At one time they began to forget about the most beautiful of the remote corners of the Kologriv region - the Princely Hermitage. But in the distant past, pilgrims flocked here to holy places. Now interest in this unique historical, cultural and natural territory is growing again.
By the way, in the past there were huge dense forests here, which were part of a large government dacha, where all logging was strictly prohibited. This was done because of the desert that existed here - a small monastery, which was founded by a Urom landowner who became a monk, Thomas Danilovich Tsizarev. According to legend, an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to him on this holy mountain. A wooden church was built on this site in 1719.
According to local historian D.F. Belokurov, taken from the materials of the Patriarchal Order: “in the Knyazhaya Hermitage, on the Knyazhaya River, the church has existed for more than 300 years, and it was built by the diligence of Ignatius Fomich Tsizarev (son of Thomas Danilovich).” Such confusion in the dates of foundation may have occurred due to the fact that previously there was a similar desert downstream of the Knyazhaya River.
The monastery in Prince Hermitage (probably all wooden in those days) was abolished in 1762.
But the stone Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built at the expense of Anastasia Stepanovna Nikulina (descendant of the Tsizarevs) already in 1842. She, or rather what was left of her, and the remains of the wooden structure have survived to this day.
Unfortunately, I have not yet seen any photographs of the appearance of active churches and cemeteries. The only surviving photographs of the Princely Hermitage by N. M. Lebedev date back to 1951. By that time, the churches were already closed and adapted for various social facilities. The photographs clearly show that all the domes, especially the crosses, have been removed, hipped roofs have been installed, and heating is available. At this time, the Pustynsky forest site was working here. In winter, an ice road was built. The forest was carried along it by heavy-duty sleighs, three at a time. In the building of the brick church there was a dining room, a bakery, a store, and in the wooden church they showed, it seems, a movie.
The panorama of the Holy Mountain, or as it is also called Romanikhi, is approximately the same as it is now. But the churches are no longer in use and are being destroyed. Old burials in the cemetery also disappear, tombstones and monuments are lost, but there are also modern ones that are being monitored.
On the road to the Desert there were stables behind the trees on the left, and a branch led towards them. Somewhere between the churches stood (even at that time) the famous linden trees, gnawed by the teeth of pilgrims to cure toothache. One linden stump has been preserved in the local history museum.
Later, on September 17, 1955, a Soviet logging station and a logging village of the same name opened above the Knyazha River on a high cape. In 2010 he turned 55 years old. And the village of Pustyn gave orders for life long ago. Although recently, temporary visitors and even some monk lived in some of the suitable houses. On his initiative, with the help of a logging station, a gazebo-chapel was built at the Holy Spring, the same type of which was built at Efimov Spring. (unfortunately burned down in 2010)
To get to the abandoned village of Pustyn on the Knyazhaya River, you need to walk 7 kilometers from the village of Sovetsky. But how to get to that Soviet one? On the map there is a road to it from Voimas (28 km), but in reality it turned out to be hopelessly damaged by timber trucks. I had to return to Kologriv, where the handsome Father Alexey from the Assumption Cathedral advised me to get there through Georgievskoye and Nikola. Further down there, the gravel road seems to be not so damaged. This was good advice. The path increased by 70 kilometers, but we still got there.
In the Desert we met a family who had come from Sovetskoye to make hay. The boy Vova volunteered to be our guide. Led to church ruins on the high bank of the Princes. There are two churches - wooden and stone. The wooden one remains from the times when the monastery was strong in this place. It arose in 1719. The landowner Tsezyrev, hunting in these places, discovered an icon of the Dormition on a linden tree. There was something wrong with his legs. Having prayed in front of the newly appeared icon, he suddenly felt relief. And after some time he completely recovered. Women's site female-happiness.com site for women This plowed the landowner: he fell into mysticism, abandoned the worldly, became a monk under the name of Ezekiel and founded a monastery on the site of the appearance of the Virgin Mary. It was then that the wooden Assumption Church was built, in which the miraculous icon stood, until the monastery was closed in 1774, and the icon was moved to Kologriv.
The stone church was built with the money of parishioners in 1842. It was closed during Soviet times. Now the altar area has been tidied up and there is a table with icons. On the table next to them are coins, cookies, candy. People don't delve too deeply into the spiritual subtleties of Christianity. They only know: since this place is holy, it means that the offering must be left. Maybe there will be some benefit. There are benefits. Once upon a time, a linden alley led to the churches of the Princes of the Desert. The trunks were chewed up by pilgrims. The bark worked wonders for toothache. Now these linden trees are gone. The last one collapsed somewhere in the 50s of the last century. One of Vovin’s relatives still remembers this huge linden tree near the stone church. The stump of her (or her neighbor) is shown in the Kologriv Museum of Local Lore.
There is an instructive story about the building in which the museum is located. When the railway from St. Petersburg to Vyatka was built in the 19th century, the line had to pass through Kologriv. And they had already built a station, which now houses a museum, but the local merchants did not want the cast iron to pass through their quiet city. They had an established timber trade in Unzha and a clear infrastructure. Why are competitors needed? They collected some money, gave it to whoever needed it, and the road went further south, through Manturovo. But the station remained. In the legend, however, something is distorted. Not all Kologriv industrialists were such dense devils as to pay for the stoppage in the development of the city. There were also people among them who were not at all alien to dreams of progress and enlightenment. Evidence of this is the gesture of the merchant Makarov, who offered his own mansion for a station that never took place. Hence the story about a city in which there is no railway, but there is a train station. The moral of it: just the desire to be ground by the millstones of progress is too little for this to come true. The spirit of a place, if it wants, will always find a way to resist civilization.
