Were there any Potemkin villages? Phraseologism "Potemkin village" meaning

The Saxon diplomat Georg Gelbig, who was on official business in St. Petersburg at the court of Catherine II, in 1787, together with the empress, went on a trip to the distant Crimea. Upon his return, he anonymously wrote an article in the German magazine Minerva, in which he reported that the villages he saw along the way were allegedly only painted on boards. These painted villages were built by Prince Potemkin. Since then it has happened stable expression“Potemkin villages” in the sense of showing off, deception. But were Catherine and those accompanying her really so stupid that they did not notice the deception?

Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin (1739-1791). Unknown artist. 1847

The Saxon diplomat did not like Russia. He did not like living in it, its customs and orders. He was not at all delighted with Russia’s rapprochement with the West and was irritated that this peasant country in a short time managed to defeat Turkey, conquered vast territories in the south, reached the sea and managed to build a navy there. An uneducated power could threaten an enlightened Europe. Who is Potemkin? Yes, he is none other than the “prince of darkness,” an embezzler, a bribe-taker, a liar, who created the scenery along the route of the imperial carriages.

In the article, Gelbig also wrote that, according to his observations, during the empress’s trip, residents of one village and their cattle were driven to another to show those traveling that the villages were inhabited, the residents had meat, milk, and a means of subsistence. Gelbig launched the myth of the “Potemkin villages” into international circulation. And this myth, at his suggestion, began to be interpreted as reality. In the book-pamphlet “Potemkin Tauride”, which was then published, in the Russian translation its title is “Pansalvin-Prince of Darkness”, Gelbig described his impressions, which later caused great discontent in Russia.

In fact, everything was completely different. The Empress and her favorite Prince Grigory Potemkin planned a trip to Crimea back in 1780. Catherine really wanted to see new lands, especially Little Russia, Taurida, and Crimea. She dreamed of seeing the Black Sea, cypress trees, and breathing the air of oleanders. Prince Potemkin talked about the wonderful warm climate, about the fruit trees, fruits, and berries growing in abundance. He shared his extensive plans for transforming this region, building new cities, settlements, and fortresses against Turkish raids. Catherine II agreed with him, allocated funds, and Potemkin began work. He was an irrepressible person, he grabbed onto a lot, not everything worked out the way he wanted, but he still managed to found several cities that developed according to plan and were filled with visitors.

In 1785, Count Kirill Razumovsky, the last Ukrainian hetman, went south. He visited Kherson, founded by Potemkin in 1778, examined the fortress and shipyard, then visited a military fortification (the future city of Nikolaev), also founded by Potemkin in 1784, which was to become a powerful naval and shipbuilding base for the Russian fleet. He also visited Yekaterinoslav on the Dnieper. This city, according to the empress's plan, was to become the third capital Russian Empire. Razumovsky noted that these cities surprise with their “landscape arrangement.”

In place of the former desert, villages appeared every 20-30 versts. Potemkin, having grasped the desire of his mistress, tried to make Ekaterinoslav not just a provincial city, but similar to a metropolitan metropolis. He planned to build a university there, build a conservatory, and organize the work of a dozen factories. He encouraged people to go there and explore new lands. And people went and mastered it.

At the end of 1786, Catherine finally expressed her desire to go on a trip in the summer next year. Potemkin had to hurry. He wanted to amaze the empress with various achievements in the south. He devoted a lot of effort to strengthening Cherno navy. Created fortified settlements for the Russian army. Military and service people were sent to the places, new settlements and villages were created.

In the fall of 1786, Potemkin developed an approximate travel route: from St. Petersburg to Smolensk, from there to Chernigov and Kiev, then Ekaterinoslav, Kherson, Bakhchisarai, Sevastopol, Sudak, Feodosia, Mariupol, Taganrog, Azov, Belgorod, Kursk, Orel, Tula, Moscow and further to St. Petersburg. The total distance is approximately 5657 versts (about 6000 kilometers), of which 446 versts are by water, including along the Dnieper. At the same time, the prince gave the order to the regiments of the Russian army to position themselves in places along the travel route of the empress and invited guests, thereby ensuring the safety of the movement of the imperial expedition and having soldiers on site to carry out individual preparatory work. Only near Kyiv did the army concentrate under the command of P.A. Rumyantsev numbering 100 thousand.

