Nuclear Metallurgy of the 19th Century. Saburovskaya fortress

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

If in the past there was a developed industry, then where are the artifacts of the past, where are the factories, machinery, machine tools, any kind of equipment in general? Here it is important to understand that a false stereotype is imposed on us, that since we do not see something, then it does not exist at all, and never happened. The fact that this stereotype is false is easy to understand from the example of air - the fact that we do not see air does not mean at all that there is no air.

However, you can see the air with the naked eye: for example, over a fire or a heater, you can see how warm air rises. Thus, in order to see something that is not visible in a normal situation, we need to either use additional equipment, or simply look from a different angle.

In the article “What is wrong with our temples? The answer has been found,”we tried to figure out where they can, there are factories of the past: brick, metallurgical, and others. Here I want to note right away that I am not saying that absolutely all the churches were factories, by the way, and I never said when. In that article, only those objects were shown specifically, which, in my opinion, were industrial objects.

However, no less important is the question of the technological equipment of these factories, machine tools, pipes and so on. To understand where this equipment is, I will give a few simple examples:

The first is the industrialization of the 30s of the 20th century. Then tractors came to the villages to replace horses. Now I do not give an assessment of the social structure of that period, I just pose the question - where are these tractors? Or were they not? Or was there no industrialization at all?

Soviet tractor STZ-1

The second example is a little simpler. Both my grandfathers fought, reached Berlin, and that the Great Patriotic War was, and the horrors of this war, I personally know not from the movies, but friends, let me ask, where are the damaged German tanks, from the fields of the Great Patriotic War?

Destroyed German tanks

In various museums, in the form of exhibits, there are units of German tanks, but how many were produced? Or were there no tank battles? Or even the Great Patriotic War? If you follow the logic, since I do not see this, it means that this is not the case, then we will come to the conclusion that tomorrow Germany will present us with a bill for the attack and occupation.

The third example, from our time. And where is the equipment that participated in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident? Or was there no technology there? Or was there no accident itself?

Abandoned equipment in Chernobyl

The fourth example, where did the equipment of the Soviet factories, which closed in the 90s of the XX century? In many factories, right in the shops, in our time, hotels, offices, business centers and other small-retail entertainment establishments are arranged. The fact that there were factories, just some 30 years ago, the younger generation, sometimes even does not even know.

The former building of the Tulaspirt plant. Now it houses cafes, restaurants, shopping and leisure centers.

Friends, I will answer all these examples at once: everything was scrapped, everything was melted down and reused. Metal products simply went to the scrap, where according to the plan of replacing old equipment, where according to the plan of clearing the territory, and where they were simply plundered. After all, it is easier to melt scrap than to mine ore, enrich it, transport it, etc., the more raw materials around, that is, scrap metal, even in our time, more than enough. You see, if we take it as a basis - we do not see this, then it did not happen, this is a road to nowhere. I hope, based on these examples, you understand what happened to the equipment of the Soviet era.

The same thing happened with technology in the post-apocalypse period. If, for some reason, this technique stopped working: there is no fuel, raw materials, specialists, and finally there is no need, then this technique was simply disassembled into parts and processed into what was needed at that time - edged weapons and agricultural tools. By the way, the phrase "we will beat swords into plowshares" has been used since then. Yes, and do not forget about filling with soil. It is naive to believe that the remains of ancient equipment will lie right on the surface. Everything that was lying on the surface has long gone into business, but finding something in the ground, of course, is still possible, but given the popularity of metal search, it is more and more difficult to do this.

And today friends, I want to show you the place where the melting of metal products of the previous era was carried out. Now, this place is officially called the Saburovskaya fortress, and it is located 10 kilometers from the city of Oryol. As you go through the article, you will understand why, in my opinion, it was a metal processing plant. And now let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's study everything in order, for a start, as usual, brief official historical background:

End of a brief official historical background

Map link

When you begin to study the remains of buildings and the official history of the Saburovskaya fortress, many questions immediately arise, namely:

