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Encyclopedia of car-free life in Russian literature

Before the invention of automobiles and widespread rail travel, long (and not so long) distance travel in Russia was most often done in horse-drawn carriages. The encyclopedia of Russian non-motorized transport in literature was compiled by Sofya Bagdasarova.

Vladimir Sollogub wrote in his story “Seryozha”: “Here is a cart rushing - the exuberant youth of Russian roads; here the chaise waddles, like a Saratov landowner after dinner; here a wide carriage proudly stands out, like some rich tax farmer; here is the dormez, here is the carriage, and behind them a fat merchant-stagecoach, having drunk fourteen cups of tea in the post yard.”. In Russia, in fact, there were many types of horse-drawn carriages, which were also made differently in different regions. They also differed in purpose, design and status of the owner.

B - Brichka

This word is of Polish origin and denotes a light four-wheeled road vehicle, sometimes without springs. The body of the chaise could be either open or closed: leather, wicker or wood.

It was in the britzka that the main character of Nikolai Gogol’s “Dead Souls”, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, traveled. His chaise was “quite beautiful, with springs,” and even with amenities: the top of the body was “closed against the rain with leather curtains with two round windows, designated for viewing road views.” It was a quite decent road carriage for such an official as Chichikov, befitting his rank, even if, as they would say today, “not a representative class.”

Perhaps this is why many Russian classics described the britzka as an extremely noisy transport. Leo Tolstoy's chaise bounced, Sholokhov's chaise rattled or rattled, and Alexander Serafimovich wrote that “an intolerably sultry ringing rattle rolled behind it.” David Burliuk, dedicating poems to a certain bird with an unbearable voice, compared it to an old broken chaise.

B - Cart

Sergey Ivanov. Boyar slaves. 1909. Collection of Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya

The term was used for a winter type of transport - a covered wagon on runners. The cart is praised for its warmth, it is comfortable, you can ride lying down - “lounging in the cart under fur blankets” (Amphitheaters). It is “filled with feather beds, pillows, etc.” (Victor Shompulev). The windows could be lined with bear fur to prevent drafts, and the inside could be lined with red cloth or even velvet.

Fyodor Koni had a vaudeville show “The Carriage, or They Meet You by Your Dress, You See You Off by Your Mind” about the importance of transport for prestige.

K - Kibitka

Nikolay Sverchkov. Caught in the storm. timing belt

In Russia, a word borrowed from nomads was used to call a covered wagon. Often the top was on arches and could be folded back - reminiscent of a “grandmother’s cap” (Nikolai Teleshov). A good wagon means “with a spacious top and a double matting canopy” (Ivan Lazhechnikov) or “with a leather top and a tightly buttoned apron” (Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky).

It was in the shaking wagon that Radishchev rode: “Lying in the wagon, my thoughts were turned to the immeasurability of the world. I separated mentally from the earth, it seemed to me that the kibit blows were easier for me.”

Vyazemsky dedicated a whole poem to her, very angry: “And this casemate is movable, / And this torture is movable, / Which is called: wagon.” Pushkin is more cheerful: “Blowing up the fluffy reins, the daring carriage flies.” On the other hand, in his “Road Complaints” he laments: “How long will I walk in the world / Now in a carriage, now on horseback, / Now in a wagon, now in a carriage, / Now in a cart, now on foot?”

K - Stroller

Nikolay Sverchkov. Riding in a stroller (Alexander II with children). Yaroslavl Art Museum

In Russia, “carriages” meant many types of open spring carriages. For example, the types of urban strollers were the landau and the phaeton. In Europe, on the contrary, a specific type of fashionable carriage was called a “stroller”.

The stroller became the heroine of Gogol’s story of the same name: the owner boasts that it is light as a feather, and the springs are as if “a nanny rocked you in a cradle.” In the end, it turns out that the boast is empty. Vyazemsky dedicated a poem of the same name to her: “A light carriage rushes, / And the mind easily carries with it.” A beautiful carriage is a matter of prestige: Dolly Oblonskaya and her coachman are embarrassed by their old, patched carriage during a visit to Vronsky’s village.

Lydia (looking out the window). Wait! What kind of stroller is this? Lace! Did maman really take this for me? What a beauty, what a luxury! Ay! I'll faint. This is not a stroller, this is a dream. You can choke with happiness sitting in this stroller. What's wrong with me?

Alexander Ostrovsky. "Mad Money"

It all ends with technical progress: “An elegant stroller, in an electric beater, / Elastically rustled along the highway sand” (Igor Severyanin).

L - Lando

The carriage, named after the German city, was a four-seater with a lift-up top that turned it into a carriage at will. Zhukovsky in “A Trip to Maneuvers” tells how the roof somehow refused to open: “There, here, the landau is stubborn; / He overruled all the ladies, / Forced them to move / Without ceremony to another, / And he himself went empty.”

A beautiful foreign word denoted a fashionable form of transport, a must for a person from society. The hero of Mamin-Sibiryak needs a landau in order to “show them all that I can drive like the rest of them.”