Allegory “The Journey of Catherine II through the south of the Russian Empire in 1787.” Unknown artist. Con. XVIII century

On January 2, 1787, the “imperial train” set off from St. Petersburg: 14 carriages drawn by many horses, 124 sleighs with wagons and 40 spare sleighs, 3 thousand people. Tall Cossacks rode ahead, and the “train” was accompanied by horse guards. The Empress herself sat in a carriage designed for 12 people, which was pulled by 40 horses. Among her distinguished foreign guests was the incognito Austrian Emperor Joseph II, a personal friend of the Russian Empress and her ally. The Saxon diplomat Georg Gelbig also traveled there.

As we approached the south, small villages began to appear along the road, with cleanly dressed peasants and livestock grazing peacefully nearby. Potemkin certainly tried. He showed the distinguished guests only the best, so he drove along the entire route in advance. He ordered the houses to be repaired, the facades painted, decorated with garlands, and the peasants dressed in new clothes. And he asked everyone to smile and wave their handkerchiefs. But there were no popular formations along the way.

Fireworks in honor of Catherine II during her trip to Crimea. Unknown artist. Con. XVIII century

The “imperial train” reached Crimea at the very end of May. A small palace was built especially for his arrival in Old Crimea. Catherine and those accompanying her were met by the Tauride Regiment, which saluted her and bowed its standards before her. All evening trumpets played and timpani beat. After the fireworks and music, the Empress was invited to drink tea in a special pavilion built in oriental style with a fountain. The Austrian emperor could not contain his emotions at the sight of such innovations: “ The master commands, the slaves do“,” he noted enviously. - Catherine can spend as much as she wants. We are beggars! Neither in Germany nor in France can anyone afford what is being done here by the Russians..."

Joseph reflected the secret mood of many European monarchs, who were jealous of Russia, which managed to acquire such important territories, thereby increasing its power and political weight. Catherine and her guests were especially struck by the view of the harbor city of Kherson, where the vineyards were blooming and one could taste grape wine. I was even more delighted by Sevastopol, in the bay of which there was a sailing squadron of 15 large and 20 small ships. This was clear evidence that Potemkin cared about the development of the navy and truly took on the task of transforming the region.

Catherine's Mile on the northern side of Sevastopol

Catherine's Miles - monuments and architecture, road signs, built in 1784-1787. on the supposed route of Empress Catherine the Great.

After inspecting Crimea, many diplomats went to their homes to talk about what they saw. Prince Potemkin took the empress to Kharkov, where he had to part with her. When parting, the Empress expressed gratitude to him for what he had done and awarded him the title “Prince of Tauride.”

Catherine wanted a lot and planned a lot, but the political situation unexpectedly changed, alas, not in better side. Turkey, or rather the Ottoman Empire and its rulers, did not like this arrangement of Russia in the south at all. The rulers of Turkey were eager to regain the lands that had gone to Russia after the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, including Crimea.

And it was here that the Austrian Emperor Joseph II remembered Catherine’s past hospitality and took her side. Potemkin took on the role of commander. That same year, 1787, he had to gather troops, now to repel the enemy, to expel him from the territories he had conquered with such difficulty.

The war ended in 1792 with the victory of Russia and the conclusion of the Peace of Jassy. The new villages and cities created by Potemkin played a significant role in the victory: Kherson, Nikolaev, Sevastopol, Ekaterinoslav.

Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson, founded by Potemkin, where he is buried

One of the most important achievements of Grigory Potemkin should be called the creation of a military fleet on the Black Sea, which was initially built in a hurry, from actually poor and even unusable material, but provided invaluable services in the Russian-Turkish war. In addition, Potemkin rationalized the uniform of soldiers and officers. For example, he eradicated the fashion for braids, curls and powder, and introduced light and thin boots.

Grigory Aleksandrovich also developed and implemented a clear unit structure in the infantry troops, which made it possible to significantly increase maneuverability, the speed of operations, and the accuracy of single fire. Potemkin was very loved by ordinary soldiers, as he advocated the humane attitude of officers towards their subordinates.

For example, supplies and sanitary standards for the rank and file were improved, and for the use of soldiers in private work, which was almost the norm, the perpetrators suffered the strictest, often public, punishment. Thus, thanks to Grigory Potemkin, at least relative order began to be established in the Russian army.

