The passions around the so-called “Ilyin collection,” as legendary as it is unique, have not subsided to this day. Journalists in Lately they call it nothing more than “cursed” or “unclean”. For more than ten years now, controversy surrounding this collection has not subsided. Disputants break spears on two main points. The first is how a humble electrician has an attic full of unique works of art. The second is whether the find, which, at first glance, looks like ordinary trash, is worth 40 billion dollars and can be equated to the value of 8 tons of gold.
So where did it all start?
In October 1993, a certain Alexander Borisovich Ilyin quietly died in Kirovograd. They say he lived modestly and worked as an electrician. The death of this man went almost unnoticed by the general public. The modest funeral was fully consistent with the modest lifestyle led by the employee of the Kirovograd canteen trust. By the way, in last way he was seen off without the traditional funeral dinner. They say that he and his relatives lived poorly. Considering that in the first years of independence Ukraine was in crisis and poverty, it is not surprising that many buried the deceased without the traditional large funeral for such an occasion.
However, for Kirovograd collectors, local historians, art historians, museum employees and art gallery it was a difficult loss. If only because Ilyin was known as a restorer and bookbinder top class. But there was another side of his activity, which he did not talk about and which he did not advertise - a simple electrician had an excellent understanding of art and from time to time advised interested people on this issue.
When a very modest funeral took place and relatives began to examine the house to assess the property left behind, they discovered a pile of things covered in cobwebs and dust in the attic. They started to take it apart and gasped: it was all old stuff. In the attic of a dilapidated house on the outskirts of Kirovograd, in which an inconspicuous and low-income electrician lived, as many works of art were discovered as are not in the funds of Kirovograd regional museum and the regional library. Where, by the way, one of the most complete collections of unique book rarities in all of Ukraine is located.
Alexander Borisovich Ilyin and his collection became the number one topic in regional and metropolitan media for some time. The all-Ukrainian newspaper Den repeatedly returned to the story of the collection. Even the Moscow newspaper wrote about him TVNZ" It was then that a flurry of information fell upon the stunned public, the reliability of which was impossible to assess either then or today. In particular, there was a rumor that one of the rarities of Ilyin’s collection is already on sale. largest auction peace. The value of his collection is allegedly estimated at 40 billion US dollars, although in reality, of course, such a collection is priceless.
It should be borne in mind that these events took place in a half-starved and difficult time, when the smallest salaries were calculated in millions of coupons and were not always paid. Almost every Ukrainian was a semi-poor millionaire. It is not surprising that the published figure for the estimated cost of Ilyin’s hitherto unknown collection excited the imagination of journalists and turned the heads of ordinary people. The amount of $40 billion was ten times the amount of Ukraine's external debt. If (theoretically) this collection could be sold, then every adult citizen of our country could receive a little more than one thousand US dollars. Many Ukrainians at that time did not know what a hundred dollar bill looked like. And if this amount was the limit of desires and made one’s head spin, then what can we say about the figure of 40 billion.
“Although the amount mentioned is overstated, we are still talking about billions of dollars. There is more than 200 kg of silver alone. Please note, not scrap silver, bars or even coins - 200 kg of products from the most famous jewelry companies of the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century: Faberge, Collins, Khlebnikov, Alekseev,” the Kyiv Vedomosti newspaper wrote in 1994.
Ten bailiffs were involved in the inventory of the property. More than five hundred bags of rarities were transported on several trucks, and this lasted more than one day. Everyone who sorted the collection worked in respirators. Each item was covered in finger-thick dirt. Many specialists who sorted through the rubble of rarities almost developed asthma: the airways were constantly clogged, people sneezed and coughed.
This is how Pavel Bosy, who headed the Kirovograd Regional Museum of Local Lore in 1993–1994, recalled Alexander Ilyin: “The fact that Ilyin collected rarities was really known to a fairly narrow circle of people. But the electrician didn’t make much of a secret about what he was doing. It’s just that his hobby, in principle, passed by the attention of the public. The world of collectors is quite specific, and in this world Ilyin was known. Although no one really knew about the true volume of his collection. My colleague Vladimir Bosko, who, like all of us, had a vague idea of the collection, divided all the “initiates” into “podgrushniks” and “Cossacks”. “Podgrushniki” are those who sat in the yard under the pear tree, and “Cossacks” are those whom Ilyin allowed beyond the threshold of the house.
