About half the way from Vologda to Veliky Ustyug is the city of Totma, in the past it was the first center of deep salt production in Russia, then it was the starting point in the development of Siberia and Russian America, but now it is a nice, quiet province. For almost ten thousand residents there are: two Pyaterochka, three Magnit, four libraries and as many as five state museums. It turns out that the concentration of the latter here, based on the population, is almost ten times greater than in St. Petersburg.
Totma is often called the city of sailors, the birthplace of the “domestic Columbus”, and the “land sea port”, and the Russian Nuremberg. But all these epithets are about the glorious past. And what this city has in the present is its individuality. Fabulous and ancient, it is at least ten years older than Moscow. But his nature is not at all Moscow, and not Novgorod, and not even Vologda, but original - Totem. Totma is a city with a face. Just imagine: smoke from the burning stoves hangs in the frosty air, a ringing silence hangs over the wooden pavements, and only from somewhere around the corner comes a characteristic voice - old women, as if stepped from the pages of an old book, creaking their felt boots on the purest snow so that Rinse freshly washed laundry in an ice hole. And Totma is the only place in Russia where, regardless of the political picture of the world, the hashtag #Californiaours is always relevant.
Totma is located on the banks of the Sukhona River.
According to a widespread legend, the name of the city is associated with Peter I. On his first visit here, he said: “It’s not a city, it’s darkness.” In fact, the toponym Totma is Finno-Ugric. It was formed from two words: “tod” - a damp place overgrown with bushes and fir trees, and “ma” - earth. As in most toponyms of the Russian North, the emphasis in the name of the city is on the first syllable.
Totma is part of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Russia. The attentive reader will immediately notice: Totma is not a village, but a city! Right. With the same rights, for example, Suzdal was included in this association, which, as you know, is also never a village. Therefore, the association has recently been renamed, now it is called “The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of Russia.” Everyone is happy.
Everything that has to do with Totma is called not “Totma”, but “Totma”.
Learn about land sailors
The location of this museum defies all laws of logic. Firstly, the city of Totma is hundreds of kilometers from the sea, and even thousands from the Pacific Ocean! Secondly, inside the magnificent Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem, which rises in the center of Totma, you expect to see anything but an exhibition with a huge globe, sailing ships and ancient portraits of naval commanders. Nevertheless, the “Museum of Sailors” was located here, in the Totem temple, for many years. In 2022, the museum will move to the complex of the estate of merchant Fyodor Kholodilov on Kuskov Embankment. I haven’t moved yet, but in any case, no matter where it is based, you should definitely visit it!
The museum has three thematic complexes. The first is dedicated to the history of the Russian fleet, the second tells about the history of Totmich navigation, the third represents the twentieth century, the Totmich people who served in the fleet, and the “School of Travelers of Fyodor Konyukhov.”
What is this mysterious “Totem navigation”? The answer is suggested by the city's coat of arms - a black fox on a golden field. In the 18th century, Totem merchants equipped about twenty expeditions to the Aleutian Islands and Alaska to bring precious fur to Russia - black fox fur, which is found only in America. At the same time, sailors made many geographical discoveries, and many interesting things happened to travelers... Come to the museum and find out!
Totemsky Museum of Local Lore
As you already understand, Totma can be safely called the “city of museums”. The main one, of course, is local history.
It is located in the building of a former religious school in the very center of the city. The Totemsky Museum of Local Lore is more than a hundred years old; its history dates back to 1915 and today it is one of the largest in the entire North-West.
The museum greets visitors with young girls, without jackets, rushing to a nearby cafe for pastries, and a miniature door with the inscription “WARDROBE”, more like the entrance to a hobbit hole.
The wardrobe itself is equipped in a small closet, hiding under the wrought-iron main staircase.
During the Permian period (read: 250-300 million years ago), such beautiful lizards were found in the vicinity of Totma. Nowadays, the Vyatka Paleontological Museum is studying them. Since the bulk of the finds were made along the banks of the Sukhona River, all the known reptiles of the Permian period that lived in these areas are divided into a separate group - the Sukhona lizards.
