The first beauties of Muscovy - the original appearance of the Grand Duchesses and Queens has been reconstructed. Sergei Nikitin, specialist in anthropological reconstruction: "To get a living face, you need to pump out half of your blood" Sergei Nikitin Chief Specialist of the Russian Federation
Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin(born May 3, 1950, Moscow) - Soviet and Russian expert, known for his method. He created images, as well as Moscow tsarinas and grand duchesses (whose graves were previously located in the Ascension Monastery in the Kremlin, and after it was demolished by the Bolsheviks, since 1929 in the Archangel Cathedral); participated in clarifying the circumstances of death.
Biography
Graduated. Expert of the highest qualification category, Chief Specialist of the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medicine. He developed methods of comparative study of photographic images of the face and skull, as well as graphic construction of a portrait from the skull using computer programs. For 37 years he has been working on improving the methods of reconstructing both the portrait and the skull itself; continues to search for the dependence of the face and its details on the structure of the skull.
He has been working in the Bureau of Forensic Medicine since 1973 after graduating from the institute, where he was trained in forensic medicine at the Department of Forensic Medicine (in the scientific student circle, then in subordination, in 1975 he completed his clinical residency).
Reconstruction of S. A. Nikitin on the skull of pilot V. Ya. Kosorukov, who died heroically near Moscow in November 1941
In 1972-1975. in the laboratory he began to engage in anthropological reconstruction (restoration of the head from the skull). In 1973-1982. worked in the thanatological departments and in the medico-forensic department of the Bureau, since 1982 he has been working in the medico-forensic department, in 1976-1981. was a consultant to the facial reconstruction department on the skull of the Central Scientific Research Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. During this period, he developed a methodology that formed the basis for a combined graphic reconstruction method, which is successfully used to this day.
On the instructions of the Bureau of the SME and the Research Institute of SM of the USSR Ministry of Health, he went on business trips for an expert assessment of the exhumed corpses. He took part in scientific and practical developments with the All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. In 1984-2006. carried out research for the Department of Archeology of Moscow State University, Zhukovsky State Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, the scientific department of the history of caves at the Kiev-Pechersk GIKZ, the Institute of World Literature, the Archaeological Department of the Moscow Kremlin, the Dmitry Shparo Club, the Moscow Patriarchate, the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Association "War Memorials", the State Archives of the Russian Federation, trained 5 specialists in the field of anthropological reconstruction.
In 1994, he performed a portrait examination on the discovery of the remains of the royal family, participated in the work of a government commission. In January 1995, on behalf of the Minister of Health and Medical Industry of the Russian Federation, he was sent to Mozdok to organize research on the remains of unknown persons who died at the beginning of the armed conflict in the Chechen Republic. Conducted expertise on the facts of terrorist acts in Moscow and Beslan.
Made a presentation at the 52nd Congress of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (USA, Reno, February 2000). At the international competition for specialists in the field of anthropological reconstruction in the USA (March 2000), he performed a control restoration of a portrait from the skull with the best result.
Portraits reconstructed by Nikitin
He made 580 sculptural and graphic portraits for search purposes and 28 sculptural portraits of historical figures. The portraits reconstructed by Nikitin are exhibited in museums in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Kiev, Tiksi, Tarusa, Aleksin, Murom, Norilsk, Suzdal.
Photo of an anthropological reconstruction (sculptural bust) of a head on the skull of a man from the Eneolithic era from the settlement of Gladunino 3 / Kurgan region.
Reconstruction of the face from the skull of a man from mound 4 of the Taldy II burial ground. The burial ground is located near the village of Kasym Amanzholov, 300 km. from the city of Karaganda of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The burial corresponds to the Tasmolinian culture of the early Iron Age. The author of the excavations A.Z. Beisenov.
Sungir 1 - plastic reconstruction on the skull of a man of 40-50 years old, whose remains were found at the Upper Paleolithic site of an ancient man in the Vladimir region. The parking lot is located on the eastern outskirts of Vladimir at the confluence of the stream of the same name with the Klyazma River, a kilometer from Bogolyubovo. Discovered in 1955 during the construction of a plant and investigated by O. N. Bader.
