Bolshie and Malye Viaziomy (Moscow Region)

The history of these two neighbouring settlements has its roots deep in the ancient times. In the XVI century, here – on the Great Road to Mozhaysk, there was a coaching station, so called “yam on Viaziomy.” This circumstance makes it necessary to mention, what the coaching service station was.

One of the oldest compulsory services laid on local people was the practice of “povoz”, according to which local dwellers had to provide horses for prince’s messengers and servants and give food to them and forage to their horses. This service was the source of constant trouble and anxiety for the peasants, and quite often it was even a real devastation to them. Even some chronicles mention the practice of “povoz.” In one of them, under the year of 1209, it says that Novgorod citizens, as they gathered for a “veche” (citizens’ council), plundered the house of the prince’s ruler, who was accused, among other things, of abusing “povoz” service – he forced merchants to carry the goods that for his personal needs without any pay. The word “yam” is of Oriental origin and it denoted places, where the travelers changed horses and could stay somewhere for the night. This system was widely spread in the Golden Horde. “Yams” were arranged on the big roads at certain intervals, and local people had to keep enough horses for their operation. People, who had the right to use this system, were equipped with a special tablet with a name of the Great Khan inscribed on it. Because of the smooth operation of this service, quick traveling was made possible.

After conquering the Rus, Tatars introduced this system there. Originally, yam was used to denote the tax, which helped to support the system. Sometimes, it was monetary revenue, in other cases – it was non-cash levy. For example, in a letter that was written at the turn of the XV century from Great Prince Vasily I to Metropolitan Kiprian we read, “as for the yam, it should be the sixth day as it was in the ancient days, and if my villages, those of the Great Prince, will give it, then those of the metropolitan should also give it”. It means that there was a plan of taking the horses for yam in turn on each sixth day. The yam stations in those days looked like several houses and stables, surrounded by a common fence. The local population, besides providing horses and guides, had to clear up the roads, build and repair bridges. Special “zagonnye’ books were kept at the yams, where all things provided for the yam were thoroughly recorded. The right to use yam carriages was stipulated by special documents, which were called “podorozhnye”. The oldest “podorozhnye” date back to the second half of the XVth century.

Peasants were paid for their service. The amount due for the rides is known from the XVIth century – three “dengis” for ten “versts;” while the guide received one and a half dengis for 30 versts. But in reality this rule was often violated, especially when the king’s military men passed through. It was bearable, when they were traveling in large companies, under the command of their voivodes, who maintained some discipline, but in most of the cases the war men gathered at the assembly point in small groups and even individually and took the same procedure when they were heading back for their homes after the campaign.

Local people continuously complained that the “war men” stole their food supplies for the winter, destroyed wheat fields and hay meadows, took the victuals for themselves and their horses not “by the price,” but “by force.” It is no wonder that influential people tried to avoid these difficulties and aspired to obtain letters of grant that freed their households from bearing these responsibilities. In one of such letters of grant, dated as of June 5th of 1526, there was the first mention of the Viaziomy, “From the Great Prince Vasily Ivanovich of the entire Rus to the Viaziomy yam, to yamschik Ivashka Melenkin with his company. At the Viaziomy yam, I commanded that from every household carts should be taken – from my own, of the Great Prince, villages, and those under my landlords, and under the metropolitan, and under the boyar’s, and under the monasteries – without any exceptions, no matter whom they belong to. So you should charge all those households to serve the yam with their carts according to my first letter, except for the metropolitan’s villages and settlements. As for the metropolitan’s villages – from Golenischov and Seliatyn and from the settlements, carts and guides should not be taken according to this letter of mine. Written in Moscow in the year of 7034, in June, on the 5^th day.” In the XVI century, Viaziomy was the last but one station on the way to Moscow (the next one was in Dorogomilovo); and it is often mentioned in the business letters of that time, related to the arrival of foreign ambassadors.