Roguishly, but not without benefit, having spent the money of the merchants, the genius of the place managed to preserve the real European taiga around Kologriv: forests in which - not that no human has ever set foot, but still nature remained untouched. With all the ensuing consequences for humans. Strange things happen there. People sometimes disappear for a long time - they wander (on the Internet there was a message about a citizen who was lost for 11 whole days), sometimes the clock suddenly stops for no reason and even goes backwards. And, of course, there is Bigfoot. In the Kologriv forests, an abnormally large man is often seen - without any clothes, but thickly covered with hair. They are trying to study it, expeditions are being sent to search for it. But, naturally, no one found anything. Because the principled position of Bigfoot and other mysterious monsters is: under no circumstances should they show themselves to enthusiasts who come after them.
The hairy big man appears only to those who don't care about him - mushroom pickers, hunters, fishermen. Always suddenly: he will come out of the forest, stand in silence for a minute or two, bring the eyewitness to panic hiccups, perhaps enjoy his trepidation and - again into the thicket. He never bullied anyone, he never even brutalized a single woman, despite all his existential loneliness. Only he kicked some stupid bug that rushed at him with a hysterical bark so that it whined in flight for a good hundred meters. Moreover, he tore the bear in half, but didn’t even try her, he threw her away. True, no one has seen this, but what other superman could do this? Only to Bigfoot. It seems like an animal, but somewhere already a humanist.
Stories about hairy people in the Kologriv region have a long tradition. Even when the local timber merchants were just collecting money to pay off the dirty, smelly cast iron, people were discovered near Kologriv, covered with hair from head to toe. Some of them later left their historical homeland and appeared in the capitals, where they were studied by doctors and seen by the public. Their names are known: Andrian Evtikhiev and Fedor Popov.
Andrian’s appearance should be very familiar to everyone, since his photo was reproduced in almost millions of copies in biology textbooks (as a vivid example of atavism). Andrian soon drank himself to death, and Fedor went on tour to America. There he had this legend: in Russia, he and his father lived peacefully in the forest until they were caught. The father (apparently Andrian) was not at all amenable to training, but the son was completely untrainable. Look: he walks on two legs, wears a civilian dress, speaks three languages fluently (Russian, English, German). The hairy Fedor performed under the pseudonym Dog Face. Perhaps the echoes of this story became the basis for Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog.”
In those days, no one called hairy people snowy. And not only because the concept of “Bigfoot” did not yet exist. Even if there was such a concept, people suffering from hypertrichosis (hairiness) would not fit into it. Because they were not hiding from anyone. Bigfoot (by the very essence of this concept) should be elusive. And in this sense, he is something like a goblin, whom many have seen, but no one managed to catch or photograph. Simply because he is from the category of immaterial beings. Bigfoot too. It, in fact, is the form of existence of the devil in conditions of widespread positivism and universal secondary education. It’s somehow inconvenient to believe in old wives’ tales, but it’s not only possible, but even necessary to believe in something that science has not yet discovered, but will definitely discover soon (or prove that it doesn’t exist). That's why they began to call the ordinary goblin some kind of snowman. But feel the difference: the goblin appears to those who do not consider its phenomenon within the framework of the scientific picture of the world, and the snowman appears to those who do. Therefore, you can successfully communicate with a goblin, but you can only study a Bigfoot without success.
Just don’t imagine that since the goblin is immaterial, it means it no longer exists. The immaterial essence is immaterial to the same extent as our soul is immaterial. It is unlikely, however, that there will be a subject who would not experience an influence coming from its depths. And you can’t just get rid of this internal influence (which sometimes brings benefit and sometimes harm). When bad luck or fatal bad luck happens in your life - is it really just a chip that fell out like that? No, someone threw a chip at you like that. Spirits influence the world through us, our soul, connected to the eventful and abundantly populated immaterial world. In a sense, any person is the same goblin, but possessing flesh. But the goblin can do without it, for he is a forest spirit who can sometimes appear in human form. But it can also be in the form of a stump, an air whirlwind, a wolf, a Bigfoot, a snake.
Judging by the story about the diversion of the railway to the south, the Kologriv goblin appears to people to discourage them from walking in the forest. And many are already afraid to climb into remote places, even just to enter the forest. For example, the boy Vova did not go with us to the Holy Stream, which flows half a kilometer from the Desert. I kept thinking: who is he afraid of? Us? The bear that recently snatched their cow? The wolf his older brother went hunting this morning? The snakes that Vova kept chatting about while we were looking around the churches? I didn’t think about the devil at that moment.
There is a sign nailed above the descent to the Holy Brook: “Drinking water.” Below is something like a garden gazebo - a chapel open to all weather conditions. There is a staircase leading up to it. Its railings are thickly hung with ribbons, scarves, napkins, and towels. I (and already) have many places of power in which people leave industrial and other offerings, but no, I have never seen such an abundance. It seems as if hundreds of pilgrims come here every day, and yet you still have to manage to get to this stream. And everything is tied up so neatly, even the pillars of the gazebo are partly draped.
The stream seems to flow around the gazebo on the left. To the right of it a spring flows, and a little lower another flows in. As they explained to us, one of the springs is with living water, and the other is with dead water. Without figuring out which one had which water, I drank from both. The water near the gazebo tastes much better.
The spirit in the Hollow at Holy Brook is fresh and moist. The typical atmosphere of the sanctuary of the Great Serpent, even though there are icons and a cross nearby. It is in vain that they even put them up - they are not a hindrance for spirits. I always had the feeling on Ruchee that in some places the air was subtly thickening. It’s as if something is about to show up and doesn’t show up. It's like someone is watching you all the time. You feel the gaze and don’t know who is there. Maybe it’s just some kind of animal hiding, or maybe it’s not an animal at all. Restless. This is how my difficult visions on .
“Have you seen it?” - asked Vova, who was waiting for us at the edge of the forest. What were we supposed to see? He didn’t answer and started talking again about how many snakes there are. It was impossible to convince him that there was no need to be afraid of snakes, that they tried to avoid people. He knew for sure that snakes were evil, dangerous, and could attack. He spoke excitedly. It turns out that while we were walking to the stream, a viper bit his dog Shalun right in the face. And Vovin’s dad killed her. With a shovel. Act. The man was proud. He also muttered something about evil snakes. “Take a photo of it as a souvenir,” he suggested and began to shake the safe, dead viper, almost cut in half, with a twig. At the same time, the snake fighter’s hands were shaking, he was on edge, as if the snake was about to rush, and he would again have to engage in mortal combat.