The Atlasovskoe 2 burial was discovered in 2014 in the area of the Botanical Garden of the North-Eastern Federal University, also by accident. In the grave pit there were iron stirrups and a bit, a knife in a birch bark sheath, iron scissors, metal parts of a headdress, an earring, and leather parts of a bib with sewn metal plaques. The remains belonged to a woman who died at the age of 30-40. The burial dates back to the XIV-XVII centuries. (carbon dating), refers to the Kulun-Atakh late medieval culture, which was widespread in Central Yakutia and Vilyui in the XIV-XVI centuries.
Brusnitsyn Lev Ivanovich (1784/86 - 1857) - the son of an artisan, from 1795 he began working at the Yekaterinburg gold mines, as a washer at a gold crushing factory. For his zeal in 1813 he was approved by the Chochsteiner. For many years he searched for loose gold, in 1814 he discovered the existence of gold-bearing layers in the valleys of the Ural rivers (in contrast to the ineffective tray-based diligent washing on the banks). He invented mechanisms and worked out the technology of industrial extraction of loose gold. He was sent to all regions of Russia, where he taught and implemented his method of prospecting and mining, which led to a revolution in the gold mining industry and allowed Russia to come out on top in the world in gold mining by 1830. In 1814 he received the rank of Oberchsteiger, and in 1835 - the rank of Ober-Steiger. In 1845 he retired and was awarded a silver medal.
Portrait of a 50-60-year-old man from burial 27 of a historical and cultural object near the village of Zeleny Yar (Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Region), including burials of two periods of the early Middle Ages (VIII-IX centuries and XII-XIII centuries). The restoration of the appearance of the mummified man was carried out using computed tomography and 3D printing.
The Sergelyakhskoye burial was found in the area of the Sergelyakhskoye highway, Yakutsk, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). According to AMS dating, the age of the burial is from the middle of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th centuries, i.e. it refers to the Kulun-Atakh late medieval culture, which was widespread in Central Yakutia and Vilyui in the XIV-XVI centuries.
The remains in the burial belong to a man who died at the age of 35-45 years. Injuries to the skull indicate the death of a person from wounds inflicted by bladed weapons.
A sculptural reconstruction based on an artificially deformed skull of a woman from the Mandesarka-6 burial mound (Chelyabinsk region). Late Sarmatian culture II - III centuries AD The author of the excavations is Maria Makurova. Author Alexey Nechvaloda. Reconstruction tinting Elena Nechvaloda. Material: plastic, acrylic paints. Exhibiting: Museum-reserve "Arkaim".
A sculptural reconstruction from a manual model of skull no. 34640 (presumably identified as belonging to the last Inca emperor Ataulpa (?)) At the Museum of Man in Paris. Photo of the skull provided by the Museum of Man.
A sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a woman from the Urzhar district of the East Kazakhstan region, where in one of the burial mounds was found an unbroken burial of a woman of the Saki period. Ceramic and wooden vessels and bones of a sacrificial animal - a sheep - were found at the buried. On the bones of the human skeleton, the remains of fabric from blue and green clothes have been preserved. At the head of the buried woman, gold earrings and a stone altar were found - an indispensable attribute of female burials of that time. The most valuable is a pointed gold headdress, richly decorated with floral patterns and zoomorphic ornaments. The headpiece also has arrow-shaped tops decorated with a gold wire spiral. The lower part of the item was decorated with fluted pendants by ancient zergers. In form and ornamental embodiment, the find resembles folk Kazakh women's headdresses saukele and borik. Photo: O. Belyalov
Sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a man from the Tashla-I burial mound. Timber-Alakul syncretic burial ground. Excavations by Yanina Rafikova. Author Alexey Nechvaloda. Material: tinted plaster. Exhibiting: National Museum of the Republic of Bashkotostan.
A sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a man with an artificially deformed skull from the Tanabergen II burial ground. Late Sarmatian culture of the 3rd century n. NS. (Western Kazakhstan). Arman Bisembaev's excavations. Author Alexey Nechvaloda. Material: tinted plaster. Exhibiting: Aktobe Museum of History and Local Lore.
A sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a man from mound 16 of the Berel kurgan necropolis (Kazakh Altai). Pazyryk culture of the 5th-4th centuries BC NS. Excavations by Zainulla Samashev.
Author Alexey Nechvaloda. Material: plastic, acrylic paints.
Exposure: National Museum Republic of Kazakhstan.
A sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a man from mound 16 of the Berel kurgan necropolis (Kazakh Altai). Pazyryk culture of the 5th-4th centuries BC NS. Excavations by Zainulla Samashev. Author Alexey Nechvaloda. Material: plastic, acrylic paints. Exposition: National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
A sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a woman from mound 16 of the Berel kurgan necropolis (Kazakh Altai). Pazyryk culture of the 5th-4th centuries BC NS. Excavations by Zainulla Samashev. Author Alexey Nechvaloda. Material: plastic, acrylic paints. Exhibiting: National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan
On March 13, the State Darwin Museum hosted a public lecture by a forensic expert, chief specialist of the Bureau of Forensic Medicine of the Moscow Department of Health Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin“Forensic medicine and the history of Russia. Reconstruction of the head from the skull: further development of the method ”. The lecture was held as part of the "Look into my face" exhibition program dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the anthropologist Galina Vyacheslavovna Lebedinskaya.
The first attempts to recreate the appearance of a person from his skull began in the second half of the 19th century in Germany. They were prompted by the interest in the finds of the remains of people of the Stone Age and earlier human ancestors, of which a lot had already accumulated by that time. As a result, there was a desire to see what our ancestors looked like. One of the first experiments in reconstruction belongs to the German anthropologist Hermann Schaaffhausen (1816-1893), who studied the first remains of a Neanderthal man known to science. The following attempts were carried out by the anatomist and zoologist Julius Kollmann (1834-1918) and a number of other researchers. Since the scientific method had not yet been developed, the reconstructions turned out to be largely intuitive. When trying to check the accuracy of the reconstruction, it turned out that two authors created dissimilar portraits from the same skull. All this somewhat disappointed scientists in the prospects for such a reconstruction, so the work was interrupted for some time.
The development of a scientific method to achieve results that would withstand the test of accuracy belongs to Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov (1907-1970). He managed to establish dependencies connecting the structure of the bones of the skull with the soft tissues located on top. To do this, Mikhail Gerasimov conducted large-scale studies in morgues, determining such dependencies, and then made control experiments, restoring the appearance from the skulls and comparing the result with photographs. Academician Boris Raushenbakh, who is closely acquainted with Mikhail Gerasimov, described in his memoirs how, to test Gerasimov's method, he was given for reconstruction, for example, a Papuan skull brought to Russia by Miklouho-Maclay. Whose skull, of course, was not reported, but the resulting sculptural portrait had characteristic Papuan features.
Mikhail Gerasimov has reconstructed the appearance of a number of hominids: Australopithecus, Heidelberg man, Neandelthal. He established what people looked like from the Palaeolithic sites of Sungir. He also created portraits of many historical figures: Ivan the Terrible, Yaroslav the Wise, Tamerlane, Ulugbek, Andrey Bogolyubsky.
The plastic reconstruction laboratory, created by Mikhail Gerasimov, is still operating today. It was done by her staff. Also, Gerasimov's students continued to improve the methodology. For example, Galina Vyacheslavovna Lebedinskaya, in her Ph.D. thesis, created a method for reconstructing the profile of the nose, which is very difficult to restore a part of the head. She analyzed thousands of X-rays to identify patterns that link the structure of the facial bones and cartilage of the nose. The images were taken in soft rays, allowing to capture not only bones, but also the appearance of soft tissues.
In general, the method of reconstruction of the head from the skull developed mainly in the field of archeology, where it made it possible to see the faces of people of past eras, and paleontology, in which it was used to recreate the appearance of hominids. Although in a number of cases the investigating authorities turned to Mikhail Gerasimov for help, the full recognition of this method in forensic science came a little later. In 1983, the reconstruction of the head from the skull was included in the official list of examinations performed by domestic forensic experts. Investigators were given the opportunity to order such an examination.
Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin, who has mastered the method of reconstruction from the skull under the guidance of Galina Vyacheslavovna Lebedinskaya, has been in the field of forensic medicine for many years. I must say that in forensic science, the technique of recreating a face is constantly being tested for accuracy. After all, a portrait created by an expert is presented for identification, among several other portraits of people of the same sex and similar age. And such reconstruction checks are successfully passing.
But, working in the bureau of forensic medical examination, Sergey Nikitin more than once helped not only criminologists, but also historians. He managed to talk about only a few interesting cases of such work in his lecture.
In the second half of the 1980s, he worked at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where he performed the reconstruction of the appearance of several saints of the 11th-12th centuries who rest in the Near Caves of the Lavra. Among them were Saint Agapit, considered the first doctor in Kievan Rus, the first abbot of the Lavra Barlaam (it was discovered that he had a lifetime injury - a scar on his skull from a blow with a sword or an ax). Restoring the appearance of the chronicler Nestor, Sergei Nikitin, based on the asymmetry in the development of bones, determined that Nestor was right-handed, and, in addition to the sculptural portrait, also performed a reconstruction of the right hand. He also created a portrait of Ilya Pechersky, known as Ilya Muromets. Judging by the traces of wounds, for example, fractures of the collarbones, this man actually took part in the battles.
Pilot V. Ya. Kosorukov. Reconstruction by S. A. Nikitin
An interesting case was in 1986, when Sergei Nikitin made a portrait on the skull of a pilot who died in 1941 near Moscow. The downed plane fell into a swamp in the vicinity of the village of Ilyatino. The search detachment found the remains of the pilot only in 1985. The portrait, made by Nikitin, was shown on television, and this man was identified. It turned out to be junior lieutenant Vasily Yakovlevich Kosorukov. Now the deceased pilot is buried in Moscow at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
This was not the only time Sergei Nikitin worked on the remains of the Second World War. For example, he contributed to a Japanese organization engaged in the search for the graves of Japanese prisoners of war in order to reburial them at home. Since the camps for prisoners of war in the Soviet Union were mixed, there were Germans, Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians in them, it is impossible to determine where the Japanese are among the burials of the deceased without resorting to anthropological reconstruction.
Sergey Nikitin also had a chance to work with the remains of the skull of Adolf Hitler, which are stored in the State Archives Russian Federation... In this case, the goal was not to recreate the portrait, but to identify the archived bones with a photograph taken in 1946 when Hitler's remains were discovered. The identity was confirmed. During this investigation, a bullet exit hole was found on Hitler's parietal bone.
In the early 1990s, there was perhaps the most famous reconstruction by Sergei Nikitin. He worked with the remains of the family of Nicholas II discovered near Yekaterinburg. Sergei Nikitin painted portraits of Nikolai, Alexandra Feodorovna, their daughters Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, as well as the physician E. Botkin, the maid A. Demidova and the valet A. Trup, who were shot together with the royal family. On the skull of Nicholas, traces of an old wound were found, which he received in 1891, when, while still being the heir to the throne, he visited Japan. The attacker, a Japanese policeman standing in a cordon, managed to inflict two blows on Nikolai's head with a saber. Sergei Nikitin was able to establish the exact location of the wounds for comparison with the marks on the skull thanks to the descriptions made by doctors in 1891, as well as thanks to the hat stored in the Hermitage, which was on Nicholas at the time of the assassination attempt.
Sophia Paleologue. Sculptural reconstruction by S. A. Nikitin
Sergei Nikitin also had a chance to work with the remains of the Grand Duchesses, who rest in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Traditionally, another Kremlin monastery, Voznesensky, served as the burial vault of the wives and daughters of Moscow princes. But this monastery was blown up in 1929. The restorer Nikolai Pomerantsev managed then to organize the transfer of the tombs to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral. In the 1990s, during the restoration, the tombs were examined, and Sergei Nikitin was able to make portraits of a number of women who left their mark on Russian history. These are Sophia Paleologue, Elena Glinskaya, the wife of Dmitry Donskoy Evdokia, Irina Godunova - the sister of Boris Godunov and the wife of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the third wife of Ivan the Terrible Martha Sobakin, the first mother-in-law of Ivan the Terrible Ulyana Fyodorovna (in monasticism Anastasia), the niece of Ivan the Terrible, Maria Dmitry Shemyaka Anastasia Zvenigorodskaya.
