappeared settlements are geographical objects that today have completely ceased to exist due to military actions, man-made and natural disasters, and time. In place of such points one can now see a forest, a field, a pond, anything, but not standing abandoned houses. This category of objects is also of interest to treasure hunters, but we are not talking about them now.

Abandoned villages precisely belong to the category of abandoned settlements, i.e. towns, villages, hamlets, etc., abandoned by residents. Unlike the disappeared settlements, the abandoned ones for the most part retain their architectural appearance, buildings and infrastructure, i.e. are in a state close to the time when the settlement was abandoned. So people left, why? A decline in economic activity, which we can see now, as people from villages tend to move to the city; wars; disasters of various types (Chernobyl and its environs); other conditions that make living in a given region inconvenient and unprofitable.

How to find abandoned villages?

Today, one of the most accessible and fairly informative sources is Internet:

The second quite popular and accessible source- These are ordinary topographic maps. It would seem, how can they be useful? Yes, very simple. Firstly, both tracts and uninhabited villages are already marked on fairly well-known maps of the Gentstab. It is important to understand one thing here: a tract is not only an abandoned settlement, but simply any part of the area that is different from other areas of the surrounding area. And yet, on the site of the tract there may not be any village for a long time, but that’s okay, walk around with a metal detector among the holes, collect metal garbage, and then you’ll get lucky. Not everything is simple with non-residential villages either. They may not be completely uninhabited, but may be used, say, as summer cottages, or may be occupied illegally. In this case, I don’t see any point in doing anything, no one needs problems with the law, and the local population can be quite aggressive.

If you compare the same map of the General Staff and a more modern atlas, you can notice some differences. For example, there was a village in the forest on the General Staff, a road led to it, and suddenly the road disappeared on a more modern map; most likely, the residents left the village and began to bother with road repairs, etc.

The third source is local newspapers, local people, local museums. Communicate more with the natives, there will always be interesting topics for conversation, and in between, you can ask about the historical past of this region. What can locals tell you about? Yes, a lot of things, the location of the estate, the manor’s pond, where there are abandoned houses or even abandoned villages, etc.

Local media is also a fairly informative source. Moreover, now even the most provincial newspapers are trying to acquire their own website, where they diligently post individual notes or even entire archives. Journalists travel a lot on their business and interview, including old-timers, who like to mention various interesting facts during their stories.

Don’t hesitate to visit provincial local history museums. Not only are their exhibitions often interesting, but a museum employee or guide can also tell you a lot of interesting things.

It turns out that it is a difficult matter to “count” populated areas (villages, hamlets, hamlets) that have disappeared in the whirlpool of time. The main problem is to decide from what point in time to start counting. As a source (reference point) I will take the 1941 edition of the Red Army General Staff map at a scale of 1:100,000, that is, 1 cm - 1 km. On it I will highlight those settlements that currently do not exist. I repeat once again - all this is to help researchers of this interesting topic. A topic that will always excite the minds of researchers.

It’s not for nothing that the classic once said:

Two feelings are wonderfully close to us,
The heart finds food in them:
Love for the native ashes,
Love for fathers' coffins...

I’ll start with the rural settlement of Pervomaisky, which is close to me. As a child, I often had to visit Lebedinka: fishing, and just went with my father to visit friends. So I heard about Plestso, and about Perekrestov, and about Tamilyanka, where the church still stands. Although the farms themselves disappeared before I was born.

We called the place where the Plestso farm was located - Plestsy. There, at the melon patch, the weather-beaten guys and I feasted on delicious “kavuns” and melons. I admit, we “extracted” them in a not very legal way.

In my childhood, Perekrestov was, first of all, a pond of the same name. I learned much later that the pond got its name from the disappeared farm.