Based on materials:
https://24smi.org/celebrity/3091-grigorii-potiomkin.html.
https://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/potemkinskie-derevni.
One Hundred Great Mysteries of the World. M.: Veche, 2010.

Unfortunately, now people remember not Prince Potemkin himself and his truly great contribution to the development of the state, but the “Potemkin villages”, the origin of which is questionable.

Where did the phraseology come from?

It is difficult to name an expression in the Russian language that has a more controversial history. How did the expression “Potemkin villages” come about? For it to take root, it was necessary to believe in a fairly distorted segment of our history. The expression “Potemkin village” is usually used when talking about ostentatious brilliance, deception and fraud. It has firmly entered the Russian language. A deceiver who cheats is said to be building Potemkin villages. The meaning of the phraseological unit is “it is better to tell the truth than to embellish an unsightly picture.” The idiom was born at a time when Prince Potemkin was the governor of the southern regions of Russia and Crimea. The construction of cities on the lands recently annexed to Russia consumed huge amounts of money and aroused criticism from the prince’s ill-wishers.

Catherine's Inspection

Let's look at what "Potemkin villages" are, the meaning and origin of the phraseological unit. Catherine II decided to personally visit the Crimean peninsula and the southern regions and get acquainted with the state of affairs in Novorossiya. This is the name given to the Black Sea lands that were just annexed to Russia. The Empress undertook this trip, which took place in 1787, accompanied by the court, Prince Potemkin himself and many foreign ambassadors. Some of the foreign eyewitnesses of the trip shared their impressions of this journey. This information was subsequently used by foreign authors who did not take part in the voyage.

Some of these publications described the story of how Potemkin, wanting to mislead the Empress during her trip, ordered the urgent construction of fictitious villages along her route. Allegedly, they consisted only of decorations, and the people seen on the streets were rounded up for appearances. This idea allowed the prince to strengthen the empress’s belief that the state was prospering, and behind this beautiful façade to hide multimillion-dollar waste from the empress. It was rumored that Potemkin himself had embezzled the sum of three million rubles.

Following the road, the empress saw pictures pleasing to the eye. Solid houses, smartly dressed villagers, joyfully welcoming the motorcade. Herds of cows graze in the fields, and the barns are full of grain. A picture of shared prosperity. The delighted and grateful empress showered the conqueror of Crimea Potemkin with blessings. She did not understand that all the villages she passed by were in fact just decorations. The cow herds are actually one herd that moved to a new area while Catherine was sleeping. The bags of grain contained not grain, but sand. All the villagers were dressed beautifully, and when the empress passed, they were forced to part with their magnificent clothes. Thus a new idiom emerged. The expression “Potemkin villages” means a fiction, something that doesn’t really exist. It has become a household name. Each such Potemkin village is an example of imaginary splendor and ostentatious prosperity.

Proliferated lies

Documentary research shows that this is falsification. This lie about “cardboard villages” and “the swindler Potemkin” is spread by numerous opuses about the empress, who was no stranger to various pleasures. Similar arguments appear in historical studies and even in domestic encyclopedias. At the same time, without reliable information, the authors of notes about Potemkin say “as if” and “allegedly.” Academician Panchenko, having conducted a study of many descriptions of travel in those years, did not find a single reference to this phenomenon.

Potemkin and Novorossiya

Invested with exceptional powers, Potemkin began to implement a plan for the development, settlement and strengthening of the military borders of the southern part of Russia. He quickly received the rank of general-in-chief and entered the Military Collegium and the State Council, and was awarded the princely title.

In 1775, Potemkin laid the foundations of the Zaporozhye Cossack army, subordinate to the crown of the Russian Empire. In 1776, he became, in fact, the ruler of the south of Russia, the governor-general of the Novorossiysk, Astrakhan and Azov provinces. Potemkin ponders the possibilities of fighting Turkey with the ambitious goal of completely eliminating the Turkish state and reviving Byzantine Empire. At the mouth of the Dnieper, the prince founded Kherson with a shipyard for the construction of ships, supervised the construction of Ekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), and Russia's military operations in the Caucasus. He rules the entire south of Russia, right down to the Caspian Sea.

There is a lot of documentary evidence of the volume of diverse work Potemkin performed as part of the management of new territories. Of course, in his projects there is sometimes a sense of haste, excessive self-esteem and the setting of difficult to achieve goals. It was as if he deliberately set himself a bar that exceeded human capabilities:

construction of new settlements;
importation of colonists;
creating conditions for farming;
development of viticulture;
construction of schools, factories;
shipbuilding.