The largest of them was the Leogorgon. The length of his body reached six meters, and the height - one and a half. In addition to leogorgons, one could find here Sukhonopus (similar to a mixture of a bear and a crocodile), Obirkovia (so named after the village of Obirkovo, where their remains were found), Sludik (in the village of Sluda), Nyuksenity (in the village of Nyuksenitsa) and other dry gorgon.
The exhibition of Sukhona lizards is located in the former office of the museum director.
Now, after a quarter of a billion years, the fauna of the region is not so amazing - everything is about the same as a thousand kilometers around: hares, wolves and bears. Note the disproportionately small antlers on the stuffed moose - they were clearly taken from another, younger animal.
Our guide in Totma is Vera Galushkina, head of the department of art and traditional folk culture at the local history museum. It was she who instilled in us a love for this city throughout the entire day, revealing it to us from the most unexpected sides.
The founding date of Totma is considered to be 1137. Thus, Totma is exactly 10 years older than Moscow.
The city grew up on the ancient Northern trade route. On one side was Vologda, behind which began the portages leading to Moscow and Novgorod. On the other is the White Sea, which could be reached from Totma by water - first along the Sukhona, then along the Northern Dvina.
Totma has long been known as the westernmost salt production center in Rus'. Salt in those days was the main preservative, so its production brought huge income to the owners of salt mines.
It is believed that it was here that the then innovative technology for deep extraction of salt solution was first invented, which significantly reduced the cost and simplified the salt production process. The technological core of the Totemsky salt factories were two components: wooden brine lifting pipes, with the help of which the salt solution was extracted from the bowels of the earth, and brewhouses, where the brine was freed from water and foreign impurities using evaporation. As a result, the output was more or less pure, ready-to-use salt.
Written notices of the first brine lifting pipes date back to the 15th century. The Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts contains a document authored by Totmich resident Semyon Sablin - “Painting on how to start making new pipes in a new place”, in fact - a detailed technical description of the sequence of work on constructing a well, choosing its location and putting pipes into operation. Interestingly, this document contains as many as 128 technical terms, many of which are used in drilling practice today.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, the average depth of wells was within 120 meters. The construction of one such brine lifting pipe took up to 5-6 years of hard manual labor. The strength of the resulting solution was relatively weak - on average about 3-4 percent.
In the 1820s, wells began to go to depths of up to 200 meters (the record is considered to be a well with a depth of about 270 meters), and the brine concentration increased to 7 percent.
The Totem salt pans were regularly raided and devastated. So, after the attack of the Kazan Tatars in the middle of the 16th century, construction of a fortified wooden fort began on the banks of the Sukhona, around which a settlement soon appeared, which later became the basis for modern Totma.
The city's heyday came in the 17th century, when all foreign trade of the Russian state was concentrated on the Northern trade route through Arkhangelsk. Around the same time, the Trans-Urals were annexed, trade with which was initially also carried out through the north - along the Pezsky portage, the route to which also passed through Totma. By the beginning of the 18th century, up to a thousand merchant ships visited the city annually.
At that time, Totma was one of the richest and most significant centers of the Russian kingdom.
After the founding of St. Petersburg, trade flows were reoriented to the Baltic, but Totma continued to be an important center for salt production. Peter I came here three times (and became the last of the Russian rulers to visit the city).
On the left is a Swedish copper daler from the late 17th century found on the territory of Totma. The size of this “coin” is almost 20 by 20 centimeters, and its weight is almost two kilograms.
On the right is the imperial decree of Peter I. In such a “frame,” the sovereign’s decisions were delivered to all cities of the Russian Empire, where anyone could familiarize themselves with them.
The 18th century, which left Totma aside from the most important trade routes, forced Totma merchants to look for new sources of income. Thus began the era of Totmich’s campaigns to the east: to Siberia, to the Aleutian Islands and the shores of America. In total, about twenty expeditions were organized - this is more than the companies of Moscow, Vologda and Veliky Ustyug merchants combined. The main purpose of these campaigns was the extraction of furs, in particular the silver fox, which was especially valued at that time: the cost of one silver fox skin reached one hundred rubles, while a cow cost only three rubles.
