Story: Surreal Beauty: The Disintegrating Remains of the Khrapovitsky Estate

“Do you want to shoot castle?”
Working overseas often leads to sentences like this, which make little sense at first, and I stared at my student in confusion.
“Maxim and I would like to take you to shoot castle. With your camera.”
Ahh. That kind of shooting. In Russia one never knows. I knew nothing about this alleged castle, but I readily accepted.

Soon I was in a car with Maxim and Maxim (it’s a common name in Russia), in which I was driven about 45 minutes outside of Vladimir to the abandoned estate of Count Khrapovitsky. Khrapovitsky was of the Russian nobility, and he built a gargantuan mansion in the countryside in the 19th century, as nobility tended to do… However, he based his architectural designs on medieval German castles, making this estate quite an oddity in Russia. Local legend has it that he was inspired by the castle of a friend in Germany… except that he based his stable on his friend’s castle and modeled his home after something much grander.

After the Soviet revolution, the Khrapovitsky family fled to France, and the estate was turned into a college of some sort. During WWII it served as a hospital. At some point, although unfortunately I don't know when, it was ravaged by fire, and left to disintegrate in the countryside near the small village of Muromtsevo. The property was later purchased by some Germans who began to do some restoration work on the property. But unfortunately, they didn't get far into their restoration before giving up. They managed to put a new roof on much of the main structure, but accomplished little else. I’ve no idea what, if anything, they're planning to do with the property.

We arrived and found the door barred shut… but that didn't stop the Maxims, who were able to, shall we say, un-bar the door. We explored several floors, climbing the remains of rickety stair-cases and clambering around on broken rafters and boards placed over gaping holes in the floor, or even in place of where the upper level floors used to be.

After we thoroughly explored the castle (and, in the grandest of Russian traditions, consumed a copious amount of wine), we set off to explore the rest of the estate, including the Church of the Holy Martyr Tsarina Alexandra which was commissioned by Khrapovitsky, as well as the remains of his ornate stable. The grounds of the estate were once intricately landscaped, although now they are completely overgrown. In front of the castle, there used to be two artificial pools, connected by fountains which cascaded into a natural pond. The natural pond is all that's left, although you can still make out the walls of the former artificial ponds in the brush in front of the castle. Next to the natural pond was a pavilion for musicians; all that remains of it now are a few arches.

My visit to the remains of the Khrapovitsky Estate is one of my most memorable experiences of Russia, undoubtedly due to the fact that one does not expect to come across a crumbling medieval German fortress in the woods near a small Russian village! I do not know what the future holds for the Khrapovitsky Estate. I would hope that it would be restored and turned into a museum, but it may well be left to crumble slowly into the weeds. If you are interested in seeing the intriguing remains of this estate, you can reach it by taking a bus from the nearby city of Vladimir to the village of Muromtsevo. Ask around; locals – especially children – are willing to be your own personal guide around the estate for a nominal fee.