Petrodvorets (formerly Peterhof) enjoys world fame. Everyone who has been here, forever carries away in his heart the admiration of its charming beauty. In 1710, construction of Peter I's summer residence, Peterhof, began on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, 30 km from St. Petersburg. The pearl of art was its Lower Park - a magnificent ensemble with fountains, architectural monuments and sculptural decorations.

There is an extensive literature on the monuments of Peterhof. The artistic advantages of parks, palaces-museums and fountains are described, the activities of foreign architects and sculptors invited by Peter the Great to carry out his plans are described in detail, and at the same time the role of Russian masters in the creation of Peterhof is not sufficiently shown. In most cases, only the names of Russian craftsmen are mentioned. And there are no works at all on the history of the construction of the Ropshinsky Canal, which feeds the famous Peterhof fountains with water. Archive documents

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they allow you to fill in this gap to some extent.

The history of the Ropshinsky Canal construction is connected with the name of the talented Russian engineer Vasily Grigoryevich Tuvolkov (1697-1727). For the first time it is mentioned in the article by D. Meychik "Education of Russian masters and artists under Peter the Great". "Under the machinist Tuvolkov," the author writes, " there were academicians of geometry science: Fedor Kobylsky, Andrey Selivanov, Nikita Ladyzhensky, Nikolai Kruglyakov. In 1725, the machinist Tuvolkov, presenting Nikita Ladyzhensky for production as an apprentice, reports that this apprentice, along with other comrades, worked on locks and canals in the vicinity of St. Petersburg."1 More detailed information about Tuvolkov's work is provided by V. I. Pilyavsky: "A complex and grandiose system of water pipes, starting more than 20 kilometers from Peterhof on the Ropshinsky heights and now giving fountains about 12,000 cubic meters of water per hour, was designed and executed in 1721 - 1722 by the Russian engineer Vasily Tuvolkov - Pet's pet, who studied from his own experience. order for hydraulics and mechanics " 2 . One of the experts of Peterhof, the historian N. I. Arkhipov, notes :" The builder of the fountain water pipeline was a Russian hydraulic engineer Vasily Tuvolkov, a Petrovsky pensioner who received a technical education in France." However, the book goes on to say, " works on the history of this large hydrotechnical structure of the XVIII century are completely absent. There is only a brief description of it, compiled by the military engineer M. Pilsudsky, who in the 60s of the last century was in charge of the water supply of fountains. This description is given in his article "Peterhof Fountains", published in the" Journal of Railway Administration "for 1860." 3
How was the Ropshinsky Canal built and what was its main builder?

Nothing in the creation of Peterhof so occupied Peter I as fountains. But it took an abundance of water for them to score with more force. It was necessary to find its powerful source. It was desirable to solve the problem in such a way that the water to the fountains arrived without the help of any injection machines, but went by gravity. In 1718, in Leipzig, the notes of a German traveler were published, who, reporting on Peterhof, wrote: "The king gives it preference over all pleasure palaces. On the mountain in front of the palace, he built a large grotto with two cascades, from which a channel of unusual depth is drawn to the sea, allowing access to the palace itself, located on a mountain up to 60 feet high. But where will they get water for cascades here? This will cause a lot of trouble. " 4 The observant guest was not mistaken. Indeed, the problem of water supply to Peterhof fountains was not solved without difficulty. The credit for solving this complex problem belongs to V. G. Tuvolkov.

In the first quarter of the 18th century, large-scale construction began in St. Petersburg and its suburbs. To manage the work, masters of various specialties were required. They were invited from abroad. At the same time, steps were taken to train domestic specialists. For this purpose, young gifted people were sent to the state account to improve their knowledge and skills in other countries. Such fellows were called "pensioners". Among them was V. G. Tuvolkov. In 1714, a seventeen-year-old boy was sent to study in Holland, and then in France. There he received serious practical skills in the construction of canals, locks, dams, harbors and "water machines" (mill wheels, pumps, excavators, etc.). After a five-year stay abroad, Tuvolkov returned to his homeland and was enlisted in the staff of the Admiralty Board, where he was awarded the title of "machinist" (the so-called engineers in the United States). areas of hydraulic engineering construction). By royal decree, he was seconded to the Chancellery of the buildings, which was in charge of palace and park construction in the capital and its environs.

