Wood-burning samovar history. Mass production in Russia of a miracle device

Among water heaters, a special place is occupied by a samovar - a Russian tea machine, as it was called in Western Europe. The word "samovar" passed from us to almost all languages ​​of the world. The origin of this word is now not clear to everyone, since the combination "sam boils" in conjunction with the word "water" seems wrong. But just a hundred years ago, the word "cook" was used not only in relation to food (boil soup, fish), but also in relation to water, along with the word "boil". Moreover, in samovars they not only boiled water, but also cooked food and sbitni.

The first mention of samovar production and samovars dates back to 1745. The custom of drinking tea and coffee, which had become established in Russian life by the middle of the 18th century, contributed to a wider distribution, along with traditional Russian utensils (bratins, valleys, ladles), new dishes and water heating devices - kettles, coffee pots and samovars.

Like most other inventions, the samovar had its predecessors. First of all, these are Chinese ho-go, which, like samovars, have a chimney and a blower.

But, unlike the samovar, from ancient times they served (rather than boiled) broths and soups in ho-go, and therefore they did not make taps either. The Chinese still brew tea in cups or teapots with a grate.

IN Ancient Rome two types of vessels were used for heating water and cooking food. The first type is the auteps. They made it in the form of a quadrangular platform with a double wall enclosed. Water was poured between the walls, and a fire was lit on the platform in the middle. This is how water was heated to be added to wine. A tripod was arranged above the platform for heating or cooking food. The second type - vessels in the form of a vase with a tap, but without a pipe and blower.

The first samovars both externally and in their design were similar to the English so-called "tea urns" or "tea vessels", which served to boil water and were used in England in the 1740-1770s. By the end of the XVIII century, the samovar already had all the distinctive design and functional features necessary for heating water, which are familiar now. This allows us to consider the samovar a purely national Russian product.

Throughout the history of the development of the samovar, its appearance and decoration changed according to the fluctuations of taste. At first they bore the imprint of the Rococo style, then they gravitated towards the Empire, and at the end of their existence they did not escape the influence of Art Nouveau. But the "inner content" remained traditional. True, at the end of the 19th century, a kerosene samovar appeared, and the factory of the Chernikov brothers launched the production of samovars with a side pipe, which increased the movement of air and accelerated the boiling process.

Samovars entered every home and became a characteristic feature of Russian life. The poet Boris Sadovskoy in the preface to the collection "Samovar" wrote: "In our life, unconsciously for ourselves, the samovar occupies a huge place. As a purely Russian phenomenon, it is beyond the understanding of foreigners. A Russian person in the rumble and whisper of a samovar feels familiar voices from childhood: sighs spring wind, mother's dear songs, cheerful inviting whistle of a village blizzard. These voices are not heard in a European city cafe.
On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the most large enterprise for the production of samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them a year, but by the 1820s, Tula, which was called the samovar capital, began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production.
The design of the samovar is quite complicated:

Inside there is a brazier in the form of a pipe - a "jug". Below, under the "jug", a blower is made to enhance traction. The tank of the samovar-vase is equipped with a rim at the top, on which the lid rests with a ring. Two "bumps" are made on the lid - grips and steamers - these are small swivel caps on the holes for steam to escape.

The body vase rests on a pallet or legs. The "jug" (brazier) is closed with a cap from above and is supplied with a burner for installation teapot. A faucet with a wrench is used to drain the water. Screws are made in various shapes, some of them are very intricate and difficult to perform.

The profiles of curly holes (fistons) on blowers and burners are very diverse. The most important decorative elements of the whole composition were repeek, handles and legs. The legs were made spherical, in the form of lion's paws, bird's legs, etc.

The great advantage of the samovar was that in it the flame tube was placed inside the reservoir and surrounded on all sides by water. Therefore, heat losses are small, and the coefficient useful action very high.

Samovar craftsmen came up with an attached pipe that can be put on top of the furnace pipe. At first, teapots appeared, which retained the shape of a spherical, squat dining room and kitchen utensils, then they were provided with a blower and a furnace pipe, without changing the previous form.

