Old map of the Volga before flooding. Flooded city - Stavropol-on-Volga

This year's winter turned out to be light and snowy, and the remains of Mologa appeared on the surface of the Rybinsk reservoir - the ancient Russian city would have turned 865 years old this year if not for the decision to build the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station in 1935.

In September, we went to look at the “Russian Atlantis” and visit the Rybinsk hydroelectric station at the invitation of RusHydro.

Water itself, after the drought in the Volga region of 1921-22, was considered a strategic resource and filling the future Rybinsk reservoir in those years was a strategically important decision - the main water artery of the capital, the Moscow River, became very shallow and polluted, and the overpopulated city threatened to soon be left without vital source.
On June 15, 1931, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a resolution was adopted: “... to radically solve the problem of watering the Moscow River by connecting it with the upper reaches of the Volga River.”

It all started with the construction of the Moscow Canal (the old name was Moscow - Volga). Initially, it was planned to build three hydroelectric power stations with a capacity of 220 MW in Myshkin, Yaroslavl and Kalyazin. Later, this scheme was changed and two hydroelectric power stations were built in Uglich and Rybinsk with a total capacity of 440 MW (110 MW and 330 MW, respectively).

The construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex pursued another important goal - the creation of the Volga-Baltic waterway. Navigation on the Upper Volga before its confluence with the Mologa River was possible only during floods.

Work on deepening was carried out, but this did not lead to results, because the level immediately sank. When the Rybinsk, Uglich and Ivankovskoe reservoirs were created, a navigable passage 4.5 meters deep was formed.

We are going to the Rybinsk hydroelectric station.

Construction of the hydroelectric complex began in 1935 near the village of Perebory at the confluence of the Sheksna and the Volga, and the main work on the hydroelectric station began in 1938-1939.

Some sources claim that Stalin was personally interested in the progress of construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex, and raising the level from 98 to 102 meters was his initiative. Main goal: increasing the capacity of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station and ensuring more reliable navigation. Many residents were against the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station and the state regarded their actions as a betrayal.

In April 1941, filling of the Rybinsk Reservoir began. The retaining water level was supposed to be about 98 m, but by 1937 this figure had increased and amounted to 102 meters.

In 1941, the reservoir rose to a maximum of 97.5 m, in 1942 - to 99.3 m. Mologa is located at 98-101 meters.

Now a favorite place for local fishermen is downstream, where slightly stunned fish end up after passing through the whirlpool.

The first two units of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station were launched in November 1941 and January 1942 - the war and energy famine began. Moscow defense enterprises and machine-building plants needed electricity.

In 1945-50 Four units of the hydroelectric power station were successively put into operation, and in 1998 and 2002, two of the six hydroelectric units were reconstructed.

It is difficult to find a worker in the hall - the entire process is automated.

The control panel provides round-the-clock monitoring of the systems and units of the hydroelectric power station.

On July 30, 1955, the Uglich and Rybinsk hydroelectric complexes were put into commercial operation, forming Cascade No. 1 of Mosenergo. In 1993, the company changed its name to DOJSC "Cascade of Verkhnevolzhskiye HPPs".

The building retains original chandeliers from the 1940s.

The workers are joking.

Bloggers tweet.

There is a beautiful picture in the turbine room that gives a general idea of ​​the hydroelectric power station.

And now a trip to Mologa.

From the central Rybinsk pier by boat to Mologa it takes more than two hours to travel along the Rybinsk reservoir and the first point is the locks.

The gate at the lower level closes, it takes about 10 minutes for the lock to be filled with water, and we enter the reservoir area.

For seagulls, the process of filling or filling the sluice with water is most beneficial - stunned fish are easier to catch - just like for fishermen near a hydroelectric power station.

Due to the current shallowing of the reservoir by almost 2.5 meters, the number of steamships has decreased and the lock staff welcomes rare visitors.

We pass by the monument to Mother Volga.

Kamennikovsky Peninsula.

While we sail, we listen to the history of Mologa from local history keepers and local historians.

To create the Rybinsk reservoir with an area of ​​4,580 km2, it was necessary to resettle, in addition to Mologa, more than 600 villages. Filling of the reservoir lasted longer than planned - it was flooded to the required level only in the high-water year of 1947. This happened because during the war water was released to the lowest levels to maximize electricity production.

Soon a strip of land and several stones appeared on the horizon.

