but when we shared our impressions with the employees of old sorepta. they said that in the 17th century, travelers, having arrived here, had no doubt that they had found themselves. in the future , the settlement looked like an oasis among the kalmyk steppes. catherine ii, when she let the herrngutors here, did she understand what they were going to do? they were allowed to do their missionary work where there are no orthodox priests. and this is on the border. actually, the choice ultimately fell on this very place, on the southern border, on the border with the kalmyks, so they... came here, but in the end, did they at least succeed in something, or was it really an absolutely failed mission? of course, no one in our country knew then that the kalmyks had long been buddhists, this mission was a failure in advance, but they tried very hard, this colony existed for almost 200 years, they achieved something, something they didn’t, well, that’s it such a settlement was, here was created a bare steppe, and well where are the preachers, missionaries, there