Samovar description. Is it true that the samovar appeared in Russia? On postage stamps

From time immemorial, a samovar polished to a shine, along with Russian vodka and matryoshka, symbolizes Mother Rus', Russian hospitality, a broad soul, a feast and abundance. Poems and songs were composed about him, fairy tales were told, riddles were made, in some cities of Russia there are museums of samovars. Back in the last century, the samovar in our country meant a lot in sincere conversations. After all, according to our traditions, the guest - in the house, the samovar and pies - on the table. Today, it is rare to find this wonderful device, except in souvenir and antique shops. After all, progress is moving, and it is more convenient to use electricity instead of fuel. And yet, tea connoisseurs still resort to a samovar, even if it is an electric one.

History of occurrence

Samovars, in one form or another, existed even before the emergence of Tula tea machines. In the East (Syria, China, Iran and other states), copper jugs were used to warm water, which were placed on hot coals or a red-hot stone was thrown into them. The option with a stone existed in ancient Rome, only water was heated in a clay jug. During the excavations of Pompeii, a vessel made of bronze (auteps), with a faucet, on three “legs” and with a lid, was found, designed to heat water with added wine. Later, this technology was developed by all the peoples of subsequent times, who lived around the Roman Empire. At the same time, China also had its own water heater with a metal case and a firewood compartment. But the Chinese heated water not for making tea, but for cooking, in particular, thinly sliced meat. The history of the Russian samovar lasts only about two and a half centuries. Despite the fact that the samovar is not of Russian origin, but was brought in the 18th century by Peter I from Holland (the first mentions date back to 1746), it has taken root with us. So much so that everyone completely forgot that this invention is not national. Both the device of the samovar and the principles of operation remain unchanged to this day. Our ancestors used the samovar even for medicinal purposes in case of colds or viral infections, adding honey or vodka to the prepared tea. Such a "potion", according to the old-timers, had an amazingly miraculous therapeutic effect.

Reason for popularity

The samovar, unlike many household items, is universal. It was used by all estates, from peasants to wealthy nobles and royal persons. Before the arrival of the samovar in Rus', the process of cooking and heating water took place in a stove or on a fire, and for this it was necessary to have a sufficient amount of pre-chopped firewood. All this was quite difficult. The appearance of a tea machine on Russian lands significantly accelerated and simplified the boiling of water, and even made it possible to keep the liquid hot for a long time. Since the Russian climate is rather cool, people warmed up with the help of tea, and the heat of the samovar could even heat the room. This was another reason for its popularity in Rus'. And another factor played a role in the unconditional popularity of the tea machine - the tea itself. Anyone who has ever tasted this drink, prepared with the help of a samovar, will certainly appreciate its divine unique taste. And the secret of a special taste is precisely in the perfectly thought-out design device. Despite the fact that the samovar is, in fact, simple and primitive, it operates on the principle of a chemical reactor. The water in the apparatus softens when boiled, harmful substances in the form of scale remain on the pipe or at the bottom, and the device itself allows not only to boil water, but also to maintain its temperature. Therefore, the liquid boiled in this way makes it possible to reveal the aroma of tea leaves to the full extent. And, undoubtedly, the type of fuel affects the taste of samovar tea. And these are cones or branches of fruit trees.

The samovar, which gradually spread throughout Russia, became its symbol. In 1850, in Tula alone, there were 28 enterprises producing one hundred and twenty thousand samovars annually. By 1890, 77 enterprises were operating there. One can imagine how in demand this keeper of traditions, integral to Russian tea drinking, was. After all, he not only warmed the water, but also created a feast, uniting all those sitting at the same table.

Tea drinking behind a samovar has long been considered one of the most striking and revealing features of Russian traditional life. The samovar was not an ordinary household accessory, but a kind of personification of wealth, family comfort, and prosperity. It was included in a girl's dowry, passed on by inheritance, given as a gift. Carefully polished, he showed off in the most prominent and honorable place in the room.

It was getting dark. On the table, shining, Hissed an evening samovar, Heating a Chinese teapot, Light steam swirled under it. Spilled by Olga's hand. Through the cups in a dark stream Already fragrant tea ran ... "Eugene Onegin", Pushkin.

Samovar - Russian tea machine - as it was called in Western Europe. The word "samovar" passed from us to almost all languages of the world. The origin of this word is now not clear to everyone, since the combination "sam boils" in conjunction with the word "water" seems wrong. But just a hundred years ago, the word "cook" was used not only in relation to food (boil soup, fish), but also in relation to water, along with the word "boil". Moreover, in samovars they not only boiled water, but also cooked food and sbitni. So the samovar can be considered the great-grandfather of the current multicookers

There is a legend according to which Peter I brought the samovar to Russia from Holland, but in reality samovars appeared half a century after the death of Tsar Peter. Initially, in Russia, the samovar began to be made in the Urals. 275 years ago, the first samovar appeared at the Irginsky plant in the Urals. The history of its creation is quite interesting and instructive. A good example of anti-crisis management during the next "strengthening of the role of the state in the country's economy."

There is in China, from where tea was brought to Russia, a related device, which also has a pipe and a blower. But there is no real samovar anywhere else, if only because in other countries tea is immediately brewed with boiling water, much like coffee.

Chinese ho-go, "cousin" of the samovar

The samovar owes its appearance to tea. Tea was brought to Russia in the 17th century from Asia and was used at that time as a medicine among the nobility.

Tea was imported to Moscow, and later to Odessa, Poltava, Kharkov, Rostov and Astrakhan. The tea trade was one of the most extensive and profitable commercial enterprises. In the 19th century, tea became the Russian national drink.

