Александр Петрович Трубецкой

Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy
One of the brightest representatives of the intelligentsia of the district town of Varnavina was Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy, whose name has been preserved in the people's memory to this day. Landowner, timber merchant, representative of Varnavinskaya Uyezd Zemsky Council, philanthropist. His name is associated with the construction of a female gymnasium in the city of Varnavin, the creation of the Varnavin People's Library, the opening of a school in the village. Ilyinskoe, Bakovskaya volost, construction of a dam in the village of Baki and many other important matters. The life story of Alexander Petrovich has become a local legend, his love for a simple peasant girl Vasilisa Shikhmatova surprises and leaves no one indifferent. No less surprising is the very fact that a representative of the most ancient noble family of the Troubetzkoy princes lived in the city of Varnavin, far from the capital. For a long time it was not known to which of the branches of a known family Prince Troubetzkoy belonged, who were his parents, relatives, where his family estate was located.

The history of the Russian Empire shows that the Troubetzkoy princes served the Russian throne in the most noble ranks, had huge estates and estates. For military and civil service, they were awarded orders and other signs of honor.

Like many noble Russian princes, the Troubetzkoys had their own coat of arms, which was a shield divided into four parts. In the first part - in a golden field, two vultures holding a Russian-princely cap with their front paws; in the second - the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Poland: a one-headed eagle with outstretched wings; in the third part - the coat of arms of the Lithuanian principality, which depicts a rider in a red field, galloping on a white horse with a raised sword. The fourth part shows the head of a bull. The shield is covered with a princely mantle and a Russian princely hat.

Coat of arms of the family of princes Troubetzkoy

Troubetzkoy belonged to one of the most ancient families. They led their pedigree from Giedymin, whose grandson, Dmitry Olgerdovich, became the founder of this family. Dmitry Olgerdovich himself took part in the Battle of Kulikovo. His descendants called themselves the Trubecki, or Troubetzkoy, and until the 16th century they were subjects of the Lithuanian princes. The clan of the Troubetzkoy princes, from which all the Troubetzkoys, which exist today, originated, continued from Prince Pyotr Yuryevich, the chamberlain of the Polish court.

In the 16th century, the Troubetzkoys went into the service of the Moscow prince and since that time have become closely associated with the history of Russia, giving it many famous figures - military men, diplomats, statesmen, scientists.

The family of the Troubetzkoy princes is represented by several independent branches.

But back to the prince Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy of interest to us. Studying his pedigree, we learned the name of his great-great-grandfather Sergei Nikitich Troubetzkoy and (his wife Anna Ivanovna Ladyzhenskaya).

One of the most famous representatives of the Troubetzkoy family was Prince Sergei Petrovich Troubetzkoy, a famous Decembrist, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812.

A brave warrior, a courageous commander, a worthy successor to the military glory of the Troubetzkoy family, Sergei Petrovich proved himself to be excellent on the battlefields of the Patriotic War and was awarded a number of orders.

Sergei Petrovich's brother, Nikita Petrovich, was the grandfather of Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy. He held a high civil and court rank - the title of actual state councilor, master of ceremonies.

Nikita Petrovich Troubetzkoy
(06.08.1804 - 30.01.1855)
actual state councilor, master of ceremonies
The parents of Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy - Pyotr Nikitich and Elizaveta Esperovna were also famous people at the court.

Prince Pyotr Nikitich Troubetzkoy (1826 (1827) - 1880)
actual state councilor,
with his wife Elizaveta Esperovna and a child.

Elizaveta Esperovna Troubetzkaya
(nee Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya)
1830 (1840) - 1907 (1908) maid of honor, owner of the Dylitsy estate
In addition, while living in St. Petersburg, Pyotr Nikitich Troubetzkoy had his own estate in the Kostroma province with. Nikolskoye-Baki (now Red Tanks) with more than 100 thousand dessiatines of land and 3 thousand revision souls. In his estate there were 1,070 households (about 7 thousand people). The prince received income, and the management of the estate was completely entrusted to his manager.

