The Lost Factory and the Kremlin Stars. Red May Factory Glass Museum Red May Factory Vyshny Volochek products

Getting from the regional center to the village of Krasnomaysky is not difficult: a regular bus goes there every 20 minutes. The third stop after turning off the M10 highway - and you are at the factory entrance. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. except weekends and holidays. More precisely, it can be open. To get there, you need to call in advance and book a tour. And at the agreed time, go to the entrance, where the caretaker will meet you and lead you to the museum.

All that remains of the entrance

In the museum

“And the kerosene lamps, painted with gold and paints, were also striking in their beauty. It was these lamps, topped with thin, light lampshades, that were awarded a gold medal at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition in Moscow in 1882.”(“Krasnomaisky glazier”, 1988). By 1990, when the 20th anniversary of the Krasny May factory museum was celebrated, it stored more than three hundred products of pre-revolutionary (Bolotinsky) craftsmen and about 4 thousand samples of the Soviet period - both unique exhibits from colored, applied and zinc sulfide glass, as well as and mass products. Many of these exhibits were brought by village residents. That is, like most museum exhibitions, this one was also created literally bit by bit.

The current state of the museum is little better than the enterprise. On the ground floor of the building, where there was once a canteen, there is the same devastation as in the workshops. Only upstairs, where the museum itself is, is there order. Except, of course, for the leaking roof and lack of heating. Formally, the museum belongs to the owners of the former plant - it is clear that such land cannot be owned by anyone. Who they are and what their names are, no one with whom I was able to talk knows. In fact, he is more or less monitored by entrepreneurs located on the territory of “Red May”. The region or the Vyshnevolotsky district may and would like to take the glass museum on its own balance sheet, but they cannot: the law does not allow it to take it and take it away (or, more precisely, save it). Just as they cannot provide financial assistance: misappropriation of budget funds is a criminal offense. Even if our history is at stake. It's a pity. The moment when it is too late to do anything usually comes unexpectedly. And the owners cannot be reached.

Although, if the authorities really wanted to, they would probably have done everything that was necessary.

All that remains of the dining room

Indeed, a surprise

“Invaluable assistance in collecting materials about the history of the plant was provided by Nikolai Aleksandrovich Khokhryakov, Vasily Maksimovich Semyonov and other comrades. Builders under the leadership of Yuri Dmitrievich Popov, mechanical shop workers led by Leonid Petrovich Vasin, the manufacturer of frescoes from the Bolotino period, Viktor Vladimirovich Rakov, and other comrades made a great contribution to the design of the museum building. It is impossible not to note the great contribution to the creation of a history museum on a voluntary basis by the employee of the Vyshnevolotsk Museum of Local Lore, Galina Georgievna Monakhova, who even gave her vacation to this cause.”(“Krasnomaisky glazier”, 1988). In the museum you can not only see samples of Krasnomaysk products, but also learn about the people who created them. Lyudmila Kuchinskaya, Victor Shevchenko, Anatoly Silko, Sergey Konoplev, Svetlana Beskinskaya, spouses Elena Esikova and Konstantin Litvin. Tver art connoisseurs do not need to introduce the latter. Esikova and Litvin still work as glass artists and participate in various exhibitions.

"Red May" is the birthplace of zinc sulfide glass. About 30 years ago, the plant began to develop this new Soviet glass. Interest in an unsolved technological innovation helped reveal all the color transformations. By the will of the artist and master, golden glass turned out to be capable of turning into opal, then icy-smoky, and then suddenly flashing with colored patterns or marble stains.”(“Krasnomaisky glazier”, 1988). Sulfide or sulfide-zinc glass, colored with sulfur compounds of iron and zinc, was created in 1958 by Evgenia Ivanova, a technologist at the Leningrad Art Glass Factory (LZHS), and Alexander Kirienen, an engineer from the same enterprise. A year later, it was already mastered at the Vyshnevolotsk plant and soon became its calling card. Due to its wide range of colors and the ability to change it depending on the temperature and duration of processing, sulfide glass is also called the “Russian miracle”.

