Rodovid Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The genus of the fat




Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, a Russian count, philosopher, publicist and classic of literature, died 100 years ago. On November 10 (new style), he secretly left his Yasnaya Polyana estate from his family and, accompanied by family doctor Dusan Petrovich Makovitsky, went to the nearby railway station Kozlov Zasek to start a new life. On the way, Tolstoy fell ill with pneumonia. He was forced to stop at the small Astapovo station, where he died on November 20. Izvestia columnist Natalya Kochetkova talked with the most popular descendants of Leo Tolstoy in Russia - great-great-grandchildren Fekla, Peter and Vladimir.

Fekla (Anna) Nikitichna Tolstaya (on the family tree No. 112), great-great-granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy, was born on February 27, 1971, graduated from the philological faculty of Moscow State University and the directing faculty of GITIS. TV and radio host. Currently works at the radio station "Silver Rain" and prepares a number of documentary projects

Petr Olegovich Tolstoy (on the genealogical tree No. 114), great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy, was born on June 20, 1969, graduated from the international department of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University and the Higher School for Training Journalists in Paris. Host of the program "Sunday" Vremya ("Channel One")

Vladimir Ilyich Tolstoy (on the family tree No. 116), great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy, was born on September 28, 1962, graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. Since 1994 - Director of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum

Fyokla Tolstaya: Talking about Tolstoy caused me to panic

news: What do you expect from the celebrations of the centenary of the death of your famous ancestor?

fekla thick: Nothing. I'm not an official of the Ministry of Culture. And I think that Lev Nikolaevich did not expect anything either from the celebration of his birthday, much less from such anniversaries. One can only expect that the century of Tolstoy's departure and death will serve as an occasion to turn to his ideas, to think about what has changed over the past century. If we talk about family matters, then this year we were going to the next big Tolstoy congress in Yasnaya Polyana ...

and: This is where about a hundred descendants of Lev Nikolaevich are going?

thick: More than a hundred. In general, there are more of us, but whoever can, comes. We all, of course, understood that this year was special. Particular attention was paid to what happened 100 years ago. We went to the Astapovo station, where Tolstoy died, watched even before the Russian premiere "The Last Sunday", a Hollywood picture about the last year of Tolstoy's life and his relationship in the family. There, the wife of Lev Nikolaevich Sofya Andreevna is beautifully played by Helen Mirren.

and: And what, do you all realize that you are, to some extent, the custodians of a certain cultural heritage?

thick: I don't feel like a custodian of cultural heritage. I am a grateful and happy person who was lucky to be born into a big friendly family. My relatives are not trivial people, witty, bright, passionate, addicted. I was just lucky in life.

and: It is customary to talk about love for Tolstoy, but how can you feel a feeling for a person whom none of the living Tolstoy has ever met?

thick: Probably, we all treat him differently. I received a standard Soviet school education and "passed" Tolstoy at school, at the university. But this does not interfere with a different attitude towards Lev Nikolaevich, which has developed from family stories, memoirs, does not interfere with treating him like a grandfather.

I also met Tolstoy's grandchildren, some of whom I knew well. What was happening then in Yasnaya Polyana: the departure of Tolstoy, the split in the Tolstoy family, the children who supported the mother, the youngest daughter who supported the father in his ideological quests, in his departure in 1910 - these were all events and their lives, all this directly influenced them, where they ended up, what they did, how they lived, what they thought. Almost all of them ended up in emigration after the revolution. And their children, our parents, it also affected. We are probably the first generation that can treat the events of a century ago as history.

and: And when you "passed" Tolstoy at school, did you read him as a classic of Russian literature or as a great-great-grandfather?

thick: Growing up, I realized that my relationship with Tolstoy somehow stupidly shut Lev Nikolaevich away from me, I was always shy and avoided this topic. If I could not write an essay about Lev Nikolaevich, I, of course, tried not to. I believed that as a great-great-granddaughter, there would be a special demand from me. While still at the university, I had to take Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century. The need to talk about Tolstoy caused me panic, it seemed to me that I knew nothing. The crisis reached the point that my friend, who knows Russian literature of the 19th century brilliantly, retold me the content of "War and Peace" the night before the exam. Now I remember it funny and embarrassing. It is a pity for the nerves and the time that was lost. When I began to read Lev Nikolaevich without any obligations to the examiner and without the need to answer for my kinship, I began to do this with great joy, respect and the realization of what a brilliant and magnificent master he is. Just appreciate and have fun.

and: When did this time come?

