旅人る - Tabibito

Vysokoye

Huge Russian nobility estate in Smolensk oblast. It was built in the 1860-80s for the Sheremetyevs by the renowned architect Nikolai Benois. After the revolution, the main manor house was occupied by a tuberculosis hospital, and almost all other buildings were taken over by an agricultural technical school. Vysokoye was not damaged during the war. At the end of the 1980s, the main house burned down "due to a child’s prank". It was promptly repaired, but almost everything went into a decline in 1990s.

At the entrance to Vysokoye there is an elegant Gothic gatehouse and bus stop with a pastoral design.

Opposite is a gutted L-29 Dolphin training jet. It is unclear why it ended up here as there's no military airfield nearby.

The corrosion of aluminum.

Further towards the estate, abandoned outbuildings begin: the dairymaids' house.

A milk farm.

Cowsheds.

House for cattlemen (?).

A wooden house with a collapsed turret is the oldest surviving building of the estate, a count's house from the mid-19th century.

Empty, but still intact, the estate manager's house in the depths of the park.

"House for Children"

The only thing that is being restored in the estate is the Tikhvin Church. Built in the likeness of a temple on another Sheremetyev estate - Ostankino in Moscow. They have very similar two big porches and five domes (the latter was restored). The bell tower was partly dismantled in the 1930s.

The main house of the estate. Until recently it was difficult to see because of the thickets. But after State Duma Speaker Volodin came here in May 2022, the trees and bushes were cleared. Maybe they will find money for restoration.

Remains of the main staircase to the Vazuza River.

Gothic window.

You can wander inside, but there is a risk of catching a brick on your head, so it’s better not to.

Remains of tiles on the floor.

Not all of the cast iron balcony brackets were torn out.

The annex directly in front of the main house was occupied by laundry. Sheremetyevs definitely liked their clothes to be clean.

Underneath the estate the are ruins of a laundress’s house (according to other sources, it was a steam mill).

The school building, which now houses a branch of the Gagarin town Technical School. 1952 on the facade is the year when the third floor was built.

In front of the main entrance are lions from Sheremetyevs coat of arms.

Not a very nice looking toilet in front of the school building. Instead of "for women" it says "general", instead of "for men" it says "for emergency use". I sincerely hope that there is still a normal bathroom in the main building of the technical school. But anything is possible.