For those whom Ilyin allowed into the yard, he sometimes took them out of the house and showed them some item from his collection. But there were several “Cossacks,” I don’t really know how many there were, maybe five people, whom Alexander Borisovich sometimes allowed into the kitchen and brought something out to them. But in principle, no one had a complete idea of the collection. Some saw one book, some saw another, some saw some kind of order.”
IN Soviet times Alexander Ilyin was robbed only once. The police found the thieves surprisingly quickly. Icons and ancient gold jewelry were confiscated from the criminals. Ilyin took the icons and refused the gold. Said: “Not mine.”
Alexander Ilyin did not leave a will. But there was not much else: an inventory of the collection, its systematization, no one even knew exactly what was included in it. Why didn’t Ilyin leave an inventory and a will? Perhaps he didn’t want anyone to get it all. Local art historians ironically noted that perhaps he was going to live forever, otherwise there was no way to explain that the collection did not even go to the relatives of the deceased. Although many agree: during his lifetime, Ilyin did not want his collection to become a museum collection and the property of the general public after his death. Or maybe he decided to leave his collection to us as a huge mystery?
As Pavel Bosy notes, Ilyin’s collection was a collection of disparate, unsystematized objects. All these treasures were stored in incredibly terrible conditions. For example, he had a chest with books that were probably dearest to his heart, on which he sat and even slept. But the books in it were covered with mold.
Those who communicated with the mysterious electrician recall that sometimes he himself forgot what he had or could not find it. Sometimes he asked me to bring some rare book from another city. And then, when the books were already described by the commission, it became clear that there was already a copy of such a book. His storage of the collection had nothing in common with either museum, library, or archival storage. In the center of the house there was a room four by four meters in area, without windows - only doors on all sides. No one could enter it: it was very tightly packed with books from floor to ceiling. In addition, there was also an outbuilding with an attic. Those who were familiar with Alexander Ilyin got the impression that the deceased was more interested in the process of collecting rather than in enjoying these things later. He certainly had some things that were dear to him. But some items were simply lying in stacks. Many of them were in very poor condition. Several icons and paintings returned to the local history museum from restoration only a few years later.
What did electrician Ilyin hide in his house and in the attic?
At detailed study Several thousand books published between the 16th and 20th centuries were found in his collection. Among them is “Byzantine enamels from the Zvenigorod collection” - a book that is considered one of the pinnacles of printing skill. Only six hundred copies of this book were published, most of which have been lost. Its cover is made from shagreen leather, embossed with red gold. Even the bookmark is embroidered with gold and silver. Another pearl of the collection is the four volumes of “Tsarist and Imperial Hunting in Rus'”, illustrated by Repin, Surikov, Vasnetsov.
In addition, the collection of the Kirovograd electrician includes books by Ivan Fedorov, a set of Gospels from the 16th century, manuscripts of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, lifetime editions Grushevsky and Vinnichenko. By the way, in Soviet times you could get a prison sentence for storing them. There are even mountains of parchment scrolls and a piece of papyrus. The head of the rare books department of the Kirovograd regional library, Alexander Chudnov, told reporters about this: “The aerobatics of collecting! There are books with seals from various libraries, as well as with the bookplate of the Mikhalkov family. The same ones where Sergei Mikhalkov - famous writer, and Nikita and Andron are famous film directors. There is a Gospel presented to the city by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna (the ancient name of Kirovograd is Elizavetgrad). Many exhibits disappeared under mysterious circumstances from city museums many years ago.”
Among other finds, it should be noted a large number of silver crosses, icons in silver frames with precious stones. Among them are the 16th-century icon “Our Lady Hodegetria” framed with pearls, a silver ladle by the 18th-century Ukrainian master Ivan Ravich, who worked only for the church, as well as the unique “Mazepa ladle,” which has become truly a legend among lovers of antiquity.
Most valuable painting- portrait of Catherine II in the hetman's attire unknown artist. And, of course, a lot of antique furniture. Mostly from the 18th century. It was damaged by a bug and therefore required restoration. However, like all of Ilyin’s inheritance.
