Glory Ural return. Museum of Military Equipment "Military Glory of the Urals. Moving to Verkhnyaya Pyshma

Bus sightseeing tour of Yekaterinburg

A sightseeing tour of the city of Yekaterinburg will acquaint you with iconic historical places: the dam of the city pond on the Iset River, which gave life to the Yekaterinburg plant in the 18th century, a monument to the founders of the city V.N. Tatishchev and V.I. de Gennin, the chapel of St. Catherine - the patroness of the city, the first stone building of Yekaterinburg - the Mountain Chancellery; merchant mansions of the XIX century, adorning the city pond.
You will see the central squares of the city - Ploshchad 1905 Goda and Oktyabrskaya Square with the buildings of the City Duma and the regional government. Visit Voznesenskaya Gorka, decorated with the most beautiful building in the city of the early 19th century - the palace of the merchants Rastorguev-Kharitonovs, a memorial church on blood, on the site of the notorious house of the engineer Ipatiev, where the Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family spent the last days of their life.
And on the border between Europe and Asia, you will find out why the Ural Mountains divided the two parts of the world. What does one of the founders of Yekaterinburg, Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev, have to do with the establishment of the border between Europe and Asia along the Ural Mountains?

Dinner

Moving to Verkhnyaya Pyshma

Excursion to the Museum of military equipment "Military Glory of the Urals"

The exposition of the Verkhnepyshminsky Museum "Combat Glory of the Urals" reminds of a review of military equipment and weapons before the battle of an imaginary combined army of all military epochs of the 20th century. Walking along the long lines of tanks, artillery and rocket guns, combat vehicles and aircraft, it is impossible to believe that there could be richer museums. And the fact that all this armored muscularity was created as if specifically for the contest of daring khaki beauty, and not for bloodshed, you believe willingly and immediately. The exposition is so large and varied that experts in military technology shake their heads in approval, and amateurs are delighted from the very first minutes. The exhibition hall of the museum greets guests with the shine of body paint and wide smiles of the radiator grilles of retro cars. Under the astonished gazes of the guests, the cars of the executive class of bygone eras compete in legend and solidity. A few steps up - and surprise gives way to emotion. If you lived even a little during the Soviet era, deeply personal stories will come to life in your memory, the heroes of which were massive Soviet cars exhibited on the second floor of the museum. These symbols of happiness and prosperity of several generations of Soviet people seem so sweet and simple now! A paradise for lovers of leisurely looking at the smallest details - on the third floor. Here are collected cold and small arms, military uniforms and military awards. The museum grows with the city. Until recently, the part of the city where the museum is located was corroded by provincial grayness. Only a few years have passed, and the renewed UMMC plant area has become an independent landmark of Verkhnyaya Pyshma.

Moving to Yekaterinburg

Free time

Walking tour of the center of Yekaterinburg

A sightseeing tour of the city of Yekaterinburg will acquaint you with iconic historical sites: the dam of the city pond on the Iset River, which gave life to the Yekaterinburg plant in the 18th century, the monument to the founders of the city V.N. Tatishchev and V.I. de Gennin, the chapel of the patroness of the city of St. Catherine, the first the stone building of Yekaterinburg - the Mountain Chancellery and merchant mansions of the 19th century, adorning the city pond.

Group gathering

Departure from Yekaterinburg

Military-Historical Festival Reconstruction of the Civil War of 1918 "Pokrovsky Border"

The events that took place in August-September 1918 northeast of Yekaterinburg were one of the most dramatic episodes of the civil war in the Urals. The battles were fought for every piece of land. Cities and villages were seized alternately by white and red, and when advancing on a settlement, the troops did not always know exactly who owned it. Opponents fought off each other not only settlements, but also armored trains. In detachments of the Reds, consisting of local peasants, riots often broke out - the peasants did not want to fight during the field work. Unrest encompassed even those units that consisted of workers, which often ended in failure for the commissars. Soldiers and commanders went over to the side of the enemy - betrayal and desertion was common on both sides of the front. We used to call this war a civil war, but its Ural episode is notable for the fact that not only Russians took part in the battles. In the events described, a Chinese company fought on the side of the Reds, and the Czechs on the side of the Whites. In a word, a small Armageddon.
The military-historical reconstruction "Pokrovsky border" will reproduce the events that took place in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Pokrovskoye, Irbitsky district. This is the place where the fiercest battles between white and red took place. The reconstruction will be carried out by military history clubs. In addition to the reconstruction of the actual hostilities, the guests of the festival will see the peaceful life of that time. The festival will include a field camp, a hospital, an exhibition of equipment, weapons and paraphernalia, a craft courtyard, photo zones and a music salon, playgrounds and other interactive platforms.

