Miron Merzhanov biography. Biography. Honorary Architect of Russia

To the question: “What unites unique and the only ones in the entire Moscow region houses on Tsiolkovsky and Karl Marx streets, city "Cheryomushki" on Gagarin Street, clinic of the Central City Hospital No. 1 on Oktyabrskaya, kindergarten with sculptural images of fairy-tale characters "Belochka", high-rise building on the station square, entrance to the city from Bolshevskoye Highway (street Sadovaya) and the Vympel stadium? - today’s queen, even if he is not of a young age, is unlikely to answer correctly and unambiguously (alas!). Only a few will say something like this (I want to believe): “This is the brainchild of the chief architect of Kaliningrad Lyubov Petrovna Guletskaya" . And they will be absolutely right: it was this thin and small woman who created the unique architectural appearance of our Old Town, demonstrating with her own eyes the amazing heights of hitherto unsurpassed urban planning.

In addition to what has been said, I will quote from an article dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Guletskaya by another respected architect, architectural historian, designer Sergei Borisovich Merzhanov: “To those who knew her, she was remembered as a person who amazingly combined truly military clarity of thought and the execution of her plans - with rare accessibility in communication, and an indescribable sense of humor - with colossal responsibility for his work. But for everyone - even for those who were not lucky enough to know Lyubov Petrovna - her creations will remain a legacy. Architecture will remain - in the words of the classic, “the chronicle of the world, which speaks when songs and legends are already silent...”.”

BIOGRAPHY PAGES

On September 30 (according to documents, April 4?) 1911 in the city of Vilno (now Vilnius), in the house of the leader of the nobility Fyodor Fedorovich Zamkovsky (visiting his uncle!) a girl was born, who, in accordance with the Orthodox tradition, was named Lyubov (on this day they remember holy martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia).

Father of little Lyuba - Petr Alekseevich Guletsky was a doctor, mother - Alexandra Silvestrovna Kulesh - teacher. It is interesting to note that the latter’s brother was a civil engineer, one of his buildings was the Central Market in Riga, which was originally built as a hangar for Zeppelins (airships).

Soon the Guletsky family moved to Odessa, where Pyotr Alekseevich became the chief physician of the naval hospital (being a civilian). He held this position, already in the rank of full state councilor, until 1918. Alexandra Silvestrovna did not work, devoting all her time to children: daughters Maria (died at the age of five) and Lyubov and son Alexei (died near Rzhev in 1942; his name, among other participants in the Battle of Rzhev, is immortalized on a memorial stele).

After graduating from high school, Lyubochka Guletskaya, who had drawn beautifully since childhood, entered the Odessa Polytechnic of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Architecture, from which she graduated in the very early 30s.

Student Guletskaya (late 1920s),

photograph from the archive of N.A. Klementyev, published for the first time

She also painted in watercolors, specially going to sketches both in her youth and in subsequent years... Her paintings are carefully preserved in the family to this day. Here are a couple of them:

Rostov the Great (

Blooming cactus "Queen of the Night" ( from the archive of N.A. Klementyev, published for the first time)

In 1932, Lyubov Petrovna moved to Moscow.

At the beginning of her career, the young architect Guletskaya worked a lot on projects of medical institutions and related infrastructure, being an employee of the hospital sector " Giprogora" (Russian Institute of Urban Planning and Investment Development) - one of the leading design organizations in Russia in the field urban planning of the territory Russian Federation, its regions and cities, design of city centers, residential, public, industrial areas and complexes, resort, recreational and environmental areas.

From “Giprogor” she was given an apartment in a wooden house in Kuskovo, on the territory of the estate of the Sheremetyev counts, where she lived with her husband and son Alexei (born in 1936) for almost thirty years.

From 1940 to the mid-1960s, Guletskaya worked at Rosgrazhdanproekt: she designed and built in Kostroma and Vladimir (from 1949 to 1952), Izhevsk and Central Asia.