On the second day of the commission’s work, silver was discovered in the estate, in a garbage heap. We are talking about silver items made by great masters, and their value is no longer comparable to the price of scrap silver. For example, a silver mug made by the Ukrainian master Ivan Ravich mentioned above stood modestly on the cabinet among some small, completely worthless trinkets. By the way, the relatives who were present during the inventory of the “treasure” and tried to hide this or that antique item whenever possible, called this mug a “souvenir”. But museum workers strictly monitored everything that was happening, the mug was selected and described very simply: “A mug in the baroque style of white metal.” It was not immediately identified as a work of art. Only when Zhanna Arustamyan, an employee of the museum of historical values, arrived from Klev, did she look at the mug and gasp: it bore the mark of the great Ukrainian jeweler of the early 18th century, Ivan Ravich.
By that time, museum workers already knew the small mug that Ravich had made - it is now kept in Chernigov, in historical museum. And this one turned out to be much bigger size, more complex artistic work and very expressive form. According to experts, this item can be considered almost the most valuable item from the object, non-book part of Ilyin’s collection, which is currently in state ownership. By the way, some suggested that the mug could have belonged to Peter I. On the body there is a circle topped with the so-called “old royal” heraldic crown. This emblem was used primarily until 1721, when Peter proclaimed himself emperor. And the monogram “VS/PL” (or “VS/PA”) can mean “Great Autocrat Peter Alekseevich.” This could not be proven. But, nevertheless, it has been proven that the mug was made by a great jeweler.
Alexander Ilyin’s nephews lived in the same house where the priceless collection was kept. No one even entered their room during the inventory of the collection. The commission worked only in those premises where they allowed. It was not always possible to establish absolutely exactly what belonged to the nephews and what to Ilyin. For example, there was a collection of weapons in the house. But many of those who knew the collector knew very well that he hated weapons. At the same time, the nephew was collecting weapons and he had the appropriate permission. Naturally, no one touched this collection of weapons.
All things were sealed in bags - under the seal of the bailiffs, everything that was placed in the bags, the bags themselves, were described, and their quantity was also indicated. Everything collected in the house first went to state archive. Then the exported items of museum significance were deposited in the regional museum of local lore, and Ilyin’s library - books, manuscripts, documents - in the regional library named after Chizhevsky. Naturally, along with statements and inventories. Special working groups worked with all this property, which included bailiffs and experts - museum workers and library employees.
To this day, it remains a mystery how all this “good” ended up in the attic of an ordinary, humble electrician. Antique paintings, silver ladles and icons do not lie on the street. None of the experts doubt that these items were previously stored in some other collections.
The personality of Ilyin himself is also covered with an aura of mystery. According to some rumors, he was known as an excellent restorer. He didn’t take money for his work - customers paid him with valuable gifts. According to other, unconfirmed reports, priests from surrounding churches took down precious icons and other utensils for Ilyin’s safekeeping at a time when churches were closed by order of the authorities.
There was even a legend that Ilyin was able to assemble the basis of the collection while being the commandant of Leningrad during the war. But, firstly, he was never a commandant, and secondly, he was not in Leningrad. Although during the war, many items from museums and libraries could actually fall into private hands.
According to another version, Ilyin’s collection was collected by three generations. Its first, figuratively speaking, layer consisted of the Rimsky-Korsakov family values, which Ilyin’s mother, who came from this ancient noble family. The second layer consists of objects collected by Alexander Ilyin’s father and taken from Germany by his uncle after the war. The third layer is collected by Alexander Borisovich himself and, possibly, partly by his nephew, also a collector. The fundamental part of the collection could consist of valuables from noble estates around Rybinsk, confiscated in 1918 during the Antonov rebellion, in the suppression of which Alexander Ilyin’s father allegedly took part. According to some reports, the estate of the Mikhalkovs, the ancestors of today’s most famous film director Nikita Mikhalkov, was also plundered at the same time. This version left a certain bloody imprint on Ilyin’s collection and gave rise to a legend about the curse lying on it.
It was also said that Ilyin was known in Kirovograd as a millionaire collector who was protected by the KGB. This is explained by the fact that there were really few collectors of this scale. And the impression was created that the authorities did not touch him, and to some extent, perhaps even took care of him. Allegedly, the “authorities” managed to preserve the property confiscated after the revolution from the richest estates of landowners and merchants in the south of Ukraine. The security officers placed gold and jewelry at the disposal of central authorities, and the antiques were stored in special funds locally, increasing what was mined decade after decade. Experienced specialists were involved in the compilation of such funds, which explains the uniquely diverse and high-quality composition of the collection. It is unlikely that it will be possible to find the “gold of the party,” but it is possible that some “Cheka antiques” were found in Kirovograd.