At the end of the XVI century, Viaziomy became boyar Boris Godunov’s family domain. At that time it was well developed; and from the end of the XVI century it can be undoubtedly identified as a village, “under Tsar Fedor Ivanovich of the entire Rus and by the petition of boyar Boris Fedorovich Godunov, a stone temple was built with five domes and stone dam at the pond” – Piskarevsky chronicler tells us. At the same time a belfry of the Pskov type was built, which was not characteristic for these places in its architectural forms. These buildings have remained until our days, being the landmarks of Viaziomy’s beauty. Under Godunov, there also was a boyar’s house in the village; according to the inventory books of the year of 1621, two groves were cut down to build it – asp and fir trees. Where the house stood is not known. Unfortunately, Viaziomy’s topography in the first period of its existence has not been thoroughly researched. Besides the wooden church of the Life-giving Trinity, there were also a church of St. Nicholas Wonderworker and the Monastery of John the Apostle in Viaziomy. The prince’s court was surrounded by a ditch, the remains of which can be still seen today. There was a watermill on the Viazemka River. Torzhok (market place), mentioned in the following years, also existed here. After the death of Boris Godunov, Viaziomy, probably, was owned by False Dmitriy I. Notes made by foreign guests testify of Viaziomy of the beginning of the XVII century. Godunov’s domain served the new king as a place for entertainment and hunting. He arranged “jolly battles” here; one of such occasions is described by Conrad Bussov and Petrei de Erlezunda. Russian boyars had to defend an ice fortress, while German guards and Polish cavalry under the command of False Dmitriy I had to seize it by assault. Instead of cannon balls, they were supposed to use snow balls. The attacking side apart from snowballs also threw stones at the defenders and broke through their lines quickly. Due to the grudge of the Russian boyars, the self-proclaimed tsar had to quit this kind of amusement. In May of 1606, Marina Mnisheck stopped here for a few days on her way to Moscow. Right after her departure, a fire broke out in Viaziomy that turned 30 households into ashes. In 1611, Viaziomy became the negotiation ground between Russians and Yan Sapega. And seven years later, the “Lithuanian men” arrived here again – they were the troops of prince Vladislav.

The last event that took place in Viaziomy in relation to the Polish-Lithuanian intervention was the welcoming of metropolitan Filaret on his way back from captivity – he was the father of tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. He was met by archbishop Makariy and boyars at Viaziomy. After the meeting, Filaret headed for Zvenigorod to bow down to Savva Storozhevsky, and only from there he traveled to Moscow. The chronicles between 1631 and 1633 describe the tragic consequences of the years of hardships for the country. We discover that what was left in Viaziomy were the church site of Nicolas the Wonderworker, the church site of John the Apostle, where the monastery once had been, the place of tsar Boris’s court, the place of the coaching yard, and a garden place. There were 40 households of farmers and 16 households without land property.

After the intervention, Viaziomy was added to the tsars’ own lands. No major construction was carried out here. It is known that in 1646, “in the village of Nikolskoye (one of the names of the village according to the church of Nicolas the Wonderworker) on the Viaziomy there is a church of the Life-giving Trinity, and in the parish there is a church of Nicolas the Wonderworker, but other parishes stand empty, without a choir.” At that time, there were 66 households in Viaziomy. Quarter of a century later in Viaziomy there were the stone church of the Life-giving Trinity with the chancels of Annunciation of the Holy Virgin and of Archangel Mikhail (chancels were not sanctified), the church place of Nicolas the Wonderworker and the monastery place of John the Apostle, the court site of tsar Boris, as well as Torzhok, threshing floor, pottery shop and cattle barn, pond, and a dam, “and fish in the pond: pike, tench, perch, roach, and crucian carp.” In 74 households over 200 male souls lived. There is a record of tsar Alexei Mikhailovich’s visit to Viaziomy. A Gospel with an inserted inscription made by the tsar’s hand had been kept in the temple for a long time.

At the very end of the XVII century, Viaziomy changed its status. By the title decree of tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseyevich dated March 25, 1694, the village was granted from the Grand Palace Office to Prince Boris Alekseyevich Golitsyn as his manor. He was the tutor of Peter the Great. There is little information about Viaziomy in the lifetime of Boris Alekseyevich that would allow to reconstruct the life of the village in general. West of the Godunov’s church the prince’s house was built, auxiliary and household outbuilding were erected.  They were apparently made out of stone, for among the 35 manor people there also were some masons. As for the church, it was re-dedicated and in the documents of 1702 it is recorded as the Church of Transfiguration. The temple was renewed; new iconostasis was made, and the central head was adorned with a carved whitestone crown in Baroque style (by the way, in the main residence near Moscow of Prince Boris Alekseyevich – Dubrovitsy – the Church of Znamenie (of the Holy Sign) is also adorned with a Baroque crown). Interestingly, the re-dedication of the church did not change the themes of the church’s paintings, and they were still devoted to the Trinity. In 1698-1699, an Austrian embassy visited Moscovia; and one of its members, John Corb, kept a diary of the journey. Twice on the way to Moscow and back the embassy stopped in Prince Golitsyn’s manor. If the local tradition is to be trusted, Peter the Great also visited his tutor here.

