3 Million Bricks… But No Factories? The Truth Will Shock You
Did ancient civilizations really build massive structures without factories, machines, or modern roads? In this video, we explore how over 3,000,000 bricks could have been produced, transported, and assembled using ancient engineering techniques. From historical theories to mathematical analysis, discover the truth behind one of history’s greatest construction mysteries. Perfect for fans of history, archaeology, and ancient engineering.
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construction without machines
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#historymystery
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#pyramids
#archaeology
#hiddenhistory
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Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Did ancient civilizations really build massive structures without factories, machines, or modern roads? In this video, we explore how over 3,000,000 bricks could have been produced, transported, and assembled using ancient engineering techniques. From historical theories to mathematical analysis, discover the truth behind one of history’s greatest construction mysteries. Perfect for fans of history, archaeology, and ancient engineering.
ancient construction mystery
3 million bricks
ancient engineering
history vs math
pyramid construction theory
ancient civilization technology
how pyramids were built
historical mysteries explained
archaeology documentary
ancient building techniques
egyptian pyramids construction
lost ancient technology
history facts
math analysis history
construction without machines
Zawal Nama
#zawalnama
#historymystery
#ancientengineering
#pyramids
#archaeology
#hiddenhistory
#historyvsmath
#ancientcivilizations
#engineeringmarvels
#mysteryexplained
#educationalvideo
Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Imagine you are the ruler of a new dynasty, taking the throne of a world order that has arisen from
00:07the ruins of a vanished empire.
00:09Your power is absolute. Schools teach only from your textbooks.
00:16Newspapers publish only your decrees. And taxes flow steadily into your treasury.
00:22There is no free press, nor anyone who remembers the world before your arrival.
00:28However, your subjects live in houses where the second floors have become the first, and the basements are flooded and
00:36filled with items from a bygone era.
00:39The technologies of industrial brick firing and complex architectural masonry appear as magic against the backdrop of your wooden shanties.
00:49The logistics of those years defy logic.
00:52You cannot explain how millions of tons of cargo were delivered to a buried city without railroads.
01:01If people understand that they are merely shadows against the backdrop of their ancestors' greatness, they will cease to fear
01:08your laws.
01:10Every decorative bowl on the roof is a memorial to the disaster you ordered them to forget.
01:20You order the dismantling of symbols of memory, seal windows and foundations, and create a unified version of progress and
01:30labor.
01:31What will you choose?
01:33To leave the dead right to challenge you for the minds of the people?
01:37Or to rewrite the past so much that even the stones begin to lie in your favor?
01:44Now let's take a look at how this unfolded in real history.
01:49Open any book on 19th century history.
01:52You will see photographs of workers building brick palaces.
01:56People in torn shirts mix mortar with wooden shovels, lay walls, and construct arches.
02:03A beautiful picture of progress and labor.
02:07But if you turn on a calculator and compute the logistics, this version collapses like a house of cards.
02:15Let's take a specific example.
02:18The Imperial University in Tomsk.
02:21To build it, 3.5 million bricks had to be fired in 1886.
02:27Just for one building.
02:29Write down this figure.
02:31Now calculate how much fuel is needed to fire such a volume.
02:35The documents are still intact.
02:391,150 cubic fathoms of firewood.
02:44To put it in understandable terms, that's 223 railway cars, assuming each holds 50 cubic meters of dry pine.
02:53If the wood is wet, heavy, and packed more densely, even more cars would be needed.
02:59That's an entire forest.
03:01Literally.
03:03And here's the question.
03:05Where in the buried city can one find such volumes of wood?
03:10The roads are covered with a layer of clay.
03:13The sand quarries are buried under soil.
03:16Logistics are in ruins.
03:18And you need to organize the delivery of hundreds of cars of fuel.
03:23Millions of bricks, clay, sand, water.
03:26For just one university.
03:29And dozens of similar buildings are being constructed in the city simultaneously.
03:35The most obvious explanation is simply that there wouldn't have been enough resources.
03:40But historians assure us that they managed.
03:44Moreover, in Tomsk at the beginning of the 20th century, there were 37 brick factories operating.
03:51Thirty-seven.
03:53Each one required fuel, raw materials, workers, and engineers.
03:59And now about the technology.
04:01A brick factory is not a pottery workshop where an old man shapes pots by the hearth.
04:07It is a complex industrial production that requires precise coordination of numerous processes.