thick: Yes, almost after university. I remember a wonderful time when I once arrived in Yasnaya Polyana in August and read War and Peace. When you come to the descriptions of the Bald Mountains, which are copied from Yasnaya Polyana, when you read and at the same time see everything that is described, and breathe the same air and rise with a book along the same Preshpekt along which Prince Andrey climbed to his estate, it makes a much bigger impression.

and: How did you begin to perceive it? What is your Tolstoy?

thick: I am a fairly ordinary reader, I treat Lev Nikolaevich with great respect, interest and a desire to understand him. I think that, despite Tolstoy's somewhat categorical nature (which, incidentally, is justified, because he was just as demanding of himself), he first of all left us unanswered questions: how to live? what is happiness? how to build a family life? I don't think he found obvious answers during his search. He questioned everything and could not say: Yes, I know how it should be. And each person answers these questions in his own way. You just have to ask yourself.

Pyotr Tolstoy: How is it: you are Tolstoy, but you spat on the ground - it's not serious

news: They say you keep the Tolstoy ring - a family heirloom that is passed from father to son ...

Peter Tolstoy: Indeed, there is such a ring on which the coat of arms of the Tolstoys is depicted. In the Tolstoy family, he was passed on to the eldest in the male line. He came to me from Fyokla's father, Nikita Ilyich. Such a beautiful ring. But his story is rather dark: there were several such rings. This one, as far as I know, belonged to Lev Nikolayevich's grandfather, then to his father, then to his older brother, then passed to our part of the family. It turns out that its history can be traced back to somewhere in the 18th century.

and: What is its purpose?

thick: This is a signet - a gold ring with agate, on which the family coat of arms is carved. On the coat of arms there is a noble shield, two greyhounds, the Constantinople tower, which recalls the moment when Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy was granted the title of count (he was the ambassador to Constantinople), a lot of all kinds of symbols that specialists in heraldry will probably easily describe. In those days, any noble family had a signet ring with the family coat of arms. They were fastened with wax seals. In modern terms, it was such an electronic signature.

and: If we talk about the searches of Leo Tolstoy, how much are his descendants "Tolstoyans"?

thick: Tolstoy and "Tolstoyans" are completely different things. What Tolstoy thought about as a person, as a great writer and outstanding philosopher, the "Tolstoyans" turned into a sect. Unfortunately, we can still see traces of this sectarianism. I have an extremely negative attitude to this, I consider it a booth. Unfortunately, a booth with a rather tragic history, because it was all these "Tolstoyans" led by Vladimir Chertkov (a close friend of Tolstoy, editor and publisher of his works - Izvestia) provoked Tolstoy's departure from Yasnaya Polyana and contributed to a deep rift between his family and his followers, who were largely superficial, less cultured, and who took everything Tolstoy spoke about literally as a guide to action.

There is a story when, sitting on the veranda in Yasnaya Polyana, Lev Nikolaevich killed a mosquito, and Chertkov cried out: "What are you doing? This is murder!"

and: Tolstoy was interpreted differently at different times: during his lifetime, in Soviet times, post-Soviet ...

thick: And there was no post-Soviet Tolstoy. I'll tell you this: there was an attitude towards Tolstoy during his lifetime as a guru, to whom walkers from all over Russia came. In Soviet times, he was a "mirror of the Russian revolution," but the revolution wiped out all his descendants, not disdaining anything in order to squeeze them abroad. And there is no post-Soviet understanding for the simple reason that modern society is not even partly ready to speak this language. This society is thinking about how to buy a car on credit, upgrade a refrigerator, and take a weekend trip to the megamall. And to think about some of Tolstoy's philosophical ideas - and not in thoughts. It would be nice to start approaching Tolstoy not with philosophy, but with literature, re-read War and Peace ...

and: Now, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Tolstoy's death, a book by Pavel Basinsky has been published ...

thick: Yes, a very good book. But if we compare, for example, the 100th anniversary of the death of Tolstoy with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Pushkin, then remember how much everything came out about Pushkin and what happened. The disproportion is glaring.

and: A few days ago the Hollywood film "The Last Resurrection" was released with Helen Mirren in the role of Sophia Andreevna - what's not the scale?

thick: Does it surprise you that on the 100th anniversary of Tolstoy's death the only film about Tolstoy is being released in Hollywood? Is it done by a German producer, but nothing happens in Russia? The position of today's Ministry of Culture is this: "we do not celebrate death." This is fine? In my opinion, no. So today there is no one to have a serious conversation about Tolstoy with.