All these projects are far from full list what was being done. Moreover, everything was done without detailed study on a global scale. No one was spared; significant financial and human resources were invested. Some things were not completed, some remained in the plans. Only a small part of the truly global projects Potemkin. But still, what he did is amazing.

Construction of Sevastopol

The achievements of Prince Potemkin in Novorossiya put him among the largest politicians in Europe in the 18th century. He was the most powerful person in Russia at that time. Much of what he created has survived to this day, since there was the least ostentatious tinsel in his activities. The inspection trip to Sevastopol was undertaken just three years after construction of the city began. Meanwhile, the participants of this trip were shown the port and 40 military ships, which saluted in honor of Catherine. The inspection of the fortifications, piers, shipyards, and, in the city, churches, hospitals and schools that appeared so quickly, amazed all the guests.

Sevastopol is only one facet of Potemkin’s activities. He committed a whole series of deeds that are worthy of respect and memory.

Only a small part of what was planned was realized. However, much of what he started is still alive today.

Bookmark Nikolaev

Evidence of the prince’s achievements were the notes of a certain English teacher Mary Guthrie, who objectively described the trip around Southern Russia, which was equipped by Potemkin.

Her description of Nikolaev reached us 5 years after its founding. She highly appreciates the new streets of the city, of amazing length and width, on which six hundred houses could fit. In addition, there were many huts and buildings for sailors. A very beautiful Admiralty building with docks located next to it.

Everything you need to build and maintain a fleet. The city's population reaches almost 10 thousand people.

Where did the false rumors come from?

The fabrications that everything created by Potemkin is a complete “Potemkin village” appeared some time after the empress’s trip to Crimea.

And after her death, the German writer I. G. Seime wrote a biography of Catherine. At the same time, a biography of Potemkin was published, written in the genre of libel without authorship. Later it turned out that the author was the Saxon diplomat Gelbig. His false notes became popular and formed the basis of the slander that was posthumously erected against Potemkin.

His good name was able to be defended only a century and a half later by the scientist G. Soloveichik, writing the first true biography of the prince. However, the restored good name of Prince Potemkin, who did not build the “Potemkin villages,” did not change the meaning of the phraseological unit.

Reaction of envious people

How did it happen that the story of the “cardboard villages” aroused the trust of not only foreigners, but also Russians, including courtiers? The answer to this is given by the important position occupied by Potemkin at court. Catherine's favorites never lacked ill-wishers. Hatred towards Potemkin, who influenced Russian politics, was especially great. Envious people hoped that the Crimean business trip meant resignation. However, having made sure that he had not lost his influence on Catherine and had achieved a lot in his endeavors, the enemies flared up with even greater anger, supporting all the slander.

Catherine's reaction

Catherine could not help but see the intrigues against Prince Potemkin. This situation caused her annoyance, but did not in the least diminish her gratitude to Potemkin. Already one such “Potemkin village” as Sevastopol is capable of calming the most active spiteful critics. After the southern voyage, the Empress wrote letters of gratitude to Potemkin many more times.

Which were allegedly built at the direction of Prince Potemkin along the route of Catherine II during her trip in 1787 to the Northern Black Sea region - the territories of modern Ukraine and Crimea, which were conquered from the Ottoman Empire (see Catherine II's Journey to Crimea).

According to legend, in a recently remote area, the empress saw many buildings, troops, and a prosperous population. The Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol also appeared before her eyes. These achievements surprised not only the empress, but also the representatives of foreign courts who traveled with her, as well as the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, who joined them incognito.

Currently, the authorship of the legend is attributed to the Saxon diplomat Georg Gelbig. It is believed that the legend was first published anonymously, later - in the pamphlet book by G. A. Gelbig “Tauride Potemkin” (Russian translation - “Pansalvin - Prince of Darkness”). In 1811, this book was published in Russian, causing outrage among Potemkin's still living relatives. In fact, stories about fake villages written on billboards, and villagers brought to their “place of residence” many miles away, are found in European works about Russia and Catherine II long before the publication of this work. French traveler Forsia de Piles, who visited Russia in 1791-1792. and who published materials four years later, briefly touching on the empress’s trip to Crimea, in particular, wrote that, like any sovereign, she was often deceived, and on this trip she rejoiced and admired everything, not knowing that “the roads were repaired only then, when it became known about her departure; that these numerous villages, the object of her admiration, were created for her passage and were destroyed on the same day, and the unfortunate peasants, who had come thirty and forty leagues to stand on the sides of the path and live in these houses for several days, were sent home . It was the invention of the genius Potemkin, who managed to convince his monarch with such a new kind of cunning that the country, revered as a desert, was flourishing.”

