The World of Russian Language and Culture: St. Petersburg true story of faithful love

“The mysteries of St. Petersburg”… Many of us followed the story line of this TV series back in the 90’s. It was almost as popular as the novel, upon which the series was based. People used to wait for a new issue of the journal “Homeland notes” with another chapter of the novel as impatiently as we would wait for a new episode of the favorite TV series. The author of the novel was V. V. Krestovskii.

The idea, unfortunately, was not his. Rather, it belonged to the founder of mass literature, Eugène Sue. His novel, “The mysteries of Paris” was immensely popular, both in France and in Russia.

However, could even the most talented writer compete with a story written by life itself? The story of love of Krestovskii’s daughter is like… No, not like a fairy tale. A fairy tale ends with a wedding. But here, the wedding is only the beginning…

In 1862 young writer Polish nobleman V. Krestovskii and actress V. Grineva had a daughter, they named her Maria. Unfortunately, the parents soon got divorced, and the girl was raised by her grandmother. She went to an institute for noble girls and decided to follow in the steps of both her Mother and her Father.

Maria dreamed of playing on large stage, but at first was only given roles in small private theatres. She wrote essays and stories, which were published in journals. She jumped into a relationship with a painter and had a child from him. But he was not her hero. Soon they separated. True love waited for her around the corner, when she met Evgeniy Kartavsev.

Manager of north-western railroads, bank director, he was 12 years Maria’s senior, but fell in love with her as a boy. But the wedding was only a couple of years later. For a long time Kartavsev could not decide whether to marry a woman from outside his circle, especially with a child. But he loved her son and gave him a decent education. And he decided to turn his wife’s life into a tale and create a kingdom for her.

He bought 65 hectare of land in Finnish Metsakula (present-day Vyborg area in Russia, village Molodezhnoe), invited St. Petersburg architect Ivan Fomin, who was famous at that time, and who helped them build a wood castle, Maria’s dream.

Maria herself raised a garden around the house, complete with a fountain, marble staircase with 76 steps and rare plants from various countries.

The kingdom was called Marijoki (Maria + “joki” (Suomi for river)). But best of all in her kingdom Maria loved a huge ancient stone, on which she frequently sat, looked at the sea, and dreamed.

Quite frequently the entire St. Petersburg beau monde would gather in Marijoki. The artist Ilya Repin would visit there as well. In 1898 he wrote Maria’s portrait and named it “Dreams”.

This portrait always hanged in Evgeni’s study. Everything was as if it were happening in a good dream until Maria got seriously ill. Doctors in St. Petersburg were unable to help her. And then Kartavsev sent his wife to a European clinic. There, they gave her a teddy bear as a gift and said that the bear would cure her. And it did give her two years of life. It was always next to her.

In July 1910, as the Marijoki garden was growing full bloom, Maria left this world. Evgeniy was inconsolable. Trying to somehow cope with his grief, Evgeniy Kartavsev, like Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, decided to construct a monument to his wife. The monument was constructed on a monolith granite lump, which housed Maria’s vault. It was made of bronze, in full height, with Maria’s favorite teddy bear sitting at her feet.

On the stone it says:

“While you were alive, I did not sufficiently appreciate and cherish you, dear Maria. But after your death I piously perform your will, your covenants, and your wishes.

Yours, whole-heartedly, Evgeniy”.

And underneath that it said:

“Evgeniy Kartavsev,

13 December 1850 - … “

Three years later, next to his wife’s grave, he built a church “Joy of All Who Sorrow”.

Evgeniy now only dreamed about being buried next to his wife. But life has its own script. The October 1917 rebellion forced him to leave his country. He died in emigration in 1932 and is buried at the cemetery Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in Paris. It is so far away from his Maria…

The monument and the church stood until the end of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. It was only in the 50’s that first the bronze monument disappeared, and then the church fell apart. The house burnt down in 1991… It seemed that this love story was forgotten by both gods and people. But recently in the reserve “Mariina Roscha” the monument to Maria Krestovskii came back to its place.