Will ancient treasures be revealed to us? Treasures of the Moscow region Greetings from the trading people

The discovery of a treasure always aroused keen interest and fueled the desire of others to set out in search of it. As soon as news appeared about treasures hidden or found, treasure hunters began to appear. Treasures have always gone to random people. Among them were peasants, townspeople, Cossacks, monks and even crowned heads. The first known case of such “luck,” which became a textbook case, had a tragic ending. In the already mentioned cave, the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Fedor found a treasure with a great amount of “silver and gold”, with the same “Latin” vessels. The Kiev prince Mstislav, who did not favor the monastery, found out about this and tried to take possession of the find. The monk was tortured, but he never said anything about his secret. Since then, the authorities have always persecuted treasure hunters and, even more so, finders.

In 1524, Novgorodians found a treasure in their church that had been hidden at an earlier time. One can only guess about its size, but it was probably considerable. Either the church or the merchant treasury was hidden for safety in the church of St. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, the patroness of trade. This was during the time of Vasily III.

Ivan the Terrible was also lucky in Novgorod. A huge treasure was found in the Cathedral of St. Sophia of Novgorod, the patroness of the city. It contained silver bars (Novgorod hryvnia), which were sent to Moscow in several carts.

But they hid money from Peter the Great. In 1898, a huge treasure was found in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. The monks saved it for many centuries and hid it specifically under the floor of the cathedral, fearing the arrival of the king. The treasure, hidden from Peter I, lay there for almost 200 years.

In the 20th century entire fortunes were also found. In 1967, a rich treasure was discovered near Simferopol. It consisted of gold and silver jewelry with inserts of stones and pearls, gold coins, silver dishes and many other items. The total number of items was 328. The weight of precious metals was 2 kg. 584 It was buried in the ground at the beginning of the 15th century. during the decline of the once powerful Golden Horde state.

In the past, a treasure for a finder from the common people, poor and powerless, usually turned into big troubles. This is only in the 19th century. began to pay small rewards. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. whole “detective cases” arose about storeroom finds. The poor finder was questioned about how and where he got such luck, whether he handed over the treasure completely or hid some part. The investigation followed all the rules: interrogation, confrontations, torture, eyewitness testimony.

It is difficult to trace the fate of the treasure after such detective cases. Apparently, the treasury took control of them. In the 18th century treasure finds also began to interest collectors who chose the rarest items for themselves. In the 19th century much depended on whose land the treasure was found on: if on private land, then it was disposed of by the landowner, if on public land, then by the state. In Soviet times, all valuables found in the ground were declared a national treasure, for which a reward was due (25%), which took into account not only the cost of the precious metal, but also the scientific significance of the find. At present, the land owner has again intervened in the fate of the treasure, with whom, naturally, it is necessary to negotiate.

The centuries-old experience of treasure hunting has been embodied over time into a kind of “theory” of treasure hunting. The basis for its creation was a simple opposition: some are lucky, but some are not, that is, the treasure is not given to everyone. If the treasure was buried with a vow, then it will go only to the one who fulfills it. From here come all kinds of treasures of legends that have been preserved in many places.

In two works by N.V. Gogol’s “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” and “The Enchanted Place” tell about treasures and special signs that help the search. The first tells about the discovery of a treasure by a poor worker Pyotr Bezrodny with the help of evil spirits. The flowering of ferns is mentioned, and the ringing of flowers is heard on the night before Ivan Kupala. Secondly, a special landmark is given by which they look for the treasure - a candle on the grave. The belief that treasure leaves some kind of sign on the surface of the earth has existed for a long time. In the 11th century such a sign was “burning fire.” But even having found such a place, it was possible to get the treasure only through a conspiracy and at a certain time.

Close to such legends are treasure-legends that could belong to real people. The most popular figure among the people was the Cossack Stepan Timofeevich Razin. In the Don steppes and on the Volga there has long been a belief about a treasure hidden for all poor people. It is interesting that the legend also reflected actual events of the 17th century. It turns out that the royal servants were seriously searching for Stepan Razin’s treasure.

When Stepan Razin was executed, his brother Frol was returned to prison. This is what the younger Razin told the investigators: “And he (Stepan Razin) collected all his letters, put them in a money jug, and tarred them, buried them in the ground on an island in the Don River on Prorva under a willow tree, and that willow tree is crooked in the middle, and about its dense willows, and there are two or three miles around the island.”

The place was very suitable for hiding treasure. Moreover, were the letters alone put in the jug? The jug is money. They rushed to that island to look for Razin’s luggage. They searched, but did not find.

The special characteristics of a storage place, known since ancient times, turned out to be similar to modern ideas. True, now they don’t look so mysterious: arable land, an ancient Russian settlement, the ruins of a manor’s estate. In fairness, we note that, although not treasures, but individual finds, they are found in such places.

Not only the signs have become different. The appearance of the treasure hunter has also changed. The search for treasure (or antiquities) began to be called instrumental. It is carried out using technical means and resembles a mine clearance operation. Now both archaeologists and amateur searchers use the latest electronic metal detectors or metal detectors in their work.

Increasing interest in the historical past and the technical equipment of treasure hunters, who have their own ideas about the goals and objectives of search work, create serious difficulties for scientists. Today, there are two categories of treasure hunters interested in searching for antiquities - amateur searchers and collectors, on the one hand, and professional historians, archaeologists, numismatists, on the other. Amateurs always behave actively and greatly disturb researchers. After all, they look for treasures in different ways and for different purposes.

Strange as it may seem, but numismatists of the 18th-19th centuries. I wasn't particularly interested in treasures. The treasures were a source of replenishment of numismatic collections with rare coins. The rest went to the money yards. There are known archival documents telling about the fate of many treasures sent for melting down. Only when numismatics turned from collecting into a science, and the subject of its study became not the coin as such, even rare, but monetary circulation in its entirety, did the treasures come to the attention of numismatists. Numismatic scientists became treasure hunters. The search for treasures went everywhere: in archives, in old documents, in reports of archaeological expeditions, in newspapers. They were searched for through oral traditions and letters. All received data was compiled into special reports and recorded on maps. Local historians continue to provide great assistance in searching for treasures.

The treasure is a multifaceted object for study. Improving research methodology often leads to a new “reading” of it. Treasures, no matter how small or large, dwarfs or giants, no matter where they are found and no matter who finds them, are a national and scientific property. The idea that after studying and publishing articles they end up in museum storerooms is not entirely true. Science never stands still, and old treasures found long ago can once again appear on a researcher’s desk.

In former times, according to the instructions, a commission was created, assessed the treasure, and gave a quarter of its value to the finder. But it was not determined who is responsible for delivering the treasure to this very commission.

Before the revolution, especially since the 50s of the 19th century, the following practice was in effect: the internal affairs bodies were responsible for everything. A police officer arrived, described the treasure, and then a report was sent to St. Petersburg, where the archaeological commission was located.

A commission representative came from the capital and decided on the spot what to do with the treasure. As a rule, the most interesting coins were selected, and the rest were melted down. Then they paid a certain amount to the finder of the treasure.

The main thing is that the treasures were recorded, and commission reports were published from year to year, which included a special section on treasures. And in the archives, a file was opened for each treasure - with a report, with drawings, with inventories.

Today is complete chaos. Last year, one treasure hunter in the village of Volnino, Vladimir Region, using a mine detector, found a treasure of amazing scientific significance. The first, apparently, quarter of the 15th century, the time of the reign of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily the Dark. 318 coins. Not a single such treasure has reached us in its entirety.

Kochetkov offered the find to the Historical Museum for 5 thousand dollars, and it was worth the money. Only the museum didn’t have them. It was also fortunate that the Germans, who organized the exhibition in the halls of the museum, allocated the required amount as compensation for the services.

A treasure is a certain complex of coins, formed in one place, at a certain time and reflecting the features of the monetary economy in a certain historical period. At one time we even had the following formula: “A treasure is a snapshot of the monetary circulation of that period.”

This, however, is not entirely true. But the standard of living of the population is really immediately visible. In Moscow, say, the treasures are small. It is clear that money was saved by people whom we would today classify as middle class. Posadskys, let's say...

