Several legends about the sunken city - Kitezh-grad - are associated with Lake Svetloyar. They have a lot in common, but they are separated by a gulf of time. Let's consider the most famous legends, using modern knowledge and logical reasoning, we will imagine the events that led to their formation, as well as their further transformation up to the present day.

Lake Svetloyar is located 130 km from the regional center of Nizhny Novgorod near the village of Vladimirskoye, Voskresensky district. Age - 10,000 years. Origin unknown. Lake size: 500 by 300 meters. Depth more than 30 meters. Numerous land and underwater expeditions have not confirmed the existence of Kitezh City or any other coastal settlements. There are only legends...

We will begin our consideration of legends with those closest to us in time and gradually dive into the depths of eras and make a bold assumption.

The first legend is Christian

Founding of Kitezh City: Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich loved to travel. One day, in 1164 (6672 from S.M.), he sailed along the Volga, saw a good place, landed on the shore and founded the city of Maly Kitezh (presumably Gorodets) there and continued his journey along the dry land. He passed through forests, rivers and came to the shore of Lake Svetloyar. The prince was struck by the beauty and harmony of this place. And Yuri Vsevolodovich ordered the founding of the great Kitezh - the legendary Kitezh-grad - in this place. The foundation of the city supposedly took place in 1165.

The city was built in three years. Its size is 200 fathoms long and 100 wide (~300 by 160 meters). There were many churches there with golden heads and pious people.

Grand Duke George Vsevolodovich was born in 1187 and participated in numerous military campaigns against the surrounding principalities. To hold the captured Chuvash and Mordovian lands, he founded Nizhny Novgorod (Nov Grad) and a number of other fortresses in 1221. He believed that it was easier to defend against the Tatars alone. As a result of subsequent battles with the Tatar-Mongol invaders, he lost his family and died himself in 1238. He took an active part in the spread and strengthening of the Christian faith. Built many churches in Ancient Rus'. For his deeds pleasing to God and the torments endured by the Orthodox Church, he was canonized in 1645 as the Holy Blessed Prince George Vsevolodovich.

Neighborhoods of Svetloyar 1238

Having defeated the lonely Ryazan residents, the Tatar-Mongols came to Vladimir-grad. Yuri Vsevolodovich was not happy with uninvited guests and refused to pay tribute. The fighting began.

Suzdal fell, Vladimir fell, where the entire family of the Grand Duke perished. The prince himself retreated to Little Kitezh, again gathered troops and continued the fight for the freedom of the Russian Land. Near Gorodets he was defeated and captured. But he didn’t give up, didn’t lose heart. At night he fled through forests and rivers to Great Kitezh.

In the morning, Khan found out about the prince's escape - he got angry, executed the guilty rogues and began to torture the remaining prisoners about the whereabouts of Yuri Vsevolodovich. Everyone was silent, only one traitor was found. It was the hawk moth Grishka Kuterma. He told and led the enemy to the beautiful Kitezh city.

The prince came out with a new squad to defend the city and heroically laid down his wild little head on the battlefield. Three heroes also fought in that battle. The forces were not equal, and they also died. At the site of their death, the Kibelek spring began to flow, next to which their graves are located - the graves of three saints. It is not completely known: were the saints heroes or were the heroes canonized?

The ruthless khan saw that the city was left without protection and wanted to put it to fire and sword. Suddenly, bells began to ring from all the bell towers, and the believers began to pray together and sing beautiful prayers.

The Most Holy Theotokos heard the cries and pleas for salvation and performed a miracle: she saved the entire city and all its inhabitants from abuse and inevitable death. There was a city and it disappeared, melted, ceased to exist, disappeared before everyone’s eyes.

The meaning of the words “missing” and “disappeared” does not always mean a favorable outcome for the missing person.

Then the legends diverge. According to one version, Kitezh-grad sank into Lake Svetloyar, like Atlantis, although everyone died there, but fortunately, on the contrary, we were saved. In calm weather, pure souls can see the domes of churches in the depths and hear the ringing of bells.

According to the second version, the city fell underground. The proof is the testimony of the peasants. When they plowed the land, they sometimes hooked the plow onto the tops of the crosses. According to a third version: the city became invisible. Also, only pure-hearted people can see and enter it.

There are obvious contradictions in this legend: not everything agrees with the dates of the life of the founder and the founding of Small and Big Kitezh, the place of the death of the prince, etc., and the Tatar-Mongol invasion itself is a big question.

Have any traces of a large Tatar-Mongol army been found on the shores of Lake Svetloyar? Anything belonging to the ruthless invaders? We asked these questions to an employee of the Kitezh Historical and Art Museum in the village of Vladimirskoye, Nizhny Novgorod Region, and received a comprehensive answer. There is confirmation: two beads presumably of Tatar origin were found. Draw your own conclusions.

A beautiful and wonderful legend about the strength and purity of the Russian soul.

Ancient Slavic version of the legend

The next legend associated with Kitezh-grad and Lake Svetloyar takes 3000 years from Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich, to those ancient times that we now in Rus' are not accustomed to remember, back to approximately 2358 BC.

Tales of that time are preserved in the legends of the peoples inhabiting these lands - the Mordvins, Mari, Chuvash. At one time they were written down and have survived to this day.

Veles is a Slavic god, sage, patron of the arts, lord of sorcery, etc.

And friends became enemies. The beauty chose Perun and married him.

God Veles did not accept this and resorted to magic. He took out a unique flower, Lily of the Valley. Anyone who smells it will immediately fall in love with the first person he sees after that.

I went to visit Dodola when Perun was on a long business trip. And he said, in passing, that her husband was not bored in distant lands... The Diva got angry and chased after the offender on her miracle horse, thundering with lightning. Where this horse hit the ground with its hoof, a lake was formed. Veles quickly turned into the Lunda River, and stuck a magic flower on the shore. The beauty saw an amazing flower, could not resist, picked it and smelled it, and Veles was right there, and Dodola fell in love with it more than life itself. After the allotted time, their son Yarilo was born, and the lake was named Svetloyar.

