Glass factory red may neighbors. Glass Museum of the Red May Factory - nosferat09

Such wonderful story Mikhail Letuev wrote about the Kremlin stars and the plant at which they were made, their glass part, to be more precise - nord_traveller . Due to a little confusion and a glitch in LiveJournal, the authorship was initially indicated incorrectly. Now I'm fixing it. Here is a link to the original post - Part 1. Say a word about the Kremlin stars. And there is another continuation, no less interesting - Part 2. Is it too late for us to stop? .

Tver region G. Vyshny Volochek village Red May, Glass Factory - where the Kremlin stars were made.


The coming year could be marked by two dates - albeit not jubilees, but significant in their own way: the 157th anniversary of the founding of a chemical plant near Vyshny Volochok and the 87th anniversary of the day when this plant received its last name, under which it is all they know - “Red May”. They knew. Today, instead of a unique enterprise, once famous for its crystal, there are only ruins. However, there is also a round date - exactly 70 years ago, stars made of glass made at Red May shone over the Moscow Kremlin. Once upon a time the plant was famous throughout the USSR. Still would! "They shine over the whole country Kremlin stars, made by the hands of Krasnomaysk craftsmen,” I read a guidebook from 1988. Of course, not entirely: the ruby ​​tops of the tower spiers are a complex engineering structure, on the creation of which dozens of enterprises and research institutes worked. But the laminated glass manufactured at Krasny May is far from the last part of this structure. Therefore, the words of almost thirty years ago, despite the pathos, are close to the truth. What remains of that pride? Destroyed workshops that are unlikely to ever be rebuilt. Yes, a museum that survives on nothing more than a word of honor. A few kilometers from Vyshny Volochyok towards St. Petersburg is the village of Krasnomaysky. Is it true, local residents it is not called that; this toponym exists only in official documents. “I’ll go to Red May”, “I live on Red May” - when people say this, they mean the village, not the plant. IN mid-19th century, here was the village of Klyuchino, where in 1859 the future flagship of the glass industry arose. First as a chemical. Its first owner, titular councilor Samarin, has further development production did not have enough funds, and three years later the plant was bought by the merchant of the second guild Andrei Bolotin, who soon built a glass factory in its place. Later, he founded another plant on the territory of the current Vyshnevolotsky district - Borisovsky (now - OJSC Medsteklo Borisovskoe). The first glass melting furnace at the Klyuchinsky plant was launched by the merchant and founder of the Bolotin dynasty of glassmakers in 1873. Also, at the expense of the plant’s owners, a workers’ settlement, quite comfortable by the standards of that time, was built.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Klyuchinsky plant produced glass pharmaceutical, tableware and confectionery dishes, kerosene lamps, lampshades, fulfilling orders from almost all parts of the empire. Soon it struck October Revolution, the plant was nationalized and in 1929 received the name “Red May”. A village of 5 thousand inhabitants with a hospital, school, music school, a vocational school that trained, in addition to specialist glassmakers, tractor drivers and car mechanics. Much was written about “Red May” in the regional and central press. Let us remember what newspapers and magazines were talking about then and compare all this with the current remnants of former greatness. “When you look at the Kremlin stars, it seems as if from time immemorial they have been crowning pointed towers: so organic is their flame in unity with the beautiful monument of Russian architecture, so Moreover, the natural inseparability of two symbols in our minds is the heart of the Motherland and the five-pointed star” (“Pravda”, 1985). It just so happened that when we say “Red May,” we mean five ruby ​​finials. And vice versa. That’s why I want to start my story from this page. Moreover, the Vyshnevolotsk stars, which now decorate the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Troitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers of the Kremlin, were not the first. For the first time five pointed stars changed the symbol of autocratic Russia - double-headed eagles - in the fall of 1935. They were made of high-alloy stainless steel and red copper, with a gold-plated hammer and sickle in the center of each star. However, the first stars did not decorate the Kremlin towers for long. Firstly, they quickly faded under the influence of precipitation, and secondly, in general composition The Kremlin looked rather ridiculous and violated the architectural ensemble. Therefore, it was decided to install ruby ​​luminous stars.

New tops appeared on November 2, 1937. Each of them could rotate like a weather vane and had a frame in the form of a multifaceted pyramid. The order for the production of ruby ​​glass was received by the Avtosteklo plant in the city of Konstantinovka in the Donbass. It had to transmit red rays of a certain wavelength, be mechanically strong, resistant to sudden temperature changes, and not discolor or be destroyed by exposure to solar radiation. The glazing of the stars was double: the inner layer consisted of milky (matte, dull white) glass 2 mm thick, thanks to which the light from the lamp was scattered evenly over the entire surface, and the outer layer was made of ruby ​​6-7 mm. Each star weighed about a ton, with a surface area of ​​8 to 9 square meters.

