History

The first documentary evidences about the estate «Znamenskoye-Rayok» refere to 1746, when near the ancient Znamenskaya church in the village of Ray the construction of the stone temple on the means of Ivan Fiodorovich Glebov began.

Ivan Glebov belonged to the well-known noble family, hoose forefathers came from Sweden to serve the prince Dmitry Donskoy (1350-1389). Besides, Ivan Glebov had a rank of the Commander-in-Chief, was a senator, holder of several decorations, governor-general of Kiev. He had four sons and after his death one them, Fiodor Glebov (1734-1799) who also was the Commander-in-Chief and the senator, acceded to the estate.

The first wife of Fiodor Glebov was the princess Alexandra Dashkova. In 1722 he married his second wife Elysaveta Petrovna Streshneva (1751-1837), the last representative of the noble boyar family to which the wife of the tsar Michail Romanov belonged.

The preparation for the construction of the new estate began in 1781 and in July of 1787 on the high hill near the Znamenskaya church the foundation of the new stone house was laid. The construction work was completed in 1799. The estate splendour was in character with the reception of the royal persons, to whom the Glebovs were kin and whom they knew intimately. Twenty four portraits of the Russian tsars and tsaritzas in the graceful moulded lockets decorated the main dining-room and underlined the Glebovs' belonging to the reigning dynasty.

Later the Princess Varvara Fiodorovna Gedroits, whose maiden name was Brevern and who was Piotr Fiodorovich Glebov-Strechnev's (1772-1807) niece, becomes the heiress of the estate.

In 1888 the estate was sold to Alexandra Serguevna Dubassova, wife of the famous Russian admiral Fiodor Vassilievich Dubassov, who for some time was the governor-general of Moscow.

After the October Revolution of 1917 the estate «Znamenskoye-Rayok» served the recreation center for working people and during the Second World War it served a hospital. In the nineties of the past century the recreation center of one of the Tver plants was situated on the territory of the estate.

Actually the Building-Investment Company «KONKOR» is working at the project «The Russian Estate Znamenskoye-Rayok». The company has the goal to turn the estate complex into the high-class hotel.