In the Western Administrative District of Moscow, among an island of protected coniferous forest, there is a strictly guarded object. In the past, it was the so-called near Stalin's dacha - a place where the father of peoples not only rested from noisy and restless Moscow, but also worked, meeting with party comrades and making decisions that sometimes depended on the fate of the world.
Plot in Kuntsevo
This two-story building, hidden from prying eyes, keeps many secrets. Half a century ago, only those who were en titled to it by virtue of their official position knew about its existence. Stalin's nearby dacha was a place both attractive and creepy. It was here that dizzying careers began, but from here they went to the terrible world of prison bars and guard towers.
After the country's government moved to Moscow, Stalin chose the former estate of the oilman Zubalov (a distant dacha) as his country residence, located thirty-two kilometers fromcapital, but later he decided to move closer. For this, the site in Kuntsevo was the best suited, where there was a government sanatorium, in which Stalin repeatedly happened to visit.
Building a dacha
It is known that Stalin's nearest dacha in Kuntsevo began to be built back in 1931 according to the project of architect M. I. Merzhanov. The already hasty work was significantly accelerated after the suicide of his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, as the leader was in a hurry to leave Zubalovo, where too much reminded him of the recent tragedy.
The house was completed in 1933, and everything in it was done in strict observance of the instructions given by Stalin during his frequent visits to the construction site, but five years later he suddenly stopped liking him, and the capricious owner demanded that everything be taken apart and rebuilt. In the early forties, the construction of an underground bomb shelter bunker began on the territory of the dacha.
Construction work continues
It should be noted that the constant redevelopment and reconstruction of the building continued until the death of its owner. Initially, Stalin's nearest dacha was one-story, but after the war a second floor was added, intended for guests. It was in his rooms that the leader of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong, who arrived on a visit in 1949, stayed.
On the territory of the dacha there was also a service house designed to protect the leader and his servants. In the same place, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, there was a pool for live fish, since Stalin did not usecanned food, and cabinets in which stocks of wine were stored. In the same room, a special place was set aside for bottles of home-made wine (an old hobby of the dacha owner).
Small house of Stalin's dacha
At the same time as the main house, another one was built near it - a small one, which also had a study, a bedroom and an entrance hall. His daughter Svetlana stayed here during her visits to her father. The owner himself lived here infrequently. It is known, for example, that when in 1941 the surrender of Moscow to the Germans seemed inevitable, the nearby dacha of Joseph Stalin was mined along with other important state facilities. All these anxious months, the owner lived in a small house.
Tuple path
As a result of the convenient and close location from the capital, the government cortege usually covered the route from Moscow to Stalin's nearest dacha in no more than fifteen minutes. As contemporaries recall, cars, which were no more than three or four, moving at a speed of eighty kilometers per hour, followed through Mozhayskoye highway to Smolenskaya Square and further to Old Arbat. Likewise in the opposite direction.
But the usual route often changed at the request of Stalin himself. Suffering from pathological suspiciousness, constantly fearing ambushes and assassination attempts, he used to suddenly order the driver to turn onto one street or another and continue on his way in the most unexpected way.
Hallway Interior
BecauseStalin's near dacha was intended not only for his residence, but also for work, and, consequently, for receiving visitors, its internal layout and furnishings corresponded to this purpose. Each arrival first of all got into a spacious, fifty-meter hallway, on the sides of which there were hangers, and the master's was on the left, and none of the outsiders were allowed to use it.
The walls of the entrance hall were covered with wooden panels, and on one of them hung a map of the world, on the other - Europe. In the center of the hanger intended for guests, there was a wide mirror, which has survived to this day. It is curious that it was in front of him that Stalin was shaved daily by two barbers. Why in the hallway, and not in the bathroom or in the office? The answer probably lies also in his suspiciousness. It must be assumed that the leader was afraid to allow outsiders, albeit obviously verified people, into the interior of the house.
Stalin's cabinet
Stalin's usual place of work was a spacious room, more precisely, a hall located to the left of the hallway. In the middle of it was a large writing desk, specially designed to make it convenient to lay out military maps on it. The interior of the room was complemented by a wood-burning fireplace and a leather sofa installed here for comfort and warmth, the same as in other rooms.
Cottage dining room decor
As the well-known Russian writer and historian Sergei Devyatov wrote in his book, which appeared in print in 2011, Stalin's nearby dacha was the site of organizedreceptions and celebrations. A large dining room was specially designed for them, into which guests got directly from the hallway. The first thing that caught the eye of those who entered were large portraits of Lenin and Gorky hanging in the piers between the windows.
In the middle of the dining room was a polished table, surrounded by rather simple and discreet chairs. A corner of the room was occupied by a small but very elegant salon grand piano, and after the war, an automat for playing records was added to it, donated by one of the American delegations. There were also two sofas.
A characteristic feature of the room were curtains that did not reach the floor, as is customary, but only to the level of heat radiators. This was done at the direction of Stalin himself. Obviously, this was dictated not by aesthetic considerations, but by the same suspiciousness: short curtains did not allow a possible attacker to hide behind them.
Strictly protected facility
But one way or another, it was this room that became fatal for him. It was here that on March 5, 1953, on one of the sofas already mentioned, his life ended. Immediately after the death of the leader, it was decided to organize a memorial museum on the territory of the dacha, but subsequent events - N. S. Khrushchev's revelatory speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU and a number of publications that appeared in the press - did not allow this project to be implemented.
Today, among other objects related to the history of our Motherland, Stalin's nearby dacha is of great interest. "How to get there?" -a question that many would like an answer to. But here they are disappointed. Despite the fact that it is located within the city, in the Fili-Davydkovo district, well-known to Muscovites, near Poklonnaya Gora, the territory of the dacha is still a closed facility guarded by FSO officers. In order to go inside and see with your own eyes the environment in which many years of Stalin's life passed, you need to have a special pass.