1. The presence of triangular pyramids near the church and a virtuoso masonry technique. The corners directed towards the inside of the fortress are rounded.
2. No visible part of the foundation. When examining any structure, first of all, I always pay attention to the size of the bricks, the quality of the masonry, the masonry mortar and the presence of a foundation and waterproofing. But in the Saburovskaya fortress, the foundations are not visible. Not under the fortress wall, not under the towers, not under the pyramids, anywhere. Foundations, of course, are in the depths of the earth, somewhere very deep, but they are not visible on the surface, as well as waterproofing is not visible. Further, from the photographs, you will repeatedly see this for yourself.
3. This place was renamed very often. The village of Saburovo in the past was also called Kamenskoye and Andrianovo. Reference to old maps: for 1785, and for 1816.
4. Confusing dating. There is no date for the construction of the fortress, it is not known who the architect is and how much it cost to build such a manor. Official history tells us that the owner of the estate, Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky, personally supervised the construction. But he is not an architect, but a military man, at most, he could say how it should look, and all the calculations should be done by an engineer. There are vague construction dates in the late 1790s - early 1800s and information that the village was transferred to Kamensky by order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. And then, why is the village of Andrianovo mentioned in 1678, and the Andrianovs only owned it since 1721?
5. This estate was owned by such historical figures as the boyar Miloslavsky and Prince Alexander Menshikov, but there is simply no information that they were here, that they were building something. Apparently the gentlemen spent the night right in the cart, or they never reached the village.
6. Colossal volumes of bricks for the construction of all structures. Officially, we are told about 14 brick factories, but where they were located, and how many bricks were produced, there is no information, and the logistics should be no joke.
7. According to the official version, the fortress was built according to all the rules of fortification. And this is absolutely not the case. It would be more correct to say that the fortress was built contrary to all the rules of fortification, because if it were actually a military fortress, and, having placed it only 800 meters to the north-east, it would have natural protection from three sides, in the form of a river, and if the fortress was placed like this Thus, there is a bridgehead for the deployment of siege weapons and assault troops. It is clear that this is not a real fortress, but only an imitation, but you must admit that imitation is lousy.

Incorrect location of the fortress, with the so. fortifications

That is, summarizing all the questions to this place, what I want to say: the officials did not know how to explain this object, so they came up with such a legend - the master wanted it, and built it "in the image and likeness."

However, I must note that some of the buildings are actually very ancient. What it was originally, now it is already difficult, if not impossible, to say. Each object of the fortress deserves special attention, and was studied in the most thorough way, but now, so as not to drag out the article, in the form of a sightseeing tour, only the most basic points will be given.

We will examine in order and start with the pyramids. The first thing that catches your eye is that the pyramids stand near the temple, which, by the way, is being reconstructed, but the fortress is falling apart.

Saburovskaya fortress. Pyramids near the temple

Saburovskaya fortress. Pyramids near the temple

The dimensions of the pyramid bricks are 240x110x60, which is even less than the modern standard. In shape, this is a triangular pyramid - a regular tetrahedron, that is, all its faces are equilateral triangles.

Saburovskaya fortress. Pyramids near the temple

Friends, I have always been interested in the question, why, if a pyramid, is it necessarily a glacier? Why not a dome, ball, cube, or just a flat roof? Why is the pyramid called a glacier?

Saburovskaya fortress. Inside pyramid

Structurally, both pyramids are made in the same way: triangular vaults, one facet directed to the north-west, along the fortress wall. A rounded corner of each of the pyramids is directed inside the fortress.

Saburovskaya fortress. Pyramids near the temple. Rounded corner

And along the wall, the corners are sharp. Round corners, by the way, are much more difficult to fold than sharp corners. For such precise work (a regular triangle with one rounded corner), specialists of the highest qualifications are needed, and these were clearly not serfs. And such a jewelry work was done just for the sake of refrigerators?

Saburovskaya fortress. Pyramids near the temple

The upper pyramidal part, black, is very similar to being covered with a layer of carbon or bitumen. The holes that look like loopholes are directed exclusively towards the inside of the fortress.

"Loopholes" in the pyramid

Between themselves, the pyramids are connected by a rampart, which is probably the remnant of the fortress wall. The important point is the level of the ground around each pyramid.

Ground level, around the pyramids

If it is inside the pyramid, then the soil is outside, at the level of the head, or even higher, while, in the center of the pyramids, there is a dip downward.

Concrete floor, in one of the pyramids

In the second pyramid, the floor was even concreted, perhaps someone had already fallen through. Brick walls, coming straight out of the ground and the lack of foundations and waterproofing, confirm that below, the wall is still ongoing.

Foundation and waterproofing not visible

Foundation and waterproofing not visible

In each building, the background radiation was measured. In the pyramids, inside and outside, it was 0.15-0.17 μSv / h. It is a completely natural background, there is no Chernobyl radiation, we will remember this.

Radiation level in the pyramid

Next object: Gothic-style West Tower.

Saburovskaya fortress. West Tower "Pencil"

Saburovskaya fortress. West Tower "Pencil"

We see the same rounded corners. The tower itself is a rectangle with a round dome. Inside, to the right of the entrance, there is a niche.