Tea competed with sbitnya, the favorite drink of ancient Rus'. This hot drink was prepared with honey and medicinal herbs in a sbitennik. Sbitennik outwardly resembles a teapot, inside of which was placed a pipe for laying coal. A brisk trade in sbitn was going on at fairs.

In the 18th century, samovar-kitchens appeared in the Urals and Tula, which were a brotherhood divided into three parts: food was cooked in two, and tea in the third.

Sbitennik and samovar-kitchen were the forerunners of the samovar. Outwardly, the sbitennik resembles a teapot with a large curved spout, but inside it has a soldered jug where coals were placed (later we will see such a device for the jug in the samovar), and at the bottom of the sbitennik there was a blower. Such sbitenniks were made in Tula. They served to prepare a hot fragrant folk drink (sbitnya) from water, honey, spices and herbs.

Samovar-kitchen, first half of the 18th century. Sbitennik and samovar-kitchen were the forerunners of the samovar.

URAL SAMOVAR. WAS HE NOT THE FIRST IN RUSSIA?
N. KOREPANOV, Researcher, Institute of History and Archeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Yekaterinburg)

In 1996, Tula celebrated the 250th anniversary of the domestic samovar. According to most researchers, two and a half centuries ago, industrial production of this unique product began in the city of gunsmiths. For the initial date - 1746 - a mention of a samovar found in the inventory of the property of the Onega Monastery was taken. However, not everything here is unambiguous and indisputable. In addition to Tula, three Ural factories are also called the birthplace of the samovar - Suksunsky, owned by the Demidovs, Troitsky, owned by the Turchaninovs, and Irginsky, its owners were some Osokins. Talking about the history of technology and its achievements, we often mention "left-handers" - nameless Russian craftsmen. Although there is nothing nameless in history, but there are only forgotten names. Let's try to find out who was the "author" of the first samovar?

Let us turn to historical documents stored in the State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region. One of them is very curious and belongs to the customs service. It says that on February 7, 1740, some confiscated goods were delivered to Yekaterinburg customs from the Chusovaya River, from Kurinskaya pier Akinfiy Demidov, namely: six tubs of honey, six sacks of nuts and a copper samovar with a device. The victims in this case were the merchants of the Irginsky plant. Customs officials weighed honey and nuts, described the product: "A copper samovar, tinned, weighing 16 pounds, factory own work." As you can see, the customs officers did not show surprise from what they saw. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the word "samovar" in the documents of the mining Urals has not been encountered before. Therefore, it is necessary to explain where the merchants came from and where they brought the samovar, which, according to customs, contained 16 pounds of copper with tin.

Since 1727, two companies fought for a place for a plant on the Irgina River, a tributary of the Sylva, near the Krasny Yar ore mountain: three Moscow merchants with a Kaluga resident against townspeople from the city of Balakhna - Peter and Gavrila Osokin, cousins. The treasury supported the Osokins... The Irginsky plant issued the first copper in December 1728. Copper, although it had a high iron content, was still suitable for coinage.

From where the Osokins recruited people to their factory, no one really knew, only occasionally in Yekaterinburg they received complaints from the Kungur governor: “Many newcomers come to the Suksun and Irginsky factories incessantly, and what kind of natives they are, they don’t announce that, and the clerks about that kind And the newcomers, coming from these factories, repair fights for the peasants of Kungur district ... But you can’t catch them, because they go in crowds and, making a fight, run away to the factories. Factory clerks also complained, but at each other. Endless litigation for mines and forests began: Irgina and neighboring Suksun turned into rivals.

The Suksun factory of Akinfiy Demidov had its own craftsmen. On Irgin, the newly minted breeders had nowhere to take masters. Copper smelting in Saxon furnaces with water-acting bellows was taught to the locals by two craftsmen from Yekaterinburg. Copper-boiler master Stepan Loginov was sent by Kazan, copper-ware master Alexei Strezhnin - Perm. At that time, the manufacture of copper utensils was inferior in terms of profitability, except perhaps to coinage. As a matter of fact, factory copper utensils were born here from money billets. When they stopped minting square money in Yekaterinburg - the so-called plat (how much it costs by weight - this is the face value), and the minting of new coins was not yet foreseen, General Gennin, the chief commander of the mining Urals, decided to at least somehow reimburse the factory costs. This is how the Yekaterinburg copper-ware factory appeared, and after it there were still the same ones in other places.

But back to the sent specialists. Boiler maker Loginov trained two craftsmen for the Irginsky plant, utensil maker Strezhnin recruited nine students and, after studying for a year, arbitrarily left home: he could not come to terms with the need for in-line production. For him, who grew up from a self-taught leaf cutter, each product had to be unique, unrepeatable. And then there was mass production. And nine of his teenage students were determined to finish their studies with the young Semyon Zylev and Ivan Smirnov trained by the Loginovs. These eleven people made up the staff of the boiler factory.

And here's what's interesting. In addition to Zylev, the remaining ten people spoke "Nizhny Novgorod" - they were fellow countrymen from the Nizhny Novgorod province. Master Smirnov is a schismatic from the village of Malinovka in the Nizhny Novgorod episcopal village, seven out of nine students were born in schismatic families in the villages of Koposova and Kozina (the patrimony of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery). Their parents fled to the Urals in 1728-1730, along with thousands of other schismatics. And his clerk, a fugitive peasant from the same Koposov, Rodion Fedorovich Nabatov, paved the way for them all to the Irginsky plant. He hid, as much as he could, the fact that in the mid-1730s, with the start of factory censuses, the mining authorities were stunned. Then it was discovered that the Irginsky plant consisted entirely of runaway schismatics, for the most part from the Nizhny Novgorod province! The very ones from the Kerzhensky volost, nicknamed "Kerzhans" in the 18th century, and "Kerzhaks" in the 19th century.