Also, I've seen this Hollywood movie. It's not just a cranberry - it's a mindless cranberry. The actors are wonderful, and the film itself has nothing to do with Tolstoy, or his family, or Yasnaya Polyana, or the understanding of the Russian people.

and: The celebration of the 200th anniversary of Pushkin's birth resulted in something not very meaningful: Pushkin was on every candy box. Do you want the same thing to happen to Tolstoy?

thick: I am for a sense of proportion. You see, Lev Nikolaevich does not care how the 100th anniversary of his death will be celebrated. This is important for the people who live today. But if it doesn't matter to today's people, it's a pity. But I'm not saying that he should look from every candy box, I agree with you. When Pushkin is turned into an object of mass culture, kitsch, nothing remains of this except "our everything". God willing, this will not happen to Tolstoy. Although if you now ask a Frenchman, American or Italian about Russian writers, they will tell you two or three surnames, no more, and Tolstoy will be among them.

and: It turns out that Tolstoy in Russia is untimely, irrelevant now ...

thick: Not in demand. Relevant is a non-relational concept. More precisely unclaimed. People don't need it today, because they have other problems. A different way of life, a different way of thinking is imposed on them. That is why they say about Tolstoy that he is a classic? Not because he wrote thick books, as some think. And because, reading these books, one can find answers to questions that torment everyone: why live? Why so and not otherwise? About the relationship between a man and a woman. There are eternal themes on which Tolstoy reflected in his works of art.

and: You for yourself the answers to the questions "why live and what is the relationship between a man and a woman" from Tolstoy received?

thick: I'm looking for.

and: When did you start looking? After all, reading the classics at school is almost useless - it is written for adults.

thick: Complex issue. I perceive Tolstoy primarily not as a great writer of the Russian land, but as a great-great-grandfather. At least when I was little, I perceived him that way. Then as a writer, then as a philosopher. I probably started reading it "for myself" closer to 30. Therefore, it is a pity that communication with Tolstoy for the majority ends in the 9th grade of high school.

and: What exactly touched you in Tolstoy's texts?

thick: I read Hadji Murad differently, began to understand in a different way what Lev Nikolaevich wrote about in the Kreutzer Sonata ...

and: And how did they begin to understand this? This is one of the most unacceptable texts for most readers.

thick: This is a personal question for everyone. You just need to re-read this text and get new impressions. This affects everyone in their own way.

and: How did it hurt you?

thick: For a living.

and: And what about his religious beliefs? ..

thick: The relationship of a person with God, religion, church is different for each person. This is what each person, living life, is responsible for personally. Therefore, I have no right to judge Lev Nikolaevich, and I do not share his religious views.

and: How do you live with the surname Tolstoy? Is it a burden, pride, responsibility?

thick: Even without regard to Leo Tolstoy, bearing this name is a responsibility. We all try to carry it to the best of our ability. "How so: you are Tolstoy, but you spat on the ground - it is not serious." It's all expressed in the little things. They ask me: "Are you a relative, not a relative?" Traffic cops especially love ...

and: Clarify which Tolstoy?

thick: They don't care.

Vladimir Tolstoy: When I first entered Tolstoy's house, I thought I was deceived

news: As far as I know, before you became the director of Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's descendants had a tense relationship with the museum ...

Vladimir Tolstoy: This mostly concerned Nikita Ilyich Tolstoy, Fyokla's father. My father also had a difficult relationship with the museum, but he still did not enter into open confrontations, and in my childhood, adolescence and youth I came to Yasnaya Polyana with my parents. But these were more formal visits than what is happening now.

The fact is that there are two directions among the people who are professionally engaged in Tolstoy. The first are those who relate to Tolstoy from the standpoint of Chertkov. The second are those who hold views close to the Tolstoy family. This confrontation arose in the last years of Lev Nikolaevich's life and, to some extent, still exists today.

The "Chertkovites" humiliated and insulted Sofya Andreevna in every possible way, tried to belittle her role in the life of Lev Nikolaevich, in the creation of the Yasnaya Polyana museum, the quality and dignity of Lev Nikolaevich's children. And there was the position of the family, which tried to protect their honor and dignity. But this was not only a personal conflict between Chertkov as Tolstoy's closest friend and follower and Sofya Andreevna. It was also an ideological conflict. "Chertkovites" love the dead great Leo more, and for us the living Tolstoy, young, different, is more important. On this basis, disagreements took place between family members and those people who officially headed the Yasnaya Polyana Museum.

and: How did you manage to make Yasnaya Polyana more Tolstoy than Cherkov?

thick: The museum has really changed over the past 16 years. In addition, there were such disagreements within the museum staff. It seemed to me that I managed to remove them, but some people who have worked in the museum for more than 20 years still have deep contradictions.