Then Veles called on the builder god to build him a miracle city on the shores of the lake. Which is what he did. He named this city Kitezh-grad.

The ruler of the city, Veles Sureevich, owned a ring with a magic ruby. He could transport entire cities to another world. Somehow, unfriendly gods fired lightning at Veles Sureevich. She hit the magic ruby ​​and was reflected in the city of Kitezh-grad. After which the city disappeared. Veles Sureevich got upset, became confused, and left for Belozerye. There he became famous and became known to us under the name of Father Frost.

There is another ending to this lyrical story: Perun returned after a long absence and he did not like what he saw. Perun decided to punish the treacherous Veles. They fought for three days and three nights. As a result, Veles was expelled from the Slavic Olympus.

The legend of the angry goddess and the giant horse.

There is another short legend about Kitezh-grad and Lake Svetloyar. In ancient times there were many different gods. People revered them and brought gifts. One small but proud tribe, for some unknown reason, stopped worshiping the goddess of forests and animals. This goddess's name was Maiden-Turk. The goddess became very angry and sent her huge and merciless horse at the rude people. The horse hit the human settlement with its hoof, the ground collapsed and the hole filled with water. This is how the village of forest people disappeared and Lake Svetloyar was formed. And proof of this is the shape of the lake, similar to a horse’s hoof.

Unexpected continuation...

When writing this article, I became familiar with the works of A. Koltypin and P. Olekseenko on nuclear and thermonuclear conflicts in the past, tektites. Their works echo and are complemented by Alexey Artemyev’s materials on round lakes. This information unexpectedly helped to present a viable picture of what happened on ancient Earth and to find in it a place for the legends about Kitezh-grad and tales about Lake Svetloyar.

Funnel Svetloyar. There have already been nuclear wars on Earth

Ancient sources from various nations describe numerous conflicts between gods using weapons of enormous destructive power, capable of pulverizing entire cities. If such conflicts actually happened, then their traces should remain on the surface of the Earth, for example, in the form of craters.

Modern people also have weapons of enormous destructive power. It is capable of destroying cities, which was clearly proven in practice by the United States in 1945. After its use, huge almost circular craters remain on the surface of the earth, sometimes filled with water.

In the first photo there is a small lake at the site of the explosion of the first atomic bomb at the test site in Semipalatinsk, in the second there are traces of the further improvement of nuclear weapons in the USSR. The third picture shows a lunar landscape in Nevada (USA).

All these craters are united by the same round shape and the obligatory formation of tektites.

Tektites are molten formations that arose during short-term exposure to high temperatures of about 2000 degrees and pressures of ~400,000 atm.

When examining the surface of the Earth on all continents, you can find round lakes and craters of various sizes.

One part of them occurred from the collision of asteroids (meteorites) with the surface of the planet. Their formation is confirmed by the obligatory discovery of meteorite fragments, as well as the absence of tektites.

The other part has a foggy origin, the absence of meteorite dust and the presence of tektites, which means high temperatures and pressures during formation, i.e. have all the signs of the use of nuclear weapons at this site in the past. Official science does not see these coincidences and does not comment on the information.

Funnels in photographs: Lake Lonar (India) - the place “where a star fell to Earth”, Lake Chukhlomskoye (Kostroma region), Lake Svetloyar Nizhny Novgorod region (RF), peat lakes Penza region (RF), Zhamanshin crater (Kazakhstan).

Kitezh-grad - the emergence of a legend

From the above, it can be assumed that in ancient times, nuclear explosions occurred in places where lakes and round craters were located in the presence of tektites. Since the number of such places is large, there was an exchange of nuclear strikes - a global nuclear war. The largest group of such craters closest to our time is 10 - 12 thousand years old.

The age of Lake Svetloyar is exactly 10 thousand years. Origin - unknown, conveniently meteorite-karst. This is what modern science thinks. It has an almost perfect round shape. No meteorite fragments, not even dust, were found on the shores or in the surrounding area. But they had to find it. The search for tektites was either not carried out or the finds were hidden so as not to spoil the usual picture of the World.

Therefore, I assumed that about 12 - 10 thousand years ago in this place there was some kind of settlement, town, military unit, or any other object that deserved a low-power nuclear strike. The blow was struck, the city (object) ceased to exist.

Surviving people from neighboring settlements told the younger generation that there was a city nearby and it was destroyed. He simply disappeared. The massive exchange of nuclear strikes between the warring parties led to an environmental disaster, cold snap, and the destruction of technology and knowledge. The development of society was set back thousands of years.

The legend about the disappeared city was preserved in the memory of people, but the level of development became lower and gods appeared in the ancient legend: Veles, Perun, etc. Not a worldwide nuclear conflict between two superpowers, presumably the Aryans and the Atlanteans, but a rivalry between the gods for a beauty. This was more understandable to people, and they passed it on from generation to generation.

Thousands of years passed, the era of Christianity began.

American science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, after reading the works of K.E. Tsiolkovsky, wrote one of his best novels: “Stepchildren in the Universe.” Only now I understand that we are the heroes of his novel, we are all people on planet Earth.

Reading about legends and traditions about Kitezh-grad, about Svetloyar we unexpectedly touched upon serious topics. The true history of humanity lies behind seven seals, it is hidden under the husk of hoaxes, a touch of fiction. But the Truth is alive, its light glimmers in tales and legends, in rumors, in echoes, in reflections on the water...

I do not have data on tektites from areas of round lakes located on the territory of the Russian Federation, but I assume that they were found, as in similar places abroad. I would be grateful if someone would share the information they have.