During the Great Patriotic War the stars were extinguished and sheathed. When they were reopened after the Victory, multiple cracks and traces of shell fragments were discovered on the ruby ​​surface. Restoration was needed. This time, the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May” was entrusted with the task of making glass. The local craftsmen made it four layers: transparent crystal at the bottom, then frosted glass, again crystal and, finally, ruby. This is necessary so that the star and during the day sunlight, and at night, illuminated from within, it was the same color. " Ruby stars, manufactured at the Konstantinovsky plant, did not fulfill the task set by the designers. A double layer of glass - milky and ruby ​​- did not make it possible to preserve the bright color of the stars. Dust accumulated between the layers. And by that time, laminated glass was produced, in my opinion, only at Krasny May (Kalininskaya Pravda, 1987). “I think that readers will be interested to know how prototypes of star glass were made. To produce a multilayer ruby ​​for just one star, it took 32 tons of high-quality Lyubertsy sand, 3 tons of zinc muffle white, 1.5 tons boric acid, 16 tons of soda ash, 3 tons of potash, 1.5 tons of potassium nitrate” (“Yunost”, 1981). The renewed stars began to shine in 1946. And they still shine, despite calls from some public figures to replace them with eagles again. The next reconstruction of the ruby ​​“luminaries” was in 1974, and again Krasnomaysk craftsmen took part in it. Despite the existing experience, the cooking technology had to be created, as they say, from scratch: archival documents from which the “recipe” could be restored have not been preserved.

I must say that in 2010, about the 75th anniversary of the first Kremlin stars They wrote a lot in the central media, but they never mentioned the contribution of “Red May”. Not in 1996, when the plant was still working, at the very least, despite the fact that they began to pay out salaries in vases and wine glasses. Not in 2006 - at least to catch up with the already departed train...

“Yesterday, a batch of parts made of colorless and milky glass for lighting fixtures at the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky was sent from the Vyshnevolotsk “Red May” plant. It was not easy for glassmakers to repeat the bizarre shapes of ancient chandeliers and sconces that have illuminated the halls of this musical for more than a hundred years. educational institution"(Kalininskaya Pravda, 1983). “Several years ago, the craftsmen of the Vyshnevolotsk glass factory “Red May”, at the request of Bulgarian friends, made ruby ​​glass for the friendship memorial built on the famous Shipka. And here is a new order from Bulgaria - to make four-layer glass for the star that will crown the Party House in Sofia. The teams of craftsmen N. Ermakov, A. Kuznetsov, N. Nasonov and A. Bobovnikov were entrusted with executing the export order” (“Pravda”, 1986). “A beautiful garden village with asphalt roads, comfortable cottage houses, a club, a school and other public buildings, with a factory-garden in the center, from where almost two thousand items of products are distributed all over the world” (“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1959) . “Yesterday, a joyful message came from Moscow to GPTU-24 of the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May”. Resolution of the Main Exhibition Committee of the VDNKh USSR for the development and participation in the production of the “Jubilee” and “Cup” vases presented at the All-Union Show artwork vocational schools, vocational training masters T. Orlova and T. Shamrina were awarded bronze medals. And students Irina Yarosh and Eduard Vedernikov were awarded the medal “Young Participant of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of the USSR” (“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1983). For comparison. The garden village is an ordinary outlying village, of which there are thousands. It doesn’t seem to be abandoned, but there’s also no hint of being well-groomed. The cottage houses are apparently wooden two-story barracks that still have cesspools. The factory-garden now has pipes rising above the ruins of the workshops, a rusty honor board, like a ghost from the past. On the territory itself - some small business: auto repair, warehouses. In the former factory premises there was not even any old furniture left, only heaps of construction waste. The railway line, with the exception of a few sections, has been almost completely dismantled. GPTU also keeps up with the times. Back in the mid-2000s, the specialty of tractor driver, once the most popular among teenagers, was closed there. And not the most hopeless one in life. Is there really no need for tractor drivers anymore? Naturally, there are no blowers or glass grinders either. “A glass is a seemingly simple product, but its manufacture requires great skill. The glassmakers of the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May” are fluent in this skill. Two types of glasses produced here in millions of copies have been awarded the State Quality Mark. A vase for berries, a rosette for jam, and an ashtray made of zinc sulfide glass received the same high praise" (" Soviet Russia", 1975). In the workshops of the plant, by the way, the third largest after similar ones in Gus-Khrustalny and Dyatkovo, not only crystal products and ruby ​​stars were produced.