It happened that Sergei Nikitin did not work within the walls of the laboratory, but in the conditions of the Far North. This happened, for example, when the grave of travelers Vasily and Tatiana Pronchishchev was studied in the village of Ust-Olenek. Lieutenant Vasily Pronchishchev on the ship "Yakutsk" in 1735-1736 explored the coast of the Laptev Sea. He died on August 29, and 14 days later Tatyana, who was traveling with her husband, also died. The remaining members of the crew, led by Semyon Chelyuskin, buried the spouses on the bank near the mouth of the Olenek River.
Another case of work in the Arctic also took place in the Laptev Sea, on Kotelny Island. There is the grave of Hermann Walter, who died in 1902, a doctor from the expedition of Eduard Tol, who was looking for the legendary Sannikov Land. Due to the effects of permafrost, the grave collapsed, so it was necessary to reburial Hermann Walter. But in the process of reburial, the skull of the deceased was identified with a lifetime photograph of Walter. This is the first such identification in the field.
Another experience of identification is associated with the search for the grave of General of the White Army Vladimir Kappel. He died near Nizhneudinsk, but due to fears that Kappel's grave would be destroyed by the advancing Reds, he was buried only in Chinese Harbin, near the Iberian Church. In the 1950s, the tombstone was destroyed and the grave was lost. It was possible to find her, thanks to photographs taken in 1946, and finally they were able to confirm the identity of the deceased with the help of a forensic medical examination. Now Vladimir Kappel is buried in Moscow, in the Donskoy Monastery.
Sergey Nikitin also spoke about a number of methods developed by him to improve the reconstruction of the appearance from the skull. This, for example, is the determination of the degree of protrusion of the eyeball, the position of the angles of the eyes, the adaptation of a computer program for a comparative study of the skull and intravital photography. As a result of this program, a study that previously took about 10 hours is completed in 10 minutes.
In the Kremlin, in the underground of the Archangel Cathedral, there is the world's only female necropolis. More than 50 sarcophagi with the remains of noble women of medieval Russia.
The names of some have long been forgotten. The names of others are still remembered today.
Among them: the founder of the Necropolis, the wife of Dmitry Donskoy Evdokia. Mother of Ivan the Terrible Elena Glinskaya and his wives: Anastasia Romanovna, Maria Temryukovna, Martha Sobakina, Maria Nagaya; the mother of Peter the Great Natalia Naryshkia ... Some of them influenced the course of history, constantly being in the center of political intrigue. Others saw their duty in sacrificial service to their husbands. And almost each of the crowned beauties has its own secret. For example, a study of the remains of Anastasia, the first wife of Grozny, proved that she was poisoned.
Exploring medieval graves reveals what the first ladies wore ancient Russia what cosmetics they used, what they were ill and from what they died, what their figures were, height, weight, hair color. History literally takes on flesh.
Anthropologists-criminologists use the surviving skulls to reconstruct the true appearance of the Grand Duchesses and Queens.
Evdokia Dmitrievna (1353-1407).
Evdokiya Dmitrievna is the daughter of the Grand Duke of Suzdal Dmitry Konstantinovich. At the age of 13, she was married to the 15-year-old Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich, who later received the nickname Donskoy. Known for her philanthropy
Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya (1508-1538).
The wife of the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich and the mother of Ivan the Terrible, Elena Glinskaya, was poisoned with mercury. In the course of the study, this was proved using spectral and chemical analysis of bone remains and hair.
By the way, the hair is perfectly preserved. That made it possible to determine with an accuracy of 100 percent that Elena Glinskaya had a luxurious fiery red hair.
