The samovar has been considered for almost three centuries to be a traditional Russian attribute of hospitality and an integral part of people's life. In the regular issue of column “Unknown about the well-known” we are going to get a handle on the question in what country a familiar metal vessel for boiling water and making tea first appeared.
The history of this ancient device goes back several millennia.
The samovar originally appeared not at all in Russia, as is commonly believed throughout the world. But, be that as it may, the Russian word “samovar” has passed into the languages of many countries and this device is called “samovar” by the English, French, Spanish and Italians. According to another interpretation, in the Turkic language the word “su” means water and “mawer” means a vessel for boiling. Thus, the word “sumaver” was later transformed into “samovar”.

Samovar predecessor appeared in the Ancient East Archaeological sources prove that the first water heating devices with a vessel and a tube appeared in ancient China. The first Chinese water heaters, called “ho-go”, were found during excavations and dated back to the 4^th century AD. Later, ho-go spread to Japan and Iran. Connections exist to a similar Greek water-heater of classical antiquity, the autepsa, a vase with a central tube for coal. The compartment was universal and in the hot season was used for cooling the liquid –it was filled with ice.

In Russia, there is a legend that Peter the Great brought the samovar to Russia from Holland, but in fact samovars appeared in Russia later. According to some historical data, the first copper devices for heating water appeared in the areas where metal mining was developed – in the Urals, as the main materials for making samovars were copper and brass. The pioneer in the samovar business was the Tula industrialist Akinfiy Demidov, who in 1725, founded the Suksun copper-smelting plant in the southeast of the Perm region. This event marked the beginning of the history of the Ural “tea machines”, in addition, the production of copper utensils was established. 

Many people mistakenly consider Tula to be the birthplace of the samovar.  Officially, the first Tula samovar was produced only in 1778, by the Lisitsyn brothers at a small samovar factory opened on the basis of the old copper ware production. But after a few decades, the city received the title of “samovar capital”. The products of famous Tula craftsmen were distributed throughout Russia. It is known for a fact that by the end of the 18^th century, the principles of work and configuration of the samovar were finally formed, and up until now remain unchanged. In the 19^th century samovar business went beyond the big cities and spread, in particular, in the Vyatka, Vladimir and Yaroslavl provinces. By 1850, there were 28 samovar workshops in Tula alone. About 120 thousand copper samovars were produced in the country per year. Samovars were made at the discretion and according to the customer's wishes – from huge to small. Samovars were produced as souvenirs, decorative ones, in the form of vases, jars, shot glasses, kegs and balls, stationary and portable.  The imagination of craftsmen and the customer's purse knew no limits. The exterior view of the samovar was transformed in tune with the times, fashion and the way of life of people. In the 19^th century, coal samovars were joined by alcohol and kerosene samovars, later – electric ones.

As time went on, the samovar an important part of life for many families, and was ingrained in the Russian folklore. The tea ceremony became one of the symbols of Russia and a native custom. Vladimir Dal in his “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” dedicated a major article to the samovar. The peculiarity of a samovar and its difference from a common kettle is that it is made of metal as a boiler for water, and there is a pipe inside it, through which the hot air rises from the samovar furnace located at the bottom of it. In customary Russian cottage, the samovar pipe was even connected to the stove pipe to create a draught or, to prevent the samovar from intoxicating, a special pipe was put on it, one end of which was exposed in the vent.

Samovar with a teapot stand is a purely Russian invention known throughout the world. In the past, the samovar was especially appreciated for the fact that there was no need to heat a Russian stove or fire a wood stove to prepare the morning meal. The miracle of the samovar was that, coming in from the bitter cold, one could drink delicious, hot tea at any time that was especially important in our climate. Water in the samovar was boiling, kindling-wood coals crackled in the stove creating an atmosphere of warmth and comfort.

Photo album “Vintage samovars in the museum Collection exposition is posted in our Phonotheque.

Photo album “Ancient samovars in the museum “Collection” exposition" is posted in our Photo Gallery.

On the cover: Samovar on fowl's legs. Krupp A. Russia/Germany. Early 20^th century