Traditionally, on the last weekend of May, the museum hosts an event "Rainbow of Hobbies" dedicated to the results of the academic year and the achievements of the students of the "Stand Modeling" circle. On May 29, at noon, the families of almost all of the museum pupils hurried to the holiday of their children.

The guys began to prepare for the event at the beginning of May, it was necessary to complete all the obligations they had undertaken: touch up, glue, connect the electricity and, of course, help each other in performing difficult tasks.

The first to present his project was the most experienced modeler and the right hand of the head of the circle Alexander Korkin, Sergey Yanvarev whose experience in the circle has been for four years. His models are ceremonial couplings: the Stalinets tractor with a 152mm ML-20 howitzer-cannon and the Comintern artillery tractor with a 122mm A-19 cannon, manufactured at a scale of 1: 35 for the grandiose project of the group members "Museum of UMMC equipment in miniature ”. The residents and guests of Verkhnyaya Pyshma could see the hitch of the first model at the Victory Day parade on May 9 in our city. In just a year, he made 5 models. Sergey not only makes complex models himself, he works both as a designer and as an innovator in the use of new unusual materials.

Mikhail Belousov presented a model of the 85-mm anti-aircraft gun 52-K mod. 1939. This gun participated in the battles of the Great Patriotic War, after its completion it was in service with our army for a long time, until the appearance of anti-aircraft missile systems. Model made of plastic parts in 1:35 scale.

Denis Belokrylov remained true to his passion for snowmobiles. He makes models of snowmobiles of various modifications, which were used in the course of hostilities during the Great Patriotic War. In total, according to the drawings, he made 5 snowmobiles. Today he presented a snowmobile of the type RF-8 GAZ-98, these machines were used in the aerosled battalions. This type of snowmobile was equipped with a car engine, a fuel tank of 80 liters and a propeller with a blade span of 2.35 meters, fire was fired from a DShK machine gun with a horizontal firing angle of 300 degrees and a vertical firing angle of 14 degrees. Ammunition was 10 magazines for a machine gun and a grenade for close combat. The model is made according to the drawings only. In the manufacture of models I used: cardboard, paper, glue, paint, wire and plastic and my ability to solder.

Danila Pluzhnikov made a model of the Orthodox Church out of paper and used for work: glue, scissors, a stationery knife, cardboard, velvet paper for the hill on which the church stands and plastic figurines to represent parishioners. Such work from the manufacturer requires great accuracy, perseverance and spatial vision, given the scale of the model 1:87.

Yuri Leontiev is a beginner stand-up artist, his works are small models made of paper and cardboard. The paper souvenirs presented by Yuri are very beautiful and neat, and the cubes without vertices and with the absence of ribs in their manufacture required him to make design decisions. From colored paper models, he made a pirate tower, a Ford taxi car. In his work, he used the following materials and tools: model sweeps, paper, cardboard, paints, glue, a brush, a ruler and colored markers.

Alexey Smolyanov presented his collection of 5 paper cars from the thirties of the last century: Ford Taxi, Ford Bus, Ford Land TT, Ford Freight and Bugatti. Presenting the models, the author noted that he had set himself an interesting task, to show the way of mankind to modern cars. In the process of work, Alexey managed to bring his design idea to life, he decided to cut out the windows and insert transparent plastic into them. His cars were immediately transformed, became larger and more expressive.

Oleg Yachmenev made a model of the car "Bugatti-Royal" - an armored vehicle of the British royal family. Only 25 copies of such machines were produced by the manufacturer.

Within the framework of the large joint project “Museum of military equipment of the UMMC in miniature” Denis Stavrov manufactured the T-26 tank, developed on the basis of the British Vickers tank. In total, Denis plans to produce 30 models of various modifications of this tank.

Andrey Akimov presented the BMP models: BMP-2, BMP-1 (1966-1983). These machines can overcome water obstacles and are equipped with a unique powerful engine. Andrey's works are always very accurate and done very carefully.