I have highlighted above the map:

1. Farm Friedrich Engels.

2. Kopani farm.

3. Khutor Alekseevka.

4. Popasny farm (Mikhail Gribanov, author of “Father’s Stories about the War”) was born in this farm.

5. Khutor Perekrestov.

6. Plestso farm.

7. Tamilyanka Farm.

8. Pokrovka farm.

I will continue about the Lipchansky rural settlement, which is no less close to me. There are so many trails and field paths traveled here in childhood, all these places are very familiar to me! You drive and wind your way along a field road among endless collective farm fields. My parents sent me to cut grass for the livestock. And you see ahead a place overgrown with weeds: the remains of foundations, cellar failures, wild cherries, apple trees, pears.

People once lived here!

For some reason, you always involuntarily fall silent in such places.

Several years ago, together with the search guys, we went to the place where the Teplinka farm was located before the war. And until the mid-1990s - MTF of the Vostok state farm. We were looking for a burial reported by a pensioner from the Varvarovka village. Grandmother, being in her old age, could not personally show this place, but she told “on her fingers” what was there and where. Unfortunately, we were unable to find anything, only everyone suffered with the thorny “budyaks” with which the site of the former Teplinka farm was overgrown. Among our finds is a part from an Italian gas mask, and several shell casings.

Marked above on the map:

1. farm No. 2 of state farm No. 106 (former 2nd department of the Vostok state farm. Residents of the 2nd farm moved to the Varvarovka farm in the 1970s).

3. Teplinka Farm.

4. Novo-Lipchanka farm.

5. Sarmin farm.

6. Novo-Mikhailovka farm (in place of this farm on older maps the Zhokhov (Zhokhovka) farm is indicated)

7. Novo-Pokrovka farm.

In the area south and west of the village of Shurinovka, the map shows farmsteads unknown to me; perhaps they were located in the neighboring Kantemirovsky district:

8. Novo-Bugaevka farm.

9. Novo-Alexandrovka farm.

10. Zaikin Farm.

But the Novaya Derevnya farmstead indicated on the map still exists. Now Novaya Derevnya is one of the streets in the village of Shurinovka. Although only a few people live on Novaya Dereva now.

Several families also live on the Chumakovka farmstead (locally called Chumachivka). But on modern maps this name no longer exists. There is a village called Lipchanka.

By the way, for lovers of local place names! The village of Lipchanka is scattered widely along both banks of the Left Bogucharka River. I know the following self-names of parts of the village: in addition to the mentioned Chumachivka, these are Kruglivka and “Progress”, as well as Popovka (also a disappeared farm).

And on this map are indicated:

1. Khutor Neledovo.

2. Khutor Lofitsky.

3. Khutor Liman.

4. Nikolenko farm (now Rostov region).

Medovskoe rural settlement. My maternal ancestors lived in the village of Medovo. And according to my mother’s stories, all these farms were always on my lips. And when cards like these became available, they were, one might say, in plain sight.

1. Savkino farm.

2. Khutor Novyi Byt.

3. Zhelobok Farm.

4. Khutor Volny (established in the 1920s)

5. Klenovy Farm (established in the 1920s; old-timers heard the name Klinovy).

6. Sukhoi Log farm.

7. 3rd department of the Bogucharsky state farm.

8. Khlebny Farm (the site of fierce battles on December 20-21, 1942 with Italian-German units breaking out of encirclement).

9. A settlement designated as a “state farm farm” (not far from Vasilyevsky Pond).

1. Badgers (Bursakov).

2. Kozlov (Kozlovka).

Kantemirovsky farms Dmitrovka and Grigorievka.

The map below shows:

1. Krasno-Orekhovoe farm (the farm was destroyed during the Second World War. During the battles it changed hands several times. Territory of the Verkhnemamonsky district)

2. Solontsy farm (also badly damaged during the fighting)

3. Olkhovy Khutor (on Italian maps it is designated as Kuselkin).

4. Khutor Naly (Steppe).

Khutor Ogolev on the map below.