In 1700, Boris Alekseyevich distributed his manor lands among his sons and gave Viaziomy to his second son Vasily. But the latter died tragically together with his wife on August 2, 1710, during a lunch with prince Y. I. Koltsov-Masalsky, when the ceiling collapsed and killed them. After the death of Boris Alekseyevich in 1714, Viaziomy went over to his grandson Mikhail Vasilievich. No information is available about his life in Viaziomy, but one can be certain enough that under Mikhail Vasilievich Viaziomy was populated, since his son, Nikita, who died as an infant is buried in the church there. His grave has not survived till our days, and now its location is not marked out in any way and remains unknown to us.

Mikhail Vasilievich, who achieved in his career the rank of a chamberlain, died in January of 1748, and the next owner of Viaziomy was his widow, Yevdokia Mikhailovna, from the family of Prince Scherbatov, sister of the famous historian – M. M. Scherbatov. A few years before her death, which ensued in 1768, she divided family lands between her children. Viaziomy was given to three brothers – Nickolay, Alexander, and Mikhail. Soon, to be more precise – in 1766, they had a “peaceful division” and Nikolay Mikailovich became the only owner. Very few documents have been preserved to tell us about him: it is not even known, when and where he had died, and where he was buried. The information about his service is also scarce. We only know that he finished his military service in the rank of a brigadier, between 1785 and 1788, he was a local nobility leader in Zvenigorod, and when he retired, he settled down in Viaziomy. In the “Economic Notes” of 1766-1771, his manor is described in the following manner, “The village is on both sides of the great Mozhaisk road and of the Viazemka River; there is a stone church of two floors, the upper one is dedicated to the Lord’s Transfiguration, the lower – to Nicolas the Wonderworker, the landlord’s house is wooden, with two regular orchards with fruit trees; there is a wooden textile factory, horse breeding farm, two wheat flour mills – one with a stone dam and three millstone machines, the other one has one millstone machine; the village has thirty households.” According to the record of the end of the XVIII century, in Bolshie Viaziomy there were 29 households and 312 dwellers, in Malye Viaziomy there were 32 households and 364 dwellers. Farmers were paying rent, and some engaged in locksmith and coaching businesses, and cabbing in Moscow.

Nikolay Mikhailovich was one of the most caring owners of Viaziomy. Under him in 1770-1780s, extensive construction was done in the village – a stone house in French Classicism style and two outbuildings, noted in the description of 1800 were erected that are still there today. Nikolay Mikhailovich did not have any children, and in a letter to Alexander I asked to give the manor to his cousin at one remove, Prince Boris Vladimirovich Golitsyn, who visited his uncle often and showed interest in this manor and its management. Boris Vladimirovich was a son of brigadier Vladimir Borisovich and Natalia Petrovna, nee princess Chernyshova, smart, authoritative, and intriguing woman. At the court she was nicknamed “la princesse Moustache” and died at almost one hundred years old in December of 1837. She entered into the history of the Russian literature as a prototype for the old countess in Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades.” Boris Vladimirovich’s career was at first quite successful, but in 1806 he dropped out of military service and decided to engage in “improving” his character. He studied Russian literature under A. F. Merzlyakov and Russian history under K. F. Kalaidovich, collected a vast library, which had two sections – foreign and Russian literature. When the Patriotic war of 1812 began, he returned to the military service. In the Battle of Borodino he was wounded and contused. At the end of 1812, Boris Vladimirovich left Vladimir, where he was recuperating, to catch up with the Russian army and take part at least in the concluding stage of the war, bit he was only able to get as far as Vilno (Vilnius), where he passed away on January the 6th of 1813. According to his will, he was buried in the Viaziomy church, in the aisle of Princes Boris and Gleb. The tombstone from the prince’s grave was removed in the Soviet times, and at present it is kept at the Donskoy Monastery.

The events of the 1812 war did not spare Viaziomy. Parts of the Russian army that were retreating after the Battle of Borodino, approached Viaziomy on August 30 (September 11, new style); and M. I. Kutuzov’s headquarters stayed here for the night. The French came here the next day. As the legend has it, both Kutuzov and Napoleon spent the night in the main manor house on the same sofa with the interval of just one day. After the war the manor went over to Boris’s brother – Dmitry Vladimirovich Golitsyn, future governor-general of Moscow. After his death in March of 1844, Viaziomy went to his son, Boris. As of 1852, in Nikolskoye, or Viaziomy, there were 42 households and 470 residents. In Malye Viaziomy there were 34 households and 395 peasants.