Glass Museum of the Red May Factory August 5th, 2011

(This is my first post, so please don't judge too harshly.)
This summer in July I was on vacation with my family in the village. Krasnomaysky, Vyshnevolotsk district, Tver region. This is not the first time I have been there, and I know about a glass factory that has not been operating for a long time. I knew from my wife that there was a museum of historical exhibits at the plant and modern works glass art. I was sure that the museum no longer existed, because... The plant has been bankrupt for many years; the remains of equipment are being hastily cut up for scrap metal on its territory. And so, from one friend I heard that someone visited the museum quite recently. I decided to try my luck too, and went to the factory entrance to find out information about opening hours.

Arriving there, I learned that you can get to the museum from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on any day except Saturday and Sunday. Since it was already late, I postponed the trip to another day.
The next morning I stood at the entrance at 9am like a bayonet. The woman who runs the museum was not there yet, so I looked around the hall. There were some slot machines, a whole warehouse, some scooters, ATVs, and a lot of other things in a bunch. The handle of the front door caught my attention. Apparently the thick glass front door has been preserved in its original form.

Soon the head of the museum came. I think her name is Svetlana (I don’t know her middle name). A friendly woman of about thirty-five (in my opinion). She immediately led me through the factory territory to the museum building. By the way, the path to the museum was all overgrown with grass, which Svetlana complained to me about later.
Having opened the lock on the door, we went up to the second floor of a separate building. Showcases and shelves full of exhibits appeared before my eyes. I have not seen such a cluster of glass objects for a long time!!! Having secured permission, I began taking photographs as I walked further into the hall.

Previously, this plant was very famous, from the lips of my wife I had previously heard that the Kremlin stars were made at this plant, and I found confirmation of this information in the museum records. Even on one cabinet there are exactly the same glasses as exhibits, here they are, two triangles at the bottom:

I found out that the plant has been in existence since 1859. Founded by the merchant of the II guild Andrei Vasilyevich Bolotin. A little history:
The glass factory "RED MAY" is located on the banks of the Shlina River. One of the largest in the country, it was founded in 1859 as a chemical enterprise by Moscow titular councilor Samarin. But Samarin did not have enough funds for further development of production and the plant was purchased by the Vyshnevolotsk merchant of the II guild, Andrei Vasilyevich Bolotin. In 1873, the owners of the plant - the merchants of Bolotina - built the first furnace, which produced glassware: tableware, confectionery, lampshades. In the same year, an experienced glassmaker - Vasily Alekseevich Vekshin, the owner of the secret of preparing a charge for melting colored glass - came to the plant. And for the first time in Russia, the Bolotinsky plant began to produce colored glass with a variety of colors. Already in 1882 and 1886, the plant’s new products, “absolutely remarkable in their diversity and unexpected grace” (as the once famous professor and “glass expert” A.K. Krupsky assessed them), were awarded two gold and two silver medals of the All-Russian Artistic -industrial exhibitions in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod for the rich color scheme and for the thoroughness of processing. In 1920, the plant was nationalized and it became state property. On May 1, 1923, a meeting of workers and employees of the plant was held, at which it was decided to rename the plant into the “RED MAY” plant. Since that time, the plant began to expand, and new glass melting furnaces began to be built. During the Patriotic War (1942-1945) large quantities the plant produced technical glass for the needs Navy and aviation, semaphore and traffic light lenses, lamp glass, and battery vessels were manufactured. The 40s were a very important period in the history of the plant, when the first government order for the production of ruby ​​glass for Kremlin stars was honorably fulfilled. In 1946, the task was completed successfully. In the 50-60s, cutting glass products with gold, enamel, chandelier, and silicate paints became widespread at the plant. Products made from two- or three-layer glass were also produced. But Krasnomaysk is especially famous for its sulfide glass, which is not without reason called the “Russian miracle” for its inexhaustible richness of color. And it is also called so for its exceptional property of changing color depending on the temperature and duration of processing, which gives the mass product a unique uniqueness. This material was mastered by the plant in 1959, “RED MAY” was, in essence, the only enterprise not only in our country, but throughout the world, where sulfide glass was established as an indispensable glass in the plant’s assortment.

It turns out that kerosene lamps can be like this:

And in general I was amazed by the variety of shapes and colors, and all this glass in in capable hands masters Here are some more interesting exhibits:
Funny boot:

Abstract vase:

Olympic bear on a decanter)))
Interesting abstract idea by the artist:

Green glass bouquet:
Jug:

Unusual pumpkins)))
What a blessed material glass is in the hands of a master. The flowers are very similar to real, very graceful petals:

This exhibit interested me because... I was born in 1981)))

Petition to the Tver governor for the construction of the plant:

Unfortunately, the photographs were without captions... like all the exhibits in the museum.