The building of the administration of Prince Troubetzkoy in the village of Krasnye Baki. XX century
The high-society beauty Elizaveta Esperovna Troubetzkaya was the owner of the old estate Dylitsy-Elizavetino, which is near St. Petersburg. In 1850 (1861), Pyotr Nikitich presented Dylitsy to his young wife, the seventeen-year-old princess Troubetzkoy. Her name is associated with the entire subsequent history of Dylits, which Elizaveta Esperovna owned for 60 years.

Manor in Dylitsy. XVIII century
Peter Nikitich and Elizaveta Esperovna had 6 children: two sons and four daughters. Son Sergei died as a child, and daughter Olga, 19 years old, from an illness. Both were buried in the Dylitsa Church. And the second son, Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy, known to us, which will be discussed later.

Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy
1867 - 1912 (1917)
timber merchant, landowner of Varnavinsky district, benefactor
Daughters (sisters of Alexander Petrovich): Elena Petrovna Troubetzkaya was the wife of Prince Pavel Pavlovich Demidov - a descendant of the famous breeders of Ural, a well-known benefactor, an honorary citizen of the city of Florence, where in recent years Demidov often lived with his family.

Elena Petrovna Demidova San Donato, nee Princess Troubetzkaya
1852 (1853) - 07/28/1917 famous philanthropist
W. Zuckern. Bust of Princess Elena Demidova. 1879 Marble.

Pavel Pavlovich Demidov
1839 (1840) - 1885
equestrian, Prince of San Donato, renowned benefactor, honorary citizen of Florence
The name of Pavel Pavlovich Demidov is associated with the creation in the Urals of the first Russian workshop for the production of Bessemer steel. He was one of the most enviable suitors of Russia in the 60s of the last century, who, in addition to a huge fortune, had a title inherited from the childless uncle of the Prince of San Donato and his principality in Florence. At the same time, in 1877, the coat of arms of San Donato was imperially approved.

Elena Petrovna Troubetzkaya was the second wife of the prince. Happy family in which they were born: son Nikita (died at the age of two), son Anatoly, daughters Aurora, Maria, Elena, Vera.

Children of Elena Petrovna and Pavel Pavlovich Demidov: Aurora, Anatoly, Maria, Pavel
The youngest daughter Vera was born when her father died. Pavel Demidov died in 1885 at the age of 45. He was buried in Nizhniy Tagil - the capital of the "mountain empire" in the ancestral tomb of the Vyisko-Nikolskaya church. For his grave, Elena Petrovna ordered a memorial tombstone in Italy - a composition in which the bronze figure of a young woman in a Greek tunic - Andromache, bent over a bas-relief by P.P. Demidov and a laconic inscription: "Elena to her beloved Paul." In the 1930s, the church was destroyed, in the 50s, its remains were blown up along with the Demidovs' tomb. Only the figurine of the Tagil Andromache survived, in the image of which Elena Petrovna herself was. This is the only surviving portrait of the wife of Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, the sister of the well-known Alexander Petrovich.

Bronze figure of a young woman in a Greek tunic - Andromache, in the image of which was Elena Petrovna Demidova (nee Troubetzkaya)
The Demidovs' charity was aimed at the construction of temples, theological seminaries, hospitals. In Florence, in the gallery of modern art, there is the called Demidov Hall, where today you can see ceremonial portraits of the Demidov dynasty, family heirlooms. Now in Russia there is the International Demidov Fund, whose members are the descendants of the family, living both in Russia and abroad.

As the spouse of the authorized person and as a truly Russian woman, Elena Petrovna, has unfailingly participated in the merciful and charitable activities of her husband. For this, the Demidov family was awarded the title of honorary citizens of Florence, and a gold medal with their image was struck in their honor.