The most interesting project was presented in the final of children's presentations. Ksenia Fefelova, one of the best modelers in the circle, the most creative young master, inspired by the opening of the new UMMC automobile technology museum, made a model of the Corvette C6 at the motor show. In her work, she acted as a designer whose task was to present the car in such a way that buyers would not have a desire to leave the stand empty-handed. To accomplish this task, Ksenia developed: the place of the car on the podium, the back of the podium, the winning lighting of the car and a video presentation of the testing and operation of the car. The car model should seem to "float in the air", and close to attract the eye, a rotating mini-podium could allow you to see the whole car from one point. What to make a mini-podium from? We thought for a long time, the whole team of the circle joined. Finally, a solution was found - this is the base from the packaging of FERRERO ROSHE chocolates, and the rotation is given by the mechanism from the advertising device of the medicine from the nearest pharmacy. A concave backdrop made of foil cardboard with a screen function, tinting mirror film, tin plate helped to present the car in all its glory. Ksenia expressed special gratitude for help in the development and installation of the electrical circuit to her comrades under the leadership of Denis Belokrylov. Ksenia managed to bring all her ideas to life, those present were delighted with the work of the young designer-modeller, and the comrades thought about creating new models, there was a desire to do something unusual that no one in the circle had done before.

Towards the end of the event, the head of the circle presented his models made this academic year. Alexander Pavlovich makes models to demonstrate to students various technologies, methods, techniques for making models and using various materials in work. He presented a collection of ambulances for transporting sick and wounded of the period 1930-1941, manufactured by the ambulance car depot in Moscow and the design bureau of the GAZ plant.

The celebration ended with rewarding young modelers, but before the best ones were awarded, parents and guests were introduced to the criteria for mutual evaluation, working in the circle. The guys themselves evaluate each other on a scale of achievements, there are always the best ones on which you can be equal and try to become the best modeler. This year the awards were held in the following nominations in the following areas of activity: "Best Modeler" - Sergey Yanvarev, "Best Modeler - Constructor" - Denis Belokrylov, "Best Modeler - Designer" - Ksenia Fefelova, "Best Beginner Modeler - Danila Pluzhnikov", "The Most diligent modeler - Ruslan Kudyakov. " Congratulations to all the circle modelers with well-deserved awards!

In August 1989, at the call of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League and the editorial board of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, detachments of red trackers of the Sverdlovsk region took part in the All-Russian Watch of Memory - search operations at the battlefield of the Great Patriotic War in the Novgorod, Tver, Smolensk regions. On December 5, 1989, on the initiative of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, a regional council of search units was created. Elena Skuratova was elected as the Chairman of the Council, and now she is the Chairman of the Vozvrashchenie Association. In October 1991, a conference of search teams and military-patriotic clubs of the Sverdlovsk region made a decision to create a children's public organization "Sverdlovsk Regional Association of search teams" Return ". For 16 years, search units of the Sverdlovsk region have raised and buried the remains of 12806 Soviet soldiers. Search expeditions took place in Ukraine (Lugansk), Belarus, Karelia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Smolensk region, Novgorod region, Oryol, Kursk, Leningrad, Murmansk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Tver, Kaluga, Moscow regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Search teams of the Association "Return" work at schools, clubs at the place of residence, enterprises of the region. So, for example, in the Oktyabrsky district of Yekaterinburg there are three search squads: the "Rovesnik" squadron - at the children's club at the place of residence, the "Osiris" squadron - at the Ural State Forestry University, the "Falcon" squadron - at the military-patriotic landing club. In the city of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, the search movement was initiated by OJSC Uralelektromed, the search group Rovesnik was created on the basis of several schools. The Nizhny Tagil association "Sobol" includes the Yunarmeyskie, search groups of the city. In the city of Verkhnyaya Salda, graduates of the Pamyat search unit organized a youth search unit at VSMPO - now there are two search units in Verkhnyaya Salda.

Among the search associations of the Russian Federation, the Vozvrashchenie Association is one of the largest formations.

In 1991, an archival group began to work at the Vozvrashchenie Association, applications were accepted from relatives of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland, the fate of Red Army men and Red commanders was clarified through work in local archives, in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Podolsk), in the archive of military medical Museum (St. Petersburg), there is a correspondence with the military registration and enlistment offices, changes and additions are made to the Book of Memory of the Sverdlovsk Region. In the 18th volume of the Book of Memory 386 people were entered, in the 19th volume 86 surnames were transferred. In 2005, thanks to the search and archival work, data on 203 military personnel of 1941-1945 was established. The data bank of the Association "Vozvrashchenie" currently contains about 5000 applications for conducting search and archival work.