Thanks to its resonance-enhancing shape, the samovar has the ability to make sounds that accurately convey the state of boiling water: at the first stage, the samovar "sings", at the second stage it "makes noise", at the third stage it "boils". Since the samovar warms up slowly, it is very convenient to catch the fleeting second stage of boiling by the sound.

Moreover, a samovar is not just a boiler. It is also a chemical reactor - a hard water softener, which is very important, since tea brewed in hard water is tasteless. When boiling, the hardness decreases, since the formed insoluble carbonates (scale) are deposited on the walls of the pipe and the body (body), and the main part of them settles to the bottom. True, over time, the effectiveness of the reaction decreases because of this, so the scale must be removed.

It is noteworthy that the samovar masters never make the tap at the very bottom, but always a little higher, so that the settled scale does not get into the drink being prepared.

The 19th century is the "golden age" of samovar making in Russia. Each factory tried to come up with its own, unlike the other samovar. Hence such a variety of samovar forms: conical, smooth, faceted, spherical, in the neo-Greek style, which reproduced the ancient forms of amphoras. The sizes and capacities of samovars were extremely diverse: from a glass to twenty liters. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, samovars had a variety of everyday names indicating the shape of the product: "jar", "glass", "vase", "acorn", "muzzle", "turnip", " Easter Egg"," flame ", etc.

At the same time, searches were underway for the universal use of samovars: coffee samovars, kitchen samovars, home samovars, travel samovars, etc. were created.

However, most of them did not become widespread, and in the 20th century only samovars were used to boil water and serve it to the tea table. Three typical forms of samovars turned out to be vital: cylindrical, conical (like a vase) and spherical flattened (like a turnip). At the same time, the designs of taps, handles, legs, burners became diverse.

At this time, a bouillotte (from the French bonillir - to boil) - a small vessel on a stand with a spirit lamp - becomes a frequent companion of the samovar. The bouillotte was usually placed on the table, filled with hot water. With the help of a spirit lamp, the water was maintained in a state of boiling until the newly poured cold water samovar.

How to breed and how to heat a fire samovar? The best fuel for him - charcoal, dry chocks and chips, pine cones. It should be remembered, however, that in dry pine cones a lot of resin that can get into the water. Under no circumstances should kerosene be used as a fuel.

With low fuel consumption, the water in the samovar boils quickly, in addition, the samovar retains heat for a long time and does not require complex maintenance. The capacity of modern flame samovars ranges from 4.5 to 7 liters. Boiling time of water does not exceed 30 minutes. You can kindle fuel in a samovar only after filling the tank with water.

The samovar production in Russia reached its greatest development in 1912-1913, when 660 thousand of them were produced annually in Tula alone. The First World War suspended the production of samovars, which resumed only after the end of the civil war.

IN Soviet time both fire and electric samovars began to be manufactured. They are still being produced today. Electric samovars are false samovars. They have nothing to do with a real Russian fire samovar. An electric samovar is essentially the same electric kettle, shaped like a traditional fire samovar. It is a metal case, the inside of which serves as a water reservoir. Inside the tank is a metal tube with a heating element.

Have you ever wondered since when people began to boil water? There are references that the ancient Romans did this in a special way. It was necessary to throw a large red-hot stone into a vessel with water. As a result, we got boiling water. Something similar to a samovar was used by the Chinese, but for cooking it is simple hot water. But in Russia, the samovar appeared only in the 18th century.

Story

For some reason, there are rumors among people that Peter I brought the idea of ​​​​developing a samovar from Holland. In fact, they appeared after the death of the emperor. Judging by reliable sources, the beginning of the manufacture of the product is dated 1778. The first copper samovar was made in the district of the Tula region by the Lisitsyn brothers. People liked the invention and began to buy up well. Over time, this allowed the brothers to expand production. They hired more workers and set up a samovar factory.

The demand for goods grew, other craftsmen noticed the profitability of production and began to open their workshops in Tula. Now the buyers were given the choice of the material from which the product was made. It could be cupronickel, copper, firebox or brass. For rich clients, craftsmen covered the container with silver or gold. They refined themselves by changing the shape of the product, covering it with chased patterns.