Outwardly, these changes were most clearly manifested in the appearance of Tolstoy's house. In the early 1990s, it was a rather gloomy space: the windows are covered with dense curtains, through which no light penetrates. In general, this was done for museum reasons - so that the light would not spoil the photographs, books, and interior items hanging on the walls. The furniture was covered with covers - again, in order to preserve all this for a longer time. Since the post-war period, wooden surfaces have been painted over with dark brown paint (previously, such desks were painted in schools). Everything is very gloomy.

I remember my first childhood sensations. I came to Yasnaya after reading the memoirs of my great-grandfather Ilya Lvovich Tolstoy and sister Sofia Andreevna - Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya. In one and another book, Yasnaya Polyana appears as a magical joyful place - sunny, filled with light. And when I entered Tolstoy's house for the first time, I thought that something was wrong. That I was deceived: either something was wrong in these memories, or something happened to the house itself. And from this mismatch of expectations was a terrible disappointment.

Therefore, the first thing we began to do in the mid-1990s was to open the windows, replacing the curtains with a special film that transmits light, but protects from infrared rays, removed the covers from the furniture, and for several years the restorers painstakingly removed layer after layer of brown paint from windows, railings, floors, stairs. And a transformation happened: the house began to come to life.

And it was also important for me to bring to Yasnaya a constant seething living life - so that it was not an official space for worshiping Tolstoy, but a place where creative people, musicians, writers, artists, actors, directors gladly go. Thirdly, this is the nature of the estate: gardens, forests, parks, bees, horses. It is important that this is not a theatrical and props, but an estate and economic one.

And fourth, it is important not to focus everything only on the central part of Yasnaya Polyana - a house, a grave, outbuildings, but to expand the Tolstoy's universe at the expense of other estates and estates that belonged to the Tolstoy. Over the years, Nikolsko-Vyazemskoye - the Tolsty family estate, Pirogovo, Pokrovskoye, which belonged to Sergei Nikolaevich and Marya Nikolaevna Tolstoy - Leo Nikolaevich's brother and sister - were added to Yasnaya Polyana - the station of Kozlova Zaseka, the city of Krapivna, Mansurovo, the estate that belonged to my father Lvovich in the Kaluga province. A kindergarten appeared in the village of Yasnaya Polyana ...

and: Do you still have a school?

thick: The school has always existed, and I had a great desire for it to enter this Yasnaya Polyana complex. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet.

The Tolstoy family

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, writer, author of the novels "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection", a number of stories, plays, short stories brought world fame to the Tolstoy family. The reader is familiar with the biography of Lev Nikolaevich from his school years, and we will not talk about him further. However, we note that the Tolstoy family gave several writers.

In the middle of the last century, Count Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was famous - the author of the story "Prince Silver", a dramatic trilogy about Ivan the Terrible and two subsequent tsars. Together with the brothers A.M. and V.M. Zhemchuzhnikov, he wrote parody-satirical works under the pseudonym Kozma Prutkov.

Half a century later, Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, a Soviet writer, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, author of the novels "Walking in agony", "Peter I", "Aelita", "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" and others, enjoyed no less fame after half a century.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Writers (but not so famous) were also Dmitry Nikolaevich, Mikhail Nikolaevich and Lev Lvovich Tolstoy.

Several of the Tolstoy counts were statesmen. Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy was the chief prosecutor of the Synod (a position equivalent to a ministerial one). He was a close friend of N. V. Gogol, in his house Gogol lived the last months of his life, where he burned the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls.

Dmitry Andreevich Tolstoy was also the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, then the Minister of Public Education (under Tsar Alexander II), Minister of Internal Affairs (under Tsar Alexander III). Ivan Matveyevich Tolstoy was the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs (under Tsar Nicholas I). Ivan Ivanovich Tolstoy was the Minister of Agriculture (under Tsar Nicholas II). Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, General of Infantry (second rank according to the Table of Ranks), was a member of the State Council.

Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy was the commissar-general (chief of the supply service). Alexander Petrovich and Andrei Andreevich Tolstoy rose in military service only to the rank of colonel (the sixth rank according to the Table of Ranks). And Fyodor Andreevich Tolstoy, being in the civil service, became a privy councilor (third rank according to the Table of Ranks).

Other Tolstoy found their vocation in other directions: Fyodor Petrovich - painter, sculptor and medalist, professor and vice-president of the Academy of Arts; Ivan Ivanovich - archaeologist and numismatist, vice-president of the Imperial Archaeological Society; Feofil Matveyevich - composer; Yuri Vasilievich is a historian, he was a vice-governor.