From Grigorovich we read: “How many expenses, my God, how many expenses! We had to hire new horses and exchange our carriage for a landau; people of a certain position are embarrassed to show themselves to music in the evenings; that’s how it is in Peterhof” (“City and Village”).

S - Sani

Ivan Pelevin. Children in a sleigh. 1870. Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk region

Another means of transportation that has been written into poetry for a long time. “And having split the shafts, the sleigh is waiting / When they will be harnessed” (Zhukovsky); “Towards the city of Ryazan / Three sleighs are rolling, / The sleighs are collapsing / The arcs are painted” (Mei), etc. Unlike the sleighs, not only peasants can be seen in the sleighs. The nobles own their own sleighs and ride in them, lying down comfortably and wrapped in warm blankets and blankets.

HORSE CARRIAGES – carts that are usually harnessed to horses. There are passenger cars and trucks; wheeled (harnessed by horses, oxen, mules, camels, etc.) and sleigh (harnessed by horses, deer, dogs); single-axle (two-wheel) and two-axle (four-wheel); springless, half-spring and spring; shaft and drawbar. In Central Asia and the countries of the Middle East, two-wheeled carts with a wheel diameter of up to 2 m are used to transport goods across fields crossed by ditches (ditches). The most modern are improved springless cargo carts on wheels with ball bearings and pneumatic tires. In the USSR, such trucks were produced in three types: dump trucks - single-axle with a load capacity of 0.75 tons, two-axle - 1.5 tons, non-self-unloading - with a capacity of 2 tons. These vehicles are equipped with capacious bodies, are silent, are distinguished by high cross-country ability on dirt roads and off-road, and provide during transportation, better safety of goods (milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, etc.). TSB

A
auto pumping - shelves on pneumatic tires
American - old name for rocking chair (see rocking chair)
androns - a cart with poles for transporting hay
arba - 2 (4) wheeled carriage, without springs, large diameter wheels

B
buggy - sports carriage
Berlina - a type of carriage
bestarka - a cart for transporting bulk cargo without containers
biga - 2-wheeled war chariot in Ancient Rome
bidarka (bedarka) - 4-wheeled springless carriage
bolochok - a sleigh with a covered top
brek - 4-wheel spring for hunting
britzka - 2-wheeled light road vehicle; 4 wheel cargo cart

IN
tops see droshky
cart - covered sleigh

gig - light gig
guitar (caliber) - in pre-revolutionary Moscow: long droshky

gig - 2-wheel spring carriage for 2 people
derbist - rocking chair with spring
stagecoach - 4-wheeled carriage for transporting passengers and mail
Great Dane - 2-wheeled, open
dogkart - 4-wheeled carriage for transporting hunting dogs
dolgusha (dolgushka) - 4-wheeled carriage on long roads
dormez - a carriage for sleeping on the road
drovni - wooden sleigh
drogi - a long cart without a body
droshky (tops) - 4-wheeled springless carriage

imperial - second floor in omnibuses

convertible - 2-wheeled carriage without sawhorse
Kalesha - a type of carriage
carriage - closed comfortable carriage
hearse - funeral carriage
rocking chair - 2-wheeled lightweight sports cart
quadriga - 2-wheeled war chariot in Ancient Rome
cab (cab) - 2-wheeled covered carriage
kibitka - 4-wheeled cart with a top on a frame made of twigs
chariot - 2-wheeled combat and sports cart
kolymaga - 4-wheeled open carriage
stroller - 4-wheel comfortable carriage
horse-drawn railway carriage
coupe - 4-wheel closed spring

landau - 4-wheeled carriage with a convertible top
landaulet - lightweight landaulet
line - 4-wheeled multi-seat carriage
lyre - record-breaking rocking chair

majara - big cart
malpost - mail coach

sledges are light, long sleighs (in fact, they can harness both dogs and deer)

monocar - 2-wheeled light carriage
odr (oder) - an ancient name for carts
Olonets cradle - horse-drawn stretcher without wheels
omnibus - 4-wheeled route carriage

cart - 4-wheeled vehicle
supply - freight cart
shelves - a cargo cart with a platform-shaped body
horse sedan chair - horse stretcher, without wheels
poshevni - wide peasant sleigh
cab - 4-wheeled open 2-seater carriage

sledges - low wide sleighs
dissolution - 2-wheel trailer for long loads
rydvan - a carriage for long trips

sled - small sled
sleigh - a carriage on runners
hundredclet - old American model
sulka (sulki) - old name for rocking chair

Tavrichanka - a cart made of a drawbar and a wooden body
tarantas - 4-wheeled road carriage
taratayka - gig with a convertible top
cart - 4-wheeled cart without a body
cart - 4-wheeled springless cart
tilburi (tyulguri) - 2-wheeled open carriage without a place for a coachman
toboggan - useless sled

phaeton - 4-wheel spring carriage with a convertible top
fiacre - 4-wheeled hackney carriage
forshpan - a cart for large loads
wagon - 4-wheeled large cart
wagon - a covered wagon with a round top

move(s) - base of the cart

charabanc - 4-wheeled open carriage with transverse seats; 2-wheeled carriage on high wheels

crew - the general name for spring passenger carriages

There are terms that have not been translated into Russian:
chariot - Italian light springless carriages of the Renaissance
brumm - Hired horse-drawn carriage (synonym or Italian version of cab?)
karrozzin - Malta. A 2- or 2-seater carriage driven by one elegantly decorated horse.
You can add an associative series: chaise - Chichikov, cab (or cab) - Sherlock Holmes

If you want to see the pictures

The carriage is the transport of monarchs. At the mere mention of her, you imagine beautiful ladies in magnificent dresses, gallant gentlemen in wigs, gala balls, helpful pages and nimble cab drivers.