04:15First, the extraction of raw materials, clay and sand in specific proportions.
04:21Quarries are mined to a depth of several meters.
04:25The clay needs to be delivered to the factory.
04:28In the 19th century, this is done with horse-drawn carts.
04:32One cart carries 300 to 400 kilograms.
04:37Millions of bricks require thousands of trips.
04:41On roads that turn into impassable sludge after the rain.
04:46Then comes the processing.
04:48The clay is mixed with sand, water is added, and it is needed until a homogeneous mass is achieved.
04:55For this, clay mixing cylinders are used.
04:59Huge mechanical mixers with shafts and blades.
05:03They are powered by steam engines or water wheels.
05:08Shaping process.
05:09The prepared mass is pushed through an extruder.
05:13A device that extrudes a continuous strip of clay of the required cross-section.
05:21This strip is then cut into individual bricks using wire or knives.
05:26Precision is critical.
05:29A deviation of even a millimeter accumulates during laying and disrupts the geometry of the wall.
05:38After molding comes drying.
05:41The bricks are laid out in special barns, shielded from direct sunlight and rain.
05:47The drying lasts for about 10 to 15 days.
05:52If they are over-dried, the bricks will crack.
05:56If they are under-dried, they will crumble during firing.
06:02Controlling the moisture content requires experience and constant supervision.
06:08Finally, the firing.
06:11The bricks are loaded into the kilns, heated to 1,000 degrees, and held at this temperature for a day
06:19or more.
06:20The fuel used is firewood and coal.
06:25The temperature is monitored by the color of the flame and the condition of the bricks through viewing windows.
06:33An error in temperature means a defect in the entire batch.
06:38Each stage requires equipment, cast iron gears, shafts, cylinders for molding, firing systems with precise temperature control,
06:53drives, transmissions, bearings.
06:57When one part breaks, everything comes to a halt.
07:01And that's when the most interesting part begins.
07:07Vasily Mertzalov, the head of the university's construction committee, left behind memoirs.
07:15In them, there is a record about the disaster at the Danilov brothers' factory.
07:21The quote reads verbatim,
07:23A thick cast iron gear, into which the massive shaft of the clay meter cylinder pressed, shattered into three pieces.
07:35One broke through the brick wall.
07:38Two buried themselves in the earthen floor.
07:42There was no spare gear.
07:45Eshkin, from Moscow, replied that he didn't have one either.
07:50We need to order a new casting from abroad.
07:55Abroad.
07:57Remember this.
07:58In the 19th century, when Tomsk was supposedly being built at full speed,
08:04critical components for brick production were ordered from other countries.
08:09Delivery times.
08:11Months.
08:12And without this component, the factory stands still.
08:17Brick production halts.
08:19Construction comes to a standstill.
08:22And this is not an isolated case.
08:26Mertzalov describes another breakdown.
08:28A large gear broke down in July 1882.
08:33The factory stopped.
08:35They searched for a replacement.
08:37They found one only after several months.
08:41During this time, the university construction came to a standstill.
08:45workers were dismissed.
08:47And contractors incurred losses.
08:49And now, a question.
08:52If one factory out of 37 stands idle for months due to a single broken part,
08:58how many bricks does the city lose each month?
09:02Hundreds of thousands?
09:04Millions?
09:05And how, with such constant downtime, were they able to construct dozens of buildings simultaneously?
09:12There are 37 such plants in Tomsk.
09:16How many of them were idle at any moment due to breakdowns?
09:21Where did they get engineers to service such a large amount of complex machinery?
09:26Where did they source spare parts?
09:28How was repair organized when the roads were impassable?
09:33This doesn't add up.
09:35Now take a look at the facades.
09:37The European hotel.
09:39The officer's house.
09:41Multi-level stepped walls made of dozens of types of decorative bricks.
09:47Each element is unique.
09:49One brick has a rounded corner.
09:52Another features a cornice with ornamentation.
09:55The third is a projection of a specific shape.
09:59The fourth is a shaped insert for window framing.
10:03The fifth is a pilaster element with grooves.
10:07Open the photographs of these buildings.
10:09The third is a projection of these buildings.
10:10Zoom in on the facade.
10:12Start counting the types of bricks.
10:15Counted 10?
10:16Keep going.
10:1820?
10:19Not yet the limit.
10:21Some facades use 30 to 40 different profiles.
10:25Each with its own geometry.
10:27Its own purpose.
