Conversation with the gods
The Oglakhty Mountains, on the shores of the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir, are a paradise for archaeologists. Here, in a small area, there are dozens of historical monuments dating from different eras: burial mounds, crypts, sites of ancient people. But what most attracted scientists and travelers were the cave paintings.
Petroglyphs, images carved or painted on stone, are found throughout the world. In Khakassia they are found in caves, along river banks, and on stone slabs scattered across the steppe. But most often, on steep rocks. It was at the foot of Mount Oglakhty that Vladimir Kapelko created his first engraving. In the summer of 1972 he worked on an archaeological expedition and one day found stones with carved designs. In the largest there were up to 150. Age: 3 thousand years.
Kapel, as his friends called him, copied the drawings. He dreamed of creating an art museum in Khakassia, the highlight of which would become this. Unfortunately, today many of the petroglyphs are inaccessible for study: they remained under water as a result of the construction of the Krasnoyarsk and Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plants, and their appearance can only be discovered in Kapelko’s works. In the artist’s apartment in Abakan, a large number of drawings from various expeditions gathered dust, rolled up in the corners.
Klondike in Abakan
20 years have passed since the appearance of Kapelko’s first engraving. Former restaurant manager Gennady Gordomyslov was serving his third sentence for embezzlement in Abakan correctional colony number 35. In the evening, the prisoners gathered in the living room in front of the television, where it was reported that Van Gogh’s painting “The Sunflowers” had sold for $48 million. Gordomyslov even felt bad: “Here I am serving a sentence for paltry thousands of rubles, and there they give me millions of dollars for a painting.” And he decided: “I will sit down and deal with the art objects.”
After his release, he began visiting museums and exhibitions. At the local history museum I examined an exhibition dedicated to ancient cave paintings. And this must happen: Kapelko was there at that time. Gordomyslov not only met him, but quickly managed to gain the artist’s trust. He got along well with new people and was willing to believe everything they told him. At first, the scammer decided to profit from Kapeli’s paintings…
At Christmas 1992, he and his wife went to visit Kapelko in a village between Abakan and Kyzyl. The artist lived in a dark, cold hut, filled with driftwood, old samovars, teapots, pots, and canvases. The guest convinced the naive owner that he would take care of all the hassle of creating the museum himself. I begged for the painting “40 years without war” to put it in the bank as collateral and get money. And then, during one of his visits to a “friend’s” apartment, I saw footprints spread out on the table. Kapelko spent a lot of time explaining to the guest what it was all about. And the more he described its uniqueness, the more excited he became: “Here’s the Klondike!”
Gordomyslov was afraid to openly rob the artist. He convinced Capella that he would “promote” his collection. And he started looking for buyers. To do this, he traveled to Moscow, posing as an art collector. I met with the president of the International Chess Collectors Association, Thomas Thomsen, told him about Kapelko’s works and he immediately became interested. In those years there was practically no art market in Russia, so Gordomyslov began to advise the artist to take his collection abroad. There he hoped, with Thomsen’s help, to give him good publicity and then make money. Kapelko agreed, hoping that the prints there would become the object of scientific research and gave his “friend” a scroll with copies of cave paintings.
On March 10, 1993, in Abakan, an evaluation of the commission was carried out and a “Certificate for the collection of South Siberian prints by the artist V. Kapelko with an estimated value of 80 million dollars” was issued. In fact, no experts participated in the evaluation; Gordomyslov did everything. He wrote the certificates himself, making it all up as he went along. I also set the amount myself. On July 22, 1993, the commission of the Academy of Sciences and the management of the Kunstkamera, the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography named after Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, confirmed with signatures and a seal the cost indicated by Gordomyslov . It is still unknown how the scammer managed to achieve this. It is interesting that the copies that Gordomyslov brought to St. Petersburg were not originals. Apparently, Kapelko did not fully trust his partner and at first gave him copies, valued at 80 million. However, the artist decided to send the originals abroad. They did not remake the certificate and no one noticed the substitution.
And in October 1992, without waiting for the collection to be evaluated, Gennady Gordomyslov flew to Frankfurt am Main for a consultation. He carried with him a selection of engravings and a letter of recommendation from Thomas Thomsen to German bankers. There were no problems with the withdrawal of Kapelko’s works. The scammer later said: “When I crossed the border at Sheremetyevo, the customs officer asked: ‘What is this?’ I said: ‘Decorative wallpaper, original work.’ He unfolded it, looked and said: ‘Exquisite and closed “. And I flew.”
Operation Return
And in 1994, the rest of Kapelko’s prints ended up in the vault of the Ost-West Handels Bank in Frankfurt am Main. The fabulous amount indicated on the certificate did not bother the bankers. It was obvious to everyone that the impressions were unique.
The collection exported abroad consisted of 154 prints and six original paintings by Kapelko with thematic selections of petroglyphs. Gordomyslov transported prints from one country to another, gathering expert opinions in order to sell the drawings at a higher price. He decided to introduce the collection into scientific circulation, for which he transferred Kapelko’s works in trust to one of the museum’s main employees, a man in Paris, Boris Shishlo, who was just preparing an exhibition for the new Ethnographic Museum in Paris and with enthusiasm. There he presented Kapelko’s fingerprints. But the artist himself did not live to see it: he died in obscurity.
When the exhibition was ready, an invitation to the opening was sent to Krasnoyarsk. It later turned out that none of the regional authorities had anything to do with the shipment of cultural property to Paris. And the local FSB department was ordered to launch a special operation for his return.
The death of the artist completely untied Gordomyslov’s hands. It still preserves six paintings with selections of petroglyphs. The businessman was going to give five of them as an engagement gift to Prince William of England and keep one to later sell it at auction; It would have cost a lot of money if it had been known that there were similar paintings in the Prince William Collection.
But the operator did not have time to donate Kapelko’s works to the heir to the throne of Great Britain. FSB investigators contacted him. Although his positions were unstable, as a person familiar with the Criminal Code, Gordomyslov knew that he would not face criminal liability, since the statute of limitations after committing even a serious crime under the articles “Smuggling” and “Fraud” expires after 10 years. . And the investigation began just 14 years after he turned his back on Russia in 1994. There was no reason to arrest him.
The scammer proudly revealed the details of the greatest adventure of his life: “My truth is so implausible that I don’t even need to lie.” They explained to him that he still could not sell the engravings and paintings because there would be a criminal trail behind them. In the end they convinced me.
But most of the collection was preserved by the Frenchman Shishlo. It turned out that the professor was in Russia at the time and was traveling from Moscow to Irkutsk for a scientific conference. To talk calmly with him, one of the investigators boarded the train. And unexpectedly I found complete understanding.
In 2010, employees of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over the prints and canvases to representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a solemn ceremony. They soon returned to the Abakan local history museum, where the valuable exhibition is now located.