Sofia Fominichna Paleologue (1455-1503).
nothing is accidental in nature. We are talking about the striking resemblance of Sophia Palaeologus and her grandson, Tsar Ivan IV, whose original appearance is well known to us from the work of the famous Soviet anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov. The scientist, working on the portrait of Ivan Vasilyevich, noted the features of the Mediterranean type in his appearance, linking this precisely with the influence of the blood of his grandmother, Sophia Paleologue.
Recently, researchers had an interesting idea - to compare not only portraits recreated by human hands, but also what nature itself created - the skulls of these two people. And then the study of the skull of the Grand Duchess and an exact copy of the skull of Ivan IV was carried out using the method of shadow photomposition, developed by the author of the sculptural reconstruction of the portrait of Sophia Paleologue. And the results exceeded all expectations, so many coincidences were found.
Martha Vasilievna Sobakina is the third, who never happened, the wife of Grozny.
According to legend, the opening of her tomb revealed a striking biological phenomenon. The tsar's bride lay in the coffin as if alive, untouched by decay, despite the fact that she had been in the coffin for 360 years. A few minutes were enough for her face to turn black and turn to dust.
If it was poisoned with mercury salts, then such safety and rapid destruction of the remains is a completely possible thing.
Tsarina Irina Fedorovna Godunova (1557-1603).
Irina Godunova, wife of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and sister of Boris Godunov, suffered from a serious disease of the bone apparatus, possibly even hereditary.
The real miracle of the underground chamber is Masha Staritskaya.
The girl, who is almost 500 years old, is the eleven-year-old niece of Ivan the Terrible, who was killed by Malyuta Skuratov in 1569. Her face was recreated literally from the dust in 2005.
Anthropologists were shocked by the state of the girl's skeleton - traces of rickets are too clear in it. This is the first reconstructed portrait of a child from the period of the Russian Middle Ages in our country.
Some of the remains have bones in such a state that no reconstruction is possible. But scientists hope to be able to create 4 more portraits. In the near future, Sergei Nikitin will try to "revive" the mother of Peter I, Natalya Kirillovna.
Natalia DAVYDOVA
Since 1993 large group researchers purposefully and in detail studies the female necropolis of the Moscow Kremlin. As a result, a museum of "Kremlin wives" will appear in the annex of the Archangel Cathedral (about what scientists have discovered and what they will show us in the new museum, "News" wrote on August 11). The most unusual part of the project was the anthropological reconstruction (restoration from the skull) of sculptural portraits of famous women from the Kremlin past. This is done by Sergei Nikitin, chief specialist of the Moscow forensic medical examination bureau.
Forensic expert Sergei Nikitin spoke about why he took on the reconstruction of the faces of historical characters in an interview with the observer. Izvestia Natalia Davydova.
question: How did you decide to start exploring the necropolis? Themselves once said that it is not humanly to open graves, disturb the dead.
answer: It was not just that we wanted to open the tombs, look inside and dig in the bones. God forbid. It was simply planned to reconstruct the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral and restore the sarcophagi of the royal wives that have been there since 1929. It is impossible to restore the stone sarcophagus with the remains buried in it. It was necessary to get them, make an inventory. So there was an opportunity to study the remains and recreate the appearance of famous women. There are no portraits of these historical characters left, in fact, nothing, except for mention in the annals. And here - a unique opportunity to see faces. Isn't that interesting? But the research will end, we will return everything to the sarcophagi, and no one else will touch them. By the way, the Egyptians also opened ancient burials and even put their pharaohs on public display. True, it is difficult to imagine the appearance from the shrunken mummy, there is practically no face there, only a skull covered with leather. There are still quite conventional images of the pharaohs - by the way, it would be interesting to compare how much they correspond to the skull. Today it is quite possible: you can make a tomography, using it - a plastic copy of the skull (both a mummy and a living person) and reconstruct a portrait from the skull.
v: Those working in the Kremlin tell in a whisper that in the burial place of Anastasia Romanovna, the first wife of Ivan IV the Terrible and the first Russian tsarina, when it was opened, there were "two heads." Sounds ominous.