10:29Its own place in the overall composition.
10:32Each type requires a separate metal mold.
10:36Its production is a separate process.
10:39The machinist turns the matrix according to the drawing.
10:43One millimeter of error.
10:46The mold won't fit.
10:47The brick won't lay in the wall.
10:50The drawings must be precise.
10:53Indicating all dimensions, angles, and radii.
10:57This is not a rural craft where a grandfather teaches his grandson to mold pots.
11:03This is industrial production with design documentation, technological maps, and a quality control system.
11:12Now imagine the logistics of a construction site.
11:16Bricks of different types arrive at the site.
11:19They need to be sorted so that the mason doesn't have to search for the required element in a mixed
11:25pile.
11:44The brick layer works according to the blueprint.
11:48The diagram specifies where each brick should be placed.
11:52A mistake on one level disrupts the geometry of the entire facade above.
11:59Therefore, it's not just a matter of having a skilled tradesman.
12:03You need a specialist who can read complex drawings, understands spatial geometry,
12:09and can work with tolerances down to the millimeter.
12:13Where were such specialists trained?
12:16Which school taught reading architectural drawings for stonemasons?
12:20Where have textbooks on laying multi-profile facades been preserved?
12:26Officially, we are told that the masters of that time did everything intuitively,
12:31passing down knowledge from father to son.
12:35But intuition won't help when you need to lay 40 types of bricks in a precise sequence according to a
12:42complex blueprint.
12:44Either there is a system of training in place, or buildings cannot be constructed.
12:50Yet, there is no training system in the archives.
12:53No textbooks. No schools.
12:57They are not here.
12:58Here's what there is. Bricks, by themselves.
13:03Look closely at their shape.
13:05They are not cut from rectangular blanks.
13:08They are extruded elements, pressed through a die under pressure.
13:12Only machine molding provides this shape.
13:16Handwork leaves different traces.
13:18Irregularities, asymmetry, variations in size.
13:24Here, everything is identical to the millimeter.
13:28So, the technology existed.
13:31It was complex, industrial, requiring equipment and infrastructure.
13:37And suddenly, she disappears.
13:39Take a stroll through Tomsk.
13:41Look at the brick mansions from the late 19th century.
13:45Massive walls, intricate masonry, ornamental elements.
13:51Technologies at the level of industrial production.
13:54And nearby, wooden houses.
13:58Simple log cabins, clad with planks.
14:01No embellishments.
14:02No complexity.
14:05Wood is more primitive.
14:07Any carpenter can process a log with an axe.
14:10Building a cabin is a task that takes a few days for a team of three or four people.
14:16No factories, no furnaces, no complex logistics are needed.
14:22You chop down trees in the nearest forest, shape them, and assemble them.
14:27It's cheap, quick, and accessible.
14:31But it is less durable.
14:33Wood rots, burns, and deteriorates from moisture.
14:38Brick lasts for centuries.
14:41So why did cities stop building with brick and switch to wood?
14:46The official version is simple.
14:48Wood was more accessible for the poor population.
14:52The rich built with stone, the poor with wood.
14:56Social stratification.
14:58Nothing extraordinary.
15:00It sounds logical.
15:02And it seems convincing until you look at specific examples.
15:07There are houses in Tomsk where the wooden extension
15:10precisely mirrors the outline of the buried brick foundation.
15:14It's not just located on the same plot.
15:17It actually replicates it.
15:19The perimeter is identical within a few centimeters.
15:23The windows of the wooden part are positioned directly above the bricked-up windows.
15:28Notice the bricked-up windows of the masonry foundation.
15:33They are visible through the layer of plaster.
15:37The arched openings, characteristic of the 19th century.
15:40And above, in the wooden edition, modern rectangular windows.
15:46They are positioned directly above the old arches.
15:56But there are dozens of houses throughout the city.
16:01Why repeat someone else's outline if you're building anew?
16:04Any architect adapts the project to the site, to the terrain, to the client's needs, to the budget.
16:13But here, there is no adaptation.
16:17There's only the exact copying of the perimeter.
16:21There is one explanation.
16:24The wooden part was not built as a separate house.
16:28It utilized the existing brick foundation.
16:31The protruding remnants of the buried building became the foundation for the new wooden structure.
16:39Here's something even more interesting.
16:41Beneath a wooden house, researchers found a brick foundation with a rounded corner.
16:48Not rectangular, as is usual.