In fact, the carriage was primarily a means of transportation, allowing one to travel long distances with things. Carriages were especially relevant for women who, due to fluffy and long skirts, could not ride horses. Not only monarchs, but also landowners, nobles, and wealthy merchants had their own carriages. And anyone could use the services of a cab driver - a carriage (cart, phaeton, gig, etc.) served as a modern taxi.

Carriages were used regardless of the time of year. And if in the summer the roof hid the passengers from the hot sun, and they got to their destination with the breeze in the most literal sense of the word, then in the winter it was more difficult - it was incredibly cold in the carriages.

How did the passengers not freeze?

• We drove with regular stops. They stopped at taverns and inns to eat, rest and warm up.
• We wrapped ourselves up as much as possible. It was easier for the royals and courtiers - they could wrap themselves in furs that practically kept the cold out.
• They insulated the carriage from the inside out. Rich carriages were lined with fur, while simpler carriages were insulated with wool lining.
• They placed cast iron chests filled with hot coals in the salon. Moreover, they were often hidden under the long skirts of ladies and additionally wrapped on top with a fur blanket or cape so that they retained heat longer.
• They took copper flasks with hot water or heated stone slabs into the salon.
• They took a brazier inside to warm their frozen hands and feet.

To improve safety and increase cross-country ability in winter, in Russia and many northern European countries they used sleigh carriages. Moreover, in Tsarist Russia, until the end of the 17th century, winter sleigh rides were also considered prestigious, since not everyone could afford such a trip. Some carriages were originally created as “transformers” - with the ability to quickly replace wheels with runners.

In large cities, where the roads were well cleaned, one could also find wheeled carriages in winter, but in the outback, due to the snow, it was impossible to travel on a wheeled carriage. If snowfall occurred on the road, its passengers could be stuck at the inn for several days/weeks.

Despite the extreme antiquity of the simple wheeled cart, the origins of which are lost in prehistoric times, the custom of riding in carriages was established in Europe relatively recently. Forgotten since the time of the ancient Romans, who knew several types of carriage, this custom was revived only in the second half of the 16th century.

In the Middle Ages, riding on wheels seemed reprehensible and acceptable only for old men and women, and the sick who could not ride. After walking, horseback riding was the most important method of transportation.

In the paintings and frescoes of Italian artists of the 15th century, who paid a lot of attention to modernity and willingly introduced features of the surrounding everyday life into the images of mythological, historical and religious scenes, we often see ships, boats, horsemen and horsewomen and do not see carriages or even simple carts at all. They are not present in the paintings of 16th-century masters either, because riding on wheels did not exist as an everyday phenomenon.

In the first half of the 16th century, there were only three carriages in all of Paris, and the carts were intended exclusively for transporting luggage, and even then they preferred to be carried on pack animals.

Only towards the end of the 16th century did wheeled riding begin to compete with horseback riding, and only in the 17th century did it come into general use, and even then mainly among the wealthy classes. Rich people and aristocrats begin to compete with each other with the luxury of their trips and all sorts of new products.

It is curious that the first carriage with glass appeared in Paris only in 1599. It made an indescribable impression on the Parisians of that time and seemed like something fabulous in its intricacy.

It is difficult to say since when people began to ride on wheels in ancient Rus', but in any case, wheeled carts for luggage have existed since time immemorial. What were these carts like?

If we cannot speak with confidence about the shape of the carts of the time of the appanage princes, then we have every reason to assert that from the 17th and, probably, the 16th centuries, the appearance of the cart has not changed to this day, and Surikov was right when he in his historical He copied the paintings directly from life of modern carts and firewood. This is evidenced both by descriptions and drawings of foreigners who visited ancient Rus', and by those happily surviving samples that are stored in our museums.

Peasant firewood, late 19th century

Very indicative in this regard is the cart that was once in the museum of the Stroganov School, transferred from there to the Russian Historical Museum. The body of this 17th century cart differs from the current peasant cart only in the presence of carvings, which have long since fallen out of use in all peasant life.

Thus, an expert on ancient Russian life, such as the author of “Streltsov” and “The Conquest of Siberia”, V.I. Surikov, spoke with particular enthusiasm about the logic, extraordinary constructiveness and beauty of the Russian cart and Russian logs. He could talk for hours on this favorite topic.

“When I saw the cart,” said Surikov, “I was ready to bow at the feet of each wheel. And there is such beauty in the logs: in the hooves, in the elms, in the sledge chutes, in the bends of the runners: how they sway and shine, as if forged! I used to, as a boy, turn the sled over and look at how shiny the runners were and what twists they had. After all, Russian woods need to be sung.”