Device and principle of operation

A samovar is a container for heating and boiling water. A pipe is inserted inside the product, reaching the top of the samovar. She served to load fuel. The container and the pipe were isolated from each other. From above it was closed with a burner. A faucet was mounted on the side of the vessel, and handles on the sides. Water was poured into the container. The pipe was filled with fuel in the form of chips, twigs or cones and set on fire. At the same time, it heated up and gave off heat to the water, which quickly boiled. It did not cool down immediately, as the fuel kept the temperature for a while. Thanks to the faucet, boiling water was poured into the teapot for tea leaves without any problems, which was then placed on the burner. Maintaining a certain distance from the faucet to the bottom did not allow suspensions from boiling water to enter the teapot. If the fuel was damp, it was necessary to fan the fire. According to the old grandfather method, a tarpaulin boot was used for this, which served as furs.

Samovar as a gift

Modern samovars are associated with well-being, the warmth of the hearth. They are bought for their own use, given to newlyweds or birthdays. The beauty of the products and their diversity are impressive. Porcelain products under Khokhloma or Gzhel will decorate any table. For more demanding customers, souvenir or exclusive items are offered.

September 15th, 2013

"... Let's prick the torch,
Let's inflate our samovar!
For loyalty to the old order!
To live slowly!
Perhaps, and steam out the torment
Soul sipping tea "
Alexander Blok

Samovar - by definition of V.I.Dal - ""water-heating, for making tea, a vessel, for the most part copper, with pipe andbrazier inside". This brief definition also gives the main characteristic of the design of the samovar, and explains its appearance among other dishes.

Samovars appeared in that period of Russian history, when a new culture for Russians began to take hold in everyday life - the culture of tea drinking.

Tea came to Russia in 1638. called "Chinese grass". He was brought by the boyar son Vasily Starkov, who was sent with gifts to one of the Western Mongolian khans. In exchange for sables, a rather significant supply of tea was literally imposed on a Russian diplomat - 64 kg. At the court of Mikhail Fedorovich, the drink was tried, liked by the tsar and the boyars, and then came into use. In 1679 The first contract for the supply of tea from China was signed.

Initially, tea was drunk as a medicine (for stomach cramps, for example), but, noticing that it has another wonderful property - it relieves fatigue and increases vitality, they began to use it at the end of a meal or as an independent drink.

To prepare boiling water, they began to use a newly invented object, a samovar, with an internal heating element, a brazier pipe.

This idea of ​​a “self-brewing”, i.e. self-heating, vessel is quite old. In China, for example, a subject called "ho-go" has long been used.

It is a round vessel, somewhat similar to a saucepan, inside of which there is a brazier pipe with a grate. The saucepan rests on a cylindrical pan with holes for draft and legs. This appliance was used for cooking.

Caeda was used to make hot wine, or rather a mixture of wine, honey and water. The appearance of the vessel resembled a pot on three legs. In the middle, empty space, equipped with a grate at the bottom, coals were placed. Around this space was a drink. The vessel was closed with a lid, excluding holes above the space for coals. Such bronze vessels were very expensive. They were found during excavations of rich villas in Pompeii, a Roman city that died during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the 1st century AD.

So the Russian samovar was a continuation in a chain of similar devices, but just like a vessel for preparing boiling water for tea.

In the thirties of the XVIII century, the first Russian silver teapots for brewing tea appeared. From the second half of the 18th century, as tea spread, the production of copper and brass teapots began. A number of teapots-samovars-ditch and samovars-"kitchens" date back to the same time.

The very first factory engaged in samovars was the Verkhne-Irginskaya factory of copper products of the merchants Osokins. It was founded by cousins ​​Peter and Gavrila Osokin from Balakhna. Rodion Nabatov, an Old Believer from Nizhny Novgorod, worked as a clerk for them, and the other workers of the plant were entirely Nabatov's fellow countrymen and co-religionists - runaway schismatics from the Nizhny Novgorod province. The products of the Irginsky plant were mainly dishes: turned - quarters, kumgans, teapots, distillery - cauldrons and pipes. And one of the boilermakers (there were seven of them, led by master Ivan Smirnov) came up with the idea to connect the boiler with a pipe and create a camping boiler that would heat up by itself, without a stove or boiler. So, between September 1738 and February 1740, the first Russian samovar appeared.