Although, according to some researchers, there could have been another “intercession” - from the church. Ilyin restored books and icons for churches; the patriarch served on the Gospels he restored.
The criminal world did not touch him either. There is information that Alexander Borisovich set up a warehouse and transshipment base for stolen goods in his attic museum valuables. And these valuables were secretly brought to him by museum directors, profiting from the exhibits. They even say that Ilyin guarded a kind of thieves’ “common fund”. However, this rumor is perhaps the most incredible. During his more than thirty years of life in Kirovograd, electrician Ilyin never came into conflict with the law.
According to Pavel Bosogo, in the sixties of the last century there was a time in our country when many antiques were thrown away “as unnecessary” - they could have been found in a landfill. People got apartments - they threw away old furniture, and Ilyin collected it too. He went to old grandmothers, begged for something, exchanged something - this is something that he did not hide.
But much about him remained a mystery. And this concerns not only the origin of the collection, but also the biography of Alexander Ilyin himself. Even his date of birth is different in different documents. Information about parents is scarce and contradictory. My father is a revolutionary proletarian who became the boss of the Rybinsk oil and fat plant. Mother is a noblewoman from the Rimsky-Korsakov family. Moscow student and fatal handsome man Sasha Ilyin was once arrested for robbery, received three years by a court verdict, but was released after four months.
When the Great Patriotic War began, Ilyin turned 20 years old. He was healthy and fit for combat service, but for some reason he didn’t get to the front. What he did is unknown. In 1943, a document was sent to him from Moscow with an offer to reinstate himself to study at the institute. But for some reason he refused, and after the war, rather strangely, he changed his place of residence to the Ukrainian Kirovograd. It's interesting that in work book Alexander Ilyin from 1946 to 1960 is listed as a blank. That is, for a decade and a half he was not listed or worked anywhere. And this was at a time when the criminal code had an article “for parasitism.”
His photographs have been preserved, where he is depicted together with the servants of the Klevo-Pechersk Lavra. According to one version, at that time he could have been a monk or a novice in the monastery. And then the Lavra was closed, and so was the library attached to it. However, this does not mean that the funds have gone nowhere. Of course, most of the treasures of monasteries and churches went to state funds. But perhaps not all. It is possible that many items from the Klevo-Pechersk Lavra ended up in the collection of Alexander Ilyin.
Soon after the death of the collector there was quite a strange story. A book from Ilyin’s collection has gone on sale in the Kirovograd “Bukinist” store. This was proven because regional library, in the rare book department, there was a photocopy of this book - Alexander Borisovich at one time allowed it to be copied. The book had pencil inscriptions in the margins, which made it possible to identify it as a book from Ilyin’s collection. This fact became proof that the item belonging to the deceased went on sale before the expiration date. established by law six months from the date of death. At the same time, rumors spread throughout Kirovograd about the export of rarities from this collection already accepted for storage abroad and for “loyal donation” to the first persons of the state.
Then a letter was written addressed to the representative of the President of Ukraine in the Kirovograd region N. Sukhomlin and the chairman of the regional council of people's deputies V. Dolinyak. It was signed by the then director of the regional library Lydia Demegtsenko and Pavel Bosoy. The letter expressed concern that Ilyin's collection - National treasure value unknown at that time - could go into private hands and there was a request to do everything possible to ensure that this treasure remained in Kirovograd. The representative of the president (as governors were called then) gave instructions to the justice department of the regional state administration, after which, accordingly, there was a court decision and bailiffs seized the collection. Thus, the collection of Alexander Ilyin was preserved.
Who exactly was Alexander Ilyin? A collector, thanks to whom unique antiquities were preserved, or a buyer and concealer of stolen goods? And where did he get the treasures, which are worth billions of dollars? There are plenty of assumptions and conjectures on this matter. But will there ever be definitive answers to these questions? I think it's unlikely. Alexander Ilyin died without leaving a will or any documents or records regarding his collection. So the mystery of his unique collection will most likely remain unsolved.
According to the creators of the series, this treasure is almost the hidden gold of the party. Who really was Alexander Ilyin and where did he get such treasures? To find out this, a KP correspondent went to Kirovograd.