Personally, I always remain on the side of the snake, although, I will not hide, every time I pick up a snake in my hands, I experience horror, a feeling of disgust, downright mystical disgust. This is the archetype. From the depths of the soul rushes: crush the reptile. Snakes in forests and fields suffer greatly because people recognize each of them. Every little little man is ready to take on the role of the Serpent Fighter.
Meanwhile, their wives do not kill snakes without special need (hardly anyone has even heard of such a thing), and sometimes they take them as lovers (in myths). Which is also archetypal: The Serpent lives in the damp depths of the Earth, in a hidden women’s cave. He, in fact, is the lust of the bosom of the Earth, attracting the Serpent Fighter. A snake fighter without a Snake is nonsense, an oxymoron, the same Ivan who was riding in a ditty through the forest: “it was bitterly cold, Ivan had a hard dick, just in case.” But there is also, in essence, no Snake without the Snake Fighter. For the Serpent is the one who is beaten. These exist, as such, only at the moment of the fight. Who saw the dead Serpent? Nobody. In any competent depiction of snake fighting, the Serpent is still alive. And the Serpent, dying beyond the limits of visibility, always returns to life, like lust for a fucked woman. The serpent is the beginning, the unity of Yin and Yang, arising between Adam and Eve. And the goblin is one of the many hypostases of the Serpent post coitum. About something - somehow in .
MAP OF OLEG DAVYDOV'S PLACES OF POWER - ARCHIVE OF PLACES OF POWER -
Esotericist Nicholas Roerich, in his essay “The Heart of Asia,” spoke about one of his expeditions to the Himalayas. There he wrote: “Recently in Kostroma, an old monk who recently went to India died.”
Researcher Igor Minutko in the book “Temptation of the Teacher. Version of the life and death of Nicholas Roerich” explains that the monk mentioned by Roerich reposed in 1925. And only many years later it was possible to find out that in the mid-1880s A whole group of Kostroma Old Believers monks made a pilgrimage to India and Tibet. They visited ancient monasteries, the sacred city of Benares in India for all Buddhists, and communicated with Tibetan sages for several years. There, Kostroma residents received such extensive information about the Universe and man that is inaccessible to an ordinary person. They received steles with Tibetan ideograms (symbols) carved on them, where the ancient teaching of the Tibetan sages was expounded, it is called “Dunhor”, or “Kalachakra”.
Professor and occultist Alexander Barchenko reached out to these “initiates” in the early 1920s. In 1925, he headed a top-secret neuroenergetic (occult) laboratory at the OGPU for the study of paranormal phenomena - bioelectronics, extrasensory perception and telepathy. Kostroma historian and journalist Konstantin Vorotnoy claims: he met in Moscow with Mikhail Kruglov, a native of Yuryevets. He arrived in the capital with steles with Tibetan ideograms - written signs that conventionally depict a concept (as opposed to letters denoting sound).
Kruglov reported to the security scientist about a man who was admitted to the shrines of Tibet and India, and therefore had knowledge much more extensive than Kruglov himself. This man lived in Kostroma, his name was Elder Nikitin. In September 1924, Barchenko arrived in Kostroma and only in November met the elder in his house on Sennaya Street.
Nikitin looked with understanding
Igor Minutko describes Barchenko’s stay in Kostroma: “As soon as he appeared in the city, the scientist attracted the vigilant employees of the local OGPU with his “alien appearance.” And although all the necessary documents were presented to the guardians of revolutionary legality, the scientist was arrested “until the circumstances were clarified.” During the arrest, books on occultism and mysticism and a Smith & Wesson revolver were confiscated from the suspicious traveler. What confused the operatives most was the fact that citizen Barchenko arrived in Kostroma for no apparent reason - he was not sent by anyone.”
And the scientist is looking for some old man Nikitin, and this is very suspicious. But the arrest was short-lived; in the evening of the same day, Alexander Barchenko was released. Someone clearly helped.
The next morning there was a knock on the room of the Serp and Molot communal hotel, and a young man in a new police uniform appeared in front of the professor.
Let’s go, citizen,” he ordered.
They walked through the entire city and found themselves on the outskirts: low houses, ditches with standing water.
The policeman brought Barchenko to the rickety house. They were met on the porch by a tall, thin old man in a shabby fur coat and felt boots. On the wrinkled face, all the features seemed frozen, only the eyes looked vigilantly and with understanding.
Barchenko spent more than a month in Kostroma with the elder - in long conversations, and sometimes even arguments. His interlocutor belonged to the sect of Old Believers-runners, or rather, to a branch of this sect: “We call ourselves Golbeshniks.” In different parts of Russia they are called differently: not only golbeshniks, but also runners, hermits, skrytniki.
During their wanderings, they organized a whole network of safe houses, which, as Nikitin said, by the beginning of the 19th century stretched from the White Sea to India and Tibet. In Kostroma alone, the police discovered more than a hundred such appearances in the mid-19th century.
However, the elder did not have time to reveal all the secrets of this teaching, its practical side to the professor - in the middle of 1925, Nikitin died and was buried in one of the old Old Believer churchyards, states Konstantin Vorotnoy in the article “In Search of Belovodye.”
After meeting the Kostroma Old Believers, Barchenko developed the idea of making an expedition to Tibet and India in search of secret knowledge, but due to intrigues in the leadership of the OGPU, it did not take place.
What remains in the Princes of the Desert
Kostroma Old Believers went not only “across three seas.” They, according to some Kostroma researchers, had their own interest in the north of the province, in the dense Kologriv forests. For example, in the Princes of the Desert. By the way, “desert” means a secluded place, a monastery. During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, when the church began to reform, the Old Believers, saving their faith, settled in remote places. So the old hermit ended up in Knyazhi.