The first work of the young engineer was a sluice built by him on an earthen dam that blocked the Strelka River. A pond was formed that still exists today. The sluice was designed to regulate the flow of water to the wheels of the mills. To prevent this pond from overflowing with meltwater and stormwater, Tuvolkov's project was dug

1 "Zodchiy", 1882, issue I, p. 14.

2 V. I. Pilyavsky. Petrodvorets (ex. Peterhof), Moscow, 1949, p. 15.

3 N. Arkhipov, A. Raskin. Petrodvorets, Moscow, l. 1961, pp. 161, 197.

4 "Russian architecture of the first half of the XVIII century", Moscow, 1954, p. 110.

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the derivation channel. Along its channel, excess water was discharged into the Kikinka River, which flows into the Gulf of Finland. An interesting document has been preserved that testifies to Tuvolkov's work in Strelna. On July 17, 1719, he submitted a report to the Director of the Chancellery on behalf of buildings, U. Sinyavin, in which he wrote that he was in Strelna "at the work of the dam", "and now," the report continued, " I live in the palace of his royal majesty and have a concern when their royal majesty's coming has, and from that it is not possible to rule in cases of great need. " 5
In 1720, Tuvolkov was busy working in Peterhof. Here he blocked a deep ravine with an earthen dam, along the bottom of which a small stream flowed. As a result, a system of reservoirs was formed. Now it's an English pond. A canal was dug from it to the two Square reservoirs of the Upper Garden, from which water flowed to the Grand Cascade and to most of the fountains in the Lower Park. The fact that the pond and canal were created in 1720 is evidenced by Tuvolkov's report of December 2 of the same year with a request to release "to the canal business, which is brought from the ponds to the Upper Garden, to two locks of selected 16 beams 15 inches thick and 40 saw boards"6 . One sluice was used to discharge excess water down the ravine into the bay, and the other was used to regulate its flow into the Upper Garden Canal. These structures have not lost their significance even today.

August 1, 1720 Peter I went to the area of the village of Zaborodye to inspect the springs discovered there. The tsar himself surveyed the area to determine the flow rate of water coming to the surface of the northern slopes of the Ropsha heights. The springs were powerful enough to provide water to the fountains. The terrain dropped from the heights to the bay. Therefore, it was decided to dig a channel through which the key waters would flow by gravity in the direction of Peterhof. V. G. Tuvolkov was assigned to put Peter I's plan into practice. By the autumn of 1720, he managed to lay the route of the future canal. Thanks to his knowledge, experience and creative initiative, the engineer was able to choose such a direction of the artificial channel that the amount of earthworks that had to be performed was minimal. Small watercourses were also successfully included in the canal system. In winter, preparatory work began along the canal line: a road was laid, construction materials were prepared. In the middle of the route of the future canal, near the village of Olkhovo, a house was cut down in case Peter I came here.

Tuvolkov was also well versed in economic matters. Cabinet Secretary Makarov reported to Sinyavin on October 18, 1721: "This October 8, Vasily Tuvolkov wrote to the Cabinet from Strelina Grange that 4,760 20 - foot-long, 336 20-foot-long, 9-inch-thick piles were needed for the canal that would be brought to Peterhof and the aforementioned Tuvolkov advises that it is cheaper to contract them and put them in the Skvoretskaya grange " 7, that is, near the place of work. Army regiments were used to build the canal. On January 14, 1721, a royal decree followed: "The Riga garrison of soldiers who were in Dubki and were ordered to march to Riga, stop and give them to work, which, according to the testimony of the Office of City Affairs, will be assigned to the case of the canal, which will be made to bring water to Peterhof, and for this the regiment's headquarters, chief and non-commissioned officers and soldiers should be given apartments in Ropshinskaya, Kipenskaya and Skvoretskaya myzakhs. " 8
Engineering management of the canal works was concentrated in the hands of Tuvolkov. On January 16, 1721, he sent to the Office of buildings "vedenie" that "it is necessary for the canal business, which will be brought to Peterhof, to wear piles and clean forests 50 people, to beat piles for six koprov forty people for each koper, to cut piles 300 people, and only 590 man " 9 . At the request of the engineer, iron shovels and carts (i.e. wheelbarrows) were delivered to the track. Tuvolkov's reports indicate what technical means were used at the construction site.

The Riga Regiment was the first to arrive on the highway on January 17. It was placed in the upper reaches of the future canal. The office from the buildings was obliged to provide the soldiers with food and pay for the work performed. So it required daily reports on how many people were employed, what jobs they were employed in, and what they had done.