Here, it seems, are all the farms indicated on the maps of the Great Patriotic War. If we take, for example, Schubert’s maps, the number of disappeared farms will increase by an order of magnitude. But this is a topic for another study.

And most importantly, unfortunately in the Bogucharsky district there are settlements that may soon join this sad row of forgotten, missing farms. What and who is to blame? The leading comrades from the district and rural administrations will probably say that everyone is to blame except them: the general situation in the country, the difficult legacy of the “daring” 1990s, the very population of these farms, these grandparents who simply have nowhere to leave.

Karazeevo, Kravtsovo, Dubovikovo, Novo-Nikolskoye, Batovka, Maryevka... How long do they have left?

Yards overgrown with weeds, slanting fences, houses with boarded up windows - alas, there are many farms and villages with such sad landscapes on the Don. According to the agricultural census, in 2006 there were 36 thousand abandoned estates in the Rostov region.

- And every year there are more and more of them. In 407 settlements of the Rostov region (18% of the total) less than 50 people live. These are mostly pensioners. There are no young people there. The village is degrading, people are literally fleeing to the cities. If the policy of the regional authorities does not change, the process of village extinction will only gain momentum, says Alexander RODIN, president of the Association of Peasant Farms, Cooperatives and Other Small Producers (AKKOR) of the Rostov Region.

Where is my farm?

- Alexander Maksimovich, why is the Don outback emptying?

- In fact, this mechanism was launched more than a dozen years ago. The region became an administrative entity of Russia in 1776, and not in 1937, as we celebrate. In 1913, according to the last pre-revolutionary census, there were twice as many villages and hamlets in the region as there are now. In the 1930s, collectivization in agriculture and industrialization of the country began, taking the best peasants from the villages. Then the people went to the great construction sites of communism. Until a certain point, the outflow of the population was compensated by the birth rate, because large families have long lived in the countryside. And in the 70s the situation changed radically: the birth rate became less than the population decline. This situation happened throughout the country. In connection with this, in 1982 they adopted a program for the industrialization of agriculture: they created large complexes, but they did not provide an increase in the number of livestock, because In small farms, the livestock was declining and the rural population was leaving. Pretty much the same thing is happening now. Then, in the 90s, in order to revive the Russian village, land and fixed assets were transferred to the people, and this brought good results: it was planned to create 90 thousand farms in 5 years, and in 3 years 270 thousand of them appeared, i.e. in three times more. But then the agricultural lobby of large farms gradually turned the situation around. And in 2000, the course towards supporting large agricultural holdings and complexes began again. We see today what this led to.

The statistics are inexorable: if in the period from 1989 to 2002 the number of villagers decreased by 30 thousand people, then by 2010 by another 75 thousand. And this is due primarily to the fact that all resources are concentrated on creating large complexes.

In developed countries they also exist, but they are structured differently. Let's say a poultry farm is engaged in incubation and processing. Those. the chickens are given to small farmers who raise them and sell them back. This is safer from a sanitary point of view, and at the same time farmers are busy. And the question does not arise about the cost of feed, etc. Why don’t we do the same? After all, the owner will receive no less income, and support funds will be used more efficiently. We now have large complexes asking for large soft loans and receiving subsidies. But farmers don’t see this money.

- But today the state invests huge sums in the development of villages: installing gas, building roads...

- Today, mainly villages are developing near large cities - Rostov, Aksay, Taganrog, Azov, Volgodonsk. But this money does not reach dying farms. The position of the federal authorities has been stated repeatedly and absolutely precisely: it is necessary to preserve all existing settlements in Russia. In fact, the situation is simply absurd: the President says one thing, but something completely different is happening on the ground. Take, for example, the regional program for rural social development for 2014 - 2020: it says practically not a word about farming! Although the country's mainstay in rural revival is farming. And those start-up family farms that are now being created and seem to be supported do not solve the problem, since they are not focused on reviving the village. Why? We have talked about this more than once: we need to develop farming in populated areas that are disappearing or have already disappeared, and restore the infrastructure there. Therefore, every family must be supported locally. And make sure that people return to the village.