In 1993, together with the "Palace of Youth" association and the Committee for Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region, the results of the first review-competition of museums and corners of military Glory, which became annual, were summed up. In 2005, 314 school museums and corners of military Glory took part in the review - competition. The first place among the corners of military Glory was awarded to the museum of the MOU DOD "House of Children and Youth Creativity" in Kamensk-Uralsky. The first place among the institutions of primary vocational education was taken by the museum of Krasnoufimsky educational institution No. 97. The first place among educational institutions was taken by the museum of the "Center for water sports" Young sailor ", Novouralsk, the second - the museum of the Baikal secondary school, the third Museum of School No. 1, Nizhny Tagil. In 1993, an exposition was created in the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of History and Local Lore from the exhibits and materials of the "Return" Association - "The war ended long ago" - which marked the beginning of cooperation of the "Return" Association with state and public museums, as well as educational and propaganda activities of the Association's detachments "Return". In the future, expositions on search activities worked in the Ural Museum of Youth, in the Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg, the Winged Guard Museum, municipal museums in the cities of Nizhny Tagil, Irbit, Lesnoy, Degtyarsk, etc.

Today at the Ural State Agricultural Academy there is a regional museum of search traffic. A traveling exhibition “They are not missing ...” has been created from the exhibits of the Vozvrashchenie Association. Over the past five years, over 1000 people have visited the exhibition and museum.

Since 1995, the detachments of the Vozvrashchenie Association and the school museum asset have begun work on the actions “Mercy”, “Veteran”, “Letter from the Hospital”. Each detachment has sponsored veterans of the Great Patriotic War, conducts exploration activities to collect memories of the war, looks after military graves or memorials.

In 1998, the Vozvrashchenie Association, together with the press service of the Ural Military District and the Committee for Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region, held a contest of journalistic works of youth “Serving the Fatherland!”, Which has become traditional. More than 500 people take part in the competition every year.

In 2002 and 2003, the Vozvrashchenie Association together with the Department for Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region hold the first and second regional festival - a patriotic song contest “I love you, Russia!”. The laureates of the competition take prizes at the All-Russian Festival of Patriotic Songs.

In 2003, 2004 and 2005, the Vozvrashchenie Association, together with the Volga - Ural Military District and the regional military commissariat, is implementing the Regional Defense and Sports Health Camp project. The regional defense-sports camp graduated 1,800 cadets in two years. These are teenagers registered, pre-conscription youth.

In 2004, 2005 the Association "Return" with the support of the Department of Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region, the regional military commissariat, the regional committee of war and labor veterans (disabled) holds the finals of the youth army game in the administrative districts of the Sverdlovsk region and the municipality Ekaterinburg". More than two thousand youth soldiers have taken part in the district finals for 2 years.

In 2003 and 2004, a regional Post No. 1 was established at the Eternal Flame memorial on the Ural Communards Square in Yekaterinburg from May 1 to May 9. In 2005, regional Post No. 1 was carried by 450 youth soldiers from 12 municipalities of the region, and in cities and districts of the region, 7,566 teenagers took part in the action "Post No. 1".

The Vozvrashchenie Association includes 15,000 people from 224 structural divisions in 54 municipalities.

The Vozvrashchenie Association is holding a regional action "Remember your name, Russia!" - this is the search for the names of the dead servicemen, the establishment of their fate through archival work. The action is held with the support of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of Veterans (invalids) of war and military service and the Department for Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region. In 2005, the Vozvrashchenie Association restored 203 fates of the relatives of the Great Patriotic War soldiers who disappeared at the front in those years.

In the jubilee year, the Association, with the support of the Department of Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region, announced the action "60th anniversary of Victory - 60 good deeds".

Results. In total, 32 municipalities of the Sverdlovsk region took part in the action as of May 2005: more than 150 educational institutions, children's and teenage clubs at the place of residence, centers for out-of-school work, centers for additional education, houses for children and youth creativity, youth public associations - 18 250 person. Transferred to State and Public Museums 120 relics of the Great Patriotic War, Timurov's work covered 1 500 veterans, fate clarified 203 military personnel (1941-1945), in the 18th volume of the Book of Memory 386 surnames. The regional action "Post No. 1" was attended by 7 566 yunarmeytsev.