Medal in honor of Prince Pavel Pavlovich and his wife,
Princess Elena Petrovna Demidovs-San Donato
J. Vanetti, 1879
At the same time, Pavel Pavlovich Demidov becomes a real state councilor - this is the fourth step in the Table of Ranks in the civil service and receives the title of Jägermeister, thanks to this, being on the third step in the court hierarchy. So the Demidov family retained positions in the upper echelon of the elite noble families.

After the death of Pavel Pavlovich, Elena Demidova, inheriting all her fortune and property, donated a large amount of money for the construction of a Russian Florentine church.

Elena Petrovna was an unusually kind and sympathetic woman, she was "a major figure among the Odessa intelligent society." The princess did not marry again and carried love and warmth of relations with her husband to the end of her life in her heart. She died in Odessa on July 28, 1917 at the age of 64.

Another sister of Prince Alexander Troubetzkoy, Alexandra Petrovna, married the equestrian, millionaire Vladimir Petrovich Okhotnikov, who was the last owner of the Dylitsy estate.

The younger sister Maria Petrovna, being the maid of honor of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna - the sister of the former tsarina, married Count Alexei Alekseevich Belevsky, the grandson of Alexander II. It was she who came to Varnavin to visit her brother Alexander and took him to St. Petersburg.

Maria Petrovna Belevskaya - Zhukovskaya
1870 (1872) - 1954
nee Princess Troubetzkaya, maid of honor, historian
Alexey Alekseevich Belevsky - Zhukovsky
12/14/1871 - 1932
Count, grandson of Alexander II
History of Dylitsa Manor
The story about the history of the Dylitsy estate will be incomplete, if not to say about Nikolai Mikhailovich Zamarenko - “the chronicler of the village of Dylitsy”. This is how the local population christened it. After graduating from a forestry institute in St. Petersburg even before the revolution, Zamarenko often visited Dylitsy on business, where he got married, and after mobilization in 1921 settled here forever, becoming a teacher at a local school, and then a supply manager.

Dylitsk local historian Nikolay Mikhailovich Zamarenko
All his years, he was in love with his Dylitsy tirelessly collecting materials on the history of the palace, park, village. The newspaper "Gatchinskaya Pravda" wrote about him as follows: "... A recognized expert on these places, he gradually became one of the attractions of Dylitsa ... Lectures and talks for students about the past and the present Dylits were for Zamarenko one of his favorite public duties ... "

Zamarenko studied the archives of the Dylitsa church, the palace office, personally knew Elizaveta Esperovna Troubetzkoy (she worked as a forester) and her close person, Leoni Avgustovna Wetzel, a Frenchwoman by birth. As a child, she was an orphan under the patronage of the princess and in the future did not break off relations with her, he also learned a lot about the Troubetzkoys from the granddaughter of Princess Troubetzkoy, Alexandra Alekseevna Popova-Demidova.

In 1947 he retired.

And in his declining years, feeling that no one throughout the country knows about Dylitsy as much as he does. Nikolai Mikhailovich decides to continue the story of Dylitsy for posterity. This is how a manuscript appears with over 100 pages of typewritten text. It is entitled "Dylitsy". Former estate and village. (From the past of the vicinity of Elizavetino). The book with rare photographs, written in a bright and colorful language, is a wonderful monument to that time.

So, the center of the Dylitsy estate was 1.5 km from the railway station near the village of Dylitsy. The original ancient name of this area is Vzdybitsy, it is found in Novgorod descriptions and probably comes from an elevated area. Then the name of the village was renamed into the more euphonious Dylitsy.

These were the possessions of Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter I. The area was beautiful, wooded and abundant with game, so it was here that the royal hunting took place, which the empress loved so much. In 1870, a railway passed by the estate and the new owner of Dylitsa and its environs, Princess Elizaveta Esperovna Troubetzkaya, wished to name the station and the entire palace and park ensemble “Elizavetino” in honor of Empress Elizabeth.

The Troubetzkoy Palace was located in a large old park. The palace was an old two-storey brick building, built in about 1750. Then, after the estate began to belong to the Troubetzkoys, on the instructions of Princess Elizabeth Esperovna, the architect Bosse built a new one-story stone house with a belvedere on the site of the old one, in which he so subtly emulated the “Elizabethan style”. In 1912-1917. an extension was made - a glass gallery made by Okhotnikov, the last owner of the estate.

