Zashiversk
Encyclopedia
Zashiversk was a town north of the arctic circle in what is now the Sakha Republic (formerly Yakutia), Russia
. It was located on the right bank of the Indigirka River
where the river makes a sharp bend around the town-site. It was founded in 1639. It served as a fortress town and then as an administrative center. In 1803 administrative functions were removed to Verkhoyansk
. Subsequently the town suffered repeated epidemics of smallpox. It was completely depopulated by 1898 (one source says by 1863).
Spaso-Zashiverskaya church (built 1700) was moved to Novosibirsk
by Alexey Okladnikov,
and now it exhibited at the Museum of the Archeological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science.
small groups of Russians penetrated and colonized the Far Eastern Arctic, in two distinct waves originating from White Sea
area and from the Ural Mountains
. In 1639 the company of Postnik Ivanov, a Siberian cossack
, reached the site of Zashiversk and stayed there for the winter. The site, located below the rapid
s (Shivery, шиверы, in Siberian dialect, thus the name Zashiversk) of the Indigirka River
, some 870 kilometers from its inlet, marked the crossroads of a river route to Kolyma
and Chukotka
and a land route (Tsar's Trail, царская дорога) from Yakutsk
to Nizhnekolymsk. Postnik reported abundance of valuable sable
and fish, significant population of native settlers and nomads as well as silver
possessed by the Yukagirs; the voyevoda of Yakutsk
responded with establishment of a permanent colony
to exploit the opportunity.
The Russians enforced taxation of natives through collection of yasak
in sable furs and regularly trespassed their self-assumed rights; the natives evaded extortion
by resettling to remote areas. Twice, in 1668 (Forsyth: 1666-1667) and 1679, the Lamuts openly revolted and besieged
Zashiversk, but the colonists prevailed and fortified the settlement with a wooden stockade
, the only one of its kind on the Indigirka. The Lamuts were dispersed with fortress guns, but successfully destroyed a Russian caravan on the way from Yana River
to Zashiversk. Their active resistance continued until 1692, by 1700 the Lamuts and Yukagirs were firmly pressed into submission and ended their own fighting among native clans.
The wooden tented church
of Saviour was erected in 1700. Explorer Dmitry Laptev
complained in 1741 that Zashiversk church remained the only Orthodox church from the mouth of Lena River
to Anadyr
. Noted preacher of Zashiversk Church, father Alexey Sleptsov, was an exile, son of former governor of Moscow
Ivan Sleptsov. In 1735 was allowed to preach on condition that he will not ever leave Zashiversk. He died in 1783 at the age of 74 and his duties were assumed by his son Mikhail who lived past the age of 87.
and Joseph Billings
who also noted hospitality of local ispravnik Ivan Banner, an ethnic Dane in Russian service. Banner, apart from daily police functions, actively recruited the Chukchi
into accepting Russian citizenship and jealously tracked the activities of foreign traders in the area. He later joined the staff of the Russian American Company.
Coat of arms
of Zashiversk was approved in October 1790 along with other coats of arms of the Irkutks Governorate. According to the blazon
, the golden fox
in a black field symbolized hunting foxes as the source of subsistence for the population. Overhunting during the 18th century depleted wildlife; decrease in fur trading spelled the town's end. In 1803, when Zashiversk lost its former economic significance as a marketplace, the uezd was abolished, and all government functions relocated to Verkhoyansk
.
, who crossed Siberia in the summer of 1820 and reached Zashiversk in October, noted that although after the 1786 the settlement expanded to around thirty permanent houses (as opposed to earlier yurtas), after the merger of Verkhoyansk and Zashiversk uezds the latter "plunged into its former misery". By 1820 the town shrunk to only five houses; there were two Russian families, a Yakut
postmaster, Orthodox
missionary
father Mikhail and his brother. Wrangel was surprised to find local church well-maintained although father Mikhail was 87 years old. He preached in the Arctic for sixty years, converted around 15 thousand natives, and was still able to cross his enormous parish on horseback and hunt wild game in the mountains. Mikhail was the only local able to grow cabbage
and root vegetables in short Arctic summers. Yakuts of father Mikhail's parish were segregated into the richer nomad
s who herded horses and cattle, and poorer settlers, the "River Yakuts". The latter settled along the rivers, and survived by fishing
alone, their only livestock being the sled dog
s. Zashiversk then still retained some of its logistical
functions: Wrangel's stay there coincided with the passage of a government caravan
with salt
and flour
heading to Nizhnekolymsk; horses for the caravan were provided by the Yakuts.