Meanwhile, by 1734, the Irgin was already producing foundry utensils (pots, cauldrons and tinkers) and chiseled utensils (mugs, kungans, tubs, quarters and teapots), and distilling appliances (cauldrons with pipes). The dishes, of course, ended up in the Osokins' master's house, but its main flow went to Balakhna, to the Irbitskaya and Makarievskaya fairs, for sale in Kungur, to the state-owned Yagoshikha plant (where present-day Perm is), to Yaik. Dishes were also sold at the factory. In four years, this product was produced with a total weight of 536 pounds, and a third of it - 180 pounds - sold out at the plant. The dishes were also allowed for free sale, and in case of chronic lack of money - and in payment to employees.

On September 25, 1734, the Osokins divided: Pyotr Ignatievich got the Irginsky plant, Gavrila Poluektovich - the Yugovsky plant built a year ago. But a month later, the winds of change blew: in October, the Chief Commander of the Mining Urals changed in Yekaterinburg. Instead of the Dutchman Willim Ivanovich Gennin, Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev came.

Soon state-owned shipmasters flew to private factories, stood on a par with clerks and began to explain how to live and work. At Irgin, the clerk Nabatov was read an order: to stop trading in dishes, and to hand over copper ingots to Yekaterinburg at a fixed price. The clerk in response explained that the explored ores "were stopped, and the accumulated ones will last only until the summer." If the treasury cannot do without copper, then let him borrow ores up to 25 thousand pounds. Indeed, in the summer of 1735, about 20 thousand pounds of borrowed ore from the Yagoshikha plant were received on the Irgin. And that same summer the Bashkirs rebelled. And in the fall, persecutions began against dissenters who had grown bolder while living under the leadership of the tolerant Dutchman Willim Gennin.

In September, Rodion Nabatov served the plant for the last time. With three Demidov clerks, he signed a petition "for all the Old Believers", asking to send two or three priests, "who, according to the old printed books, wish to keep the faith." And he also honestly warned that the owner Osokin could not pay for the borrowed copper ore, unless all the smelted metal was used for dishes, better for a distillery.

The Bashkir uprising of 1735-1740 gave rise to the then famous "freemen" - voluntary detachments of factory residents and ascribed peasants to pacify the Bashkirs. So, on March 14, 1736, the artisans of the Irginsky plant stopped work in an organized manner, divided into groups and marched to Kungur - to enroll in combat hundreds for the "Bashkir war". At first, they were recorded without any order, until the authorities set a limit: a fifth of the able-bodied from a factory or village. And only two plants - Irginsky and Yugovsky - knew the "freemen" in full. Almost all of their workers and more than half of the attached peasants enjoyed their camp life to their heart's content.

The first, Irginskaya "freemen" returned to their homes by July, although about forty people remained on the campaign. They were schismatics who were trying to save themselves, as best they could, from harsh pressure, from peaceful and non-peaceful exhortations to go over to the bosom of the official church. And here the new clerk Ivan Ivanovich Shvetsov could not do anything, because the entry into the "freemen", in other words - flight, was allowed.

So which of the volunteers of that distant, forgotten war with the Bashkirs, who knew a variety of copper vessels on the Irgin, came up with the idea of a portable kitchen? About a camp boiler that would soon warm up without a stove and a fire, easily hide in a travel bag and could create home comfort in the most difficult conditions? In the end, every invention is born when there is a need for it.

Meanwhile, factory life continued. Borrowed ore smelted disgustingly. From 20 thousand pounds received only 180 pounds of pure copper. This is not yet bankruptcy, but... The clerk Shvetsov bombarded the Yekaterinburg chiefs with petitions: "I ask that my masters be ordered to turn copper smelted from borrowed state-owned ore into dishes and sell it to free hunters." In July 1738 Yekaterinburg made a decision. In September, it became known on Irgin: make dishes and sell wherever you want. But - for the last time!

And now, having received freedom of action, the breeder Peter Osokin and the clerk Ivan Shvetsov had to think hard. You won’t surprise anyone with traditional, ordinary copper utensils; many people use it. But what can really interest you is the distillery equipment. Rodion Nabatov also warned: the owner Osokin would pay off his debt only by selling expensive equipment needed there - cubes, cauldrons and pipes - to the Kungur kruzhechnaya yard, to private and state-owned distilleries. Pipes and cauldrons. Pipes and ... So this is a samovar?

So, in September 1738, there were 180 pounds of copper threatening losses on the Irgin and special permission to make dishes for the last time in the foreseeable future. A pound of pure copper at a fixed price for the treasury was worth 6 kopecks, but it was allowed to make a certain product “at one’s discretion” from the same copper and sell it at a higher price in order to repay the debt in money.

And now let us again recall the 16-pound product seized a year and a half later by Yekaterinburg customs officers. It was estimated by merchants during interrogation at 4 rubles 80 kopecks. In those days, for a cow, depending on the season and age, they paid from two and a half to four rubles. Ten rubles cost an average house, twenty - a decent house.

In September 1738, there were seven remaining boiler-makers on the Irgin, the very ones who had learned the craft from Alexei Strezhnin and Stepan Loginov. Their names were: Ivan Smirnov, Pyotr Chesnokov, Sergei Drobinin, Fedos Zakoryukin, Larion Kuznetsov, Matvey Alekseev, Nikita Fedorov. Now, from the customs documents of the 18th century, with which this story began, we know that the hands of these Irga craftsmen worked between September 1738 and February 1740 "their product", as they called it.

