Found a rare collection of a real-life Plyushkin, whose fate Gogol prophesied in "Dead Souls"

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

During excavations of an ancient building in Pskov, archaeologists discovered the treasure of Fyodor Plyushkin (1837-1911), a Russian merchant and the largest collector of the Russian Empire. Particularly outstanding in his collection was the numismatic department - 84 boxes of rare coins. This was not even the case in the Hermitage at that time! It is no coincidence that a part of the collection was bought by Emperor Nicholas II himself. It may seem mystic, but the legendary character of Gogol's Plyushkin determined the fate of the future collector, who at the time of the publication of the novel was only 5 years old.

Recently, a treasure was found in the center of ancient Pskov. When excavating the foundations of a building that was demolished in the 1970s, archaeologists found six half-rotten cans, a silver goblet and a ladle on the site of a former furnace. They contained carefully packed coins, orders, medals, badges, crosses, folds, ornaments - more than a thousand items in total.

Most of the treasure is made up of coins. Among them there are both penny copies and rarities that date back to the 16th - early 20th century and represent almost the complete history of the Russian coin.

Also found were the Orders of St. Stanislav and St. Anna - high state awards of the Russian Empire.

All found items are of great historical value and will become an adornment of any museum. A century ago, these artifacts were in the private collection of Fyodor Plyushkin, the most famous collector of antiquities in the Russian Empire.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Plyushkin was a hereditary merchant, and thanks to hard work he was able to get rich. He occupied a prominent place in the city leadership of Pskov, was elected to the city duma, and was a member of the local archaeological society. But most of all, Plyushkin was remembered by his contemporaries as a collector and collector of antiques.

Plyushkin brought both unique exhibits and obvious rubbish to his house in Pskov. Things were literally in heaps, and all the walls were hung with paintings by Aivazovsky, Vereshchagin, Shishkin, mixed with old Russian icons. Porcelain, weapons, rare books, letters from Gogol, Suvorov and Arakcheev coexisted with newspaper clippings, cobblestones, stuffed birds. The collection has been replenished for over 40 years and amounted to about a million items. Plyushkin's special pride was 84 boxes with coins. Even the Hermitage, the largest museum in Russia, did not have that many.

The collection of historical objects was the pride of Plyushkin, he willingly showed guests his mansion, where everything was kept. Fyodor Mikhailovich passed away in 1911 and his collection was bought by the Emperor Nicholas II himself. But some items still remained in the family. It was them, hidden in the fall of 1917, that were found in the foundations of the ruined mansion of a Pskov merchant.

How did the collector Plyushkin end up on the pages of the poem "Dead Souls", because the work was published when Fyodor Mikhailovich was still a child? According to the popular version, Pushkin saw the sign of Plyushkin's father's shop. The poet suggested to Gogol a memorable surname, which came in handy for a character known for his stinginess and passion for collecting. Everything else is special magic and mysteries that constantly surrounded Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.