“Recently, experimental glass melting was carried out at the Krasny May glass factory, the raw material for which was sand delivered from Georgia. Employees of one of the research institutes in Tbilisi set the task of testing the suitability of local sand deposits containing a large percentage of iron for the production of building glass. They turned to the Krasnomaysk residents for help. Workers from the plant's chemical laboratory, together with the team from the fourth workshop, successfully tested the sand - building glass of green, blue and light blue colors was obtained. The results of this experiment will serve as the basis for establishing the production of colored profile glass for the construction needs of Georgia"(“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1980). The range of products of the plant, as I already noted in the first part, was wide. However, not only a zinc sulfide vase, but also an ordinary glass or the same building glass from “Red May” can be called Russian miracles. This is the specificity of the plant: it was impossible to do anything bad or even mediocre here. Or they didn't know how.

Photo from the magazine "Youth" for 1981

* * *
“In 1995, at Red May they began to pay salaries in crystal vases. The advance, one might say, was received “green”, and all because at the Vyshnevolotsk glass factory they welded the crystal a little with greenery, and the customers refused it. Then it was given to the workers: sell it and earn your own bread... On paydays, glass products were given out to the workshops and also the workshops were assigned places where to stand on the highway. People cried, but closed their mouths: after all, at least some money was flowing.” (“Tver Life”, 2004). In fact, they started selling Red May products on the Moscow - St. Petersburg highway much earlier. In 1992, they definitely stood with vases - men and women, groups and individuals. The “points” were located over more than twenty kilometers from the turn to Leontyevo and almost to Khotilovo. This is how the unique plant survived the turbulent 90s. Survived. At the very least, he survived. Reports about economic growth that accompanied the first steps of the new President Vladimir Putin should have been supplemented by “Red May”. But trouble came from where it was not expected at all.

All that remains of the company store

“And this entire farm now belongs to two St. Petersburg entities - CJSC Holding Company Ladoga (V.V. Grabar) and a certain citizen Mikhail Romanovich Pruzhinin.<…>By coincidence, Mikhail Romanovich is one of the closest and most trusted acquaintances of the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Tver Region and the former Vyshnevolotsk mayor Mark Zhanovich Khasainov.” (“Tverskaya Gazeta”, 2004). Usually, time is cited as the culprit for destroyed enterprises or collective farms. Confusion. Redistribution But behind every action, as a rule, there are specific people. "Red May" is one of the few examples where these people are called by name. According to the author of the article, in 2002, the new management of the plant requested a loan of $2.2 million from a certain American company to create a line for the production of bottle containers (is a unique enterprise suddenly switching to bottles?) under government guarantees. That is, if “Red May” fails to fulfill its loan obligations, two million “greens” must go overseas. In the end, this is exactly what happened: the scheme had been worked out and debugged for a long time. And no money, no bottles, no crystal.

I don’t remember that any of the people listed in the material brought Tverskaya Gazeta to court. And the fact that Mark Khasainov, over the years of leading Vyshny Volochok, has practically crushed all local economic resources under his control is no secret to anyone. So this version can be considered “working”, albeit adjusted for someone’s “order”: such information can appear in the media only if it is deliberately leaked.

(This is my first post, so please don't judge too harshly.)
This summer in July I was on vacation with my family in the village. Krasnomaysky, Vyshnevolotsk district, Tver region. This is not the first time I have been there, and I know about a glass factory that has not been operating for a long time. I knew from my wife that at the factory there was a museum of historical exhibits of the factory and modern works of glass art. I was sure that the museum no longer existed, because... The plant has been bankrupt for many years; the remains of equipment are being hastily cut up for scrap metal on its territory. And so, from one friend I heard that someone visited the museum quite recently. I decided to try my luck too, and went to the factory entrance to find out information about opening hours.