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov

All the representatives of the Tolstoy family listed above have lived quite a long time; it is appropriate here to recall one of the current Tolstoy. The author had a chance to meet with Nikita Alekseevich Tolstoy, the son of the writer Aleksei Nikolaevich. NA Tolstoy became interested in scientific activity, became a physicist, was a professor at the Technological Institute, then at the university. He came to the exams with a large box of chocolates, which he treated to the students. He said that in this way he relieves stress from students. I did not put twos and threes: either the sweets helped, or the examiner was kind-hearted. At the end of his life, he suddenly became interested in politics, infected his son Mikhail with this, together they became deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the country, advocated radical reforms.

However, it would be more correct to start the story of the Tolstoy clan with the representative of the clan who first received the title of count. Peter Andreevich Tolstoy lived during the time of Peter I. At first, he was a supporter of the Miloslavskys in their struggle with the Naryshkins. But when Princess Sophia was imprisoned in a monastery, P.A.Tolstoy began to serve Tsar Peter I with faith and truth. He was appointed ambassador to Turkey, where the Turks imprisoned him twice. The times were not easy: Russia and Turkey fought for decades, there was no trust between the countries. There was no unity within the Russian embassy, ​​denunciations were written against the ambassador of P.A.Tolstoy to Moscow. Tsar Peter I did not take these denunciations into account, but he was still wary of Tolstoy, remembering his former adherence to Miloslavsky.

P.A.Tolstoy gained full confidence from the tsar after he was able to return to Russia from distant Italy Tsarevich Alexei, who had fled there from his formidable father. Tolstoy convinced the tsarevich that he had to repent - and the tsar-father would have mercy. But when Tsarevich Alexei returned to Petersburg, he was sentenced to death for treason. And P.A.Tolstoy became the head of the Secret Chancellery and Count of the Russian Empire.

Under Tsarina Catherine I, Count PA Tolstoy was appointed a member of the Supreme Privy Council ("supreme leader"), that is, he actually rules the state together with AD Menshikov, FM Apraksin, and others. But two years later he became tsar Peter II, son of the murdered Tsarevich Alexei. The man who brought the unfortunate prince from Italy to Russia must be punished: Peter Tolstoy is deprived of his count's title and exiled to the Solovetsky monastery, where he dies two years later. And only in 1760, Queen Elizabeth (daughter of Peter I and Catherine I) returned the title of count to the descendants of A.A.Tolstoy.

And let's finish this story with a story about the most extravagant of the Tolstoy family - Fyodor Ivanovich. Once he set off on a voyage around the world with Admiral I.F.Kruzenshtern and out of boredom or out of mischief, he quarreled all the officers and sailors. He so annoyed the admiral that he, usually calm and self-possessed, dropped Fyodor Ivanovich on one of the Aleutian Islands. The count had to live for several years in the society of savages, they made him a fantastic tattoo all over his body. Back in Moscow, Tolstoy (who has since become known as the American) invariably boasted of his tattoo. But he did not find any worthy occupations for himself. Out of idleness, boredom and anger, he became a duelist. On completely absurd reasons, he challenged people to a duel, and those, out of a sense of false pride, could not refuse. The count killed 11 people in duels in a short time. He compiled a synodic list, where he wrote down the names of the people he killed. However, during the duel, he himself put his chest under the pistol. Formally, a duel in Russia has long been banned, but in fact, some noblemen decided questions of honor (as they understood it) in a duel.

Then Fyodor Ivanovich almost committed suicide due to the inability to pay the huge gambling debt. He was saved by his loving gypsy Avdotya Tugaeva, who contributed the required amount of money. Count Fyodor married a gypsy. They had 12 children, all of whom died in infancy except two daughters. When another child died, the father crossed out one surname in his synodikon and wrote the word "quit" on the side. The eleventh child, daughter Sarah, who had undeniable poetry, died at the age of 17. Fyodor Ivanovich deleted the last surname from the synodik, made the last entry "Quit" and sighed with relief: he had gotten even for all those killed in duels. His last child, daughter Praskovya, lived for 64 years, fate did not weigh on her.