Manor building

Elizabethan Palace. Dylitsy. XIX century.
Description of the palace
“On the east side of the palace there is a large balcony with columns and stairs to the park. From the west, the building forms two identical ledges, between them there is an entrance with two entrances on the sides for carriages. The entrance was covered in the form of a tent, like the entrances to the Winter Palace from the side of Palace Square in Leningrad. There was an open balcony on top of the tent. The sculptural coat of arms of the Troubetzkoys adorned the pediment of the palace, and the monogram of the Troubetzkoy with the princely crown on the hipped pediment.

In the center of the house there is a vestibule and a double-height hall, to the north and south of which there are enfilades of five rooms. The hall was decorated with stoves made of white Dutch tiles with a blue pattern, various figures of Arans supporting flower vases, as well as ornate chandeliers and parquet flooring.

The furnishings in the palace were purely museum-like - furniture, paintings, bronze, porcelain, carpets and other luxury items - everything is exclusively antique ... The decoration of the rooms with ornamental plants and fresh flowers gave a special beauty. Troubetzkoy was very fond of flowers and was demanding of gardeners. Under her, the palace was literally buried in flowers ... ".

Estate interior
About Dylitsa Church.
In the Elizabethan Park, near the palace, there is a building of a stone church built in honor of the Vladimir Mother of God in 1766.

Vladimirskaya church in Dylitsy, 18th century
In addition to the iconostasis, the church had many icons painted by famous masters, and although the church was listed as a parish church, Princess Troubetzkaya considered it her home church. She had her own place in the church with a special entrance. The parishioners had nothing against this, since the princess took all the expenses for the church on herself.

The Dylitsk church became the burial vault of the entire Troubetzkoy family, her husband, son, daughter and, finally, in 1907, she herself are buried here. The grave of the princess was even visited by the mother of Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Maria Fedorovna, who knew Troubetzkoy well and was in constant correspondence with her.

Empress Maria Feodorovna with her son Nicholas II
During the Great Patriotic War, the church was badly damaged by shelling. Back in 1975, according to the project of the architect M.A.

Vladimirskaya church. 2008 r.
Elizabethan park
The Troubetzkoy estate was located in a beautiful park, which occupied approximately 16 hectares in area. The park dates back to the time of the construction of the palace, was created in the English style and, judging by its state under Princess Troubetzkoy, was always amazingly beautiful. There one could find bright sunny lawns, bright flower beds, many ornamental trees and shrubs of various types. The park also had a vegetable garden, a greenhouse, a luxurious fruit and berry garden.

Elizabethan park in winter. December 2005
The old square Swan Pond had a swimming pool and a pavilion-pavilion. Particular attention was paid to the islands in the other pond; there were favorite places for walks, marinas and baths.

Swan Pond in Elizabethan Park. November 2005
On the border of the park there were several summer cottages built in the middle of the 19th century. for receiving numerous guests.

Over the two hundred years of its existence, the park has undergone significant changes. Unfortunately, it practically did not reach us. But still this place remains one of the most beautiful places in the Leningrad region.

The last owners of the estate
After the death of Elizaveta Esperovna in 1907, her daughter Alexandra Petrovna Okhotnikova became the owner of Dylitsa. But this was only formally, the actual owner of the estate was her husband - the equestrian, millionaire Vladimir Nikolayevich Okhotnikov. He began to organize the economy in his own way, made an extension to the palace, built a road, gave part of the Hunting Grove for a summer cottage settlement.

The fate of the estate today
The revolution of 1917 destroyed the power of the landowners and the Dylitsy became the property of the people, and the Okhotnikovs emigrated abroad.

In subsequent years, the manor building was also used as a labor school, professional educational institutions, and an experimental field cultivation station.