This is how the ancient documents and photographs are located (glued to the stand, and the stand is removed behind the exhibits against the wall):

Model of a furnace for melting sand into glass:
In fact, there are a lot of photographs, and anyone interested can go to my Yandex photos page.

Having photographed enough, I decided not to detain Svetlana any longer. Together we went to the entrance, where she said that she was in such a hurry that she forgot to take the fee for visiting. At first I was wary, but when they told me the amount of 30 rubles, I relaxed, because there’s a lot to do interesting photos definitely costs more. This was the end of my trip to the museum. I complain that I forgot to photograph the very inscription on the building “Museum of the Factory”.
The visit to the museum left a mixed impression. On the one hand - admiration for the work, on the other - the depressing state of the plant itself, and the futility of this museum. Upon arrival home, I found out that the plant was put up for sale for 152 million rubles (or $5.72 million). As follows from the text accompanying the announcement: the buildings and equipment are of no value or interest and are subject to demolition. The infrastructure is of interest: ease of access, its own railway line, electricity and gas power. That is, it is interesting for those who decide to build a factory on this territory from scratch.

Here's what we learned about the museum's prospects: The new St. Petersburg owners of the plant tried to take the collection to St. Petersburg. And apparently they wanted to “push” the exhibits from the auction, but so far the indignant people and local press interfered. Details in

Parts were the city and the region. Now let's look at the two museums of Vyshny Volochok. This is a local history museum, introducing the past of the city, its unique canals and iconic people, and a real Glass Fairy Tale or Colored Dream - a glass museum of the former Red May plant, several times even producing ruby ​​glass for the stars of the Kremlin towers on government orders.

1. Glass production near Vyshny Volochok appeared in the second half of the 19th century, when a local merchant bought a chemical plant and based it on the production of tableware, lampshades and kerosene lamps

2. A little later, the production of colored glass appeared, when an experienced glassmaker who knew the secret of the technology came to the plant

3. The plant’s products received high awards at pre-revolutionary exhibitions

8. And the little animals, ahah, look what they are!

11. After the revolution, the plant was nationalized, renamed "Red May", expanded and modernized production. Lamp glass, window glass, dishes, lamps for the subway - all this was made here. High-quality color products, which, as in tsarist times, occupied high places in the international exhibitions, nicknamed the "Russian miracle"

12. In the 1940s and 1970s, the plant carried out probably the most important task in its history - a government order for the production of ruby ​​glass for the Kremlin stars. Here are his pieces

Having visited this museum, I was already dreaming of how I would get to the production site and make a report, but fate did not. In 2001, the Red May glass factory was closed. Let’s face it, a huge era has passed and a whole page has been torn out of the book on the history of our country, but the memory remains. Just for the sake of this museum, to visit here again, I would return to Vyshny in the summer on a Mosturflot cruise or in the winter as part of bus tours, the so-called “winter cruises” of this company.
It would seem that there has been no plant for almost 17 years, but a residue from this fact still remains inside.

13. And this is already Museum of Local Lore Vyshny Volochok. To be honest, I don’t really like these, but I didn’t regret visiting Vyshnevolotsky. It is already more than 80 years old, but the exhibitions do not smell like a layer of museum dust and you don’t need to bring a pillow with you to sleep out of boredom. Not so long ago everything here was also reconstructed.

Local guides are true professionals in their field, enthusiasts, ready to talk for hours about every detail, about every exhibit as if it were about a person dear to them personally and an old friend. No memorized phrases from guidebooks, no “tell me and finish quickly.” So I highly recommend the museum to everyone!

14. In the Petrovsky Hall you can not only learn about the activities of the Tsar, who made the Vyshnevolotsk waterway truly navigable (thus connecting the Baltic and the Caspian Sea and opening up many new opportunities for the development of Russia with the help of Vyshnevolotsk), but also see cannons raised from the bottom of the canals , cannonballs, hooks - witnesses of that era

17. The Dutch, who built canals for Peter in Vyshny Volochyok, messed up. They were used to working with the sea and did not take into account the peculiarities of our area. In the summer, lakes and rivers became shallow, canals became dehydrated, traffic along the canals stopped, and famine set in in the cities.