File:Grigory Potemkin shows Catherine II imaginary settlements.jpg

Grigory Potemkin shows Catherine II imaginary settlements

A few years later, a French work by J. C. Thibault (Laveau) “The Secret Love Stories of Catherine II and Her Lovers” was also published. This is a collection of fantastic stories about the intimate life of the empress, and should not be taken seriously. But in the chapter about the trip to Crimea, the author again reports about decorative settlements painted on canvas, sandbags depicting barns full of grain, and unfortunate peasants brought from afar to depict populated villages.

The legend about the “Potemkin villages” could [ ] appear thanks to the use of shields depicting fictitious structures, which is generally characteristic of that time (one can recall the decorations of the Tsarskoye Selo road along the route of Henry of Prussia in 1770, depicting mountains with a volcanic eruption and architectural structures), the distance of the route from capital cities, when the spectacles did not there were a large number of educated spectators, and a large number Potemkin's ill-wishers.

Prince G. Potemkin and Catherine II

Potemkin's activities received rather contradictory assessments: some admired his efficiency and resourcefulness, others accused him of laziness, lack of method and waste. The special position of Prince Potemkin at court and the breadth of his powers aroused envy among many. He had many ill-wishers and rivals. Among them are Chancellor A. Bezborodko, Prince M. Shcherbatov and Count P. Rumyantsev. It was they who were involved in the creation of the myth of the “Potemkin villages,” as modern historians believe.

Prince G. Potemkin and Catherine II. Works by unknown artists

The fake buildings became known thanks to the testimony of G. von Gelbig and the memoirs of I.-A. Erenstrem, who became an eyewitness to those events: “The naturally empty steppes were inhabited by people by Potemkin’s orders, villages were visible at a great distance, but they were painted on screens; people and herds were brought to appear for this occasion in order to give the autocrat a favorable idea of the wealth of this country.”

I. B. Lampi. Portrait of Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky, 1788-1790. Fragment

However, this myth arose even before Catherine’s journey from St. Petersburg to Crimea began. Ill-wishers began to spread rumors that things were going very badly in the territories entrusted to Potemkin. The empress's favorite was accused of embezzlement. Catherine decided to check these rumors during a trip planned for the summer of 1787.

Unknown artist. Meeting of Catherine II with the *Amazonian company* near Balaklava in 1787.

Back in 1786, Potemkin began preparations for the meeting of the Empress. The scale with which the work was carried out was truly impressive, sometimes even reaching the point of tyranny. This is confirmed by the story of the “Amazonian company.” Once, in a conversation with the queen, Potemkin said that in the Crimea, not only men, but also women regularly served in the Greek regiment. After which he was forced to order the immediate creation of a women's company in order to prove that he was right. As a result, in Balaklava, Catherine was greeted by “amazons” in incredible costumes and with guns.

Unknown artist. Fireworks in honor of Catherine, c. 1787

In many ways, Potemkin really relied solely on the external effect - he spent impressive sums on fireworks and illumination and worked diligently on the decoration of the facades. The governors were obliged to whitewash the houses along the route of the empress, repair roofs and fences, and decorate the windows with flowers. In descriptions of Catherine’s travel, decoration was mentioned more than once: “Cities, villages, estates, and sometimes simple huts were so decorated with flowers, painted decorations and triumphal gates that their appearance deceived the eye, and they seemed like some marvelous cities, magically created castles, magnificent gardens,” said Count Segur. However, the houses with painted walls were not painted, but real.