Many works of art and Russian legends are associated with this mystical city, which only a select few can see. In fact, Kitezh is a legendary city; read interesting facts about it below.

History of the legend

In the Nizhny Novgorod region, in central Russia, there is Lake Svetloyar. The story of his birth is connected with many mystical events and is shrouded in mystery. According to legend, it is always smooth, and only a very light breeze leaves a little ripple on it. Some even hear bells ringing near it.

The city of Maly Kitezh was built by Georgy Vsevolodovich on the banks of the Volga. However, it seemed small to him, and he created Greater Kitezh on the other side. The construction of cities took place even before Batu’s invasion. The Khan wanted to take possession of the city, killed the prince's brother and surrounded the city. Moreover, it was easy to do - the city was completely unprotected. Khan was very surprised: when the troops approached the city, all its inhabitants prayed fervently. And then the troops burst into it, and the unexpected happened. Fountains began to bubble up around the city, and it soon went under water. None of the enemies managed to penetrate it, and the army retreated. Only the cross was visible in the middle of the lake, and then soon it too disappeared under the water.

There is even a passage to the lake, which is popularly called Batu’s passage. And only a person with a pure soul can see a beautiful city underwater or hear church singing.

The legend of the invisible city formed the basis not only of fairy tales and songs, but also of various works of art.

Present tense

According to legend, the city disappeared between 1236 and 1242. The mystical lake Svetloyar is located in the Volga region. Kitezh, the legendary city, still contains interesting facts today that may concern scientists and researchers of various directions. Getting to the lake is not difficult, but swimming is prohibited due to the depth of 40 meters. It is also known that the lake actually formed 800 years ago, just during Batu’s invasion, but no one can accurately prove its origin.

Mysterious phenomena also occur around him. In particular, today it was noticed that:

• In clear weather, many people hear the ringing of bells or see the outlines of an invisible city in the water. It can also be seen at dawn, when the sun is just rising above the horizon.
• Water taken from the lake does not spoil under any circumstances and can be stored for a very long time.
• The people who carried out the research noticed that the lake went under the water, as if in tiers. It was concluded that it was formed in parts. However, no one has yet reached its bottom due to its very great depth.
• It is known that many prayer books saw this city with their own eyes. If they were asked to draw pictures, the drawings turned out surprisingly similar, but only a true believer, an enlightened person could see them. Local residents noticed strange people in white, dressed in ancient clothes of that time, near the lake, and talked with them. However, scientific confirmation of this information does not yet exist.
• There is also a local legend that ancient people warned of misfortunes and gave various advice to others. However, there is no exact data about it yet. Although many saw wanderers in white clothes and often gave them food, drinks or simply talked to them. But scientific data on this does not yet exist.
• By the way, if you walk around the lake clockwise three times and make a wish, it will definitely come true.

Today it is generally accepted that Kitezh is a legendary city; the interesting facts about it listed in this article have not yet been confirmed by any accurate research. However, despite this, today tourists and pilgrims come to Lake Svetloyar in large numbers to see with their own eyes the lake that hides a great secret.

In the Nizhny Novgorod region there is a beautiful lake Svetloyar, similar to a giant mirror. It is its dark, serene waters that have been hiding the ancient city for many centuries, about which there are so many legends and speculations, but there is practically no factual information. They say that this city opens its doors to those who are pure in heart. It is to such a person that Kitezh-grad will reveal all its secret miracles. Maybe you'll be lucky?

According to legend, Kitezh-grad was located in the northern part of the Nizhny Novgorod region, near the village of Vladimirskoye, on the shores of Lake Svetloyar near the Linda River. The city is mentioned in historical sources - “The Kitezh Chronicler” and “The Tale and Collection of the Hidden City of Kitezh”. In wide circles, this romantic legend became famous thanks to the epic novel “In the Woods” by P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky. Here is a quote from this book:

“That city is still intact - with white stone walls, golden-domed churches, with honest monasteries, with princely patterned towers, with boyars’ stone chambers, with houses cut from kond, rotting forest. The hail is intact, but invisible. Sinful people will not see the glorious Kitezh.”

And many became interested in the legend and went in search of the mysterious invisible city thanks to Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous opera “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia.” Most researchers agree that the name of the city comes from the princely village of Kidekshi (from the Meryan “rocky bay”) near Suzdal, destroyed by the Tatar-Mongol horde in 1237.

The Legend of Kitezh City

Why did it happen one day that the beautiful white-stone city went under water for centuries? They say that it happened like this: Batu Khan found out about Kitezh and ordered to capture it. One of the prisoners told the khan about the wonderful city - he led the army along secret paths to the shores of Lake Svetloyar. The Mongols were very surprised by the fact that such a beautiful city had no defense. Its inhabitants remained absolutely serene in the face of certain death. They didn't even try to resist - they just quietly prayed. Naturally, the Mongols took advantage of this luck and attacked the city. This is where things got weird. Water suddenly gushed out from under the ground - a lot of water, a whole flood. It is unclear where the streams came from and quickly began to flood both the army and the city itself. The invaders had to quickly retreat. They could only watch in confusion as the city sank into the lake. They say that the last thing they saw was the cross on the dome of the main cathedral sparkling in the sun.

Here is how Melnikov-Pechersky talks about this event:

“He miraculously disappeared, by God’s command, when the godless Tsar Batu, having ruined Suzdal Rus', went to fight Kitezh Rus'. The Tatar king approached the city of Great Kitezh and wanted to burn down the houses with fire, beat the husbands or drive them away, and take the wives and girls as concubines. The Lord did not allow the Basurman desecration of the Christian shrine. For ten days, ten nights, Batu’s hordes searched for the city of Kitezh and could not find it, blinded. And until now that city stands invisible - it will be revealed before the terrible judgment seat of Christ. And on Lake Svetly Yar, on a quiet summer evening, you can see walls, churches, monasteries, princely mansions, boyar mansions, and courtyards of townspeople reflected in the water. And at night you can hear the dull, mournful ringing of Kitezh bells.”