This idea was developed by Kostroma writer and journalist Vladimir Shpanchenko. His book “Journey to the Princely Hermitage” says: “In the early 90s, when journalists had relatively free access to the KGB archives in the Kostroma region, they showed me previously closed documents. This is how I learned about the transfer of German saboteurs to the territory of our region near Antropov. Among the saboteurs were former regular soldiers of the Red Army who were traitors. There were also German officers from Annenerbe (“Heritage of the Ancestors”). Where were they going? For what purpose did they appear in the vicinity of the Holy Mountain? It remains a mystery. One thing is clear that the SS scientists from the “Heritage of the Ancestors”, if they went to the Holy Mountain near the Princes of the Desert, did not do so with the goal of dragging stones to the top of the mountain, as the pilgrims did. They had some other tasks ahead of them.”
Konstantin Vorotnoy suggests what could be found there: “Kologriv stands on the spurs of the Northern ridges - the legendary Ripean (Hyperborean) mountains. It was here that the legendary country of our ancestors was located - Belovodye. Kologriv was one of the sanctuaries of Belovodye. It was only many centuries later that the geographical position of this country moved south to Tibet and India.”
It is possible that the Nazis planned to find in the Princely Hermitage at least a piece of ancient knowledge, which may still be stored inside the Holy Mountain itself. Knowledge left over from both the Hyperboreans and, perhaps, from the Kostroma elders, who were once among the Tibetan lamas.
Portal to Hyperborea
Vladimir Shpanchenko more than once said that he saw some kind of entrance in the Holy Mountain: “I went down a little. Holding onto the bushes, I took a few steps to the side - and a mossy monolith of a quadrangular shape, three meters high, grew in front of me. The impression is that this monolith blocked the entrance to the mysterious voids of the mountain. Looking at it, it’s hard to believe that it appeared naturally in a steep wall.”
The researcher was distracted, and he waved his hand at this very entrance, saying that he would find it next time. I saw it two more times later. But I couldn’t get a good look at him. Apparently not fate. Shpanchenko didn’t even think of taking a photograph of this entrance, although he never parted with the camera. And then I couldn’t find this same monolith and the entrance to the mountain. But, it seemed, he remembered: it is located not far from the wooden chapel, on the side of the old churchyard. But other people pass nearby and do not see a rectangular stone three times the height of a man. In private conversations with the author of these lines, he called the entrance to the Holy Mountain a portal of the Hyperboreans...
He also said that local residents Mikhail Krutikov and Alexander Zhiganov once, while hunting, came across a boulder on which a clear imprint of the right human foot was visible. And a native of the Princes of the Desert, Chistov, as a teenager, climbed into a deep well with his friends. In its walls the guys found two passages, between which lay a board. Apparently, there was some kind of hiding place there. Later, Chistov, wandering through the forest, suddenly saw a door in the slope of the Holy Mountain. Stone steps led up to it. It was not possible to open the door.
In 1719, a convent was opened here. Now it has not survived. They say that when his last nun was dying, she said: “People will walk through the treasure, but they will never find it.”
Old-timers said that sometimes the water in the streams of the Holy Mountain glows with some kind of sparkles. They took it for analysis, which determined the presence of crystals of some metal. Perhaps silver? However, researchers are not thinking about precious metal; they are sure that ancient knowledge is stored deep in the mountain, to which the Kostroma elders once had access (including access). Everything has its time. Perhaps one day the mystery of the Holy Mountain will be solved.
At one time they began to forget about the most beautiful of the remote corners of the Kologriv land - the Princely Hermitage. But in the distant past, pilgrims from all over the Kostroma Trans-Volga region flocked here. Now interest in this unique historical, cultural and natural territory is growing again.
To get to the now abandoned village of Pustyn, you need to walk 7 kilometers from the village of Sovetsky. On the maps there is a road leading to it from Voimas, but in reality it is a broken logging road lost in the taiga, so it’s easier to drive through Georgievskoye and Nikola.
Knyazhaya River
In the past, these huge dense forests were part of a large government dacha, where all logging was strictly prohibited. This was done because of the holy desert - a small monastery, which was founded by the Urom landowner Foma Danilovich Tsizarev.
General view of the Princes of the Desert. Lithograph by G.A. Ladyzhensky
The story is this: a landowner, hunting in the forests, came across an icon of the Assumption hanging on a large linden tree. He had sore legs and after praying to the icon, he suddenly felt relief. And then he completely recovered. This radically changed his life. He became a mystic, became a monk under the name of Ezekiel and founded a monastery at the site of the appearance of the Virgin Mary on the linden tree. It was then that the wooden Assumption Church was built, in which the miraculous icon stood, until the monastery was closed in 1774, and the icon was moved to Kologriv.
Modern view of the wooden Assumption Church
According to local historian D.F. Belokurov, taken from the materials of the Patriarchal Order: “in the Knyazhaya Hermitage, on the Knyazhaya River, the church has existed for more than 300 years, and it was built by the diligence of Ignatius Fomich Tsizarev (son of Thomas Danilovich).” Such confusion in the dates of foundation may have occurred due to the fact that previously there was a similar desert downstream of the Knyazhaya River.
This place is somewhat similar to Krasnaya Gorka above Pinega - space, stunning views of kilometers of taiga on the opposite low-lying bank of the river.
As already mentioned, the monastery did not exist for long - already in 1762, after the death of the founder, it was abandoned by the brethren and abolished, and the church became a parish church. But the unusual place attracted people, and in 1842 a second temple was built nearby - a stone one. It also received the name Uspensky.
Stone Church. 1950s. Photo by N. M. Lebedev
During Soviet times they were closed. The only surviving photographs of the Princes of the Desert by N. M. Lebedev date back to 1951. By that time, both churches were adapted for various social and living facilities. The photographs clearly show that all the domes, especially the crosses, have been removed, hipped roofs have been installed, and heating is available. At this time, the Pustynsky forest site was working here. In winter, an ice road was built. The forest was carried along it by heavy-duty sleighs, three at a time. In the building of the brick church there was a dining room, a bakery, a store, and in the wooden church they showed, it seems, a movie.