The Novgorod merchant M.I. Serdyukov undertook to correct the situation and improve the waterway. He, a self-taught hydraulic engineer, devoted a third of a century to the water system of Vyshny Volochok. Locks, beyslots, the Tsninsky Canal, the reservoir - all these are the results of his labors

18. Model of the Tsninsky lock, built by Serdyukov

19. Plan of hydraulic structures in Vyshny Volochyok, presented by Serdyukov to Emperor Peter

20. And modern map.
After visiting the museum, I wanted to visit all the buildings in the summer, including those almost destroyed by time and man, to see everything in person and get to know in more detail the water artery that was once very important for Russia

21. Model of Vyshny Volochok from the time of Peter the Great. Now, if museums have models, that’s very cool)

22. Look how handsome he is!
Frigate "Pallada". Its first captain was Nakhimov. Subsequently, the frigate visited many voyages, including Japan. With the beginning Crimean War due to fear of capture by the British, it was sunk.
IN different years Vyshnevolotsk and Tver nobles served on it

23. The canals of Vyshny Volochok were the most important freight routes. Here is a model of a cargo barque, made according to a 19th century drawing. How do you like the fact that the barge lifted up to 130 tons of cargo? I didn't believe it at first)

In Vyshny, in connection with the transition from lifting to rafting, the vessels were re-equipped. The rudders and masts were removed, platforms were set up, on which stood people operating 4 huge oars - potes. A pilot and 10 workers were placed on each barge

24. Remember in the first part there was a chapel on the site of the 18th century Kazan Cathedral, where Catherine’s decree was read, granting Vyshny Volochok the status of a city? This is what this cathedral was like, blown up in the 1930s

Part 1. Say a word about the Kremlin stars
The coming year could be marked by two dates - albeit not jubilees, but significant in their own way: the 157th anniversary of the founding of a chemical plant near Vyshny Volochok and the 87th anniversary of the day when this plant received its last name, under which it is all they know - “Red May”. They knew. Today, instead of a unique enterprise, once famous for its crystal, there are only ruins.

However, there is also a round date - exactly 70 years ago, stars made of glass made at Red May shone over the Moscow Kremlin. Once upon a time the plant was famous throughout the USSR. Still would! “The Kremlin stars, made by the hands of Krasnomaysk craftsmen, shine over the entire country” , - I’m reading a guidebook from 1988. Of course, not entirely: the ruby ​​tops of the tower spiers are a complex engineering structure, on the creation of which dozens of enterprises and research institutes worked. But the laminated glass manufactured at Krasny May is far from the last part of this structure. Therefore, the words of almost thirty years ago, despite the pathos, are close to the truth. What remains of that pride? Destroyed workshops that are unlikely to ever be rebuilt. Yes, a museum that survives on nothing more than a word of honor.

* * *
A few kilometers from Vyshny Volochyok towards St. Petersburg is the village of Krasnomaysky. True, local residents do not call it that; this toponym exists only in official documents. “I’ll go to Red May”, “I live on Red May” - when people say this, they mean the village, not the plant. In the middle of the 19th century, there was the village of Klyuchino, where in 1859 the future flagship of the glass industry arose. First as a chemical. Its first owner, titular councilor Samarin, did not have enough funds for further development of production, and three years later the plant was bought by the merchant of the second guild, Andrei Bolotin, who soon built a glass factory on this site. Later, he founded another plant in the territory of the current Vyshnevolotsky district - Borisovsky (now - OJSC Medsteklo Borisovskoe). The first glass melting furnace at the Klyuchinsky plant was launched by the merchant and founder of the Bolotin dynasty of glassmakers in 1873. Also, at the expense of the plant’s owners, a workers’ settlement, quite comfortable by the standards of that time, was built.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Klyuchinsky plant produced glass pharmaceutical, tableware and confectionery dishes, kerosene lamps, lampshades, fulfilling orders from almost all parts of the empire. Soon the October Revolution broke out, the plant was nationalized and in 1929 received the name “Red May”. A village of 5 thousand inhabitants grew up around the enterprise with a hospital, school, music school, and a vocational school, which trained, in addition to specialist glassmakers, tractor drivers and auto mechanics. Much was written about “Red May” in the regional and central press. Let's remember what newspapers and magazines talked about then and compare all this with the current remnants of its former greatness.

“When you look at the Kremlin stars, it seems as if from time immemorial they have been crowning the pointed towers: so organic is their flame in unity with the beautiful monument of Russian architecture, so natural in our minds is the inseparability of two symbols - the heart of the Motherland and the five-pointed star.”(“Pravda”, 1985). It just so happened that when we say “Red May,” we mean five ruby ​​finials. And vice versa. That’s why I want to start my story from this page. Moreover, the Vyshnevolotsk stars, which now decorate the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity and Vodovzvodnaya towers of the Kremlin, were not the first.