Mologa has a rich history - the city was the same age as Moscow, and in the chronicle it is mentioned as the city that saved Yuri Dolgoruky during the war with the Kyiv prince Izyaslav Mstislavovich. Then the squad of Kievites burned all the cities of the Suzdal principality, and Mologa misfired - the Volga rose and flooded all the surrounding fields and roads. As a result, the Kiev squad went home, and the founder of Moscow was saved.

Apparently, there is some kind of evil irony of fate in the fact that the first chronicle mention of this city almost completely coincides in meaning with the last mention of Mologa - with the only difference that the grateful descendants of Dolgoruky flooded Mologa itself.

According to the first edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, in 1936 there were 6,100 people living in it, it was a small town built up mainly with wooden buildings.

Before reaching a couple of kilometers to the place where the highest point of Mologa appeared, we transfer to a boat - the fairway does not allow the steamer to go further.

The boat approaches the shore very carefully - in some areas the water depth does not even reach half a meter.

Mologa was famous not only as a trade and transport hub of the country, but also as a producer of butter and cheese, which was even supplied to London.
Previously, the view of Mologa from our place was like this. The photo was taken before 1937.

Now it is a bare island with thousands of scattered bricks and remnants of everyday life.

Before filling the reservoir, it is mandatory to clear its bed of buildings. Wooden houses are either dismantled and transported to a new location, or burned. In Mologa, most of the residents dismantled their houses, built rafts from them (so that they could later reassemble the house) and, having loaded everything that could be taken away onto them, they floated down the river to a new place of residence.

People were forced to leave their stone houses, the graves of their relatives and friends.
Stone buildings were destroyed to the ground, and this was done long before the reservoir was filled. Everything valuable that could be useful on the farm and could be carried away was taken away.

We can confidently assume that by 1940 the resettlement was practically completed, since local Soviet authorities took a very direct part in the resettlement process - they issued exit certificates, on the basis of which the settlers received financial assistance from the state. In total, about 130 thousand people were overpopulated.

Yaroslavskaya Street was then the highest point of the city, which this year poked out of the water.

Yaroslavskaya street now.

The pride of the Mologans of that time was the tower designed by the brother of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Mologsky district, the city of Mologa and 6 village councils of the Mologsky district, falling into the flood zone, were officially liquidated by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on December 20, 1940.

Rumors that more than 300 people drowned without leaving the city are not true. Sitting for months in the middle of an open field and waiting for water to come is a surprisingly strange and painful way of committing suicide. The Rybinsk reservoir has a small backwater, but a large volume, and, accordingly, fills quite slowly - a few centimeters per day. This is not a tsunami or even an ordinary flood; you can get away from the rising reservoir simply on foot and without much effort.

It was possible to continue walking, but it was nearing sunset and we had to urgently set sail before it got dark.

By a fatal coincidence, the coat of arms of the city of Mologa, approved back in 1778, seemed to predict its flooding - the earthen rampart in the “azure field” ended up being the Rybinsk Reservoir.

In memory of the ghost town, a museum was opened in 1995 in Rybinsk, which became known as the Museum of the Mologsky Region, and former Mologans gather every year to honor the memory of their sunken homeland.

And don’t believe the pictures on the Internet showing that something has survived at the site of Mologa - there is no bell tower, like in Kalyazin, or domes sticking out of the water - only stones and a homemade monument remind of the ancient Russian city that once stood here. ..

The report partially used photographs of the Mologsky region museum and from my personal archive from 2006 (hydroelectric power station above).

I came across a wonderful site with a large archive of old maps. There is a lot there, but I was especially interested in the map of Tataria from 1940. On the one hand, the administrative changes that have occurred since those times are insignificant, and this makes it easy to navigate the area and look for small “geographical news.” On the other hand, the republic was heavily flooded. Two huge puddles appeared on the map - the Kuibyshev and Nizhnekamsk reservoirs. Thanks to these hydro-dominants, Tatarstan, which is small in general, is noticeable even on the map of the entire country. Here, look what TASSR looked like before the great flood. The two “great rivers” of Russia, the Kama and the Volga, flow in frivolous, barely visible streams.