16:51Specifically rounded, with a smooth curve.
16:56Setting such a corner is a meticulous job.
16:59The mason fits dozens of bricks to create a smooth arch.
17:04Each element is trimmed, polished, and sized precisely.
17:08This requires time, skill, and additional materials.
17:15A rounded corner is several times more expensive than a straight one.
17:21Why create such luxury for the foundation of a simple wooden log cabin with right angles?
17:28It's absurd.
17:30A wooden house doesn't need a rounded foundation.
17:34Moreover, it complicates the construction.
17:37It's more difficult to fit straight logs to a curved base.
17:43Unless the foundation was there before.
17:47If it was originally a complete brick house with architectural flourishes.
17:53The rounded corner is part of the original design of the building.
17:57Intended for beauty and durability.
18:00And then the city was buried.
18:04The brick part went underground.
18:07A protruding foundation with a strange curve remained.
18:11And those who came after simply placed a wooden box on it.
18:16Not understanding the initial intention.
18:20The scheme is obvious.
18:22A disaster has occurred.
18:24The technology for producing bricks has become unavailable.
18:29Quarries are filled in.
18:31Factories are destroyed.
18:34Roads are impassable.
18:36And there is no fuel.
18:39People are turning to what is easier to obtain and process.
18:43Wood can be cut down in the nearest forest, processed with an axe, and collected into a log cabin.
18:50There is no need for factories, kilns, or complex logistics.
18:55First there was a brick city.
18:57It was buried.
18:59Then came the people who could not reproduce the old technology.
19:02They used what was left, and built it up using simple methods.
19:07But they remembered what happened, and they left signs.
19:10Look at the building of the Bacteriological Institute in Tomsk.
19:14Inspect the building of the Siberian Printing Society's printing house.
19:18Raise your gaze to the rooftops.
19:21At the corners, there are stone pedestals about a meter high.
19:25On them are bowls.
19:26The shape is strange, reminiscent of an inverted cauldron or pot.
19:31On top, there is a round opening with a diameter of about 30 centimeters.
19:36Historians call it architectural décor.
19:39The fashion of that time.
19:41An element of eclectic style.
19:43But décor, by definition, does not serve a functional purpose.
19:48It exists for beauty's sake.
19:50And these bowls are functional.
19:52Look inside the opening.
19:54If you make it to the roof and get close, you'll see that it's not just a cavity in the
19:59stone.
20:00It leads to a shaft.
20:02It goes down into the body of the building.
20:04The inner walls of the shaft are metalized, covered with metal sheets or liners.
20:10Why metalize a decorative opening?
20:13This is not an ornament.
20:14It's a structure with a technical purpose.
20:17The question is, what is it?
20:20Recall which symbol is used to commemorate tragic events.
20:23The eternal flame.
20:25A bowl with a flame that burns continuously.
20:29Such memorials are erected around the world in memory of wars.
20:33The fire in the bowl is a symbol of grief and remembrance.
20:37These stone bowls on the buildings of Tomsk represent the same idea.
20:41A stylization of the eternal flame.
20:45The bowl is ready to receive the fire.
20:48The chimney provides the draft for the flame to burn steadily.
20:52Metallization protects the masonry from the heat.
20:55This is a memory of the cataclysm.
20:58Of the events that buried the previous world under a layer of clay.
21:03Of those who did not survive the disaster.
21:07Many will now say, the eclecticism of the 19th century loved diverse forms.
21:14Bowls and vases on roofs were common.
21:17No mystique.
21:18So answer one question.
21:21Why a functional shaft in a decorative vase?
21:25Why the metallization inside?
21:28Which architect would spend money and effort to create a complex engineering system
21:33inside a supposedly decorative element?
21:37A decorative vase is shaped from plaster or cast from concrete.
21:41It is placed on a pedestal and that's it.
21:45No shafts.
21:46No metal.
21:48Here we see a well thought out system.
21:51A bowl.
21:52An opening.
21:53A shaft.
21:55Metallization.
21:56This is not decor.
21:59This is a memorial.
22:02Here's another confirmation.
22:04There are archival blueprints of the stone bridge over the Ushayka River in Tomsk.
22:10The project was developed by a well-known architect of that time.
22:14The blueprints clearly show the funeral wreaths that were planned to be installed on the bridge columns.
22:21Wreaths are a symbol of mourning.