For the first time, five-pointed stars replaced the symbol of autocratic Russia - double-headed eagles - in the fall of 1935. They were made of high-alloy stainless steel and red copper, with a gold-plated hammer and sickle in the center of each star. However, the first stars did not decorate the Kremlin towers for long. Firstly, they quickly faded under the influence of precipitation, and secondly, in the overall composition of the Kremlin they looked rather ridiculous and disturbed the architectural ensemble. Therefore, it was decided to install ruby ​​luminous stars.

New tops appeared on November 2, 1937. Each of them could rotate like a weather vane and had a frame in the form of a multifaceted pyramid. The order for the production of ruby ​​glass was received by the Avtosteklo plant in the city of Konstantinovka in the Donbass. It had to transmit red rays of a certain wavelength, be mechanically strong, resistant to sudden temperature changes, and not discolor or be destroyed by exposure to solar radiation. The glazing of the stars was double: the inner layer consisted of milky (matte, dull white) glass 2 mm thick, thanks to which the light from the lamp was scattered evenly over the entire surface, and the outer layer was made of ruby ​​6-7 mm. Each star weighed about a ton, with a surface area of ​​8 to 9 square meters.

During the Great Patriotic War, the stars were extinguished and covered up. When they were reopened after the Victory, multiple cracks and traces of shell fragments were discovered on the ruby ​​surface. Restoration was needed. This time, the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May” was entrusted with the task of making glass. The local craftsmen made it four layers: transparent crystal at the bottom, then frosted glass, again crystal and, finally, ruby. This is necessary so that the star is the same color both during the day in sunlight and at night, illuminated from the inside. “The ruby ​​stars manufactured at the Konstantinovsky plant did not fulfill the task set by the designers. A double layer of glass - milky and ruby ​​- did not make it possible to preserve the bright color of the stars. Dust accumulated between the layers. And by that time, laminated glass was produced, in my opinion, only at Krasny May.(“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1987). “I think that readers will be interested to know how prototypes of star glass were made. To make a multilayer ruby ​​for just one star, it took 32 tons of high-quality Lyubertsy sand, 3 tons of zinc muffle white, 1.5 tons of boric acid, 16 tons of soda ash, 3 tons of potash, 1.5 tons of potassium nitrate."(“Youth”, 1981).

The renewed stars began to shine in 1946. And they still shine, despite calls from some public figures to replace them with eagles again. The next reconstruction of the ruby ​​“luminaries” was in 1974, and again Krasnomaysk craftsmen took part in it. Despite the existing experience, the cooking technology had to be created, as they say, from scratch: archival documents from which the “recipe” could be restored have not been preserved.

It must be said that in 2010, a lot was written about the 75th anniversary of the first Kremlin stars in the central media, but the contribution of “Red May” was never mentioned anywhere. Not in 1996, when the plant was still working, at the very least, despite the fact that they began to pay out salaries in vases and wine glasses. Not in 2006 - at least to catch up with the already departed train...

* * *
“Yesterday, a batch of parts made of colorless and milky glass for lighting fixtures at the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky was sent from the Vyshnevolotsk “Red May” plant. It was not easy for glassmakers to repeat the bizarre shapes of ancient chandeliers and sconces that have been lighting the halls of this musical educational institution for more than a hundred years.”(Kalininskaya Pravda, 1983). “Several years ago, the craftsmen of the Vyshnevolotsk glass factory “Red May”, at the request of Bulgarian friends, produced ruby ​​glass for the friendship memorial built on the famous Shipka. And here is a new order from Bulgaria - to make four-layer glass for the star that will crown the Party House in Sofia. The teams of craftsmen N. Ermakov, A. Kuznetsov, N. Nasonov and A. Bobovnikov were entrusted with executing the export order.” (“Pravda”, 1986).

“A beautiful garden village with asphalt roads, comfortable cottage houses, a club, a school and other public buildings, with a factory-garden in the center, from where almost two thousand items of products are sold all over the world”(“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1959). “Yesterday, a joyful message came from Moscow to GPTU-24 of the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May”. By the resolution of the Main Exhibition Committee of VDNKh of the USSR, vocational training masters T. Orlova and T. Shamrina were awarded bronze medals for the development and participation in the production of the “Jubilee” and “Cup” vases presented at the All-Union Review of Artistic Works of Vocational Schools. And students Irina Yarosh and Eduard Vedernikov were awarded the medal “Young Participant of the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements”(“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1983). For comparison. The garden village is an ordinary outlying village, of which there are thousands. It doesn’t seem to be abandoned, but there’s also no hint of being well-groomed. The cottage houses are apparently wooden two-story barracks that still have cesspools. The only thing you can catch your eye on is the small church of the holy martyr Thaddeus, completed just a few years ago.