Despite many losses during the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War, the main components of the estate remained unchanged; it is one of the best-preserved manor-park ensembles.

Manor building. to. 1980s.
In the 1990s, work began on the restoration of the entire estate complex, but in 1998 a fire broke out, which almost completely destroyed the architectural monument in one night.

Restoration of the palace in Dylitsy. 1991 year
It seemed that this complex would never come back to life. But there were people who set themselves the task of reviving the monument of history and architecture.

In 2004, the construction company "Petrobuild" began restoration work on the estate and a lot has already been done. We hope that the Dylitsa estate will remain in history and not sink into oblivion.

The fire in the estate. 1998 year

Restoration of the main facade of the Dylitsy estate. the end of the 2000s.

Restoration of the gallery connecting the palace with the wing. the end of the 2000s.
About Pyotr Nikitich and Elizaveta Esperovna Troubetzkoy
The father of Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy, Prince Pyotr Nikitich, having served for a short time in military service, retired, was the leader of the nobility, then went blind and died relatively early in 1880, at the age of 54. He did not interfere in the affairs of his estate in Varnavinsky district; after his death, the property was ruled by his wife, who in turn gave the estate to her son Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy, while she herself remained the mistress of Dylitsy.

Pyotr Nikitich Troubetzkoy
1826 (1827) - 1880
actual state councilor
Elizaveta Esperovna, nee Princess Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya, a representative of the highest tribal aristocracy, was very different in character from her invisible spouse. Her father, a descendant of appanage princes, was a famous rich man. In St. Petersburg, he owned the entire Krestovsky Island, where his palace stood.

Troubetzkaya was very proud of her origin from the appanage princes. Preoccupied with thoughts of her high origin, Troubetzkaya held herself especially. Her appearance, gait, gestures, manner of speaking - all this gave off some theatrical grandeur.

Princess Troubetzkoy, especially in her youth in the first years of marriage, arranged receptions and brilliant balls on the estate, which the sovereign himself and members of the royal family attended. Sometimes, in order to distinguish herself, the princess did not stop at nothing. There were known cases when, in order to complicate the arrangement of the ball for others, she left St. Petersburg without flowers, buying flowers at a high price in all the gardeners of St. Petersburg and its environs at once.

The secular successes of Elizaveta Esperovna were known even abroad. In France, mainly at court, she amazed everyone with her luxury and whims. They wrote about her in one of the issues of the magazine "Stolitsa i Usadba" in the article "Russian ladies who shone in Paris during the II Empire." There is also a photograph from the portrait of Troubetzkoy, written by a famous German painter.

Portrait of E.E. Troubetzkoy, written by a famous German painter
Franz Winterhalter. France. 1859 g.
Troubetzkoy loved a luxurious life and did not consider money; she managed to spend a huge dowry of 7 million rubles in gold over the course of five years.

The princess was on very good terms with Emperor Nicholas II, whose letters she kept until old age. She even had a family connection with Bonaparte. This probably explains that later Prince Louis Napoleon, recruited into service in Russia, came to Troubetzkoy in Dylitsy.

Her connections with abroad, as it now appears in the historical literature, was used by Russian diplomacy, and the princess, having at one time a political salon, carried out a secret order of the government.

Saturated and no less interesting cultural life of Elizaveta Esperovna Troubetzkoy was also natural. She was supported by meetings and correspondence with many Russian and foreign artists: the poet Igor Severyanin, Fyodor Tyutchev, Admiral Mikhail Tchaikovsky, brother of P.I. Tchaikovsky, Count Ignatiev, married to the granddaughter of A.P. Okhotnikova, famous French writers and other famous people. Many wrote their poems about her.

Elizavetino! Left,
From the station one verst,
Dylitsa maiden yearns,
In its own way about beauty ...
Breathing Orange Isabella
I enter the deciduous rest.
The palace is silent between the white pines
And the park of Princess Troubetzkoy.
Behind Dylitsy - Veralians.
Beyond Pyatigorye - Lakes.
What a girlish blush!
Jasmine evenings!
Through Holpovitsy straight
I walk to the monastery
And kneeling at the temple,
I sing in the evening dawn.
In my impulse - the depths of the bottomlessness!
I dissolve into silence
And I return through Arbonne
With the new moon.
Igor Severyanin.