John Dundas Cochrane
visited Zashiversk in December 1822 on foot and lamented that "Of all the places I have ever seen, bearing the name of city or town, this is the most dreary and desolate: my blood froze within me as I beheld and approached the place." He recorded seven single-person households: two clergymen, a widow, two non-commissioned officer
s, a postmaster and a trader: "I have seen a merchant ship with sixteen guns and only fifteen men, but I never before saw a town with only seven inhabitants". Cochrane praised the hospitality of these people who provided him with "living in a state of luxury" and "plenty of fish ... the greatest delicacy I have ever tasted."
in 1816. The second outbreak, in 1840, killed all the remaining settlers (or, according to different accounts, spared just one girl). Depopulation of Zashiversk spawned a Siberian legend
: when local traders found a chest
abandoned at the fairground, a shaman prohibited opening the chest while an Orthodox priest agreed to open it. Traders opened the chest ... and released the grim reaper
. According to George Kennan
, in 1879 the bureaucracy
believed that the deserted town still existed, and dispatched Hermann Schiller, a political exile from Poltava
, on a 3,700 mile march on foot to Zashiversk. Only then did the news of the town's demise reach the government, and Schiller was taken on another year's journey to Srednekolymsk
. A similar fictional story was retold by Adam Szymansky in A Pinch of Salt.
Officially, Zashiversk ceased to exist only in 1890. Harry de Windt
, who travelled through the region in 1902, witnessed Zashiversk abandoned, its ruins still standing. He noted that the town was still marked on contemporary British maps and the 1883 map of Russian General Staff.
pilots to pull up the whole tented roof
assembly) and shipped the parts to Akademgorodok
. Volunteers slowly assembled the church on the site of the future open air museum
(54°51′0"N 83°10′43"E) but, as of June 2006, the interiors were not restored and the church has not been consecrated to resume service.
Okladnikov and his colleagues Gogolev and Ashchepkov authored the definitive academic book on the subject, Ancient Zashiversk (Древний Зашиверск), printed by Nauka
in 1977. A replica of Zashiversk church has been erected in Sottintsy open air museum (Ust-Aldansky Ulus
of Sakha Republic).
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. It was located on the right bank of the Indigirka River
Indigirka River
The Indigirka River is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana River and the Kolyma River. It is in length. The area of its basin is 360,000 km²...
where the river makes a sharp bend around the town-site. It was founded in 1639. It served as a fortress town and then as an administrative center. In 1803 administrative functions were removed to Verkhoyansk
Verkhoyansk
Verkhoyansk is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, situated on the Yana River, near the Arctic Circle, from Yakutsk. Population: There is a river port, an airport, a fur-collecting depot, and the center of a reindeer-raising area....
. Subsequently the town suffered repeated epidemics of smallpox. It was completely depopulated by 1898 (one source says by 1863).
Spaso-Zashiverskaya church (built 1700) was moved to Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
by Alexey Okladnikov,
and now it exhibited at the Museum of the Archeological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science.
Early colony
From the end of the Time of TroublesTime of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. In 1601-1603, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third...
small groups of Russians penetrated and colonized the Far Eastern Arctic, in two distinct waves originating from White Sea
White Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
area and from the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
. In 1639 the company of Postnik Ivanov, a Siberian cossack
Siberian Cossacks
Siberian Cossacks were Cossacks who settled in the Siberian region of Russia from the end of the 16th century, following the Yermak Timofeyevich's conquest of Siberia. In early Siberia practically the whole Russian population, especially the serving-men were called Cossacks, but only in the loose...