5 IGIA OF the USSR, f. 467, op. 4, 21, l. 163.

6 Ibid., 24, l. 250.

7 Ibid., f. 468, op. 43, d. 11, l. 23.

8 Ibid., f. 467, op. 1, d. 18, l. 32.

9 Ibid., l. 62.

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The regiment's report of February 13 shows that the regiment included 608 soldiers who that day were cutting wood in Skvoretskaya manor, were at the "channel work" and coprov; they "worked a lesson-a hundred piles were driven in, but without a lesson the palace was built and the furrows were cleaned-until the sabbath" 10 .

The work was carried out in winter: frosts bound the swamps, which made it easier to harvest timber and transport it. In addition, it was easier to find springs in winter. The key waters that come to the surface do not freeze, and the soldiers used the streams to clear their channels and track their direction. The entire burden of the preparatory work for the construction of the canal fell on the Riga regiment. On March 14, the Chancellery from the buildings resembled a Military College: "On February 11, by the signature of his imperial Majesty with his own hand, it was ordered that the canal in Peterhof should be made a Vyborg garrison, and that money should be given from the Chancellery, and that it should be ordered that soldiers should be sent to the work of the said canal in the last days of March, so that there would be no stopping in that

With the onset of warm days, they began to dig the canal along its entire length. On July 20, 1721, Sinyavin gave an order to Tarsukov, who was in charge of the economic affairs of the Chancelleries from the buildings: "A large number of the St. Petersburg garrison of soldiers have now arrived at the Piterhof canal work in excess of the previous one, and the Pskov Dragoon regiment will also soon arrive, so order those soldiers and dragoons to give out fodder money to the dacha" 12 . The construction of the canal required a lot of effort from many people. Every day, thousands of soldiers intercepted key waters in an extensive network of channels, which, in turn, discharged this water into a central channel six meters wide and more than two meters deep. In low places, so that the water did not go into the swamps, Levees were filled in, in which the bed of the riverbed was made. The walls of the water conduit were reinforced against erosion with a pile fence. When passing the route through the hills, they dug notches.

Ten kilometers from Peterhof, the canal route was connected to a stream that flowed here, which was a left tributary of the Strelka River. This shallow stream lay in a deep ravine, and only in the spring and during the rains did its level rise, after which it fell just as quickly. Subsequently, this watercourse was named the Shinkarki River. Seven kilometers from Peterhof, Tuvolkov blocked this river with a dam, which became the first barrier to spring water to fountains. Two sluices were made in the dam. Its purpose was to ensure that the water in the river rose to the desired level and let it pass through the lock to the lower part of the Ropshinsky Canal, to the English Pond. The second lock was designed to discharge excess water into the Strelka River during floods. The Shinkarsky sluice was an important regulating device in the Peterhof water system. This name of the river and sluice were due to the shink, which was located near the construction site 13 .

Peter I was in a hurry with the work. By the beginning of August 1721, the vcherne water pipeline was completed. The opening ceremony of the canal on August 8 was attended by the tsar himself "together with the Tsarina, the Duke of Holstein, foreign ministers and many dignitaries" 14. Peter himself dug the bridge with a spade, and water from the springs poured into the canal. It reached Peterhof on August 9. The opening of the canal was given state significance. This memorable event is annually celebrated by Leningrad residents on one of the Sundays of August as a traditional "fountain festival". From now on, the ponds of Peterhof could accumulate water reserves necessary not only for fountains, but also for the operation of the grinding mill (later known as the lapidary factory), as well as for delivering water on barges in the summer to Kronstadt, where there were no drinking springs.

Work on the channel was also carried out in the fall. So, on October 28, 107 soldiers from the team of Major Anichkov were "with master Tuvolkov at the channel work" 15 . At the height of construction, up to 10,000 people were employed daily on the canal. The work was carried out in difficult swampy conditions, and there was also an acute shortage of food. All this led to diseases. In order to somewhat prevent epidemics, Sinyavin wrote on May 14, 1721, to the steward of Peterhof: "How will the colonel's letters be sent to you?"