It goes without saying that both carts and sleighs were primarily intended for transporting luggage. The crews existed only for ceremonial trips of kings, queens and patriarchs.

As in Western Europe, long journeys were made mostly along rivers. Rivers were the main arteries of political and economic life: all the main cities, hotbeds of culture and art, were located along the rivers. Olga’s famous campaign to Constantinople took place from Kyiv along the Dnieper to the sea; the whole significance of Novgorod and Pskov lay in the rivers and lakes that washed these cities. Long-distance travel on wheels is a property of relatively recent times, hardly older than the 18th century, but ordinary trips were made on horseback.

Like their Western counterparts, Russian artists only began to pay attention to the wheeled vehicle only from the end of the 16th century - and even then extremely rarely and sparingly. Some of the earliest images of a wheeled cart are those that we see on some of the stamps surrounding the “Trinity” icon of the Moscow Letters, located in the Tretyakov Gallery and dating back to the end of the 16th century.

We find further development of the wheeled carriage in Yaroslavl and Kostroma frescoes of the late 16th century. A very funny carriage - a kind of chaise with a canopy - appears on the fresco of 1681 in the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl, depicting one of the episodes from the life of the Prophet Elisha.

Part of a 1681 fresco depicting a wheeled carriage

The shape of this chaise is clearly borrowed from foreign engravings contemporary to the artist, and its Russian appearance is somewhat doubtful. We see a kind of cart, very reminiscent of the current peasant cart, on the fresco of the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery, depicting the “Conversion of Saul” (1685) and another, with a body in the shape of a figured box - on the fresco of the Transfiguration Church beyond the Volga, in Kostroma ( 1700)

The royal power had to act on the imagination of the people, and the kings therefore began early to organize magnificent appearances in cathedrals and trips to pilgrimages. For ceremonial trips, Boris Godunov already had an unusually rich and intricate carriage.

The Armory houses a beautiful, finely carved carriage, which has long been known as “English”. In the inventory of the Chamber of 1706 it is stated about it: “brought from the English land in 1625 and remade in Moscow in 1678.”

English carriage

It can be assumed that this is the same carriage that was sent as a gift to Boris Godunov by the English Queen Elizabeth in 1603. Its body is decorated with various reliefs depicting the battles of Christians with Mohammedans.

In the same Armory there is another early Russian carriage dating back to the beginning of the 17th century, the so-called “velvet” or “patriarchal” one.

“Velvet” or “Patriarchal” carriage of the early 17th century (Armory Chamber)

In the inventory of the Chamber of 1706, compiled by Tatyin Buturlin, it is listed as having entered the treasury after the boyar Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, therefore, it should have belonged to his son, Patriarch Filaret Nikitich. In 1658, it was remodeled to welcome the Georgian king Teimuraz, who came to Moscow.

Both of these carriages are suspended on belts, which at that time replaced springs, which appeared much later, only at the beginning of the 18th century. Springs were originally standing, but recumbent ones were invented only at the beginning of the 19th century.

Of the other carriages that have survived to us from the 17th century, we should note the carriage of Patriarch Nikon in the museum of the former New Jerusalem Monastery.

Among the carriages of Peter the Great's time, the carriage of Peter I, stored in Voronezh, and the carriage of Dmitry of Rostov, located in Rostov-Velik, stand out.

The children's carriage of Peter I in the Armory Chamber is very curious, giving an idea of ​​the primitiveness with which wheel travel was designed at that time.

Children's carriage of Peter I (Armory Chamber)

Brilliant examples of court carriages from the 18th century are in the collection of the former Stable Museum, now in the Neskuchny Garden in Moscow, as well as in the collection of the Armory Chamber.

In this latest collection, we note the carriage of Anna Ivanovna, interesting in shape, made by masters of the St. Petersburg Stable Yard in 1739.

How much more magnificent Elizabeth’s time was can be seen from the carriage presented to her by Hetman Kirill Razumovsky in 1754.

The carriage of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna

In the collection of the Furniture Museum in Neskuchny Garden, the carriage sent to Elizabeth by Frederick the Great in 1746 especially stands out for its excellent workmanship.

Of the historical sleighs, the most interesting - not so much for its artistic work as for its purely everyday side - is the “winter line” of Elizabeth Petrovna, in which this cheerful queen made her famous journey to Moscow for her coronation in 1742. The line was harnessed by 23 horses - one pair and in seven threes - single file.

Winter line of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna

The nobility followed the kings, the less noble followed the more noble. People who were richer and more knowledgeable rode, just like kings, if not on 23 horses, then at least on 9, as we see in Atkinson’s characteristic drawing dating back to the end of the 18th century.

Riding in a carriage in a pit style, with hussars standing on the runners. Rice. Atkinson, late 18th century.

By the end of the 18th century, St. Petersburg and Moscow already had their own carriage makers, first simple saddlers who assembled carriages from prefabricated parts, and later real specialists. Of the crews of the highest and middle nobility, only a few examples have survived to us. A very interesting carriage and ruler of the late 18th - early 19th centuries are now in the museum of the former Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where they were taken from the Orlov-Denisov estate - “Shemetovo”, Sergievsky district.