Kuibyshev. Not to be confused with Samara. Both Kuibyshevs were on the Volga. To distinguish them they said Kuibyshev regional (present-day Samara) and Kuibyshev district - now the city of Bolgar. Before the flooding, it was strictly speaking far from the Volga, on the Abyss River. And then... Kuibyshev was moved to a new place. See s. Bulgarians? So the whole city moved there. In general, during the construction of hydroelectric power stations in Tataria there were 78 settlements were completely relocated. Not flooded, as adherents of pristine ecology like to say, but rather transported. Houses, factories, schools, hospitals and even cemeteries.

Same place now. Kuibyshev in a new place and with a new name.


The confluence of the Volga and Kama. Look how it was before. At this point they flowed almost parallel, forming an unusual peninsula with its banks washed by two different rivers. The title photo shows a still from the film Volga, Volga. Unfortunately, this was filmed in a completely different place, but it will do for clarity. This is probably what it looked like. Two narrow but fast rivers flow together, nothing special.


Now there is water for fifty kilometers. The shore is not visible. Grandiose views now open from the Kama Ustye. The dachas here in Kazan are rich.


This is what it looks like now:

We go a little east, up the Kama. I have designated the Key Us with numbers. points. Was.


It has become. A large bridge across the Kama has now been built here. Previously, there was a ferry here and sometimes it took a whole day to travel from Chistopol to Kazan (130 km) due to long queues.


A little higher is the city of my childhood, Chistopol. Everything here has been covered by bicycles and covered with feet. Everything is familiar here.


And there is a lot here that is completely unfamiliar. Glass factory??? Never heard of him. What happened to him? He drowned(s)
Pay attention to the MTS icons. Already in 1940 there was cellular communication here.


You can see the place on the map along the arrow. There is nothing there except a couple of villages.

And now here is the third largest city in Tatarstan. 235 thousand population. Europe's largest chemical plant. You can admire its beauty from our Elabuga shore.
The Kama here is narrow and pristine, but this is because it flows immediately after another dam - the Nizhnekamsk hydroelectric station. Immediately behind it is the sea again.


This is what Kama was like in patriarchal times. At number 1 Bondyuzhsky district and village. Bondyuga (emphasis on the first syllable of course). In 1940 it was a separate district. Then it will be attached to Elabuga, and then it will again become an independent unit. It will also be renamed Mendeleevsk. Here, too, a strong chemical plant is smoking, and an even larger one is being built. At number 3 is the Ik River, at number 2 is the city of Menzelinsk on the Menzel River. Remember them like this.


There was the city of Menzelinsk and the port of Menzelinsk on the Kama. There is such a distance between them.


And now here it is. Menzelinsk ended up on the Kama (actually the spilled Ik). In Soviet times, such an incident happened there. The old port sank, but the water did not reach the new one. The fact is that the water level was raised lower than planned, and the pier was built with this in mind.

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In August 2014, the city of Mologa (Yaroslavl region), which was completely flooded in 1940 during the construction of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station, again appeared on the surface due to the extremely low water level in the Rybinsk reservoir. In the flooded city, the foundations of houses and the outlines of streets are visible. Babr suggests recalling the history of 6 more Russian cities that went under water

View of the Afanasyevsky Monastery, destroyed in 1940 before the city was flooded

Mologa is the most famous city, completely flooded during the construction of the Rybinsk reservoir. This is a rather rare case when the settlement was not moved to another place, but was completely liquidated: in 1940 its history was interrupted.

Celebration in the city square

The village of Mologa has been known since the 12th-13th centuries, and in 1777 it received the status of a county town. With the advent of Soviet power, the city became a regional center with a population of about 6 thousand people.

Mologa consisted of about a hundred stone houses and 800 wooden ones. After the impending flooding of the city was announced in 1936, the relocation of residents began. Most of the Mologans settled far from Rybinsk in the village of Slip, and the rest dispersed to different cities of the country.

In total, 3645 square meters were flooded. km of forests, 663 villages, the city of Mologa, 140 churches and 3 monasteries. 130,000 people were resettled.

But not everyone agreed to voluntarily leave their home. 294 people chained themselves and were drowned alive.

It is difficult to imagine what tragedy these people experienced, deprived of their homeland. Until now, since 1960, meetings of Mologans have been held in Rybinsk, at which they remember their lost city.

After every winter with little snow and dry summer, Mologa appears from under the water, like a ghost, revealing its dilapidated buildings and even a cemetery.