The money was hidden by those who received a permanent cash salary. Clerks, clerks, church ministers, archers, merchants. These were very modest savings. Unlike treasure troves, for example, the one found in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. When Peter I was going to confiscate valuables from the churchmen, they hid both gold and silver coins in huge vessels in the church choir. This treasure was found at the beginning of the last century. Unfortunately, I never came across such treasures.

The earth is saturated with treasures not only here, but also in Europe, especially in the south. In Bulgaria, for example, dig in the ground and you will find a treasure; in Yugoslavia. That is, where there were wars, where there were very active trade routes.

The most coin-rich areas are the Moscow region, Ryazan, and Tula. There are a lot of treasures in the Novgorod region, and these are treasures mainly from the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.

And, of course, a huge number of treasures appear in the 18th century. These are treasures of copper five-kopeck coins, which is associated with the introduction of paper banknotes in 1769. It was money with a forced exchange rate, and very soon it became worthless. The peasants began to bury copper.

In Europe, treasure was buried in the ground or hidden in hidden places only in case of danger. For us, regardless of the situation in the country. Because everyone, from the last serf to the closest boyar, falconer or stable keeper, had absolutely no rights.

At any moment, the Tsar-Father or the Governor could send you on the rack. Therefore, as soon as a person had money, he hid it. Besides, money in Russia has always been dead. They were not allowed into business, since commodity-money relations were poorly developed.

If bourgeois development began only in 1860, what can we talk about? Merchants, of course, put money into circulation. And the average person simply hid them. Plus the fact that Russia is a wooden country. Fires burned, and with them property. The treasure remained.

And it is no coincidence that in Rus' they found a special form for storing treasure - a small container. These are round pots with a narrow neck. Black and polished, as a rule. They withstood high pressure and did not allow moisture to pass through (they were filled with wax or clogged with a wooden stopper).

However, even today we rarely take money to banks, preferring a money-box...

The topic of treasure hunting, raised in “Oracle” No. 9, interested readers so much that we decided to continue it with the story of a professional who is convinced that thousands of treasures are just waiting for those who discover them. And the main thing in treasure hunting is what? That's right: a map indicating the place where the treasure is hidden. And now we have such a map - it was kindly provided to us by the candidate of historical sciences and amateur treasure hunter Alexey BEKSHER.

The scientific approach is the main thing!

Like everyone else, as a child I read books in which children or adults searched for and found treasures, and dreamed of finding a chest filled with gold and precious stones myself. But as the years passed, my friends and friends, who once enthusiastically climbed into attics and basements with me, entered universities - some into medicine, some into highways, chemical technology, and so on. In a word, they became serious people. But my passion remained the same: having graduated from the Institute of History and Archives, I, now “legally,” enthusiastically continued to rummage through archives, storerooms of libraries and museums. I admit, sometimes fortune smiled on me - but for obvious reasons I will not describe my findings...

I soon realized that the success of a treasure hunter depends, first of all, on luck, secondly, on knowledge of history, and thirdly, on equipment. Of course, individuals found treasures by accident, literally digging them up with their bare hands - but this, of course, is an exception to the rule: at least two things are needed: a metal detector and a sharp mining shovel.

It’s not difficult to get equipment these days, and most importantly, I know absolutely for sure that there will be enough wealth buried in the ground for everyone in our time! Around the ancient, rich merchant cities that survived many historical cataclysms (Moscow, Dmitrov, Serpukhov, Mozhaisk, Kolomna and others), an innumerable number of treasures that have already been discovered and have not yet been found are concentrated.

In order to determine where the treasures are hidden and to derive a unified theory of the occurrence of treasures in the Moscow region, I studied a lot of historical documents and traveled the length and breadth of the entire Moscow region. And today I bring to the attention of the readers of the “Oracle” a report on my research and travels, realizing that I alone cannot dig up all the treasures even in a hundred years!

Everyone to the garden!

The word “treasure” (from the verb “to put”) appeared in Rus' only in the 17th century. But the chronicles testify: the concept of “luggage” or “treasure” (later - “treasure”) was known to the Slavs already in ancient times. For example, the “Pechersk Patericon” (an ancient collection of stories of hermit monks) tells about the monk Fyodor, who unearthed a huge amount of Latin gold and silver in the Varangian cave, and then Prince Mstislav Svyatopolkovich died on the rack, wanting to take possession of the jewelry...

First of all, let's try to answer the question: who hid the treasures and why? Pirates of distant seas, hiding loot before the next sea voyage, feudal lords burying treasury in a besieged castle, successful conquerors who carried away rich booty from a captured city? Yes, of course, that’s how it was in the West, but here in Rus' the situation is much simpler: everyone hid treasures! Hiding treasures has been a national tradition for many centuries: treasures were buried not only during the days of invasions, uprisings, political reforms and other historical cataclysms, but also on peaceful everyday life.

Of course, wealthy citizens, princes and boyars, hid their carefully guarded treasury only in emergency cases (for example, during raids or major fires), but commoners, having accumulated a thousand or two silver kopecks in a jar, hurried to bury it in the garden or in another secluded place. place, fearing the greedy. Plans indicating the burial places of family wealth were passed from father to son, from grandfather to grandson: and if the younger generation saved more than it spent, it also added its “treasures” to those already in the family. Naturally, during fires and raids, the cards were lost, their owners died - and the family wealth remained in the ground forever...

True, these “wealths” are very relative - after all, unlike America and Europe, the concept of “bank” or something similar did not exist in Rus' in principle: therefore, treasures replaced our ancestors with a current bank account! How convenient - I dug up a small jar of silver in the garden, took out 10 kopecks - bought a cow... Therefore, at the genetic level, many Russians still prefer their own sock, a dresser drawer, the far shelf of a linen closet to bank deposits... So, it is in vain to search in Moscow and Moscow region treasures gold and precious stones: most likely, your find will be a pile of silver money and copper pools (you won't find anything smaller than that!).

Most often, treasures worth from 20 to 100 rubles in silver kopecks are found - such amounts constituted the daily turnover of a small trader or the funds necessary for an artisan and peasant to pay all taxes and taxes. Just imagine: for a whole year a person worked in an artel, traded or raised crops and livestock, earned and saved money. The toll collectors came - he paid taxes for himself and his family, and remained a free man, an honest citizen or peasant. I didn’t save the pennies I earned: I instantly became a slave, a slave, and fell into the yoke! That’s why everyone buried treasures - both the poor and the rich: if you put it further away, you’ll take it closer. Who wants to lose freedom and property because of thieving adversaries, fires and raids?

Experts divide the treasures found in the capital and surrounding cities and villages into church, noble, merchant, peasant and even “children’s” - zealous owners taught the youth to be thrifty from a young age. In a word, there was no class that would not make its “contribution” to the secret business of enriching the bowels of the Moscow state.

Silver "louses"
Due to the cheapness of goods (especially food), almost the only monetary unit in Rus' until the 17th century was the silver penny: a small piece of money minted or cut from flattened silver wire, weighing less than a gram. “Russian kopecks are unpleasant to handle: they are small, slippery and tend to slip out of your fingers,” visiting foreigners spoke contemptuously about this money. By that time, Europeans had long ago developed a developed monetary system, led by the thaler - a large silver coin weighing 28 g. Silver rubles, half rubles and gold coins were minted at the Moscow monetary court especially for settlements with foreigners, but they were not widely used. Peter I, who admired Western customs, called the silver pennies of his predecessors on the throne “lice”...

Hello from the trading people

Now let's talk about the areas of distribution of treasures. First, let's look at the more interesting and “full-fledged” ancient treasures of the 8th-13th centuries. In 780-790 from the Nativity of Christ, ships sailed along the Volga, heading to the Baltic Sea and further to the shores of Iceland and Northern Europe. Slavic tribes also willingly traded with Arab merchants, and the object of trade was very often... money! Rus' at that time did not have its own silver mines, and the precious metal for monetary payments was exported from the East: according to contemporaries, at least a third of eastern silver dirhams ended up in the territory of Ancient Rus'. At first, foreign coins in Ancient Rus' were used everywhere to pay for goods, later they began to be melted down and Moscow money was minted from them (however, some princes limited themselves to marking foreign money with their own mark).