Panorama of the Holy Mountain. 1950s. Photo by N. M. Lebedev
The panorama of the Holy Mountain, or as it is also called Romanikhi, is approximately the same as it is now. But the churches are no longer in use and are being destroyed. Old burials in the cemetery also disappear, tombstones and monuments are lost, but there are also modern ones that are being monitored.
Modern view of the brick Assumption Church
Now the stone church is kept in order, tidy, and there is a table with icons. But people, like their ancestors, do not delve too deeply into the subtleties of Christianity. As was the custom of old: if this is a holy place, then an offering must be made. In the church, near the cross, at the springs, there are ribbons tied, money, candies, and cookies lying around. People expect benefits. And it happens.
On the road to the Desert there were stables behind the trees on the left, and a branch led towards them. Somewhere between the churches there was (even at that time) the famous linden alley. The linden trunks were chewed up by the pilgrims. According to legend, their bark helped against toothache. Now these linden trees are gone. The last one collapsed somewhere in the 50s of the last century. One linden stump has been preserved in the Kologriv Museum of Local Lore.
Desert Village. Modern look.
In 1955, above the Knyazha River on a high cape, the Soviet logging station and the logging village of the same name opened. It turned 55 years old in 2010 and is still around. And the village of Pustyn gave orders for life long ago. Although recently, temporarily visiting pilgrims and even some monk lived in some of the suitable houses. On his initiative, with the help of a logging station, a gazebo-chapel was built on the Holy Stream, the same type of which was built on Efimov Klyuch. The gazebo unfortunately burned down in 2010.
There is a staircase leading up to it. It and the surrounding trees are densely hung with ribbons, scarves, napkins, and towels. The same abundance as in other holy places where priests rarely look. It seems as if hundreds of pilgrims come here every day, and yet you have to manage to get to these sources.
The stream goes around the chapel on the left. To the right of it there is one spring, and a little lower - another. According to popular beliefs, one of them is with living water, the other with dead water. Indeed, the water near the chapel is much tastier.
Photos: Kokorin D., N. Smirnov
Princess Pustyn is a project that combines Russian-Slavic aesthetics and a natural-philosophical worldview, expressed through various forms of art. The Prince of the Desert is far from being just music, and the music of the Princes of the Desert is far from being just one genre or style. The project was founded by musicians from different parts of Russia, and the music ranges from Atmospheric Black Metal to Dark\Neo Folk and Folk Ambient. Lyrics and visual images are as important a part of the work of the Princes of the Desert as music, which takes the project beyond just the musical. And today we present you with a chance to dive deeper into the creative world of the Princes of the Desert and learn in more detail about the hitherto unadvertised facts of the project’s creative activity first-hand.
Princess Pustyn does not tend to often mention the names of its participants, and this interview is no exception. Suffice it to say that the group answered collectively, and not a single question was given an evasive or vague answer. However, anyone who craves knowledge about the project, with due diligence, will find it without our help...
So, let's begin...
WinterHeim: Greetings!
PrincessDeserts(Knyazhaya Pustyn`) is a project as successful as secretive, not least because you personally don`t aspire to lift up the veil of secrecy which hides the truth. We respect your right for such privacy, but even so we prepared a couple of question, not just to know some moments about band biography, but to understand a history and sense of things, which are directly connected with your creativity.
The first question will touch a very important topic. Tell about how exactly a conceptual base of your project was formed. Did this conception find its own form before (or during, maybe) recording of your debut album, or is conception in development period still? How do you assess a way that you have passed? Are you satisfied with the result, which you have today?
KP: Project “Princely Hermitage” is inspired and permeated by spiritual quest, which each member does in his own way. It`s another level and other task, not just making a conceptual music based on some idea limited by frameworks. Foundation for this quest is life itself, education of the soul by living Universe around us, day by day, one event after another. This is quest for the roots, ancestral identity, an attempt to touch the universe and attempt to find kinship in people, both near and random. We can say that it is an experience realized through the images that each member has acquired in his life's journey.
It would be prematurely to speak of results, because only a little bit of our potential is released. Ahead are the new stages of the path to be overcome.
PrincessDeserts is not assumed, not high-coloured, but really existing place in Kostromskaya oblast (Central Russia). Why did you choose exactly this name for your project? What does this name mean for you and is it connected with your personal experience? Aren’t you bothered with the fact that this place of power in new history is associated exceptionally with Christian orthodox religion?
The Place, as well as its name, conveys that state of mind in which a man may stay in full harmony – external and internal. A real personal experience is required here, philosophical insinuations are not enough. Princess Desert is one of those places (and there are plenty of them all across the world) where in silence, contemplations and inner prayer you can find the truth.
PrincessDeserts is not just a band, or one-man project. It`s a whole unity of people with different visions, musical tastes and creative specializations. How is the writing process in your formation going? Are you working on music together, equally imbedded in a process or is there one person, who creates all basis and then roughly explains to others, what they need to do? Is it comfortable for you to work with each other and in the regime which you have chosen?
Geography of the band extends from central part of Russia to Eastern Siberia. Band works remotely.
In spite of thousands of kilometers which divide us, it does not slow down the creative process. Considering the studio basis of project, work in this mode is comfortable to all members.
Album creating process itself in general is realized through simple scheme: the independent preparation of the material - the formation of the framework for future work - merging together all findings and then proper shaping. After that follows work on the details, mixing and design.
In 2013, KnyazhayaDesertsdeclared about itself by release of debut full-length album called “Eternity”"("Eternity"). Despite, that the public branded your style as Atmospheric\Ambient\Folk\Black Metal, it is not quite correct in our opinion. Surely, all these elements have their place in your music, but they are rather forming something of their own, something unique and different, subordinated only to their composers ideas, not to the genre patterns. Am I correct? How do you estimate this album today, two years after its release? Are you satisfied with this album and did this work embody your original musical vision of your project?