From the book Love for History (online version) part 1 author Akunin Boris

From thick to thin 01/03/2011 I want to start the year with something rabbit-like soft and fluffy. For example, with a discussion of female beauty, here are some of the most legendary beauties in European history. We look, we admire. Diane de Poitiers, mistress of the heart of Henry

From the book Love of History author Akunin Boris

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From the book Noble Nests the author Moleva Nina Mikhailovna

Family legend of the Tolstoy counts It was in the 37th year. But when - in autumn or winter, I can’t remember ... Rather, that we rode on wheels ... my father rode behind in a carriage and we were taken to him during breaks - it was a great joy. I remember that I got to enter Moscow in

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From the book Personalities in History the author Team of authors

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From the book Wonderful China. Recent travels to the Middle Kingdom: geography and history the author Tavrovsky Yuri Vadimovich

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Tolstoy's great-grandson, journalist

Although many modern Tolstoys live abroad (emigrated after the revolution), the descendants of the “block of Russian literature” also remained in our country. For example, Pyotr Tolstoy, whose father in 1944 returned from emigration with his brother. Thanks to his family, Peter knew about his great-great-grandfather from childhood: he repeatedly visited Yasnaya Polyana, became closely acquainted with family relics. This representative of the Tolstoy family is a very famous Russian journalist and TV presenter who has been working on Channel One for many years. Now he conducts the programs "Politics" and "Time Will Show". Peter spoke about the famous great-great-grandfather in one of his interviews:

Tolstoy remained honest with himself, he always remained so, even when he was mistaken

Fyokla Tolstaya

Tolstoy's great-great-granddaughter, journalist

Peter Tolstoy's second cousin and also a very famous Russian journalist. Her real name is Anna, but they know her mainly under the name Thekla - a childhood nickname, which later turned into a pseudonym. Tolstaya was born into a family of philologists and followed in the footsteps of her parents: she graduated from the philological faculty of Moscow State University, speaks five languages. However, already in childhood, she was drawn to television: as a schoolgirl, Fekla began to appear in secondary roles in films, and in 1995 she entered GITIS at the directing department. Behind Fekla's back are many projects on radio and television, including author's programs about their own family tree "The Tolstoy", as well as "War and Peace": Reading a Novel ". In an interview with MK Bulvar, the journalist was happy to talk about the advantages of her huge family, whose members are scattered all over the world:

If you have relatives in another country, you understand it completely differently. I can explore, for example, Rome together with my beautiful niece, who, like a Roman woman, shows me places that I have loved since childhood - and this is an incomparable feeling. I can say the same about my relatives in Paris or New York. I get into a family, chat with their friends

Andrey Tolstoy

Tolstoy's great-great-grandson, reindeer breeder

Another descendant, representing the Swedish branch of the family, Andrei Tolstoy is a simple farmer who has been breeding reindeer for many years. He achieved great success: Andrey is one of the most famous reindeer herders in Scandinavia. He admitted that he could not read War and Peace at school. However, then I still mastered the four-volume edition. Several years ago Andrey visited Russia for the first time.

Vladimir Tolstoy

great-great-grandson of Tolstoy, adviser to the president of Russia

Vladimir Ilyich is a person without whom there would be no meetings of Tolstoy's descendants (which today take place regularly), and the fate of Leo Tolstoy's estate, Yasnaya Polyana, would remain in jeopardy. At the beginning of the 90s they wanted to take the lands of the estate for new buildings, the forests were cut down ... But in 1992 Vladimir Ilyich published a large material about all the troubles in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Soon he was appointed director of the museum-reserve. Now Tolstoy is an adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, and his wife Ekaterina Tolstaya is in charge of the museum. Vladimir admitted to the Tula newspaper Molodoy Kommunar, speaking about his relatives:

Each of us has his own personality, each has his own view of the world. And everyone is talented in their own way. Fat people can do anything: they take pictures, paint, write. And at the same time, they are ashamed of their talents: modesty is another family quality ...

Victoria Tolstoy

Tolstoy's great-great-granddaughter, jazz singer

Yes, yes, she is Tolstoy, not Tolstaya: the Swede Victoria decided not to decline her surname, but to make it more "authentic". How did the Swedish line of the Tolstoy family come about? The son of Lev Nikolaevich, Lev Lvovich, was forced for health reasons to consult the Swedish doctor Westerlund. And then he fell in love with his daughter Dora ... The modern representative of this family branch, singer Victoria, is better known in her homeland under the pseudonym "Lady Jazz". By her own admission, Victoria does not know the Russian language and has not read Lev Nikolaevich's novels, but in her work she often turns to classical Russian composers. At the moment, the blonde already has 8 albums, one of which is called My Russian Soul ("My Russian soul"). Victoria told the jazz edition of JazzQuard:

When I was in Moscow several years ago, I visited the Tolstoy House-Museum. I remember seeing there a portrait of a lady from the Tolstoy family and was amazed at how much this young woman from past centuries resembles me! Then for the first time I really felt my involvement in the Tolstoy family: how much connects and unites us at the deepest genetic level!