The last owner of Viaziomy was Dmitry Vladimirovich’s grandson – Dmitry Borisovich. He often came to Viaziomy in summer time, and during winter he was always aware of all the events that happened in his manor through the letters of his manager, Karl Ivanovich Lepin, who was a Latvian by descent. In the years of his ownership, a new belfry was built in the manor, because the old one tilted and could no longer be used for its purpose. The church building was remodeled in the beginning of the 20^th century. At the same time the iconostasis was also restored. New edifices were erected at that time as well: cattle farm, badger farm, green house and utility buildings. In 1908, D. B. Golitsyn made up his mind to make a leased datcha settlement on his lands. For this purpose he designated a part of his land, “cut off” in the 1870s by the railroad.  The territory of the settlement was divided by 13 main streets, alleys and thoroughfares with street lamps. Their names spoke either of their direction (Petrovskoye thoroughfare led to Petrovskoye village), or matched the names of the prince’s family members (Golitsynsky, Dmitrievsky, Yekaterininsky, Malyi Yekaterininsky, Borisovsky, and Vladimirsky streets). During the World War I, a hospital for 50 beds was built in the manor.

Throughout the entire XIX century, Viaziomy was famous for its collections. The family archive of the Golitsyns was kept here, which included not only the documents of the manor’s owners, but those of the representatives of other families, related to them through marriages (Chernyshevs, Ushakovs, and Streshnevs). The total amount of the documentary collection at the end of the XIX century was over 19,400 pages. The library was also impressive. It contained volumes on all fields of knowledge in Russian and other main European languages. The collection of art is also worth mentioning. Its main collection consisted of portraits and miniatures of the Golytsins and their relatives. Some of the paintings were displayed at the exhibit of historical portraits in the Tavrichesky Palace in 1905.

Viaziomy peasants from the days of old were weaving baskets. But time was passing; craftsmen were leaving the business, while the new ones because of the absence of a school could not reach the former heights. The trade was recovered with the help of Tatiana Vasilievna Golitsyna. When she traveled in Germany and Switzerland, she noticed the skillful crib work of the local people. One good basketry master was invited from there as an instructor, and the craft was revived. To keep it going, in 1882, a school was built with an apprenticeship close to the train station, where handicraftsmen were taught. Moscow governorate zemstvo and the future sponsor of the Museum of Handicrafts, famous philanthropist Sergei Timofeyevich Morozov helped to develop the craft. In 1897, he sponsored the apprenticeship in Germany of one of the best dwellers of Viaziomy, Anton Nikolayevich Berezovsky. The latter returned from abroad with a pile of blueprints; and in 1899, one of the first handicraft cooperative organizations in Russia was founded in Bolshie Viaziomy – Viaziomskoye Cooperative Consumers Society. Not only did it unite the handicraftsmen, but it also supplied them with materials and sold their finished products in the market. The company had its own pricelists, where more than 1300 kinds of weaving work was presented: various items of furniture, travel accessories, toys, ladies’ boxes and cases, all kinds of “petty goods” – baskets, bread bins, biscuit dishes, plates of different shapes and purposes. Apart from the traditional local materials – withies, bast fibre, birchbark, straw, pine laths, cattail, – craftsmen used imported materials: round reed (processed core of reed), raffia (phloem of raffia palm), luffa (rag gourd from Greece), leaves of cocoanut and date palms, the outer shell of cocoanut, and bamboo.

Only one member of the family could be a member of the society. As of 1912, there were 369 people in it. And the total number of those who were involved in the business was over a thousand. Viaziomy wicker work products were known for their longevity, good quality and high artistic characteristics. In 1908, Viaziomy goods won Big Silver Medal at the Ryazan Agricultural Society Exhibition; and in Saint Petersburg in 1908, at the National Exhibition of Handicrafts, they won a Big Gold Medal; in 1911, they received high praises at the Leipzig Fare. But World War I, followed by the Civil War dealt a heavy blow to the craft, destroying the built-up connections with material suppliers and selling agents. Nevertheless, the craft persevered. In 1922, after some reorganizing, “Viazkustprom” guild was established in Viaziomy, which produced mainly wicker furniture. In 1933, a team of the best wicker-workers made shock-absorbers for the first Soviet stratosphere balloons. On the eve of 1941, the wicker work-shop was transferred to the neighbouring village of Kobiakovo, where several types of baskets were still woven, though they could not claim for any artistic value. Thus, the final page was turned in the history of this craft.