Carriage of the late 18th century, the work of Russian masters

Crew "ruler", late 18th century

At the end of the 18th century, the first public carriages appeared in Western Europe, bearing a wide variety of names:

• stagecoaches,
• malposts,
• postal carriages,
• chaises, etc.

At the beginning of the 19th century they appeared in Russia. By this time we already had cab drivers who drove “guitars” and droshky (both of them had standing springs). The “guitars” lasted until the 1860s, and the droshky, with minor changes, has survived to this day.

Cabby carriage "Gitar", early 19th century. Rice. Geisler

Our review of the development of wheeled transportation would be incomplete if we did not note the gigantic change that was made by the invention of the steam engine and the application of steam and rails to the movement.

The idea of ​​steam propulsion was born in France and the first steam locomotive was designed by the French engineer Cugnot in 1769. It was a wooden three-wheeled carriage equipped with a steam boiler and “propelled by the action of water vapor generated by fire.”

In 1804, English engineers Trevithick and Vivian built an iron four-wheeled carriage with a steam boiler and a steam cylinder, much closer to a modern steam locomotive. The idea of ​​steam propulsion had already matured to such an extent that in 1829 a special competition was announced in England to build the best steam locomotive. Of the five presented machines, only three were tested, of which the first prize was awarded to the famous Stephenson locomotive.

Looking at this machine, you are involuntarily amazed at its proximity to modern us: the whole meaning of the powerful steam locomotives of our days is already evident here, even its very form and its connection with the tender have essentially remained almost unchanged.

The Stephenson type was soon adopted throughout Europe and penetrated into America.

Russia was a little late compared to the West. In 1833, the son of a mechanic at the Nizhny Tagil Mining Plants, Efim Cherepanov, having visited England and met Stephenson’s steam locomotive there, together with his father he built a machine, which they called a “land steamer”. Having laid the rails, which they called “cast iron wheel lines,” they achieved speeds of up to 15 versts per hour.

Steam locomotive built by E. Cherepanov

The idea of ​​rails was born in England, where it grew out of wooden tracks - beams that had been used since the 17th century in English mines.

In the 18th century, these bars, on which wheeled carts rolled, began to be made of cast iron, from where there was only one step left to the iron rails.

The first railway built in Russia was Tsarskoye Selo, opened in 1838; the second road, Warsaw-Vienna, was completed in 1848, and Nikolaevskaya, now Oktyabrskaya, opened in 1851.

Without dwelling on the evolution of the bicycle and the automobile, which took place almost before our eyes, let us say a few words about the use of the steam engine in ships. Such an engine was first used on water by the American Fulton in 1807.

The Fulton steamship was already a clearly defined type of two-wheeled steamship, which has survived in river navigation to this day.

Replacing wheels with a screw was first introduced in the 1830s.

Russian troika in winter

Coachman

Emperor Nicholas I

Sleigh drawn by three

Cabbage, late 19th century

Reckless

Coachman. Vintage color photograph

In ancient times, the first methods of riding and transporting horses other than riding horses were drags made of two long poles or the tops of young trees, tied on both sides to a collar or saddle interception and connected to each other by flexible belts or rigid wooden ties. It is known that in Rus', even after the invention of the wheel, for a long time the most preferred method of riding was in a sleigh. The sled sledges that have survived to this day still resemble such drags, only they now have separate independent runners, a front crossbar - a “bed”, and pillars that connect the runners with the upper legs that limit the working space of the sleigh. In ancient Russian chronicles, as well as in travel notes of foreigners traveling around Rus', it is noted that among the high hierarchs of the church, riding in a sleigh or sleigh cart, even in the summer, as well as during funeral and wedding ceremonies, was considered more status than riding on wheels. And when driving on damp and swampy off-road roads or small forests, this method of transportation offered considerable advantages compared to driving on wheeled carriages. The first carts for transporting people were a box on two long runners, curved at the front and sometimes at the back, without windows, doors, or a separate place for the coachman - podluchka. Passengers climbed into them through the front or side opening, which was covered with a canopy. When driving in winter, the obligatory means of insulation were cloth, and more often fur cavities covering the legs, and sometimes the entire body up to the eyes. However, Peter the Great's road sleigh already had some "conveniences" in the form of a driver's cover, a travel chest that was attached to the back, and mica windows with bindings.

You can easily imagine the convenience and maneuverability of such a sled. If in the wide steppe their turning radius was not limited by anything, then on a city street or on a crooked forest path turning them was difficult and required a lot of effort, time, and ability to handle horses.

The first horse-drawn carriages, especially those intended for long journeys, such as rattles, rydvans or dormezes (suitable for sleeping on the road), due to the length and multi-horse harness (in pairs with four or six), were extremely clumsy, and on narrow, crooked urban On the streets, in order to turn, they had to carry their rear end on their hands in the direction opposite to the direction of the turn. That is why the hefty guides on the backs were especially valued, which were often needed not so much for protection, but as draft force when pulling out a carriage stuck on the way. If necessary, they took hold of the wooden spokes of huge wheels and turned them to pull the crew out of potholes or mud.