It is generally accepted that the samovar appeared due to the spread of tea drinking in Russia. But the schismatics did not drink tea, they used sbiten, a honey-based drink. (It is no coincidence that in February 1740, tubs of honey were delivered to Yekaterinburg along with a samovar.) And any connoisseur will tell you how much a samovar has in common with a sbitennik.

The samovar is pear-shaped. 1940s.

Samovar vase. Renaissance. Nickel-plated brass. Beginning of XX century.

Samovar Florentine vase. Copper. Chasing. 1870

Samovar Egyptian vase. Nickel-plated brass. 1910s.

True, at the end of the 19th century, a kerosene samovar appeared, and the factory of the Chernikov brothers launched the production of samovars with a side pipe, which increased the movement of air and accelerated the boiling process.

On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the largest enterprise for the production of samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them a year, but by the 1820s, Tula, which was called the samovar capital, began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production. year and many other copper products.

The beginning of the 19th century is characterized by such styles: egg-shaped with loop-shaped handles, "Empire", "crater", reminiscent of an ancient Greek vessel, a vase with concave ovals looks especially solemn because of the legs in the form of lion paws. At that time, everything obeyed the dominant style, characteristic of decorative and applied arts at the beginning of the 19th century. In addition to ordinary samovars, road samovars were made. Removable legs were strengthened in special grooves. Shape - rectangle, cube, polyhedron. Such samovars are convenient for transportation, on a hike, for picnics.

The 19th century is the "golden age" of samovar making in Russia. Each factory tried to come up with its own, unlike the other samovar. Hence such a variety of samovar forms: conical, smooth, faceted, spherical, in the neo-Greek style, which reproduced the ancient forms of amphorae. The sizes and capacities of samovars were extremely diverse: from a glass to twenty liters. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, samovars had a variety of everyday names indicating the shape of the product: "jar", "glass", "vase", "acorn", "muzzle", "turnip", "Easter egg", "flame " etc.

The samovar is ovoid. Brass. Early 19th century

Road samovar. Copper. Beginning of the 19th century.

Empire samovar. Brass. Beginning of the 19th century.

Buffet samovar. Nickel-plated brass. 1923

Samovar Tula - Hero City. Nickel-plated brass. 1978

Samovar Teremok Brass. Beginning of XX century.

At the same time, searches were underway for the universal use of samovars: coffee samovars, kitchen samovars, home samovars, travel samovars, etc. were created.

However, most of them did not become widespread, and in the 20th century only samovars were used to boil water and serve it to the tea table. Three typical forms of samovars turned out to be vital: cylindrical, conical (like a vase) and spherical flattened (like a turnip). At the same time, the designs of faucets, handles, legs, burners became diverse. At this time, bouillote (from the French bonillir - boil) - a small vessel on a stand with a spirit lamp - became a frequent companion of the samovar. The bouillotte was usually placed on the table, filled with hot water. With the help of a spirit stove, the water was maintained in a state of boiling until the samovar, filled with cold water, boiled again. Samovar production in Russia reached its greatest development in 1912-1913, when 660 thousand pieces were produced annually in Tula alone. The First World War suspended the production of samovars, which resumed only after the end of the civil war.

It was not easy to master the craft of a samovarmaker.

Here is what N. G. Abrosimov, an old-timer-samovar maker of the village of Maslovo, recalls: “He began working as a student at the age of 11. He studied this craft for three and a half years. Brass of a certain size was cut for the wall (case), then it was rolled into a cylinder, and this form was in twelve steps. Brass was cut with teeth on one side and then fixed with hammer blows along the connecting seam, after which they were carried to the forge. the smithy from master to master and back, the boys-apprentices and gradually looked closely at how the master works.

A lot of sweat was shed and sleepless nights were spent before the wall was made by order of the manufacturer. And if you bring a manufacturer to Tula to rent, sometimes they will find a marriage. A lot of work is spent, but there is nothing to receive. The work is hard, but I fell in love with it, it was nice when you make a wonderful wall out of a sheet of brass.

The process of making the "Tula miracle", which consisted of 12 steps, is complex and diverse. There was a strict division of labor in production. There were almost no cases when the master would have made the entire samovar. There were seven main specialties in the samovar business:

The gunner - bent a copper sheet, soldered it and made the appropriate shape. For a week, he could make 6-8 pieces of blanks (depending on the form) and received an average of 60 kopecks per piece.

Tinker - tinned the inside of the samovar with tin. I made 60-100 pieces a day and received 3 kopecks apiece.

Turner - sharpened on the machine and polished the samovar (at the same time, the worker who turned the machine (turner) received 3 rubles a week). A turner could turn 8-12 pieces a day and receive 18-25 kopecks apiece.

A locksmith made handles, taps, etc. (handles - for 3-6 samovars a day) and received 20 kopecks for each pair.

Assembler - from all the individual parts he assembled a samovar, soldered taps, etc. He made up to two dozen samovars a week and received 23-25 kopecks from one.

Cleaner - cleaned the samovar (up to 10 pieces a day), received 7-10 kopecks per piece.

Wood turner - made wooden cones for lids and handles (up to 400-600 pieces per day) and received 10 kopecks per hundred.

The process of making a samovar is lengthy before it appears in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it.

The factories were assembling and finishing. Production of parts - at home. It is known that entire villages made one piece. Delivery of finished products was made once a week, sometimes every two weeks. They carried finished products for delivery on horseback, well packaged.