Flounder as you wish...

-Who will you lure from the city to the village today?

- In fact, not everyone likes city life. We are an agricultural country. And all third-generation city dwellers were peasants. That is why the people are drawn to the earth by the call of blood, as they say. I know a lot of people who would gladly move to the village if the conditions were right. Moreover, there are examples. In our Chertkovsky district, a farm disappeared in 1963. And then one family arrived there. Today the farm lives again: there is already a second generation of farmers there. One owner has two children, the other three. Young people are busy farming and don’t want to go to the city! And there are also many such enthusiasts.

I was on the farm of an Irishman, a professor at Dublin University, a world-famous mathematician. The farm does not bring him any income, but it is his family business. Imagine: a man comes home, takes off his jacket, puts on boots and starts cleaning up manure. And the state supports this interest in every possible way so that people remain on the earth.

- Why shouldn’t the state, for example, buy up abandoned houses and sell them to those who want them at a discounted price? Let's say: we will give you cheap land, and you, be kind, take care of the farm, raise the village...

- The idea is good, but here you also need to do it wisely. For example, in the Oryol region in the 80s they adopted the “100 Endangered Farms” program. They even built new houses there for budget money. The people first went there, and then suddenly fled. Imagine: they give you a house that seems ready, but it’s not finished. It's the same story with agricultural buildings. And all this on credit for 40 years. Anyone will think: what the hell is this clamp for? In fact, the program failed.

Farm work is thankless: sometimes there is a crop failure, sometimes the prices are in chaos. In developed countries, the state pays for the work of consultants who help peasants. In addition, all farming is organized into associations and cooperatives. Subsidies are provided to create common property - build an elevator, purchase a milk storage tank or equipment for sorting vegetables. We have such cooperatives listed on paper, but in reality they are not. And without government support, which we also don’t actually have, they are ineffective...

Who lives well on earth?

From Azov to a tiny village on the shore of the Taganrog Bay is only about 50 km. But only local farmers know how to get here.

At the turn into the village there are no signs, no lanterns, not a single soul. And exactly two families live in the village of Rovnoye - SIMEN and YURCHENKO.

- We came to the village in the nineties. Then there really wasn’t a soul here: the houses were empty,” the Simen’s spouses recall. - But they say that everything was different in Rivne before. Young people worked at the Primorsky state farm, children were taken to school in Semibalki, there was a club, there were shops. And then the villagers dispersed in all directions, the huts were dismantled brick by brick. There were only two houses left from the noisy village, and even those, when we moved in, stood without windows or doors.

Water from a well, gas cylinders and bundles of firewood in the corners - the only communications in our huts are electricity. We arranged everything here ourselves: we built a stove, dug a well, and connected a pump to it. A cylinder of gas goes out per month, and 2,000 lights burn out. You won't get much use out of retirement. Fortunately, children from Rostov and Semibalki come and help.

It’s a sin to complain: everything for life is here. What's it like in the city? As soon as there is an accident, life immediately stops. And we are our own masters here. Everything is ours - water, warmth, and food. We bake bread, and meat is running around the yard. So is chicken without chemicals.

And look, what nature is like: it’s just a fairy tale! Pheasant and hare hunters shoot. The foxes are pulling at our chickens. Once, even from a neighboring forestry enterprise, a deer strayed. Would you see something like this in the city? Here, nature in the summer is simply a fairy tale: all relatives come to the Pavlo-Ochakovskaya spit to swim - it’s just a stone’s throw away. The water is clean, the meadows are in bloom, the air is fresh, the nightingales are singing... in a word, grace!

"I will leave my home..."

Chertkovsky district is one of the most problematic in the north-west of the region. Over the past ten years, the population here has decreased by more than 3,000 people.

Why does this happen, said a local resident, former farmer Andrey VELONENKO.