This album displays the most initial vision of the project at the time in its laconic, somewhat utold, but also a holistic form. "Eternity" - a symbiosis of leisurely course of time, Russian aesthetics and self-contemplation. The characteristic sound, instruments and techniques used in the recordings, presentation of the material are specified by its creative task, spiritual quest and nothing else.
Simple album title reflects the essence of it. All styles and symbols are just a form, the shell in which content is available in particular environment. The sound itself is what is important.
The next album called “Haze"("Mirage"), which was released year after, continued the musical way of "Eternity» album. But on "Haze" many new elements occur, which were expected by someone and feared by others. What can you say about your relatively fresh creation? What are the main musical and conceptual differences between "Haze " and "Eternity"? And vice versa, what components did you decide to leave and to develop further, and why? Are you satisfied with the results?
It does not make sense to explain the album concepts, since the whole point is represented in the most understandable way - projections of images in sound. These are the images that will eventually become brighter.
Specifically, "Mirage" is a necessary and important step on creative way and on the path of life as well, and its purpose and essence are not separable. Subjects which were touched upon in this record can be projected on anything, regardless of external factors in certain periods of spiritual development. They can be valid in their own way at any time, but in the current era they become more important.
The peculiarity of the second album "Mirage" is in its relative completeness. In many respects this step was caused by the particular circumstances of that time, a sense of impending changes. Album artwork particularly reflects this: for example, the conceptual frame that surrounds the booklet page is based on the principles of traditional folk art and does not contain any excess elements. It can be read like a book.
More recently, the conceptual work entitled “Plexus» was released - split album in which you participate on an equal basis with friendly projects | and LesnoyDance. What can you tell us about this release and its basic concept? What do you think about friendly projects, which intertwined their stuff with yours into one piece? Is it an ordinary record for you, or did you compose tracks for this split-album with a special enthusiasm?
"Plexus" was born as an experiment. The idea of making an album together was born in the period of work on our first album. The split with "Prince Pustyn" and "|" (at that time called "to the North") was originally planned, but the circumstances made it a little different. A positive aspect of work postponement was the emergence of the third participant - “Forest Dance”, Andrew project (designer of “Princess Hermitage” albums artworks). In fact, all the participants of "Plexus" are related to "Princess Hermitage" in one way or another. Percussion, some ethnic instruments and vocals performed by Alexander from “|” can be heard on the album "Haze".
Tracks of "Forest Dance" from "Plexus" were recorded back in the years of 2005-2009, which was a long before we joined our forces in "Princess Hermitage", but the idea fell perfectly into the overall outline of the album. In addition, Andrew took up instruments again for the first time after five years of creative break and recorded bass, various percussion and folk instruments for "Prince Pustyn".
This work was originally conceived with the members of these projects, and in this case the concept was more clearly formed only at the end of the work - experience of cooperation was based on trust, and the result of this experience turned out to be an album in the form in which it was.
Conceptual part of CD is the result of similarity between directions of search and interference, which are united by an important clue - a direct kinship between human and Nature.
The next topic is lyrical component of KnyazhayaDeserts. What is the greatest source of inspiration for your lyrics – is it personal experience, tradition and folklore or historical and artistic exploration and appeals to interpretations of dubious works such as "The Book of Veles"? What is the aim of your lyrics, what are the main topics which you are trying to convey to the listener through the lyrics?
The main source of inspiration for the lyrics is primarily the Russian Nature – northern one and taiga. The author of lyrics has spent many years within the Arctic Circle and in his mature years he acquainted with taiga and its endless beauty, which made him conscious of the fact that modern man has lost his connection and harmony with Nature. These experiences became the impulse to creativity and rethinking of human values, which subsequently formed the basis for the poetic side of “Princess Hermitage”.
Let's talk about the artwork of your releases. Usually you use for it very picturesque and colorful photos of Russian nature. As far as I know, the one who works on it all is official member of the band (Andrey), and this is his role in Princess Deserts. Does this mean that your visual side is inextricably linked with your musical and ideological sides and each of the sides can’t be imagined without others? And why did you choose a photos, not the painting or graphic for example?
The band members try to make each album not just a CD with music, but some kind of an artifact, independent, integral and, if possible, harmonious both inside and outside.
We decided to use photos as cover art because Andrey was engaged in nature photographer for more than 15 years and he had accumulated a really solid archive of photos. In addition to Siberian panoramas, there is a footage made by other band members in other parts of Russia used for CD design, and these photos look equally good that once again confirms the unity of the natural spirit.
Creating a good booklet is a significant work, which eats up an enormous amount of time and intellectual resources. And we must pay tribute to Andrey, because he does his job brilliantly. He also created a drawings which were used on our last two releases.
Connection of our musical, visual and emotional sides exists and it is unbreakable. One without the other in the creativity of “Princess Hermitage” is unthinkable as for today.
All albums of KnyazhayaDeserts were released by Der Schwarze Tod – a very respectable label in Russland as for today. Tell us about you cooperation with this label and their chief KN. Are you happy with such cooperation? Do you plan to continue your cooperation in the future?
Project members are satisfied with collaboration with Der Schwarze Tod label and all our further works are planned to be released with its direct assistance.
What is your attitude towards today's pagan communities/organizations? How do you think, do they bring revival of pagan culture and faith, or are they just making everything more confused and departing even further from visions of the past? And what is the way of the future in your opinion - the restoration of the old or the creation of a new?
Our attitude towards them is ambiguous, different. There are those who sincerely and thoroughly trying to create something good, acting on their heart, and there are those whose views are not fully clear. The original tradition of our ancestors are now virtually suspended, and there will not be the ability to recreate it on the basis of any scientific research or intuition, as long as there is the attempt to "recreate". Living Tradition is meant to live and to be born like a living creature and to be transmitted from generation to generation like a seed. Reconstruction is not able to reproduce all the nuances and subtleties of its former greatness. Many things that once had sacred meaning are transferred in new interpretation now, which is full of speculation.