Arriving there, I learned that you can get to the museum from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on any day except Saturday and Sunday. Since it was already late, I postponed the trip to another day.
The next morning I stood at the entrance at 9am like a bayonet. The woman who runs the museum was not there yet, so I looked around the hall. There were some slot machines, a whole warehouse, some motor scooters, ATVs, and a lot of other things placed there. The handle of the front door caught my attention. Apparently the thick glass front door has been preserved in its original form.

Soon the head of the museum came. I think her name is Svetlana (I don’t know her middle name). A friendly woman of about thirty-five (in my opinion). She immediately led me through the factory territory to the museum building. By the way, the path to the museum was all overgrown with grass, which Svetlana complained to me about later.
Having opened the lock on the door, we went up to the second floor of a separate building. Showcases and shelves full of exhibits appeared before my eyes. I have not seen such a cluster of glass objects for a long time!!! Having secured permission, I began taking photographs as I walked further into the hall.

Previously, this plant was very famous, from the lips of my wife I had previously heard that the Kremlin stars were made at this plant, and I found confirmation of this information in the museum records. Even on one cabinet there are exactly the same glasses as exhibits, here they are, two triangles at the bottom:

I found out that the plant has been in existence since 1859. Founded by the merchant of the II guild Andrei Vasilyevich Bolotin. A little history:
The glass factory "RED MAY" is located on the banks of the Shlina River. One of the largest in the country, it was founded in 1859 as a chemical enterprise by Moscow titular councilor Samarin. But Samarin did not have enough funds for further development of production and the plant was purchased by the Vyshnevolotsk merchant of the II guild, Andrei Vasilyevich Bolotin. In 1873, the owners of the plant - the merchants of Bolotina - built the first furnace, which produced glassware: tableware, confectionery, lampshades. In the same year, an experienced glassmaker - Vasily Alekseevich Vekshin, the owner of the secret of preparing a charge for melting colored glass - came to the plant. And for the first time in Russia, the Bolotinsky plant began to produce colored glass with a variety of colors. Already in 1882 and 1886, the plant’s new products, “absolutely remarkable in their diversity and unexpected grace” (as the once famous professor and “glass expert” A.K. Krupsky assessed them), were awarded two gold and two silver medals of the All-Russian Artistic -industrial exhibitions in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod for the rich color range and careful processing. In 1920, the plant was nationalized and it became state property. On May 1, 1923, a meeting of workers and employees of the plant was held, at which it was decided to rename the plant into the “RED MAY” plant. Since that time, the plant began to expand, and new glass melting furnaces began to be built. During the Patriotic War (1942-1945), the plant produced large quantities of technical glass for the needs of the Navy and aviation; semaphore and traffic light lenses, lamp glass, and battery vessels were manufactured. The 40s were a very important period in the history of the plant, when the first government order for the production of ruby ​​glass for Kremlin stars was honorably fulfilled. In 1946, the task was completed successfully. In the 50-60s, cutting glass products with gold, enamel, chandelier, and silicate paints became widespread at the plant. Products made from two- or three-layer glass were also produced. But Krasnomaysk is especially famous for its sulfide glass, which is not without reason called the “Russian miracle” for its inexhaustible richness of color. And it is also called so for its exceptional property of changing color depending on the temperature and duration of processing, which gives the mass product a unique uniqueness. This material was mastered by the plant in 1959, “RED MAY” was, in essence, the only enterprise not only in our country, but throughout the world, where sulfide glass was established as an indispensable glass in the plant’s assortment.

It turns out that kerosene lamps can be like this:

In general, I was amazed by the variety of shapes and colors, and all this glass was in the skillful hands of craftsmen. Here are some more interesting exhibits:
Funny boot:

Abstract vase:

Olympic bear on a decanter)))
Interesting abstract idea by the artist:

Green glass bouquet:
Jug:

Unusual pumpkins)))
What a blessed material glass is in the hands of a master. The flowers are very similar to real, very graceful petals:

This exhibit interested me because... I was born in 1981)))

Petition to the Tver governor for the construction of the plant:

Unfortunately, the photographs were without captions... like all the exhibits in the museum.

