Tsar's apiary in Izmailovo lidik2012 wrote in May 1st, 2017
Most of the excursion took place on the territory of the Izmailovo natural-historical park. From the Izmailovskaya metro station, while we were walking through the forest, our guide, an employee of the Tsarskaya Apiary Ecological and Educational Center of the State Budgetary Institution Mospriroda, told us many useful facts, and in a fascinating and in an entertaining way for both children and adults. 
Anya spoke at the very beginning of the meeting about the differences between natural parks, reserves and wildlife sanctuaries. Many people confuse the Izmailovsky Park with attractions and the Izmailovsky Forest, which is a nature protected area, but these are completely different territories.
We were introduced to the inhabitants of the park (animals, birds), paid attention to the details of the color of female and male birds (finches, thrushes, greenfinches, nuthatches, grosbeaks), types of sparrows - field and house sparrows, trees (including types of birches and history their names).
Anna thought out and organized the program perfectly; in addition to stories, tasks with prizes for those who guessed correctly, there was also a game showing the interaction of all elements of the park’s ecosystem (trees and their fruits, birds, animals, grass, humans, insects). 
Along the way, our guide constantly voiced the rules for being in the park, each time paying attention to moving only on the pedestrian side of the road without going onto the bike path, avoid going into dense thickets, because... there are nests of birds and reptiles.
After 1.5 hours, we finally came to the apiary; it was a straight 1.3 km walk from the metro, but we did not take a direct route and had stops. 
Here, already sitting down on a bench, we listened to the history of beekeeping in Rus' and the emergence of the royal apiary in Izmailovo. 
If desired, at the apiary itself, before approaching the hives, hats with a protective net are provided (but in fact they were not needed, since the bees did not fly outside the hive).
On the territory of the EPC “Tsarskaya Apiary” there are copies of the ancient beehive decks “Tsar”, “Tsarina”, “Tsarevna”.
It has its own apothecary garden (serves as the basis for bees to collect nectar for the “Raznotravie” honey), enclosures with owls and squirrels. 
In the hut there is a spacious room where classes for children are held all summer (not repeated), where systematic knowledge of the world around them is given. 
On Sundays, free excursions are held for everyone at 12.00, 13.00 and 14.00.
On Wednesdays there is an open lecture “Bee Wednesday”. On Saturdays there is a “Creative Workshop” club.
The next holiday is Butterfly Day - July 9, gathering at the apiary gate. 
The royal apiary can also be reached from the Entuziastov Highway, 800m from the street. 3rd Vladimirskaya (closer than Izmailovskaya metro station).
I thank the staff
Most of the excursion took place on the territory of the Izmailovo natural-historical park. From the Izmailovskaya metro station, while we were walking through the forest, our guide, an employee of the Tsarskaya Apiary Ecological and Educational Center of the State Budgetary Institution Mospriroda, told us many useful facts, and in a fascinating and in an entertaining way for both children and adults.
Anya spoke at the very beginning of the meeting about the differences between natural parks, reserves and wildlife sanctuaries. Many people confuse the Izmailovsky Park with attractions and the Izmailovsky Forest, which is a nature protected area, but these are completely different territories.
We were introduced to the inhabitants of the park (animals, birds), paid attention to the details of the color of female and male birds (finches, thrushes, greenfinches, nuthatches, grosbeaks), types of sparrows - field and house sparrows, trees (including types of birches and history their names).
Anna thought out and organized the program perfectly; in addition to stories, tasks with prizes for those who guessed correctly, there was also a game showing the interaction of all elements of the park’s ecosystem (trees and their fruits, birds, animals, grass, humans, insects).
Along the way, our guide constantly voiced the rules for being in the park, each time paying attention to moving only on the pedestrian side of the road without going onto the bike path, avoid going into dense thickets, because... there are nests of birds and reptiles.
After 1.5 hours, we finally came to the apiary; it was a straight 1.3 km walk from the metro, but we did not take a direct route and had stops. Here, already sitting down on a bench, we listened to the history of beekeeping in Rus' and the emergence of the royal apiary in Izmailovo.
On the territory of the EPC “Tsarskaya Apiary” there are copies of the ancient beehive decks “Tsar”, “Tsarina”, “Tsarevna”.
If desired, at the apiary itself, before approaching the hives, hats with a protective net are provided (but in fact they were not needed, since the bees did not fly outside the hive).
