In the heart of Russia - in the Tver region, near the village of Yeltsy, on the picturesque peninsula near the Eletski ples of Lake Seliger, there is an old estate New Yeltsy, built at the end of the XVIII century, owned by the Tver landlords Tolstoy (from the far branch of the family of Count Tolstoy). They raised their pedigree to the legendary Indres, who left Chernigov from the German lands in 1353 with two sons and a large squadron, who adopted the name of Leontius at the baptism. A descendant of this Indres received from Tolstoy the nickname of Tolstoy from Grand Duke Basil the Dark, and from him the numerous count's and noble family Tolstoy went. The ancestors of the Ostashkov landlords in the 17th century served as Rzhev's stewards. Then they received lands according to Seliger, which became their family estates. Subsequently, this branch of the Tolstoys, unlike the Count, remained little known.
Former owner of the estate in the late XVIII - early XIX century, Nikolai Yakovlevich Tolstoy was Ostashkovsky leader of the nobility. It was with him that a large manor house and a linen factory for 70 machines were built, a park with terraces was laid out. Here in the estate was built one of the first in the province of serf theaters, the owners of the estate contained two orchestras - wind and horn music.
At the end of the XIX century, one of the travelers on Seliger wrote: "The steamer was approaching the estate of Yelets ... Look at the house ahead, so only one Yusupov estate can be compared to it ... And what was not in this house: the theater and prison for the peasants ... and the dance hall, like a church, in two lights, and above the choirs. And the garden ... what devilry is not there ... "
This estate was until the abolition of serfdom in 1861, then the owners quickly went bankrupt, and the estate fell into decay.
In the twentieth century, at the end of 1918, the New Yelets became briefly the administrative center of the new parish with the same name, which included 11 villages with a population of 1,447 people. But already in 1923 this volost returned to the borders of Pavlikhovskaya. In the 1920s students of the Communist University of the National Minorities of the West lived in the estate. During the war, it was occupied by the Germans. In 1946, in the restored manor after the war, the Seliger camp was established. Earned its own thermal power plant. In the 60 years after the commissioning of a new four-story dormitory, it became the largest in the district.
Repair work in the main building of the manor complex was started in 2005. Then he was in a deplorable state, since repairs here have not been made since 1986. Moscow specialists were involved, who contacted the descendants of the noble family Tolstoy in order to accurately recreate the spirit of the time in which the former owners lived in the interiors of the estate.
Today, the building, converted into a four-star Palace Hotel Seliger, looks almost the same as more than 200 years ago. Interior decoration is done in the style of classicism, as well as the architectural design of the estate. Experts have tried to keep the spirit of the era in the elements of design and decor. Curtains, furniture are selected so as not to violate the overall style. The halls of the hotel adorn 50 landscapes of the artist Vladimir Vasiliev, artfully "aged", so that crackles (cracks) appear on the oil canvas. In the project of finishing the building, the old style is organically combined with modern elements of the hotel business. Currently, work is under way to repair household blocks and to improve the adjacent territory. It is planned to restore the manor park, in which some oaks are 300-400 years old.
In the heart of Russia - in the Tver region, near the village of Yeltsy, on the picturesque peninsula near the Eletski ples of Lake Seliger, there is an old estate New Yeltsy, built at the end of the XVIII century, owned by the Tver landlords Tolstoy (from the far branch of the family of Count Tolstoy). They raised their pedigree to the legendary Indres, who left Chernigov from the German lands in 1353 with two sons and a large squadron, who adopted the name of Leontius at the baptism. A descendant of this Indres received from Tolstoy the nickname of Tolstoy from Grand Duke Basil the Dark, and from him the numerous count's and noble family Tolstoy went. The ancestors of the Ostashkov landlords in the 17th century served as Rzhev's stewards. Then they received lands according to Seliger, which became their family estates. Subsequently, this branch of the Tolstoys, unlike the Count, remained little known.
Former owner of the estate in the late XVIII - early XIX century, Nikolai Yakovlevich Tolstoy was Ostashkovsky leader of the nobility. It was with him that a large manor house and a linen factory for 70 machines were built, a park with terraces was laid out. Here in the estate was built one of the first in the province of serf theaters, the owners of the estate contained two orchestras - wind and horn music.
At the end of the XIX century, one of the travelers on Seliger wrote: "The steamer was approaching the estate of Yelets ... Look at the house ahead, so only one Yusupov estate can be compared to it ... And what was not in this house: the theater and prison for the peasants ... and the dance hall, like a church, in two lights, and above the choirs. And the garden ... what devilry is not there ... "
This estate was until the abolition of serfdom in 1861, then the owners quickly went bankrupt, and the estate fell into decay.
In the twentieth century, at the end of 1918, the New Yelets became briefly the administrative center of the new parish with the same name, which included 11 villages with a population of 1,447 people. But already in 1923 this volost returned to the borders of Pavlikhovskaya. In the 1920s students of the Communist University of the National Minorities of the West lived in the estate. During the war, it was occupied by the Germans. In 1946, in the restored manor after the war, the Seliger camp was established. Earned its own thermal power plant. In the 60 years after the commissioning of a new four-story dormitory, it became the largest in the district.
Repair work in the main building of the manor complex was started in 2005. Then he was in a deplorable state, since repairs here have not been made since 1986. Moscow specialists were involved, who contacted the descendants of the noble family Tolstoy in order to accurately recreate the spirit of the time in which the former owners lived in the interiors of the estate.
Today, the building, converted into a four-star Palace Hotel Seliger, looks almost the same as more than 200 years ago. Interior decoration is done in the style of classicism, as well as the architectural design of the estate. Experts have tried to keep the spirit of the era in the elements of design and decor. Curtains, furniture are selected so as not to violate the overall style. The halls of the hotel adorn 50 landscapes of the artist Vladimir Vasiliev, artfully "aged", so that crackles (cracks) appear on the oil canvas. In the project of finishing the building, the old style is organically combined with modern elements of the hotel business. Currently, work is under way to repair household blocks and to improve the adjacent territory. It is planned to restore the manor park, in which some oaks are 300-400 years old.