Kalyazin center with St. Nicholas Cathedral and Trinity Monastery

Kalyazin is one of the most famous flooded cities in Russia. The first mention of the village of Nikola on Zhabnya dates back to the 12th century, and after the founding of the Kalyazin-Trinity (Makaryevsky) Monastery on the opposite bank of the Volga in the 15th century, the importance of the settlement increased. In 1775, Kalyazin was given the status of a county town, and from the end of the 19th century the development of industry began in it: fulling, blacksmithing, and shipbuilding.

The city was partially flooded during the creation of the Uglich hydroelectric power station on the Volga River, which was built in 1935-1955.

The Trinity Monastery and the architectural complex of the Nikolo-Zhabensky Monastery were lost, as well as most of the historical buildings of the city. All that remained of it was the bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral sticking out of the water, which became one of the main attractions of the central part of Russia.

3. Korcheva

View of the city from the left bank of the Volga.
On the left side you can see the Church of the Transfiguration, on the right - the Resurrection Cathedral.

Korcheva is the second (and last) completely flooded city in Russia after Mologa. This village in the Tver region was located on the right bank of the Volga River, on both sides of the Korchevka River, not far from the city of Dubna.

Korcheva, early 20th century. General view of the city

By the 1920s, the population of Korchevka was 2.3 thousand people. There were mostly wooden buildings, although there were also stone structures, including three churches. In 1932, the government approved the plan for the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal, and the city fell into the flood zone.

Today, on the unflooded territory of Korchev, a cemetery and one stone building have been preserved - the house of the Rozhdestvensky merchants.

4. Puchezh

Puchezh in 1913

City in Ivanovo region. Mentioned since 1594 as the Puchische settlement, in 1793 it became a settlement. The city lived by trade along the Volga, in particular barge haulers were hired there.

The population in the 1930s was about 6 thousand people, the buildings were mainly wooden. In the 1950s, the city's territory fell into the flood zone of the Gorky Reservoir. The city was rebuilt in a new location, and now its population is about 8 thousand people.

Of the 6 existing churches, 5 turned out to be in the flood zone, but the sixth also did not survive to this day - it was dismantled at the peak of Khrushchev’s persecution of religion.

5. Vesyegonsk

City in the Tver region. Known as a village since the 16th century, a city since 1776. It developed most actively in the 19th century, during the period of active functioning of the Tikhvin water system. The population in the 1930s was about 4 thousand people, the buildings were mostly wooden.

Most of the city's territory was flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir; the city was rebuilt on non-flooded areas. The city lost most of its old buildings, including several churches. However, the Trinity and Kazan churches survived, but gradually fell into disrepair.

It is interesting that they planned to move the city to a higher place back in the 19th century, since 16 of the 18 streets of the city were regularly flooded during floods. Now about 7 thousand people live in Vesyegonsk.

6. Stavropol Volzhsky (Tolyatti)

City in Samara region. Founded in 1738 as a fortress.

The population fluctuated greatly, in 1859 there were 2.2 thousand people, by 1900 - about 7 thousand, and in 1924 the population decreased so much that the city officially became a village (city status was returned in 1946). In the early 1950s there were about 12 thousand people.

In the 1950s, it found itself in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev Reservoir and was moved to a new location. In 1964, it was renamed Tolyatti and began to actively develop as an industrial city. Now its population exceeds 700 thousand people.

7. Kuibyshev (Spassk-Tatarsky)

Volga near Bolgar

The city has been mentioned in chronicles since 1781. In the second half of the 19th century there were 246 houses, 1 church, and by the early 1930s 5.3 thousand people lived here.

In 1936 the city was renamed Kuibyshev. In the 1950s, it found itself in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev Reservoir and was completely rebuilt in a new location, next to the ancient settlement of Bulgar. Since 1991, it was renamed Bolgar and soon has every chance of becoming one of the main tourist centers in Russia and the world.

In June 2014, the ancient settlement of Bulgar (Bulgarian State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In 1957, the Volga hydroelectric power station was built and the Kuibyshev reservoir was formed, which completely or partially flooded 290 settlements. 78 settlements fell into the flood zone in the Republic of Tatarstan. 14 temples and 8 mosques were under water; many of them were not even dismantled. The “Great Migration” turned out to be a tragedy for many thousands of residents. Eyewitnesses of those events still cry when they talk, saying that their souls remained under water.

