Vyazma: Battered But Not Broken

Of the major western approaches to Moscow, the road to Smolensk is the most direct route from Central Europe, and that most associated with Russia's turbulent history. Situated midway between the two cities, the little town of Vyazma (pop. 60,000) has seen more than its fair share of war, occupation and general suffering at the hands of Lithuanian, Polish, French and German armies.

Founded in the 9th or 10th century on the river of the same name, a tributary of the Volga, Vyazma became a center for trading in the 1300s, developing flax and bee-keeping industries. From the latter sprang the local tradition of baking honey-cakes, believed to be the tastiest in Russia.

Vyazma even purports to having once, briefly been the capital of Russia. It is said that Tsar Alexei (father of Peter the Great) stopped here in the 17th century. Having left a plague-ridden Moscow, he was heading for Smolensk, but discovered that the disease had reached that city too. Vyazma briefly became the center of his state.

In the 19th century the town blossomed again, with the coming of the railway, accompanied by a large influx of Jewish families – most Jews were forbidden from settling in Moscow itself.

Local merchants were rarely able to trade peacefully, though, as the town confronted Russia's western enemies almost every century. Notably, in 1812, Napoleon's army defended the town for 10 hours against the advancing Russians. The town was almost completely destroyed. Having lost 7,000 men, the demoralized French army dumped their burdensome spoils in a nearby lake. These were never recovered.

But Vyazma's harshest trial came in the last war. The area was the scene of horrific battles from the fall of 1941 until liberation from the Nazis early in 1943. Flush with victory after the Battle for Moscow in the winter of 1941-2, the Red Army had attempted to gain and hold Vyazma with too few resources in 1942. Most of the town was destroyed, and hundreds of thousands killed in a battle known as the ÔVyazma Cauldron', which left the ground studded with pieces of shrapnel and human bone.

In view of these upheavals, it is miraculous that some of Russia's most peculiar church architecture has survived in Vyazma. It remains a distinctive, provincial town, best visited in the Russian autumn, in October, when the leaves have fallen and the historic monuments are clearly visible. In this season there is also a sense of the battles that have raked this area.  Even the landscape seems to reflect the destruction in the stunted trees of new forests.

The most striking of local landmarks is the 17th century church dedicated to the Odigitria Virgin, an icon believed to provide guidance for those who have lost their way. It is situated in the Monastery of John the Baptist on the edge of town. Founded in 1536, the monastery has shared the many trials of this frequently invaded land: it was burned by Polish detachments during the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century; rebuilt in the 1630s with a donation from Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich (the first Romanov tsar); burned again during the Napoleonic invasion of 1812; repaired in 1832-36; closed after the Bolshevik revolution; and further damaged during the Second World War. Nonetheless, its churches were so well built that they remain structurally sound after 350 years.

The Odigitria Church, with its massive brick base and unusual triple towers, is particularly sturdy.  Perhaps this exuberant design represents a beacon, as its dedication suggests. Or perhaps it commemorates resistance to invaders, as do other tower churches built in Muscovy following the Time of Troubles.

On a recent October day, a sudden snow storm (unusual at that time of year) had cleared the sky and created an almost unimaginable color of blue, captured in the picture above.

The monastery seemed uninhabited, apart from a portly, bearded monk in charge of the refectory and Ascension Church (late 17th century), and a lean, energetic abbot supervising a few construction workers.  The abbot is a man of few words, with a reputation as a stern taskmaster. He was engaged in a serious conversation with a local, which proved to be not about spiritual questions but where the abbot could get a good pump at a reasonable price near Smolensk. Such are the matters that must be attended to in order to rebuild a functioning community.

Invasion has not been the only cause of destruction in Vyazma – in fact its churches suffered most at the hands of the communists, in the 1920s and 30s. For example, the late 18th century Church of St. Catherine – built on the site of a plague burial ground, as were most churches dedicated to Catherine during that period – has long stood as an empty shell. The church was closed in the 1930s, as were almost all of the area's churches. During the occupation, its icons were taken to a different church, then reopened for worship. St. Catherine is now venerated by those visiting the cemetery, who approach the portal and make the sign of the cross. The recently cleaned interior has a haunting power, with its dirt floors and spacious, bare walls and vaults.

Vyazma's proximity to the main route to Moscow did have some advantages. Many aristocratic families bought estates in the area. Most of these estates have long since vanished, either from war or prolonged neglect. Some have survived, however, such as Khmelita, the former estate of the 19th century writer Alexander Griboyedov, which is now being restored as a museum and farm.  In the midst of the area's rural poverty, this offers an encouraging prospect for development, such as raising livestock and flax or as a tourist resort.

Others have been partially restored for institutional use, such as the former Sheremetyev estate at Vysokoye, whose major buildings are on the verge of destruction, but whose many service buildings are shared by a farm and an air force school. In 1867, Countess Alexandra Sheremetyeva commissioned the St. Petersburg architect Nikolai Benois to rebuild Vysokoye as a model estate. Most of the some twenty structures for this project were small and prosaic in function, and even the main house – with its mixture of baroque and Gothic decoration –was less pretentious than the stables for the stud farm.

By far the most imposing building at Vysokoye was the estate Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, begun in 1868 and based on the late 17th century Church of the Trinity at Ostankino – a suburban Moscow estate that Pyotr Sheremetyev acquired by marriage from the Cherkassky family in 1743. Benois fulfilled the commission admirably, with a bell tower whose clock chimes once rang to a melody by the famous 19th century composer Mili Balakirev. Although the beautiful decorative work of the church, including the gilded domes, has been pillaged, the solid design and construction have enabled the walls themselves to withstand decades of neglect.

Vyazma itself shows similar qualities of beauty and neglect. Despite its location near a major highway and rail junction, Vyazma, like many other towns of central Russia, has yet to show significant economic development in the new era. Local authorities are preoccupied with keeping existing enterprises open, and there has been little outside investment in modernizing the infrastructure.  Local industry includes plants for machine parts as well as for processing local agricultural products such as flax.

Today the historic center of the town has been partially rebuilt. Restoration of its churches continues, though unfortunately they are dominated by an unsightly television tower. Vyazma has little to offer the weary or hungry visitor. The small hotel is far from western standards, although the rooms are clean and tolerable for a couple of nights.

Yet, through it all, this town’s impressive architectural legacy testifies to the capabilities and endurance of the Russian people.  In a time of fundamental change, this generation faces the challenge of caring for the cultural legacy so beautifully represented in the historic architecture of Vyazma.