Embossed niche, on the right at the entrance to the tower

Tower windows, "look" inside the fortress

All windows of the tower look inside the fortress. Bricks come straight out of the ground and again lack of waterproofing.

Foundation and waterproofing not visible

The radiation background inside is 0, 15-0, 18 μSw / h, everything is normal again.

Radiation level in the west tower

Go ahead. Officially, this building is called the Guard House. It is also called the "Pugachev Tower", allegedly in it, after the capture, contained Emelyan Pugachev.

Saburovskaya fortress. Security House (Pugachevskaya Tower)

And this building is even more interesting than the pyramids. According to the official version, the manor house was in the center, where there is now a forest, and this three-story building is a guard house.

Security house and manor house. Map link

That is, the house of the owner of the estate has not survived, but the guard house has survived. Brilliant! According to official historians, the "House of Security" has no basement, and the building stands right on the mainland. Now let's see for ourselves.

Security house. Broken door

The first thing we see is that the front door is hollowed out. Perhaps earlier, there was a small window, and not in the center. But the fact that this opening is punched up and to the sides can be clearly seen. Then where was the front door?

Inside the guard house

Friends, please note that heating is not provided in the building! We also see that there is a floor here, made of slabs of different sizes and materials, more precisely from debris. Interestingly, the other towers have no floor. Oh yes, this is the guard house, so there is a mosaic of fragments of marble lined here.

Remains of a mosaic floor

Or is there still a floor below, which is simply concreted, like in a pyramid? On the wall we see knocked-down carbon deposits. That is, after something burned here, they still wanted to plaster it.

Killed carbon deposits

The size of the bricks is 275x120x70, corresponding to the beginning of the 18th century. Their size is different from the size of the pyramid bricks. On the stairs in the wall leading to the top, the background radiation is 0.29-0.32 μSv / h. Despite the fact that in the district, as we remember, it is 0, 10-0, 15 μSv / h.

Radiation level on the stairs in the Security House

We look at this house from the outside. As always, earth bricks and a rounded corner are visible.

Foundation and waterproofing not visible

For all the beauty of the building, the arches of the windows look very crooked, as if they were punched in the finished wall, and already from the windows, cracks went up.

Broken windows

Perhaps there were holes here before, perhaps even windows, but what is now is clearly hollowed out later and is simply stylized as a Gothic arch, then, on the arena, we will see how Gothic arches are actually made. However, this is not all.

Metallurgical slag, near the Security House

Outside the building, flush with the window, there is slag. Yes, this is exactly the slag from the smelting of iron. Samples of this slag were taken and submitted for analysis. According to the reviews of experts who investigated it, this slag is not a product of coal combustion in boiler houses, but a waste of metallurgical production. Running a little ahead, I will say that there will soon be a separate article on the analyzes of various samples.

And so, we have slag on a level with the window, and the radiation level of this slag is the same as on the stairs 0, 29-0, 32 μSv / h. On the territory of the fortress, only in this place and on the stairs, the dosimeter squeaked almost continuously!

Slag radiation level

The next building, the so-called "Manege". According to official figures, it was a two-story, pillared building that had been staging performances for two decades since 1815.

Saburovskaya Fortress Summer Theater Manege

Again, the amazing quality of the masonry and the Gothic arches appear before our eyes, notice how they are done here, and compare with the arches of the guard house that we examined earlier.

Saburovskaya fortress. Summer theater arena. Arches

Saburovskaya fortress. Summer theater arena. Arches

How many I see, every time I am amazed at such beauty! We also see holes in the back wall, somewhat similar to loopholes.

"Loopholes" in the back wall of the arena

Punched passage, in the back wall of the arena

Outside the arena, we see a passage punched right in the wall. The dimensions of the bricks "Manezh" 280x140x70, exactly correspond to the standards of the early 18th century. What was the occupation of the building, from the beginning of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, until it became a theater, the official history is silent.

Fortress wall thickness

Moving further along the fortress wall, we see its thickness. The wall isn't really that wide. The bricks are all different. Lime mortar with impurities. There are efflorescence and restored bricks.

Restored bricks in the fortress wall

At the same time, along the wall there are corner forts, similar to rays, like those of star fortresses. Outside, the corners of these rays are rounded. Some beams are made in the form of an angle, some in a semicircle.

Forts along the wall

Interestingly, there are loopholes only on the beams and the arena. There are no loopholes on the fortress walls. But at the same time, loopholes are located very high, higher than human height. How to shoot them?

Curved loophole

In addition, the loopholes are crooked. Again, the inconsistency "with all the rules of fortification."