The forerunner of tea in Russia was sbiten.

In ancient times, they also called it “splash”, because they boiled and insisted various perfumed herbs for its preparation, which were collected on forest clearings and meadows.

Honey was added to sbiten for sweetness and various spices. Initially, it was hops, later - imported ginger, cinnamon, Bay leaf. For a long time sbiten was a competitor to tea because of the high cost of the latter.

Hot whippers were usually part of the crowd during any festivities or fairs.

For the convenience of street trading, a samovar also served as sbiten - already in the middle of the 18th century, round teapots with high legs were made - sbitenniks- inside which, like in a samovar, there was a brazier pipe filled with coals for constant heating of the sbiten.

Usually hefty men traded in sbiten, since considerable physical strength was needed to carry a sbitennik in his hand, on the shoulders of a bunch of bagels (a common component for treating sbiten), around the body - a bast belt for glasses. Such sellers were also called "hodebshchik" - he did not stand in one place, but walked and wandered the streets, offering his goods.
In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the old sbitenik samovar was replaced samovar store or "shop".

The same walkers with hot sbiten or already tea (tea squeezed out a competitor, as it became relatively cheap, and even faster in preparation) filled the streets in and squares in market or holidays. The role of the samovar for street trading remained the same, but the appearance has changed - now it looked like an ordinary samovar, with cylindrical shape body, faucet and tray with legs, but the handle was only unusual. It was flip-over, in the form of a high arc, with a long roller-holder in the middle.

It was the samovar tap that turned out to be more convenient to use than the long spout of the sbitennik: if the sbitennik was tilted a little more than necessary, the precious drink would pour out to the ground to no avail, but the tap, no matter how you tilt the samovar, securely locks the liquid.

Sbiten is a favorite drink of the common people, but in noble families, following the example of European bars, they began to drink overseas coffee with pleasure in the 18th century. Even Peter I actively planted the custom of drinking "coffee" among the Russian boyars, and his labors were crowned with success - in the time of Catherine II, the day began with coffee in many metropolitan families:

- And I, sleeping until noon,
I smoke tobacco and drink coffee (G. Derzhavin)

In the middle of the 18th century, samovars for brewing coffee began to be made, since it was more convenient and faster to do this in a “self-brewing” vessel that did not require a large number no fuel, no time.

difference coffee samovar from the ordinary consisted only in external form - a slightly flattened cylinder of the body and flat handles parallel to the body. A frame with a loop was attached to the coffee samovar, in which a bag for pre-ground coffee beans was hung.

Coffee, sbiten, tea - all these are drinks, only in boiling water in each case they brew different products: either dry tea, or coffee beans, or fragrant herbs. But the samovar served not only for boiling water. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, porridge could also be boiled in it! There were so-called "kitchens" - samovars for cooking. Inside the samovar, they began to cook broth, stew, porridge, they did it with the help of the weight of the same brazier pipe, which heated water from the inside to desired temperature, and then cereals were poured into the samovar body, meat, roots, or potatoes were put.

Many samovars - "kitchens" could cook a full meal. From the inside, they were divided into compartments by walls, each compartment had a separate lid, a tap was attached to one of the compartments, and two dishes were cooked at the same time, plus boiling water for tea. Of course, they used such wonderful stoves only on the road, when they didn’t pay much attention to the sophistication of the dinner.

An indispensable tool that alleviated the hardships of traveling on the roads of Russia was hot tea. At postal stations tea was served to gentlemen and coachmen, samovars were placed in the clean half and in the coachman's room. On the road in winter alcoholic drinks it was not recommended to use it, because in severe frosts, intoxication could lead to tragedy, and tea invigorated, cheered up.

Postal stations were located in Russia at a distance of approximately 18 to 25 versts. Hotels and taverns were located at postal stations of the first and second categories, which were built in provincial and district cities. Small settlements had stations of 3-4 categories. Travelers were forced to carry provisions with them, since nothing could be found at the post stations except a battered and uncleaned samovar.