This is how the ancient documents and photographs are located (glued to the stand, and the stand is removed behind the exhibits against the wall):

Model of a furnace for melting sand into glass:
In fact, there are a lot of photographs, and anyone interested can go to my Yandex photos page.

Having photographed enough, I decided not to detain Svetlana any longer. Together we went to the entrance, where she said that she was in such a hurry that she forgot to take the fee for visiting. At first I was wary, but when they told me the amount of 30 rubles, I relaxed, because taking a bunch of interesting photographs definitely costs more. This was the end of my trip to the museum. I complain that I forgot to photograph the very inscription on the building “Museum of the Factory”.
The visit to the museum left a mixed impression. On the one hand - admiration for the work, on the other - the depressing state of the plant itself, and the futility of this museum. Upon arrival home, I found out that the plant was put up for sale for 152 million rubles (or $5.72 million). As follows from the text accompanying the announcement: the buildings and equipment are of no value or interest and are subject to demolition. The infrastructure is of interest: ease of access, its own railway line, electricity and gas power. That is, it is interesting for those who decide to build a factory on this territory from scratch.

Here's what we learned about the museum's prospects: The new St. Petersburg owners of the plant tried to take the collection to St. Petersburg. And apparently they wanted to “push” the exhibits from the auction, but so far the indignant people and the local press have prevented it. Details in

On the way back we stopped at this strange place. They didn’t want to let us in here for a long time, but the guide somehow talked the necessary talk out of us. This is the village of Krasnomaysky and the museum of the now former glass factory.

The administration building was built in the Soviet Union, but the plant itself has existed since 1859. True, it began as a chemical plant. The first owner, Moscow titular councilor Samarin, did not find funds for development and sold the entire production to the Vyshnevolotsk merchants Bolotin. In 1873, the first furnace for melting glass was built. Even then, colored glass became the calling card of the plant. And this is a fragment of the factory fence.


The plant was nationalized in the 20s of the twentieth century and has successfully developed to this day. There is probably no need to explain what happened next. The area is now desolate and in ruins.


During Soviet times, a museum of the plant was opened in a separate building on the territory. It still exists today, in a preserved and frozen state. There is no heating and a strange feeling of time standing still. An exclusion zone like Chernobyl. It was as if everything had stopped at once.

By the way, there is a huge collection here. Even the museum in Gus Khrustalny is not so impressive. These are all industrial designs, but there are also original works.


Also mass production. Familiar lampshades, no?


And further. But the grille is the author’s, I don’t remember whether it was an exhibition or a graduation work.

The plant was one of the largest enterprises in the country and produced almost 80% of all glassware sold at that time.


Few people know this, but even the ruby ​​glass of the Kremlin stars was welded here at the Red May plant! And these are the very first samples of products, dating back to the time of the Bolotin merchants.


And that too.


The plant already specialized in creating lampshades for lamps.

What I never understood was the creation of such compositions. Either a vase or a lamp.

And these are already original works. The plant became especially famous for its sulfide glass, which was called the “Russian miracle”. This glass changes color depending on the temperature and processing time.


And now about stopped time. Explanations for the exhibits are typed.

The museum occupies the entire second floor of the building. The entire exhibition is also from those times.


Pieces of this same glass.

And after all, these are all original works! That is, not just a typical vase, but a whole composition, where all the objects are in one single copy.


Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the names of the artists.


But this is the same creativity. Only now no one sees him.


Specialization in lampshades and lamps did not go away during Soviet times.

I just don’t remember what they gave to the party congress.

And what about dear Leonid Ilyich)) But some of these lamps still stand in the Kremlin. It seems like these are the ones after all.

A lot of vases. All are non-standard and good in their own right.


But I found the author of this work. "Rodnichok" Sergei Konoplev 1974. It was a massive series, you can probably even find copies.


More vases. I think they look best together.


I wonder what that distant composition is called?)


I like these snowy green ones.

Another interesting thing is glass flowers. There are white ones here.

