petrovsky creek

1. Petrovsky stream. Water
2. Why the stream was called Petrovsky
3. Petrovsky stream. Our days
4. Petrovsky stream. Bath and chapel
5. Petrovsky stream. How to get from Moscow

Petrovsky Creek, which I will talk about, is located in the Kaluga region, in a forest ravine between two villages, and Sparrows, Zhukovsky (Ugodsko-Zavodsky) district. This is a small channel that flows out of the steep slope of the ravine, like, runs along the bottom of the ravine and flows into the Istye River after three hundred meters. Petrovsky Creek - that's what this key has always been called. The expressions Petrov creek, Petrovsky spring or Petrov spring have never been used in local toponymy.
- Are you far away? adults asked the children.
- No, we are to Petrovsky Creek and back - we answered our parents.
Or:
- What are you bored with? Have all things been done? Well, get to Petrovsky Creek, unwind, - the elders sometimes told us.
But they never sent us to Petrovsky Creek specifically for water.

Petrovsky stream. Water

I don't know if the analysis of water from the Petrovsky creek has ever been carried out. Unlikely. But the water from the stream has never been given any special life-giving properties. Water and water. There was another unnamed spring in our village. That key was ennobled like a well with concrete walls, a gable roof was built over it. We went there for spring water. Petrovsky Creek is located far from our Istya. Halfway to the neighboring village of Sparrows.

Those who went to work or on business from one village to another drank water from it. Yes, and the children, riding bicycles, often ran to the stream to drink cold spring water. Not so much to quench your thirst, but out of entertainment.

Why the stream was called Petrovsky

From time immemorial, the belief has been passed from mouth to mouth in the village that the first Russian emperor Peter the Great personally came to, stopped along the way at the key and drank water from it. From that they called the stream Petrovsky.
Belief has a fairly good historical basis - after all, in our places at the end of the 17th century, ironworks were opened, one of them - on. The made utensils were conveniently fused along in. True, in the third quarter of the 18th century, all production was closed. Only the foundations of the old factory have survived to this day, and even those have sunk deep into the ground. If you do not know where they are, you will never guess about their existence. Therefore, the villagers firmly believed that the foot of Peter Alekseevich stepped on our land, kept this faith, passed it on to their descendants, and the name of the stream served as proof.

Petrovsky stream. Our days

For a long time I have heard that now there is a home-grown cult of Petrovsky Creek. The water from the spring is given a certain life-giving force. The place where the spring flows from was ennobled, a bath was built. Many local summer residents specially go to the stream for water. It is considered healing and very useful.
I will neither confirm nor deny this, I do not know. I repeat once again that the indigenous villagers did not experience much reverence for this water.

But that was before. And now?
I haven't been to Petrovsky Creek for a long time. Plemyash Fedya persuaded me to break away from the garden for an hour and “drive on bikes” to Petrovsky Creek. If I myself accidentally came across the current Petrovsky Creek, I would not immediately guess what kind of place it was. A convenient staircase leads to the ravine.


The key is enclosed in a pipe, it is convenient to take water from it.


A wooden bathhouse and a chapel were built nearby.

Petrovsky stream. Bath and chapel

The chapel by the stream is quite small, like a toy.



But there is a real door in it, you can light a candle, and pray for the icons, and leave donations.


At the entrance to the bath there is an icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.


There is a note from the newspaper. Disappointed that the name of the place is completely wrong. Not Petrov, but Petrovsky spring.


There is a font next to it,

above it is an Orthodox cross.

The water in the font comes running, from a spring.


There is a drain in the stream.
On the wall next to the font are hung icons of the Savior, the image of the Mother of God of the Seven Arrows, the Holy Matrona of Moscow, the text of the song about the spring and the tale about Christ and the Samaritan Woman.


Quiet and peaceful all around. So I would have plunged into clean water, but I was afraid of the cold. And the nephew went into the font knee-deep. Yes, I could not stand it in cold water for a long time.
- Tan, take pictures quickly, it's cold!


Fedya and I drank some water, took some with us.


Read what was written in the newspaper article. Already in the first lines I found a gross mistake - Istya has never been a village, this is a village. There is nothing new after that either. Only again it is asserted that the water is healing. Yes, the second version of the origin of the name of the spring is given. Allegedly, in ancient times, a hermit named Peter lived in these places and healed with water from a spring. I have never heard such a legend. And I also don’t know the name of the guide who brought the journalists to the Petrovsky Creek, most likely, she is not from Istya, but from Vorobyov. I don't believe in these stories. But if you want, read for yourself.

And it's time for Fedya and me to go home. Here's just a little order. For a long time, apparently, no one cleaned the bath. Rain, wind brought debris, we will sweep it off the floor.


And we'll go home. Through the forest, through the field, into ours.

Petrovsky stream. How to get from Moscow

If you don't have a car, then getting to the stream is difficult. It's easier with a car. From Moscow you need to go south along the A 101 highway, popularly called Kaluzhka or Kaluga highway. On the 94th km of the route is the village of Sparrows. As soon as we entered the village, we passed the sign "Sparrows", turn left, onto a narrow concrete road.