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# In the memoirs of Nikolai Volkov-Muromtsev there is an interesting episode about Khmelita, where he was born and raised
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-vospominaniiakh-nikolaia-volkova-muromtseva-est-interesnyi-epizod-o-khmelite-gde-on-rodilsia-i-vyros/
- Published: 2017-10-22T19:45:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:45:07.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Aristocracy, Archive, Mores

In the memoirs of Nikolai Volkov-Muromtsev there is an interesting episode about Khmelita, where he was born and raised. The estate was home to a water-carrier named Prokop, who had been born in 1799 a serf of the Griboyedovs. Prokop was a universal favourite, and the residents of the estate in the early twentieth century questioned him at length about life at Khmelita in the nineteenth. He gave valuable explanations concerning the layout and running of the Khmelita palace and the life of the estate's owners in various years. Prokop remembered Alexander Griboyedov too. Among the old-timer's recollections was a tale of Napoleon's visit, of how he had spent the night in the house. "He was tall, with black curly hair and side-whiskers, and was dressed in a hussar's uniform," was how Prokop described the commander he had seen, which, of course, matches the portrait of the handsome Murat: he really did march with a cavalry corps along the Belsky highway and crossed the Dnieper at Kamenets. But what can one expect of a peasant, who had mistaken a marshal for an emperor?

ps Prokop lived to the age of 112 and worked to the end of his days