O: But it could be so. Apparently, the second skull ended up there in 1929, when the Bolsheviks decided to demolish Voznesensky nunnery... The workers of the Kremlin Museums managed to save his royal women's necropolis: they described and transferred to the Archangel Cathedral heavy stone tombs with the remains of famous women. Some sarcophagi, for example, the Grand Duchess Evdokia, the wife of Dmitry Donskoy, when they were dug up, fell apart. As it turned out in the course of our research, the second skull belonged to Evdokia. Apparently, in 1929 he was placed in the nearest whole sarcophagus, which turned out to be just the sarcophagus of Queen Anastasia. There was a great commotion, an emergency, everything was done by hand. In general, a monument to the staff of the Kremlin Museums should be erected for this scientific, cultural and human feat.
v: Why did you manage to make a sculptural portrait of Evdokia, the founder of the Ascension Monastery and the first buried in its necropolis in 1407, but not Anastasia Romanovna, who died in 1560?
O: From the skull of Queen Anastasia, only a heap of ashes and a pigtail remained. From the remains of it, we were able to determine only its age - 25-30 years, and it turned out to be unsuitable for restoring its external appearance. But it happens that losses, if they are not so significant, do not interfere with reconstruction. You see, the amazing plasticity and organic nature of the skull allows you to restore many of its missing parts. So, in particular, it was possible to restore the skulls of Emperor Nicholas II, his daughters, the valet of the Emperor Aloysius Troupe, the remains of which were discovered near Yekaterinburg. Now I am finishing a monograph summarizing my more than 30-year observations. It will be applied. I myself am a practitioner and I understand that this work will be in demand by forensic experts and anthropologists.
v: Failed to restore the portrait of the second wife of Grozny - Kabardin Maria Temryukovna?
O: Yes, and that's a shame too. But the facial part of the skull of his third wife, Martha Sobakina, is perfectly preserved.
v: Probably, when they created her portrait, they kept in mind all the time that she was, in fact, the winner of one of the first beauty contests in Russia, held by tsarist decree.
O: She really was of amazing beauty. But before the wedding, she began to get sick, and two weeks after the wedding she died, in fact, without becoming a wife - such was the fate of the young beauty, and this is recorded in church documents. Since we have a forensic service, we decided to establish the cause of her death. In this sense, the Kremlin history is especially interesting. Before Martha, they poisoned the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romanovna, with mercury salts, in the course of research this was proved absolutely for sure. The remains of Martha Sobakina were also checked for the presence of metal poisons. However, the analysis showed nothing. Perhaps a plant poison was used that did not lend itself to chemical research, or maybe her husband did something to her.
v: How long have you worked on the portrait of Martha?
O: From May 2002 to December 2003, about one and a half years. In such cases, haste is inappropriate. And then - this is not my main job. In fact, I do historical reconstruction in my free time - after 6-8 pm and until 2 am. Thinking over every detail of the face being recreated.
v: What does it mean to work on a face?
O: To make the portrait alive. Here it is necessary to separate the forensic, scientific and anthropological parts of reconstruction and another stage - work on the image. This takes longer than the actual recovery itself.
v: You even have such a term - "animation" of a portrait. And how does "animation" happen?
O: It is necessary to pump out half of the blood from yourself and introduce it into the restored portrait. I have to feel the skull - its eye sockets, its contours. Understand, for example, how to open your eyes. I can sit opposite for two weeks and look at this appearance, while not yet animated. And therefore suddenly understand what and how should be done in order for a person to "come to life". It's easier for sculptors, they sculpt from life. And my "nature" is a skull with empty eye sockets.
v: And which portrait is more difficult to reconstruct - female or male?
O: I think it's female. Even our teacher Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov turned out male portraits much better than female ones. Feminine beauty is more difficult to reproduce than masculine coarseness.
v: Judging by the reconstructed appearance of Sophia Palaeologus, the overseas wife of Grand Duke Ivan III, who had experienced a lot of tragic events in her youth, was a very strong and strong-willed woman. Am I not mistaken that her mustache is visible in your sculptural portrait?