G. A. Potemkin. Engravings

Even one of the creators of the myth about the “Potemkin villages”, I.-A. Erenstrem, was forced to admit the fact that fortresses, wooden and stone houses, etc. were built on the territory of the desert steppe. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. Panchenko is confident that rumors about fake villages were spread by envoys of European powers, whom Catherine invited with her on a trip to demonstrate her power and grandiose plans, and they, in turn, did not want to believe in the possibility of their implementation. Their skepticism was shared by Potemkin’s competitors, who picked up rumors about the empress’s deliberate deception. This is exactly how, according to A. Panchenko, the myth of the “Potemkin villages” arose. This point of view is also shared by V. Lopatin, author of the book “Potemkin and His Legend.”

Modern *Potemkin villages*

And if earlier it was customary to use the phraseology “Potemkin villages” in the meaning of something “specially arranged to create a false impression of visible, ostentatious well-being, hiding the true position, state of something,” then today historians propose to interpret this concept not as an attempt to imitate reality, but as a desire to embellish it.

Modern *Potemkin villages*

Potemkin villages

Potemkin villages
After the efforts of Prince Grigory Potemkin (1739-1791) Crimea was annexed to Russia (1783), Catherine II decided to visit this peninsula to personally see the state of affairs in Novorossiya (as the Black Sea lands recently annexed to Russia began to be called). On this trip, which took place in 1787, the Empress was accompanied by Prince Potemkin himself, the court and numerous foreign ambassadors and their entourage. Some of these foreign guests left their memories of the trip, and other foreign authors used oral accounts of eyewitnesses.
In particular, the French ambassador to the court of Catherine II, Count Ségur, as an eyewitness, wrote: “Cities, villages, estates, and sometimes simple huts were so decorated and camouflaged triumphal arches, garlands of flowers and elegant architectural decorations, that their appearance deceived them, transforming them before our eyes into magnificent cities, palaces suddenly erected, into gardens luxuriously created” (Sopgrè cle Seger. Memoirs ou souvenirs et anecdotes. Paris, 1827).
Although everywhere Count Segur speaks of real-life “cities, villages, estates” and “huts”, albeit decorated in every possible way, nevertheless, through the efforts of foreign authors, the opinion was soon established that there were no villages, but only skillfully painted scenery, like theatrical backdrops
The expression “Potemkin villages” itself, the author of which is unknown, appeared much later. For example, A. I. Herzen had not yet used this concept when he touched on the history of “cardboard villages with which Potemkin deceived
her” (Ekaterina P. - Comp.). But there is no documentary evidence confirming this speculation about “Potemkin villages”.
Nevertheless, the expression has become synonymous with window dressing, deception, false shine, which is designed to hide the unseemly state of affairs (iron., contempt., disapproval).

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

See what "Potemkin villages" are in other dictionaries:

"Potemkin Villages"- The conqueror of the Crimea, the favorite of Catherine II, His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride, gained worldwide fame not at all as a hero. The first thing that comes to mind when someone hears the name Potemkin is the expression “Potemkin... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers

A figurative expression, a symbol of ostentatious prosperity. Began to be used in con. 18th century, after the Saxon diplomat Gelbig, trying to question the successes in the field of settlement and economics. development of Steppe Ukraine, accused G. A. in print... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Potemkin villages- ostentatious, imaginary prosperity, fraud. The expression is associated with the name of Prince G. A. Potemkin, statesman the times of Catherine II. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Empress toured New Russia. According to the stories... ... Phraseology Guide

Fireworks in honor of Catherine during her trip to Crimea. Painting by an unknown artist, late 18th century Potemkin villages historical myth. According to legend, Potemkin villages are fake... Wikipedia

APEC emblem ... Wikipedia

Widely used apt words, figurative expressions, sayings of historical figures, short quotes, names of mythological and literary characters that have become household names, etc. For example, “nonsense” (M. E. Saltykov Shchedrin), “And judges ... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia

- “DEATHING FORCE 2”, Russia, URSUS FILM, 2000 2001, color. Series. Cast: Konstantin Khabensky (see KHABENSKY Konstantin Yurievich), Andrey Fedortsov (see FEDORTSOV Andrey), Evgeny Leonov Gladyshev (see LEONOV GLADYSHEV Evgeny Borisovich), Sergey Koshonin ... Encyclopedia of Cinema

Books

The Tale of Potemkin, Prince of Tauride, Vyacheslav Sergeevich Lopatin. “The Tale of Potemkin, Prince of Tauride” was written by the famous expert on the era of Catherine the Great, V. S. Lopatin. The book is based on the correspondence between Catherine II and G. A. Potemkin, published...