"Now our roads are bad
Forgotten bridges rot
Bed bugs at stations
Sleep is not given for a minute.
There are no tractors. In a cold hut
High-flown but hungry
For the sake of appearance, the price list is hanging
And vain teases the appetite. "

(A.S. Pushkin)

For tea and cutlery intended cellar. It was a special box for dishes, most often wicker, but could be made of wood, leather and even silver (for especially noble and wealthy travelers). There was everything in the cellar: tin plates for the table, knives, forks, spoons, tableware and tea, cups, teapots, pepper, mustard, vodka, salt, vinegar, tea, sugar, napkins and so on.

In addition to the cellar and a box for grubs, there was also a box for road folding samovar. Travel samovars for ease of packing had removable legs, sometimes a removable crane, and dangling hinged handles. In addition, the convenient shape of the case (in the form of a box or a cylinder) made it possible not to waste time and nerves on laying and packing such an item.

Many went to taverns just for tea drinking:

“There are a lot of taverns in Moscow, and they are always crowded mainly with people who only drink tea in them ... This is a people who drink fifteen samovars a day, a people who cannot live without tea, who drinks it five times at home and the same once in taverns…”(V.G. Belinsky "Petersburg and Moscow").

The same huge samovars were taken out of the city during folk festivals, and resourceful innkeepers earned a lot of money in this way: who would refuse to drink tea at fresh air enjoying and delicious drink and great weather at the same time.

During tea drinking in taverns, news was discussed, important issues were resolved, contracts were concluded.

Simpler consumers called the same samovars "egoists" or "bachelor's joy", in the price lists of some samovar factories, small samovars were placed in the "miniatures" sections.

In the XVIII century in the houses of European and Russian nobles on the front dining tables it was possible to see fountains, sort of "samovars in reverse." Fountains were used to cool wine: a pipe also ran in the center of the fountain, but instead of coals, it was filled with ice. Wine was poured around in the free space.

The samovar is precisely a Russian invention, reflecting the Russian traditions of tea drinking, corresponding precisely to the Russian way of life.

And nowhere, never, among any people did this piece of utensil enjoy such special reverence and respect as in Russia. None of the famous samovar vessels was filled with such color and spirituality, only in Russia the samovar had a kind of cult. In every house, in every family, the samovar had a special position: the best place in the room they led a shining samovar, tea table he took center stage. With respect, he was called "friend of the family" and "general of the table." And only in Russia did it become an integral part of the history of the people, their culture and way of life.

Tea drinking behind a samovar has long been considered one of the most striking and revealing features of Russian traditional life. The samovar was not an ordinary accessory household, but a kind of personification of prosperity, family comfort, well-being. It was included in a girl's dowry, passed on by inheritance, given as a gift. Carefully polished, he showed off in the most prominent and honorable place in the room.

Many believe that the samovar is a truly Russian invention. However, devices similar to a samovar were known in ancient times, in ancient times.

For example, the ancient Romans, wanting to drink boiling water, took a vessel, filled it with water and threw a larger red-hot stone into it, as a result of which the water began to boil.

Over time, similar devices began to appear in Europe, but with a more advanced design. And in China there was even a device resembling a samovar in that it had a pipe and a blower.
The Russian tea machine, as it was called in Western Europe, first appeared in Russia during the reign of Peter I. At that time, the tsar often visited Holland, from where he brought many ideas and interesting items, among which was a samovar. It was called, of course, in a different way, with a Dutch flavor, but that name has not survived to our times and the device is known as a samovar.

The samovar owes its appearance to tea. Tea was brought to Russia in the 17th century from Asia and was used at that time as a medicine among the nobility.

Tea was imported to Moscow, and later to Odessa, Poltava, Kharkov, Rostov and Astrakhan. The tea trade was one of the most extensive and profitable commercial enterprises. In the 19th century, tea became the Russian national drink.

Tea was a competitor to sbitnya, a favorite drink Ancient Rus'. This hot drink prepared with honey medicinal herbs in a shack. Sbitennik outwardly resembles a teapot, inside of which was placed a pipe for laying coal. A brisk trade in sbitn was going on at fairs.

In the 18th century, samovar-kitchens appeared in the Urals and Tula, which were a brotherhood divided into three parts: food was cooked in two, tea was cooked in the third. Sbitennik and the samovar-kitchen were the forerunners of the samovar.