, reached the site of Zashiversk and stayed there for the winter. The site, located below the rapid
Rapid
A rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. A rapid is a hydrological feature between a run and a cascade. A rapid is characterised by the river becoming shallower and having some rocks exposed above the...
s (Shivery, шиверы, in Siberian dialect, thus the name Zashiversk) of the Indigirka River
Indigirka River
The Indigirka River is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana River and the Kolyma River. It is in length. The area of its basin is 360,000 km²...
, some 870 kilometers from its inlet, marked the crossroads of a river route to Kolyma
Kolyma
The Kolyma region is located in the far north-eastern area of Russia in what is commonly known as Siberia but is actually part of the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk to the south...
and Chukotka
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
and a land route (Tsar's Trail, царская дорога) from Yakutsk
Yakutsk
With a subarctic climate , Yakutsk is the coldest city, though not the coldest inhabited place, on Earth. Average monthly temperatures range from in July to in January. The coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast...
to Nizhnekolymsk. Postnik reported abundance of valuable sable
Sable
The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
and fish, significant population of native settlers and nomads as well as silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
possessed by the Yukagirs; the voyevoda of Yakutsk
Yakutsk
With a subarctic climate , Yakutsk is the coldest city, though not the coldest inhabited place, on Earth. Average monthly temperatures range from in July to in January. The coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast...
responded with establishment of a permanent colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
to exploit the opportunity.
The Russians enforced taxation of natives through collection of yasak
Yasak
Yasak or yasaq, sometimes iasak, is a Turkic word for "tribute" that was used in Imperial Russia to designate fur tribute exacted from the indigenous peoples of Siberia.- Origin :...
in sable furs and regularly trespassed their self-assumed rights; the natives evaded extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
by resettling to remote areas. Twice, in 1668 (Forsyth: 1666-1667) and 1679, the Lamuts openly revolted and besieged
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
Zashiversk, but the colonists prevailed and fortified the settlement with a wooden stockade
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...
, the only one of its kind on the Indigirka. The Lamuts were dispersed with fortress guns, but successfully destroyed a Russian caravan on the way from Yana River
Yana River
The Yana River , is a river in Sakha in Russia, located between the Lena to the west and the Indigirka to the east.It is 872 km in length. The area of its basin is 238,000 km², whilst its annual discharge totals approximately . Most of this discharge occurs in May and June as the ice on the...
to Zashiversk. Their active resistance continued until 1692, by 1700 the Lamuts and Yukagirs were firmly pressed into submission and ended their own fighting among native clans.
The wooden tented church
Tented roof
A tented roof is a type of roof widely used in 16th and 17th century Russian architecture for churches. It is like a polygonal spire but differs in purpose in that it is typically used to roof the main internal space of a church, rather than an auxiliary structure...
of Saviour was erected in 1700. Explorer Dmitry Laptev
Dmitry Laptev
Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev was a Russian Arctic explorer and Vice Admiral .Dmitry Laptev was born in the village of Bolotovo, near Velikie Luki, in 1701. Bolotovo was the estate of his father, Yakov Laptev...
complained in 1741 that Zashiversk church remained the only Orthodox church from the mouth of Lena River
Lena River
The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed...
to Anadyr
Anadyr (town)
Anadyr is a port town and the administrative centre of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the extreme north-eastern region of Russia. It is at the mouth of the Anadyr River, on the tip of the southern promontory that sticks out into Anadyrskiy Liman...
. Noted preacher of Zashiversk Church, father Alexey Sleptsov, was an exile, son of former governor of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
Ivan Sleptsov. In 1735 was allowed to preach on condition that he will not ever leave Zashiversk. He died in 1783 at the age of 74 and his duties were assumed by his son Mikhail who lived past the age of 87.
