During the renovation of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, a pencil case with writing pens from the 19th century was discovered | Elista and Kalmyk diocesetranslated

In the summer of 2026, during repair work on the roof of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Elista, an unusual discovery was made - a homemade pencil case with metal pens for writing. The discovered pencil case was made by hand and was probably used to store writing instruments. Along with it, steel feathers made at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries were preserved. Of particular interest is one of the feathers marked by the English company A. Sommerville & Co. (“A. Sommerville and Co”), working in Birmingham, one of the largest centers for the production of steel feathers. Presumably, this feather was made in the second half of the 19th century, approximately in the years 1860–1876. The second feather is marked by A.E. Krutovsky, the owner of a Moscow steel feather factory. The company was founded in 1886 and produced various types of writing instruments. Most likely, this feather dates back to the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, approximately to the period 1886–1917. The find is of particular significance for the history of the building.

From 1891 to 1917, it housed the Elista parish school, where children of local residents received primary education. Perhaps the feathers found belonged to...