22:24They are laid on graves and hung on monuments for the fallen.
22:28On a bridge, they would seem strange if one didn't know the context.
22:34But if the bridge was built after a disaster, the wreaths take on meaning.
22:39They are a memory of those who are gone.
22:43The blueprints have been preserved, but the bridge itself was built without the wreaths.
22:49Where did they go?
22:51Two options.
22:53Either they weren't installed for some reason, or they were installed and then removed.
23:00The second option seems more likely.
23:03Why remove the symbols of memory from the bridge?
23:06For the same reason history is rewritten.
23:09So that people forget.
23:12So that the new generation doesn't ask questions.
23:15So that the catastrophe fades from collective memory.
23:20Funeral decor is not a trend.
23:23It is a commemoration of events that someone has decided to erase from the textbooks.
23:28And the traces of cleaning are visible not only in architecture.
23:33Look at the windows of old houses.
23:37The shutters on the windows in Tomsk hang outside.
23:41The locks are accessible from the street.
23:44Any passerby can unlock and tear them off.
23:48Approach any old house.
23:50Inspect the shutters.
23:52The hinges are on the outside.
23:54The bolt is on the outside.
23:56The lock, if there is one, is also on the outside.
24:00Such a design will not protect against thieves.
24:03If the goal is the safety of the home, shutters are installed from the inside.
24:08They close from the inside and lock from the inside.
24:12This makes it impossible to break in from the street.
24:15This is the logic of protection against wrongdoers.
24:19But here they are outside.
24:21In masses.
24:22Throughout the city.
24:24In all the old neighborhoods.
24:26At first glance it seems illogical.
24:29Why create a structure that doesn't serve a protective function?
24:33The answer lies in the climatic conditions following the events that changed the city.
24:39The dried layers of soil became a constant source of dust.
24:43The winds grew stronger and more aggressive.
24:46Fine particles of clay invaded everywhere.
24:49Into the crevices of houses.
24:51Into people's lungs.
24:53Into their eyes.
24:54You can't hide from such dust behind ordinary curtains.
24:58The fabric allows fine particles to pass through.
25:02A physical barrier is needed.
25:04Thick wooden shutters completely cover the windows.
25:08When a dust storm or strong wind begins, the residents go outside and secure the shutters from the outside.
25:14The house turns into an airtight box.
25:18Dust remains outside.
25:20This is not protection from people.
25:22It is protection from a changed nature.
25:25From climatic conditions that did not exist before the catastrophe.
25:30If the wind was strong enough to carry clay and sand over long distances, ordinary indoor curtains were useless.
25:37A barrier that could be tightly closed was needed.
25:42External shutters served as a shield against non-anthropogenic influences.
25:47People understood that these conditions would last for a long time.
25:51Possibly years or decades until the climate stabilized.
25:55They adapted architecture to the new reality.
25:59Shutters on the outside became a mandatory element of residential homes during that period.
26:06And now open old photographs of Tomsk.
26:10The 19th century.
26:12The end of the 18th.
26:14What do you see?
26:16Empty streets.
26:18Huge buildings stand silently, like props on an abandoned film set.
26:23There are almost no people.
26:26Occasionally, one or two silhouettes in the distance.
26:30But no crowd.
26:32No movement.
26:33Silence, frozen in silver salts of photoemulsion.
26:39Look at the avenues.
26:41Wide, stone-paved roads.
26:44Sidewalks.
26:45Streetlights.
26:47Everything is in place, but it's empty.
26:51As if the city's inhabitants have evaporated, leaving behind only the architecture.
26:57If these cities were being actively built and populated, where are the workers?
27:03Where are the building materials, the scaffolding, the carts?
27:07Where are the traders, the peddlers, the transporters?
27:11Where are the crowds of people who should inhabit the growing city?
27:17Officially, this is explained by the technical characteristics of photography from that time.
27:23The long exposure, lasting several seconds or even minutes, causes moving objects to blur and disappear from the photo.
27:32Only stationary buildings and random people who stood still long enough remain.
27:38Okay, let's say that's the case.
27:41Then why are there frozen people in strange poses in some photos?
27:46Why are there not even blurred silhouettes of a crowd that should have appeared with movement?
27:51Why do the cities look deserted?
27:54It seems that the cities have truly become desolate.
27:58After the catastrophe, they were explored.
28:02Someone walked the streets, entered the buildings, assessed the condition of the structures.