In 1785, Empress Catherine II adopted a decree granting Totma a coat of arms with a black fox on a golden field: “as a sign that the inhabitants of this city are practicing in catching these animals.”
During trade expeditions, Totem merchants moved further and further. In 1812, on the coast of Northern California, just 144 kilometers from modern San Francisco, the Russian fortification of Fort Ross was founded by Totmich Ivan Kuskov.
In the second half of the 19th century, Totma became a quiet province. At the beginning of 1905, the Totem craft school, in which children from peasant families learned how to make toys and household items, was awarded the Grand Prix at the international exhibition in Liege. After this, Totma gained the reputation of “Russian Nuremberg”—the center of toy craft—for several years.
All the high-profile events of the turbulent 20th century took place in other parts of the country. Totma participated in them insofar as.
October Revolution.
The Second World War.
The Chernobyl accident.
Hall of merchant life.
Hall of Soviet life.
Exhibition hall with paintings by repressed artists. The main topic of the work is logging, which has been actively developing in the Vologda region since the 1930s.
Chainsaw "Stihl KS 43", 1943.
Chainsaw “Friendship”, 1962.
See six hundred spinning wheels in four rows
totmamuz.ru
A room with a high ceiling. There are four rows of shelving along the wall. And on these racks, tightly packed together, right up to the ceiling, there are spinning wheels. Bright, with intricate designs, each is a real work of art! There are many, many, many of them! And in other halls, on other shelves - wooden ladles and scutcheons, birch bark tues and bast shoes, weaving mills and sleds on runners, painted peasant sideboards and printed boards for fabrics, chests, ceramics, tiles - and a myriad of everything! Anyone who is at least a little interested in ethnography, old man, will “hang” here for several hours. “Open storage of funds” is a unique place! Find it on the territory of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery on the outskirts of Totma! And look at the monastery itself from the mid-16th century. In the upper church of the Ascension Cathedral there is a unique complex of fresco paintings by academician of painting Platon Tyurin.
The most beautiful temples and monasteries in Totma
In addition to the Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem, Totma and its surroundings are famous for other temples and cathedrals. There are also a number of monasteries and monasteries in these lands where everyone can pray, be alone with God, and light a candle.
Spaso-Sumorin Monastery
- Address: Lesotekhnikum street.
In 1554, Theodosius Sumorin founded a monastery in these lands. In Orthodoxy he is known as St. Theodosius of Totem, and the monastery complex itself is called Spaso-Sumorin. Stone construction on the territory of the monastery began during the reign of the first Romanov. In the middle of the 17th century, the Transfiguration Church was built.
The monastery, which has survived to this day, was formed at the end of the 18th – 19th centuries. and is an architectural ensemble in a classic style. Today, after almost a century of inactivity, it is being restored. The monastery was closed in 1919, but was revived in 2014 and the monastery became operational again. Ivan Kuskov is buried on its territory.
The premises house one of the exhibitions that are part of the museum association. But this is not an ordinary exhibition; it is called “Open storage of funds.” Here visitors can see a variety of antiques. The “Spinning Wheels Room” attracts special attention from tourists, where more than 600 different variants of the usual attribute of Russian needlewomen of past centuries are presented.
Ascension Cathedral
- Address: Lesotekhnikum street.
The monastery Church of the Ascension of the Lord took almost 30 years to build - from 1796 to 1825. As the photographs show, this is an excellent example of provincial classicism, despite its not very good condition. It is considered the creation of Vasily Matveevich Kazakov, the son of a famous metropolitan architect.
The interior decoration was distinguished by frescoes by the famous Vologda master Platon Tyurin. The Totem local history community has repeatedly drawn attention to the need for their preservation. The restoration of the cathedral has been going on for many years; it is only partially completed.
Church of the Nativity
- Address: st. Lenina, 31.
A typical Totem baroque temple, which has the “calling card” of the local style - cartouches, was erected in 1755-1759. History has not preserved the names of the architects who created it. The elegant church looks light and airy, it is directed upward like a rocket. Open to parishioners, the temple now houses an important shrine - the relics of the monastery founder Theodosius.
Trinity Church in Zelenskaya (Rybachya) Sloboda
- Address: st. Herzen, 4.