The trade road from East to West passed along the waterways of the Moskvorechye and Priokya rivers - large and small rivers were carried by sailing ships and entire caravans, the route of traders was marked by treasures that had already been discovered and still remain undiscovered in the coastal zone. In the “Oka treasures” (as scientists call them), there are massive silver pendants, earrings, plaques, neck hryvnias of indescribable beauty, rare coins of enormous historical and numismatic value. To find them, you need to explore those coastal lands that used to be shores. You should use a metal detector especially carefully where there are ancient settlements, fortresses and monasteries on the shore (I’ll tell you a secret that the land near the ancient fences of fortresses and monasteries is a favorite place for hiding treasures).

Fifteen treasures with Arabic silver dirhams were discovered in the Moscow region near the coast and in the Oka basin. I will name only the most significant of them. In the village of Gruchin on the banks of the Bolshaya Smedva, the right tributary of the Oka, a treasure of Abassid, Tahirid and Samarkand coins was found. In the villages of Ostrogi and Rostavets, clay jugs from the 10th century with Caliphic and Tahirid coins were found. The treasure, found in the village of Khitrovka, contained Byzantine and Oriental coins of the 8th-9th centuries with a total weight of more than 2 kg. Near the village of Bely Omut, on the territory of an ancient settlement on the left bank of the Oka River, two treasures were found: one of jewelry and Samanid dirhams, the other of various oriental coins totaling 110 pieces. A treasure was found in the village of Ozeritsy: more than a hundred different oriental coins. On the bank of the Nara, the left tributary of the Oka, 12 km from the Sharapova Okhota station, a treasure was found - 227 dirhams from the 11th century. On the bank of the Osetra, the right tributary of the Oka, in the village of Zheleznitsy, through which the ancient southern trade route passed, a treasure trove of jewelry and oriental coins weighing about 2 kg was found.

The West helped us!

However, in the 11th century, a crisis began in the East - a silver crisis! The unobtrusive export of the Russians depleted the eastern mines, and the Slavic brothers had to look for other ways to extract this precious metal: now silver poured into the Moscow territories in a full flow from Europe. From that time on, caravanners buried treasures of silver on the routes leading to Moscow lands from the north and west through Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, Zvenigorod and others: fearing robbers, merchants preferred “not to carry all their eggs in one basket.” The path of a merchant is thorny and dangerous: few, for one reason or another, were able to return for their goods... This tradition was preserved until the 17th century.

Therefore, next I will tell you about the most “promising” territories in the Moscow region in terms of treasures: “intermediate” cities, so to speak, that served as major transshipment points for traveling merchants. It was in their surroundings that it made sense to leave the treasure, the money received for part of the goods in the local shopping arcades, in order to pick it up on the way back, returning from distant travels. Why here, and not in the middle of nowhere? It’s very simple: a large city will not disappear anywhere; even if you want to, you cannot pass it when returning home. Move a little further from the city, up the riverbed or along the road, away from prying eyes, choose a noticeable landmark - a mighty tree or a piece of rock - and dig yourself a free cell in the Moscow Natural Bank! Surely the merchants of Yuri Dolgoruky or Ivan the Terrible had no idea what interest rates would accrue on their capital by now from numismatists...

Load pennies in barrels...
Imagine the turnover of large Moscow merchants: the income of the Filatov dynasty in the Salt of Vychegda alone amounted to 5,900 rubles a year in the 17th century (almost six hundred kilograms of kopecks!). The merchant Vasily Shorin had to pay taxes in the amount of 28,718 rubles in 1655: almost 3 million kopecks, three tons of silver money! Historians testify: the mints of the Moscow princes and tsars worked tirelessly, pennies were minted continuously, but the country constantly felt a shortage of cash, because the bulk of the money lay in the ground...

Where is the treasure buried?

I'll start with Kashira - this most important strategic point of Muscovite Rus'. This fortress was first mentioned in chronicles in 1353: pay special attention to the surrounding hills, coastal zones of the Oka, as well as Besputa, Eight, Kremnitsa and Kashirki (especially near the confluence with the Oka), lands adjacent to Alexandrovsky Nikitsky, Holy Trinity-Belopesotsky monasteries, Vvedenskaya and Znamenskaya churches.

In addition, near the modern city there are two ancient settlements from pre-Mongol times - explore the surrounding area as well.
Volokolamsk is also one of the oldest cities in the Moscow region - it was founded in 1135 at the intersection of two rivers - Gorodenka and Lama, along which trade ships crossed the Shosha River to the Volga (where the Volga Reservoir is now located). And from Lama, trading ships were dragged to four rivers: Moscow, Ruza, Ozerna and Gryada. The Lama portage, which gave the city its name, served as a bone of contention for many centuries: first the Novgorod and Vladimir princes fought for it, then the Novgorod and Moscow princes. Only in the 15th century was it finally annexed to Moscow. And when a rich trading city and its surrounding lands are under siege, what do peaceful inhabitants do? That's right, they hide their goods!

Treasures of Volokolamsk lands and Kashira

A pot with a thousand kopecks from the time of Ivan IV was found in Volokolamsk. In the village of Mikulino-Gorodishche, three treasures were found: a small jar with 1200 coins of Ivan IV, a treasure of 350 coins from 1533-1538, and on the Volokolamsk tract near the ancient settlement - a small clay cauldron with coins of Vasily III and Ivan IV. In the village of Lvovo, on a tributary of the Kopljak River, a treasure of 1,300 kopecks from the 15th century was found.
In the vicinity of the ancient settlement near Kashira, a treasure of jewelry and oriental coins with a total weight of about 1.5 kg was found. On the territory of the city of Baskach there used to be a village located on the water Oka trade route: jewelry and oriental coins of the 9th-10th centuries were found here.

Treasures of Kolomna lands

Another very promising city in terms of treasures is Kolomna, which arose as a port settlement. For a long time it was the most important strategic point on the southern borders of the Moscow principality and the main transit point on the trade route to the southern lands and Ryazan. In this city in the 16th century, the courts of Moscow sovereigns and princes (the Shuiskys, Romanovs, Golitsyns, Sheremetevs and Tatevs) were located; many rich nobles, boyar children, merchants, archers and rich artisans lived. By the way, in the XIV-XVI centuries, it was here that the troops of the Moscow army gathered, preparing to defend the Russian land from the raids of the Golden Horde (troops also marched from Kolomna to the Kulikovo Field and to the war with Kazan during the time of Ivan the Terrible). And what kind of warrior takes his capital with him to the battlefield? First of all, you should explore the interfluves - the coastal zones of Kolomenka, Severka, Moskva River and Oka, the surroundings of local monasteries, the village of Stary Bobrenev and the Assumption Cathedral.

In the Kolomna region, in the village of Bokovo, a leather bag with 500 coins from the times of Ivan III and Ivan IV was found.
Silver coins from the late 14th century were found in the village of Gorodishche.

Silver caches of the Dmitrov region

Dmitrov is one of the most ancient cities of Muscovy, until the 16th century it was the richest trading center, the capital of an appanage principality, through which trade routes passed from the capital to the north and to Suzdal and salt, the main value of the Middle Ages, entered the Moscow lands. The Velya, Dubna, Yakhroma and Sestra rivers connected Dmitrov with the Volga: along the Yakhroma, through the Sestra and Dubna rivers, merchant ships reached the Volga trade route leading to Astrakhan and beyond. Near the mouth of Yakhroma, the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery was founded in 1361, and nearby, in Ust-Pristan, goods were reloaded from small light ships onto large ones intended for long journeys. In the second half of the 16th century, Dmitrov was burned to the ground by the Polish army, could not be rebuilt for a long time, and never rose completely: apparently, many “money papers” with the locations of family treasures burned in the fire, and the victims of the fire had to start life from scratch in a new place . As a result, the trade route gradually moved from Dmitrov to the new, recently founded Arkhangelsk, and the forgotten legacy of the richest city remained lying in the ground...