28:07They determined what could be used, what needed repairs, and what was hopelessly destroyed.
28:15Inventory period.
28:17Resource assessment period.
28:19Period before new mass settlement.
28:21This explains the emptiness in the photographs.
28:26The cities were frozen for several years.
28:29Perhaps for a decade.
28:31And then a new development began.
28:34But by different people.
28:36With different technologies.
28:39With another version of how these buildings came to be.
28:43And that's when strange photos appear.
28:46Open the archived photos of construction in Tomsk.
28:49The 19th century.
28:52A period of active building development.
28:54People on wooden scaffolding.
28:57Supposedly working on the facades.
28:59Take a close look at their clothing.
29:02Suits.
29:03Dark jackets.
29:05White shirts.
29:06Ties.
29:07Neatly tied.
29:09Polished leather shoes.
29:11Shining even in black and white photos.
29:14Some are wearing hats.
29:16They look as if they are heading to a business meeting.
29:18Or an official reception.
29:20Rather than a dirty construction site.
29:23Now imagine the real work on a construction site.
29:27Brick is the dust of red clay settling on your clothes.
29:31Mortar is the splashes of cement and lime.
29:35That permeate the fabric.
29:36And are almost impossible to wash out.
29:40Plaster is the white streaks covering your hands, clothes, and shoes.
29:46The work is dirty, dusty, and hard.
29:49No reasonable person would wear a formal suit to a construction site.
29:54The suit would get ruined in an hour.
29:57The jacket would be covered in mortar.
30:00The pants would wear out to holes against the scaffolding and stone.
30:04The shoes would fill up with mud.
30:07Workers of all times wore special clothing on construction sites.
30:12Canvas or coarse cotton shirts.
30:15Trousers made of sturdy fabric that one wouldn't mind ruining.
30:18Simple leather or wooden shoes.
30:22Aprons that protect the body from splashes of mortar.
30:26But in all the archival photographs of the construction in Tomsk, this is exactly the scene.
30:33Dressed up people with tools in their hands pose against the backdrop of almost finished buildings.
30:39They hold paint brushes for painting.
30:42Trowels for plastering.
30:44They stand on scaffolding, lined along the already completed walls.
30:49Take a closer look at the buildings in these photographs.
30:53The walls are fully laid.
30:55The brickwork is complete.
30:57The archways are closed.
31:00The columns are installed and standing in their places.
31:03The roof is most often already assembled.
31:06People are engaged in final finishing.
31:10They are plastering small areas.
31:13Applying decorative elements.
31:16Painting facade details.
31:18This is the final stage of work, when the main construction is long behind.
31:24But where are the photographs from the beginning?
31:27Where are the shots showing the digging of the foundation pit?
31:33This is a large scale earthworks project.
31:41Dozens of workers with shovels and wheelbarrows are removing the soil.
31:46Where is the process of lifting heavy elements?
31:50Granite blocks weighing tons are lifted to the second and third floors.
31:55For this, scaffolding, pulley systems, blocks and ropes are needed.
32:01Dozens of people pulling ropes, coordinating the lift.
32:05A dangerous, strenuous job.
32:09Where is the laying of the first rows of walls?
32:12The formation of corners, the establishment of verticality.
32:17The installation of floors between levels.
32:20The construction of arch vaults, which require complex formwork and precise stone fitting.
32:27These images do not exist.
32:30Not a single photo of the pit.
32:32Not a single shot of the lifting of heavy blocks.
32:37Not a single photograph of the initial stage of wall construction.
32:42All the photos depict exclusively finishing touches.
32:46People in formal attire, holding brushes and trowels, standing on scaffolding near nearly completed buildings.
32:54What is the purpose of such falsification?
32:58To create evidence.
32:59Look, our workers built these palaces.
33:03Here are photographs of the process.
33:06This means we are the rightful owners.
33:09But the photographs show only what they wanted to show.
33:13The final result.
33:15The finish.
33:17The posing.
33:18Not the process.
33:20Not the beginning.
33:22Not the technology.
33:24This is not construction documentation.
33:26This is a reenactment for a story.
33:30After the revolution of 1917, something changed.
33:35Compare pre-revolutionary photographs of buildings with post-revolutionary ones.
33:41Wreaths disappeared.
33:43Burial urns were dismantled.
33:46Commemorative plaques were removed.
33:48The new authorities were erasing traces.
33:53Systematically.
33:54Methodically.