CHAMBER OF SECRETS
The series begins like this: paintings, icons, silver cups and buckets of coins are taken out of a darkened basement and packed into trucks. There is a bustle in the basement, dozens of people are scurrying back and forth with worried faces. This is probably the only true scene in the series. In reality, it happened on January 4, 1994: the house of the deceased electrician was cordoned off by special forces, for three days and three nights experts described the treasures and transported them to the local history museum.
Miroslava Egurnova, now the curator of the Ilyin collection at the museum, was one of the first to enter the house then.
The situation seemed very poor,” she says, “there was dirt all around, a greasy stove, shabby walls... And then there were rare cabinets filled with the rarest books. On the table there is a rusty bowl and next to it a mug with silver spoons from the 19th century. And above the stove is an icon in a silver frame, which has no price. There was a second house on the site, which was not immediately noticed. We were about to leave, but someone decided to check what was there. They opened the door - the opening was blocked up to the ceiling with stacks of waste paper. And behind them was a room where real rarities were piled up in dust and dirt. The same is true on the second floor, where Ilyin had a workshop. It took my breath away! We had to call trucks.
Ilyin's collection created a sensation. Someone rashly estimated it at $40 billion. Later the price dropped to a billion. But how was a simple worker able to assemble a collection that the whole world was talking about?!
A MASTERPIECE FOR A BAG OF FLOUR
Electrician Alexander Ilyin died in October 1993 at the age of 74. He never married and had no children. He didn't let anyone into the house, didn't make friends, didn't date women, didn't drink, didn't smoke, and didn't have a career. One day in the conversation the topic of family came up, and he snapped: “How can I bring a stranger into the house?!”
The collection was his only passion. And his beloved woman was Catherine II, whose portrait by Dmitry Levitsky Ilyin kept in his studio.
Then, in 1993, his nephews Irina and Andrey were next to him. Both are now over 60, they, like their uncle, remained single, not risking bringing a stranger into the house. When the bailiffs carried out bags of valuables, they were silent, gritting their teeth. The nephews shared his uncle's passion. Apparently, this whole strange family was infected with it...
The future treasure keeper Alexander Ilyin was born in 1920 in Rybinsk into the family of proletarian Boris Ilyin and noblewoman Natalya Rimskaya-Korsakova. His mother still had a good collection from pre-revolutionary times, which became the basis of the electrician’s treasures. According to collector Vadim Orlenko, Ilyin Jr. even before the war
I walked all over Moscow on foot, looking into apartment windows and conspiring with the owners of paintings and icons. He didn’t go to the front - they say he bought himself off. Why feed lice in the trenches if you can turn the hard times of war to your advantage?
One of the most valuable things in his collection is a silver mug by the Ukrainian master Ivan Ravich, says Vadim Orlenko. - Ilyin himself told me how he exchanged it for a bag of flour in Leningrad. This was right after the blockade was broken: then you could buy anything for flour.
In 1944, the future underground billionaire is caught stealing food. He probably didn't take it for himself - for an exchange. According to the law, Ilyin faced three years. But it came out after just four months. Did you pay yourself off too? History is silent about this.
Alexander Ilyin appeared in Kirovograd after the war: his father was transferred to the local oil and fat plant.
In his own words, he brought two containers of things here,” says Vadim Orlenko.
The future collector enters a technical school, becomes an electrician and works in this position until his retirement.
COLLECTOR, SAME DRUG ADDICATOR
Among local lovers of antiquities, Ilyin was a well-known figure, and people who knew him personally have no doubt: he assembled his collection himself.
If I didn’t know that Ilyin had a house, I would have thought that he was homeless,” says collector Ivan Anastasyev. - He dressed very poorly and sloppily. An ordinary robe or a greasy jacket, a sheepskin coat, tarpaulin work boots. Trousers from the same robe, cap. Always have a string bag in your hands. He was missing teeth, but he didn't care. When he spoke, he usually took off his glasses and chewed on the headband. Not the most pleasant sight. But everyone knew that he had money. He always found them for a good thing.
Where? - I asked.