Samovars entered every home and became a characteristic feature of Russian life. The poet Boris Sadovskoy in the preface to the collection "Samovar" wrote: "In our life, unconsciously for ourselves, the samovar occupies a huge place. As a purely Russian phenomenon, it is beyond the understanding of foreigners. A Russian person in the rumble and whisper of a samovar feels familiar voices from childhood: sighs spring wind, mother's dear songs, cheerful inviting whistle of a village blizzard. These voices are not heard in a European city cafe.

On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the largest enterprise for the production of samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them a year, but by the 1820s, Tula began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production.

The samovar is a part of the life and destiny of our people, reflected in its proverbs and sayings, in the works of the classics of our literature - Pushkin and Gogol, Blok and Gorky.

The samovar is poetry. This is good Russian hospitality. This is a circle of friends and relatives, warm and cordial peace.

A veranda window entwined with hops, a summer night, with its sounds and smells, from the charm of which the heart stops, a circle of light from a lamp with a cozy fabric lampshade and, of course ... a grumbling, sparkling copper, steaming Tula samovar on the table.

Tula samovar... In our language, this phrase has long become stable. A.P. Chekhov compares an absurd, from his point of view, act with a trip "to Tula with his own samovar."

Already at that time, there were proverbs about the samovar ("The samovar boils - it does not order to leave", "Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce"), songs, poems.

The newspaper "Tula Gubernskie Vedomosti" for 1872 (No. 70) wrote about the samovar as follows: "The samovar is a friend of the family hearth, a medicine for a vegetative traveler ..."

The history of the Russian samovar is not too long - about two and a half centuries. But today the samovar is an integral part of Russian tea drinking. Samples of Russian samovars can be found in the antique market. The price of such samovars depends, of course, on the fame of the company or the master, on the safety of the sample, on the material of the product. Collectible samovar prices start at $500. The most expensive samovars are Faberge samovars, the prices for which can reach up to $25,000.

A samovar can create a surprisingly warm and cozy atmosphere in the house, add a unique flavor to family and friendly gatherings, remind you of long-forgotten, but such pleasant Russian traditions.

The night prelude of a cozy summer evening, people scatter home to dispel fatigue and enjoy the midnight silence after a chaotic day. The evening garden evokes a slight coolness, imperceptibly and insinuatingly filling the houses with the aromas of greenery. And under the beating of hearts, warmed by the heat of the Tula samovar, poetry of the soul, national Russian poetry is born ...

This is a part of each of us, sung by literary classics. The shiny copper samovar lives to this day in the works of Pushkin, Blok, Gorky and Gogol. From time immemorial, the samovar, like a good old friend, attracts with its warmth and hospitality. Where does the history of the samovar begin?

Definitely samovar is a true Russian brainchild, occupying a special position in It's amazing how widespread it is, how mysterious it is. Indeed, not everyone knows when and where the first hot water vessel for tea puffed. But the history of the samovar is, in fact, unique and almost unexplored.

As for the origin of the word "samovar", even here the opinions of historians differ. Different peoples in Rus' called the apparatus differently: in Yaroslavl it was “samogar”, in Kursk it was “self-boiler”, in Vyatka it was called “samogrey”. There is a general idea of the purpose of the copper friend, "he cooks himself." Other researchers find confirmation of the Tatar origin from the word "snabar" (teapot). But this version has fewer adherents.

Versions of the origin of the samovar

Where to look for answers to the question about the origin of the samovar and its creator? Unfortunately, it is not possible to find exact answers. Historians believe that the Russian samovar, a synonym for our hospitality and an indispensable attribute of Russian tea drinking, originates from ancient civilizations. But again, these are versions.

1. Antique Samovar of Ancient Rome

According to one of the versions, the roots of the samovar go much deeper than it seems. They grow from the place where all roads on Earth lead - Ancient Rome. Archaeologists have discovered devices that work on the principle of a Russian samovar. Incredibly, the Romans drank drinks from samovars in antiquity. Autepsa - that was the name of the ancient samovar. A rather simple, but, nevertheless, original and extremely useful invention is arranged as follows: outwardly, the auteps was something similar to a tall jug, inside of which there were two containers, for coal and for liquid. Hot coal was fed through a hole on the side, and the liquid was poured using a ladle. In the same device, it was possible to cool drinks on hot days; for this, ice was used instead of coal.

2. Chinese samovar 火锅 "Ho-Go"

A similar device exists in China. A deep bowl on a pallet, equipped with a blower and a pipe - this is what the famous Chinese prototype of a samovar called "Ho-Go" is. Ho-Go is made from metal and porcelain. They usually serve soup or simmering broth. Perhaps the origin of the samovar, as well as, is due to China, and the prototype of the Russian samovar is the Chinese "Ho-Go".

Appearance in Rus' - from the history of the samovar

There is a legend according to which the samovar appeared in Russia thanks to Peter I - he brought it from Holland as an outlandish and innovative device.

There is another version, according to which the birthplace of the samovar is not even Tula, but the Urals, and its creator is the Tula blacksmith Demidov. Back in 1701, the industrialist Demidov, together with skilled copper craftsmen, set off on a trip to the Urals, laid the foundation for a dynasty of samovars.

The history of the samovar is florid and ambiguous. According to documented data, the following is known about the appearance of the first samovar: in 1778, in the city of Tula, on Shtykova Street, two Lisitsina brothers began the first production of samovars. At first, it was a small establishment for the manufacture of samovars. It is thanks to him that Tula is often considered the birthplace of the Russian samovar.