Crack in the fortress wall

Friends, this is how the foundation subsidence looks like: this is the most common crack in the wall. Summarizing what we saw about the fortress wall, we can clearly and unequivocally say that the wall was built later than the rest of the “fortress” buildings, while the emphasis was on the height of the wall and its stability, for which, in fact, these rays were made. But that's not all. Go ahead.

The next object of the fortress is the South corner tower. Direct windows outside, inside are arched.

Saburovskaya fortress. South corner tower

Saburovskaya fortress. South corner tower from the inside. Straight arched windows

A ventilation duct or chimney runs along the wall of the tower, which is knocked out in the wall, but does not have soot. Round and rhombic windows are noteworthy.

Broken channel in the wall

Round and rhombic windows

And as always, we see bricks from the ground. There is also a huge amount of slag lying around, which has a radiation background of 0.28 μSw / h.

Inside the tower, slag is lying right on the floor

I emphasize that it is slag. At 10 meters, in the grass, the background never exceeded 0, 10 μSv / h. Also inside the tower, in two places on the wall, the background is about 0.23 μSv / h.

Slag radiation level

Be sure to write in the comments that this is a trace of Chernobyl, because if it were the Chernobyl fallout, the background would be the same everywhere.

Next object: East corner tower. We see a broken entry again. Friends, pay attention, the bricks of the fortress wall and the bricks of the tower differ in color and quality, which confirms our guess - the wall was built later. Only you need to look not at the bricks, around the broken door, these bricks are painted, you need to look at the bricks above the windows.

Saburovskaya fortress. East corner tower

We go inside the tower. In addition to the patch in the wall and the quarter on the windows, we see our favorite bricks from the ground. Also pay attention to the mortgages for the floors, which are at chest level and the black ceiling.

Black ceiling (domed vault)

Foundations and waterproofing are not visible. Breast pins

Next, we go along the northeast wall. On it are the entrance gate arch, beams, and two "houses".

On right. Tall and narrow window

This is the first "house". There is a very high window with a quarter on both sides, and there are also niches in the walls, of course, for statues.

A niche, or just a blocked window. Embedded pierced

The mortgages for overlapping are located at eye level, while they are punched into the finished wall, and not laid during construction. A door made from a window, and its top is closed, and a quarter in general, on the contrary, is from the street.

The door laid down from above. Quarter vice versa

The next "house" is also very interesting. In fact, this is an extension to the beam, which has no loopholes. However, it is not entirely clear what exactly is considered an extension, since the quality of the masonry of the “house” wall is many times better than the masonry of the fortress wall.

"Extension" to the fortress wall

"Extension" masonry

Near the wall of the "house", the brick is even and large, the size corresponds to the beginning of the 19th century, however, in appearance, everything looks as if this wall of the house was attached to the fortress wall, although its masonry quality is much worse and bricks of different sizes and worse in quality.

To the right of the crack is a ray that has departed, in the center there is a fortress wall, masonry to the left is an "extension"

At the same time, judging by the crack, it was the ray that went away from the fortress wall. With this moment it is not clear, it is only clear that they have separate foundations.

And we end our excursion at the remains of buildings near the northeastern wall. What was there, now one can only guess, but in the place where the corner tower should, in theory, stand, now there is a private house. And it's not a fact that the tower was here at all.

Remains of a building in the north corner. To his left is a private house

Wall break, near the north corner

The official plan of the Saburovskaya fortress

Friends, but that's not all. Inside the fortress, everywhere, under a thin layer of black soil, there is solid clay, and the level of the soil inside the fortress is even higher than outside.

Drill length

Drill in the ground, full length

A hole was made in this place, hoping to reach the mainland, and I noticed such a moment: with increasing depth, the radiation background slightly increased from 0.10 μSv / h to 0.18 μSv / h.

Pit location. Map link

However, for more specific conclusions, it is necessary to drill deeper, since I did not reach the mainland and the end of the clay layer with a drill 1 meter long. Then he filled up the pit, so hedgehogs, cats and frogs did not suffer.

Summing up, all of the above, we can draw a simple conclusion: Official historians did not know how to explain this object, so they came up with such a legend - the master desired and built "in the image and likeness", but in fact, this is an ancient structure, which after cataclysm of the beginning of the 19th century, was surrounded by a brick fence from the buildings destroyed here, and turned into a combine for the processing of scrap metal, as evidenced by the radioactive slag scattered in some places of this fortress.

High quality photos (no registration required) can be found here.

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Friends, on this I thank you for your attention. Let's not say goodbye, because the most interesting is ahead of us. All the best, goodbye!