In the spring of 2022, Russian guys came to Armenia, and in the process of adapting to the new country, they began to create and founded dozens of unusual projects. And this in turn gathered large communities around them. One of such projects that our team became acquainted with is —, a non-standard excursion bureau. UrbanArmenia. We asked the founder of the project, Alexey Chekanov, to tell in a series of articles about unusual locations they have already visited.
We start with a story about the village of Fioletovo and its Molokans. Enjoy watching!
background
Somehow the command UrbanArmenia (amazing excursions and self-promotion) scoured the Internet for interesting places for new trips, and our gaze fell on one abandoned eight-kilometer railway tunnel. It passes through the Pambak ridge and is the first in length in the Caucasus and the third in the CIS. Only the Kamchinsky tunnel in Uzbekistan (19 km) and the North-Muysky tunnel (15 km and 26 years of hard work) on the BAM section in Buryatia are longer.
Pambak (or Meghradzor) tunnel was part of the Dilijan railway-Razdan, which, according to the plan, connected Armenia with Russia through Azerbaijan. So it is not surprising that after its opening in 1985, it did not work for very long (read about conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh). The earthquake in 1988 also added its two cents. Well, in the end we have what we have.
True, what is notable is not so much the tunnel itself as the name of the village where one of its portals is located, — Fioletovo. Not an obvious name for an Armenian village, is it? The most interesting thing began when we went on reconnaissance.
Judging by the trees growing between the sleepers, the road has been abandoned for quite some time.
Violetovo
First discovery — the population of Fioletovo consists entirely of Russians. “But how did they manage to build an entire village since the beginning of March?” — you ask. The fact is that the inhabitants of this village left Russia 200 years ago. Alexander I “kicked them out”, considering them “a particularly harmful sect.” The inhabitants of Fioletovo are called Molokans, and this word comes from the fact that they drank milk during Lent. But this is not the only “sin” of the Molokans: they do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, do not eat pork, and television is prohibited for them. More they do not recognize visible icons and crosses, a the sacraments are understood exclusively in a spiritual sense (more about the history and foundations of the faith of the Molokans).
About residents
Fioletovo is not a society of those rejected from different places, these are the descendants of the inhabitants of one village in the Tambov province. Nearby there is the village of Lermontovo, also inhabited by Molokans, they are from Saratov. And so for 200 years they have been living fifteen minutes away from Dilijan and are legally Armenians.
Molokans are very sociable, not closed, kind. They speak with an old Russian accent in the spirit of "here, wait, her." But some can switch to pure Russian - this is the result of their relatives being scattered all over the world.
Older men wear beards in the spirit of Leo Tolstoy. Women, with their images, physique, facial expressions, and speech, are very reminiscent of their own grandmother. And in general, being in Fioletovo, it’s as if you are transported back to childhood and find yourself on summer holidays in the village with your grandparents.
Molokans have a lot of children and grandchildren. At each yard, small ones are worn, they ride bicycles and play. We also played dodgeball with them. The advantage in physical form took its toll, and we beat them.
It is surprising that despite the ban on television, the Internet and smartphones, the Molokans have normal relations.
About architecture and life
There are no antennas on the houses, which only decorates the already authentic look of the village.
Now let's talk about the area itself. It's very beautiful there. So beautiful that you involuntarily think: "Here it is, here I am ready to live and die."
The village is located in a valley among the mountains, near a river and a forest. The vegetable gardens here are impressive in size, and this brings us to the next. In the construction of houses and their decoration among the Molokans, everything is neat and thorough. And this “design code” fundamentally distinguishes them from Armenian villages. The Molokans have everything according to the canons: there are architraves, tiled roofs, the fence is not assembled from car doors and bed headboards, the walls are evenly painted in one tone without patches. No tuff buildings are visible, unlike much of the cottage-type development in Armenia.
Life and economy
Molokans work very hard. They have large farms, cows, chickens and vegetable gardens. The village is located at an altitude of 1,800 m above sea level, and the climate here is significantly cooler than, for example, in Yerevan. So instead of apricots, cabbage grows here. The Molokans are very proud of this cabbage and sell it at the GUM market in Yerevan. We met a man who was coming out of the forest, having collected honey mushrooms. In the summer I promised blueberries and wild strawberries, this is somehow too much.
In the valley next to the river there is a spring with sparkling mineral water (not pictured in the photo), and you can see that same abandoned railway.
Is it possible to buy or rent a house in Fioletovo?
But here we come to the main thing. Remember when I was going to “live and die” here? So it turned out to be not so easy to do this. The state does not allow Molokans to sell plots and houses. Even if they don't live there. This is done to preserve the traditions of the residents and the authenticity of the place; so that the new residents do not radically change their mentality. Renting housing here is not easy, even for daily rent. But you can stay, for example, with Grandma Natalya. She will also feed you pies and drink tea from the samovar.
Natalia drew our attention to the fact that if we arrive on Sunday, she will not cook anything. Sunday is supposed to rest.
This concludes our review. If you go to Fioletovo, know — they don’t like it when they smoke on the street, swear and behave inappropriately. Otherwise, these are very interesting and open people who will happily chat with you on any topic. There is some clarity in their faces, and to the question “how do you live here?” everyone answers exclusively “good” and “excellent”. It was surprising to find them here in Armenia, but the Armenians themselves have long been accustomed to them and treat them with respect: “they have money, they have tractors, they have cattle...”.
Special correspondent Grisha from Fioletovo especially for UrbanArmenia.
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