When talking about the activities of the Society, one cannot but bring up the subject of the people’s theater, which came out of its being. It was organized in 1909, as one of the first peasant theaters in Russia. Its initiators were: students of Moscow university Nikolai Vladimirovich Skorodumov, Vladimir Vladimirovich Gotovtsev, and Viaziomy’s citizen V. A. Ditskoi. The organizers managed to gather a troupe made of peasants and village intelligentsia, prepare its charter; and after a whole series of petitions they eventually registered it. The theater did not have its own facility, and performances were staged in the office of the Cooperative Consumers Society, or, when the weather was fair – just in the open air.

In the newspapers of that time it was cited under different names: Golitsynsky Music and Drama Club, Peasants’ Theater in Bolshie Viaziomy, People’s Theater in Viaziomy. A number of peasants from Bolshie Viaziomy and the neighbouring village of Sharapovka were members of the acting troupe, such as: M. Shanin, A. Churkina, M. Kulakova, T. Koroleva, M. Konovalova, A. Novikova, I. Kartashev, S. Nikolsky, N. Sokolov., M. Shishkin, N. Soloviev, etc. Interestingly enough, among the troupe members there were many female peasants. In the first years of its existence, its repertoire included such popular among peasants plays as “Every Day is not Sunday” by A. N. Ostrovsky, “Wicked One” by S. Semenov, “In the Lowlands” by A. Klepikov, “Mermaid” by A. S. Pushkin. The Peasant Theater in Viaziomy was considered to be one of the most prominent peasant theaters of its time. It was most often visited by students of Moscow University, who were united into a “Student Club of Studying the Question of Village People Theater” and later – into the “Department of Promotion of Worker and Peasant Theaters” under the auspices of Moscow Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society, which coordinated the operation of peasant theaters. Its main objective was to “approximate the scene to the working people, emancipate the theater from the shameful role of a place of rest and entertainment for the educated society.” By the way, for his educational activity one of the organizers of the theater – V. V. Gotovtsev (future artist of RSFSR) came under close attention of the police.

Moscow newspapers “School and Life,” “Week’s Summary,” “Capital’s Talk,” “Living Word,” “Kopek,” etc. wrote delighted reviews about the performances of the Viaziomy Theater.

Many public figures of art and literature took interest in the activities of the Viaziomy Theater. Painter V. D. Polenov fervently supported it and personally painted decorations for a play called “Kupets Kalashnikov.” He did a lot to develop theoretical questions related to folk theaters as well, and rendered much help to N. V. Skorodumov to compose and publish his book entitled “New simplified method of performances for village theaters.” In the spring of 1910, famous actor Pavel Nikolaevich Orlenev came here. In his “Actor’s Notes” he devoted much attention to describing the tour and the peasant theater itself.

Viaziomy peasants did not limit themselves to the walls of their theater. A tour was organized for them to Moscow artistic theater, where V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko was their guide. On September 16 of 1909, Lev Tolstoy visited Bolshie Viaziomy at the invitation of peasants, where he examined the cooperative consumers society and attended the theater. Tolstoy showed interest in it in the future also. His secretary and friend, V. G. Chertkov often visited the theater in Viaziomy and later arranged a similar one in his estate in Tula region. By 1913, there were already 11 such theaters in the vicinities of Moscow.

Out of 29 members at the time of its foundation, Viaziomy Theater grew to 260 actors before World War I, and 40 percent among them were peasants. The annual expenses of the theater reached 1200 rubles. It subsisted not so much on the ticket sales and membership fees as on the means of the Viaziomy cooperative consumers society that provided considerable amount to support it. Just during the first three years of its existence – from 1909 till 1912, the theater staged 55 plays (38 commercial and 17 free admission performances), held 12 literary and drama soirees, and 4 lectures. In this period of time, it was visited by up to 12 thousand people. In the future, peasant writer Sergey Terentievich Semenov, L. N. Tolstoy’s friend from long ago, played a significant role in organizing the performances by writing screenplays and acting as the theater’s director. The plays written by him were quite close to peasants. The theater was especially active under his management in the first years of Soviet authority up until his death in 1922. The last information we have about the theater dates back to 1928.