In the 18th century, the noble Totem merchant Cherepanov, who grew up in the fur trade, decided to do a good deed for his homeland and remain in its history, financed the construction of the church. The temple with five small blue domes and recognizable totemic cartouches is called Trinity. It took 20 years to build, from 1768 to 1788.
Church of the Resurrection in Varnitsy
- Address: Totemsky district, Varnitsa village, Voskresenskaya street.
In close proximity to Totma lies the village of Varnitsa. The settlement was once a center of salt production. The place is also noteworthy because it is here that the oldest example of Totem Baroque is located, which, unfortunately, is only partially preserved. Naturally, we are talking about the Church of the Resurrection.
Data on the time of its construction differ: the interval is indicated as 40-70 years. XVIII century. The appearance resembles the later Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem. During Soviet times, the architectural monument was destroyed. Nowadays it needs restoration, as the temple is not functioning, but is of historical value.
Dedova Pustyn
- Address: Totemsky district, Dedov Ostrov farm.
The inactive skete of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery is lost on the now uninhabited Grandfather Island, which lies 9 kilometers from Sukhona upstream of the river. Pustyn is recognized as an architectural monument.
The surviving abbot's building is included in the list of cultural heritage sites. The island where the shrine is located is also of interest from a natural point of view. Tourists often come here on vacation.
Meet the national hero of the Indians
totmamuz.ru
The House-Museum of Ivan Kuskov is the first museum of Russian America in our country. Totemsky tradesman Ivan Aleksandrovich Kuskov at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century sailed on Russian ships in the Pacific Ocean, risked his life, made geographical discoveries and hunted fur-bearing animals. It was he who founded the famous Ross Fortress (now Fort Ross) on the California coast, and it was he who developed the Russian-American Company. He is still remembered and revered in America. In some Indian tribes, Kuskov is still recognized as a national hero. It's hard to believe, but the Indians came to Totma several times! They brought gifts! They can be seen in the Kuskov house-museum. The guides will introduce you to the amazing fate of the Russian sailor, show you letters, documents, portraits and antiques... And if you are lucky enough to be in Totma in August, you will become a participant in the holiday - “Russian America Day”. There will be something to tell!
Famous monuments and sculptures of the city of Totma
In this city of the Vologda region, memorable places are also found - monuments, monuments and memorials reminiscent of outstanding personalities and events for Totma.
Monument to Nikolai Rubtsov
- Address: Kuskova embankment.
The sculpture by the famous master Vyacheslav Klykov, depicting a sitting pensive poet, became the first monument to Nikolai Rubtsov in our country. Considering the role that the Totem lands played in the author’s fate, it is logical that he appeared in Totma. Near the banks of the Sukhona River, a monument to the poet was erected 14 years after his death, in 1985.
Bust of Ivan Kuskov
- Address: Chkalovsky lane, 10.
In 1990, a bust of the man to whom it was dedicated - the discoverer, navigator and famous citizen Ivan Kuskov - appeared near the Museum of Russian America. Near the pedestal made of slabs, on which Kuskov’s head was placed, an anchor symbolically perched.
Monument to Feodosius Vakhrushov
- Address: park named after. Vakhrusheva.
The painter Feodosius Vakhrushov is known as a landscape painter and a master of church painting. His name is well known far beyond the borders of Totma and the Vologda lands. Part of the artist’s life was connected with the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
In the homeland of Theodosius Mikhailovich, his memory was immortalized with a bust. The monument is located in the center of a small park, at the intersection of Sadovaya and Volodarsky streets, not far from the place where the house in which the painter lived stands.
Monument to all Russian sailors and explorers
- Address: Rechnoy Lane.
On the Central Square of the city there is a column topped with a sculptural composition depicting the earth’s hemisphere, on which a ship with a sail and a Russian double-headed eagle is mounted, facing the American direction. The monument appeared in 2005 and reminds of the glorious seafaring past of the Russian provincial city.
Memorial sign "Sixtieth Parallel"
- Address: Bath Descent.