Around 1956, together with architect O.N. Rusakov and artists E.E. Lansere and K.I. Belogurova participated in the restoration work of the Sericulture pavilion (former pavilion of the Moldavian SSR) of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV until 1959, now VDNKh).

Photo from the Internet

In 1958, L.P. Guletskaya and her family moved to Kaliningrad near Moscow, where she was offered to become the chief architect and head the design workshop. By the way, she began working on our city long before moving, back in 1947, moving from Giprogor to a closed design organization (she designed Kaliningrad industrial structures in the closed territories of our enterprises).

Initially she lived on Karl Marx Street in house No. 10, an apartment in which Alexey Mikhailovich Isaev personally allocated her, since the houses were then departmental. And when she built the first 9-story house on the station square with the Zarya store on the ground floor, she moved here, to Kalinina Street, No. 2, where she lived the last forty years of her life. Why there is still no memorial plaque on it with the name of the architect who actually built our unique Old Town is beyond comprehension!

Photo from the Internet

“SHE FORMED THE IMAGE OF KALININGRAD PODISMOSKOV”

Her firstborn, 1950

Tsiolkovskogo Street, No. 19

Year 1953

Tsiolkovsky Street:

Tsiolkovskogo street, house No. 16/23

Tsiolkovskogo Street, building No. 16/23, eastern facade

Tsiolkovskogo Street, building No. 20/22 (photo from the Internet)

Tsiolkovskogo street, house No. 17/21

Tsiolkovskogo Street, houses No. 17/21 and No. 15/16 (dormitory),

photograph after 1953 from the archive of O. Glagoleva

Tsiolkovskogo Street, building No. 17/21 (eastern facade), photo from the Internet

Tsiolkovskogo Street, building No. 21/20 (western facade)

Tsiolkovskogo Street, building No. 21/20 (eastern facade)

Unfortunately, the author of the article was unable to photograph these magnificent panoramas from three houses on both sides of the former main city highway (then Stalin Street, now Tsiolkovsky Street) due to the lack of the appropriate level of technology (maybe one of the professional photographers can help?).

Karl Marx Street

“Royal House”, Karl Marx Street, No. 25

The first city flowerpots at the “Royal House”, photograph by Alexander Opalev, 2015

For your information: a lot of material has been written about this unique “Royal House”, which will soon be posted on our website.

Below is a photograph of perhaps the most luxurious and last house of Guletskaya in the “southern” quarter of the city:

Karl Marx Street, building No. 27/21 ( photo from the Internet)

Year 1955

Building No. 18 of the “southern quarter” is being completed:

Tsiolkovskogo Street, house No. 18 (fragment with finial and bay windows)

A block is being formed, bounded by Kalinin, Tsiolkovsky and Karl Marx streets with the Belochka kindergarten in the center.

Fragment of the building of the former KUM (Kaliningrad department store on the ground floor),

Tsiolkovskogo street, house number 10

The main entrance to the kindergarten "Belochka", Tsiolkovskogo street, house No. 12

Fragment of the bas-relief “belt” of the Belochka kindergarten

At the turn of the 1950s-60s

On the site of old dachas and barracks on Gagarin Street (formerly Molotov), Kaliningrad “Cheryomushki” are being built:

Photo from the archive of G.A. Khrustaleva

“In accordance with standard designs, all the houses of Cheryomushki were supposed to stand like tin soldiers, with their ends facing the highway. But the architect L.P. Guletskaya insisted on using the “square” technique, in which every four houses form a courtyard, necessary to create comfort and protection from intra-block drafts.

Realizing that houses should not just face some street, but Pionerskaya, an intercity highway with an abundance of transport, Lyubov Petrovna provided for the buildings to be set back from the “red line” and planned the planting of trees and shrubs in the resulting free strip.”