We invite you on an excursion to the unique exhibition center of the military equipment museum "Combat Glory of the Urals", which is located in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk region. The center occupies three floors, which house over 70 rare military and civilian exhibits from the Second World War and the post-war period, and an open-air museum of military equipment. On the example of expanded expositions on the history of the Fatherland, the younger generation will be able to feel the significance of the contribution of the Urals people to the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Tour program:
07:30 Departure from school;
Arrival at yekaterinburg city, a sightseeing tour of the city with an inspection of significant objects on a patriotic theme:
Monument to Marshal G.K. Zhukov.Installed in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of the Victory in front of the headquarters of the Central Military District. The monument stands here for a reason: in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Zhukov commanded the Ural Military District.
Monument to the Ural Tank Volunteer Corpswas inaugurated in front of the railway station on February 22, 1962. During the Second World War, 27 soldiers and sergeants became full holders of the Order of Glory, 38 - Hero of the Soviet Union. This is a two-figure composition - a mighty epic steelmaker, personifying the working Urals, blesses the young warrior for a feat of arms.
Memorial "Black Tulip".There are monuments with the same name in several cities of Russia. Such memorials were built in honor of the soldiers who died in battle in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya. In due time "Black Tulips" were called military planes that brought numerous cargoes 200 to their homeland. The memorial is a symbolic image of the "Black Tulip" military aircraft. In the center, a drooping soldier sits with a submachine gun, he grieves for the dead soldiers. The weight of the monument is 4.5 tons.
Yekaterinburg Suvorov Military School Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Moving to verkhnyaya Pyshma.
City tour with a visit to the museum complex "Military Glory of the Urals"
The Museum "Military Glory of the Urals" is the largest in the Urals museum of domestic and foreign military equipment, vintage cars, as well as many unique items related to the military history of the Fatherland. The museum's collection includes several hundred exhibits, ranging from small badges and medals to huge missile systems. There are single exhibits (for example, the T-34-85 "Red" tank, which took part in the filming of the film "Four Tankmen and a Dog").
For an additional fee: shooting galleries, simulators, training on a tank simulator and participation in a virtual battle.
Dinnerin the cafe;
Departure of the group;
21:30 Returnto Chelyabinsk.

Cost for 1 student, rubles:

Included in the price:
Travel by bus
Guide work along the route
Visiting all excursion sites specified in the program
Accident insurance

Additionally paid:
Lunch (200 rubles / person)
In the museum of Verkhnyaya Pyshma: shooting galleries, simulators, training on a tank simulator and participation in a virtual battle (from 50 rubles)

(I) K: Museums founded in 2006

Museum of military equipment "Military Glory of the Urals" - one of the largest museums of military equipment in Russia, created in 2006 by the forces of JSC "UMMC" with the support of the command of the Volga-Ural Military District. The museum is located in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk region (actually a suburb of Yekaterinburg).

History of creation

The creation of the museum began in 2005, when a group of Verkhnyaya Pyshma veterans approached the management of the UMMC and the city-forming enterprise OJSC Uralelectromed with a request to supplement the memorial complex opened in the same year with several copies of military equipment. The idea received not only support, but also further development, and on May 9, 2006, the grand opening of the exhibition, which then had 10 exhibits, took place, the most notable of which was the BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher, which took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square.

By order of the commander of the Volga-Ural Military District No. 310 of October 23, 2006, the Verkhnyaya Pyshma exposition received the official status of an open-air museum of military equipment "Fighting Glory of the Urals".

In subsequent years, the exposition was continuously replenished with new samples of technology. At the same time, cooperation was established both with the Russian Ministry of Defense and with search units, as well as with private collectors. A significant part of the exhibits has been brought in good condition by Uralelectromed employees and regularly takes part in parade processions.

It is worth noting that the Uralelektromed plant, in front of which the museum site is located and where the repair and restoration of exhibits is carried out, has never been a machine-building enterprise, and nothing of the military equipment presented was produced there. However, on the scale of the entire Urals, the exhibition is more than relevant, since there are a number of enterprises in the region that produced and produce military equipment used both in the Great Patriotic War and after it - this is Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, and Yekaterinburg Uralmashzavod and Uraltransmash, and Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant. In addition, the Pyshminsky Copper Electrolyte Plant itself during the war years was of great importance for the defense industry, being the main supplier of copper and alloys for the manufacture of artillery shells and cartridge cases.

Museum exposition

For 2012, the collection of the museum consisted of more than a hundred pieces of equipment exhibited in the open area. In 2013, the opening of the three-story building of the Museum's Exhibition Center took place, where visitors are presented with samples of light military equipment, small arms, retro cars and motorcycles, exhibits showing the history of the award system, as well as copies of aircraft from the Great Patriotic War. The fundamental position of the founders of the museum is that the technique of Nazi Germany and the countries that fought on its side will never appear in it.