Ilaria Stieler-Timor

Tolstoy's great-great-granddaughter, teacher of Italian

On July 29, the premiere of Fyokla Tolstoy's author's program “Tolstoye” started on the Russia K TV channel.

Several years ago, journalist and TV presenter Fyokla Tolstaya filmed a documentary cycle "Great Dynasties" about the descendants of famous noble families. Then the question naturally arose: why Fekla, the great-great-granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy, did not tell about her famous family. And now she finally decided to explore her roots and made an author's program about the Tolstoy.

Over the seven centuries of Russian history, the Tolstoy family included writers and ministers, navigators and artists, academics and composers, governors and journalists. The history of the Tolstoy family can be traced back to the entire history of Russia. Today's Tolstoys are one of the most branched out, the most friendly, the happiest families. The premiere eight-episode program "The Tolstoy" introduces the history of the Tolstoy family, covered with amazing legends and legends.

Fyokla Tolstaya spoke about the painstaking and interesting work on the program.

I filmed this cycle about my family and for me it was more emotional work than any other. I wanted to show not so much the biographies of people, but how the history of the country was reflected in them, how they acted in certain circumstances. It is more interesting to talk not about the history of the masses, classes, estates, but about history by the example of a specific fate. All Tolstoy were not indifferent to the fate of the Fatherland and tried to the best of their ability to contribute to its prosperity. The events that we will talk about can be quite historical: battles, coups d'états, diplomatic negotiations, the construction of famous palaces; and quite private, because sometimes a short description of a family drama can tell us a lot more about ancient times than multivolume encyclopedias.

Fyokla, what are the main family traits of the Tolstoy?

I had a great desire to find common family traits. I think the Fats are straightforward and quite natural (in the sense that they don't like to pretend). And they are natural also because they like to live in nature. And as Lev Nikolaevich said about the Tolstoys, that they are a little wild.

And whose fate shocked you personally the most?

I will especially note the youngest daughter of Lev Nikolaevich Alexandra, who in the last years of the writer's life was the only one on her father's side. I come from the family of brother Ilya, who was on the other side. But she always seemed to me an unusual figure. She fought in the First World War. She rose to the rank of colonel of the medical service, then managed to sit in the basements of the Lubyanka, then became the commissar of Yasnaya Polyana. Later she went abroad, where she saved refugees from death. Amazing personality. I would like more people to know about her, such a strong, bright woman.

Where did the filming of the program take place?

Now the descendants of the writer, his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, about three hundred people. They live in different countries of the world. We were in America, in Europe and traveled around Russia, of course. They visited abandoned estates, where even a car could not pass, and walked through the fields. For example, there is such an estate Pokrovskoe (it belonged to the sister of Lev Nikolaevich) in the Tula region on the border with the Oryol region.

According to our idea, in each episode, besides me, there will be someone else from the family who will tell about the hero of the film. Also, viewers will hear comments from historians, and actors Viktor Rakov and Irina Rozanova will read memoirs and letters.

Fyokla, are there any family heirlooms of the Tolstoy family?

A lot of relics have survived and our family can consider themselves very happy in this regard. Much has survived due to the fact that Lev Nikolaevich was an outstanding person and his wife understood even during his lifetime that museums should be made from his houses in Yasnaya Polyana and in Moscow. There are also older things, for example, belonging to the first Count Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, this is a man of Peter's time. And we continue the family tradition of respect for history. We will open an exhibition dedicated to my father, Leo Tolstoy's great-grandson, Nikita Tolstoy. My father was born in exile, and then the family returned to Russia, they became one of the first repatriates. So you can even see the Aeroflot ticket, which my father first flew to Russia in 1945. The exhibition will be held in the building of the Leo Tolstoy State Museum at 12 Pyatnitskaya.

I know that every two years the whole big family gathers in Yasnaya Polyana. Are there any other traditions?

Yes, this is the brightest family tradition of recent times. After one of the Tolstoy (my second cousin Vladimir Ilyich) became the director of the museum of the Yasnaya Polyana estate, we got the opportunity to gather in our own nest. Despite the fact that the Tolstoy family is huge, we treat each other as close people, and this "network" is of a kind, because in whatever country of the world you do not come, you have relatives everywhere and even if you just get to know them , you feel the kinship of souls, the proximity of interests, the unity of characters.