How, then, to be with other historical documents resting on the shelves of the State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region? The fact is that one of them, witnessed by the customs service of Yekaterinburg on February 7, 1740, confirms the version of the earlier appearance of the samovar. According to the inventory of Demidov's confiscated property, it included, in addition to six tubs of honey and sacks of nuts, a copper samovar. And literally: "Samovar copper, tinned, weighing 16 pounds, factory own work." The officially recorded appearance of the samovar in Tula and its distribution in the Urals differ by almost forty years. To this day, the question from the history of the samovar remains open - Tula or the Urals became the birthplace of the Russian samovar?

It turns out that in 1730-1740 samovars were used in the Urals, and only later - in Tula, Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the 19th century, the samovar business spread beyond the boundaries of large cities and was observed in the Vyatka, Vladimir and Yaroslavl provinces. By 1850, there were 28 samovar workshops throughout Russia. About 120 thousand copper samovars were produced per year. Samovars were made at the discretion and at the request of the customer: from large to small, souvenir, decorated, in the form of vases, cans, glasses, barrels, balls, even barrels. The fantasy of artisans and the customer's wallet knew no limits. The appearance of the samovar has been transformed in step with the times, fashion and lifestyle of people. In the next issues of our blog, we will definitely publish the history of the samovar in pictures.

Tea drinking and samovar are inseparable concepts!

Walking through the pages history of the samovar, take a look at yourself. What does a samovar mean to us? How did he fall in love and become synonymous with Russian hospitality and generosity?

What a tea party without a samovar! Pot-bellied and smoking, important and shiny, the samovar became the center of the festive feast and an indispensable attribute. The unhurried and hospitable samovar created a friendly atmosphere and conducive to conversation. This good friend was out of class, he was held in high esteem by both the poor and the king. Under the puff of a samovar, they composed poems, sang songs, danced round dances and decided matters of national importance. The samovar is sung in Russian folk songs, proverbs have developed about it: “Tea is more important with a samovar-buyan, conversation is more fun”, “Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce”. The samovar has become an indispensable assistant to the teamaker, greatly facilitating the process of brewing tea. There was no need to heat the stove to boil water, with a samovar it took several minutes and turned not into daily work, but into a tradition of tea drinking. Water cools for a long time, tea in a samovar is brewed better, and it turns out much tastier!

Vladimir Stozharov at the samovar.

Samovar quite unconsciously became part of the cultural heritage of the Russian people. Moreover, not a single foreigner will be able to understand why such a simple and unpretentious household item, a samovar, is treated so carefully in our country, with all my heart. A measured rumble, bagels on the table, cups and saucers and the most delicious tea from a samovar - all this is so close to the heart, it gives so much warmth and comfort to the hearth. The samovar evokes memories of childhood, native and caring hands of the mother, chants of the wind, snowstorm outside the window, friendly festivities, family feasts for a Russian person. Not a single urban European cafe will be able to repeat all this, because this is a memory that lives in the hearts.

This story can be started with the question: “A Russian samovar, is it really Russian”? Surprisingly, even in such a simple question, there is a conflict between two old ideologies (Westerners and Slavophiles).

And in general, the history of the samovar is overgrown with whole clusters of "cranberries", and it will not be easy to find the truth. Or maybe impossible.

I suggest you follow the proven path: historical documents and, plus, simple everyday logic.

Since the story is old, you won’t be able to figure it out “quickly” - tune in to a long text. However, if you are really interested, then you will not lose time in vain. It will at least be helpful.

Legends about the Russian samovar

Of all the variety of opinions and "old stories", I would single out six (as the most common):

1. Peter I brought the samovar to Russia from Holland, and it was from the first emperor that the history of the Russian samovar began.

The legend is beautiful, but does not stand up to the most elementary test for authenticity. The fact is that in the time of Peter the Great Russia was already a writing country. In any case, there was customs, taxes were collected, records were kept. And we can find the first written mention of the samovar (as an object of tax law) in documents that were compiled many years after the death of Peter (not to mention the time of the emperor's journey to Holland). There is no mention of the Russian samovar in any other sources (including foreign ones).

2. The samovar was brought to Russia from China along with tea.

This version looks quite logical, but… Tea began to be imported to Russia in the seventeenth century. This is one fact. Known Chinese ho-go, which looks like a samovar. This is the second fact.

Chinese ho-go

But, ho-go is not intended to “brew” tea. In general, it is not intended to cook. Ho-go is a bowl (container) with a brazier (furnace) arranged under it, which was used to maintain the temperature of food (that is, not to let it cool down). But only. Ho-to served not for cooking, but for serving hot dishes.

And besides, the Chinese have been using teapots and special tea cups for many centuries, and their tea culture does not involve the use of ho-go for the preparation of any dishes, much less such a noble drink.

In addition, similar "heating" devices of history have been known for a long time. They were, for example, the ancient Romans. The autepsa (this is the name of the Roman "heater") was a cube with double walls. Water was poured between the walls, and a fire was lit in the center. Thus heated water, which was added to the wine. A tripod was placed over the fire, on which food was heated.

There were such "heaters" in ancient Persia. The remains of a copper "heater" were found during excavations of the ancient city of Beljamen in the Volga region. It is assumed that this device was of the Bulgar (still pre-Mongolian) production.

3. The samovar came to Russia from England and is an analogue of the English "tea urn".

Indeed, "tea vessels" or "tea urns" were used to boil water in England. However, these vessels were popular in 1740-1770. And by this time, the Russian samovar was already known not only in Russia, but also in Europe.

They threw a hot stone into a vessel of water and the water boiled. And since the water boiled, this is the samovar. The logic is just incredible. It follows from it that the aircraft was invented by the Cro-Magnons. They tried to get a hot stone out of the boiling water, and because the stone was hot, they threw it aside. The stone was flying ... So the plane appeared!