The museum is available for.

Below is a list of the museum's exhibits by category:

Gallery

After WWII Tanks Pyshma.jpg

Exposition of tanks of the 2nd half
XX century

Location and opening hours

• The museum is located in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, at gate 1 of OJSC Uralelectromed, next to the memorial complex "Cranes" in honor of the workers who died in the Great Patriotic War.
• Opening hours of the open area: from May to September: daily (Monday cleaning day) from 10:00 to 22:00 October to April: daily (Monday cleaning day) from 10:00 to 18:00
• Exhibition center working hours: from 10:00 to 18:00 (Monday, Tuesday sanitary days)

The entrance to the museum is free. The entrance to the Exhibition Center of the Museum is paid - 100 rubles.

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An excerpt characterizing the Museum of Military Equipment "Military Glory of the Urals"

The smile disappeared on Speransky's white face, and his physiognomy gained a lot from this. Probably Prince Andrew's thought struck him as interesting.
- Si vous envisagez la question sous ce point de vue, [If you look at the subject like that,] - he began, pronouncing French with obvious difficulty and speaking even more slowly than Russian, but quite calmly. He said that honor, l "honneur, cannot be supported by advantages detrimental to the course of service, that honor, l" honneur, is either: the negative notion of not doing reprehensible acts, or a known source of competition for approval and rewards expressing it.
His arguments were succinct, simple and clear.
The institution that upholds this honor, the source of competition, is an institution like the Legion d "honneur [Order of the Legion of Honor] of the great emperor Napoleon, not harming but promoting the success of the service, not class or court advantage.
- I do not argue, but it cannot be denied that the court advantage has achieved the same goal, - said Prince Andrey: - every courtier considers himself obliged to bear his position with dignity.
“But you didn’t want to take advantage of it, prince,” said Speransky, showing with a smile that he, an awkward argument for his interlocutor, wishes to end it with courtesy. “If you do me the honor of welcoming me on Wednesday,” he added, “after talking with Magnitsky, I will tell you what may interest you, and besides, I will have the pleasure of having a more detailed conversation with you. - He closed his eyes, bowed, and a la francaise, [in the French manner,] without saying goodbye, trying to be unnoticed, left the hall.