On the territory of the Tsarskaya Paspaka there is its own apothecary garden (which serves as the basis for the collection of nectar by bees for the “Raznotravie” honey), enclosures with owls and squirrels.
In the hut there is a spacious room where classes for children are held all summer (not repeated), where systematic knowledge of the world around them is given.
On Sundays, free excursions are held for everyone at 12.00, 13.00 and 14.00.
On Wednesdays there is an open lecture “Bee Wednesday”. On Saturdays there is a “Creative Workshop” club.
The next holiday is Butterfly Day - July 9, gathering at the apiary gate.
In Izmailovsky Park, 800 m from Entuziastov Highway, there is the Tsarskaya Apiary environmental and educational center. The location of this center is ancient and has a rich history.
In the middle of the 17th century, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, one of the many Izmailovsky gardens, Prosyansky, with an area of 9 hectares, was laid out on the site of the apiary. Apple trees, pears, plums, currants, raspberries, barberries grew in the garden, and along the edges of the garden there were millet, flax, and buckwheat.
In the Prosyansky garden there was a “royal beekeeper” - an apiary. At that time, beekeeping flourished in Rus' - the extraction of wild honey in the forest.
Bort is a dwelling for bees, built in a hollow tree or made from the stump of such a tree and fortified at a considerable height. The sides in the forests were placed 5-7 pieces or more on one tree, and to make it more convenient to extract honey from them, so-called bodies were paved. To save the bees from being destroyed by bears - passionate lovers of honey, the bees were hung high in the trees, and ingenious barriers and traps were invented.
But gradually beekeeping began to be replaced by the apiary method of honey production. Its essence was that beekeepers “cut down” trees with a nest of bees (that is, cut them down) and transported these logs closer to their homes. This is how the word “apiary” was formed.
And in the royal beehouse, the bees were already kept in hives - logs. According to legend, the most popular among visitors to the beekeeper were the “Tsar”, “Queen” and “Princess” decks. The originals of these decks are kept in the museum of the Beekeeping Research Institute in the Ryazan region, and their copies are installed in the Tsarskaya Apiary eco-center.
The Izmailovsky forest was famous for its good honey production. Linden, buckwheat, and meadow honey were especially valued. In 1677, 179 pounds of honey were collected in Izmailovo. But gradually, without government support, the apiary business fell into disrepair.
The idea of reviving the Izmailovskaya apiary as an exemplary beekeeping facility was voiced in 1864 at a meeting of the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants.
At the end of the 19th century. - early 20th century Hundreds of thousands of people were engaged in beekeeping; they kept more than 5 million hives. And at the same time, there was clearly not enough honey, and especially wax, on the domestic market. We even had to buy wax abroad.
The fact is that beekeeping was mainly carried out by peasants, clergy, rural teachers, and rarely by large landowners. Most of them extracted honey in the old-fashioned way - they kept logs. The frame hive was invented by Pyotr Ivanovich Prokopovich back in 1814, but even half a century later this great invention had difficulty taking root in apiaries.
The organizers of the model beekeeper (and there were many scientists among them) wanted, firstly, to conduct serious research in the field of bee biology in Izmailovo, train professional personnel and conduct broad educational activities among amateur beekeepers.
The organizer of the apiary was a full member of the Beekeepers Society, philanthropist A.I. Evseev.
The Izmailovo experimental apiary was opened on July 27 (August 9, New Style) 1865. In early October, she was visited by the august patron of the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder.
In 1865, on the territory of the apiary according to the design of the Moscow architect P.S. Campioni built the main house (“palace”) of the Izmailovskaya apiary. The first floor of the building was residential, on the second there was a meeting room and a library.
On the territory of the apiary there were two bee museums: “Scientific” and “Historical”. The first museum, a wooden one, was built in 1890. It housed an “educational collection” consisting of hives of different systems, beekeeping tools and portraits of outstanding domestic and foreign beekeepers.
The "historical" museum appeared in 1914-15. It was designed in the shape of a flying bee and was made of concrete. Some sources consider it to be the first concrete building in Russia. The museum exhibited materials on the history of beekeeping.
Research work on beekeeping was carried out at the apiary, which was regularly reported on the pages of the pre-revolutionary beekeeping magazine “Izbornik” (1880). After the end of the Civil War, the apiary began publishing the magazines “Beekeeping” and “Practical Beekeeper”.