List of churches liquidated during the construction of hydroelectric power stations.
Kamsko-Ustinsky district:
Barskie Karatai (Soviet name Krasnye Karatai, does not exist). Trinity Church, wooden (1762–1905). It is unknown whether the church was demolished.
Barskoye Tenishevo (Soviet name Tenishevo, does not exist). St. Nicholas Church (1907). It is unknown whether the church was demolished.
Kirelskoe. Renovations of the Temple of the Resurrection of Christ Church. The village exists, but the place where the church stood is flooded.
Chershalan (does not exist) Kazan-Virgin Church, wooden (1821). The village was inhabited by Mordovian Karatai. It is unknown whether the church was demolished.

On the left bank of the Volga:
Spassky district.
Spassk (Soviet name - Kuibyshev-Tatar) Trinity Cathedral (1854).
Kuibyshevsky Zaton (Spasky Zaton). St. Nicholas Church, wooden (1861).
Bolkhovskaya (does not exist. Kazan-Virgin Church, wooden (1911).
Kuralovo. Church of the Transfiguration, wooden (1901).
Maklasheyevka. Church of the Intercession (1900).
Novo-Mordovo (noun). Trinity Church, wooden (1861). Closed in the 1930s. Reopened by the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR of October 29, 1945. After the flooding, a prayer house was opened in its place in the village of Rzhavets, which still exists.
Tenishevo (does not exist). Kazan-Bogoroditskaya Church, wooden (1890).

Right bank of the Kama:
Laishevsky district.
Mansurovo (does not exist). Church of the Resurrection (1806–1879).
Capes (there is no Church of the Mother of God of Sorrows, wooden (1906).

Left bank of the Kama:
Alekseevsky district.
Murzikha (does not exist). Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, wooden (1885).

By the beginning of 1952, the list of flooded and flooded households in the TASSR included 4,511 and 2,137 households, respectively. But it seemed that many did not realize the real scale of the flooding. After all, there have been several projects since 1950. Thus, according to the first, 19,997 hectares were to be confiscated in the Alekseevsky district, and according to the second, already 30,676 hectares. Already in 1952, in only three districts they planned to resettle 1,249 households, 3 seven-year and 7 primary schools, two reading huts, three clubs, two village councils, and demolish an elementary school, a reading hut, two railway stations and a club (former church). But we must admit that many took the resettlement from the flood zone for granted.

Before the flooding, there were meadows and forests nearby,” recalls Anatoly Kaseev from the Alekseevsky district. – Workers of Lespromkhoz have been cutting down trees for 5 years. We knew that as soon as it was finished, we would be relocated. People moved until 1957, and the remaining buildings were burned. The majority had barracks-type state farm houses, which were poor. And we transported the log house, inherited from our grandfather, on horses in parts.

The creation of the Kuibyshev reservoir led to an increase in water levels in the Volga. And this, in turn, contributed to the rise of water in smaller rivers. For example, Kazanka near its mouth rose 11 meters. Its width near the park named after. Gorky in those days reached 2.5 km.

The creation of the reservoir broke this way of life, affecting nature, economy, and people's lives. The goals, of course, were ambitious. 1. Cover the electricity needs of the Central part of the USSR. 2. Increase fish stocks and production, providing the entire European part of the country with fish. 3. Develop irrigated agriculture along the reservoir, eliminating the risk of droughts. 4. Develop shipping, making Moscow a “port of five seas.” For reference, all hydroelectric power stations of the Volzhsky and Kama cascades provide no more than 3-4% of the country’s electricity. All energy goes to the Center, losing up to 40% along the way. The relative cheapness of hydropower in current conditions is of significance only for producers. We will return to other tasks set below.

Leonid Abramov, local historian, author of books on the history of Tatarstan: - A large area was flooded in Tatarstan. To illustrate: the old Kama was small, only a kilometer wide, but now the flood is 42 kilometers. Temples and mosques were demolished, residents were resettled, forests were cut down - entire oak groves, a lot of preparatory work was carried out since 1947. We have a very unusual village - Rzhavets. All the icons from the villages flooded in the Bolgar region were brought there. One of the most interesting places in Tatarstan, there is a former prayer house there, now it has become a temple, all hung with ancient icons in ancient frames.

The Kuibyshev Reservoir is a reservoir on the Volga River, the largest in Eurasia and the third largest in the world in terms of area. Originated in 1955-1957. after the completion of the construction of the Volzhskaya Hydroelectric Power Station dam named after V.I. Lenin, which blocked the river valley near the city of Tolyatti. The name is given after the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), located downstream.