The need to fit into complex turns led to the creation of a device for turning along a smaller radius, for which in Europe small separate front runners, a quarter of the length of the main ones, were used on sleds, which could be rotated around the front axle or a separate circle, regardless of the main ones. Later, such a device was transferred to carriages, which, to facilitate turning, began to use front wheels of a smaller diameter than the rear ones, and which could turn independently of the carriage itself on a device somewhat similar to the front axle of a modern car.

Shock absorption devices deserve special mention. When driving on dirt roads, and then on end roads (when pieces of wood cut across the trunk were dug into the roadbed close to each other and at approximately the same level) or cobblestone pavements, the shaking was incredible. To reduce it, at first they came up with the idea of ​​attaching the carriage body not directly to the wheels or runners, but hanging it either on strong belts, which absorbed and damped unwanted vibrations of the body, or on chains. It is clear that such belts either got wet or dried out when driving, and without lubrication they quickly lost their elastic properties and burst. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a set of such belts to replace broken ones. Then forge-made shock absorbers were invented, which were spirals or springs that worked thanks to the elastic properties of the metal, which were often combined with belt suspensions. Much later, spring shock absorbers appeared, consisting of a set of spring sheets and similar in design to modern automobile ones. Technical innovations also include braking devices, necessary for fast “accelerating” driving, when the health and life of passengers depended on the crew’s quick stop. The same brake linings (“shoes”) on wheels that are still used to this day were used as such devices, only they moved from the outer rim of the wheel, first to the inner surface of the wheel disk, and then to special brake discs rigidly connected to the axle wheels.

There was a huge difference both between the special coronation carriages and those used in everyday palace use, as well as between the carriages of noble riders and those means of transportation used by other ordinary people. The difference was not only in the methods of decoration and finishing, but also in what technical innovations and how quickly they began to be used. As a rule, soon after the invention or improvement of a particular carriage, they were used in horse-drawn carriages to transport members of the court, and somewhat later - in the carts of other high-ranking riders.

Already from the very first carts, a division of their carpentry structure was born into “akhtyrka” or made from boards in the form of a box and “flesh”, that is, built using a frame structure with inserted panels. As the strength requirements of these vehicles increased, increasingly sophisticated connections were used, often using metal through-bolts. Metal for making axles for carriages, carts and carts replaced oak axles that quickly wore out from friction.

Wheelwrights constituted a very special caste and were considered almost aristocrats among the masters of carriage making.

There is indirect information that during the trip of Empress Catherine II to the lands of Taurida, newly acquired by Russia, in 1787, her train, which consisted of more than a hundred crews and a huge herd of 600 replacement horses, also included a traveling blacksmith’s workshop with anvils, a supply of tools, coal and iron, pre-forged into strips and rods, as well as a master carpenter.

It was possible to build a strong and reliable wheel only with a skillful combination of knowledge and skill in several types of work: turning - for making a hub and turning the wooden base of the wheel, carpentry - for creating spokes and a rim, complex and balanced assembly of rims together, when inserting segments was required one into the other using a straight tenon or dovetail, connecting the spokes and rim parts with a bushing, covering the hub on each side with small steel rims; blacksmith - when "tiring" - covering the rim with an iron tire. Depending on the size of the wheel, its rim was assembled from six, eight or twelve identical segments. The construction of wheels for gun carriages had to be taken just as seriously. For lightweight strollers, all-iron blacksmith wheels were sometimes used, and only towards the end of the 19th century. Carriages appeared on the streets and roads on “dutiks” - wheels with rubber pneumatic tires.

How were the very first lathes used by domestic wheelwrights constructed? A horizontal flexible and durable pole was attached at one end to the ceiling of the workshop. A long cord was tied to its free end, which was wrapped in two or three turns around a bushing installed in the centers on the frame, and a blank for the hub was stuffed onto it. A special footrest with a pedal was attached to hinges under the master turner’s foot. When you press it, the cord pulled the hub, forcing it to make two or three idle revolutions, while the pole bent and became like a stretched bow. When the pedal was released, the flexible pole tried to straighten and pulled the cord, forcing the hub to make the same two or three revolutions, but in the opposite, working direction, during which the master carried out turning, leaning the long chisel on a tool rest on the bed. To completely turn the hub, approximately twenty to thirty such working cycles were sufficient. (see picture below).

When a wheel with a wooden bushing rotated along an iron axis, friction and mutual wear of these two parts were of particular importance, so it was necessary to liberally use lubricant, which used various materials, from tar to animal fat. When harnessed by a pair, four or six, both in Russia and in Europe, a drawbar was used - a long beam, often upholstered in leather or metal, with a number of rings and hooks driven into it, which was hinged to the front of the carriage, which allowed it to turn relative to the carriage. Horse clamps were attached to the timber with flexible ligaments. However, the length of the timber, already up to 9-10 m long when harnessed by six horses, limited the maneuverability of such a carriage, and a harness with a large number of horses required soft or flexible harness with the help of a mass of light clamps, lines, reins and belts.