Where and when did the first samovar appear? Who invented it? Unknown. It is only known that, going to the Urals in 1701, the Tula blacksmith-industrialist I. Demidov took with him skilled workers, copper craftsmen. It is possible that even then samovars were made in Tula.

During the time of Peter the Great, an unprecedented development of industry began in the Urals, great amount copper smelters and metallurgical plants. It was at one of these factories that the production of household utensils made of copper for the population began, where already in the 30s of the 18th century they began to produce teapots with a handle. A little later, factories began to produce cauldrons and distilling stills with pipes.

The first mention of a samovar in historical documents dates back to 1746, but it is impossible to name the exact date and place where the first samovar appeared. However, it is known for certain that by the end of the 18th century, the principles of operation and the very device of the samovar had already been completely formed, and still remain unchanged.

Throughout the history of the development of the samovar, its appearance and decoration have changed in accordance with fluctuations in taste. At first they bore the imprint of the Rococo style, then they gravitated towards the Empire, and at the end of their existence they did not escape the influence of Art Nouveau. But the "inner content" remained traditional. True, at the end of the 19th century, a kerosene samovar appeared, and the factory of the Chernikov brothers launched the production of samovars with a side pipe, which increased the movement of air and accelerated the boiling process.

The first samovar factory in Russia was opened in 1766 in Moscow by A. Shmakov. But the Tula people made a real revolution in the art of samovar making. From the second half of the 19th century, Tula became the "samovar capital". At that time there were about 80 factories there, producing more than 150 styles of "tea machines".

Outwardly, the first samovars were still somewhat different from modern ones. At that time they were intended mainly for use in field conditions owing to what had the small sizes and removable legs. The most common volume of samovars was 3-8 liters, although more voluminous ones were also produced for a large number of people, 12-15 liters. Due to the fact that in most of Russia the climate is rather cool, people drank several cups of tea a day. In addition, the heat of the samovar could quite well warm up the room. All this led to the fact that the samovar became very popular among the people, even despite its far from low cost. By the way, the cost of a samovar was determined depending on its weight, that is, the heavier the samovar was, the more expensive it was.

Making a samovar is a rather laborious process. Workers of various specialties were involved in its production: tinkers who bent copper sheets and set the shape, tinkers, turners, locksmiths, assemblers and cleaners. Craftsmen in the villages made individual parts of the samovar, brought them to the factory, where they assembled finished goods. Entire villages were engaged in the manufacture of samovar parts all year round except during the summer, when work was done in the fields.

Initially, samovars were made of red (pure) and green copper, cupronickel, and later they began to use cheaper alloys such as brass.

Over time, there were so many different factories producing samovars that in order to identify the manufacturer, they began to put a stamp on the lids of samovars corresponding to each factory. It was something like a trademark by which one could recognize the manufacturer.

Tula samovars penetrated all corners of Russia, became the decoration of fairs. Every year from May 25 to June 10, samovars were transported from Tula along the Oka River (to the Oka, samovars were carried on horseback) to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. The river route had a number of advantages: it was cheaper, and samovars were better preserved with this method of transportation.

The samovars of Batashev, Lyalin, Belousov, Gudkov, Rudakov, Uvarov, Lomov took the first places at the fairs. Large manufacturers, such as the Lomovs, Somovs, had their own shops in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula and other cities.

During transportation, samovars were packed in boxes, which contained a dozen products of different sizes and styles, and were sold by weight. A dozen samovars weighed more than 4 pounds and cost 90 rubles.

It was not easy to master the craft of a samovarmaker.

Here is what N. G. Abrosimov, an old-timer in the village of Maslovo, recalls: “I started working as an apprentice at the age of 11. Three and a half years he studied this craft. Brass was cut to a certain size for the wall (case), then it was rolled into a cylinder, and this shape was induced in twelve steps. Brass was cut with teeth on one side and then fixed with hammer blows along the connecting seam, after which it was carried to the forge. Then the master (gunner) repeated the operations of sealing the seam with the help of hammers and files, and each time fixed it by annealing in the forge. Boys-apprentices ran to the forge from master to master and back and gradually looked at how the master worked.