In Dylitsy, the princess lived exclusively in the summer. The rest of the time she spent in St. Petersburg, where she had a house (now Chaikovskogo street) or abroad.

While living in France, Elizaveta Esperovna published a book about the origin of the Troubetzkoy princes (in French), where it was proved that her husband was descended from the great Lithuanian princes. The image of the Troubetzkoy family tree was prominently displayed in the hall of the Dylitsky Palace.

In the old fashioned way, she considered the local peasants as her own and therefore treated them with patronage: during fires, she gave wood, sometimes helped with small handouts. The peasants, knowing her weakness, under various pretexts came in a crowd to her and congratulated her on something. She apparently liked this, and she gave them for refreshments. The Dylitsky guys always watched her in a crowd during their daily walks in the carriage. She stopped the carriage and ordered the visiting footman to provide the children with gifts.

But serving her was hard. Torn away from Russian life and more familiar with French speech, she did not understand much, and her remarks often caused bewilderment.

I remember how one day, noticing a pile of earth dug by a mole near the path, she ordered the manager to immediately drive all the moles out of the park. She did not tolerate objections. If someone made her very angry, the answer was: "You are nasty, you are nasty, you are a chimney sweep."

Coming to Dylitsy in her old age, the princess spent her time alone and monotonously. She did not know any of the neighboring landowners and residents, considering this, apparently, humiliating for herself. She accepted only relatives and old acquaintances. In general, she was bored and from time to time, remembering her past, she invited a military band and put on fireworks.

The military maneuvers that took place every summer in our area were also entertainment. The higher authorities, familiar with her, tried to give her an interesting sight. In conclusion, we cannot but mention the protagonist of our exhibition, the representative of the Troubetzkoy family, Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy. As we know, he was born in 1867. In one of his articles, Nikolai Zamarenko writes: “He studied in the Corps of Pages. For some time he lived with his parents, then they gave him a large estate in the Kostroma province, where he lived the rest of his life, having married a simple peasant woman. Died 50 years old childless ”- that's all that is known about him to this day in Dylitsy.

After Alexander receives his parental estate in Varnavinsky district, we can assume that he first appears in our region. Then he was 24 years old.

But there is still a legend about the arrival of his mother, Elizaveta Esperovna, to her husband's estate in the Voskresensky district. The fact is that not far from the village. Staroustye was once the village of Elizavetino, named after Princess Elizabeth Troubetzkoy. The essence of the legend is as follows: “Heading from the village of Staroustye to her husband’s estate, the wheel of the carriage in which Elizaveta Esperovna was traveling fell off. At this time, the peasant Shubin was walking along the road - he then fixed the problem, for which he received a decent amount of money and a small allotment. So, at first, Elizavetino's repairs were formed on this place, and then a whole village. Subsequently, Shubin became rich and became one of the largest local timber merchants. " This legend is preserved to this day by the descendants of the Shubins.

Here, in Varnavinsky district, Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy had more than 20 thousand acres of land. The main source of income for him was the trade in timber, which was floated on Belians and rafts along Vetluga and sold to the Volga towns.

Belyana A.P. Troubetzkoy
In the national memory, Alexander Petrovich is preserved as an educated, intelligent and immensely generous person.

Troubetzkoy willingly did charity work. In the town of Vetluga, several scholarship holders of the prince always studied at the gymnasium. In Barnavin, he gave his land for the construction of a female gymnasium.

In addition, he donated many of his books for the foundation of the Varnavin People's Library, and from this book fund its existence began. The prince himself lived for a long time on his estates in Varnavina.

Here, during the voyage, he met his love Vasilisa Vladimirovna Shikhmatova.