“I saved on literally everything,” says Anastasyev. - A collector, like a drug addict, denies himself even the smallest things, just to get a “dose” - a rare thing. So was Ilyin. He ate for free because he worked as an electrician in a canteen trust. I didn’t buy anything, I didn’t go to the doctors. I even climbed through garbage dumps. He also carried out private orders: he repaired sockets and restored books with icons.
The profession of an electrician suited Ilyin one hundred percent. On a captured German motorcycle, he traveled around the villages of the region and entered houses under the pretext of checking meters. He slipped into the hallway, looked around... “What an interesting icon you have!” - “Yes, left from my grandmother.” Keep church utensils Komsomol members and communists felt ashamed; many were happy to give this opium to the people for a nominal fee.
“He went to the cemetery as if he were going to work,” recalls artist Anatoly Pungin. - He finds a fresh grave and immediately goes to the widow or widower. He will express his condolences, offer help, and immediately inspect the apartment. If there is something worthwhile, he carefully begins negotiations.
The collector took into the house everything that was of any value. Here one could find microscopes, telescopes, samovars, gramophone records of the early twentieth century, gramophones... At the same time, Ilyin did not sell anything - this was his exchange fund.
One day I saw his washed sheets with the emblem American army, - says Anatoly Pungin. - “Why do you need them?” - I ask. And he says: “If anyone needs it, I’ll change it.”
Ilyin managed to change even with the Soviet regime. At the local history museum they showed me an act from 1949: the commission decided that it was possible to exchange books from the museum’s funds for those belonging to Ilyin. The museum gave away church books, and the electrician gave away publications different years, including, for example, the anniversary issue of the Ogonyok magazine.
ON THE VERGE OF A FOUL AND BEYOND
The book part of Ilyin’s collection is kept in the Kirovograd Regional Library. Director Elena Garashchenko shows me the most valuable specimens. Here is the Gospel on parchment from 1390 - 1410. Ilyin received it from some Moscow bigwig for the restoration of another rare publication - the history of France from Napoleon’s personal library. But the Bible of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov - the electrician exchanged it in Odessa for several orders.
How many books are in his collection? - I ask.
“A little over seven thousand,” answers Elena Garashchenko. - These are both ancient books and relatively new ones. Particularly valuable - about a third.
Books were Ilyin's main passion. He could tinker for days restoring some rare publication. And he did it, according to experts, magnificently.
He really dug into trash heaps,” recalls artist Emilia Rudenko. - I was looking there for old women's boots, from the leather of which I could make a binding. And also old primus stoves, they had parts made of thin copper, suitable for coining. Could make very durable gilding using technology using potassium cyanide. When I found out, I was stunned. This is poison, I say, instantaneous! And he laughs. “I once gave a drop to a chicken,” he says. “She immediately kicked and died.”
It should be noted that Ilyin often acted on the verge of a foul. And even beyond. Among the items seized in his house were items stolen from the storerooms of the same local history museum Ilyin could not not know where they came from.
He himself told Vadim Orlenko the following incident. In 1961, before the second closure of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Ilyin restored the Gospel for its rector. As payment, he asked me to pick up some books. And the abbot gave him the key to the library. On the same day, troops cordoned off the monastery, not allowing the clergy to remove valuables.
The cordon stood for several days, says Vadim Orlenko. - All this time, Ilyin in a dirty robe came and went out, no one paid attention to him. And he carried it in his belt rare books. “So,” he says, “I saved them from destruction.”
I checked with the regional library to see how many books from the Lavra were in Ilyin’s collection. Answer: 114!
After Ilyin’s death, it became clear that he often took icons from churches for restoration, and returned copies made by an artist he knew. What is this? Saving icons? Perhaps this is exactly what Ilyin thought...
Miroslava Egurnova, the current curator of the Ilyin collection, opens the massive door. In the room on shelves there are lamps, censers, frames for icons and the icons themselves, silverware... This is only part of the collection - in total the museum contains 4 thousand items confiscated from Ilyin’s house. Did no one in the city know that a simple electrician kept such a treasure?
Everyone knew that he had very valuable things,” says Miroslava Egurnova. “And when, a few days after his death, his books appeared in a second-hand bookstore, it was decided to confiscate the collection. Otherwise, she would simply go abroad piecemeal. We created a commission, received a court decision and went. In a UAZ, with three boxes. We thought about taking everything away at once. But then the nephews didn’t even let us in the door. So I had to return with the police. When we realized the scale, we were simply shocked.