A lot of sweat was shed and sleepless nights were spent before the wall was made by order of the manufacturer. And if you bring a manufacturer to Tula to rent, sometimes they will find a marriage. A lot of work is spent, but there is nothing to receive. The work is hard, but I fell in love with it, it was nice when you make a miracle wall out of a sheet of brass.

The process of making the “Tula miracle”, which consisted of 12 steps, is complex and diverse. There was a strict division of labor in production. There were almost no cases when the master would have made the entire samovar. There were seven main specialties in the samovar business:
The gunner - bent a copper sheet, soldered it and made the appropriate shape. For a week, he could make 6-8 pieces of blanks (depending on the form) and received an average of 60 kopecks per piece.
Tinker - tinned the inside of the samovar with tin. I made 60-100 pieces a day and received 3 kopecks apiece.

Turner - sharpened on the machine and polished the samovar (at the same time, the worker who turned the machine (turner) received 3 rubles a week). A turner could turn 8-12 pieces a day and receive 18-25 kopecks apiece.
A locksmith made handles, taps, etc. (handles - for 3-6 samovars a day) and received 20 kopecks for each pair.

Assembler - from all the individual parts he assembled a samovar, soldered taps, etc. He made up to two dozen samovars a week and received 23-25 ​​kopecks from one.

Cleaner - cleaned the samovar (up to 10 pieces a day), received 7-10 kopecks per piece.
Wood turner - made wooden cones for lids and handles (up to 400-600 pieces per day) and received 10 kopecks per hundred.

The process of making a samovar is lengthy before it appears in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it.

The factories were assembling and finishing. Manufacturing of parts - at home. It is known that entire villages made one piece. Delivery of finished products was made once a week, sometimes every two weeks. Wezli finished products for delivery on horseback, well packed.

Samovars entered every house, became feature Russian life. The poet Boris Sadovskoy in the preface to the collection "Samovar" wrote: "The samovar in our life unconsciously for ourselves, takes a huge place. As a purely Russian phenomenon, it is beyond the understanding of foreigners. In the rumble and whisper of a samovar, a Russian person feels familiar voices from childhood: the sighs of the spring wind, the native songs of the mother, the cheerful inviting whistle of the village blizzard. These voices are not heard in an urban European cafe.”

On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the largest enterprise for the production of samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them a year, but by the 1820s, Tula began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production.

The samovar is a part of the life and destiny of our people, reflected in its proverbs and sayings, in the works of the classics of our literature - Pushkin and Gogol, Blok and Gorky.

The samovar is poetry. This is good Russian hospitality. This is a circle of friends and relatives, warm and cordial peace.
A veranda window entwined with hops, a summer night, with its sounds and smells, from the charm of which the heart stops, a circle of light from a lamp with a cozy fabric lampshade and, of course ... a grumbling, sparkling copper, steaming Tula samovar on the table.

Tula samovar... In our language, this phrase has long become stable. A.P. Chekhov compares an absurd, from his point of view, act with a trip "to Tula with his own samovar."

Already at that time, proverbs were formed about the samovar (“The samovar boils - it does not order to leave”, “Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce”, songs, poems.

The newspaper "Tula Gubernskie Vedomosti" for 1872 (No. 70) wrote about the samovar as follows: "The samovar is a friend of the family hearth, the medicine of a vegetative traveler ..."

The history of the Russian samovar is not too long - about two and a half centuries. But today the samovar is an integral part of Russian tea drinking. Samples of Russian samovars can be found on antique market. The price of such samovars depends, of course, on the fame of the company or the master, on the safety of the sample, on the material of the product. Collectible samovar prices start at $500. The most expensive samovars are Faberge samovars, prices for which can reach up to $25,000.

A samovar can create a surprisingly warm and cozy atmosphere in the house, add a unique flavor to family and friendly gatherings, to remind you of long-forgotten, but such pleasant Russian traditions.

It was getting dark. On the table, shining
The evening samovar hissed,
heating chinese teapot
Light steam swirled beneath him.
Spilled by Olga's hand.
In cups with a dark stream
Already fragrant tea fled...