And here they are green.


Giraffe vases.

Since it turned out to be a lot, I will make a second part.

One of the places that you should definitely visit when arriving in Vyshny Volochyok is the glass museum of the Krasny May factory. The same factory, whose products were known far beyond the borders of our country and where the ruby ​​stars were made, which to this day adorn the five towers of the Moscow Kremlin.

I already wrote about the factory museum about two years ago in the article “Red May: from ruby ​​to ruins.” The museum was then located in a dilapidated, unheated building with a leaking roof on the territory of the plant, the buildings of which by that time had been in ruins for more than ten years. A little more - and it seemed that the unique collection would disappear forever after the glass melting furnaces. Fortunately, this did not happen. In August of this year, the updated museum opened at the address: M. Magomaev Street (formerly Vagzhanova), 17.

The building where it is located, like the museum itself, also has a complicated history. They began to build it back in the 80s of the last century for a new automatic telephone exchange (automatic telephone exchange), but then abandoned it - in an era of change there was no time for the development of telecommunications. For more than 20 years, the concrete box was empty, being used as, excuse me, a latrine for the sellers of the nearby mini-market. This continued until the site on which the long-term construction stood was purchased. The building was brought to life; the Pyaterochka supermarket was located on the ground floor, and the glass museum was located on the second. The museum is not state-owned, it is a private collection of the owner of the building, Vladimir Koloshva.

The building where the museum is located

Decorative set "Big Holiday"

"Red May" When you hear these two words, the first thing that comes to mind is the five ruby ​​stars on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Troitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers of the main Kremlin of Russia. On one of the museum’s stands you can see a fragment of the same four-layer glass from which the tops of the Kremlin towers are made. It's a pity - you can't pick it up to determine its mass. Stars with a ray span of 3 to 3.75 meters each weigh about a ton, so it is interesting how heavy a triangular piece with an area of ​​approximately 20-25 square centimeters will be.

On the right are fragments of four-layer glass for the Kremlin stars

In total, the hall displays more than four thousand exhibits - much more than was in the old building. The first thing that greets visitors is something without which there would be no stars, or even a simple cut glass - a glass furnace. More precisely, its layout and glassblower’s working tools. The museum guide can tell you in detail about the operating principle of the furnace and the temperature at which the glass mass is melted. Having familiarized ourselves with this, let’s move on directly to viewing the exhibition.

Napkin vases

In any museum, exhibits are usually arranged in the chronological order of their appearance. Here, too, the first three shelves display a collection of products manufactured at the plant back in the 19th century, when it was not yet “Red May”, but the Klyuchinsky plant of the merchant and industrialist Bolotin. Crystal dishes, church utensils, kerosene lamps. “It was these lamps, topped with thin light lampshades, that were awarded a gold medal at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition in Moscow in 1882,” the Krasnomaisky Glazier newspaper wrote in 1988. These were the first shoots of the future glory of local glassmakers. Another unique item of that time that is sure to attract attention is a jug with six compartments inside, separated by partitions. Moreover, these departments are completely isolated from each other and do not communicate with each other. The surname of the master who made this decanter is known - Arefiev. After him, no one else was able to create anything like this.

Miracle decanter by master Arefiev

“Honored Artist of the RSFSR V.Ya. Shevchenko combined extraordinary talent, broad professional erudition and a desire for experiment and discovery. He knew how to give sulfide glass a unique light-plastic interpretation, and discovered in the material the ability for powerful, even elemental expressiveness.” . This is an information certificate about Viktor Shevchenko (1935 - 2011) - a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, who worked at the Red May plant as a senior artist since 1975, and before that at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory. Decorative panels, lamps and other works by Shevchenko can be found in the Moscow Art Theater and the Central House of Artists. Also, his products were awarded first prize at the Quadriennale (an exhibition held once every four years - author's note) of applied art of socialist countries in Erfurt (GDR) in 1974 and 1978. Indeed, is it possible to indifferently pass by such compositions of handmade (handmade, piece) work as “Emerald Surface”, “Tumbleweeds”, “Trees to Grow”, or “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”? A broken piece of one of the “helmets” of the Lay is the result of careless handling; the work was in this form in the old museum.