1960s

“In the Zavokzalny district, Guletskaya decided to make Sadovaya Street like the entrance gate to the city from the Bolshevskoye Highway, connecting two houses on each side at the beginning of the street with corners. She repeated the technique of pairing houses at corners on Grabina Street.

The big bosses called this nothing more than “fantasies,” simultaneously hinting to the architect what could happen to her for “disrupting the program to quickly provide workers with modern housing.” However, time has shown how right the architect was when she thought not just about a microdistrict, but about a professionally designed microdistrict - about houses in which people will live comfortably, about courtyards where they will enjoy relaxing.”

Photo of their archive by N.A. Klementyev

“Everything that Guletskaya’s hands touched is reflected respect for your profession, caring for people (emphasis added - O.G.). She was not afraid to stand up for her professional beliefs. One confirmation of this is the implementation of the plan to merge the two neighboring cities of Kostin and Kaliningrad in 1960.

At that time, there was still an old stadium on Kalinin Square, but, according to the General Development Plan of the city, only cultural and administrative institutions should have remained on the square, and another place had to be found for the sports zone. L.P. Guletskaya proposed building the stadium closer to the green area of the Akulovsky Canal, in fact, where it stands to this day.

But someone from the management came up with the idea to build in this very place... a brick factory!

Wow, if a brick factory stands in the center of a new unified city! - Guletskaya was horrified and went “to the top” to defend her innocence.

You have been told: there will be a factory! - the official answered. - Or put down the book.

He meant the party card, but did not know that Lyubov Petrovna was not a party member!

Perhaps everything would have ended in tears for both the architect and the city, but Korolev and Isaev stood behind her. When necessary, she resorted to their help. They, in turn, respected her opinion as a specialist.

And the result is obvious: without the Vympel stadium (built in 1961), located virtually in the center of modern Korolev, but at the same time forming its own special zone, it is already difficult to imagine our city.”

HONORARY ARCHITECT OF RUSSIA

The same Sergei Borisovich Merzhanov, who knew Lyubov Petrovna well, also shared such an interesting story, to which he was most directly related: “Somewhere in 2000-2001, it was decided to introduce a new title “Honorary Architect of Russia” - in addition to the current "Honored Architect of Russia". The regulations on the title of “Honorary Architect” were developed in the Russian State Construction Committee, mainly by the Department of Architecture, where I was working at that time.

In the original version of this Regulation there was the following line: “The title is assigned exclusively for active architects"(and not to pensioners, no matter what merits they have).

And here - either at some board related to architectural heritage, or in a private professional conversation with someone from the management - I told about the fate of Lyubov Petrovna, who was soon to turn 90 years old. And either the head of the Department, or even the Deputy Minister asked: “Can Gosstroy somehow mark Guletskaya?”

Lyubov Petrovna Guletskaya (1911-2002),

photograph of their archive by N.A. Klementyev, published for the first time

They immediately remembered about this new title and about that same age limit, and then... they introduced an exception to the Regulations: the so-called “special cases” - precisely for those architects whose work, for objective reasons, was not previously advertised (and sometimes even deliberately kept secret). Thus, Lyubov Petrovna Guletskaya was awarded this title - one of the first in its history.

Well, I, together with the then chief architect of Korolev A.N. Panin, went to her home to present the Diploma and medal. Moreover, for the first and last time I came not just as an architectural historian, but as an official of the State Construction Committee of the Russian Federation.

There were several reports in different city newspapers, television came. And six months later (April 26) Guletskaya died..."

AFTERWORD

The work of Lyubov Petrovna was continued by her grandson - Nikolai Alekseevich Klementyev , graduated from MARCHI (Moscow Architectural Institute). A member of the Union of Architects, he now runs a large Moscow design firm that, in particular, built the Kurumoch international airport in Samara:

Photo from the Internet

Great-granddaughter Anisia Klementieva chose a more feminine specialty: after graduating from the S.G. Stroganov Moscow State University of Art and Industry (Stroganovka) with a degree in Artistic Interior Design and an internship in London, she founded her own company, Koshka Interiors, and is engaged in the design of public and residential interiors in Russia and Europe.