In 1867, the first beekeeping exhibition in Russia was opened at the apiary, the first floating exhibition was organized on a barge (1887), which cruised along the Moscow River, along the Oka with stops in Bronnitsy, Kolomna, Kashira, Priluki, Serpukhov, Kaluga. At the end of the 19th century, a similar exhibition was shown in a railway carriage on the western outskirts of Russia.
In the 1930s, activity at the apiary gradually died out, and later a fire destroyed all the wooden buildings. The Bee Museum was also destroyed, from which only fragments of concrete walls remained.
In 1998, the revival of the Izmailovskaya Apiary began, and in its place the environmental and educational center “Tsarskaya Apiary” was created. The apiary area was cleared, paths and flower beds were laid out, and the building of the main house, built in the 1980s, was renovated.
Izmailovo is the pearl of Moscow. In the seventeenth century, the village of Izmailovo and its surroundings was the ancestral patrimony of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, who created an exemplary estate farm here, turning the territory into a blooming Garden of Eden. Dams with mills and artificial ponds were built on the Serebryanka River. Flax spinning mills, a glass factory, poultry yards, greenhouses, and a menagerie began operating. Luxurious gardens were laid out: Vinogradny, Aptekarsky, Prosyansky, Mulberry, a labyrinth garden. Near the Prosyansky Garden there was a “tsar’s beekeeper”. At that time beekeeping flourished in Rus'. The Moscow border lands covered Izmailovo, Losiny Island and went far beyond the Bear Lakes. Wax and honey were the most popular export goods. The apiary in the Prosyansky Garden was then the personification of progress. The most attractive decks in this apiary were the decks with the names: “Tsar”, “Queen”, “Princess”. Copies of these decks are now in the Beekeeping Research Institute (Rybnoye, Ryazan Region), and they once belonged to the Izmailovo experimental apiary.
A hundred years passed... and another hundred years... Only 200 years later, life was revived again on the site of the “prince beekeeper” - the construction of the Izmailovo experimental apiary began on the initiative of the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants, whose patron was the August Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Senior. According to the design of the famous Moscow architect P.S. Campioni, a “palace” for beekeepers was built in the style of the tower of the times of Alexei Mikhailovich, and on August 9 (new style), 1865, the grand opening of the Izmailovo experimental apiary took place.
The organizers of the “exemplary beekeeper,” and among them there were many scientists, wanted to conduct research in the field of bee biology in Izmailovo, train professional personnel and launch educational activities among the population. The organizer of the apiary and its sponsor was the philanthropist A.I. Evseev. The first head of the apiary was G.A. Alexandrov. Just two years later (in 1867), the first beekeeping exhibition in Russia took place. Very modest, only 18 exhibits, but that was just the beginning. Then the second, third, fourth. On the initiative of Archpriest P.I. Krotkov and the future academician N.V. Nasonov, a traveling exhibition on the water was organized in 1887; a chartered barge moved along the Moscow River to Bronnitsy. In 1896, a traveling exhibition was organized by rail in the Smolensk province.
Exhibition items replenished the funds of the Paseka museums. There were two of them: “Scientific” and “Historical”. The “scientific” museum occupied a spacious wooden building with large windows. Inside, a collection of beehives lined the walls; The walls of the museum were decorated with portraits of the most famous beekeepers, Russian and foreign. In the place of honor is a portrait of the founder of the Izmailovo apiary - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. And, of course, the museum displayed tools and equipment from a “hat with a tulle net” to a “steam wax melter.” Little is known about the Historical Museum. Most likely, he appeared for a special project. They erected a reinforced concrete building in the shape of a flying bee. They say that this was the first reinforced concrete structure in Russia. The Izmailovskaya apiary also became famous for its training courses. The set was small, on average 8-10 people. In Soviet times, the number of cadets reached 80 people, but it was no longer a one-off number.
In 1899, the first film on beekeeping topics was made, and in 1900, the Izmailovo experimental apiary was awarded the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris.
Thus, the organizers of the “exemplary beekeeper” successfully coped with the tasks that they set for themselves in the field of research into bee biology, personnel training and educational work. Among them were Academician Nikolai Viktorovich Nasonov (headed the Izmailovskaya experimental apiary from 1878 to 1885) and Professor Grigory Aleksandrovich Kozhevnikov, who was appointed head of the Izmailovskaya experimental apiary in 1910, and in 1920 was forced to resign his title as head. It was at the Izmailovskaya apiary that these scientists made discoveries that glorified their names and our country. The gland, discovered by Nasonov and bearing his name, produces a secretion with a strong aroma. The main function of the “language of smells” is communication. Nason gland pheromones serve bees to mark their flight route, regulate the behavior of bees during swarming, and coordinate the activities of members of the bee family. Grigory Aleksandrovich Kozhevnikov answered the question “Where are the wax glands of a bee?” He discovered the accessory lubricating gland at the base of the sting and it is now known as Kozhevnikov's gland.