10 Ibid., l. 269.

11 Ibid., l. 442.

12 Ibid., 17, p. 375.

13 N. Sharubin. Essays of Peterhof, St. Petersburg, 1868, p. 30.

14 A. Geirot. Description of Peterhof, St. Petersburg, 1868, p. 17.

15 TsGIA OF the USSR, f. 467, op. 1, d. 26, l. 774.

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Tyrtova pine cones, order these cones to fill two forty barrels and fill one with water and the other with wine for the benefit of sick soldiers." Apparently, the medicine prepared in this way was used for scurvy. In one of the accounting documents for 1721, it is noted that "six buckets of wine were released to the Narva regiment in Peterhof for the treatment of soldiers" 16 . So, on July 23, there were 1,657 people in the St. Petersburg garrison regiments on the canal, of which 73 were 17 patients . The report of these regiments for October 2 shows" all ranks " of 2153, of which 15 are sick. However, on the back of the report, Lieutenant Colonel Zhdanov made a postscript: "Out of the available number, 25 ordinary people left their jobs, and 1 chief officer, 3 non-commissioned officers, and 19 privates fell ill again." 18 In the wet and cold autumn conditions, earthworks exhausted people, so escapes from those places were common.

Ropshinsky canal gave life to all new Peterhof fountains, which caused rave reviews of contemporaries. In the description of Peterhof for 1771, we read that for its construction "Peter the Great used a great dependency in order to bring this already extremely pleasant place from nature to great perfection by art. The Imperial Palace, its gardens, statues, fountains, grottos, cascades, alleys, groves, and other places of public entertainment give reason to compare Peterhof with the glorious Versailles; and from its excellent location, it is preferable to it. Amazing fountains can be seen everywhere, and especially in the Lower Garden, some of which beat to an extreme height and the thickness of a mediocre person, and then without any machines, with the single power of water, from the height of the Peterhof mountains not at a far distance from the above " 19 .

V. G. Tuvolkov also had certain abilities in building construction. On July 22, 1722, the steward of Peterhof, Pavlov, informed Sinyavin that "it was ordered in Peterhof to make a Free House for visiting people, wooden, in the place shown according to the drawing, and by order of you, my sovereign, it was ordered to make that house to the machinist Tuvolkov from the barracks in which the former Shvets prisoners lived. and these barracks with Commissar Yelchaninov and Tuvolkov with him were examined. Of those barracks, that Free House is useless to make, because those barracks are very rotten." The building was cut down from pine logs, sheathed with timbers and covered with shingles. The building was painted red and became known as the "Red House". Tuvolkov also had to deal with issues of labor organization. On January 14, 1725, he denounced Sinyavin: "Your letter, in which you are pleased to write, to send a statement to the Office from the buildings, soldiers can be any number in the big (summer. - VA) day of the earth cubic fathoms vznest, silt, sand, and to this I reply: soldiers are taken out on big days silt and gristle for 10 people cubic fathom, sand for 6 people fathom. I didn't have any free people or boatmen on foot in my work, and in winter it is always doubled."20
In 1725, the Admiralty Board applied to the Chancellery from the buildings with a request "to send various artists of the Tuvolkov master to correct the most necessary cases to the Admiralty Board, if there is an extreme need for him." The office sent a reply that Tuvolkov was identified by Peter I's personal decree "at many works in Peterhof and Strelin and in other places. In addition, he Tuvolkov in Strelina should finish the dam"21 . And on January 26, 1728, "mechanical affairs apprentices" Nikita Ladyzhensky and Fyodor Kobylsky applied to the Office of buildings with a statement in which they wrote: "We were from 1720 to 1727 in the science of a Tuvolkov machinist and were trained in the practice of canal, sluice and machine work, and in 1727 this Tuvolkov machinist died by the will of God and now we don't have a master. " 22
The fountain system of Peterhof, which this year marks its 250th anniversary, remains basically almost unchanged, undergoing only some improvements. Built under the leadership of V. G. Tuvolkov, it is an outstanding monument not only of Russian, but also of world hydrotechnical art of the first quarter of the XVIII century.

16 Ibid., op. 2, d. 28, l. 1154; op. 1, d. 12, l. 245.

17 Ibid., op. 1, d. 18, l. 559.

18 Ibid., d. 26, l. 618 vol.

19 "Geographical lexicon of the Russian state", Moscow, 1771, p. 250.

20 TsGIA USSR, f. 467, op. 2, d. 38, l. 528; op. 4, d. 43, l. 64.

21 Ibid., op. 4, d. 43, l. 133.

22 Ibid., op. 2, d. 65, l. 22.

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