Peter Tolstoy

Tolstoy's great-grandson, journalist

Although many modern Tolstoys live abroad (emigrated after the revolution), the descendants of the “block of Russian literature” also remained in our country. For example, Pyotr Tolstoy, whose father in 1944 returned from emigration with his brother. Thanks to his family, Peter knew about his great-great-grandfather from childhood: he repeatedly visited Yasnaya Polyana, became closely acquainted with family relics. This representative of the Tolstoy family is a very famous Russian journalist and TV presenter who has been working on Channel One for many years. Now he conducts the programs "Politics" and "Time Will Show". Peter spoke about the famous great-great-grandfather in one of his interviews:

Tolstoy remained honest with himself, he always remained so, even when he was mistaken

Fyokla Tolstaya

Tolstoy's great-great-granddaughter, journalist

Peter Tolstoy's second cousin and also a very famous Russian journalist. Her real name is Anna, but they know her mainly under the name Thekla - a childhood nickname, which later turned into a pseudonym. Tolstaya was born into a family of philologists and followed in the footsteps of her parents: she graduated from the philological faculty of Moscow State University, speaks five languages. However, already in childhood, she was drawn to television: as a schoolgirl, Fekla began to appear in secondary roles in films, and in 1995 she entered the directing department at GITIS. Behind Fekla's back are many projects on radio and television, including author's programs about their own family tree "The Tolstoy", as well as "War and Peace": Reading a Novel ". In an interview with MK Bulvar, the journalist was happy to talk about the advantages of her huge family, whose members are scattered all over the world:

If you have relatives in another country, you understand it completely differently. I can explore, for example, Rome together with my beautiful niece, who, like a Roman woman, shows me places that I have loved since childhood - and this is an incomparable feeling. I can say the same about my relatives in Paris or New York. I get into a family, chat with their friends

Andrey Tolstoy

Tolstoy's great-great-grandson, reindeer breeder

Another descendant, representing the Swedish branch of the family, Andrei Tolstoy is a simple farmer who has been breeding reindeer for many years. He achieved great success: Andrey is one of the most famous reindeer herders in Scandinavia. He admitted that he could not read War and Peace at school. However, then I still mastered the four-volume edition. Several years ago Andrey visited Russia for the first time.

Vladimir Tolstoy

great-great-grandson of Tolstoy, adviser to the president of Russia

Vladimir Ilyich is a person without whom there would be no meetings of Tolstoy's descendants (which today take place regularly), and the fate of Leo Tolstoy's estate, Yasnaya Polyana, would remain in jeopardy. At the beginning of the 90s they wanted to take the lands of the estate for new buildings, the forests were cut down ... But in 1992 Vladimir Ilyich published a large material about all the troubles in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Soon he was appointed director of the museum-reserve. Now Tolstoy is an advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, and his wife Ekaterina Tolstaya is in charge of the museum. Vladimir admitted to the Tula newspaper Molodoy Kommunar, speaking about his relatives:

Each of us has his own personality, each has his own view of the world. And everyone is talented in their own way. Fat people can do anything: they take pictures, paint, write. And at the same time, they are ashamed of their talents: modesty is another family quality ...

Victoria Tolstoy

Tolstoy's great-great-granddaughter, jazz singer

Yes, yes, she is Tolstoy, not Tolstaya: the Swede Victoria decided not to decline her surname, but to make it more "authentic". How did the Swedish line of the Tolstoy family come about? The son of Lev Nikolaevich, Lev Lvovich, was forced for health reasons to consult the Swedish doctor Westerlund. And then he fell in love with his daughter Dora ... The modern representative of this family branch, singer Victoria, is better known in her homeland under the pseudonym "Lady Jazz". By her own admission, Victoria does not know the Russian language and has not read Lev Nikolaevich's novels, but in her work she often turns to classical Russian composers. At the moment, the blonde already has 8 albums, one of which is called My Russian Soul. Victoria told the jazz edition of JazzQuard:

When I was in Moscow several years ago, I visited the Tolstoy House-Museum. I remember seeing there a portrait of a lady from the Tolstoy family and was amazed at how much this young woman from past centuries resembles me! Then for the first time I really felt my involvement in the Tolstoy family: how much connects and unites us at the deepest genetic level!

Ilaria Stieler-Timor

Tolstoy's great-great-granddaughter, teacher of Italian

Shtiler-Timor is the great-granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy's eldest daughter, Tatyana Sukhotina-Tolstoy. According to Ilaria, her grandmother tried to start a theatrical career, but due to the difficult financial situation she was married to a wealthy Italian Leonardo Albertini, who was one of the founders of the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Stieler-Timor has recently been living in Israel, where he teaches Italian. The first time she visited Russia in 1985, since then she has been in contact with her Russian relatives. Israeli portal Haaretz.com quotes Ilaria.