Silver of Dmitrov and surrounding areas
In the area of ​​Fabrichny Lane, schoolchildren found a treasure - 1800 silver coins from the early 16th century. Near the Church of the Savior, while digging a vegetable garden, servants found a treasure of 2,000 coins from the time of Ivan IV. Three kilometers from the city, near the village of Vnukovo, under the roots of a stump left from a mighty old tree, a local resident found a small box with coins from the time of Ivan IV. On the former road leading from the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery to the Trinity-Sergius Posad, near the village of Glazychevo, while plowing a field, a jar with coins of Ivan IV was found.

Don't forget about Nara!

The shallow tributary of the Oka Nara today has not been explored at all by “black archaeologists” for treasures of trade silver - and completely in vain! Ten centuries ago this river was quite navigable; sailing boats loaded with goods from distant eastern lands landed on its banks. Treasures on its banks were probably buried by many - but so far only one has been found: 227 full-weight Arab silver coins on Kleimenovsky Hill, not far from the modern riverbed. So I advise new treasure hunters to pay special attention to the coastal area of ​​Nara, especially to those places where the coastline used to be. And remember - the river was much wider then than it is now, but the coastal hills, ancient boulders on the banks - in general, natural attractions that serve as excellent landmarks for those who were going to find their treasure later - remained unchanged! It is their surroundings that should be checked with metal detectors first...

All kinds of treasures are needed, all kinds of treasures are important

So, in former times goods were more often transported by ship, so treasures of merchants should be looked for in conspicuous places along the banks of navigable rivers. Keep in mind that the outlines of the banks have changed noticeably over the centuries, so it is worth exploring the twenty-meter coastal zone along straight sections of the riverbed and the area around noticeable boulders and hills.

Of course, in the land of the Moscow region, other treasures are also waiting in the wings, which were hidden by the townspeople during the Tatar-Mongol invasions and during the advance of Napoleon’s troops towards Moscow... But military treasures are a topic for a separate article. For now, we will limit ourselves to the treasures of merchants and peaceful inhabitants: I am sure that the coastal zones of the Moscow River, Oka and many other rivers near Moscow, the vicinity of ancient highways, trade routes, carefully examined with a metal detector, will bring us a lot of surprises!

A few more important points

A waterway passed along the Yauza, which ended where the Rabotnya River flows into the Yauza: then the ships were dragged 7-8 km to Klyazma, where it now stands Mytishchi city. Places where a travel fee (myto) was collected from merchants, and their ships landed on land and were dragged to other rivers and could be attacked by robbers along the way, probably collected a rich harvest of treasures, of which only a few have been found.

Zvenigorod- a former fortress on the western approaches to Moscow - another of the most ancient cities in the Moscow region, in the vicinity of which there are ancient settlements and Slavic mounds.

Ruza- an ancient fortress city on the western borders of Moscow, was located on a trade route that shortened the route from the upper reaches of the Volga to its lower reaches through the Moscow River.

In the vicinity of Mytishchi, three treasures were found: in the village of Krasnaya Polyana, when the river bed was widened, a treasure of Moscow kopecks was found, in the village of Sumardyaevo near the Katuar station, a small jar of silver was dug up, in the village of Sholokhovo, 150 kopecks were found in a clay jug. In the Klyazma basin in the village of Kildim near the Perlovskaya station, 250 kopecks of Ivan IV were found while digging a pit. In Bolshevo (formerly a rich village on the banks of the Klyazma), during excavations of mounds, a treasure of Byzantine and German coins of the 10th-11th centuries was found. On the banks of the Klyazma in Shchelkovo (a “transshipment point” from where ships were dragged to Skhodnya and Yauza) a treasure of gold and silver bars was found. In Ruza, a treasure of 2,000 grand ducal coins was found, buried during the feudal war between the Moscow and Galich princes during the reign of Vasily Vasilyevich the Dark, and southeast of the ancient settlement in the coastal stones - a treasure of cut silver ingots. In the village of Drozdovo, Ruza region, a treasure found in a large mound near the Astafievskaya mill contained 243 coins of the 14th century (mostly money and half-money of Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich). 1000 pieces of English and German coins of the 11th century were found in Zvenigorod.

Eastern and Western silver in treasures near Moscow

On the territory of the village of Kryukovo, the treasure contained Polish-Lithuanian coins of the 16th century. In Serpukhov, a city with a very long history, a treasure of 400 silver coins of the Ryazan principality of the 15th century was found on Chekhovskaya Street while digging holes for fence supports. In the vicinity of the city of Taldom, 200 silver coins of the Tver Principality were hidden in a treasure. In the basin of the Dubna River, on the trade route that ran from Moscow to the north, in the village of Aibutovo, a treasure of 1000 silver coins and half-shells was found, apparently buried by a Moscow merchant of average income.

Treasures found on the banks of Moscow rivers

On Kropotkinskaya embankment in Moscow, while digging the foundation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a treasure of the 10th century was discovered - silver Kufic coins. On the embankment of the Moscow River on Varvarka Street, during the construction of the Rossiya Hotel, a treasure trove of silver rubles and half-rubles from the 14th-15th centuries was found in the ground. Near Kolomenskoye, in the floodplain of the Moscow River, a treasure was discovered - 1,200 pieces of Spanish silver coins. In the Simonovsky Monastery on the left bank of the Moscow River, past which in the 14th century the Bolvanovsky tract passed, originating from the famous Red Bolvanovsky (Tagansky) Hill, along which merchant caravans traveled through Kolomna to the southern regions, a treasure of oriental coins of the 9th century was discovered. On the same tract, the busiest of trade routes, connecting the eastern lands with ancient Surozh, the main center of Black Sea trade in the 14th-15th centuries, two more treasures were found: the first - not far from the Tagansky Gate on the territory of Marxistskaya Street (370 coins from the time of Ivan IV ); the second - in the Lyublinsky district, at the Tekstilshchiki platform, on the territory of the Gorky state farm. There, a box with 2,350 silver coins was discovered, issued in the 15th century during the reigns of Ivan III and Vasily III.

Treasures of silver money in the capital

Not far from Teply Stan, southwest of Moscow along the Kaluga Highway, on the site of the former village of Derevlevo, a treasure trove of coins issued in the 14th century during the reign of Vasily I was found. Near the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, a treasure was found - almost 2000 coins of Ivan III. On the territory of the Kolomensky Monastery (the former palace village of Kolomensky), during restoration work in the Church of the Ascension, 450 coins of Ivan IV were found under the wall of the temple. This treasure was hidden in 1571 during the invasion of the Crimean Khan Dovlet-Girey. And at the Krutitsky courtyard in Moscow, near the road leading to Kolomenskoye, a treasure of 800 silver coins was found, issued in the 15th century during the reign of Ivan III and his predecessor Vasily the Dark. A treasure was found on Spartakovskaya Street in Moscow - a jug with 180 coins, buried on the territory of the palace village of Eloh in 1530. In the village of Kosino in the Perovsky district of Moscow, while digging a grave, a treasure was found in a cemetery - 45 silver coins of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Three vessels with silver coins from the time of Ivan III were found near the fence of the Novodevichy Convent. The place where the treasures were buried was previously called Samsonov Meadow - there were small tracts, separate groups of houses with vegetable gardens, arable lands and meadows on it. 500 coins of the 15th-16th centuries were found near the Chesme Pond. On Samotechnaya Street, on the site of the palace village of Sushchevo near Samotechnaya Square, a treasure was found - 100 silver coins of Moscow and Pskov minting, dating back to 1550-1600. At the time of the laying of the coins, this part of Moscow was just beginning to be built up.

Candidate of Historical Sciences, amateur treasure hunter Alexey BEKSHER

Map of treasures of the Moscow region

Green The map shows the places where treasures are most likely to be discovered.
Red dots already found treasures are indicated (according to scientists, less than one percent of hidden treasures have been discovered to date).
Blue The main navigable rivers of Ancient Rus' are indicated.