By the way, both local residents and many tourists say that bells can still sometimes be heard from under the dark waters of the lake. And in calm weather you can hear people singing, also coming from under the water. Some travelers also talk about seeing church domes in the water.

It’s worth going to the shores of Lake Svetloyar to experience the miracle. There is a belief that if you walk around the lake three times clockwise, your deepest wish will come true. They say that water taken from Svetloyar does not spoil for a long time. Naturally, scientists have repeatedly explored the lake up and down. And they found a lot of mysterious objects at its bottom. For example, underwater terraces - the shores go under the water like a ladder. A lot of ancient objects were found at the bottom of the lake, most of which date back to the thirteenth century.

How to get to Lake Svetloyar where, according to legend, Kitezh city was located

• By bus. We need the route “Nizhny Novgorod - Voskresenskoye” from the Kanavinskaya bus station. Before reaching Voskresensky, you need to get off at the village of Vladimirsky. Then any local will tell you the way. Travel time to Vladimirsky is 2-2.5 hours.
• By local train. Nizhny Novgorod - Semenov" or "Nizhny Novgorod - Uren" to Semenov, then take the Semenov - Voskresenskoye bus to the village of Vladimirskoye. Next - walk through the village of Vladimirskoye, past a large parking lot, along a birch alley, to the lake (1 km).
• By car. Along the Kirov highway. Drive through Semenov, get to Bokovaya station, then make a right turn following the sign for Vladimirskoye and Voskresenskoye, get to the village of Vladimirskoye (turn right), drive through the village to a large parking lot. Next - along the birch alley on foot. Distance from Nizhny Novgorod - 130 km.

In the very center of Russia, the Nizhny Novgorod region, there is Lake Svetloyar - a pearl of Russian nature. This lake is sometimes called the small Russian Atlantis: its history is covered in legends.
The main Svetloyarsk legend is about the invisible city of Kitezh. The legend says: there is a lake in the Vetluga forests. It is located in the forest thicket. The blue waters of the lake lie motionless day and night. Only occasionally a light ripple runs through them. There are days when drawn-out singing can be heard from the quiet shores, and the distant ringing of bells can be heard.

A long time ago, even before the arrival of the Tatars, Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich built the city of Maly Kitezh (present-day Gorodets) on the Volga, and then, “crossing the quiet and rusty rivers Uzola, Sandu and Kerzhenets,” he went out to Lunda and Svetloyar to “very beautiful” the place where the city of Kitezh the Great was built. This is how the glorious Kitezh city appeared on the shore of the lake. Six domes of churches towered in the center of the city.

Having come to Rus' and conquered many of our lands, Batu heard about the glorious Kitezh-city and rushed to it with his hordes...
When the “evil Tatars” approached Kitezh the Small and killed the prince’s brother in a great battle, he himself hid in the newly built forest city. Batu's prisoner, Grishka Kuterma, could not stand the torture and revealed secret paths to Svetloyar.
The Tatars surrounded the city with a thundercloud and wanted to take it by force, but when they broke through to its walls, they were amazed. Residents of the city not only did not build any fortifications, but did not even intend to defend themselves. Residents prayed for salvation, since they could not expect anything good from the Tatars.

And as soon as the Tatars rushed to the city, abundant springs suddenly gushed out from under the ground, and the Tatars retreated in fear. And the water kept running and running...
When the sound of the springs died down, in place of the city there were only waves. In the distance shimmered the lonely dome of the cathedral with a cross shining in the middle. She slowly sank into the water.
Soon the cross disappeared too. Now there is a path to the lake, which is called the Batu Trail. It can lead to the glorious city of Kitezh, but not everyone, but only those who are pure in heart and soul. Since then, the city has been invisible, but intact, and the especially righteous can see the lights of religious processions in the depths of the lake and hear the sweet ringing of its bells.

Reference:

“Lake Svetloyar appears in the report “Notable natural landscapes of the USSR and their protection.” It is included in the group “Lakes of great aesthetic importance (lake-landscape reserves).” It is located, as the directory says, near the village. Vladimirskoye, Voskresensky district, in the basin of the Lunda River, a tributary of the Vetluga. The approximate area of ​​the lake is 12 hectares, length – 210 m, width – 175 m. The legend about the city of Kitezh, which miraculously disappeared into thin air during Batu’s invasion, is connected with it.”

The legend circles over the lake

The fog cleared, and the Domes of Kitezh shone with an unearthly light over the lake. The heavenly city of the righteous appeared in all its splendor. The main gates of the city opened, and a radiant old man appeared from them. He invited to enter the miracle city and stay in it forever. This is how a pilgrim described her meeting with Kitezh, crawling around Lake Svetloyar three times on her knees. As a reward for her spiritual feat, the heavenly city appeared before her, and the residents of Kitezh invited the old woman to their place. But she, frightened, refused to enter the monastery of the righteous.

This is the story of one of the pilgrims who visited the miracle city, which is 130 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod, near the village of Vladimirskoye. What is it about this mysterious lake that pilgrims from all over Russia rush to it, foreign tourists travel in droves, and local residents hold a procession around the lake with candles on the feast of the Virgin Mary of Vladimir on July 6th. This year the number of people was so great that a string of lights entangled the entire lake, their reflections glided across the water, and people kept walking and walking...

The mystery rests for centuries

Summer 2003. The film crew of the film studio "Gran" under the leadership of Evgeny Troshin, Dmitry Sokolov and Yuri Suvorov decided to understand the amazing legends hovering around the lake. To what extent are the words of the pilgrims who supposedly saw an amazing city true, and to what extent is it fiction?