55 years after the start of construction of the Kuibyshev reservoir and hydroelectric power station, it is proposed to call this project of the century a tragic mistake. The country, in its desire to obtain cheap electricity, flooded an area equal to Switzerland in the Volga region, depriving more than half a million people of their homeland. At the same time, the effect of construction turned out to be small, and the acquired problems still threaten to turn into disasters for us, from spiritual to earthquakes and changes in microclimate.
Such radical conclusions were reached by the historian, local historian, and psychologist E. Burdin, who studied materials about the flooding of the Volga and wrote the book “Volga Atlantis: the tragedy of the great river.” Working in the archives of the cities of the Volga region, he collected unique information.

How much did the construction of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex and reservoir cost? Capital investments in the construction in 1955 prices amounted to 6 billion 547 million rubles.

Including 979 million rubles from the country’s budget were spent on preparing for the flooding of the reservoir bed; in the Ulyanovsk region, preparations cost 356.1 million. And this at a time when the average salary in the country was 50 rubles, and in the villages there were no working days paid at all.

Have these costs been worth it? E. Burdin believes that no: the Volga-Kama cascade of hydroelectric power stations generates only 3-4% of all-Russian electricity and 20% of the hydropower produced in the country. There are official data from the Soviet era that the costs of building the reservoir were covered by extracted energy already in 1962, but this is hard to believe. At the end of the 80s. landslides, bank collapses, and washing away of fertile soil into the river brought damage to the country up to 35 billion rubles. in year.

In 1957, after the construction of the Volzhskaya Hydroelectric Power Station named after V.I. Lenin, the waters of the Kuibyshev Reservoir finally swallowed up the small provincial city of Stavropol-on-Volga. Local residents were notified in advance of the upcoming flooding, all buildings were moved to new - “dry” places.

Now, not far from the old city, there is a new one - the Tolyatti motor city. Today only fish “walk” around the flooded city.

Members of the NEPTUNE-PRO club examined the remains of the flooded Stavropol for several years. At a depth of 7 meters the foundations of the buildings begin. Bricks are scattered in disarray, and here and there there are fragments of ceramics and nails. Among the underwater finds were utensils: bowls, bottles, cups, copper items. You can see the stumps of trees that were cut down before the flooding. In some underwater buildings, even floor boards have been preserved.

According to the stories of local resident G. Zauloshnov:

A native of Novo-Mordova, Gennady Grigorievich was born in 1921 and was baptized in the Trinity Church, where his grandfather served as a deacon. The wooden church itself survived, however, the bells were removed from the temple, but not all. The largest bell, weighing 350 pounds, could not be removed, and it was left just in case. The ringing of the giant bell could be heard within a radius of fifteen kilometers.

During the Great Patriotic War, religious services were allowed to resume in the church. Using old church directories, it was possible to find out that Trinity Church was built in 1861 at the expense of parishioners who came to religious services from all over the area.

At the beginning of 56, when it became known about the upcoming flooding of the village of Novo-Mordovo in connection with the construction of the Kuibyshev reservoir, in the neighboring village of Rzhavets they began construction of the Trinity prayer house in honor of the Novo-Mordovian Trinity Cathedral.

It was decided to “move” the cathedral to a new location - to Rzhavets, where some residents of Novo-Mordova also moved after the flooding. Times and morals towards religion were harsh at that time; helping the church was considered almost a crime. But the people demanded, so the Trinity prayer house was built away from the main roads, in the forest.

In the flooded Trinity Cathedral there were several ancient icons, which in 1956, before the flooding, were transferred to Rzhavets: the icon of the Kazan Mother of God and the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon. They came to Novo-Mordovo from the holy Mount Athos from Greece in 1881, about which there is a record on the back of the icons. Another famous icon from Novo-Mordova - Soothe My Sorrows is considered miraculous. From the Trinity Cathedral there is also a rare icon of the God-loving Mother of God, two icons of the martyr Abraham.

Agrafenovka, Black Zaton, Bolshaya Fedorovka

Zolnoe, Zadelnoe, Solnechnaya Polyana

Volzhsky, Great Tsarevshchina

Samara, Rozhdestveno, Tarasov plant

Koroviy Island, Podzhabny

Volozhka Tushinskaya, Bystenky Island

Bezenchuk

Perevoloki

Pecherskoe, Pervomaisky

Oktyabrsk, right Volga

Syzran, Bestuzhevka, Kashpir, Rudnik

Panshino, Volga region

Village Panshino- an amazing place on the right bank of the Volga, about forty kilometers south of Syzran.

