Small weaknesses of big people: what the Russian rulers were fond of

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Psychologists say that a person's hobby is his failed profession. Even those in power at all times are sometimes distracted by pleasant pursuits: someone is closer to poetry and aristocratic hunting, to someone collecting or painting. Today we will talk about the alter ego of the Russian celestials.

Yaroslav the Wise - the first bibliophile of all Russia

In Ancient Russia, princes spent their free time from wars and state affairs at feasts and wars. The first Kiev prince who acquired a hobby that got into the chronicles was Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise, who lived from about 978 to 1054. They say that he got his nickname thanks to books.

Yaroslav the Wise became the first prince of Kievan Rus, who comprehended literacy, studied foreign languages and read on his own. He created a library, books to which, at his behest, were brought from Europe and Byzantium, copied and carefully kept. For his time, Yaroslav the Wise was very knowledgeable in the field of world politics, which helped him become one of the greatest princes of Russia.

John IV the Terrible - a lover of heavenly bodies and chess

It turns out that the Russian Tsar John IV the Terrible had a very harmless hobby that had nothing to do with such well-known entertainments as sitting on a barrel of gunpowder or wheeling. John Vasilievich had a weakness for heavenly bodies and was seriously fond of astrology. He not only bought maps of the starry sky, but also compiled them with his own hand. Judging by the maps, Ivan the Terrible knew for sure that the picture of the starry sky looks different at different points on the Earth.

But chess was the real passion of the Russian tsar. His constant partners on the chessboard were Prince Ivan Glinsky and Boris Godunov. But Malyuta Skuratov, despite all the efforts of the tsar, never mastered the science of chess. According to legend, John IV died sitting at a chessboard.

Peter I "loved silver not for silver"

Peter I can be considered the first Russian "professional" numismatist. The first Russian emperor had a particular weakness for coins, however, not as a means of payment, but as a collectible. In the collection Peter the Great there were domestic coins, both Arabic and Greek. Of particular interest to him were coins of European minting, and rare coins belonging to the mints of Ancient Rome, Peloponnese and Persia were invaluable to Peter.

The first Russian emperor even had several albums for storing coins made with his own hand. In his free time, Peter could spend hours sorting through coins, cleaning and examining them. The emperor's interest in coins played an important role in the formation and development of the Russian mint.

Peter III: toy battles with vodka

Emperor Peter III had a very unusual hobby. In addition to the traditional Russian weakness for alcoholic beverages, Peter III loved to play toy soldiers. However, the autocrat treated his hobby with all seriousness, did not allow anyone to mock and always tried to replenish the "army" with new figures. In the collection of Peter III there were several thousand soldiers, which made up units and even entire armies. The monarch could place them for hours on a special table, simulating the course of the battle.

However, one day a misfortune happened. The palace rat thoroughly chewed three soldiers from the collection. The ruler could not bear such an insult inflicted on him and the Russian army, albeit a toy one. On the same day, according to his decree, the rat was caught and publicly hanged. However, the rats did not stop gnawing on the soldiers from this.

Nicholas I - Emperor-couturier

Autocrat of All Russia Nicholas I had a passion for fashion design. Contemporaries have repeatedly mentioned that the emperor loved to design military uniforms for the Russian army. They say that Nicholas I, no worse than any tailor, knew the sewing business, knew the purpose and application of all the elements of the uniform, and could spend evenings and nights drawing sketches, finalizing them and bringing them to life.

Nicholas II - a connoisseur of violins

The last emperor of the Russian Empire, Nicholas II, was also fond of collecting. He collected violins. In his collection there were 128 violins and even the violin of the great Antonio Stradivari. Like any collector, Nicholas II treated his exhibits very painfully. There is a legend that in the Winter Palace for the Stradivarius violin, a cache was set up in a column of the palace.

Not the proletarian hobbies of the leader of the proletariat

At the leader socialist revolution Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's hobbies were by no means proletarian. Contrary to the ideals of social equality, Lenin was interested in cars, he was very fond of hunting, cycling and horseback riding, reading books and classical music. The leader of the proletarians of all countries was not indifferent to painting and theater. He did not advertise his hobbies, while many of his associates shared them.

Stalin is a wine connoisseur and movie lover

The father of all nations, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, had a particular weakness for cinema, including Hollywood Westerns. He believed that Lyubov Orlova could be a worthy competitor to Greta Garbo, and the USSR would still "give a light to Hollywood". After the death of the leader, a leaflet was found in his documents with the words of the song "Light in the heart from a cheerful song" and the movie "Volga-Volga". Another hobby of Stalin is his own wine. In the basement at Blizhnyaya Dacha there were always bottles of Georgian wine, into which, at the direction of the leader, business executives added various berries.

Sybarite Brezhnev and the poet Andropov

General Secretary Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, perhaps, only loved hunting more than orders. He did not give up this hobby even in the last years of his life, spending weekends in the military hunting farm in Zavidovo. They say that the wild boars there were specially fed with potatoes, and as a result the animal approached the hunters 30 meters away. It was simply impossible to miss, but the huntsman, just in case, fired a shot at the same time as Brezhnev.

But Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, who did not stay long in the post of general secretary, and is better known as the most mysterious chairman of the KGB of the USSR, wrote poetry. And it is worth noting that they are very good. Some of his contemporaries called him a just and wise statesman, someone a cunning and ambitious politician - there are enough facts in his biography for both images. His poems are the same different: both lyrics, and comic, and even not quite decent content.

They say that once the historian of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Georgy Arbatov and political scientist Alexander Bovin, sent a congratulatory letter to Andropov, in which they casually expressed their fear that the government was spoiling people. The secretary general answered them with a poem:

As we can see, nothing human is alien even to the "powers that be". In any case, cute character traits make each of them more understandable and close to posterity.