The material for filming was selected long and carefully; it was necessary to collect all existing legends. Ask eyewitnesses who have been to the lake, study materials from books and articles already written about this amazing place and its secrets. There are a huge number of legends and stories. There were people who claimed: if you walk around the lake three times or crawl around it on your knees, any wish will come true. And especially believers even saw the city itself or heard the amazing ringing of bells from the bottom of the lake. The only thing where people’s opinions differed was in assessing the nature of the phenomenon: some considered Kitezh a pagan shrine, others an Orthodox shrine, and others even visited the lake and did not note any miracles, except for the beautiful nature and amazingly clean air.

In printed publications, the legend of Kitezh was presented much more widely. The oldest and most respected legend turned out to be the “Kitezh Chronicler”. The legend told in this chronicle is considered official.

It was the 13th century of the last millennium. Hordes of Tatars devastated the Russian land, and the turn came to the Nizhny Novgorod lands, which at that time were ruled by the Vladimir-Suzdal prince Yuri Vsevolodovich. It is to him that the chronicler attributes the founding in 1164 of Little Kitezh, now called Gorodets on the Volga, and Greater Kitezh on the shores of Lake Svetloyar in the Volga region. Particular emphasis is placed on the fact that the city was built in just three years from 1165 to 1168 and immediately made of stone, which was an unthinkable feat for the forested Rus' of those years. But it was not just the city that the ancient builders built. As the legend tells, in this city there were no artisans, no traders, no nobility; it was intended for the life of righteous people, sages, and spiritual teachers of Rus'. It contained the shrines of the Russian land, ancient books and secret knowledge.

The Tatars advanced, and the prince, not wanting to obey the foreign invaders, gave battle near Small Kitezh on the Volga and lost. After defeat in the battle, miraculously, only the prince and his closest warriors were saved. Not wanting to give up, they made their way through secret forest paths to Bolshoi Kitezh on Svetloyar. There, according to the official version, in 1239 the prince was killed by the Tatars who set off in pursuit.

But the Kitezh chronicler thinks differently: When the Tatars approached the City of Kitezh, the prince ascended to the city and it disappeared into the air to the sound of bells. But here there are also two versions; on the second, the hail sank to the bottom of the lake, where it remains to this day.

However, this version is not unique, there is another, fabulous legend about the origin of the amazing city: Kitezh is not a city at all, but an amazing, hidden country, a fabulous three-tenth state, the habitat of the ancient gods, the guardians of Mother Rus'. As this legend says, in Kitezh there was a storage place for ancient books and relics, strange plants, everything that Slavic Rus' had accumulated since the beginning of time. According to this legend, the first mention of Kitezh is contained in the legend about the god Veles. During the struggle with the dark forces, his soul hardened, and he decided to go to heavenly Svarga in order to cleanse himself of anger and sorrow. Heavenly Svarga is the abode of the gods who protected Rus'. In this monastery there flows a spring with living and dead water. There is the Irian Garden with strange animals and plants. To get to Svarga, you need to go up the Ra River and then down the Smorodinka River, the legendary river of Russian fairy tales. In ancient times the Volga was called the Ra River. And Svarga, according to legend, is Kitezh city - the city of the gods.

The last, third legend says that in the dense forests of the Volga region there lived a people who prayed to the mighty goddess - the heroic maiden Turk. One day these people angered their goddess, and her huge horse hit the ground with its hoof. A spring gushed in this place, and later Lake Svetloyar was formed.

Scientists go to Svetloyar

Svetloyar has always interested people. But not only believers and ethnographers. The lake attracted scientists: hydrologists, chemists, and researchers of Russian fauna. Svetloyar, first of all, attracted researchers with its amazing structure. The lake is of a regular round shape, slightly flattened at the edges. When photographed from a helicopter, it looks like a circle drawn with a compass.

The first scientists to show interest in the lake and its depths from a scientific point of view were students of Kazan University. At the end of the 19th century, young people went to the lake to study its nature. They had to set up tents, squeezing among the numerous pilgrims who flocked to the lake from all over Russia. Unfortunately, their reports have not survived to this day. But they marked the beginning of numerous expeditionary studies of the lake. Later, throughout the late 19th and entire 20th centuries, Svetloyar was studied by a variety of groups of scientists. Excerpts from their reports have been published in the press more than once: “The lake is definitely of karst origin,” believes V.V. Dokuchaev. His studies of Svetloyar date back to 1882. The scientist made his conclusions based on the high southern and western shores of the lake. Its amazing depth is 29.2 meters. Despite its small size, it has a regular round shape. His version is refuted by geologist G.I. Blom, he considers Svetloyar a lake of glacial origin and is a remnant of the ancient bed of the Lunda River. This version is supported by the research of the Gorky geological exploration expedition; it states: “karst rocks are absent to a depth of 250 m, and limestones, gypsum, and anhydrites occurring at greater depths are not affected by karst processes, which indicates its glacial (aeolian) origin.”

From the middle of the 20th century, “literary” studies of the lake began, they were undertaken by the magazine “Smena” and “Literary Gazette”. Their reports are not much different from previous studies, complementing them rather than introducing anything new.

An expedition conducted by the magazine “Smena” came to the conclusion that “the basin of the lake lies at the intersection of deep faults in the earth’s crust, which led to the subsidence of rocks and the formation of a lake at this place. An indirect reason for this process could have been the earthquake in 1596, which was noted in Nizhny Novgorod."

The lake’s water is amazing in its composition; it can be stored for many days without spoiling. This property, according to chemists, is given to it by springs with bicarbonate-calcium water gushing from the bottom of the lake. According to believers, the holy city of Kitezh, resting at the bottom of the lake, makes its water holy. As you know, consecrated water can not spoil for up to a year.