Three capitals - Norwegian, Finnish and “Russian northern”, namely Oslo, Helsinki and St. Petersburg, stand on the same parallel - the sixtieth. It also passes through the city of Totma, as evidenced by the memorial sign installed here.
Monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War
- Address: Freedom Fighters Central Park.
Bravely fighting on the fields of the Great Patriotic War, seven residents of the Totemsky district were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In their honor, in 1992, a monument was erected in the Freedom Fighters square in the city of Totma. Against the background of a white stele with the dates of the terrible war and a memorial inscription, two figures are depicted - a male fighter and a woman.
Admire the paintings of Repin's student
Totma is very beautiful. Its surroundings - the banks of the Sukhona, hills and forests, pine and birch trees - are beautiful at all times of the year. Feodosius Mikhailovich Vakhrushov - a native of Totma, a student at the Academy of Arts, local historian, researcher and collector of folk art, founder of the collection of the Totma Museum of Local Lore - painted landscapes mainly here in the Russian North. His paintings are exhibited in Vologda and Kharkov, Krasnodar and Nizhny Novgorod. And more than two hundred paintings are kept in the Totma Museum of Local Lore. An entire department here is dedicated to the artist’s work—a kind of art museum within a museum.
Sketch of the temple, watercolor. Totem Museum
At the beginning of the 20th century, Feodosius Mikhailovich traveled a lot along the Kokshenga River, collecting objects of folk life and decorative and applied art, which later became the basis of the exhibition of the local history museum, and along the way he wrote etudes, sketches, and noted architectural monuments. Vakhrushov saved the values of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery in the difficult year of 1919 and did many more good deeds for the city.
In Totma, Vakhrushov is remembered: a monument to the artist was erected, and there is a memorial plaque on the house where he lived for seventeen years. Quite recently, in the center of the pedestrian zone near the artist’s house, a platform with benches and information stands was created, dedicated to the outstanding Totem dynasty of the Dilaktorskys, associated with Vakhrushov. In the village of Varnitsa not far from Totma there is F. M. Vakhrushova Street.
Walk around the city
What first catches your eye in Totma after the metropolis is the perfectly clean snow. Winter here is real, snow-white, just like in childhood.
The Sukhona embankment looks the same as it did two hundred years ago. Only now, on the high bank, clumsy apartment buildings built during the Soviet years stand side by side with ancient merchant mansions. In the distance you can see the silhouette of the Trinity Church, another representative of the “Totem Baroque” type.
The Trinity Church is located in the quietest and most picturesque area of Totma - Zelenskaya fishing settlement, or on Zelena, as the native Totma residents call this place.
The temple was built at the expense of the Totem merchant Stepan Cherepanov. He lived most of his life in Siberia, where he hunted furs for a living, but he did not forget his homeland and ordered to build a temple there.
Today the Trinity Church is active.
The main temple of Totma used to be the Epiphany Cathedral. Once upon a time it was located inside the walls of a wooden fort. To this day, all that remains of the fortification is the hill on which the former cathedral building stands, and part of the moat that once surrounded it.
In Soviet times, a cinema was built here. Nowadays it is the House of Culture. With culture, as you can see, things are not going well at the moment. By the way, the same with religion.
The beautiful bright blue building on the hill is the restored mansion of the Totem merchant Matvey Belov. He had several pretzel and gingerbread establishments in the city, and also traded mosquito-related goods - paints, adhesives and technical oils.
The merchant's house burned down completely at the beginning of the 20th century, but was subsequently restored using photographs.
Another old mansion - merchant Arseny Kuznetsov. This is how it looked in the past: only the second floor was residential, and on the first floor there was a shop, the entrance to which was through a large door in the center of the wall.
This is what the mansion looks like now. From the lost: carved columns on the balcony, elegant gutters, chimneys and gates. What appeared: platbands around windows and pilasters. The former entrance to the shop has been converted into a large double window.
The small brick building, to which is attached a crumpled vinyl banner with the inscription “ZINGER”, is nothing more than the former store of that same sewing machine manufacturer. Currently there is a photography studio and a stationery shop here.
Near each merchant's house, old gardens surrounded by carved gardens have been preserved. I suspect it's pretty darn beautiful here in the summer.
The signs on the houses are also mostly old.