5. The samovar is the evolution of the sbitennik.

Sbitennik is a special vessel (device, if you like) for preparing sbiten. Sbiten has been known in Rus' for over 1,000 years. Before tea appeared, Russian people drank sbiten constantly and regularly. In any case, in the morning - definitely. This drink is tasty and healthy (much healthier than tea).

However, back to the samovar. Yes, the version is very strong - the sbitennik almost looks like a samovar: a container with an inner tube for laying coal, there are devices for “serving” a drink (a spout like a kettle). And they cooked (cooked) sbiten in sbitennik.

Everything would be very logical and reliable if version No. 6 did not exist.

6. Ural samovar.

Tulyaks consider themselves the founders of samovar building in Russia. In 1996, Tula celebrated the 250th anniversary of the industrial production of samovars in the city of gunsmiths. In 1746, an entry was made in the inventory of the property of the Onega Monastery. This record says that there was a Tula-made samovar in the monastery.

However (and let the inhabitants of Tula not be offended), there is reliable evidence that the first samovars were produced in the Urals at the Suksunsky factories (the factory belonged to Demidov), Troitsky (the Turchaninov factory) and Irginsky (the owners are the Osokin brothers).

Very often, remembering the history of our fatherland, we talk about unknown heroes and unknown craftsmen. But, there are no "unknown", but there are simply forgotten names.

Let's try to understand the events of the past years.

And I will start not from the beginning, but from (if I may say so) the middle.

A very interesting document from the customs service is stored in the State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region. It is dated February 7, 1740. According to the document, goods were delivered to the customs of Yekaterinburg from the Chusovaya River: honey in six tubs, nuts in six bags and "a tinned copper samovar, weighing 16 pounds, of our own factory work, with a device." The victims in this case were the merchants of the Irginsky plant.

It is noteworthy that the customs officers were not surprised by the miraculous miracle that was discovered on the pier. And they wrote down confidently: “Samovar”. From which it follows that they saw the samovar not for the first time. And its cost was determined - 4 rubles 80 kopecks.

And this story began in 1727, when the Osokin brothers got a place for a copper smelter on the Irginka River. Copper money was minted at the factory (for the treasury), and when the need for money disappeared, they began to make copper utensils. It must be said that this business was profitable and the brothers grew rich. They produced foundry and chiseled crockery.

And soon disaster struck - state-owned (state) shift masters arrived at private factories, who replaced the clerks and began to teach the artisans the mind and the mind. Today we would talk about strengthening the role of the state in regulating the economy. The production of utensils was stopped (at the request of a government official) and copper ingots were handed over to the treasury “at a fixed price”. As a result, the plant very quickly approached bankruptcy.

The owner of the plant turned to the treasury with a request to save the plant and received permission to produce copper utensils. But, once. And sell where you want.

Around this time, the Bashkir uprising began, which gave rise to the "freemen" - volunteers from the factories left for the detachments to pacify the rebels. And if at other factories the artisans held on to jobs, then from the bankrupt factory the people simply threw them to war. A few months later, the “warriors” fought enough and began to return home.

History has not preserved the name of that master warrior who returned to the factory from the war with the idea of creating a camping cauldron where one could warm oneself on a cold night without a fire, cook hot food quickly, and then hide this cauldron in a travel bag.

The craftsmen returned to the plant, and the plant is on the verge of ruin. There is permission from Yekaterinburg to make dishes and sell them, but only once. And to whom to sell? Old ties are broken, there are no reliable buyers. What to do? And then the breeder found a reliable buyer - private and state distilleries, which needed expensive cubes, cauldrons and samovar pipes.

Samovar-kitchen

It must be said that the first samovars were very different both in their appearance and in their device from modern samovars. There were samovars, divided into compartments in which it was possible to cook the first, second, and third courses at the same time. There were also samovars for one dish. Small, 3-8 liters and 15 liters, which were popularly called "soldier" and "gypsy". It was at that time that the famous samovar-kitchens and heating kettles appeared.

The golden age of the Russian samovar

The heyday of the Russian samovar is the end of the eighteenth century, and the nineteenth century. Until that time, tea was expensive, and only a very wealthy person could afford a samovar. Do you remember how much merchants at customs valued their samovar? 4 rubles 80 kopecks. A good hut cost 10 rubles, and for 20 rubles you could buy a house. A cow cost from 2.50 rubles.

Over time, samovars began to be mass-produced, which reduced the cost of samovars, and tea became more affordable.

Wealthy people willingly bought samovars, samovars appeared in taverns, and “public samovars” were also popular.

Before the Patriotic War of 1812, the main supplier of samovars was Pyotr Silin, who owned a factory in the Moscow province. It produced up to 3,000 samovars a year.

But after the war, the situation changed and the main samovar production moved to Tula. In the city of gunsmiths, there were 28 samovar factories that already produced 120,000 samovars and accessories for them.

Samovars of various styles appeared: "Empire", "crater", samovar-jar, samovar-dulya, samovar-glass, etc. Each factory tried to come up with its own, unlike the products of competitors, samovar. Kitchen samovars, coffee pot samovars, travel samovars, kerosene samovars (which were very popular in the Caucasus) were put into production. But all these novelties simply faded away by the end of the 19th century. From the beginning of the twentieth century, only tea was drunk from samovars. And by the beginning of the First World War, Tula was producing more than 660,000 samovars a year.

The soul of the Russian samovar

With such volumes of production, the samovar has firmly entered every home. And not just entered - the samovar became a characteristic feature of national life.