The largest expeditionary research was carried out by Literaturnaya Gazeta. For several seasons in a row, newspaper enthusiasts together with scientists studied the lake. They were joined by scuba divers from the Red Etna plant, but, unfortunately, Kitezh City was never discovered by them.

The materials have been collected, but there is still no clear answer to the question about the existence of the legendary city. This can only be provided by your own research of the lake. Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll see the famous city of Kitezh.

The lake greets you with Miracles

The journey took about ten hours. We flew past Vladimir, leaving Nizhny Novgorod behind. Finally, turn to the village of Vladimirskoye. Driving through the village, you involuntarily pay attention to the friendly local residents and are surprised at the antiquity of some of them. Does the lake really grant immortality? Later we learned that many residents of this village, located directly next to the lake, live to be one hundred years old, and some even to one hundred and twenty. A beautiful sandy path leads from the village to the lake, with slender birch trees along it. Enchanted by the beauty of this place, we go to the lake. But our way is blocked by a pine forest. While our driver Ilya Belkin was looking for a way to drive directly to the lake and set up a tent camp, we, eager to meet Svetloyar, went straight through the forest. Suddenly the director walking in front of us stops and says: “Listen.” Our team is listening. From the side of the lake, “ship bells” sound three times. We hear three strikes of the bell, its sound clearly and loudly echoes over the forest. Is it really true that Kitezh exists, welcoming guests with its ringing?

We overcome the last hundred meters. The view of the legendary lake is beautiful. It has a regular round shape and is surrounded by high hills on the west and south. Century-old pines sway their crowns over it. A wall of trees hides the legendary place from the unwary gaze of a stranger. If someone decided to build a city of the gods, he could not find a better place. On one of the hills we notice a bell tower. With bated breath we rush to her, was it really her bells that showed us the way to the lake? So this means that there is no secret, and it was not Kitezh that called from the bottom of the lake. We go up the hill to the bell tower. We look at its doors with surprise. They are locked with a padlocked, rusty padlock. Clearly the bells of this church could not have been ringing a few minutes ago. This means that Kitezh city exists! Because there is no other church near the lake. It turns out that we heard the bells of Kitezh on the approach to the lake.

Near the church there is a huge stone dug into the ground. Upon closer inspection, a footprint is visible on it. Either a child or a fragile woman stepped on him. It’s strange how could a light girl or child leave a bare foot print in a stone? Around the stone, the trees are hung with various ropes and ribbons. “This is a sled stone,” says the all-knowing Yuri. They are found near holy places, and the mark on it is usually attributed to the Virgin Mary. Ribbons, as a rule, are left by pilgrims so that their request is heard and they themselves return to this place again. Later, during filming, a woman, a local resident, approached us. She said that the stone we saw was really a footprint, and the footprint on it was the footprint of the Virgin Mary. She also spoke about last year’s filming of Svetloyar by Nizhny Novgorod researchers, who, after developing the film, discovered in one of the photographs a bell tower with its base sinking to the bottom of the lake. Now, according to her, this photograph is stored on Nizhny Novgorod television.

Camp

The camp was set up on a picturesque hill overlooking the lake. We were haunted by the hope that the city would appear before us at dawn. After the ringing of the bell, one could safely count on this. If the legend about the bell ringing was completely confirmed, then why couldn’t the city rise to us from the bottom of the lake? Night has come. The weather suddenly turned bad and a strong wind blew. The pines swayed, risking breaking at any moment. How to interpret this sign, maybe the lake is unhappy with our appearance or we have somehow angered the elders inhabiting the mysterious Kitezh. Everything was explained in the morning. When we woke up, it was beautiful sunny weather. Kitezh never appeared, but the area radiated kindness and hospitality. During the day we photographed views of the lake. There were quite a few interesting places around it. There was a spring with holy water in the hills. Then we saw three crosses, with huge tombstones, the size of which was amazing. They were clearly not of human origin. Wooden walkways were laid around the entire lake by someone's caring hand. This was most likely done to prevent the numerous pilgrims intending to crawl around the lake from having to overcome the marshy swamp, steep hills and tall grass.

Is the mystery solved?

The filming is over, but there are no fewer questions. The lake exists. Amazing bells actually ring from the bottom of the lake. But which of the legends is true is still not clear. Who lives in the mysterious Kitezh, and does anyone even live?

Just about to return to Moscow, we accidentally learn about a local history museum located in the village. Maybe there they will give us an answer to our questions. We're going to the museum.

Local guides refused to be on camera, citing their natural modesty as the reason for this action, but in return they happily gave an interview that explained all our contradictions.

“The main and most reliable, according to the guides, is the legend told in the Kitezh Chronicler, although it is given there with some omissions. In fact, when Batu’s warriors approached Kitezh and laid siege, the city held out for three days.

Its residents tirelessly prayed to the Mother of God to come to their defense. Three days later, a miracle happened. The Mother of God descended from heaven, covered the city with her veil, and it disappeared from the eyes of the astonished Tatars, saving all its inhabitants. The place where the Mother of God stepped on the earth turned out to be the stone that we saw near the lake.

Now this stone is considered holy. Already in our time, a church was built near it, named Kazan, in honor of the Kazan Mother of God. A stone with the footprint of the Virgin Mary is one of the few physical confirmations of the real existence of higher powers helping people. For centuries, pilgrims have been drawn to Lake Svetloyar; some of them, according to legend, are taken in by the elders of Kitezh, and the rest are simply helped. The graves we saw on the hills near the lake belong to three heroes who came out of the city of Kitezh to the people. According to legend, they were of gigantic height, twice the height of an ordinary person.

Legends say that during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the entire city of Kitezh went under the water of Lake Svetloyar - all of it, along with its defenders, along with old people and children. It is believed that divine intervention hid it from enemy sight for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. If you believe the legend, sooner or later another settlement will appear in the Nizhny Novgorod region - the ancient city of Kitezh.