It is worth walking a hundred meters and we will find ourselves among the typical brick three-story three-entrance roads.
By the way, Totma is located on the 60th parallel, just like St. Petersburg. The nights here in summer are just as white.
Cute totem creative.
Monument to the black fox.
The merchant mansion of the Panov merchants, the same ones who paid for the construction of the Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem. In the 19th century, this building housed the city government building.
A residential building with shops that once belonged to the Mishurinsky merchant family.
And again the majestic Totem church-ships: in the foreground - Rozhdestvenskaya, in the background - Entrance to Jerusalem. They are connected by the central city street - Sovetskaya.
Let's turn off it and find ourselves in a real village.
Decipher cartouches
In the 18th century, nautical maps were decorated with cartouches. Cartouches, or stamps, are scrolls with curlicues, inside which were placed coats of arms, inscriptions, map legends... And Totem architects, whose customers were Totem merchant seafarers, made cartouches elements of the decor of temples. In this way, the sailors paid tribute to the memory of their comrades who did not return from long-distance trading expeditions across the Pacific Ocean. And the marks, of which about fifty types are known, and exquisite ornaments on the facades of temples, made of bricks protruding by a third, became a distinctive feature of a special architectural style - Totem Baroque.
Flowers and shells, crosses and stars - you can look for them at churches while walking around Totma, look at them, decipher them, and just admire them. Temples-sailboats, temples-ships, temples-monuments to Russian travelers - in such a concentrated form you will not see such unique architecture anywhere else in the world.
The atmosphere of the authentic Russian North
Houses here, in the northern style, refrain from carvings, but openwork chimneys and figured drain pipes are in a wide range. As well as wooden sidewalks - “bridges”, slowly replaced by paving slabs, as well as rafts for rinsing clothes with wooden hangers. The city's terrain is unique, and bridges with wrought-iron fences and stairs will often appear in front of you. It’s especially great to feel this atmosphere on a summer morning, in sunny weather, walking along the Sukhona embankment - boats and buoys on the river, the cries of seagulls, calmly walking cats, silence and complete serenity. If you are looking for a break from the city noise and at the same time genuine, not popular provincialism, not spoiled by numerous tourists, Totma is the best choice.
25 opportunities that tourists visiting Totma should not miss
Climb the elk rock
Photo by Sergei Lukyanov
Pink-gray granite of glacial origin, protruding two meters above the water. Dimensions 8x4 m. During floods, the Sukhona rises and hides it completely, but the rest of the time it flaunts in the river bed, one hundred meters from the right bank, two hundred from the left. It is called differently: Elk-stone or Tsar’s table. A legend is told in connection with the second name. Tsar Peter went to the Russian North. He drove and drove, got hungry, for some reason climbed onto the Elk Stone and asked for tea. And he himself: “How dark it is here!” This is where it supposedly came from - Totma... In fact, the city was founded at least five centuries earlier than Tsar Peter. But this didn’t make Elk-Stone any worse. It is beautiful, unusual, the depression on its surface is compared to the imprint of a moose's hoof, and it is a miracle that it survived at all - in the thirties of the twentieth century they wanted to blow it up so as not to interfere with shipping. They didn’t blow up, to our delight, so we’ll take a boat to Tsar-Kamni and take a photo on it.
At the sixtieth parallel
Totma is one of the few cities in the world located at 60 degrees north latitude
Before the founding of St. Petersburg, perhaps, Totma was the only Russian city that so successfully stood on the site of an imaginary geographical axis. It is precisely where Totma is located that the sixtieth parallel “pierces” the Sukhona. But if in the same St. Petersburg or, for example, Oslo, Norway, the place where the parallel passes is not marked in any way, then in Totma there is such a sign and is a very successful local analogue of the “sign with which everyone takes pictures” by Artemy Lebedev. The memorial sign in the lowland near Sukhona was erected even when the scandalous designer was not yet born, but was renewed in the present century. You can still feel involved in something majestic, posing in front of the camera next to this sign - it’s especially successful if the Trinity Church, soaring like a white swan from behind, also enters the frame. True, the building of the city bathhouse will inevitably fit into the picture - a typical building of the Soviet era, however, not causing rejection.
