Bolshie Vyazemy, one of the most beautiful ancient estates in the Moscow region. It belonged to many famous people, including Boris Godunov and the Golitsyn nobles. It was the Golitsyns who built the stone palace and outbuildings, including the stable yard, that we see today.

The current estate was once the village of Nikolskoye-Vyazmy, first mentioned during the reign of Vasily III. This place became known as the ancestral estate of Boris Godunov. Of the buildings from that time, only the stone Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral and the bell tower have survived, where in the early 19th century, Alexander Pushkin's brother, Nikolai, was buried. The other structures of Godunov's estate were wooden and have not survived. During the Time of Troubles, there was a country palace of False Dmitry, where snowy battles took place. After his murder, the lands belonged for a long time to the palace department of the new Romanov dynasty.

A new chapter in the estate's history began in 1694 when Peter the Great gifted it to his mentor Boris Golitsyn. A hundred years later, his descendants erected a large stone palace and many outbuildings that have survived to this day. The estate attracted attention: in 1812, it was the headquarters of Kutuzov, and later Napoleon stayed here, forbidding his soldiers from plundering the estate. Emperor Alexander I and many generals of the Russian army, whose portraits now adorn the lower library of the mansion, also visited here.

In 1813, the estate passed to Moscow Governor-General Dmitry Golitsyn, who received guests here. Young Pushkin often visited the estate, spending holidays at his grandmother's neighboring estate. These were times of cultural flourishing, reading interesting books, home evenings, and performances, searching for truth and creating anew.

Unfortunately, difficult times awaited the owners of the estate and the buildings themselves, but we will tell you about this in the second part of our narrative.