Trinity Church to be recreated in Smolensk estate of Catherine the Great’s “personal enemy and insulter”

In the village of Dugino, in the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk region, the Trinity Church, which was one of the main decorations of the Panin estate, is being recreated.

Researchers call the Dugino estate “one of the outstanding noble nests of the 18th – 19th centuries.” The fact that the estate was built and owned almost until the very end by the Panins makes us pay special attention to Dugin, because this family played a significant role in Russian history, notes art historian Andrei Chekmarev in his book “Famous Estates of the Smolensk Region.”

Nikita Panin was, in fact, the first minister in the government of Catherine the Great from 1762 until almost his death. He actually managed Russia’s foreign policy and actively influenced its domestic policy. True, he rarely visited Dugino due to his busy schedule in the capital and his lifestyle. But it was at Nikita Ivanovich’s request that the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity was built in Dugino in the early 1780s.

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Dugino is being built in the image of the lost one. Photo: Artem Lokalov

It is not known who the architect was, but it is obvious that the customer could attract the best architects. Apparently, the design of the temple was sent from St. Petersburg. Not far from the cathedral they built a hospital and a “hospital”, which have not reached us, as well as the main manor house.

Pyotr Panin, who inherited from his childless elder brother Dugino, supported Nikita Ivanovich in everything during his lifetime. But he was unable to establish a relationship with the empress. Moreover, Catherine called Panin her “personal enemy and insulter.” At the same time – paradoxically – it was Count Pyotr Panin whom Catherine II entrusted with the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion, for which she awarded him a charter, a sword and diamonds.

Pyotr Panin demanded strict execution of orders from the peasants who belonged to him. They, in turn, sent him complaints about their dire situation. In response, Panin ordered in letters to the manager of Dugino to punish those “rogues, thieves and troublemakers” who annoyed him with “futile pestering”. It is no coincidence that under Pyotr Panin, the Dugino estate had many runaway peasants.

The situation was tried to be changed by Pyotr Panin’s son, Nikita Panin, his uncle’s namesake. He promised forgiveness to all the fugitives who came to confess. But, like his father, Nikita Petrovich was also strict with the peasants. For example, in 1790, the pigs of the yard people became a real problem in Dugino. As noted in archival documents, domestic animals “cause great harm in the alleys, especially flower beds.” During one of his visits, Nikita Panin ordered “all pigs seen there to be caught and kept until the owner appears” and to be returned only after he received a hundred lashes.

The Panin estates, including the church, did not survive the revolution and the Great Patriotic War. Although the main manor house, from where especially valuable things, the Panin archive, and paintings were transported to St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery back in 1914, was preserved in the 1930s. During the war, Dugino found itself in the epicenter of military operations; next to the village there was a military airfield, the runway of which was dismantled last year.

All that remains of the Dugin estate is a park with wild trees and partially chaotically built-up areas. But now, on the site of the destroyed church, a new one is being built in the same style.