Saltychikha

Audio studio “Ardis” presents the novel “Saltychikha” by Ivan Kondratiev, based on materials from 18th-century criminal chronicles. The novel’s heroine is Darya Nikolaevna Saltykova, a noblewoman from the Moscow region, notorious for her extremely cruel treatment of serf peasants. She entered history as one of the cruelest murderers; her nickname “Saltychikha” became synonymous with inhumanity, a symbol of cruelty and sadism hidden behind the façade of the “golden age” of Russian nobility. The investigation proved that the landowner was “undoubtedly guilty” of the deaths of 38 people and was also “left under suspicion” regarding involvement in the deaths of another 26. In 1768, she was sentenced to death, later replaced by life imprisonment in a monastery prison.