The echo of the October revolution reached Viaziomy also. In January of 1918, the estate was transferred under the care of Perhushkov regional council of deputies. In fall of the same year, 39 items were taken from Viaziomy to the National Museum Fund; in particular: 16 portraits, 1 painting, 19 miniatures, bronze clock and 2 chandeliers. Later, in May of 1919, 21 porcelain items were sent there and an engraving depicting the family tree of the Golitsyn Princes. Some part of the collection supplied the Museum named after N. Trotzkaya in the “Vvedenskoye Manor,” including the bust of prince D. V. Golitsyn, Governor General of Moscow. Family treasures that were found later were given to the Armoury Chamber.

The books in the quantity of 15 thousand volumes were moved out in May of 1919 to the State Book Fund; and from there they were distributed among large libraries: Historical Museum Library, Public Library named after Lenin, Socialistic Academy, First, Second, and Third Universities. The archive that was kept in Viaziomy was given to the Rumiantsev Museum. A socialistic farm was organized in Viaziomy, and in the manor house an asylum was made for homeless children. When the asylum for homeless boys was closed, in the manor there was a health resort named after Forel for old Bolsheviks, which was later renamed into a rest house. According to the census of 1926, there were 223 households in Bolshie Viaziomy and 1098 dwellers. Also mentioned are the village council, crediting comradeship, and a school of the first level, which was founded back in the XIX century by the Golitsyns. In Malye Viaziomy there were 161 households and 828 residents, village council and an elementary school.

In 1929, the collectivization started. And in 1935, on a field close to Malye Viaziomy, an aerodrome was opened for practice flights. Before the war, around 300 pilots and 700 paratroopers were trained here. Instead of the rest house, a school for paratroopers was stationed in the manor house; and in 1940, there was an armor school in it. In 1941, the front line approached Viaziomy and it was in the closest rear of the Soviet troops. Front-line evacuation hospital was arranged in the manor, where badly wounded soldiers were brought that could not be transported any further. Many did not make it to the hospital alive, and they were buried together with those who died in the hospital on the bank of the pond. Later the influx of wounded soldiers increased, and another army evacuation hospital was opened in the school building. There was no one to carry away the dead ones, and they were buried next to the school. Later, in 1952, the remains of warriors from the pond were brought here, and a monument was opened. Although the Nazis did not break into Viaziomy – they only showed up on the southern outskirts of Golitsyn, the village suffered heavily from bombings. On top of that, in the summer of 1942, because of a random sparkle from a train more than half of the farmers’ houses burned to ashes.

In 1943, the evacuation hospitals in Viaziomy were closed, and a research institute of horse breeding was opened in the manor; later it was renamed into the Zootechnical institute. The institute was under the patronage of S. M. Budenny, who often visited this place. In 1952, he laid the first stone into the foundation of the new building of the institute, the project for which was developed in the workshop of Academician Zholtovskiy. In 1954, the zootechnical institute was transferred to Izhevsk, and it was replaced by Moscow Printing Institute, which existed here until 1958. Later it was replaced by scientific research institute of phytopathology.

In 1948, a decision was made to restore the monuments of history and culture. It was carried out with great difficulties, although Viaziomy was added to the list of monuments of the National value. A. S. Pushkin visited it (next to Viaziomy church there is still the grave of his brother Nikolay, who died in 1807). While visiting S. P. Shevyrev, who was a professor of Moscow University, and who was married to one of the Golitsyns, N. V. Gogol came here in 1849 and read chapters from the second volume of the “Dead Souls.” This land was marked by the visitations of traveler N. Przhevalskiy, poet V. Briusov, painter K. Shestakov, A. V. Lunachrskiy, Nazym Himket. On April 28 of 1987, the Council of Ministers of RSFSR issued a decree to create Historical-Literary Museum-Reserve of A. S. Pushkin on the basis of the manors in Viaziomy and Zakharovo, following which, by the decision of Moscow regional execution committee (Mosoblispolkom) dated June 18 of 1987, this museum was organized. According to the census of 1989, in Bolshie Viaziomy there were 1143 households and 5005 permanent residents; in Malye Viaziomy there were 222 households and 475 people. In Yamshina village, which was built on the site of the former coaching settlement, there were 24 households and 59 residents. Next to Malye Viaziomy, on the site of the former village of Borisovka, which existed in the XVIII-XIX centuries, there was a settlement Gorodok-17, which had 1314 households and 3635 residents.

E. A. Fomicheva; A. I. Vinogradov.