Collection of works by Viktor Shevchenko

"Tumbleweed"

On the left - “Trees to Grow” and “Emerald Surface”

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

“Konoplev’s works made of colored and sulfide glass are distinguished by intricate stucco decoration - a free cascade of sparkling flows as if the pliable glass has not yet cooled down. Decorative vases “Sea Surf”, “Waterfall”, “Birch Trees”, “Hot Snow” are marked by that special integrity of the decorative image characteristic of thickened glass, when the material, shape and color are fused by the skillful hand of the artist into an indissoluble unity.”. Sergei Konoplev is a hereditary glassmaker, his grandfather, about whom legends were made, worked for the Bolotins. Konoplyov himself started as a blower at a factory, and later, after graduating from the Moscow Higher Art and Industrial School (now the Moscow State Art and Industrial Academy named after S. G. Stroganov), he became an artist. Other works by the author with romantic titles include “Golden Autumn”, “Escapes”, “Russian Patterns”.

Collection of Sergei Konoplev

"Tidal bore"

"Twilight"

"Russian patterns"

"Gold autumn"

Sulfide (sulfide-zinc) glass, obtained by adding iron oxide and zinc sulfide to the glass mass, with which Shevchenko, Konoplev and other Vyshnevolotsk artists worked, along with crystal and ruby, was one of the calling cards of the plant. Not just a business card, Red May became perhaps the only enterprise in the world where sulfide glass was used as an indispensable attribute of the factory assortment. Due to its rich color range, depending on the processing conditions, it was called the Russian miracle, which was confirmed by many years of practice. However, all these products are unique, exhibition items. No less interesting are the products that were produced en masse - decanters, tableware, lampshades, electric souvenirs stylized as Bolotino “kerosene stoves”.

The museum’s collection also includes gift items from “Red May”. More precisely, their smaller copies. For example, a copy of a crystal vase given to the first cosmonaut of the planet, Yuri Gagarin. I think it’s not that difficult to guess what the vase is called. That's right, "Stars". Or the decorative composition “Peace” (author - Lyudmila Kuchinskaya), made for the next congress of the CPSU. And here is a floor lamp made of openwork metal framed with crystal, reminiscent of a candlestick. Exactly the same, as the guide assures, only in larger sizes, was presented to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev on his 70th birthday.

On the right - "Stars"

Such a wonderful story about the Kremlin stars, and the plant at which they were made, their glass part, to be more precise, was written by Mikhail Letuev - nord_traveller . Due to a little confusion and a glitch in LiveJournal, the authorship was initially indicated incorrectly. Now I'm fixing it. Here is a link to the original post - Part 1. Say a word about the Kremlin stars. And there is another continuation, no less interesting - Part 2. Is it too late for us to stop? .

Tver region Vyshny Volochek village Red May, Glass Factory - where the Kremlin stars were made.