Most likely, the little part that still remained from the true antiquity (if not in form but at least in spirit), is preserved in so-called national "grandmother Orthodoxy."
Man is born free by nature and should remain so until the end of his way metered by gods.
Russian man must go ahead. At the same time he must use what is still left from the past to maintain the integrity – the present as the unity of the past and the future. The one who seeks will find, the one who walks will overcome the distance and the one who keeps fire in his heart will stay warm.
What can you tell us about the modern stage of the CIS (Russia in particular)? Are there any bands and projects that you can call your friends and colleagues or simply recommend to listen to? Who can you call worthy among the foreign hordes?
Companions who passed together and experienced an important part of the way together with us are the projects and members who participated in "Plexus" and on Knyazhaya Pustyn albums.
Tell us about the plans for the future. How soon will you record and release new material and should we expect any surprises from you at this time? Are you looking at the future with optimism?
It is very useful to look at things with optimism, but to do it objectively is even better. It is too early to talk about the terms new material realization at the present moment, but the work slowly continues, and the process of work comprehension is connected with some transcendental experience, so to speak. Initially there are new, perhaps even unexpected approaches to everything used. But again, these are just outward forms, and whatever they were, the essence remains the same.
Thank you for your answers. Your final words) ...
In the search for truth always go forward, hold the hands of your people and those who need your support. No matter how difficult it can be, do not lose faith and keep the Light in your hearts!
WinterHeim: Greetings!
Princess Pustyn is a project as successful as it is secretive, not least because you yourself do not seek to lift the veil of secrets under which the truth is hidden. We respect your right to non-disclosure, but we have nevertheless prepared several questions, the purpose of which is not just to find out some aspects of the biography of the Princes of the Desert, but to understand the history and meaning of things directly related to your creative activity.
The first question will touch on a very important topic. Tell us about how exactly the conceptual basis of your project was formed. Was the concept already clearly defined before or during the recording of your debut album, or is the concept still in a period of partial formation? How do you evaluate the path you have traveled? Are you satisfied with the result that you have already achieved today?
KP: The project “Princess of the Desert” is inspired and permeated with a spiritual search, which each of the participants conducts in their own way. This is a completely different level and a different task than just making conceptual music, taking as a basis an idea limited in scope. The basis of such a search is life itself, the education of the soul of the living Universe around us, day after day, event after event. This is a search for roots and generic identity, an attempt to touch the universe and an attempt to discover kinship in people, both close and random. We can say that this is an experience realized through images that each of the participants acquired on their life path.
It is premature to talk about the result, since only a small fraction of the potential has been realized. There are new stages ahead to be overcome.
Princely Pustyn is not a fictional, not embellished, but a very real place in the Kostroma region. Why did you choose this name for your project? What does this title mean to you and does it relate to any of your personal experiences? And aren’t you confused by the fact that this place of power in modern history is associated exclusively with the Christian Orthodox religion?
The place, as well as its name, conveys the state of spirit in which a person can reside, being in complete harmony - external and internal. What is needed here is truly personal experience, and philosophical speculation alone is not enough. Princely Hermitage is one of those places (and there are a great many of them in the world) where the truth is comprehended in silence, contemplation and inner prayer.
Princess Pustyn is not just a group and not a project of one person. This is a whole association of people with quite different views, musical tastes and creative specializations. How does the process of composing material go in your team? Do you make the music together and be equally invested in the process, or is there one person who creates the whole framework and roughly explains what to do to the others? Is it convenient to work in such a composition and in the mode that you have chosen?
The geography of the team extends from the central part of Russia to Eastern Siberia. The group works remotely.
Despite being separated by thousands of kilometers, this does not slow down the creative process. Considering the studio nature of the project, working in this mode is quite comfortable for all participants.
The process of creating an album as a whole follows a simple scheme: independent development of material - formation of the framework of future work - merging together all the developments and actually giving shape. Next comes work on the details, mixing and design.
In 2013, Knyazhaya Pustyn announced itself with its debut full-length album “Eternity”. Despite the fact that the public has dubbed you an Atmospheric\Ambient\Folk\Black Metal project, we see this as not a completely correct definition of your music. Of course, all these elements have a place to be, but these elements rather try to form something of their own, something completely different, subordinated only to the ideas of the authors, and not to the recognized rules of these stylistics. How true is such a judgment? How do you see this album today, two years after its release? Are you satisfied with the album “Eternity” and how well did this work embody your original musical vision for the project?
This album maximally reflects the original vision of the project for that period of time, in its laconic, partly unsaid, but at the same time holistic form. “Eternity” is a symbiosis of the leisurely passage of time, Russian aesthetics and self-contemplation. The characteristic sound, instruments and techniques used in the recordings, the presentation of the material are determined by her creative task, spiritual search, and nothing else.
The simple title of the album reflects its entire essence. All styles and designations are just a form, a shell in which the content is accessible in a specific environment. The sound itself is important.
The next album, entitled “Marevo”, released a year later, continued the musical path of the album “Eternity”. But at the same time, many new elements appeared on the album “Marevo”, the appearance of which some expected, while others, on the contrary, feared. But what can you say about your relatively fresh creation? What are the main musical and conceptual differences between the album “Marevo” and your previous work? Conversely, what elements did you decide to keep and develop more diligently, and why? Satisfied whetherYoudonework?
There is no point in explaining the concepts of the albums, since the whole essence is presented in the most understandable form - by projections of images in sound. These are images that become brighter over time.
Specifically, the album “Marevo” is a necessary and important step both on the creative path and on life, and its purpose and essence are inseparable. The topics covered can be projected onto anything, regardless of external factors during certain periods of soul development. They may remain relevant in their own way at any time, but in the current era they gain greater significance.
The difference between the second album “Marevo” lies in its relative completeness. In many ways, this step was caused by specific circumstances at that time, by the feeling of impending changes. The design of the album in particular reflects this: for example, the conceptual frame that surrounds the pages of the booklet is built according to the principles of traditional folk art and does not contain a single superfluous element. It can be read like a book.
