The following days were very eventful in terms of adventures and intensity of walks. Therefore, the next day (also early in the morning) I decided to get to the outskirts of the town, where the second takya (mausoleum) and the oldest district of Kasimov – Stary Posad («Old Settlement») are located.

I spent the first part of the morning in the town center. This day of the expedition fell on May 9 – the celebration of Victory Day. I watched the local mini-parade of cadets and students of some military-patriotic school, as well as the decorations of the central streets.

Then I went to Stary Posad and decided to pass by the sheepskin and fur factory that I had found before the expedition. I knew that it was no longer functioning and expected to see ruins. In the photos from the Internet, in the dense thickets, one could see only a large and closed gate and that’s all. The only more or less modern article I found was not very credible and presented renderings of a project to transform an abandoned factory into a public space.

Gates of the former sheepskin and fur factory – JSC “RUNO”

To my surprise, the factory gates were open and behind them there was a table at which people were drinking celebratory champagne. I am not usually impudent and do not pester people in such cases, but the old factory so aroused my curiosity that after some hesitation I approached the people and asked why the factory was open. People said they were celebrating Victory Day and let schoolchildren see the filming locations of war and historical movies. After such a discovery, I immediately asked permission to take pictures. Unexpectedly for myself, I received approval, but only for about twenty minutes. Without wasting time I rushed into the depths of the factory.

All the factory buildings have been preserved and are maintained in a more or less tolerable condition: the roofs do not leak, the windows are intact, the doors are locked. Only the two largest workshops are empty and look bad.

As I walked around the buildings in the opposite direction from the schoolchildren’s path, the sounds of their laughter became quieter and then died down completely. In peace and quiet, I looked around the remains of the factory and found the only unlocked door. Having gone up to the second floor, I found myself in a workshop where fur products used to be made. It seemed that everything here was left as it was on the last working day. Except all the sewing machines were gone and all that was left were a couple of old American riveting machines. I think it was done specifically for the setting of the movie that was filmed here.

On the way to this building, I met a woman who asked why I was there and where I was from. I told her that I was a photographer and that I might write an article. Sometimes I think that my language is my enemy, but from experience, honesty and sincerity still win people over. She allowed me to continue filming at the factory and told me that she was the owner of a film studio, which, in fact, now owned the factory – one of the studio’s filming locations. To my regret, the owner left, and I didn’t have time to take a photo of her, but I received a business card from the studio.

The photographs below show the decorative arch of the film studio.

After looking around the entire well-preserved factory, some man called out to me by name (!). He said that they were closing. It seems I managed to photograph everything I could and didn’t ask to stay here more. The other buildings were closed and had no interior.

This man was a watchman, and, unusually, he was the last worker in the factory when it was still in operation. His name is Vyacheslav (short – Slava) and he worked as a supplier here before it was closed. Since I myself worked in similar (but machine-build) factories, I found a common ground and asked him to tell me more about this place.

From his story I understood that the factory finally closed in 2012 due to debts and stood empty for a couple of years. The first movie film was shot here in 2015, and since then the location has been used as a film set several times. This is a very unusual and positive story for an industrial enterprise in post-soviet Russia, because most often such a place would be torn down and built anew. But the film studio preserved the place and is carrying out further restoration: maintaining general cleanliness and gradually cutting down weeds – Canadian maple.

The history of the factory dates back to 1791, when the first small workshops were located here. In 1863, the workshops were united into the Baranaev tannery. The Baranaev family built a small estate here. Before the Soviet era, people worked in factories without any mechanization, using manual labor. Only after nationalization was the factory updated and mechanized, and modern equipment was purchased. In the 70s the factory’s equipment was again modernized.

Strange dark factory building filled with water

Vyacheslav, with undisguised regret, said that after the plant closed, the expensive equipment was sold at the price of scrap metal and taken away to an unknown destination. The destruction of the workshops apparently indicates this.

Vyacheslav also told the story of the last order: It was sewn by the last few remaining seamstresses at the factory in an unheated room, heated by heat guns. Throughout its operation from the 19th century until its closure, the factory was valued by its customers (mainly government customers who purchased fur uniforms for specialized services) for the excellent quality of its products.