For whom did Ilyin collect all this? - I asked.
I think only for myself,” said Miroslava Egurnova. - For such people, the main thing is possession. He didn't even keep a catalogue. He just dumped everything in a pile and enjoyed the fact that it belonged to him. And I probably thought that I would live forever.
TO THE POINT
How much does the collection cost?
I asked this question to all the specialists with whom I was able to meet in Kirovograd. But I never received a direct answer.
To find out the cost, you must first try to sell something,” Natalya Agapeeva, director of the local history museum, explained to me. - And we are not going to do this. In addition, at our auction the price may be the same, but at Sotheby’s it may differ significantly. But we are not interested in monetary value; for us these exhibits are priceless.
The estimate of a billion dollars, expressed back in the 90s, was rejected by experts. According to the museum's chief curator Pavel Rybalko, Ilyin's collection is most likely worth ten times less. But even so, this collection is one of the largest in the USSR. And certainly no electrician in the world has been able to assemble one like this.
QUESTION FROM THE EDGE
Why were the valuables seized?
The official reason was the inability to provide it proper storage relatives of Ilyin.
This collection is of national importance,” says Miroslava Egurnova. - All over the world there are rules according to which, if there is a danger of loss of works of art, they are confiscated.
In addition, the collector’s nephews were not recognized as direct heirs: the billionaire electrician did not even leave a will.
ONLY HERE
Collector's niece Irina PODTEKOVA: “They tried to accuse us of murdering our uncle”
Alexander Ilyin’s nephews Irina and Andrey Podtelkov live on Urozhaynaya Street, where Alexander Ilyin died. Both are over 60, Andrei Ivanovich suffered two strokes and almost never gets out of bed. I knew that for 19 years they had not communicated with journalists. But still I decided to try to meet with Irina.
Urozhaynaya is a small sector of private houses near the very walls of the oil and fat plant. Former house It was difficult to find Ilyin: the sign was so rusty that it was impossible to make out the inscription. The site turned out to be quite abandoned, as were the two red brick houses that stood on it. It seemed that no one lived here, but in response to a knock, Irina Ivanovna came out onto the porch - an overweight woman in a blue padded jacket and long skirt. She did not at all look like an heiress to a billion-dollar fortune.
I started talking about what happened after the death of Alexander Ilyin.
You have no idea what we went through! - Irina Podtelkova spoke hotly. - They stood here with machine guns for a week. They opened the floors in the house and looked for some diamonds. Half the dishes were broken, some papers were burned right here in the yard. And they tried to accuse my brother and me of killing our uncle. They even dug up his body. A criminologist from Kyiv came, looked into it and said that the guy died of natural causes. But they still dragged us through interrogations, they wanted to accuse us of not calling doctors to him, not providing assistance. But at the clinic everything was recorded: they called! In general, not only did they rob us, but they also drank our blood. And they promised to erect a monument to the guy on his grave! And what? Just as there was a cross that we put there, so it is. But we don’t have money for a monument. I already had to sell the last one in order to survive.
Have you tried to sue? - I asked. - Have you tried to get the property returned or at least compensation?
At first we tried,” Irina sighs, “but very quickly we realized that not a single lawyer wanted to defend us and not a single court wanted to accept our application. Everyone was afraid. We're like outcasts. But what have we done? We just lived here and held on to each other, and they made some kind of monsters out of us.
This atypical prime-time project cannot boast high ratings, but thanks to the unconventionality and intriguing complexity of the script, he found his audience. And no wonder: the plot was based on real story the famous collection of Alexander Ilyin, which still haunts collectors and museum workers around the world. " Around TV“I decided to find out what in the series is true and what is just the writers’ imagination.
Let us remember that “Dragon Syndrome” begins with the death of electrician Anatoly Avdeev in Kirovograd in 1991. After his death, priceless old books appear in the local Second-hand Bookstore. An investigation begins. The tracks lead to the house of an electrician, in the basement of which law enforcement officers discover a unique collection of antiques and objects of world art. “Yes, this is a branch Tretyakov Gallery! - the amazed investigators exclaim. But where does a simple electrician get such wealth? The search for an answer to this question becomes the main thing storyline series.