Anyone can find a gold or silver coin from a distant era, you just need to know where to look! KRUYS MAP Treasure hunting in the summer of 2013 suddenly ceased to be an innocent hobby for a certain group of people. Tightening legislation in the field of archeology can make even a random person who found an ancient coin and picked it up from the ground a criminal. However, in Rostov the treasure hunting community is still strong.One of the treasure hunters is a well-known and respected person in Rostov - Roman Yolkin. He is a lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in reserve. But his love of antiquity has nothing to do with his service in the internal affairs bodies. The hobby arose suddenly when, at the age of 13, Roman, on the ruins of a demolished house in the center of Rostov, found a nickel from 1924. He was immediately interested: why is the coin so big? What does it show? How could she end up in this house? “Since then, I have, as they say, fallen in love with antiquity,” Roman said about his hobby. - I began to study specialized literature on numismatics, archeology, and local history. When I had more free time, I founded the archaeological society “Heritage”, which included people, like me, who were in love with Don history. Now one of the main projects of the archaeological society “Heritage” is to establish the locations of Cossack towns on the banks of the Don according to the map of Cornelius Cruys. This is the commander of the flotilla of Peter I, which in 1696 went from the Voronezh shipyards to Turkish Azov to besiege and take the fortress. And Cornelius Cruys mapped all the Cossack towns he saw from the Don. And this historical document is today stored in the Don State Public Library. - We have already found the location of four towns designated by Kruys. Now we are planning to organize scientific expeditions to find out who inhabited these towns: ethnic composition, occupation, trade relations. Our main task is to try to answer the question: who are the Cossacks, where did they come from? SORTING ON GOLD As a legally savvy person, Roman Petrovich Yolkin avoids calling himself a treasure hunter. He is an archaeologist, historian, local historian, researcher. And the treasure... depends on your luck here! Everyone dreams of finding him. Rostov is a merchant city, where artifacts are literally lying under your feet. After heavy rainfalls on Maxim Gorky Street, where the tram tracks were being rebuilt, a visual inspection of the loosened soil can reveal Catherine’s coins! Knowledgeable people came there and looked for... Antique coins can be found in any old house that is being demolished. Under the floorboards, at the entrance to the house where clothes were taken off, there are almost certainly coins from different times. If people wanted to hide something, they used attics, window sill niches, and recesses in the stove masonry. All these places are first checked by antiquity hunters. The largest treasure in recent years was found in the early 2000s, in the very center of Rostov, in one of the houses in Semashko Lane. While deepening the basement, workers found a clay pot filled with gold and silver coins from the times of Peter and Catherine II. It is curious that a treasure from the 18th century was hidden in a house built in the 19th century! The builders placed wooden logs right on the spot where the treasure lay. And a toilet was later built on top of the pot of coins. It turned out that when sitting on the toilet, a person literally found himself on a pot of gold! The real irony of fate was that the residents of this communal apartment had been dreaming for many years about saving at least a little money and improving their living conditions. And at the same time, they went to the toilet like royalty, right for gold, without knowing it themselves! The fate of this treasure is also noteworthy. Having found the pot, the workers did not say anything to the owner of the house, but immediately took the coins to the Central Market, located very nearby, and sold all the coins to resellers at a low price. They immediately began to drink the proceeds. Of course, the secret quickly became apparent. While the drunken diggers muttered something in their own defense, collectors rushed in the footsteps of the treasure to save Don history from market hucksters. Rubles, half rubles and half a half rubles had to be bought back, and at a much higher price. Roman Elkin managed to extract nine coins from that treasure in this way (and there were about three hundred in total!). These are silver uneven roundels with imperial eagles, profiles of Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine II... SICKLES AND STATERS The funds of the Rostov Regional Museum contain treasures found on the territory of Rostov at various times. The most famous one was handed over to the state by a resident of the village of Nizhne-Gnilovskaya V.P. Cherskov. The explanation states that 32 coins in the bottom part of a clay vessel (Bosporan staters of the beginning of our era) were found on May 7, 1958 by Cherskov’s wife “in a cliff in which our neighbor Kazachkov was choosing a stone to build a house.” History is silent about the further relations of the Cherskovs with their neighbor-builder, who did not notice the pot of coins. In 1976, the local history museum acquired a gold stater of Tsar Savromat I from a private person. The coin was found while digging a trench in the village of Karataevo (Sovetsky district). Researcher S.I. Bezuglov reports in the journal “Don Archeology” about at least three more gold coins found at the Sukho-Chaltyrskoye settlement, which ended up in private collections. In 1914, a gold Roman coin of Emperor Claudius was found at the Temernitsky settlement (present-day Leninsky district). A very rare artifact has attracted the attention of scientists for thirty years. The coin disappeared without a trace during the fascist occupation of Rostov in 1942-1943. Records have been preserved of the discovery of a large treasure of gold Bosporan coins at the Kobyakovskoye settlement (present-day Proletarsky district of Rostov) in 1850. were found in a small hole dug by rainwater by the Cossack woman Tyurina, and bought by the merchant Cossack Bogdanov. The treasure was sold out, but five coins were transferred to the Imperial Hermitage through the military chieftain. The treasure may not always consist of coins. According to historian V.F. Chesnoka, in 1963, excavator operator Anatoly Feoktistov was laying a trench near the Rostov airport. At a depth of about a meter, a lot of oblong-shaped metal objects suddenly fell from the side of the trench... Thus, a unique treasure from the Late Bronze Age was found: several heavy chisels and more than forty perfectly preserved sickles. This is the so-called “trade treasure”: in that era, the products of artisans often acted as an exchange equivalent, that is, they served as money. Among the unusual finds made recently, I will mention the “beard badge” of 1705, which Peter I issued to the boyars for the right to wear a beard, with a stamp for the year determining its length. A sign of great value was found in the vicinity of the village of Starocherkasskaya, near Rostov. Now it is in one of the private collections. WHERE TO SEARCH? So, ancient treasures are not fiction at all. Anyone can find hidden valuables, and for knowledgeable and motivated people this is a common thing. But the “law on treasure hunting,” adopted quite recently, can now severely punish for this. “I, like thousands of other passionate people, consider this new law ill-conceived and even harmful, since it takes away the opportunity to do what we love. And builders digging pits in the historical center of the city now immediately fall under criminal charges. I am sure that the deputies will adjust the wording so that the law really protects history, and does not alienate archaeologists, local historians and collectors from it, says Roman Elkin. Is it possible to search for treasures today without breaking the law? As Roman believes, serious restrictions have been introduced, but not a ban on this activity. Thus, visual search for coins on the surface of the earth during construction work is not formally prohibited. The law defines the location of the “cultural layer” in the thickness of the earth or under water, but says nothing about buildings. So you can still look for treasures in old houses... PAPER TREASURE More recently, Roman Yolkin discovered a treasure in the center of Rostov, consisting of a large number of paper notes issued in Russia at the beginning of the last century. Apparently, it was hidden by some wealthy Rostovite, who then perished in the crucible of the Civil War. To be precise, the treasure was found by builders who were dismantling an old house on the corner of Kirovsky Prospekt (formerly Bogatyanovsky) and Telman Street (this is the area of ​​the Rostov Hippodrome). A paper parcel stuffed with money was hidden in the attic under the wooden rafters. The house was built to last: it survived a revolution and two wars, and kept paper valuables in satisfactory condition.
The treasure consists of banknotes of various denominations issued under Tsar Nicholas II, as well as by the Provisional Government in 1917. The most recent “state credit notes” (in denominations of 10 thousand rubles) are dated 1918. It is curious that on the money of 1918 you can see a real... swastika in the center. This ancient symbol in those days was in no way associated with fascism, but seemed to personify the blessings of life promised to Russians.
The so-called “Kerenki” (named after the last chairman of the Provisional Government, A.F. Kerensky) are present in the found treasure in large quantities. They were issued by both the Provisional Government and the State Bank of the RSFSR in 1917-1919 on the same cliches, and were not backed by anything. The disdainful attitude of the population towards these banknotes is clearly evidenced by the fact that the owner of the treasure at one time tied entire stacks of 40-ruble “kerenoks” with white threads for ease of payment. One pack contains from five hundred to a thousand rubles in “Kerenka” coins. Even the threads are perfectly preserved, despite the fact that almost a hundred years have passed! If you look back into the past, 1918 became a bloody year in the history of our city. After the revolutionary events that shook the foundations of the Russian state, the “Socialist Army” of Rudolf Sievers entered Rostov in February. An orgy of bloody reprisals ensued against the bourgeoisie, officers, scientists and everyone who did not like the drunken cattle that filled the city. These Rostov events are described in the famous study by S.P. Melgunov "Red Terror". However, the Reds were soon knocked out by the units of Colonel Drozdovsky, who made a long journey from the Romanian front to the Don. The terror of the population did not stop, but simply “turned white.” Denikin's counterintelligence hung workers from lampposts along Bolshaya Sadovaya Street... Then there was the German occupation and the declaration of the “Don Republic” by Ataman Krasnov. And the Budennovites of the First Cavalry Army, who drove the whites out of Rostov in 1920, staged a real pogrom in the city, which lasted several days. During what government could the owner of the treasure disappear? And why didn't he take the money with him if he was forced to leave? One can only speculate about this... It is quite rare to find “paper” treasures for two reasons. First: paper doesn't hold up well over time. And second: such treasures cannot be detected using a metal detector, the standard equipment of a treasure hunter. In old houses they find not only money, but also other artifacts that have value in the eyes of collectors. For example, these are empty bottles and dishes, cutlery, books and newspapers. Not long ago, during the demolition of a building in the historical center, many pre-war pioneer ties were found. Some Rostov patriots hid them from the invaders, but for some reason they were unable to get their treasure back... And yet, finding a treasure is a matter of luck and chance. A real treasure hunter does not strive to get rich thanks to his find, but to save at least a small piece of history from oblivion. And this is a noble goal! Alexander OLENEV (based on materials published in the newspaper “Evening Rostov”).