During the first time of his stay in St. Petersburg, Prince Andrey felt his entire mentality, developed in his solitary life, completely obscured by those petty concerns that gripped him in St. Petersburg.
Returning home in the evening, he wrote down 4 or 5 necessary visits or rendez vous [dates] in a memorable book at the appointed hours. The mechanism of life, the order of the day so as to keep up with time everywhere, took away a large share of the very energy of life. He did not do anything, did not even think about anything and did not have time to think, but only spoke and successfully said what he had had time to think over in the village.
He sometimes noticed with displeasure that it happened to him on the same day, in different societies, to repeat the same thing. But he was so busy for whole days that he did not have time to think that he was not thinking anything.
Speransky, both on the first meeting with him at Kochubei's, and then in the middle of the house, where Speransky, having received Bolkonsky, talked to him for a long time and trustingly, made a strong impression on Prince Andrey.
Prince Andrey considered such a huge number of people to be despicable and insignificant creatures, so he wanted to find in another a living ideal of the perfection to which he strove, that he easily believed that in Speranskoye he had found this ideal of a completely rational and virtuous person. If Speransky was from the same society from which Prince Andrey was, the same upbringing and moral habits, then Bolkonsky would soon have found his weak, human, non-heroic sides, but now this logical mindset, strange for him, inspired him all the more respect that he did not quite understand him. In addition, Speransky, whether because he appreciated the abilities of Prince Andrei, or because he found it necessary to acquire it for himself, Speransky flirted before Prince Andrei with his impartial, calm mind and flattered Prince Andrei with that subtle flattery combined with arrogance, which consists in tacit recognition his interlocutor with himself is the only person who is able to understand all the stupidity of everyone else, and the rationality and depth of his thoughts.
During their long conversation in the middle of the evening, Speransky said more than once: "We look at everything that goes beyond the general level of an ingrained habit ..." or with a smile: "But we want the wolves to be fed and the sheep safe ..." or : "They cannot understand this ..." and everything with such an expression that said: "We: you and me, we understand what they are and who we are."
This first, long conversation with Speransky only intensified in Prince Andrei the feeling with which he first saw Speransky. He saw in him a reasonable, strictly thinking, enormous mind of a person who, with energy and persistence, had attained power and used it only for the good of Russia. In the eyes of Prince Andrei, Speransky was precisely that person who rationally explains all the phenomena of life, recognizes only what is reasonable as valid, and who knows how to apply the standard of rationality to everything, which he himself so wanted to be. Everything seemed so simple, clear in Speransky's presentation that Prince Andrey involuntarily agreed with him in everything. If he objected and argued, it was only because he wanted to be independent on purpose and not completely obey Speransky's opinions. Everything was so, everything was fine, but one thing embarrassed Prince Andrey: it was Speransky's cold, mirrored gaze that did not let his soul into his soul, and his white, gentle hand, which Prince Andrey involuntarily looked at, as people usually look at, with power. For some reason, the mirrored look and this gentle hand irritated Prince Andrey. Prince Andrey was unpleasantly struck by the still too great contempt for people, which he noticed in Speransky, and the variety of methods in the evidence that he cited in support of his opinions. He used all possible instruments of thought, excluding comparisons, and too boldly, as it seemed to Prince Andrew, passed from one to another. Either he stood on the soil of a practical figure and condemned dreamers, then on the soil of a satirist and ironically laughed at his opponents, then he became strictly logical, then suddenly he rose into the field of metaphysics. (He especially often used this last instrument of evidence.) He transferred the question to metaphysical heights, passed on to the definitions of space, time, thought, and, bringing forth refutations from there, again descended to the ground of dispute.
In general, the main feature of Speransky's mind that struck Prince Andrei was an undoubted, unshakable faith in the strength and legitimacy of the mind. It was evident that Speransky could never have thought of that usual for Prince Andrey thought that it’s impossible to express all that you think, and there never came a doubt that all that I think and all that was nonsense. what do I believe in? And this particular mentality of Speransky most of all attracted Prince Andrei.
The first time of his acquaintance with Speransky, Prince Andrei had a passionate sense of admiration for him, similar to that which he once experienced for Bonaparte. The fact that Speransky was the son of a priest, who could have been stupid people, as many did, went to despise as a shopkeeper and priest, made Prince Andrei especially careful with his feelings for Speransky, and unconsciously strengthen it in himself.
On that first evening that Bolkonsky spent with him, talking about the commission for drafting laws, Speransky ironically told Prince Andrei that the commission of laws had existed for 150 years, was worth millions and did nothing, that Rosenkampf had pasted labels on all articles of comparative legislation. - And that's all the state paid millions for! - he said.
- We want to give a new judicial power to the Senate, and we have no laws. Therefore, it is a sin not to serve people like you, prince now.
Prince Andrey said that this requires a legal education, which he does not have.
- Yes, no one has it, so what do you want? It is the circulus viciosus, [the vicious circle] from which one must come out by effort.

A week later, Prince Andrei was a member of the commission for drawing up military regulations, and, which he did not expect at all, head of the department of the commission for drawing up wagons. At Speransky's request, he took the first part of the civil code being drawn up and, with the help of Code Napoleon and Justiniani, [Napoleon's and Justinian's Code,] worked on compiling the department: Rights of Persons.