Remember the legend of Atlantis? About a continent that sank into the ocean, punished by the gods because its inhabitants were mired in sins. There is a similar legend in Rus' - however, it has nothing to do with sins. Rather, on the contrary, the reasons for the flooding of this city should be sought in the spiritual purity of its inhabitants.

Only the righteous and saints can see this city. Only a true believer is worthy to hear its bells ringing. City of Kitezh. Legendary city. Until now, many Orthodox Christians gather to make a pilgrimage to the lake, in the depths of which the legendary city supposedly rests. Centuries have passed, but people still come here. They believe that Kitezh stands at the bottom of the lake, and their faith is unshakable.

So why is the legend about the city of Kitezh so popular? Why can't people forget about this place?

Kitezh as imagined by Ivan Bilibin

The appearance of the city

The only hints about the real existence of Kitezh can be found in the book “The Kitezh Chronicler”. According to scientists, this book was written at the end of the 17th century.

According to her, the city of Kitezh was built by the great Russian Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky at the end of the 12th century. According to legend, the prince, returning from a trip to Novgorod, stopped along the way near Lake Svetloyar to rest. But he was unable to really rest: the prince was captivated by the beauty of those places. He immediately ordered the construction of the city of Big Kitezh on the shore of the lake.

Yuri Vsevolodovich, founder of Kitezh, is depicted at the entrance to the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

They got down to business immediately. The length of the built city was 200 fathoms (straight fathom is the distance between the ends of the fingers, arms outstretched in different directions, approximately 1.6 meters), the width was 100. Several churches were also built, and on the occasion the best craftsmen began to “paint images.”

There are many churches, icons too - what else does an ordinary Russian person need? The city was immediately nicknamed “saint”, and people flocked to Lake Svetly Yar.

Svetloyar

Lake Svetloyar is located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. It is located near the village of Vladimirsky, Voskresensky district, in the Lunda basin, a tributary of the Vetluga River. The length of the lake is 210 meters, width is 175 meters, and the total area of ​​the water surface is about 12 hectares.

There is still no consensus on how the lake came into being. Some insist on the glacial theory of origin, others defend the karst hypothesis. There is a version that the lake appeared after a meteorite fell. The word “Svetloyar” itself can be translated as “Bright Lake”.

Invasion of Batu

Those were far from peaceful and idyllic times. Discord between the principalities, raids of the Tatars and Bulgarians, forest predators - a rare person dared to get out of the city walls without weapons. And in 1237, the Mongol-Tatars invaded Rus' under the leadership of Batu Khan.

Now let's forget about the legend for a while and remember history.

Diorama “Heroic Defense of Old Ryazan”

The Ryazan princes were the first to be attacked. They tried to turn to Prince Yuri Vladimirsky for help, but were refused. The Tatars ravaged Ryazan without difficulty; then they moved to the Vladimir principality. The son Vsevolod sent by Yuri was defeated at Kolomna and fled to Vladimir. The Tatars captured Moscow and captured Yuri's other son, Prince Vladimir.

Prince Yuri, when he learned about this, left the capital to his sons Mstislav and Vsevolod. I went to gather troops. He set up a camp near Rostov on the Sit River and began to wait for his brothers Yaroslav and Svyatoslav. In the absence of the Grand Duke, on February 3-7, Vladimir and Suzdal were taken and devastated, and the family of Yuri Vsevolodovich died in a fire.

The prince managed to learn about the death of the family. His further fate was even more unenviable: Yuri died on March 4, 1238 in a battle with Batu’s troops on the Sit River. Rostov Bishop Kirill found the headless body of the prince on the battlefield and took him to Rostov. Later they found and attached the head to the body.

Death of Yuri Vsevolodovich

Here ends the facts that are confirmed by scientists. Let's return to the legend.

Batu allegedly heard about the wealth that was kept in the city of Kitezh, and sent part of the army to the holy city. The detachment was small - Batu did not expect resistance. The troops marched to Kitezh through the forest, and along the way they cut a clearing. The Tatars were led by the traitor Grishka Kuterma. He was taken in the neighboring city, Maly Kitezh (present-day Gorodets). Grishka could not stand the torture and agreed to show the way to the Holy City. Alas, Susanin did not succeed from Kuterma: Grishka led the Tatars to Kitezh.

On that terrible day, three Kitezh heroes were on patrol near the city. They were the first to see the enemies. Before the battle, one of the warriors told his son to run to Kitezh and warn the townspeople. The boy rushed to the city gates, but the Tatar’s evil arrow caught up with him. However, the brave boy did not fall. With an arrow in his back, he ran to the walls and managed to shout: “Enemies!”, and only then fell dead.

Meanwhile, the heroes tried to restrain the Khan’s army. No one survived. According to legend, at the place where three heroes died, the holy spring of Kibelek appeared - it still flows.

A variant of the legend says that St. George the Victorious himself descended to earth to help the defenders of Kitezh. But George's horse stumbled. The saint then realized that saving Kitezh was not his task. And he retreated. And in the place where the horse’s hoof fell, the holy spring of Kibelek began to flow.

Vasily Maksimov “Mongols at the Walls of Vladimir”

The Mongol-Tatars besieged the city. The townspeople understood that there was no chance. A handful of people against Batu’s well-armed and organized army is certain death. Nevertheless, the townspeople were not going to give up without a fight. They came out onto the walls, with weapons, as well as icons and crosses in their hands. People prayed in the evening and all night long. The Tatars waited for the morning to launch an attack.

And a miracle happened: church bells suddenly rang, the earth shook, and before the eyes of the astonished Tatars, Kitezh began to sink into the waters of Lake Svetloyar.

And this city of Greater Kitezh became invisible and is protected by the hand of God - so at the end of our century of rebellion and tears worthy, the Lord covered that city with His hand.