Photo from the Internet

© Questioned and photographed by Olga GLAGOLEVA

Deepest gratitude to Nikolai Alekseevich Klementyev and his mother Maria Naumovna Danishevskaya

for the information and photographs provided

Sergey Merzhanov. Her creations were Tsiolkovsky and Cheryomushki streets. “Kaliningradskaya Pravda” No. 124 dated November 1, 2011.

Sergey Merzhanov. New architectural appearance of the city. “Kaliningradskaya Pravda” No. 85 dated August 2, 2011.

Miron Ivanovich Merzhanov (Miran Oganesovich Merzhanyants, September 23, 1895 - December 1975) - Soviet architect. In 1934-1941 - personal architect of I.V. Stalin, author of projects for the dachas of Stalin and the top leaders of the USSR in Kuntsevo, Matsesta, Bocharov Ruchey.

In 1943-1954 he was repressed and worked in architectural “sharashkas” from Sochi to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Author of the projects for the Golden Stars of Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Socialist Labor (1938-1939).

Biography

Early years and beginning of career

The architect was born in the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don (today within the boundaries of Rostov-on-Don) into a prosperous Armenian family. Father Ivan served as an official and manager at the factory of the merchant Hunanyan in Slavyansk, and was a distant relative of I.K. Aivazovsky. All three of Ivan's sons became talented specialists - each in their own field. Miron's middle son and younger brother Martyn became a famous sports journalist who founded the weekly Football in 1960; the younger Yakov worked as a theater artist in Moscow, but died early. Before the outbreak of the First World War, Miron managed to graduate from a classical gymnasium and enter the St. Petersburg Institute of Civil Engineers. He worked part-time as a draftsman in the workshop of A.I. Tamanyan, then was drafted into the army, but did not manage to get to the front.

After the October Revolution, he fled from hungry St. Petersburg home to Rostov. Trying to avoid being drafted into Denikin’s first-line troops, he voluntarily joined the engineering battalion of the White Army, and after its defeat he settled in Krasnodar. In 1920-1923 he continued his studies at the Kuban Polytechnic Institute, easily entered the circle of local professionals, and in 1922 he married the daughter of a Kislovodsk architect, Elizaveta Emmanuilna Khodzhaeva.

Merzhanov's first independent construction was his own house in Kislovodsk (1925). They followed him

indoor market in Essentuki
State Bank building in Pyatigorsk
one of the buildings of the sanatorium “10 Years of October” (now “Pearl of the Caucasus”) in Kislovodsk

In these buildings, formally belonging to constructivism, Merzhanov’s style was revealed, which remained until the end of his days - the desire for spectacular monumentality of buildings, combined with romanticization, visual lightening of structures, as well as the architect’s favorite detail - corner balconies and corner niches, breaking the smooth walls of buildings . Later Merzhanov called I.V. Zholtovsky and Frank Lloyd Wright his main teachers.

Thirties

In 1929, Merzhanov won an open competition to design the Red Army sanatorium in Sochi, which was personally supervised by K. E. Voroshilov. The sanatorium, financed by a loan from the military, was opened on June 1, 1934, and in the same year it was named after Voroshilov. The architect and the People's Commissar became personal friends; This friendship continued even after Voroshilov’s resignation and Merzhanov’s release. The sanatorium was built in a constructivist manner, but Merzhanov deliberately masked the most rigid constructivist elements, harmoniously combining simple geometric shapes with the mountainous terrain of the coast. The image of the sanatorium and the adjacent funicular was replicated by propaganda, and Merzhanov became one of the most popular Soviet architects.