Prosperity
Zashiversk grew as a marketplace settlement, and its annual fair attracted traders from all over the Far East. In 1786 its organic growth was boosted by establishment of uezd administration; influx of government bureaucrats and their servants temporarily made it a proper town with a city hall, prison, police force of thirty cossacks and a tavern. Population reached five hundreds, including 64 military and 8 clergymen. This prosperity was recorded in detail by explorers Gavril SarychevGavril Sarychev
Gavril Andreyevich Sarychev , spelt "Sarichef" in the United States, was a Russian navigator, hydrographer, admiral and Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg.Sarychev started his career in the Imperial Russian Navy in 1775...
and Joseph Billings
Joseph Billings
Joseph Billings was an English navigator and explorer who spent the most significant part of his life in Russian service.In 1785, the Russian government of Catherine II commissioned a new expedition in search for the Northeast Passage, led by English officer Joseph Billings, who had previously...
who also noted hospitality of local ispravnik Ivan Banner, an ethnic Dane in Russian service. Banner, apart from daily police functions, actively recruited the Chukchi
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
into accepting Russian citizenship and jealously tracked the activities of foreign traders in the area. He later joined the staff of the Russian American Company.
Coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of Zashiversk was approved in October 1790 along with other coats of arms of the Irkutks Governorate. According to the blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
, the golden fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
in a black field symbolized hunting foxes as the source of subsistence for the population. Overhunting during the 18th century depleted wildlife; decrease in fur trading spelled the town's end. In 1803, when Zashiversk lost its former economic significance as a marketplace, the uezd was abolished, and all government functions relocated to Verkhoyansk
Verkhoyansk
Verkhoyansk is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, situated on the Yana River, near the Arctic Circle, from Yakutsk. Population: There is a river port, an airport, a fur-collecting depot, and the center of a reindeer-raising area....
.
Decline
Arctic explorer Ferdinand von WrangelFerdinand von Wrangel
Baron Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig von Wrangel – May 25 , 1870) was a Russian explorer and seaman, Honorable Member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a founder of the Russian Geographic Society...
, who crossed Siberia in the summer of 1820 and reached Zashiversk in October, noted that although after the 1786 the settlement expanded to around thirty permanent houses (as opposed to earlier yurtas), after the merger of Verkhoyansk and Zashiversk uezds the latter "plunged into its former misery". By 1820 the town shrunk to only five houses; there were two Russian families, a Yakut
Yakut
Yakut may refer to:* Yakuts, the Turkic people associated with the Sakha Republic* Yakut language, a Turkic language also known as Sakha.* Ruby in Turkish language* Yakut , a breed from Russia*Yakut Pony, horse breed from Siberia, Russia...
postmaster, Orthodox
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
father Mikhail and his brother. Wrangel was surprised to find local church well-maintained although father Mikhail was 87 years old. He preached in the Arctic for sixty years, converted around 15 thousand natives, and was still able to cross his enormous parish on horseback and hunt wild game in the mountains. Mikhail was the only local able to grow cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
and root vegetables in short Arctic summers. Yakuts of father Mikhail's parish were segregated into the richer nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s who herded horses and cattle, and poorer settlers, the "River Yakuts". The latter settled along the rivers, and survived by fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
alone, their only livestock being the sled dog
Sled dog
Sled dogs, known also as sleigh man dogs, sledge dogs, or sleddogs, are highly trained types of dogs that are used to pull a dog sled, a wheel-less vehicle on runners also called a sled or sleigh, over snow or ice, by means of harnesses and lines.Sled dogs have become a popular winter recreation...
s. Zashiversk then still retained some of its logistical
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
functions: Wrangel's stay there coincided with the passage of a government caravan
Caravan (travellers)
A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defence against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.In historical times, caravans...
with salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
and flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
heading to Nizhnekolymsk; horses for the caravan were provided by the Yakuts.
John Dundas Cochrane
John Dundas Cochrane
Capt. John Dundas Cochrane R. N. , nicknamed the voyageur pédestre in France, was a Scottish traveller and explorer. A nephew of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, he crossed, on foot, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia and Asia to Kamchatka.When back in England, John Dundas...
visited Zashiversk in December 1822 on foot and lamented that "Of all the places I have ever seen, bearing the name of city or town, this is the most dreary and desolate: my blood froze within me as I beheld and approached the place." He recorded seven single-person households: two clergymen, a widow, two non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s, a postmaster and a trader: "I have seen a merchant ship with sixteen guns and only fifteen men, but I never before saw a town with only seven inhabitants". Cochrane praised the hospitality of these people who provided him with "living in a state of luxury" and "plenty of fish ... the greatest delicacy I have ever tasted."
