Description of the attraction
The water tower is a monument of industrial and engineering architecture. The modern building of the water tower was built in 1912. By the 1950s. the tower has lost its functional significance due to the reconstruction of the Vladimir water system. Since 1975, an exposition entitled "Old Vladimir" has been located in the water tower.
The urban population's need for a water tower appeared in the 1860s. when laying a water supply system. Her first project was to equip it in the inactive Church of the Robe over the Golden Gate. The city authorities approved the project, but due to special circumstances (at the beginning of the work, several workers were covered with earth) decided to abandon such use of the church. It was decided, despite significant costs, to build a new building for the water tower. The tower was erected to the south of the Golden Gate, on Kozlovy Val according to the project of K. Dill. The construction was completed in 1868 (possibly 1866). The tower's reservoir held 8,000 buckets of water. Simultaneously with the tower, several water taps were built in different parts of the city, and a stone pool with a fountain and a reservoir was installed in the center on Cathedral Square. The water supply system was powered by a 25 hp steam engine brought from England. In 1912 the old water tower was rebuilt according to the project of the Vladimir architect Zharov S. M.
Now the building of the water tower is a three-tiered building made of red brick, made in the "pseudo-Russian" style and having the shape of a cistern in the plan. At the top, it is somewhat widening, like a fortress tower. The decoration of the tower are windows, including double ones, in each tier of different heights, and rectangular "sandriks", and pointed arches above the windows; cornice rolls that separate the tiers and two belts of arched niches.
In the 1950s, due to the reconstruction of Vladimir's water supply system, the tower was no longer used; for some time the tramps gathered on the lower floor.
In 1976 the tower was recognized as a monument of urban planning and architecture, and in 1980 it was transferred to the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve. The tower was converted into a museum of urban life by employees of the Vladimir restoration workshop under the leadership of S. Yermolin - a spiral staircase was built in the northern part; instead of a flat roof, an observation deck with a hipped roof was arranged. The southern part of the building and the central "pockets" were allocated for the exposition.
The author of the exposition, which is dedicated to Vladimir of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. - Lia Gorelik, a local historian. The opening of the exposition took place in 1975. A distinctive feature of this exposition is that there were no special explanatory texts in it, and instead of them there were original extracts from newspapers, books, magazines of that time. The exposition tells and shows Vladimir city life in its ordinary, everyday course, reconstructs the atmosphere of Vladimir at the turn of the century - merchant, bureaucratic, bourgeois. To emphasize the era, the interiors of the church shop, the rooms of a wealthy city dweller, a tavern with a samovar, and a police station were recreated.
In 2009, the museum was reconstructed, part of the exhibits and exhibition equipment were replaced here. The first floor is dedicated to the appearance of Vladimir before the revolution and his urban economy. Postcards and photographs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are exhibited here.streets, ancient cathedrals, squares, churches, public buildings of the city, documents of the municipal economy on the activities of the council, the construction of the first and the power plant, the fire brigade. The clothes of Vladimir residents of different classes are exhibited here.
The second floor tells about the urban population and their occupations. The stands show photographs of merchants, noblemen, bourgeoisie, clergy, raznochin officials of different departments, military. Here you can get acquainted with the documents about their traditional occupations: Yamskaya fishing, horticulture and gardening. Among the exhibits in this room are awards for Vladimir's gardeners, received by them at Russian agricultural exhibitions, arched bells, and a driver's clock. Attention is drawn to the bright advertising of various trading companies, hotels, taverns, restaurants, photography services, hairdressing salons.
On the third floor, visitors get acquainted with the spiritual life of the residents of Vladimir. The stands display photographs of monasteries and religious processions. Here are materials about the educational institutions of the city: women's and men's gymnasiums, a real school, a theological seminary.
The fourth floor of the museum is an observation deck, from where a picturesque panorama of the city and the Zaklyazma countryside opens, where many architectural monuments are concentrated.
The museum displays about 800 exhibits, more than 100 of them appeared for the first time. Among the exhibits are interesting pieces of furniture, a telephone, a baby carriage, a sewing machine, a movie projector, a dish - a gift to Nicholas II from the nobility of Vladimir, a silver horn for babies, school supplies.
Large-format photographs with views of the city, as well as mannequins in clothes of those times, give a bright imagery of the museum exposition. The central showcases of all halls create a kind of vertical axis in the solution of the exposition space.
