At all times of the development of the city of Rostov-on-Don, from Temernitskaya customs to the business capital of the South of Russia, the Cossacks felt special and did not rank themselves as any nationality: several centuries with world wars and civil revolutions could not change this worldview of multinational Rostov. on-don. In the 18th century, the city received the status of the largest port in the south of the country, but the Cossacks continued to settle in Rostov separately - not in the city itself, but in the Cossack villages of Gnilovskaya and Aleksandrovskaya adjacent to the city.
Their original way of life was different from the boiling bustle of the developing industrial Rostov, the culture of the Armenian Nakhichevan, and was not similar to life in the Russian countryside. Accustomed to the long hikes to order, the Cossacks were proud of the cleanliness in their homes - the hostesses polished their kurens to shine inside and out. Blue was added to lime for outdoor use, so blue walls and white shutters are a frequent color combination for the home. The most modest Cossack house had a veranda, a balcony for tea drinking, which the Cossacks called "galdareya". These balconies were adopted by the Cossacks from the Turks during the military campaigns across the Danube. Every morning in the village began with the clatter of copper beaters - these were Cossack women preparing coffee, which they drank with salted Don herring. In the evenings on a small veranda, sitting in a real armchair, or at least in a Viennese chair, as if the head of the family sat in a theater box and smoked an earthen pipe with excellent Turkish tobacco. Business acumen, free temper and experience gained in foreign travels allowed some of the Cossacks to eventually become one of the richest Rostovites (as the townspeople of Rostov-on-Don called themselves in the 18th century).
Rostov is always called a merchant city, but some of the famous merchants came from the Cossack people. The richest on the Don at that time was the merchant Cossack Nikolai Paramonov. Mines and mines, flotillas of steamships and ships, huge warehouses that have survived to this day on the Rostov embankment belonged to Paramonov. And, of course, large and rich houses were built on the central streets of Rostov for trading and for the family of the millionaire - the most beautiful building of the university library adorns Pushkinskaya Street, beloved by the townspeople, to this day. The name of the Cossack millionaire Paramonov is associated with the mysterious history of the house of Margarita Chernova, located at the corner of st. Bolshaya Sadovaya and Nikolsky Lane (now Khalturinsky). Locals affectionately call it "a house with caryatids" - instead of columns, the architect used amazingly beautiful statues of female figures along the entire facade. The residence of Elpidifor Paramonov, father of Nikolai Paramonov, on Suvorov Street (formerly the House of Political Education), is still popularly called the House of Police Officer Paramonov in honor of the low rank of the Cossack in the Don Army.
Mentions of other famous personalities remained in the history of the city: the shipping company of the Cossack Koshkin, the yacht club on the Green Island of the Cossack-millionaire Popov. The beginning of the history of the Rostov Zoo, the Botanical Garden, museums and many other cultural institutions of the city is closely connected with the names of rich Cossack patrons, forgotten for a whole century. Walking along the renovated modern Rostov embankment, where today every cafe for any tourist has access to free wi-fi, on the quay cast-iron bollards you can read the inscription "Pastukhov Mechanical Plant". Centuries pass, but Rostov-on-Don continues to keep in its walls, sculptures and stones the memory of its builders and chroniclers.
The descendants also remember the military merits of the Cossacks to the fatherland. More recently, in 2016, a new museum was opened on the basis of one of the Rostov universities, which acquaints visitors with unique historical facts concerning the history of not only the Don region, but also some European countries. The richest collection of the cultural and exhibition center "Don Cossack Guard" is the only exposition in Russia about the Cossack guards, who for two centuries were the bodyguards of seven Russian emperors. This page of the Don Cossacks is still little studied, but the facts that are known speak of the unprecedented courage and military ingenuity of our fellow countrymen. Within the walls of the museum, visitors will be able to hear about historical facts: the only case in the history of all world wars, when horse cavalry captured a sea ship in shallow water; spicy details of the attack of the Cossacks in the naked form, surprise and frightening appearance, which shocked the enemy army. The guests of the museum will learn how the name of the Bistro cafe chain is connected with the visit of the Don Cossacks to Paris, and that Mendelssohn's wedding waltz was the regimental anthem of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment. The guides will tell in detail about the feat of 300 Cossacks of the Leib - Guards Cossack Regiment, thanks to which not only the main Bohemian army of the allies was saved from defeat, but also the honor and life of Emperor Alexander I and two more allied monarchs: Frederick Wilhelm III and Franz I. In that fateful a day later called the "Battle of the Nations at Leipzig," three hundred light cavalry men dealt a crushing blow to an eight-thousandth detachment of horsemen in breastplate armor. Descendants today compare the feat of 300 imperial bodyguards with the feat of 300 Spartans.
In addition to the amazing facts of our history, hidden from the public for some time, unique authentic documents, photographs, weapons and uniforms will certainly attract the attention of visitors. The exposition is based on the private collection of Nikolai Novikov, a true enthusiast from Rostov. He himself gladly meets tourists and conducts excursions. The museum offers foreign travelers audio guides with recorded excursions in English, French and Spanish. At the request of the guests, the hostesses-guides will brew aromatic coffee in the Turks on the hot sand and serve it like a Cossack with salted Don herring on black bread, as was customary in the 18th century.
You can learn about excursions and expositions of other museums in the city of Rostov-on-Don on the tourist portal of the city of Rostov-on-Don www.rostov-gorod.ru.