Wander around “my quiet homeland...”
Photo by Igor Godunov
“It’s light in my upper room. This is from the night star. Mother will take a bucket and silently bring water..."
Nikolay Rubtsov. Of course, we remember and love his poems. Rubtsov lived near Totma in the village of Nikolskoye and was brought up in an orphanage. Yes, the poet is an “orphanage”. Here Nikolai completed his seven-year school, in Totma he studied at the forestry technical school for two years, and then returned to these places many times and stayed for a long time. “...Here it’s easier for me to breathe, it’s easier to write, it’s easier to walk on the ground.” In Totma there is a monument to the poet and his museum. But it’s more interesting to visit “Nikola” - the village of Nikolskoye on the banks of Tolshma, in the village museum of Rubtsov. There is also a memorial room for the poet and authentic objects related to his life. They will tell you about how the orphans survived in the orphanage, who Nikolai was friends with, and how he wrote his first poems. You will learn about the history of the village of Nikolskoye and how the museum itself was created. There is an interesting ethnographic exhibition - “In the Footsteps of Past Times”. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is being restored in Nikolskoye. Just walking around the beautiful village and admiring the northern landscapes is such a pleasure!
Hyperborea
Totma, according to some historians, is the ancestral home of the ancient Aryans
Recently, ideas have become increasingly popular that it was the middle Prisukhonye region that became the homeland of the mysterious Aryans, who later moved to Hindustan and became the creators of an outstanding civilization that lasted for many centuries. In the works of the ethnographer S.V. Zharnikova, this is also scientifically substantiated - everyone can read it. There are, of course, more skeptics, and their objections also seem to be quite justified, so it’s probably impossible to immediately take this amazing hypothesis on faith. However, each of us has the right to get acquainted with the point of view of both supporters and opponents of the “Aryan hypothesis”, and form our own opinion. You can visually get acquainted with the pre-Christian history of the region, for example, at the Utyug stone, which once served as a pagan sanctuary.
Meet the lizard beasts
cultinfo.ru
Twenty-four halls... You can get lost! And in these halls there is so much! The first exhibits of the Totemsky Museum of Local Lore back in 1915–1917 were the “Plan of the city of Totma 1781”, an old wooden table with carved decorations, an old brass hydrometer for determining the density of a salt solution, two portraits made with oil paints at the beginning of the 19th century. And now here are figures of lizards of the Permian period, and bones of fossils, and the dwelling of primitive people, and stuffed animals living in the northern forests... There is a hall completely dedicated to salt, salt making, there, for example, there is a piece of a pipe on display, through which the brine solution was raised from salt springs. On the Totem lands, salt was a vital product - it was mined and traded throughout the country. The hall of the Petrovskaya Craft School will be interesting for children. There are toys: wooden soldiers, carts drawn by wooden horses... Very entertaining and original! There is a hall of the twentieth century in the history of Totma. Hall of flora and fauna. And a large exhibition of paintings by the Totem artist Feodosius Vakhrushov. Dedicate at least half a day to the local history museum in your travel itinerary!
Ample opportunities for recreation with children
Totma is the only city on the way from Vologda to Veliky Ustyug, where you can not only stay and have lunch quite inexpensively, but also see a lot of interesting things
The journey to Veliky Ustyug by car is quite long, and therefore it is difficult for many travelers, especially families with children. Located almost halfway from Vologda to the homeland of Father Frost, Totma has all the opportunities to stay and relax here for a day or two. Family vacations are facilitated by the presence of a variety of children's programs, the most popular and favorite of which is the “Young Traveler Course” with the quest game “In Search of the Black Fox’s Treasure.” The city's museums will offer interactive programs, but if children are tired of cultural education, a swimming pool with a mini-water park, an ice skating rink, and a children's cafe "California" are available to everyone.