Administratively, this region of the Right Bank is included in the Ulyanovsk region. However, it so happens that, in addition to local residents, Syzran residents are engaged in fishing here, so it would be unfair to exclude this area of ​​the reservoir from among the favorite fishing spots for residents of the Samara region.

Having driven south from Syzran along the highway leading to Vozrozhdenie to Kalinovka, you should turn left, pass the crossing and move east a few more kilometers along the ridge of a high hill. Soon a picture of colorful scale and amazing beauty opens up: on the right in the hollow is an abandoned garden, on the left is a deep ravine covered with bushes and isolated trees, and right on the hillside is the small village of Panshino, behind which stretches an endless expanse of water for ten kilometers to the left bank.

An extensive network of islands opposite the village and downstream divides the reservoir into several branches, forming channels and bays.

The coast here is high and hilly. There is a cliff up to three meters high near the water itself. The bottom is marshy, muddy, interspersed with sharp gravel and shells, and gently slopes into the depths. On the shore opposite the village and to the left are several improvised parking lots for the vehicles in which the fishermen arrived. Sometimes there are 30 - 40 cars and motorcycles with Penza, Samara, Ulyanovsk and Saratov license plates.

It is difficult to remain without fish in Panshino. The place is so “cool” that at almost any time of the year and in any weather you can count on a rich catch. The main thing is to drive here and get back, which is not easy in rainy or snowy weather. And the weather here sometimes changes instantly. You arrive in the morning - the sun is shining brightly, the water is calm, there is almost no wind, nothing predicts bad weather. And suddenly at noon a black cloud emerges from behind the hill and hangs menacingly over the water. The Volga darkens before our eyes, boils, and now a squall of rain and waves hits the boat!

And twenty minutes later the thunderstorm passed, and the sun shone again, reflected in thousands of droplets on the grass and trees. Everything is wonderful, but the ground is so wet that none of those who arrived by car can get up the mountain on wheels. The most impatient ones have already gone to the village to get a tractor...

In summer, the main catch of fishermen in Panshino is bream.

In Panshino, in the spring, roaches work well on a fishing rod from a boat, and you often come across chub and ide. Local fishermen set nets for catfish and pike. They also catch catfish using the “kwok”. It must be said that for some reason the fish caught here are one and a half times larger in size than in other places!

And further. Motorboat owners know this area as a place where the river has a rip current. This phenomenon is explained by reasons of a hydrodynamic nature: the complex system of islands and the bottom topography force the water flow to turn back in places, towards the main current. When there is no bite anywhere, you will always catch it on the “return”, many believe.

A few kilometers upstream from Panshino there is another catching place.

now it looks like this...

He is called " monastery"due to the ruins of an old chapel on the shore, clearly visible from the water. Another landmark can be the huge barge of the berth for bulk carriers, once transporting waste from the shale production located nearby Kashpirsky mine. (the barge has already been cut into scrap metal)

This “bream” place, quite far from the fairway, has a depth of up to 20 meters at a distance of only one hundred meters from the shore. Current at " monastery" noticeably stronger than Panshino, since the reservoir narrows in this place. It often happens that the bream does not take well Panshino, here he is caught successfully.

An extensive section of the Saratov reservoir in the region Panshino, indented by numerous islands and with a large number of shallow water zones, is a famous place for winter fishing enthusiasts. Their main prey are perch, pike, roach, and silver bream.

To catch large perch, anglers go to the middle of the reservoir. Knowledge of the bottom topography allows them to search for “humpback whales” not at random, but along the boundaries of underwater ridges, which extend parallel to each other for several hundred meters. Connoisseurs catch perch with a spinner and a jig without bloodworms from a depth of 2.5-3 meters. This type of fishing is truly sporty and exciting! Agree, not everyone is able to walk five or six kilometers through the snow from the shore to the site, drill several dozen holes in a day and then return back with a heavier backpack.

Fishermen In winter, older fish usually settle closer to the shore to catch roach and silver bream. They are immediately easy to distinguish from others by their polyethylene tents that protect from wind and cold. "Perch fishermen" don't use tents, they need to move, drill - otherwise you won't catch them.

Come here any weekend from December to March - you will see how many winter fishing enthusiasts gather in Panshino!

A.N. Druzhin, A.N. Maslennikov "On the reservoirs of the Samara region"