It's now we put the kettle on gas stove or, if it's electric, just turn it on. And before in Rus' there was nothing like it. Water was poured into a teapot, glass or cup exclusively from a samovar. And they spent several hours drinking tea. Drink 5-6 cups of this fragrant drink eating it with sweets, painted gingerbread and bagels were in the order of things. In this story I will tell you what was the history of the samovar.

The whole country drank tea from a samovar. But most of all it was used in merchant families.

Actually, it’s just the way they say “cups”, but in fact, basically, according to Russian tradition, they drank tea from saucers. It was not customary to add sugar to tea. They were used, as a rule, in a bite. When someone finished drinking tea, he turned the saucer or cup upside down and put the rest of the sugar on top.

Pot-bellied samovars were also used in houses ordinary people and in the royal palace.

This device was very handy. Firstly, the water in the samovar boiled very quickly and cooled down slowly. Secondly, at the top of the device, a special place was provided for a teapot, which also did not cool down for a long time due to this. And thirdly, samovar as if he attracted everyone to common table It was very convenient to have leisurely, heartfelt conversations next to him.

Samovar has been a symbol of the Russian feast for so long that many consider this invention to be Russian. In fact, devices that vaguely resemble a samovar were used by the ancient Romans. But most of all, a modern samovar is similar to an old Chinese device that has both a pipe and a blower.

Peter the Great, who traveled a lot around the world, often brought something new to Russia, previously unknown in our country. It was under him that Russian people learned, for example, about the existence of potatoes and sunflowers. Thanks to him, a samovar delivered from Holland appeared, which was called “tea machine” in Europe.

And the very first Russian samovar was made of copper in 1739 in the Urals. But there were very few of them. The first workshop in the country, which was engaged only in the manufacture of samovars, was organized in the city of Tula in 1778 by the locksmith Lisitsyn.

Soon the need for "tea machines" reached such proportions that similar production facilities were opened in many cities of Russia.

It was later that a single definition of “samovar” appeared, but at first it was called differently: in Kursk it was “samovar”, in Yaroslavl - “samogar”, in Vyatka - “self-heater”.

It is interesting that for some time the so-called kitchen samovars. Inside, they were divided by partitions into three parts. In two of them, food was cooked, and in the third, water was boiled for tea.

You could then buy a samovar designed for one glass of tea, or you could also buy one that could hold 50 liters of water.

Over time, samovars made of an alloy of zinc and copper came to replace copper. It was possible to buy silver or nickel-plated, but they cost much more.

The world's largest samovar made in Ukraine. Its height is almost 2 meters, it weighs 205 kg, and it holds 360 liters of water.

The smallest samovar on our planet was made in Moscow. His high less than four millimeters. And you can only boil one drop of water in it.

There are not so many lovers of "tea machines" now. Yes, and they, in general, prefer not to bother with kindling, but to purchase electric samovars.

They are also bought up as souvenirs, reminiscent of the old Russian rite - a leisurely tea party with pies and jam.

Comments (6)

Very good and most importantly useful site "our filipok" I really liked the "history of the samovar" though I'm only 10 years old, but I sing folk songs and I would like to add a little of my own about Russian traditions to your site. Many thanks for this wonderful site to its creator .

I really liked your site, especially about the pioneer heroes of the Second World War. We wish success to the creator of the site.

Useful article
Helpful, informative article. Thank you. My son and I read aloud about samovars, he is 4 now. He knows what it is, because recently they bought a samovar as a gift for their grandmother and now he is in her kitchen. More precisely, they didn’t buy, but ordered on the website samovars.ru. It is 4 liters with a painting "Gzhel", electric. We don’t have a dacha, so we chose this one as a poet. Gatherings in the kitchen, tea drinking with pies with the older generation, I think, are so important for our children and valuable for parents.

I recommend
I am a mother of a preschooler and your site is just a godsend for us! We are getting ready for school, and we read / parse all the articles together. Found an article about a samovar. The son, in principle, knows what it is, because his grandmother has it. But he stands idle, more for beauty. It is somehow strange, but we have never brewed it, perhaps it is simply not working. The article interested Igor and now he still wants to see how it is necessary to brew tea in a samovar. I’ll have to order it on the samovar.ru website (by the way, I read your comment too) and show it. I think mom ... no, I’m even sure that our grandmother will also be pleased with such a purchase.