Peer into the dark faces
temples.ru
The Assumption Church stands on the left bank of the Sukhona where the Dmitrievsky Stream flows into it. There is a museum of church antiquities in the church. From the name you can understand what is on display: dark northern icons (the earliest - the end of the 15th century), church utensils, wooden and copper items and... a lot of sculptures! Wooden temple sculpture is not typical for Orthodoxy, but it is found in the Russian North. The sculptures were carved from linden, which is pliable and can withstand temperature changes, primed with a mixture of chalk and glue, covered with ocher and overlaid with sheets of gold leaf. Recently, the museum even opened a special exhibition hall, which is called “Wooden Sculpture”. Be sure to visit there.
Various exhibitions are held on the second and third floors of the museum.
You can go up to the observation deck of the bell tower - the view of Totma and Sukhona opens up magnificent!
Sukhona - the main river of the Vologda region
Totma is the only city where you can order organized rafting on the Sukhona River on rafts, kayaks and catamarans
The Vologda region is not the Urals, and river rafting is not a common activity here - but not in Totma, where at one time specialists of the TotmaTur company decided that the beauty of the main Vologda river after the disappearance of navigation should not remain sealed even for “single” tourists " Since 2012, regular rafting with visits to all the local beauties along the banks of the Sukhona has been a tradition. There are both short routes with a visit to Grandfather Island (one day), and longer ones, starting from the ancient village of Ust-Pechenga and ending near the village of Medvedevo.
Season the journey with salt
totmamuz.ru
Want to know everything about salt mining? Go to EntreSOL. This is an interactive platform in the museum and exhibition hall, where exhibitions often change, all sorts of presentations, seminars, meetings are held, artists, craftsmen, craftsmen are exhibited... The museum of the Folk Culture Center "Moroshka" will be interesting for children - here you can touch all the antiques and use all the exhibits .
And the salt is on the second floor. EntreSOL is not even a museum, but a creative space. In niches and on stands there are texts telling about salt making, salt lamps shine with a soft, useful light, there is Wi-Fi, you can sit in a comfortable chair or walk around the room, you can get acquainted, communicate, you can touch everything and even lie down! Young people are at ease here. And adults will find something to do.
Church of Entry into Jerusalem
The church was erected in 1794, its construction lasted for 17 years. The initial funds for its construction were allocated by the Panov brothers, local residents who became rich after developing the then unexplored territories - “Russian America”.
The Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem has two floors. The lower (warm or winter) church is consecrated in honor of the Entry of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem, and the upper (cold or summer) church is consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, protector of travelers and wanderers.
The church amazes with its exquisite beauty - like a snow-white sailboat, it rushes to heaven. The temple is richly decorated with cartouches, original decorations in the form of a shield or scroll, inside of which crosses, trefoils and other figures are depicted.
Since 1996, a museum of sailors has been opened in the temple building. The observation deck on the bell tower offers views of the city.
Location: Kirova street.
Trinity Church in Zelenskaya (Rybachya) Sloboda
Trinity Church was built from 1768 to 1788. Like many Totem temples, it was built at the expense of grateful residents who wanted to leave their mark on the history of the place where they were born, and thus benefit the city. This temple was erected at the expense of the merchant Stepan Cherepanov, who was engaged in the fur trade.
The church is designed in the traditional Baroque style of Totma and is decorated with cartouches. Currently, services are held in the temple.
Location: Transportnaya street - 5.
Monument to Nikolai Rubtsov
It is no coincidence that the first of all erected monuments to the outstanding poet N. Rubtsov was installed here, on the high bank of the Sukhona, near the former pier, where the amazing, leisurely, modest and simple in its beauty nature of the Russian north opens up not only to the eye, but also to the soul.
The author of the sculpture monument is V.M. Klykov captured the pensive lyric poet sitting on a bench. On a stone pedestal, a line from one of N. Rubtsov’s poems is immortalized for posterity: “For all good we will pay with good, For all love we will pay with love...”
Layout of Totma
In 1780, Totma became a district town and received a “regular” plan. The center of the old part of the city remained Predtechenskaya Square, from which five streets radiated. The shopping area retained its role as an administrative and commercial center. The newly built areas were divided into 50 rectangular blocks. Five straight streets ran parallel down to the Sukhona, and five others ran from west to east. This Catherine's layout has generally been preserved to this day. It is not disturbed by either the abundance of industrial buildings or modern multi-storey buildings.