In 1931, Merzhanov was summoned to Moscow and appointed chief architect of the economic administration of the USSR Central Executive Committee. Simultaneously with the completion of the Voroshilov sanatorium, according to the instructions of the Central Executive Committee, Merzhanov built the Bocharov Ruchey complex of state dachas. He supervised the design of the Naval Academy in Leningrad, the design of buildings for the new city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and together with A.K. Burov he built the Moscow House of Architects. In the second half of the thirties, Merzhanov built two large sanatoriums in Kislovodsk - “Sanatorium-Hotel NKVD” (now “Kislovodsk”) and “Red Stones”. This is undoubtedly Stalinist architecture, which was not limited in funds for high-quality stone finishing, and retained the “southern” romanticism typical of the architect.

Sergey Merzhanov, architect
Sergey Merzhanov, architect, graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute with a degree in history and theory of architecture. Author of numerous books and articles on modern and historical architecture and monument protection. For several years he was a public inspector at VOOPIK. Twice laureate of the All-Russian Architecture Festival for the best publications on architecture. In recent years he has been engaged in exhibition design. Author of many concepts for museums and exhibitions, in particular the author of the concept of the State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve and the script for the museum-apartment of Andrei Bely in Moscow.

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The Rostov organization of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments received a letter from Moscow, from Doctor of Architecture Professor B.M. Merzhanova. Boris Mironovich has Rostov roots, and asked to find out where his famous ancestors lived in Rostov. “In Rostov-on-Don, my father, the famous architect Miron Ivanovich Merzhanov, and his brother, an equally famous person, sports journalist Martyn Ivanovich Merzhanov, were born and lived before the revolution,” the letter says. “Now the interest of researchers in their life and creativity, and that’s why I’m trying to find out where they lived in Rostov"... The personality of Rostovite Miron Ivanovich Merzhanov is really very interesting. In 1929, while still a young and unknown architect of the city of Kislovodsk, he won an open competition for the design and construction of a military sanatorium in Sochi, which was later awarded the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1936. He was noticed in Moscow, and began to be involved in the design of other objects (mainly dachas, holiday homes and sanatoriums for government members). In 1933, along with other objects, Miron Ivanovich made a project for a small dacha for Stalin in the village of Volynskoye near Moscow, which later received the unofficial name "near dacha". Soon after this, Comrade Stalin himself wanted to see the architect. It was about building a dacha in the Sochi area. The leader did not give any orders regarding construction. He expressed only one wish - that there were no fountains. The dacha was built in a short time, and Stalin was pleased. Then Merzhanov built another dacha by order of Stalin - on the Kholodnaya River near the city of Gagra, and then in the town of Mussera, in the vicinity of Gudauta. Rostov resident Merzhanov thus entered the circle of those close to the leader. At Stalin's request, he made sketches of the highest state awards conceived by Stalin - the gold stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of Socialist Labor. Before 1943, the following facilities were also built according to Merzhanov’s designs: The new building of the Central House of Architects (together with A.K. Burov and A.V. Vlasov, Moscow, opened in February 1941); NKVD sanatorium "Kislovodsk" (Kislovodsk, 1935); sanatorium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "Red Stones" (Kislovodsk, 1939); Stalin's dachas - in Matsesta; "Cold River" near Gagra; "Bocharov Stream"(originally intended for Voroshilov); "Green Grove" (all built in the 1930s); about fifty dachas for Soviet senior managers (in the Caucasus and Moscow region) In addition, according to the planning decision of M.I. Merzhanov by architects A.I. Vasiliev and A.P. Romanovsky developed a project for the Naval Academy in Leningrad. A special place in Merzhanov’s creative biography is occupied by state award badges made according to his sketches - Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union(approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on August 1, 1939) and Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor(approved May 22, 1940). On August 12, 1943, Merzhanov was arrested, and on March 8, 1944, he was sentenced to 10 years in camps under Art. 58, part 1a, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. He was transferred to a camp near Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he miraculously managed to avoid being sent further to Magadan. He was transferred from the general area to an industrial barracks - a sharashka, in which he lived and worked until the beginning of 1949. In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, he took part in the construction of the monumental building of the Palace of Culture, the "ITR Club of Plant 126" and a number of other structures. At the beginning of 1949, Merzhanov was unexpectedly sent to Moscow; at the Yaroslavl station he was handed over to state security officers. The next day, right in camp clothes, he had to appear before the Minister of State Security. He commissioned the architect to develop a project for the MGB sanatorium. For this purpose, Merzhanov was brought to Sochi and shown the approximate location of the future construction (the final location was chosen by Merzhanov himself). He was then returned to Moscow and placed in the Sukhanovskaya prison, which was one of the worst torture prisons of the Stalin era. The architect was given high-quality tools and materials for the drawings, but once the work was completed, the project was taken away. Some time later, Merzhanov was again called to Abakumov, and then the detailed design of the sanatorium began, which was carried out in another sharashka - this time in Marfin near Moscow (officially called the “regime design bureau of the economic administration of the USSR Ministry of State Security”). At the end of 1951, the architect was sent to Irkutsk prison, then to Krasnoyarsk. A happy accident helped him start working again in his specialty (even if at first as a prisoner) - in the Kraiproekt design organization. Miron Ivanovich was released in 1954, and in 1956 he was completely rehabilitated... ...On the night of December 13, 1975, in Moscow, the architect died of a long-term lung disease. He was buried in the Armenian Cemetery; in the same family burial rest the ashes of his mother and brothers - artist Yakov Merzhanov and journalist Martyn Merzhanov. This is the kind of person who was born and raised in Rostov, or more precisely, in Nakhichevan-on-Don. In the State Archive of the Rostov Region they found documents stating that the house of the Merzhanov family, registered in the name of their father - Merzhanov Ivan Mironovich - was registered in the accounting books for 1916 and 1917, and was located on 16th line, 8.