What treasures does the land of Russia and Belarus conceal to this day?

WHAT HOW MUCH

Since ancient times, relations between treasure hunters and the state have been tense, to put it mildly. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian, in his code (mid-6th century), introduced a law according to which half of the found values ​​belonged to the one who found them, and the other half to the owner of the designated territory.

What laws apply to treasure hunting in modern Belarus and Russia?

We look at the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, article 215 - “Appropriation of found property.” It reads, in particular: “The misappropriation of knowingly found someone else's property or treasure on an especially large scale is punishable by community service, or a fine, or arrest for up to three months.

Particularly large amounts are considered to be 250 basic wages.

The Civil Code of Belarus determines what is considered treasure in this republic and how to deal with it. Here's what Article 234 says:

1. Treasure, that is, money or valuable objects buried in the ground or otherwise hidden, the owner of which cannot be identified or, by virtue of an act of legislation, has lost the right to them, becomes the property of the person who owns the property (land plot, buildings, etc.). etc.), where the treasure was hidden, and the person who discovered the treasure, in equal shares, unless otherwise established by agreement between them.

If a treasure is discovered by a person who has carried out excavations or searches for valuables without the consent of the owner of the land plot or other property where the treasure was hidden, the treasure must be transferred to the owner of the land plot or other property in which the treasure was discovered.

2. In the event of the discovery of a treasure containing material objects that have distinctive spiritual, artistic and (or) documentary merits and meet one of the criteria for selecting material objects for assigning them the status of historical and cultural value, such objects are subject to transfer to state ownership. In this case, the owner of the land plot or other property where the treasure was hidden, and the person who discovered the treasure, have the right to receive together a reward in the amount of fifty percent of the value of the treasure. The remuneration is distributed among these persons in equal shares, unless otherwise established by agreement between them.

If such a treasure is discovered by a person who carried out excavations or searches for valuables without the consent of the owner of the property where the treasure was hidden, remuneration to this person is not paid and goes entirely to the owner.

3. The rules of this article do not apply to persons whose work or official duties included carrying out excavations and searches aimed at discovering treasure.

What about in Russia?

Federal Law No. 245-FZ of July 23, 2013 introduced a new article into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation providing for liability for failure to comply with legal requirements when objects of cultural value are found in the ground.

The newly introduced article 243-2, which came into force on July 25, 2015, provides for liability for the performer of earthworks, construction, reclamation, economic or other work or archaeological field work carried out on the basis of a permit (open sheet) for evading the mandatory transfer to the state of discovered when carrying out such work on objects of special cultural value, or cultural assets on a large scale (if the value of the discovered objects exceeds 100,000 rubles).

Such items include historical, artistic values, ancient books, publications of special interest (historical, artistic, scientific and literary), separately or in collections; rare manuscripts and documentary monuments; archives, including photo, phono, film, video archives; unique and rare musical instruments; postage stamps, other philatelic materials, separately or in collections; ancient coins, orders, medals, seals and other collectibles; rare collections and specimens of flora and fauna, items of interest to such branches of science as mineralogy, anatomy and paleontology.

The special cultural value of objects is an evaluative concept and is established on the basis of an expert opinion.

Violation of these laws is considered a crime for which criminal liability is provided, including imprisonment for up to 6 years.

And here is what the Russian Civil Code says about treasures:

Article 233 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation – “Treasure”.

1. Treasure, that is, money or valuable objects buried in the ground or otherwise hidden, the owner of which cannot be identified or has lost the right to them by force of law, becomes the property of the person who owns the property (land plot, building, etc. .), where the treasure was hidden, and the person who discovered the treasure, in equal shares, unless otherwise established by agreement between them.

In general, Article 233 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and 234 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus practically coincide.

To summarize, in recent years both Russia and Belarus have begun (legislatively) to take the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage of their ancestors seriously. And treasure hunters in Russia and Belarus should be determined from the very first minute to get only half of what they found. As they say, don’t sin, give your due to the state and sleep well...

And this is a completely humane law, if we remember that in the USSR the finder of a treasure was entitled to only 25 percent of its estimated value.

NOT HIDDEN FROM A GOOD LIFE

A huge number of treasures are buried in the ground, hidden in basements and attics, under floorboards and in the walls of houses, not only in ancient times, but also in the period from 1917 to the end of the 50s. Constant searches, seizure of valuables, denunciations and arrests forced millions of people - both in Russia and Belarus - to carefully bury their relics, savings and jewelry.

While changing the floors in a communal apartment, one of the Moscow residents found three metal bars under the floorboard. I rubbed them with sandpaper and was stunned: the bars weighing 2.5 kg were made of red gold! Old-timers said that in 1917 a banker lived here.

The war years, especially the 41st - 42nd, were also abundant in the formation of new treasures. In the confusion of general retreat, panic and looting, some managed to pocket and bury whole pounds of gold, jewelry, and antiques. Then the owner of the treasure went to the front, died, and no one ever used the hidden gold.

Like thousands of years ago, in our time treasure hunts are still surrounded by a mysterious flair, mysticism and superstition. Searchers - both intellectuals and not very educated ones - all, as one, indisputably believe that on many hidden treasures there is a taboo - a witchcraft conspiracy that prevents the treasure hunter from discovering the “cache”. They say that in the old days, when burying gold and silver, people turned to sorcerers, and they created a kind of security zone around the treasure. And he can only open up to someone who knows the “cock word” or has a magical gap-grass.

What can I say? Convincing people of such beliefs is a thankless task.

Among treasure hunters, not everyone is obsessed with the thirst for enrichment. For many, this is an exciting adventure, a shake-up after the daily home routine. Oddly enough, it is they who are the most popular search engines, and not the calculating professionals - the so-called “black archaeologists”.

Statistics say that over 90 percent of ancient treasures are discovered by chance: in the village during the sowing season, during construction, during the demolition of dilapidated houses or the relocation of village log houses. However, professional treasure hunters firmly believe that the extraction of treasures from the bowels of the earth, from the bottom of rivers, lakes and seas can be put on stream and planned with the utmost degree of probability.

GOMEL SURPRISE

In Europe, from time immemorial, treasure hunters were mainly adventurers, losers and slackers dreaming of easy money. And in Rus', even monarchs did not disdain to search for hidden treasures. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Tsar Ivan the Terrible was simply “overwhelmed” with a thirst for treasure hunting. Moreover, the king had a certain mystical ability to “smell” treasures hidden from human eyes.