33:56Across the entire country.
33:58Archives were burning.
34:00Decor was being removed.
34:02Textbooks were being rewritten.
34:05Historians often say that the Bolsheviks fought against religious symbols.
34:10But wreaths and bowls are not Christian symbols.
34:14They are a memory of a catastrophe.
34:17Of the events that preceded the new order.
34:21Why erase this memory?
34:24To ensure the new generation doesn't ask uncomfortable questions.
34:29To prevent them from comparing the technologies of the past with the poor methods of the present.
34:35To keep them from realizing they live among the remnants of someone else's greatness.
34:42Soviet power introduced mandatory education with a single version of history.
34:48Everyone learned the same dates, the same events, the same explanations.
34:54Previous generations, who remembered differently, either perished or remained silent out of fear of repression.
35:02The memory was erased in just one generation.
35:07But the stone does not lie.
35:09And there is a place in Tomsk where all threads converge into one.
35:15Where physical evidence comes together to form an irrefutable picture.
35:20The area is called Swamp.
35:23Not a metaphor.
35:25An official historical name.
35:28Recorded in documents from the 19th century.
35:31And the name reflects the harsh reality of this place.
35:36Walk through this area.
35:37Water squelches underfoot.
35:40The ground is soft, unstable.
35:43Puddles linger all year round, even in dry weather.
35:48And amidst this swamp rise heavy stone houses.
35:52Two-story brick structures.
35:54Massive walls half a meter thick.
35:58Arched windows with quality masonry.
36:01Decorative elements on the facades.
36:04These are not sheds hastily thrown together from makeshift materials.
36:09These are solid buildings designed to last for centuries.
36:13But the first floor is flooded in many places.
36:17The water is level with the windowsills of the lower windows.
36:22The ground is encroaching on the walls, partly burying the masonry.
36:28Around it is a swamp, mud, and unstable soil.
36:32To design a heavy stone house.
36:36Two stories.
36:37Brick walls.
36:38The total weight of the structure.
36:41Thousands of tons.
36:43You choose a site for construction.
36:45You arrive at the plot.
36:47You see a swamp.
36:49Soft soil.
36:51High groundwater level.
36:53Risk of subsidence.
36:55What will you do?
36:57You will refuse this plot.
37:00You will ask for another location.
37:03Because building a heavy stone structure on a swamp is engineering madness.
37:09It's a guaranteed disaster.
37:12The foundation of such a house must go deep into solid layers of soil.
37:17In a swamp, there are no such layers.
37:20Or they are at an unreachable depth.
37:23The building will begin to sink under its own weight.
37:27The walls will start to crack.
37:30The structure will collapse in a few years.
37:33No architect who values their reputation and the lives of people
37:38would build a brick house with an underground floor on a swamp.
37:42It is technically impossible with the current level of construction technologies.
37:48But the houses stand.
37:50They have been standing for more than a hundred years.
37:54This means that when they were built, it was not a swamp.
37:59Imagine the area before the disaster.
38:02A normal, well-maintained neighborhood in the city.
38:06Solid ground.
38:08Good drainage.
38:09Architects select sites, designing homes with geology in mind, laying proper foundations.
38:17Houses are built according to all the rules.
38:20A tall stone foundation raises the first floor above ground level.
38:25The basement is partially below ground, but has good waterproofing.
38:31Drainage systems redirect water.
38:34The engineers know what they're doing.
38:37It turns out to be a beautiful area.
38:40Two-story mansions with arched windows on the ground floor.
38:44High ceilings, spacious rooms, quality finishes.
38:50Then a cataclysm occurs.
38:52A wave of clay and soil envelops the city.
38:57A layer several meters thick.
38:59The ground floors of buildings are buried under the debris.
39:04The windows of the first floor are now at the level of the new ground surface, or even lower.
39:11But that's not all.
39:13The filling disrupts the hydrology of the area.
39:17The clay blocks the natural drainage pathways.
39:20The drainage systems, laid out at the previous level, become buried.
39:27Water starts to accumulate.
39:30Groundwater levels are rising.
39:33The area is gradually turning into a swamp.
39:36The solid earth is becoming soft, saturated with moisture.
39:42Puddles are a constant presence.
39:45The ground squelches underfoot.
39:48The ground floors of the houses are not just buried.
39:52They are flooded.
39:54Water seeps into the basements and the lower rooms.