26. Architect of Stalin, Merzhanov Miron Ivanovich.

One day in the middle of the summer of 1949, Colonel Zhelezov came to us as usual. This time the retinue was more numerous than always, and among the KGB officers in military suits, a tall, dark, stooped man dressed in an elegant suit stood out sharply. Foma Fomich introduced him to us as the new leader of our group, reorganized into an “architectural and artistic” group.

Then you yourself will get to know each other better, but this does not relieve you of responsibility for the work of the artists, Zhelezov said, turning to Ivashov-Musatov, and the authorities left.

/...Looking ahead, I note that as the group worked under the leadership of Musatov, it continued to work in the future, since Merzhanov was assigned a nook right next to the studio, where he, reclusive, pored over some drawings and drawings. And we were burning with curiosity.../

The next day he came out to us stretching, bending his elbows and sharply throwing them back, trying to straighten his back.

Well, friends, let's introduce ourselves, I'm an architect, I'm building sanatoriums on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, I built dachas for Comrade Stalin, and he named one of the sanatoriums he built, it seems, if I'm not mistaken, him. Voroshilov. Regarding his sentence, he answered briefly: “Article 58-10, part one, for “kowtowing to the West”, 10 years in prison. Laughing, he bowed dramatically, pretending to wave a hat with feathers in front of us. And in general, he turned out to be a man witty and cheerful, but did not even try to hide his sense of superiority from us, he was imposing beyond measure.

I noticed his words: “I’m building sanatoriums,” that is, in the present tense, but I was embarrassed to ask him a question. This soon became clear without my asking any questions - he simply continued to work on the project for the MTB sanatorium on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, which he had begun designing even before his arrest. After a while, he showed us sketches of the design of the main building, made in watercolors on large sheets of whatman paper, which fit beautifully into the picturesque landscape of the mountainous sea coast.

Every morning, Merzhanov, passing through the studio into his nook, loudly greeted us: “Well, what are you sad about, bohemians? The most important thing in life is to be able to sharpen a pencil correctly!” And indeed,

- 135 -

He sharpened pencils amazingly beautifully and quickly - with just a few strokes of a safety razor. The cuts were long and graceful. During the entire time he worked in the group, he persistently tried to teach each of us this art, but for me, for example, the lessons did not serve me well - I continued to fix things at random...