The story of the collapse of the Red May plant is in a sense canonical. The company survived the 90s with dignity, led by the “red director” L. Shapiro. At the beginning of the 2000s, new people were introduced to the board of directors of the plant, who quickly brought it to bankruptcy and privatized it. The main founder of Krasny May Glass Factory LLC is still listed as Mikhail Pruzhinin, and the co-founder is Andrey Ustinovsky. Both have been wanted for 5 years in a high-profile criminal case against the Rostovskie organized crime group. The investigation considers them to be the leaders of this criminal group, the backbone of which, despite the name, was residents of St. Petersburg. The rest of the Rostov gang received real sentences in 2011 on charges of extortion, fraud and abuse of power.

Konstantin Litvin

main artist
plant "Red May"
from 1986 to 2002

In the 90s, when Leonid Dmitrievich Shapiro was the director, the plant survived. We even walked quite well compared to others. Then Shapiro retired, there was some kind of leapfrog with the management, but we still worked, finally in 2002 he came new director Valov, was installed by his St. Petersburg comrades together with the then mayor of the city, Khasainov. To begin with, they decided to privatize the plant. In order to buy it for pennies, they bankrupted it. They bankrupted, turned off all the furnaces and dispersed all employees. It was 2002. They received the plant, but it didn’t work back. All the big glass factories were going through something similar at that time. Both Gus-Khrustalny and Dyatkovo, they moved from one bankruptcy to another, a third, but remained afloat. So, at the very least, they moved. But ours, in general, went down.

In general, our plant was the third largest glass factory in the country. Gus-Khrustalny, Dyatkovo and “Red May”. The best period of its activity was when it had more than three thousand employees and a very wide range of dishes and lighting fixtures. In general, it was one of the best factories. And the first colored glass factory is probably the best in the country. We made glass such as sulfide, ruby, and so on. It is no coincidence that we received the order for the Kremlin stars. It was the pride of the country.

These strange people who appeared on the board of directors did not listen to me, did not listen to other specialists and were only engaged in withdrawing money from the enterprise

Now there is nothing left there except the museum. At first they sold everything that was iron for scrap metal, and ended up dismantling all the brick partitions that were in the workshops, selling the bricks and renting out the workshops. Although we persuaded them before the final closure, they turned on the furnace, and this furnace generated a profit of a million rubles every month. At that time, this was very decent money. I told them, as the main artist: “Turn on the furnace, we will make an assortment and earn a certain amount of money, we will build two more furnaces, then we will buy a new line, and so on. This is not to say that no one bought the products. We also had such things as colored sheet glass. We were monopolists. No one else in the country made this colored patterned glass, glass with a pattern, it is also reinforced. Indian, which was exported, was several orders of magnitude more expensive. Construction and furniture companies happily bought this glass. But these strange people who appeared on the board of directors did not listen to me, did not listen to other specialists, and were only engaged in withdrawing money from the enterprise. Incompetence is what buried our plant.

The museum, of course, is a pity. He also belongs to these comrades. There is a building there that is not heated at all. And there is one girl who comes only if an excursion is booked. And the exhibits there represent great cultural and material value. The plant is more than 150 years old, there are many pre-revolutionary products, when it was still a plant of the merchant Bolotin, a supplier to His Imperial Majesty, by the way.

Incompetence is what buried our plant.

My wife and I survived normally, we are artists, we have a workshop, we do cold processing. We have received orders, we are holding exhibitions, we are quite active creative life. But for many workers, stopping the plant was tantamount to death.

Since the enterprise was a city-forming enterprise, almost everyone in the village worked at it. After closing, some went to work as a security guard, some went to Moscow, some went to other factories, some drank themselves to death, some died, some even committed suicide. Creepy. It’s simply impossible to talk about this without tears. You see, many craftsmen had a narrow specialty with very high qualifications, they treated their work with pride and respect - and suddenly they found themselves broken trough. Other factories were also dying at that time, there was no work in their specialty, and when such a master goes to work as a security guard, this, of course, is a tragedy.