39:58The brick absorbs the moisture and begins to deteriorate.
40:03What do the survivors do?
40:06They have no equipment to dig out an entire area.
40:10They lack resources to restore the drainage.
40:13They have no means to drain the swamp.
40:18They come up with a simple solution.
40:20They occupy the second floors.
40:23They convert the windows on the second floor into entrance doors.
40:29They build wooden staircases or walkways from the new ground level to the windows.
40:36Inside, they reconfigure the spaces for residential use.
40:40The first floor remains underwater and buried in soil.
40:46There is no access to it.
40:48Everything that was inside – furniture, belongings, possibly technical systems – remains entombed.
40:57The second floor becomes the first.
41:01High ceilings, large windows, the proportions of the rooms – all indicate that this was originally the top level of
41:10the building, rather than a basement level.
41:14Step inside one of these houses if you get the chance.
41:18In the gaps of the walls, where the plaster has crumbled, you can see the brickwork.
41:24Take a close look – there are arches.
41:27Arching vaults, characteristic of window or door openings.
41:34Now these arches are below the floor level.
41:37They are partially buried, sealed off, hidden under the flooring.
41:42These were the windows or doors of the first floor.
41:47Windows with classic arched lintels, as they were built in the 19th century.
41:54Now they are underground, buried beneath a layer of clay and new soil.
42:00All of this proves that the building was originally taller.
42:05It had a full-fledged first floor, with high arched windows.
42:10What is now used as the first floor was actually the second.
42:15The proportions of the rooms, the height of the ceilings, the placement of the windows – all designed for living
42:22above the basement level.
42:24All of this adds up to a chronology.
42:27Before the disaster, it was a beautiful neighborhood in Tomsk, with brick houses on solid ground.
42:34Two-story buildings with arched windows, high ceilings, and modern masonry.
42:40A disaster – the city is buried under clay for several meters.
42:46The area is flooded.
42:48It's turned into a swamp.
42:50The first floors are buried beneath the soil and water.
42:55Survival period – the survivors inhabit the second floors.
42:59They turn windows into doors.
43:02They build stairs to the new level of ground.
43:05They install shutters outside against the dusty winds.
43:10New settlement – other people arrive.
43:13The technology of brick has been lost.
43:17They are building wooden barracks on the surface, using the remnants of old buildings as landmarks,
43:23and partly as foundations.
43:25Memory – they set up funeral decor.
43:29Stone bowls.
43:30Wreaths on bridges.
43:32To not forget what happened here.
43:35Cleaning up – after the revolution, the new power removes symbols of memory.
43:41Rewrites history.
43:43Introduces a single version in textbooks.
43:47Previous witnesses either pass away or remain silent.
43:51Each layer of this story has left physical traces.
43:55Buried arches.
43:57Wooden structures on brick foundations.
44:00Shutters on the outside.
44:03Dismantled bowls.
44:05Empty photographs of cities.
44:08Staged shots of builders in suits.
44:12All of this points to one thing.
44:14The world of the 19th century is not as it is depicted in textbooks.
44:19Technologies were lost.
44:22Cities were discovered, not built.
44:25History was rewritten, not recorded for the first time.
44:31Tomsk is a layered pie of lies.
44:33An ancient brick city created by a civilization with industrial capacities.
44:39A catastrophe that buried the lower floors and technologies.
44:44A period of chaos and degradation, when the survivors used the remnants but could not reproduce what once was.
44:54Settlement by new people who claimed someone else's heritage as their own.
45:00And a final cleansing of memory, so that future generations wouldn't even suspect the truth.
45:06But the stone remembers.
45:10The machine-formed bricks remember.
45:13The buried arches remember.
45:16The burial urns hidden in attics remember.
45:20And as long as these buildings stand, questions remain.
45:24Who built these palaces?
45:27Where did the technologies go?
45:29What really happened?
45:31The placements of buried houses.
45:33In archives that have not yet been burned.
45:36They just need to be discovered.
45:39And we must face the truth.
45:41The history of Tomsk is a story of deception.
45:46But deception is not eternal.
45:49Sooner or later, the stone will speak louder than the textbooks.
45:54Subscribe to the channel and don't forget to hit the bell icon to not miss new investigations.
46:01Many more mysteries and discoveries lie ahead.
46:05We will continue to search for evidence, ask uncomfortable questions,
46:10and explore what official science neglects.
46:13Because the truth is always nearby.
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