This is what the Novgorod chronicler of the 16th century wrote down: “How Grand Duke John Vasilyevich arrived from Moscow to Novgorod and, unknown how, found out the ancient treasury, hidden in the wall by the creator of St. Sophia, Prince Vladimir the Great (grandson of St. Vladimir, the baptist of Rus' - Author), and unknown to be no one about this, less by hearing, less by writing. And then they arrived at night and began to torture the cleric Sofeisk and the sexton about the treasury, and tormented them a lot, without testing them, even though they didn’t know. And the prince himself came to the sunrise, where I climbed onto the church floors, and at sunrise, on the right side, he ordered the wall to be broken down, and a great treasure woke up, ancient ingots worth a hryvnia, and half a ruble, and a ruble, and having filled the carts, he sent to Moscow."

Ivan the Terrible found many treasures within Rus'; for years he studied legends and chronicles, using them to determine the location of hiding places. And he himself hid a lot of treasures, which are still being sought unsuccessfully by both official and “black” archaeologists.

Peter the Great was a passionate collector of antiquities. He took very seriously all sorts of legends, rumors and even songs that mentioned at least something about hidden treasures. The Emperor issued a special decree on the purchase of antiquities from the population and their transfer to the Kunstkamera. The sister of Peter the Great, Ekaterina Alekseevna, also dabbled in treasure hunting. She tried to find hidden treasures using “planetary notebooks,” that is, astrology. She turned to sorcerers, sent servants to tear up graves at midnight, so that the dead man would announce the treasure...

The most successful treasure hunter in Belarus was Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev. In addition to the fact that at the beginning of the 19th century he served as chancellor and chairman of the State Council of the Russian Empire, the count was engaged in collecting antiquities. Particularly famous is N.P. Rumyantsev gained fame as a collector of early printed and handwritten books, coins, archaeological objects, and works of art. The count bequeathed the largest collection in Russia to the state. After his death in St. Petersburg, a museum was opened in his house on the English Embankment. And in that museum there were many objects that he found during the reconstruction of his huge estate near Gomel and the Gomel palace.

Of course, this prominent educator was not specifically involved in treasure hunting. It was only “passing”. How? The fact is that one of the areas of activity of N.P. Rumyantsev was the creation of a new image of Gomel. In 1796, after the death of his father, Nikolai Petrovich inherited the Gomel estate and began large-scale construction work here. At the beginning of the 19th century, a square was laid out in the city center, from which the three main streets Proboynaya (now Sovetskaya), Sadovaya (Lenin Avenue), and Feldmarshalskaya (Proletarskaya) radiated out. Public buildings were erected on the central square: a guest courtyard, a town hall, a church, a revenue school, and a little further - the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a house for the owner to live in, a house for summer residence, better known to Gomel residents as the “Hunting Lodge,” German and Russian taverns. On Proboynaya Street a stone hospital and pharmacy, a Lancaster school, and a Trinity Church appeared. A little to the side, on the high bank of the river, a lyceum building rose. And all this is due to the personal zeal of Count Rumyantsev!

It was during these works that priceless treasures of the Belarusian land were found.

Nikolai Petrovich wrote in 1821: “These days, in the middle of Gomel itself, a pot with silver coins was dug out of the ground... They are all the same and from the year one thousand six hundred and twenties, coins of the Polish king Sigismund.” A year later, he finds in Gomel a treasure of gold coins from the Arab Caliphate of the 9th-10th centuries. Where did they come from? This means that even before the Baptism of Rus', a trade route from Europe to Asia ran through the Gomel lands! This was a major historical discovery.

Rumyantsev bought treasures found by peasants in Vitebsk and Trakai. N.P. Rumyantsev died in 1826, leaving a collection of one and a half thousand coins from various eras. Here is an example when an archaeologist-treasure hunter works not for profit, but for posterity.

In Belarus, to this day they are looking for Napoleon’s gold along the banks of the Berezina River and nearby lakes. It's here somewhere... But where? I wish I knew.

After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, a saying appeared in Rus' and Belarus: “Getting rich is like finding a moneybox.” The fact is that this was a period of mass discovery of ancient treasures. The peasants were given ownership of the inconvenient lands - uncultivated lands where previously, many centuries ago, there had been settlements. Finding a pot, a small jar or a jug with gold and silver was considered almost the most common thing. The procedure was established as follows: if you find a treasure, go register it with the police officer, he will call the learned men, and if there is nothing historically valuable in the find, then take it all for yourself. And if an object was confiscated for science, the finder was given monetary compensation. One peasant, plowing his allotment, came across the silver-lined helmet of Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, for which he received a bonus of 5 rubles (the cost of a cow).

Let us remember: Count Rumyantsev found a treasure in the middle of what was then Gomel. But it turns out that even in the midst of present-day Moscow, you can find buried wealth! Here's a case. For almost a century he lay on Volkhonka, exactly opposite the Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, a stone-boulder, until some idle citizen took it into his head to take it and turn it over. And what do you think? Under the boulder he found two revolvers with cartridges, two pairs of cadet shoulder straps and buttonholes from the Alexander Infantry School, and most importantly, a note-will. As it turned out from the text, two cadets, during a shootout with the Bolsheviks in the fall of 1917, found themselves cut off from their own and were forced to get rid of evidence of their belonging to the White army. The note also contained an account number and password for withdrawing a large deposit at the Bank of England - one of the junkers bequeathed his entire fortune to the one who found the note. And the lucky one received the money according to the cadet’s will!

DIVERS SEARCHING

Territories of historical value are often not fenced or patrolled - come and dig as much as you have the strength and patience to do. There is a formal plunder of the unknown heritage of our ancestors.

In the early 90s, Ryazan archaeologists discovered the Zarechensky burial ground of the fourth century. Gold, silver and copper jewelry, weapons, and vessels were stored there. While archaeologists begged the state for money to study the burial ground, it was gutted to the ground by hordes of treasure hunters.

The treasure can be found in almost every region of Russia and Belarus. More than a thousand valuable rarities and treasures were found in Gorki Leninskiye, where in the old days the “tsar’s guard” lodged.

Treasure-hunting divers operate on the coast of the Baltic Sea and in the waters of Lake Ladoga. They are looking for ancient sunken ships (remember the line from the song: “Divers are looking for treasures...”). According to historical documents, merchant ships with a cargo of precious metals worth about 45 million dollars sank in the Baltic waters near present-day Vyborg in the 18th century. At the same time, a caravan of ships with cargo sank in Lake Ladoga, which today is estimated at 30 million “green”.

The Urals also abound with huge caches of treasures. In the 16th-17th centuries, robber Cossack chieftains operated here, including the famous Ermak Timofeevich. The latter, according to completely reliable information, hid several barrels of jewelry looted from merchants in one of the caves on the banks of the Yaiva River. These treasures are valued at approximately $80 million.

Stepan Razin buried his huge treasury piece by piece along the Vetluga River (present-day Nizhny Novgorod region). He hid a treasure trove of countless treasures in an underground log house four miles from the village of Trumleiki. It is only unknown in which direction these same four miles should be measured...

A lot of gold and precious stones are buried in the land of old Cossack settlements on the Ural, Don, and Kuban rivers. In the Krasnodar region, they are still looking for the treasures of the White Cossacks - the famous gold of the Kuban Cossack Rada. The estimated value of the treasure is $100 million.

In Pskov, somewhere near the Kremlin, merchant treasures with an estimated value of $50 million are buried. However, there is information that this treasure was hidden in the neighboring Vitebsk region. In Smolensk they still cannot find the city treasury of the 17th century ($5 million). There are some indications that this gold was also exported a little to the west, perhaps to the territory of present-day Belarus.

GOLDEN SORT

An elderly professional treasure hunter once taught me the basics of his craft. And, by the way, he said that the best time for searching in the “field”, in nature, is the beginning of spring, right up to the “tall grass”. The earth has “moved away” and digging is easy. There is little vegetation. But the most important thing is that if you climb a tall tree, dark rectangles are clearly visible on the thawed soil - these are the sites of long-demolished buildings that stood here in the old days.

This is where, they say, we need to dig.

But it would be good to know in advance what you are looking for.