Over time, Merzhanov moderated his arrogance, became simpler, more friendly, and probably sensed our growing alienation. Hence these daily greetings and lessons on sharpening pencils. Between ourselves, we came to the conclusion that he was simply trying to gain our affection, although we could not understand why. The majority did not react to his flirtations, we saw that he was a flying bird, and a high-flying one at that - today in prison, and tomorrow, look, again near Stalin - we were afraid of him.

The exception was Ivashov-Musatov, who, it seemed to me, slightly curried favor with him, although he was a proud, proud, independent man. But perhaps I was wrong, and he simply admired the architect’s talent? After some time, they could already be seen together on a walk, in the dining room. They were arguing about something in a low voice, which was surprising, since everyone knew Musatov’s habit of speaking very loudly, and generally shouting in disputes. Moreover, Merzhanov was not shy about strong expressions, while Musatov, hearing them, turned a deaf ear, although in other cases, when swearing, he shouted in rage: “Don’t you dare, don’t dare, it’s like coming to church and dropping your pants and sound a trumpet!"

Already a month after Merzhanov appeared with us, we encountered a rather unusual phenomenon in our conditions: Colonel Zhelezov often visited us and, having quickly greeted everyone, hurried to his nook, where they talked for a long time. It seemed to us that they were even arguing about something! It looked strange and mysterious.

Such meetings were repeated every three to four days for a month, and then Merzhanov disappeared. He just disappeared. The last time he was seen was at night, when he, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Mishin (more on him later), left the bedroom and was like that...

He appeared at the sharashka again two weeks later. He arrived not in a funnel, but in the boss’s car and in company with two civilians with a military bearing. They carried luggage behind him - baskets with grapes and other fruits, and he walked with a careless gait, as if he were followed not by MTB ranks, but by his adjutants. Zhelezov immediately appeared. A couple of minutes later the authorities left...

We were terribly intrigued by this event, but no one dared to be the first to inquire about the essence of what was happening; everyone pretended that nothing extraordinary had happened.

- 136 -

Finally, Miron Ivanovich came out to us, stood, rocking from his toes to his heels, and asked loudly: “Of course, you are burning with curiosity, aren’t you? Well, I won’t test your patience, just leave your hands alone!”

He said that, accompanied by two MTB officers and Colonel Zhelezov, he flew to Sochi and lived for several days at the Intourist hotel. Then he was taken to Tsikhis-Dziri, where a sanatorium was built according to his design, then to Batumi and back to Sochi. They took him to the Caucasus to link the project to the area. He had to work with two free architects from Moscow, who were subordinated to him for ten days. It was the last event that probably gave him special pleasure: “You know, it was quite pleasant to command them, having a 10-year sentence on my neck. It was very gratifying to see how these fraters were six with me, catching my every word - the word of a bedraggled prisoner! And you "You should have seen the state in which they arrived to me, their pants were probably full of fear - they took them in Moscow at night. They later confessed to me that they thought they were being arrested!" - and he laughed.

Most of us had already been to the camps and heard enough that it was difficult to surprise our brother. But for an architect, the home architect of a great leader, to use criminal terminology, and with such cynicism?! Well well! To be proud of the fact that for 10 days he commanded two people who were scared to death, knowing that security officers don’t come just like that at night? It was uncomfortable to listen to all this. Even Ivashov-Musatov, apparently embarrassed, left the studio without listening to him.

Further, he told and showed in person how he was taken to restaurants, and the MTB officers tried to please him in everything and were more in the role of friends than security, since: “... we drank wine together, and were in women’s society. ..” He was joyfully excited and said that fortune should soon turn to face him: “They are unlikely to get by without me - there are, of course, many architects, but there is only one Merzhanov!”