Vasilisa Vladimirovna Shikhmatova
(died in 1939) the unofficial wife of A.P. Troubetzkoy
Vasilisa was born into a large peasant family in the village of Yadrovo, Varnavisnky district. There were 13 children. She learned to read in her village, together with her brothers. Then, after the Russian-Japanese war, one disabled soldier was engaged in literacy training, and only for boys. The peasants kept him one by one. Vasilisa did not lag behind her brothers. When the training was over, the soldier came to his father and said: "Pay for the girl, she is trained."

Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy, converging with her, began to call her Vassa. He brought her to Varnavin, where they lived in a small house, next to the women's gymnasium (where the gym is now located). Then he began to build a large house with an outbuilding in the center of the city.

House of Prince A.P. Troubetzkoy (to the right of the women's gymnasium)

city of Varnavin. Cathedral Square.
House A.P. Troubetzkoy (left)
Vassa knew how to behave in society with dignity and aroused respect for herself. Although the prince was not married to her, he introduced her to everyone as a wife. They had a son who died at the age of 4 and was buried in Barnabin. The beautiful marble monument was destroyed after the revolution.

Sasha, the son of Alexander Petrovich and Vasilisa Vladimirovna Shikhmatova.
n. XX century
From the stories told by the inhabitants of Varnavin, we know that rumors about the life of the prince reached St. Petersburg. Alexandra Aleksandrovna Vladimirova, Vassa's niece (now deceased), said: “The Troubetzkoys did not want such a close relationship with ordinary peasants. But the main thing, as it turned out, was different: Alexander Petrovich had a solid block of shares in the Lena gold mines, and he had the imprudence to say that he wanted to give them to the workers. " The sister of Prince Troubetzkoy, the maid of honor Maria Petrovna Belevskaya came to him to clarify the circumstances.

Maria Petrovna Belevskaya - Zhukovskaya 1870 (1872) - 1954 nee Princess Troubetzkaya, maid of honor, historian, sister of A.P. Troubetzkoy
She stayed with him for some time, then invited him to stay with her and left with him to Petersburg. There he was subjected to a medical examination, which established his allegedly unhealthy mental state. Guardianship was established over Troubetzkoy, then he was forcibly imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital.

According to Alexandra Alexandrovna Vladimirova: “Vassa went to St. Petersburg. She returned upset: "He is healthy, they need something else" - the elder niece remembered this phrase well. Like the other, after a trip to Ryazan, where Troubetzkoy was transferred: "They achieved what they wanted." And that's all ... Vassa was not verbose. "

According to one available data, Alexander Petrovich died at the age of 50. And in the Krasnobakovsky Museum there is a personalized pendant with a portrait of Prince Troubetzkoy, on which there is a record of the date of death: “He died in 1912”.

After Troubetzkoy's death, Vassa lived with her nephew Alexei Ivanovich Shikhmatov, whom she raised and educated. All his life Aleksey Ivanovich was engaged in brewing business. After the revolution, he left with his family in the city of Maikop, where he became the director of a brewery. Then the whole family moved to Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Territory.

Vassa Shikhmatova with the family of Alexei Ivanovich Shikhmatov's nephew.
XX century
During the repressions, at the end of the 1930s, Vasilisa came to her native land, but having reached Vetluzhskaya, and having talked on the phone with relatives, she left back so as not to ruin herself and her relatives.

Vassa died, according to Alexandra Alexandrovna, in 1939 in Novorossiysk.

A small house (wing) in the city of Varnavina on Cathedral Square was sold at an auction, since Sister Matryona Vladimirova had nothing to pay for it.

Years go by ... Unfortunately, witnesses of those distant events are passing away, but the good memory of one of the representatives of the princely family is alive to this day. The fate of Alexander Petrovich Troubetzkoy is tragic, extraordinary, but it is his personality that will remain a vivid example of the traditions of Russian patronage and charity.

Based on materials from the exhibition of the Varnavin Museum of History and Art

http://варнавино-район.рф/trubeckoy.html