Experience shows that a treasure hunter requires luck and extraordinary ingenuity. It was thanks to his ingenuity that one of the search engines near Moscow managed to get rich, working only with a sapper shovel.

Thirty-five-year-old Sergei N., while studying the memoirs of Napoleonic Marshal Caulaincourt, came across an interesting fact. At the end of October 1812, the French army, retreating from Moscow, trudged along the road between Borovsk and Vereya. Not far from the village of Sovyaki, Napoleon gave the order: all soldiers and officers should empty their backpacks of looted valuables and pour them into the Protva River. The order was carried out. Naturally, the French stuffed as many gold ducats into their trouser pockets as they could fit. And there, in Sovyaki, Napoleon organized a hospital for those who could not go further.

A savvy reader of memoirs rushed to Sovyaki and began to look for the place where there was a French hospital more than two centuries ago. Or rather, the place where the toilet was located, an ordinary cesspool. And sure enough, I found it! He began to dig for humus, which had turned into peat, and at the bottom of the hole he found what he was looking for: several kilograms of gold chervonets from the late 18th – early 19th centuries. The fact is that the guy realized: when the French settled in the latrine, gold poured out of their overflowing pockets into the toilet hole.

True, there is not enough romance in this story...

Alexander Annin

Within the walls of the regional museum of local lore there is an extensive numismatic exhibition closely related to our region. There are about 1,500 exhibits on display: metal, gold, copper and silver coins and other banknotes of important historical significance. The exhibition also included coins that significantly influenced the formation of the museum collection, because, as it turned out, the Lipetsk land is very rich in treasures. The museum houses about twenty such collections, and this does not include small historical finds that are stored in various museums in the region.

What kind of money did Peter I not like?

Treasures from the pre-Petrine era are especially interesting. These are so-called silver coins - flakes, in denomination of one kopeck. They were in circulation in Rus' for several centuries. The coins, nicknamed scales for their small and oval shape, were made by hand and, despite their small denomination, were highly valued. For example, back then you could buy a good heifer for one and a half rubles or a sheep for thirty-five kopecks. A full-fledged ruble appeared only under the reformer Tsar Peter I, who often complained to his nobles about scale coins, saying, when will the state get rid of these “lice”! Two treasures with flake coins were found in our region. One in 1954 in the village of Kurino, Khlevensky district, and the second in 1986 in the village of Sselki, Lipetsk region.

Another treasure of silver coins was found in the village of Gryaznovka, Lebedyansky district. In 1966, a local resident was planting an apple tree near his house and dug up 261 19th-century silver coins in denominations of ten, fifteen and twenty kopecks. In 1983, during road repair work near the village of Krivka, Usman region, gold and silver coins rolled out from under the bulldozer blade. A priest's house once stood on the site of the treasure. A treasure of 489 silver coins from the 19th - early 20th centuries was found in 1989 by excavator operator Ilyin during excavation work in Lipetsk on the corner of Torgovaya Street and Communal Square. In 1994, silver flashed under the bucket of excavator operator Bugakov in the very regional center. While digging a pit for the construction of a house on Tolstovskaya Street, a treasure trove of silver tableware consisting of 23 items from the late 19th - early 20th centuries was found.

Lipetsk is rich in treasures.

Like in the movies!

The current exhibition also includes one of the most famous treasures of the Lipetsk region - the treasure of the merchant Mikhailov from Chaplygin. The story of this discovery is akin to the events of the famous comedy film about the adventures of Italians in Russia. During the hard times of the revolution of 1917, a merchant family buried a large jug with paper money and a small green decanter with 141 royal gold coins in denominations of 5 and 10 rubles in the ground near their house. The Mikhailovs tried several times to return the treasure, but were afraid. In 1969, in Moscow, a merchant’s daughter-in-law, on her deathbed, confessed to her relatives that their family treasure existed in Chaplygin. According to one version, the relatives themselves reported the treasure to the KGB, according to another, their neighbor in the house, who became aware of the merchant's family secret, reported the treasure. One way or another, in 1969, in front of the astonished eyes of the residents of a quiet regional town, the police cordoned off the old merchant house of the Mikhailovs in broad daylight and began digging under the arch. The treasure was found on the second attempt, but the jug with paper money was damaged. The found treasure was valued at 77,240 Soviet rubles. The Lipetsk Museum of Local Lore received only 15 gold coins, the rest were taken to Moscow.

Blood and Church

A rather interesting treasure was found by Lipetsk resident Sadukhin in Kamenny Log not far from the Transfiguration and Assumption churches. This was a huge amount of copper coins from 1726-1916. The treasure is noteworthy because, most likely, this money was simply thrown into the log! 2735 coins! The earliest coin of the unusual find is from the time of Catherine I, and the latest is from the reign of Nicholas II. The copper money is poorly preserved, some are only copper circles. Why were the coins thrown away? Most likely, people put the most worn-out small coins into the church cashbox, which could no longer be used to pay in the market.

But the largest church treasure was discovered in 2008 in the village of Yusovo, Chaplyginsky district, under the dome of the Church of the Archangel Michael. Schoolchildren who helped restore the temple found a metal casket. It contained 7,986 coins with denominations ranging from a kopeck to a ruble. 713 are silver, the rest are copper. The oldest of the coins was minted in 1736, the latest - in 1914. Most likely, it was the church treasury.

Another rather curious treasure was found near his home by a resident of the village of Vorobyovka, Zadonsk region. He dug up a pot that contained 757 copper nickels minted between 1758 and 1796. A total of 40 rubles. In those distant times, copper nickels were the most common form of money among poor Russians. But the cost of copper money turned out to be considerable. Each nickel weighed 50 grams, and for the found 40 copper rubles one could buy 40 acres of land.

The biggest

But the largest treasure was found by archaeologists in March 2007 in the very center of Lipetsk under the foundation of the ancient house of the merchant Kotelnikov on the slope of Cathedral Mountain. It consisted of two silver cups, a gold box, two cigarette cases and 1058 coins. Of these, the most valuable are the ruble issued in 1810, the altyn of Peter the Great from 1701, as well as Spanish and French coins from 1812 and copper money minted in Tsarist Russia for Moldavia and Poland. An Arab coin from the Golden Horde period is also valuable. At the time of discovery, the treasure was valued at a million rubles.

As you can see, you can very likely find a treasure in our area, even without being a passionate treasure hunter. As Natalya Selezneva, deputy director of the Lipetsk Museum of Local Lore, said, individual treasure-hunting finds happen quite often, considering that with the advent of metal detectors on the open market, many citizens began searching for treasures, and far from unsuccessfully. Such events happen approximately once every five years. There is even a certain mysticism: treasure is found when it needs to be found, as if the earth itself is pushing it out. A striking example of this is the silver flake coins in Sselki. After all, the owners had been digging up the garden where the jug with coins was found for decades, and one movement of the shovel was enough to find it.

The State Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage commented interestingly on the situation with treasures. According to specialists from this department, the law, which now obliges archaeological work to be carried out if new construction is carried out on the site of historical buildings, has brought great assistance in the matter of finding historical treasures. Now judge for yourself how often treasures are found in the land of Lipetsk, if two such archaeological excavations yielded two large treasures at once!

What do practical treasure hunters think about this? Vladimir Poryvaev, head of the first and so far only legal treasure hunting company in the capital, believes that treasure is often found in our country. Even during the construction of the Skolkovo science city, while digging a trench, workers came across a table service from the late 19th century. A beautiful product for 36 people. And all because in Rus', since feudal times, hiding money in the ground was considered the most reliable way to preserve it in difficult times. Therefore, treasures are most often discovered during excavation or construction work.

Treasures underfoot.

But finding the treasure is half the battle. Instead of enjoying a valuable find, a treasure hunter may encounter a number of problems. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that the treasure becomes the property of the person who owns the property where the treasure was hidden, and the person who discovered the treasure, in equal shares, if the owner of the find cannot be identified. If a treasure containing items related to historical or cultural monuments is discovered, they are subject to transfer to state ownership. In this case, the owner of the land plot or other property where the treasure was hidden, and the person who discovered the treasure, have the right to receive a joint reward in the amount of fifty percent of the value of what was found.