The man also showed me a wooden building with one wall facing the street. This administrative building was built in the 1960s to replace utility rooms that were not quite up to date and suitable for the needs of engineers and management. He said that the factory’s veterans, whom he managed to meet, were very happy about its construction. The old buildings with small windows were not very suitable for work of engineers and administration.

I persuaded Vyacheslav to take a photo against the backdrop of the factory. The workers from the remains of the old Soviet wooden poster seem to look with sadness, but with pride, at their last colleague-successor.

After the adventures at the factory, I moved on. Having reached the edge of the main part of the town, I found myself in front of a ravine. Many cities have tried to fill in or level out ravines in the past, but here it seems everything has remained the same. On the other side of the ravine there is the Stary Posad and its church. Kasimov was once born here. Even from a distance it seemed like an aging parent – old, but so familiar, especially to our local eyes.

In the depths of the ravine there is a stream and a small bridge. Then I saw a mirror. It is not clear why it is there, but it reflects the sunny sky and clouds. I stood up for a minute to rest and enjoy the doubly beautiful view.

When I had almost crossed the ravine, I suddenly met an elderly woman who was walking towards me with the old-style knapsack and a plastic bucket in her hands. Even from a distance, her burden seemed heavy for her age. Before I could offer help, I heard her voice from afar: «Here comes my little helper!». She asked me to help her carry her old-style knapsack to the bridge, but I persuaded her to do it across the entire ravine.

On the way she told me her story, warning me that she had poor hearing and that I should speak louder. From her story I understood that she was going to help staritsa (the female equivalent of starets – an elder priest / monk of an Eastern Orthodox and who living out his last days and enjoying great authority and wisdom). Judging by the weight of her old-style knapsack, she was carrying something very heavy, like a three-liter jar of milk and some cereal.

She also spoke about her grandson, who is studying at a theological seminary in Moscow. But he does not want to become a priest, like all the men in her family before him. She said this with sadness and regret.

At the end of our journey through the ravine, she told us about the icon she had received from a monastery in the town of Arzamas and that every year the icon streams myrrh (myrrh-streaming is a phenomenon in Christianity associated with the appearance of oily moisture on icons and relics of saints, and which is considered a miracle). She complained that she was uneducated and did not know how to contact the priest who gave her this icon. Then she mentioned that every time he asks the Almighty for forgiveness for here sins: joining the Pioneers and the Komsomol. And I will leave this last part to the readers’ judgment.

As soon as we crossed the ravine, she took her old-style knapsack and thanked me for my help. It wasn’t that she refused to be photographed, but she was embarrassed to show her face, citing her advanced age as unattractive. So, we parted, and I went to cross the ravine again. This woman seemed to me to be a kind old spirit and the personification of these sacred places.

When I finally crossed the ravine, I found myself on the edge of a large meadow. On one side it was surrounded by houses, and on the other by a forest. At the opposite end of the meadow a second takye was waiting for me. It is the mausoleum of the Kasimov khans of the 17th century, built in the Russian architectural style of that time. This is the mausoleum of the Kasimov khans of the 17th century, built in the Old Russian architectural style. Before reaching the takye, I walked through the Stary Posad itself and past the church, which turned out to be closed and abandoned – it was clearly not in use. I even thought for a minute what church this pious old lady goes to, since this one is closed, and was it really real?

At the takye I met another of my expedition comrades – Marina. Without disturbing her, I took pictures of everything I needed and headed back. At the edge of the ravine there is a bench with a view of the main part of Kasimov. Since I missed the lunchtime review of our photos from last night’s shoot, it was high time to enjoy the breeze and the beautiful view.

The mausoleum outside and inside, a bench with a view of Kasimov and a purebred cow (according to the owner).

After a late lunch and checking the weather forecast for tomorrow, I realized that I needed to plan another trip today. There was very little time left until the evening and sunset. I decided to take a taxi to the opposite side of the Oka River and look at the town from there.

The taxi driver took me to the edge of the paved road and a residential area, after which I had to walk along a rough dirt road through a grassy field. A pleasant silence fell, broken only by the soft sounds of people and dogs coming from the river and from the houses behind.

Local fishermen were fishing on this bank, and the view seemed more boring to me than I expected. After standing for a while and taking some photos, I returned to the public transport stop. 

After a terrifying half-hour wait for the bus, I got to the hotel and didn’t go out for a walk again (except for dinner at the bar with my expedition mates). Thus ended this long day.

Evening and rainy morning of the next day