But hard times came. Harassment was organized against G.A. Kozhevnikov: he was deprived of his chair at Moscow State University and the position of director of the Zoological Museum. His health was undermined and in January 1933 he died. Abram Evlampievich Titov, who replaced G.A. Kozhevnikov as head of the Izmailovo experimental apiary in 1921, did not escape the fate of many decent people. In the 1930s he was accused of counter-revolution and exiled.
In 1924, Apiary was removed from the state budget and transferred to full self-support.
In 2002, the special forestry enterprise “Historical”, which is in charge of the natural-historical park “Izmailovo”, prepared “Proposals for the organization of the Environmental Education Center “Tsarskaya Apiary””.
Last Saturday, August 15, the 150th anniversary of the Izmailovo Experimental Apiary was celebrated. In front of the gates of the Apiary, tables were placed: five or six and a platform for a youth ensemble to perform. There were children and pensioners, two or three policemen. The head of Apiary, Dmitry Petrovich Voitovich, approached the microphone. He said that August 9 marked exactly 150 years since the founding of the Izmailovskaya apiary and that he would now bring out booklets printed in honor of this glorious date.
On my own behalf, I will say that it would be more correct to conduct chronology from Alexei Mikhailovich. 300 years ago, when the USA was not even a thing, the Izmailovo apiary already existed! The contribution of Russian beekeepers to science and educational activities has received international recognition. The Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900) is proof of this. The Izmailovskaya apiary is a “praying” place for Russian beekeepers. But today the “abomination of desolation” reigns here. There are no museums, no beekeeping courses, no employees. And no youth ensembles with accordions and spoons will brighten up the situation. True, it could have been worse. In this place they could put a car wash, a sauna, cottages, and cut down all the trees. This did not happen. And that's it, thank God!
You ask: “What does Sergei Sobyanin have to do with it?” I will answer: “I don’t know. Maybe it has nothing to do with it. And if he really has nothing to do with it, then it’s sad.”
P.S. Materials used: V.M. Gerasimov “History of the Izmailovo experimental apiary.” I.A.Shabarshov “Russian beekeeping”, Moscow, 1990.
On the territory of the Izmailovo natural-historical park, halfway from the Red Pond to Lebedyansky, there is a carved wooden tower. Around there is a marvelous garden with bright flower beds, a working apiary, an exhibition of different types of beehives and an Apothecary garden, where Red Book and rare species of plants grow. The park’s original inhabitants – squirrels and owls – live in spacious enclosures. This is where the Tsarskaya Apiary environmental education center is located.
Employees of the Tsarskaya Apiary EPC regularly conduct excursion programs, thematic classes, creative master classes, traditional holidays and environmental education events, exhibitions of drawings, photographs and crafts made from natural materials.
On weekdays, excursion programs are held for organized groups of 5 people or more by appointment.
Every Wednesday at 14.00 everyone is invited to the open lecture “Bee Wednesday”.
Every Saturday from September to April at 11.00 there are classes in the ornithological club for children 8-12 years old “Feathered+”, and children 6-10 years old can attend the interactive program “The Scarlet Flower” on Saturdays from June to August at 11.00.
Every third Sunday of the month, at 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00, everyone is welcome at the eco-center for free excursions around the territory. Visitors will be told about the history of the eco-center: from the founding of the Tsarev beekeeper by Alexei Romanov to the revival of the Izmailovo experimental apiary. In addition, you can see an exhibition of different types of hives, learn about the life of bees and observe the inhabitants of the enclosures - squirrels, eagle owls, long-eared owls and gray owls living on the territory of the Tsarskaya Apiary.
general information
Operating mode:
Monday – Thursday – 8.00 – 17.00 (Monday is a methodical day - no excursions are held)
Friday – 8.00 – 15.45
Saturday, Sunday – 8.00 – 17.00
Address: Moscow, pos. Izmailovskaya Apiary, 1
1. Address: Moscow, pos. Izmailovskaya Apiary, 1