- Move to the city? Yes with pleasure! It would just be where. You can’t buy an apartment anywhere, it’s expensive to rent, and you can’t spend your whole life trudging from place to place. I have a family. I will try to arrange for the children in the city. And there is absolutely nothing to do here. There is no work, all the young people have left.

I once had my own farm: 80 hectares, a combine harvester, a tractor. He grew sunflowers, barley, and oats. Yes, last year we had to close: the crop rotation was too small. Now I work as a tractor driver and rent out land. It is simply impossible for a small farmer to survive. Taxes and prices for diesel fuel and equipment are increasingly higher. And purchasing prices are getting lower. The villagers work at a loss: as much money as the buyer gives, he will give as much.

They say the state supports us. But there is no real help. The same discounted diesel fuel is actually not much cheaper: the difference is 2-3 rubles per liter. And to get into the program, you won’t be able to collect all the paperwork in your life. So people get by as best they can, and then throw everything to hell...

Seven billion for the village

Deputy Governor, Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Rostov Region Vyacheslav VASILENKO:

- On the Don, measures are being implemented to improve the living conditions of citizens living in rural areas, including young families and young professionals, to develop gasification, water supply and a network of roads in rural areas. Over five years, funding amounted to seven billion rubles. The level of rural gasification increased (from 48.4% to 54.6%) and the level of drinking water supply (from 50% to 55.3%).

About 25 thousand houses are connected to central heating and gasified. More than 2.7 thousand families received state support for housing, including 1.8 thousand young families and young professionals. Every family has children. Thus, we create comfortable living conditions in rural areas, and primarily for specialists employed in the agro-industrial complex.

The result of the program was an increase in the birth rate in rural areas. In 2008 it was 2.6%, in 2012 - 6.8%.

Not by number, but by skill

In fact, the process of reducing the number of people employed in agriculture is underway in all countries, but the approaches to solving the problem are different. For example, in Denmark a farmer can buy 3 farms, where there are residential buildings and agricultural buildings. But at the same time, he or his family members are obliged to live and manage the household there. The policy is this: you are the boss here, but you do not have the right to destroy the national treasure of the country - the farm. And second: in Europe these lands are sold only to their citizens.

Another striking example is the USA, where 8% of farms (that’s 180 thousand) produce 80% of agricultural products. In the 90s, they began to reduce their farms. Then measures were taken to support young farmers and women farmers. And by 2010 there were already 2 million 200 thousand farms! In our country, according to the 2010 census, there are only about 140 thousand of them - both large and small. In developed countries they understand: if people leave the territory, the infrastructure is destroyed, and the land is decolonized. Our authorities have absolutely no control over this process. Although on paper in the same concept everything is very well written...

Old churches of the Rostov region kerrangjke wrote in September 23rd, 2012

A short overview of abandoned old churches in the Rostov region. This blog describes three churches at once, such as the Church of St. John the Evangelist, the Church of Surb Karapet (John the Baptist) and the Church of St. Gevorg (St. George). Read more about all three churches inside.

First Church of St. John the Evangelist.

The Church of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian was abandoned after the revolution. The approximate year of construction is 1900. There was a machine and tractor station in its building. Currently inactive.
The temple has a cruciform shape in plan, however, the side wings (north - south) are not the chapels, but the antechambers of the prayer hall, since the temple has only one altar and is consecrated only in honor of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian, the author of the “Revelation of John”.

The entrance gates are topped with semicircular cornices and the windows with triangular cornices. The roof over the prayer hall has the shape of a square superstructure with a pyramidal roof. There are three windows in each of the 4 directions, decorated on the sides with brick half-columns.

The bell tower is two-tiered, in the past, apparently, three-tiered. The roof and dome of the bell tower have not survived, as have the crosses on them; only wooden fragments of the ceilings remain. The foundation, made of large blocks of dense shell rock, has been preserved in excellent condition compared to its general condition. The steps of the central and western entrances, wooden doors covered with iron with forged handles have also been partially preserved. Some windows still have gratings, which were apparently made much later than the original construction of the temple, since they do not have any artistic elements.