The coming year could be marked by two dates - albeit not jubilees, but significant in their own way: the 157th anniversary of the founding of a chemical plant near Vyshny Volochok and the 87th anniversary of the day when this plant received its last name, under which it is all they know - “Red May”. They knew. Today, instead of a unique enterprise, once famous for its crystal, there are only ruins. However, there is also a round date - exactly 70 years ago, stars made of glass made at Red May shone over the Moscow Kremlin. Once upon a time the plant was famous throughout the USSR. Still would! “The Kremlin stars, made by the hands of Krasnomaysk craftsmen, shine over the entire country,” I read from a 1988 guidebook. Of course, not entirely: the ruby ​​tops of the tower spiers are a complex engineering structure, on the creation of which dozens of enterprises and research institutes worked. But the laminated glass manufactured at Krasny May is far from the last part of this structure. Therefore, the words of almost thirty years ago, despite the pathos, are close to the truth. What remains of that pride? Destroyed workshops that are unlikely to ever be rebuilt. Yes, a museum that survives on nothing more than a word of honor. A few kilometers from Vyshny Volochyok towards St. Petersburg is the village of Krasnomaysky. True, local residents do not call it that; this toponym exists only in official documents. “I’ll go to Red May”, “I live on Red May” - when people say this, they mean the village, not the plant. In the middle of the 19th century, there was the village of Klyuchino, where in 1859 the future flagship of the glass industry arose. First as a chemical. Its first owner, titular councilor Samarin, did not have enough funds for further development of production, and three years later the plant was bought by the merchant of the second guild, Andrei Bolotin, who soon built a glass factory in its place. Later, he founded another plant on the territory of the current Vyshnevolotsky district - Borisovsky (now - OJSC Medsteklo Borisovskoe). The first glass melting furnace at the Klyuchinsky plant was launched by the merchant and founder of the Bolotin dynasty of glassmakers in 1873. Also, at the expense of the plant’s owners, a workers’ settlement, quite comfortable by the standards of that time, was built.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Klyuchinsky plant produced glass pharmaceutical, tableware and confectionery dishes, kerosene lamps, lampshades, fulfilling orders from almost all parts of the empire. Soon the October Revolution broke out, the plant was nationalized and in 1929 received the name “Red May”. A village of 5 thousand inhabitants grew up around the enterprise with a hospital, school, music school, and a vocational school, which trained, in addition to specialist glassmakers, tractor drivers and auto mechanics. Much was written about “Red May” in the regional and central press. Let us remember what newspapers and magazines were talking about then and compare all this with the current remnants of former greatness. “When you look at the Kremlin stars, it seems as if from time immemorial they have been crowning pointed towers: so organic is their flame in unity with the beautiful monument of Russian architecture, so Moreover, the natural inseparability of two symbols in our minds is the heart of the Motherland and the five-pointed star” (“Pravda”, 1985). It just so happened that when we say “Red May,” we mean five ruby ​​finials. And vice versa. That’s why I want to start my story from this page. Moreover, the Vyshnevolotsk stars, which now decorate the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity and Vodovzvodnaya towers of the Kremlin, were not the first. For the first time, five-pointed stars replaced the symbol of autocratic Russia - double-headed eagles - in the fall of 1935. They were made of high-alloy stainless steel and red copper, with a gold-plated hammer and sickle in the center of each star. However, the first stars did not decorate the Kremlin towers for long. Firstly, they quickly faded under the influence of precipitation, and secondly, in the overall composition of the Kremlin they looked rather ridiculous and disturbed the architectural ensemble. Therefore, it was decided to install ruby ​​luminous stars.

New tops appeared on November 2, 1937. Each of them could rotate like a weather vane and had a frame in the form of a multifaceted pyramid. The order for the production of ruby ​​glass was received by the Avtosteklo plant in the city of Konstantinovka in the Donbass. It had to transmit red rays of a certain wavelength, be mechanically strong, resistant to sudden temperature changes, and not discolor or be destroyed by exposure to solar radiation. The glazing of the stars was double: the inner layer consisted of milky (matte, dull white) glass 2 mm thick, thanks to which the light from the lamp was scattered evenly over the entire surface, and the outer layer was made of ruby ​​6-7 mm. Each star weighed about a ton, with a surface area of ​​8 to 9 square meters.

