Near Stalin's dacha: how to get there?

In the Western administrative district of Moscow, among the islet of the reserved coniferous forest, there is a strictly protected object. In the past, it was the so-called near dacha of Stalin - the place where the father of the peoples not only rested from the noisy and restless Moscow, but also worked, meeting with party companions and taking decisions, which at times depended on the fate of the world.

Plot in Kuntsevo

Many mysteries store in itself this two-story building, hidden from prying eyes. Half a century ago, only those who were due to their official position knew about its existence. The near dacha of Stalin was a place both attractive and eerie. It was here that dizzying careers began, but from here they went to the terrible world of prison grids and guard towers.

After the move of the country's government to Moscow, Stalin, as his country residence, chose the former estate of Zubalov, an oil industrialist (distant dacha), thirty-two kilometers from the capital, but later he decided to move closer. For this purpose, the site in Kuntsevo, where the government sanatorium was located, was the best place in which Stalin was repeatedly visited.

Construction of dacha

It is known that the near dacha of Stalin in Kuntsevo began to be built as far back as 1931 by the design of the architect MI Merzhanov. And without that the hasty work was significantly accelerated after the suicide of his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, as the leader was in a hurry to leave Zubalovo, where too much reminded him of the recent tragedy.

The house was completed in 1933, and everything in it was carried out with strict observance of the instructions given by Stalin during his frequent visits to the construction site, but five years later he suddenly disliked it, and the capricious owner demanded that everything be dismantled and rebuilt. At the beginning of the forties, the construction of an underground bunker-bomb shelter began on the territory of the dacha.

Continuation of construction works

It should be noted that the constant redevelopment and reconstruction of the building continued until the death of its owner. Initially, Stalin's dacha was one-story, but after the war, a second floor was built for the guests. It was in his rooms that the leader of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong, who arrived on a visit in 1949, stopped.

On the territory of the cottage there was also a service house intended for the protection of the leader and his servants. In the same place, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, there was a swimming pool for live fish, since Stalin did not consume canned food, and cabinets, in which the stocks of wine were stored. In the same room was a special place for bottles with homemade wine (the old hobby of the owner of the dacha).

Small house of Stalin's summer residence

Simultaneously with the main house not far from it another one was built - a small one, which also had a study, a bedroom and an entrance hall. She stayed here during her visits to the father of his daughter Svetlana. The owner himself lived here infrequently. It is known, for example, that when in 1941 the surrender of Moscow to the Germans seemed inevitable, Joseph Stalin's neighbor's dacha was mined along with other important state objects. All these troubling months the owner lived in a small house.

Path of the tuple

As a result of the convenient and close location of the capital, the government motorcade usually covered the way for Moscow - the near dacha of Stalin in no more than fifteen minutes. As contemporaries recall, cars that were no more than three or four, moving at a speed of eighty kilometers per hour, followed through the Mozhaiskoe highway to Smolenskaya Square and then to the Old Arbat. So it's in the opposite direction.

But the usual route was often changed at the request of Stalin himself. Suffering from pathological suspiciousness, constantly being afraid of ambushes and assassination attempts, he used to suddenly order the driver to turn to this or that street and continue the way in the most unexpected way.

Interior of the hallway

Since the near dacha of Stalin was intended not only for his residence, but also for work, and therefore for the reception of visitors, its internal layout and furnishings corresponded to this purpose. Each arrived first of all in a spacious, fifty-meter hallway, on the sides of which were hangers, and the master was on the left, and no one from outside was allowed to use it.

The walls of the hallway were lined with wooden panels, and on one of them hung a map of the world, on the other - of Europe. In the center of the hanger, intended for guests, there was a wide mirror, preserved to this day. It is curious that just before him Stalin was shaving two hairdressers daily. Why in the hallway, not in the bathroom or in the office? The answer, probably, lies also in his suspiciousness. Presumably, the leader was afraid to allow outsiders, albeit people who were clearly checked, into the interior of the house.

Stalin's Cabinet

Stalin's usual place of work was a spacious room, more precisely, a hall located to the left of the hallway. In the middle of it was a large-sized desk, specially designed to make it convenient to lay out military maps on it. The interior of the room was supplemented with a wood-burning fireplace and a leather sofa installed here for coziness and warmth, the same as in other rooms.

Furnishing of the canteen

As the famous Russian writer and historian Sergei Devyatov wrote in his book, which appeared in print in 2011, Stalin's dacha was a place for receptions and celebrations. For them, a large dining hall was specially designed, to which guests came directly from the hallway. The first thing that struck the entry was the large portraits of Lenin and Gorky hanging in the piers between the windows.

In the middle of the dining room was a polished table, surrounded by rather simple and discreet chairs. The corner of the room was occupied by a small but very elegant salon grand piano, and after the war, an automatic gramophone machine presented to one of the American delegations was added to it. There were also two sofas.

A characteristic feature of the room was the curtains, reaching to the floor, as is customary, but only to the level of thermal radiators. This was done at the behest of Stalin himself. Obviously, this was dictated not by aesthetic considerations, but by the same suspicion: the short curtains did not allow a possible attacker to hide behind them.

Strictly guarded object

But anyway, it was this room that became fatal for him. It was here that on March 5, 1953, on one of the already mentioned sofas his life was cut short. Immediately after the death of the leader, a decision was made to organize a memorial museum on the territory of the dacha, but subsequent events-NS Khrushchov's expository speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU and a number of publications published in the press-prevented the project from being implemented.

Today, among other objects associated with the history of our country, a great interest is the neighbor's dacha of Stalin. "How do I get there?" - a question that many would like to receive an answer. But here they are disappointed. Despite the fact that it is located in the city, in the well-known Muscovites area of Fili-Davydkovo, near Poklonnaya Hill, the cottage area is still a closed facility, protected by FSO employees. In order to go inside and see firsthand the situation in which many years of Stalin's life have passed, you need to have a special pass.