A similar story actually happened in Kirovograd, but in 1993. Electrician Alexander Ilyin died in a house on the outskirts of the city, and a few months later books from his collection appeared in the Bookinist store. Many collectors and museum workers in the city knew that the canteen trust employee collected antiques, so they immediately determined that the books belonged to Ilyin. Fearing that the entire collection would be sold, museum workers demanded that law enforcement agencies seize and describe Ilyin’s property. When experts saw the collection, they were amazed by its size: it took 20 trucks to remove it, and the value of the exhibits was estimated at $40 billion. At that time, this amount was many times greater than the size of Ukraine’s external debt, although now this figure seems to many to be considerably exaggerated. It is still unknown how all these valuables fell into the hands of a simple electrician. Now the collection is nationalized and stored in Kirovograd museums, but, according to rumors, every now and then some of its exhibits “pop up” on the black market.
There are several unconfirmed versions of the appearance of this antique. One of the most unusual is that the collection belonged to high ranks in the KGB and government and consisted of confiscated valuables from enemies of the people; from what was managed to be illegally hidden during the war, and war trophies taken from Germany and allied countries. How else can one explain that, knowing about the collection, no one from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB was ever interested in it, and this was in Soviet times!
It was this version that was developed in the Khomeriki series. Anatoly Avdeev in the film is a hostage of circumstances. First, he was forced to become the custodian of an unusual collection by KGB officers, and then the electrician outlived all the owners of antiques and became a “dragon” carefully guarding the treasure. In ancient times, there was a belief that fairytale treasures were guarded by dragons, and, by the way, a comparison of the owner of the collection with this fairy-tale character first appeared not in the film Khomeriki, but in newspaper publications dedicated to Alexander Ilyin.
But there are two more versions of the appearance of the collection. Perhaps the electrician actually collected everything himself: some he inherited from his noble ancestors, and some, being also a talented restorer, he acquired in exchange for his services from other collectors. However, there is also an opinion that Ilyin was the keeper of the thieves’ common fund. This is indicated, for example, by the fact that over forty extra years Robbers only tried to break into the electrician’s house once, and even those were immediately detained.
Who was the mysterious electrician-collector really and how did Nikolai Khomeriki show him?
The most valuable items from Ilyin’s collection:
The book “Byzantine Enamels”, published in 1892 in an edition of 200 copies; the cost of the book was 12 thousand silver rubles;
four-volume “Grand-Ducal, Royal, Imperial Hunting in Rus'”, illustrated by outstanding Russian artists;
full meeting“Pershodrukov” of Ivan Fedorov, many of which were considered lost;
“Naval Regulations” and “Military Regulations” of Peter I, published in 1720 in an edition of 50 copies;
Collection of engravings English artist William Hogarth;
Ostrog Bible of the 16th century;
Gospel of Mstislavets, 1575 edition;
Manuscripts of A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol;
Cutlery by Faberge;
Silver mug by I. Ravich, which presumably belonged to Peter I;
The Gospel of Queen Elizabeth, donated to the city of Elisavetgrad in honor of the establishment of the fortress;
A large number of publications of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the 17th - 18th centuries;
Bible of 1580 by Ivan Fedorov;
Wolf's Bible with drawings by Gustave Doré.
Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria (late 16th century);
Part of the library from the Mikhalkov family estate in Petrovsky;
A copy of the first edition of “Kobzar” by Taras Shevchenko (the authenticity of the copy has not been established);
Rare editions of H. C. Andersen's lifetime;
German edition of Josephus "Antiquities of the Jews" of 1590;
"Arithmetic" Magnitsky 1703;
A colored triodion with an inscription about the donation of the book to the Kirillov Monastery by Peter Mogila in 1632;
Handwritten Gospel from the end of the 14th century;
Manuscript of Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit";
Manuscript of Lermontov's poem “The Demon”;
The first collection on the history of the first Russian medals “Glory to Russia or a collection of medals of the deeds of Peter the Great and some others”, 1770.
Ilyin's collection is considered cursed. They say that everyone who removed it from the owner’s house later fell ill with serious illnesses, many lost their jobs. However, museum workers themselves try not to think about the curse: they attribute illnesses to the fact that while working with exhibits they had to breathe dust and mold for a long time. Well, cultural experts lost their positions because museum workers weaved too many internal intrigues around this collection.
In the film "Dragon Syndrome" the collection unfolds real war, but the mysterious Dragon reliably guards the secret of his exhibits.