Windows with antique wrought iron bars

The place is really interesting, and apparently there are few visitors here, this can be understood even by the absence of garbage and inscriptions. Since we were driving with music and in a relatively normal car, the locals were surprised at the kind of tourists who came to photograph this place.

Bell tower

Church of Surb-Karapet (John the Baptist)

Church of Surb-Karapet (John the Baptist) in the village of X. It stands right on the positions where Soviet troops defended in early November 1941. From here they launched a counterattack on Rostov at the end of November 1941. By the way, it is said that the church is located right next to the borders of the anti-tank ditch, one of the largest in our region. Its length alone is about 50 km, and the entire border, together with the city’s defense border, is more than 80 km!!!

The building has many losses - the ends of the domes have disappeared, only individual column bases have been preserved. From the fragments of painting one can guess about the existing artistic paintings of the interior. Based on the remains of blacksmith bars, there are metal window laces. But, despite the losses, the building still gives the impression of a most valuable ancient monument.

At the southern entrance is the remainder of the gate loop

Above the entrance are the remains of former luxury

If you raise your head up or walk to the west, you can see the dome with your own eyes

Some frescoes are still in good condition

Church of Surb Gevorg (St. George)

The last church for today. If after the first our emotions began to gain momentum, then after visiting the second our mood dropped a little. And all due to the fact that every second person knows the address of this church, it is difficult not to find any photographer’s photos from a wedding/love story/photo shoot that he took here. You could say the second "Paramons". Just to litter in a church or near it, not only is it stupid blasphemy, it’s just pure arrogance and stupidity of people. Therefore, the mood was no longer so good, but the last church brought it back.

This is one of 10 Armenian-Gregorian churches in the Rostov region, built in 1860-1867. A men's school for Armenians was opened at this church in 1867. They don’t know the exact date of construction, but local residents say that the church was built about 300 years ago, which is of course an exaggeration. From the deplorable remains of its former grandeur, you can see elements of Byzantine architecture (a star-shaped connection between the columns under the vault. During the Second World War, a shell hit the church and there are almost no walls between the altar and the bell tower on the eastern side. Let's look at it in a little more detail.

In 1779 By decree of Catherine II, the resettlement of 12 thousand Armenians and 18 thousand Greeks from the Crimean kingdom to the southern Russian steppes of the lower reaches of the river was organized. Don. This is how the city of Nakhichevan (now Proletarsky district of Rostov-on-Don) and the villages of XXX were formed in the Rostov region
Thus, 10 Armenian-Gregorian churches were built in the Rostov region. Now our contemporaries have the opportunity to get acquainted with temple buildings of various faiths in Rostov-on-Don and the region. In particular, the Armenian Church is one of the oldest Christian churches, which has a number of significant features in dogma and ritual that distinguish it from both Byzantine Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Since the 11th century, the Armenian Church has converged with the Byzantine tradition in matters of icon veneration. This tradition found its imprint in temple architecture.
Official sources do not have the exact date of its construction; approximately, it is the mid-19th century. Now the Church of St. Gevork (St. George), once a beautiful building, distinguishing its architectural style from Christian Orthodox churches, is in a ruined state.
Local residents remember that their church was built almost 300 years ago. They are proud of this, and say that they are visiting her now, because... there is no other one in XXX village. They go to a stone oval cross, which is located in one of the niches of the church destroyed during World War II.

We began our inspection, as usual, from the outside of the church, noticing interesting architectural features, but most of all we were surprised by the remains of traces of the great war... During the Second World War, a shell hit the church and there were almost no walls between the altar and the bell tower on the eastern side. Holes from bullets and shell fragments are visible on the walls.

For the lazy, there is a video review of the blog from my partners/colleagues of the RostovNaTV channel.