Managing a multi-horse team, numbering up to twelve horses or up to six pairs in a train (the head of the rear one to the tail of the front horse), is an extremely difficult matter. You can imagine in the hands of one coachman twelve pairs of reins, which must be controlled differently, conveying different orders to each of the horses in the team, and which must not be confused with each other, so as not to interfere with the progress of the team, falling under the horses’ feet. For these purposes, they began to attach special rings on high stems to the horses’ croups, through which the reins leading to the front horses were passed, which prevented them from getting tangled. In addition, a rider or postilion began to be placed on one of the front horses, who directly controlled the direction and speed of travel. Usually, in order not to overload the horses, a boy or a man of small stature and weight acted as a postilion. The profession was unusually dangerous, because during long trips, a postilion, with a monotonous and long ride, could fall asleep from fatigue and fall under the horses' hooves. During the coronation celebrations, the ride, in accordance with the ceremonial, was quite slow, therefore, instead of the coachman, there were walkers on the sides of the train, who were supposed to ensure the proper solemnity, blow the horn, and the coachmen walked next to the front horses, leading them on the reins. Events of the turbulent 20th century. greatly changed the appearance of both Europe and Russia, but if we look at the pre-revolutionary history of the Russian imperial house of the Romanovs, the British Windsors close to them by blood, as well as the current royal courts of Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and the Holy See (Vatican), one can see approximately the same type of traditions, similar ways of maintaining the prestige of the supreme power, asserting its “divine origin.”

Subjects observe and preserve the mode of government characteristic only of these countries, while the members of the royal families themselves and their entourage retain various external signs of their power, along with the complex symbols and attributes that accompany them. Among the attributes of demonstrating power, wealth and influence are ceremonial “rides” - carriages for ceremonies associated with the need to move their high owners.

Of course, even the most traditional royal courts today often use modern luxury cars, but in a number of ceremonies, preference is still given to luxurious equestrian rides, which gives them a very special status, thereby emphasizing their venerable age, immutability, stability and continuity of traditions that are interpreted as features related to the stability of the monarchy itself. The bulk of the court horse-drawn carriages of Russia, which lost the monarchical method of government almost 100 years ago, are preserved in two collections: the Moscow Armory Chamber (17 units) and the St. Petersburg Hermitage (about 40 units), where they are distributed mainly by historical periods. Partly these are carriages imported from abroad, but it is known that already from the 17th century. on the site of the modern Armory Chamber there were workshops of the Stables Prikaz with their own workshops, which a century earlier included three chambers - “saddle, sleigh and carriage”, and in the Meshchanskaya Sloboda carriage makers from the then western provinces of Rus' settled: Orsha, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Polotsk and Smolensk. Since the 1640s Along with foreign models, Russian-made carriages are increasingly appearing in palace use, although at first they retain traces of the influence of Western traditions.

The oldest example of a palace exit from the Moscow collection is a rattler of English work, presented in 1604 by King James I to Tsar Boris Godunov. This rattletrap is distinguished by the absence of windows and doors, replaced by openings with velvet curtains, as well as springs, a trestle, heels and a turning device. The body is attached to belts that act as shock absorbers. The front and rear sides of the body are decorated with multi-figure battle scenes made using the technique of painted and gilded carved oak relief, while its sides are painted with picturesque landscapes and hunting scenes. The front of the carriage bears profusely carved gilt sculpture in the form of allegorical figures, as well as finely hammered gilded iron parts. Obviously, this vehicle served as a prototype for the creation of some Russian crews.

In confirmation of the fact that their own Moscow masters already in the 17th century. they worked no worse than those overseas, and a large four-seater rattler, made in the workshops of the Kremlin’s Stable Order in the 1640s, is also on display. and belonged to the boyar Nikita Romanov. It also lacks the same details as Boris Godunov’s rattletrap, but already has mica windows and low doors with glass. The decoration of the mica windows is made in the form of stars and double-headed eagles, and the doors and body are decorated in the form of a pattern of squares of gilded copper nails with wide heads. The front and rear walls of the body are decorated with overlays with floral patterns made of milled gilded iron. Another decoration of the collection of the Armory Chamber, where it came from St. Petersburg, can be called a two-seater, completely gilded carriage of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna made in Vienna. The carriage has three plate glass windows (two on the sides and one in the front), framed with large relief carvings, like its entire body, as well as the spokes and wheel hubs. The top of the turntable under the radiator and the space above the rear wheels are richly decorated with carved shells, scrolls and a round sculpture of full profile, and on the doors there are Baroque bas-relief images of shields and military armor. Decorative carved vases and a copper crown with floral patterns will be placed on the roof of the carriage. The first Court and Stable Museum in Russia was founded in St. Petersburg by Alexander II in 1860. Its basis was a collection of working carriages and carriages that served the imperial family. Among other exhibits, several sedan chairs have been preserved - means of transportation that are not very typical for Russia, but were necessary on special occasions. Thus, it was needed for the wife of Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who was in poor health. The sedan chair is a small cabin the size of a telephone booth with a seat inside, which was carried by fast porters on special poles inserted into the bottom. By the time of its foundation, the museum consisted of 24 different carriages, and in its best times its collection consisted of up to 40 carriages and carriages. For the coronation of Alexander II, 10 identical carriages were specially ordered for members of the imperial family and courtiers of the highest rank.