The poet Boris Sadovskoy in the preface to the collection "Samovar" wrote:

The samovar in our life, unconsciously for ourselves, occupies a huge place. As a purely Russian phenomenon, it is beyond the understanding of foreigners. In the rumble and whisper of a samovar, a Russian person feels familiar voices from childhood: the sighs of the spring wind, the native songs of the mother, the cheerful inviting whistle of the village blizzard. These voices are not heard in the urban European cafe.

So it was - the samovar became part of the culture of the people. Pushkin and Gogol, Blok and Gorky wrote about him.

And how it was written (and written) by artists. In this post, I included several paintings in which the main character is a samovar. If you have a desire, then you can see more voluminous collections of paintings dedicated to the samovar:

A samovar stands on an embroidered tablecloth. Artist Evgeny Mukovnin
Still lifes. Tea from a samovar
Russian miracle samovar photo

Romance and poetry of a table decorated with a samovar, and a summer night, and blooming hops, and honey smells ... And the heart stops from a cozy fabric lampshade, a lace tablecloth, a bouquet of lilacs, and the song of a samovar.

And the Russian samovar is simply obliged to be melodious. At first he sings subtly and gently, then he makes noise like a winter blizzard, and then he rages like a spring stream. And this is not accidental - a real samovar was made in such a way (body shape) that it would definitely sing.

And what kind of tea is in the samovar? This is not an electric water heater. A samovar is a real chemical reactor that effectively reduces water hardness. In a real samovar, water is heated differently than in a kettle (from the bottom up. Warm water rises up along with salts, minerals, etc.). And in a samovar, the water heats up all at once and insoluble carbonates settle to the bottom (that's why the samovar faucet is always higher than the bottom) and, to a lesser extent, on the pipe. Hence the incredible taste of tea. Remember?

Who and when invented such a thing as a samovar?

Samovar is a Russian folk device for boiling water and making tea. Initially, the water was heated by an internal firebox, which was a tall tube filled with charcoal. Later, other types of samovars appeared - kerosene, electric, etc.

The samovar is the same symbol of Russia as the balalaika and matryoshka.
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/РЎР°РјРѕРІР...

[edit] History of the samovar
The following is known about the appearance of the first documented samovars in Tula. In 1778, on Shtykova Street, in Zarechye, the brothers Ivan and Nazar Lisitsyn made a samovar in a small, at first, first samovar establishment in the city. The founder of this institution was their father, the gunsmith Fyodor Lisitsyn, who, in his spare time at the arms factory, built his own workshop and practiced all kinds of copper work in it.

Already in 1803, four Tula tradesmen, seven gunsmiths, two coachmen, 13 peasants were working for them. Only 26 people. This is already a factory, and its capital is 3000 rubles, income - up to 1500 rubles. A lot of money. The factory in 1823 passes to the son of Nazar Nikita Lisitsyn.

The Lisitsyns' samovars were famous for their variety of shapes and finishes: barrels, vases with chasing and engraving, egg-shaped samovars with dolphin-shaped taps and loop-shaped handles. How much joy they brought to people! But a century passed - and the graves of the manufacturers were overgrown with grass, the names of their apprentices were forgotten. The first samovars that glorified Tula are no longer noisy, no longer singing their evening songs. They quietly mourn far from their homeland, in the museums of Bukhara, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga. However, the Tula Samovar Museum can boast of the oldest Lisitsyn samovar.

Meanwhile, samovar production turned out to be very profitable. Handicraftsmen quickly turned into manufacturers, workshops into factories.

In 1785, the samovar establishment of A. M. Morozov was opened, in 1787 - F. M. Popov, in 1796 - Mikhail Medvedev.

In 1808, eight samovar factories operated in Tula. In 1812, Vasily Lomov's factory was opened, in 1813 - by Andrei Kurashev, in 1815 - by Yegor Chernikov, in 1820 - by Stepan Kiselev.

Vasily Lomov, together with his brother Ivan, produced high quality samovars, 1000-1200 pieces a year, and gained high fame. Samovars were then sold by weight and cost: from brass - 64 rubles per pood, from red copper - 90 rubles per pood.

In 1826, the factory of the merchants Lomovs produced 2372 samovars per year, Nikita Lisitsyn - 320 pieces, the Chernikov brothers - 600 pieces, Kurashev - 200 pieces, the tradesman Malikov - 105 pieces, the gunsmiths Minaev - 128 pieces and Chiginsky - 318 pieces.

In 1850, there were 28 samovar factories in Tula alone, which produced about 120 thousand samovars per year and many other copper products. Thus, the factory of Ya. V. Lyalin produced more than 10 thousand pieces of samovars per year, the factories of I. V. Lomov, Rudakov, the Batashev brothers - seven thousand pieces each.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, new types of samovars appeared - kerosene, the Parichko samovar and copper samovars from the Chernikov factory with a pipe on the side. In the latter, such a device increased the movement of air and contributed to the rapid boiling of water.

Kerosene samovars with a fuel tank were produced (along with fire samovars) by the factory of the Prussian citizen Reinhold Teile, founded in 1870, and they were made only in Tula. This samovar found great demand where kerosene was cheap, especially in the Caucasus. Kerosene samovars were also sold abroad.

In 1908, the steam factory of the brothers Shakhdat and Co. produced a samovar with a removable jug - the Parichko samovar. It was invented by engineer A. Yu. Parichko, who sold his patent to Shakhdat and Co. These samovars were safe in terms of fire, they could not melt or deteriorate, like ordinary samovars, if there was no water in them during the fire. Thanks to the device of the upper blower and the possibility of