Relatively recently, a conceptual work called “Plexus” was also released - a split album in which you take part along with the friendly projects I and Forest Dance. What can you tell us about this conceptual work and its core concept? What do you think about friendly projects that weave their material with yours into a single whole? Is this an ordinary job for you, or did you approach composing tracks for this work with some special trepidation?
"Plexus" was born as an experiment. The idea to make a joint album was born during the work on the first album. Initially, it was planned to split “Princely Pustyn” and “|” (at that time still the project “To the North”), but the circumstances turned out a little differently. A positive aspect of the postponement of work was the appearance of the third participant - “Forest Dance”, the project of Andrey (designer of the albums of “Princes of the Desert”). In fact, the participants of “Plexus”, one way or another, are related to the group “Prince Pustyn”. Drums, some ethnic instruments and vocals performed by Alexander from “|” can be heard on the album “Marevo”.
The tracks of “Forest Dance” presented on “Plexus” were recorded back in 2005-2009, that is, long before the unification, but their idea fit perfectly into the general outline of the album. In addition, Andrey for the first time, after a five-year creative break, took up instruments again, recording bass parts, various percussion and folk instruments for the “Princes of the Desert”.
This work was initially conceived with the participation of these very projects, and in this case the concept was more clearly formed only towards the end of the work - the experience of cooperation was based on trust, and the result of this experience was the album in the form in which it exists.
The conceptuality of the disk is the result of the similarity of search directions and mutual influence, which are united by a common important key - the direct kinship of man to the Earth and Nature.
The next topic is the lyrical component of the Princes of the Desert. What is a greater source of inspiration for the creation of lyrics - personal experience, traditions and folklore, or historical and artistic research and appeals to interpretations of very dubious works, such as “The Book of Veles”? What is the purpose of the lyrics, what main themes are you trying to convey to the listener through the lyrics?
The main source of inspiration for the lyrics is, first of all, Nature – northern and taiga. The author lived for many years in the Arctic Circle, and already in his mature years he became acquainted with the taiga and its endless beauties, which led to the awareness of the loss of harmony with nature by modern man. These experiences served as an impetus for creativity and rethinking of human values, which later formed the basis for the poetic side of “Princes of the Desert.”
Glimpses of inspiration are also drawn from Russian literature, poetry, landscape painting and folklore.
Let's talk about the artistic design of your releases. Basically, when designing your albums, you use very picturesque and colorful photographs of nature, Russian nature. As far as I know, one of the full-fledged members of the group is responsible for photographs and all design, and this is precisely his role in creativity. Does this mean that for you the artistic side is inextricably linked with the musical and ideological, or is one unthinkable without the other? And why did you choose photography, and not, say, art, for example, or the same graphics?
The band members try to make sure that each album is not just a music disc, but is a kind of artifact, independent, integral and, if possible, harmonious both inside and outside.
The choice of photographs as decoration was due to the fact that Andrey has been photographing nature for more than 15 years, having accumulated a sizeable archive. In the design of the discs, in addition to Siberian panoramas, they also used footage taken by the group members in other parts of Russia, and they look equally harmonious, which once again confirms the unity of the Natural Spirit.
Creating a good booklet is a lot of work that consumes colossal time and intellectual resources. And we must give Andrey his due; he copes with his task brilliantly. He also owns the drawings used in the last two works.
The connection between the musical, artistic and ideological sides exists, and it is inextricable.
The albums of the Princes of the Desert are published by the label Der Schwarze Tod, which has recently been very popular in Rus'. Tell us how it is for you to work with this office and personally with K.N. Are you satisfied with the fruits of joint cooperation? Do you plan to continue your cooperation in the future?
The participants are satisfied with the fruits of cooperation with the Der Schwarze Tod label, and all future works are planned to continue to be released with its direct help.
What is your attitude towards today's pagan communities/organizations? In your opinion, do they bring a revival of pagan culture and faith, or are they simply “muddying the waters”, moving even further from the views of the past? And what, in your opinion, is the path to the future - restoring the old or creating a new path?
The attitude is ambiguous, different. There are those who sincerely and thoroughly try to create something good, coming from the heart, and there are also those whose views are not completely clear. The original tradition of our ancestors is now practically interrupted, and it will no longer be possible to recreate it either on the basis of scientific research or on the basis of intuition, as long as there is an attempt to “recreate” it. A living tradition is alive because it is born, like a living being, and passed on, like a seed, from generation to generation. Reconstruction is not able to reproduce all the nuances and subtleties of its former greatness. Many things that had a sacred meaning are now conveyed in a new interpretation, filled with speculation.
Most likely, the little that has still been preserved from true antiquity, if not in form, then at least in spirit, has been preserved precisely in the so-called folk, “grandmother’s Orthodoxy.”
Man is born free by nature and must remain so until the end of the path measured out for him by the Gods.
Russian people need to move forward. At the same time, using what is left so that integrity is preserved - the present, as the unity of the past and the future. The seeker will find, the walker will overcome space, and the one who keeps the fire in his heart will be warmed up.
What can you tell us about the modern CIS scene (and the Russian scene in particular)? Are there gangs and projects that you can call your friends and associates, or that you can simply recommend? Who can you call worthy among foreign gangs?
The projects and participants who are presented on “Plexus” and the albums of Prince Pustyn can be called comrades with whom we have jointly traveled and experienced an important part of the journey.
Tell us about your plans for the future. How soon is the recording and release of new material expected and should we expect any pleasant surprises from you? Are you optimistic about the future?
It can be very useful to look at things with optimism, but even better - objectively. At the moment, it is too early to talk about the timing of the implementation of the new material, but the work is proceeding slowly, and the process of comprehending the work itself is associated with obtaining a transcendental experience, if you can call it that. Initially, new approaches to everything are used, perhaps even unexpected ones. But again, these are just external forms, and no matter what they are, the essence will remain the essence.