Since the foundation of the museum, its collection has kept a small lightweight stroller, specially built for the children of Alexander II. It is a small carriage of modest dark color, devoid of any frills or decorations, designed for two or four passengers of no more than 10 years of age. The most amazing feature of this carriage is the excellent blacksmith work performed by the hand of an outstanding craftsman. It is unknown which children of the emperor used this stroller, since only in the marriage of Alexander II with Maria Fedorovna eight children were born (the eldest Alexandra died at the age of 8), and from his relationship with Princess Dolgorukova, Alexander II had four more children. It is possible that they all used this stroller at a certain age.

Among the many carriages there is a gift to Catherine II from P. I. Betsky (the illegitimate son of Field Marshal Prince I. Yu. Trubetskoy) - a light covered pleasure carriage “vis-a-vis”, in which two passengers sat not next to each other, side by side -side, and facing one another. The most famous example of the entire collection is the large coronation carriage, first used during the coronation of Empress Catherine I and specially ordered for this purpose by Peter the Great in Paris at the manufactory of tapestries and trellises (woven lint-free carpets with complex thematic patterns). Thanks to its good preservation and proper care, it was used as the main one at the coronation of both Paul I and Catherine II, as well as at the coronation celebrations of all subsequent Russian emperors up to the last - Nicholas II.

The carriage stands out among others for its rich carved decorations made of gilded wood, trimmed with “dug” (patterned) velvet, fringe and tassels with woven “golden” threads, the presence of a high carriage for two coachmen and space for two grooms at the back, as well as the most complex design of the most modern according to that time, the devices were a rotary mechanism and a screw brake device. The decoration of the carriage has decorations in the form of wooden carved gilded sculptures with allegorical figures.

It must be said that a sculpture of this kind was quite vulnerable, since when driving on an uneven surface it was subjected to multidirectional mechanical influences, changes in humidity and temperature, so they preferred to mount such a sculpture on a relatively high place, distant from the road surface, and attach it to the most stable base possible.

According to the director of the Hermitage M.B. Piotrovsky, this particular carriage during the Second World War suffered from a direct hit by an artillery shell on the storage building. Before perestroika there was no money for its restoration, and only around 1990 in the city of Memphis, USA, a group of enterprising people raised the necessary funds for this. The condition for financing the restoration work was the display of this carriage after restoration in a given city; then it was repeatedly exported to other cities in America and Europe.

This and other carriages from the Hermitage collection were repeatedly exhibited abroad, visiting those countries that had their own rich collections of court carriages. These include the most famous and most complete collection in Lisbon (Portugal). Even being the most ardent patriot, it is impossible not to recognize the primacy of this imperial collection both in the selection of samples, of which, according to the testimonies of visitors, there are several hundred, and in the beauty, luxury and richness of their decoration.

All ancient crews that were called upon to serve crowned heads were distinguished by an extremely high level of technical design and execution, using the most advanced designs and technologies of that time. Masters of various professions took part in their creation, among which the first and most important were two - blacksmiths and carpenters, as well as wheelwrights, architects, sculptors, foundries, woodcarvers, specialists in typesetting wood - marquetry, painters, saddlers, upholsterers who worked with leather and fabrics, and often jewelers. Thus, the coronation carriage of the Swedish king Charles XII (who was beaten by Peter the Great near Poltava, and St. Petersburg was founded on the lands that previously belonged to him), made by the French master Jean Beren (1696-1699) and decorated with Boulle marquetry, was a true masterpiece. The whole of it, including the floor panels, was decorated with a set of brass and a tortoise shell, which presented considerable difficulties during its operation, and then during restoration.

Another interesting story is connected with one of the famous carriages, created in 1793, which belonged to Catherine II and took part in the coronation of Nicholas II. In 1897, our last emperor ordered the court jeweler Carl Faberge to make an Easter egg with a miniature copy of this carriage inside in honor of the anniversary of the coronation as a gift to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Fortunately, it has survived and survived to this day; it was acquired relatively recently by V. F. Vekselberg. At some foreign exhibitions, this egg was displayed together with the original - the full-size carriage itself. Perhaps the saddest story is connected with a carriage from the Hermitage collection, which never became the object of restoration, damaged during the assassination attempt on Tsar-Liberator Alexander II on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg on March 1 (13), 1881. When the terrorist Rysakov threw a bomb under the emperor's carriage, the armored bottom saved the royal rider, but when he got out of the carriage to inquire whether one of the members of his guard was seriously injured, the second terrorist, G'rinevitsky, threw another bomb. And the prediction of one fortune teller, said long before these events, came true that this emperor would “die in red boots.” The explosion of the second bomb tore off both of Alexander's legs, and he soon died from loss of blood.

In order not to end on such a sad note, let us remember that the great creations of masters do not disappear without a trace, but remain for centuries, setting an example of high service to eternal art.