Two years ago, in 1808, returning to Petersburg from his trip to the estates, Pierre unwittingly became the head of Petersburg Freemasonry. He set up dining rooms and funeral boxes, recruited new members, took care of the unification of various lodges and the acquisition of authentic acts. He gave his money for the construction of a temple and replenished, as much as he could, alms, to which most members were stingy and sloppy. He almost alone supported the poor house, arranged by the order in St. Petersburg, at his own expense. His life, meanwhile, went on as before, with the same enthusiasm and licentiousness. He loved to dine and drink well, and, although he considered it immoral and humiliating, he could not refrain from the amusements of the single societies in which he participated.
In the child of his studies and hobbies, Pierre, however, after a year, began to feel that the soil of Freemasonry on which he stood was leaving from under his feet the more firmly he tried to stand on it. At the same time, he felt that the deeper the soil on which he stood went under his feet, the more involuntarily he was bound to it. When he started Freemasonry, he experienced the feeling of a man trustingly placing his foot on the flat surface of a swamp. He put his foot down and fell through. In order to be fully convinced of the firmness of the soil on which he was standing, he put his other foot and fell even more, got stuck and already involuntarily walked knee-deep in the swamp.
Joseph Alekseevich was not in Petersburg. (He recently retired from the affairs of the Petersburg lodges and lived without a break in Moscow.) All the brothers, members of the lodges, were people familiar to Pierre in life and it was difficult for him to see in them only brothers in stonemasonry, and not Prince B., not Ivan Vasilyevich D., whom he knew in life for the most part as weak and insignificant people. From under the Masonic aprons and insignia, he saw the uniforms and crosses on them, which they sought in life. Often, collecting alms and counting 20-30 rubles registered for the parish, and for the most part in debt from ten members, half of whom were as rich as he was, Pierre recalled the Masonic oath that each brother promises to give his all property for a neighbor; and doubts arose in his soul, on which he tried not to dwell.
All the brothers he knew he divided into four categories. To the first category, he ranked brothers who do not take an active part either in the affairs of the lodges or in human affairs, but are exclusively engaged in the mysteries of science of the order, busy with questions about the triple name of God, or about the three principles of things, sulfur, mercury and salt, or about the meaning square and all the figures of the Temple of Solomon. Pierre respected this category of brothers of the Freemasons, to which mainly the old brothers belonged, and Joseph Alekseevich himself, in Pierre's opinion, but did not share their interests. His heart did not lie to the mystical side of Freemasonry.
Pierre ranked himself and his fellow brothers in the second category, seeking, hesitating, not yet finding a direct and understandable path in Freemasonry, but hoping to find it.
To the third category, he ranked the brothers (there were the largest number of them) who saw nothing in Freemasonry except the external form and rituals and valued the strict execution of this external form, not caring about its content and meaning. Such were Vilarski and even the great master of the main lodge.
Finally, a large number of brothers were also included in the fourth category, especially those who recently entered the fraternity. These were people, according to Pierre's observations, who did not believe in anything, did not want anything, and who entered Freemasonry only to get closer to young brothers, rich and strong in connections and nobility, of whom there were very many in the box.
Pierre was beginning to feel dissatisfied with his activities. Freemasonry, at least the Freemasonry that he knew here, seemed to him sometimes, was based on one appearance. He did not even think to doubt Freemasonry itself, but he suspected that Russian Freemasonry had taken the wrong path and deviated from its source. And therefore, at the end of the year, Pierre went abroad to initiate himself into the highest secrets of the order.

In the summer, back in 1809, Pierre returned to St. Petersburg. From the correspondence of our masons with foreign ones, it was known that Bezukhiy managed to gain the trust of many high-ranking officials abroad, penetrated many secrets, was elevated to the highest degree and carries with him a lot for the common good of the stone business in Russia. Petersburg masons all came to him, currying favor with him, and it seemed to everyone that he was hiding something and preparing something.
A solemn meeting of the 2nd degree lodge was appointed, in which Pierre promised to report what he has to convey to the St. Petersburg brothers from the highest leaders of the order. The meeting was complete. After the usual ceremonies, Pierre got up and began his speech.
“Dear brothers,” he began, blushing and stammering, holding the written speech in his hand. “It is not enough to keep our sacraments in the quiet of the lodge — you need to act ... act. We are in a dormant state and we need to act. - Pierre took his notebook and began to read.
“In order to spread pure truth and achieve the triumph of virtue, he read, we must cleanse people of prejudices, spread rules consistent with the spirit of the times, take upon ourselves the upbringing of youth, unite inextricably with the cleverest people, boldly and wisely overcome superstition, disbelief and stupidity, to form from people loyal to us, connected with each other by a unity of purpose and having power and strength.
“In order to achieve this goal, one must give virtue an advantage over vice; one must try to ensure that an honest person still finds in this world an eternal reward for his virtues. But in these great intentions we are hindered by many - the current political institutions. What to do with this state of affairs? Should we favor revolutions, overthrow everything, expel force by force? ... No, we are very far from that. Any violent reform is blameworthy, because it will not correct evil as long as people remain as they are, and because wisdom has no need for violence.
“The entire plan of the order should be based on educating people who are strong, virtuous and united by the unity of conviction, conviction, which consists in pursuing vice and stupidity everywhere and with all our might and patronizing talents and virtue: to extract worthy people from the ashes, to our brotherhood. Then only our order will have the power - insensitively tying the hands of the patrons of disorder and managing them so that they do not notice. In a word, it is necessary to establish a universal sovereign form of government that would spread over the whole world without destroying civil bonds, and under which all other reigns could continue in their usual order and do everything except only that hinders the great goal of our order, then is the delivery of the virtue of triumph over vice. This goal was assumed by Christianity itself. It taught people to be wise and kind, and for their own benefit to follow the example and instructions of the best and wisest people.