O: Right. And this is not a fiction. When I began to examine the skull of Sophia Palaeologus, then on inside of the frontal bone discovered growths - the so-called internal frontal hyperostosis. In other words, this is an indicator of hormonal disorders, which, by the way, are manifested not only in the "masculinity" of the face. With age, Sophia Palaeologus should have grown noticeably stout. But I didn’t portray it like that, I modeled it closer to the skull. It's amazing how this small woman (her height is about 160 cm) with great hormonal problems gave birth to 12 children.v: Is it true that in the near future you are going to "revive" Natalya Kirillovna, mother of Peter I?
O: Yes. Many, including me, will be interested to see how she looked, to understand what Peter inherited from his mother. Her skull is perfectly preserved. Realistically reconstruct and portrait last wife Ivan the Terrible - to Maria Nagoya, and a portrait of his first mother-in-law (mother Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yurieva). I call her the first mother-in-law in Russia. She was a hair-cut of the Ascension Monastery, she went there after the death of her daughter. This is an elderly woman, over 70 years old, I have never done such portraits in this project.
v: Experts say that the Russian Museum seems to have preserved Parsuns (as early secular portraits were called in Russia) with images of Natalya Kirillovna. Are you going to look at them?
O: I'll finish the reconstruction, and if they really survived, we will compare.
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Sergey Nikitin is an expert in the forensic medicine department of the Moscow City Forensic Medical Examination Bureau. Chief specialist in anthropological reconstruction - restoration of a person's appearance from bone remains. Graduated from the Moscow Medical Institute. Pirogov, he began to engage in anthropological reconstruction since 1972 in the laboratory of Mikhail Gerasimov. He restored the portraits of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery - the chronicler Nestor, the hero Ilya Muromets, the healer Agapit - and the first abbot of this monastery, Varlaam. In the 1990s, he took part in the "tsarist" examination - the identification of the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, members of his family and those close to him. With his help, it was possible to identify the remains of Nicholas II, his daughter Anastasia. As part of the "Kremlin" project, he restored portraits of Sophia Paleologue, Elena Glinskaya, Evdokia Donskoy, Irina Godunova, Marfa Sobakina and Masha Staritskaya, daughter of Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky, niece of Ivan the Terrible, who died with her parents in 1569 (the whole family was poisoned by order of Ivan Grozny). In 2000, at the international competition for specialists in the field of anthropological reconstruction in the United States, he performed a control restoration of a portrait from the skull with the best result.
What were the first beauties of Russia
By studying folklore and ancient literature, one can draw conclusions about the masculine tastes of earlier times in relation to women. The standard of female beauty in Russia was changing. In the early Middle Ages, the main beauties were considered fat, strong girls with a magnificent bust, wide hips - a clear relic of primitive aesthetics. But already in pre-Petrine Russia, the image of a domestic beauty changed.
The preferable was no longer full, but stately, certainly tall, figure, a white face with a bright blush and high "sable" eyebrows. Even the styles and details of women's clothing were subordinated to the visual creation of a majestic and static image. By the way, inactivity is an important advantage of the Russian woman of the previous era. The nimble giggles were not welcomed by the society.
Kremlin men were restored by Mikhail Gerasimov
Sergei Nikitin is not the first person to restore portraits of the Kremlin celestials. 43 years ago, Mikhail Gerasimov (1907-1970), a famous archaeologist, anthropologist, sculptor, founder of the Russian school of anthropological reconstruction, who created sculptural reconstructions of primitive people and a number of historical figures, including Yaroslav the Wise and Timur (Tamerlane), worked in the Kremlin.
In 1963, Gerasimov studied the burials in the Archangel Cathedral. At that time, the cathedral was undergoing another restoration, work went below floor level and it was decided to autopsy and study a number of remains. Gerasimov then made three portraits, including Ivan the Terrible, the first to establish for certain what he looked like (the portraits are kept today in the Museum of the History of Moscow). True, the level of science was different then, and there are few materials about those works - no comparison with the current project of studying the women's necropolis, when all the latest methods are used.
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