During the Great Patriotic War, the stars were extinguished and covered up. When they were reopened after the Victory, multiple cracks and traces of shell fragments were discovered on the ruby ​​surface. Restoration was needed. This time, the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May” was entrusted with the task of making glass. The local craftsmen made it four layers: transparent crystal at the bottom, then frosted glass, again crystal and, finally, ruby. This is necessary so that the star is the same color both during the day in sunlight and at night, illuminated from the inside. “The ruby ​​stars manufactured at the Konstantinovsky plant did not fulfill the task set by the designers. A double layer of glass - milky and ruby ​​- did not make it possible to preserve the bright color of the stars. Dust accumulated between the layers. And by that time, laminated glass was produced, in my opinion, only at Krasny May (Kalininskaya Pravda, 1987). “I think that readers will be interested to know how prototypes of star glass were made. To make a multilayer ruby ​​for just one star, 32 tons of high-quality Lyubertsy sand, 3 tons of zinc muffle white, 1.5 tons of boric acid, 16 tons of soda ash, 3 tons of potash, 1.5 tons of potassium nitrate were required" ("Yunost", 1981). The renewed stars began to shine in 1946. And they still shine, despite calls from some public figures to replace them with eagles again. The next reconstruction of the ruby ​​“luminaries” was in 1974, and again Krasnomaysk craftsmen took part in it. Despite the existing experience, the cooking technology had to be created, as they say, from scratch: archival documents from which the “recipe” could be restored have not been preserved.

It must be said that in 2010, a lot was written about the 75th anniversary of the first Kremlin stars in the central media, but the contribution of “Red May” was never mentioned anywhere. Not in 1996, when the plant was still working, at the very least, despite the fact that they began to pay out salaries in vases and wine glasses. Not in 2006 - at least to catch up with the already departed train...

“Yesterday, a batch of parts made of colorless and milky glass for lighting fixtures at the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky was sent from the Vyshnevolotsk “Red May” plant. It was not easy for glassmakers to repeat the bizarre shapes of ancient chandeliers and sconces that have been illuminating the halls of this musical educational institution for more than a hundred years” (Kalininskaya Pravda, 1983). “Several years ago, the craftsmen of the Vyshnevolotsk glass factory “Red May”, at the request of Bulgarian friends, made ruby ​​glass for the friendship memorial built on the famous Shipka. And here is a new order from Bulgaria - to make four-layer glass for the star that will crown the Party House in Sofia. The teams of craftsmen N. Ermakov, A. Kuznetsov, N. Nasonov and A. Bobovnikov were entrusted with executing the export order” (“Pravda”, 1986). “A beautiful garden village with asphalt roads, comfortable cottage houses, a club, a school and other public buildings, with a factory-garden in the center, from where almost two thousand items of products are distributed all over the world” (“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1959) . “Yesterday, a joyful message came from Moscow to GPTU-24 of the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May”. By the resolution of the Main Exhibition Committee of VDNKh of the USSR, vocational training masters T. Orlova and T. Shamrina were awarded bronze medals for the development and participation in the production of the “Jubilee” and “Cup” vases presented at the All-Union Review of Artistic Works of Vocational Schools. And students Irina Yarosh and Eduard Vedernikov were awarded the medal “Young Participant of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of the USSR” (“Kalininskaya Pravda”, 1983). For comparison. The garden village is an ordinary outlying village, of which there are thousands. It doesn’t seem to be abandoned, but there’s also no hint of being well-groomed. The cottage houses are apparently wooden two-story barracks that still have cesspools. The factory-garden now has pipes rising above the ruins of the workshops, a rusty honor board, like a ghost from the past. On the territory itself there is some small business: car repair, warehouses. In the former factory premises there was not even any old furniture left, only heaps of construction waste. The railway line, with the exception of a few sections, has been almost completely dismantled. GPTU also keeps up with the times. Back in the mid-2000s, the specialty of tractor driver, once the most popular among teenagers, was closed there. And not the most hopeless one in life. Is there really no need for tractor drivers anymore? Naturally, there are no blowers or glass grinders either. “A glass is a seemingly simple product, but its manufacture requires great skill. The glassmakers of the Vyshnevolotsk plant “Red May” are fluent in this skill. Two types of glasses produced here in millions of copies have been awarded the State Quality Mark. A vase for berries, a rosette for jam, and an ashtray made of zinc sulfide glass received the same high praise” (“Soviet Russia”, 1975). In the workshops of the plant, by the way, the third largest after similar ones in Gus-Khrustalny and Dyatkovo, not only crystal products and ruby ​​stars were produced.