When the plant was closed, the grown men and grandfathers who worked there, they all just cried. They stopped the glass furnaces, the furnaces full. Usually, when the furnace is stopped, it is all scooped out, it is completely exhausted in order to then be lit. But here the stoves were simply turned off, that’s all. The men roared. This meant that everything was over, the song was finished, there would be no continuation. I said there was just a series of suicides. A plant is not equipment, it is people. They have worked here for generations. I knew a seventh generation blower! Imagine, his great-great-grandfathers worked here since the mid-19th century. For people like him, the incentive to live is simply gone.

By all accounts, the Rostovskys acted in close conjunction with the city administration. Pruzhinin (“Spring”) and Ustinovsky were officially assistants to the mayor; they had offices in the administration building. Mayor Khasainov remained in power for almost 15 years, during which time he gained control over many enterprises in the city. In 2009, a movement in opposition to the mayor and his team was organized in Vyshny Volochyok. New town». The government managed to change, but not for long. Before leaving, Khasainov passed a law through the local assembly limiting the term of office of the city mayor to two years. In 2011, Alexey Pantyushkin, a friend of Khasainov, became mayor. The term of office was again extended to four years, but a tragic incident prevented it from being completed to the end. In the early morning of July 19 this year, Alexey Pantyushkin died of a heart attack in a suite at a five-star hotel in Turkey. His death was reported by a girl who was in the same room with him at that early time. However, almost no mention of it leaked into the Russian press. Together with the mayor, 12 other city officials vacationed in the five-star hotel different levels and gender - all without families. How much money was used to organize the trip remains unknown. Pantyushkin was buried on the city Walk of Fame. Vyshny Volochek is waiting for new elections.

Evgeny Stupkin

local historian, former deputy of the Vyshnevolotsk City Duma,
one of the founders of the movement
"New town"

In our country, almost 70 percent of the city’s enterprises were closed or destroyed with the help of Khasainov. It acted in line with the same policies that were in Tver and Moscow, it was simply different in size. The road was now being built as a circular road for the federal highway - it turned out that almost half of the land along which it passed belonged to Khasainov. But he didn't invent anything. Former Governor Zelenin bought everything best lands Tver region on the cheap.

Vyshny Volochek was an industrial center - the second most important city in the Tver region. All these famous factories of ours went under the knife. Not only "Red May". For example, the tanning extracts plant—there are less than a dozen of them in all of Russia—produced unique, irreplaceable products. Today there are not even ruins left of it - and we buy the same products, albeit of worse quality and much more expensive, abroad. The famous Zelenogorsk plant of enzyme preparations is a unique plant, unique developments. They went bankrupt.

They built a wonderful brick factory - they built it with government money, they immediately bankrupted it, and the same company that built it bought it 10 times cheaper, you know? That is, the scheme for transferring budget money into private pockets has been worked out clearly.

We have nothing left now. Well, the only thing is that the forest... is a living timber processing plant, a living timber industry enterprise. The directors there are normal men. Most forestry enterprises in the country today only know what to cut down and immediately sell as round timber. Our timber industry enterprise and timber processing plant do not sell round timber at all - all raw materials are processed. And the majority are simply carrying round timber.

Until now, half of Vyshny Volochok, almost the entire infrastructure of the city, all the life support systems of the city are in private hands, that is, controlled by Khasainov and his accomplices. Water, gas, electricity, heat, everything. Even if there is no money, people will still pay for it. And our tariffs for these services are growing rapidly. This is not even rabid capitalism, this is something else. For example, before it was possible to distinguish - this is a bandit, this is an official. Today these two concepts have merged so much that they have become one. A single system, rigid from top to bottom, vertical, powerful, durable, good. For example, I can’t imagine how to destroy it.

Khasainov has been out of power for six years now, but if a person owns half of the city, how can the city authorities not contact him? Naturally, he is taken into account. Vyshny Volochek is not something unique, this is how the system works throughout Russia.

What it came to was - they built a plant with government money, immediately it went bankrupt, and the same company that built it bought it 10 times cheaper, do you understand?

Khasainov ruled for almost 15 years. I was one of those who dumped him. We first assembled 70% of our Duma, where there were no lackeys, and then we threw him out too. But, as they say, what they fought for, that’s what they ran into. Babushkin led the fight against Khasainov; he later expressed that the operation to overthrow Khasainov was his best business project. In general, that’s what happened. A relative of Babushkin became the mayor; they quickly came to an agreement with Khasainov’s team and divided their spheres of influence. In general, we were all cheated - the entire team that was able to remove Khasainov from mayor, and by and large, the entire city - all its residents, 80% of whom voted for a change of power. I left “politics” - I’m again studying my favorite local history, finishing the book “Vyshnevolotskaya Pushkiniana” - almost two dozen of Pushkin’s friends and acquaintances lived in our area, can you imagine?!