“The Tale and Request for the Hidden City of Kitezh”

K. Gorbatov. "The Invisible City of Kitezh"

The legend is ambiguous. And people interpret it differently. Some claim that Kitezh went under water, others that it sank into the ground. There are adherents of the theory that the city was closed off from the Tatars by the mountains. Others believe that he took to the skies. But the most interesting theory says that Kitezh simply became invisible. It is not clear, however, why no one has yet come across the city by accident.

Struck by the power of the “Russian miracle,” the Tatars began to run in all directions. But God's wrath overtook them: those who were devoured by the animals, those who got lost in the forest or simply went missing, taken away by a mysterious force.

The city disappeared. According to legend, he must “manifest” on the day of the Last Judgment. On the day when the dead rise from their graves, Kitezh will rise from the water. But you can see it and even achieve it now. A person in whom there is no sin will discern the reflection of church domes and white stone walls in the waters of Lake Svetloyar.

Kitezh modern

Let us now fast forward to times close to our century.

The legend of the city of Kitezh excited the minds of the intelligentsia. First of all, writers, musicians and artists. The 19th century writer Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky, inspired by Lake Svetloyar, told its legend in the novel “In the Woods”, as well as in the story “Grisha”. The lake was visited by Maxim Gorky (essay “Bugrov”), Vladimir Korolenko (essay cycle “In Desert Places”), Mikhail Prishvin (essay “Bright Lake”).

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh” about the mysterious city. The lake was painted by artists Nikolai Romadin, Ilya Glazunov and many others. The poets Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva mention the city of Kitezh in their works.

Scenery by Ivan Bilibin for the opera by Rimsky-Korsakov

Nowadays, science fiction writers and especially fantasy authors have become interested in the legend of Kitezh. It’s clear why: the image of a hidden city is romantic and fits perfectly into a fantasy work. Among works of this kind, we can name, for example, the story “The Hammers of Kitezh” by Nik Perumov and “Red Shift” by Evgeny Gulyakovsky.

In the Soviet television film “Sorcerers,” which was based on the Strugatskys’ novel “Monday Begins on Saturday,” a worker from a musical instrument factory travels to the fictional Kitezhgrad. He wants to save his bride from evil spells, and finds himself in the kingdom of good and evil wizards.

Lake Svetloyar today

Naturally, scientists did not ignore the mystery of Kitezh. Expeditions were sent to Lake Svetloyar, more than once. Drilling off the shores of the lake yielded nothing. The searches of archaeologists also ended in nothing. There were no traces of the mysterious city on the approaches to the lake. In the 70s of the last century, the expedition was equipped by Literaturnaya Gazeta: trained divers descended to the bottom. Their work was not easy, since the depth of the lake is more than 30 meters. There are a lot of snags and sunken trees at the bottom.

Unfortunately, they did not find irrefutable evidence of the existence of the city. For believers, this fact, of course, means nothing. It is known that Kitezh will not reveal its secrets to the wicked.

Hypotheses arose that Kitezh was not located on Lake Svetloyar. Other supposed places of “habitat” of the holy city immediately arose. There was even talk about China, supposedly Kitezh and the legendary Shambhala are one and the same place.

Nicholas Roerich "Song of Shambhala"

In our times, scientists have forgotten about Kitezh - there is no time for that. But at one time the legend was speculated upon by businessmen who hoped to turn the legends into a source of self-financing.

Currently, the territory of the lake is protected by the state. The lake and surrounding area are part of a nature reserve, which is protected by UNESCO. Every year on July 6, on the day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Orthodox believers make a religious procession from the Vladimir Church in the village of Vladimir to the chapel in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The chapel was built near Lake Svetloyar in the late 1990s.

Orthodox Christians pray on the shore of the lake. Someone is secretly looking at his reflection in the lake - will Kitezh flash by? Some believe that soil collected in a holy place cures ailments. They take it from the graves of the “slain heroes”, and then take it home along with plastic bottles in which water from the holy spring splashes. There is a belief that water from Svetloyar will not spoil even if it sits in a bottle for several years.

Chapel of the Kazan Mother of God on the banks of Svetloyar

Russian utopia

The city of Kitezh is a symbol of something inaccessible, but desirable. This is a heavenly place where the righteous can escape from the hardships of a cruel world. It doesn’t matter whether Kitezh existed - the beautiful legend gives hope to the desperate. And in the past, bastard peasants fled in search of fertile land, and now there are fanatics who go to the Nizhny Novgorod forests, where they hide from modern life.

Kitezh is a Russian utopia. This is a place where milk rivers flow in the jelly banks. For many, this is the country of Fantasy, a fabulous state where goodness and justice rule. The most important thing about the Kitezh utopia is that people need such a city anyway. And if this legend had not existed, they would have invented another one. People need faith that they can escape from this world full of pain and despair. People need a place to escape to. At least in my thoughts. And this place became the sacred Russian city of Kitezh.

Konstantin Gorbatov “The Drowned City”

Belovodye

Many medieval legends tell of kingdoms of Good and Justice, like Kitezh. In these “hidden places” one can supposedly hide and escape from the machinations of evil. One of these places is the magical country of Belovodye. This is a fabulous land where sages live who give eternal life and secret knowledge of the past. According to legend, the country is located somewhere in Altai.

After the introduction of serfdom in Russia, many peasants left for the east. In the 17th century, Russian settlers moved to Altai. The reason for this was not only the “crowding” of Central Russia and poverty, but also the hope of finding Belovodye. Around the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, “The Traveler of Mark Topozersky” was created, which described the road to Belovodye. The “Traveller” pointed the way through Krasnoyarsk and China to the “Opon” (Japanese) kingdom, which lies in the middle of the “Okiyan-sea” of Belovodye.

Vladimir Danikhnov