📌 Across Russia, and especially around the capitals—Petersburg and Moscow—the mansions of former noble estates are scattered. The most beautiful and famous among them are now museums, such as Kuskovo, the estate of the Sheremetev family; Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoy’s estate; Abramtsevo, where writer Sergei Aksakov and later industrialist and philantropist Savva Mamontov lived; and many others. Other estates have been transformed into hospitals, scientific and other institutions.

Today we'd like to tell about one such estate, Cheremushki. It is now in sprawling Moscow, but in the 18th century, when the estate was established, it was close to the town but outside. Its first owner was Prince Golitsyn. Later it was purchased by Sergei Menshikov, the grandson of the famous confidant of Peter the Great. On August 28, 1749, Empress Elizabeth visited this estate. A record was made in the court journal:
Her Imperial Majesty deigned to walk to Vorobyovy Gory (the high bank of the Moskva river – C.R.), where They were pleased to dine in the arranged tents. After that They deigned to proceed to the village of Chernomoshye to Major General Prince Golitsyn, where They were pleased to have the evening meal. They arrived at the palace at the first hour after midnight.

Today, the estate grounds host the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics. In 1949, a nuclear reactor with a heavy-water neutron moderator was built there as an alternative to the reactor built earlier at the Kurchatov Institute with graphite as a moderator. Later, ITEP engaged in fundamental research in particle physics. A proton accelerator was built. A large theoretical department arose. From the sixties to the eighties of the last century, ITEP, alongside CERN in Geneva, was one of the two largest and strongest world centers for particle physics.

After Perestroika, many eminent scientists left ITEP and settled in the West. But the baton was taken up by the younger generation, and ITEP remains one of Russia’s leading physics institutes. 🔥🔥🔥

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