Ghost town
Wrangel and Cochrane visited Zashiversk after the population was hit by the first outbreak of smallpoxSmallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
in 1816. The second outbreak, in 1840, killed all the remaining settlers (or, according to different accounts, spared just one girl). Depopulation of Zashiversk spawned a Siberian legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
: when local traders found a chest
Chest (furniture)
A chest is one of the oldest forms of furniture. It is typically a rectangular structure with four walls and a liftable lid, for storage. The interior space may be subdivided...
abandoned at the fairground, a shaman prohibited opening the chest while an Orthodox priest agreed to open it. Traders opened the chest ... and released the grim reaper
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
. According to George Kennan
George Kennan (explorer)
George Kennan was an American explorer noted for his travels in the Kamchatka and Caucasus regions of the Russian Empire. He was a cousin twice removed of diplomat and historian George F. Kennan, with whom he shared his birthday....
, in 1879 the bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
believed that the deserted town still existed, and dispatched Hermann Schiller, a political exile from Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, on a 3,700 mile march on foot to Zashiversk. Only then did the news of the town's demise reach the government, and Schiller was taken on another year's journey to Srednekolymsk
Srednekolymsk
Srednekolymsk is a town and the administrative center of Srednekolymsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located northeast of Yakutsk on the left bank of the Kolyma River. Population: -History:...
. A similar fictional story was retold by Adam Szymansky in A Pinch of Salt.
Officially, Zashiversk ceased to exist only in 1890. Harry de Windt
Harry de Windt
Captain Harry Willes Darell de Windt was the aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak , and is best known as an explorer and travel writer...
, who travelled through the region in 1902, witnessed Zashiversk abandoned, its ruins still standing. He noted that the town was still marked on contemporary British maps and the 1883 map of Russian General Staff.
Modern studies
In 1969 achaelologists led by Alexey Okladnikov rediscovered and surveyed the remains of Zashiversk. According to archaeologist Nikolay Zhurin, Okladnikov was tipped about the existence of Zashiversk Church by polar aviation pilots, who wondered how could the church emerge and survive in a frozen wilderness. He set up the 1969 expedition and, indeed, found the church, unattended for around a century, in good condition. A second expedition, in 1971, carefully disassembled the log structure (recruiting curious helicopterHelicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
pilots to pull up the whole tented roof
Tented roof
A tented roof is a type of roof widely used in 16th and 17th century Russian architecture for churches. It is like a polygonal spire but differs in purpose in that it is typically used to roof the main internal space of a church, rather than an auxiliary structure...
assembly) and shipped the parts to Akademgorodok
Akademgorodok
Akademgorodok , is a part of the Russian city Novosibirsk, located 20 km south of the city center. It is the educational and scientific centre of Siberia...
. Volunteers slowly assembled the church on the site of the future open air museum
Open air museum
An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first open-air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the concept soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Open-air museums are variously known as...
(54°51′0"N 83°10′43"E) but, as of June 2006, the interiors were not restored and the church has not been consecrated to resume service.
Okladnikov and his colleagues Gogolev and Ashchepkov authored the definitive academic book on the subject, Ancient Zashiversk (Древний Зашиверск), printed by Nauka
Nauka
Nauka is a Russian publisher of academic books and journals. Established in the USSR in 1923, it was called USSR Academy of Sciences Publisher until 1963. Until 1934 the publisher was based in Leningrad, then moved to Moscow. Its logo depicts an open book with Sputnik 1 above it.Nauka was the main...
in 1977. A replica of Zashiversk church has been erected in Sottintsy open air museum (Ust-Aldansky Ulus
Ust-Aldansky Ulus
Ust-Aldansky Ulus is an ulus of the Sakha Republic, Russia. The area of the ulus is . Its administrative center is the village of Borogontsy. Population: most of whom are ethnic Yakuts...
of Sakha Republic).
Sources
(reprint of original 1825 edition) (first edition: Saint Petersburg, 1841)-
- English edition: