“Dear citizens of the city of Smolensk! Today, on the day of the celebration of the glorious 1100th anniversary of our city, we, the inhabitants of the eternally young Smolensk, appeal to you, our fellow countrymen living in a communist society, people of the 21st century, with words of cordial greetings and fraternal wishes of happiness and prosperity.

With these words, the message began, immured in 1963 in the wall of the Smolensk fortress and opened half a century later. Compatriots living in a communist society shrugged their shoulders and smiled. The contents of capsules with messages to posterity most often cause just such a reaction. It's really funny. But this is history.

Mankind has always overestimated its own greatness. In all ages, it was believed that a person lives right here and now, and future generations need edification and teaching. But in the second half of the 19th century, with its rapid technological progress, the vision of the future changed. It began to seem to a person that the future is a magical age of smart, strong, healthy people, an age of amazing machines and flights to distant worlds. In principle, this is pretty close to the truth.

However, it is not easy to get rid of the didactic tone. We have something to say to the people of the future, don't we? Therefore, time capsules appeared - artifacts carefully closed and designed for long-term storage, intended for future generations.

In a way, these capsules are an art. The art of framing a message in such a way that, in theory, it will be of some use to future generations. In general, time capsules can be divided into two classes.

Invocation capsules

These capsules do not contain any useful information - only calls, slogans and edifications. The Smolensk capsule belongs to this class. The message in it was compiled half a century ago from typical quotes, for example: “Our generation carries the baton of history with honor and dignity. We are firmly convinced that you will not lose the honor and glory of ancient Smolensk and continue its glorious deeds. With our work, thought and struggle, we pave the way to the future, towards you, our heirs. We saw the meaning of life in making the world more beautiful, richer and happier.” And so on.

information capsules

These capsules contain data about some historical event or the building under which the capsule is laid - in general, facts that characterize the world around in this particular period of time. These capsules are intended primarily for historians to help them get the right idea about the era. Artifacts can also be placed in information capsules - various objects or information carriers such as records or hard drives. So, let's walk from the past to the future.

world exhibition

1938 Westinghouse Electric capsule laying diagram. The building is the exhibition pavilion of the company.

Time capsules appeared a long time ago, but until the 1930s they were laid sporadically, usually by individual extravagant people. For example, William Maybury, the mayor of Detroit from 1897 to 1904, on December 31, 1900, put in a metal box photographs and written testimonies of life at the turn of the century, written by 56 different people, and bequeathed to open his policy, which would rule the city exactly one hundred years later . In 2000, the capsule was inaugurated by Mayor Danny Archer.

And in 1938, in preparation for the New York World's Fair, Westinghouse Electric created the first ever "official" time capsule. It was a hollow cylinder 2.3 meters long and 16 centimeters in internal diameter. Its body was made from the company's proprietary alloy of 99.4% copper, 0.5% aluminum and 0.1% silver. Interestingly, the goal of Westinghouse Electric was to demonstrate the advantages of the alloy - they say, it is as hard as steel, but at the same time can resist corrosion for many centuries. The capsule contained 35 small objects characterizing the era (a pencil, a pack of cigarettes, a dollar in change, and so on), 75 samples of various materials, edible and inedible, and a set of microfilms about the life of the first half of the 20th century. Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann left their messages to posterity in a capsule. The capsule should be opened in 6939, that is, five thousand years after the laying.

1938 Westinghouse Electric capsule, exterior

In 1965, Westinghouse Electric repeated the trick by making a second capsule out of the new superalloy Kromarc 55, developed by technologist Frederick Hull, that was half the weight for the same capacity. This capsule was also filled with various items that did not overlap with the contents of the first. These were mainly scientific instruments and artifacts related to the space age. The year of opening of the second capsule is the same. Both capsules rest at a depth of 15 meters in New York's Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which was the center of both World's Fairs that inspired the creation of the capsules.

The same spot in Flushing Meadows Corona where the Westinghouse Electric capsules were laid in 1938 and 1965

The original capsule is an obelisk called Helium Centennial Time Columns (“Column for the centenary of the discovery of helium”). The obelisk was erected in 1968 on the territory of the scientific center of the city of Amarillo (Texas) - exactly one hundred years after the French astronomer Pierre Jansen first noticed the spectral lines of helium on the Sun. The monument contains as many as four time capsules, which are to be opened 25, 50, 100 and 1000 years after installation. The first of the capsules has already been removed, but, interestingly, its contents have not become public domain and are stored in the closed territory of the scientific center. It is known that securities worth $10 are placed in the “farthest” capsule in order to check whether the banking system will survive after a millennium and what this money will turn into. I must say that by today they have decently lost in value and at the time of opening they are unlikely to have any value other than historical.

Helium Centennial Time Columns in Amarillo. Four time capsules are located in the three pillars of the obelisk and in its central part.

space capsule

An artist's fantasy of a KEO satellite in Earth orbit

In 1994, French artist Jean-Marc Philippe came up with the idea of ​​an original project - to send a satellite with a time capsule into orbit. Anyone who wished was invited to write their own appeal to posterity for a small amount. The launch was scheduled for 2001. Over time, the artist attracted fairly large organizations to the project - even UNESCO and the European Space Agency (ESA) supported him, but financial and technical problems have forced the launch to be postponed several times - now the creators hope to send the capsule into space in 2015.

The KEO satellite is a hollow sphere with a diameter of 80 centimeters. It is engraved with a map of the Earth (that is, in fact, it is a globe); the sphere is protected from temperature extremes, cosmic radiation and collisions with space debris. The messages will be recorded on radio-protected DVDs and will be accompanied by instructions for assembling a simple DVD player. In addition, samples of human blood, modern air, sea water and earth will be “packed” into the satellite; a diagram of the human genome will be engraved on the inner surface, and along with the messages of the inhabitants of the planet, the DVD will contain a modern encyclopedia.

With the initial location of KEO in an orbit with a height of 1800 kilometers, it will gradually decrease and fall to Earth in about 50 thousand years, "independently" determining the date of its opening. Any person can leave a message for posterity through a special form on the website www.keo.org. The authors of the project guarantee its delivery into orbit.

“Hello, offspring! Built communism?

Time capsules are laid in almost all countries of the world, but in the USSR they were especially popular. In the 1960s, the production of capsules was, in fact, a whole direction in the construction of a bright communist future. Most of the Soviet capsules did not carry any information and contained a set of calls and slogans.

For example, in 2000, at a solemn line in the children's camp "Artek", a capsule was opened, laid by vacationers from Artek in 1960. The text of the capsule contained the following words: "We envy you a little<…>. You live under communism, people fly to the moon every day, and probably Artek has its own cosmodrome.” No, there is no spaceport yet, we would have to lay normal asphalt.

In 2005, in Reutov, no less solemnly, they removed a capsule immured in a factory chimney of the Reutov manufactory. The capsule was designed for 33 years (walled up in 1967, the addressees are people of the 21st century), but they forgot about it and read it with some delay. In principle, they didn’t lose anything, since the contents of the capsule were approximately as follows: “Remember that the communism in which you live was built, among other things, by the efforts of workers in the textile industry, who are now celebrating the glorious half-century anniversary of the Lenin Komsomol with shock work.” And so on.

A "private" time capsule planted by BL Group employees in 2012. A good example of what a time capsule might look like just before the bookmark
Time capsule in Yekaterinburg
Time capsule in Kirov

What is the reason for the appearance of such little meaningful time capsules? First of all, in the crazy scientific and technological progress of the post-war period. In the 1950s and 60s, the science of the USSR was ahead of the rest, people's eyes burned, no one thought that in just a few years the era of beginnings and hopes would be replaced by a long stagnation. It was assumed that humanity will master space, grow apple trees on Mars, and people will live for 200 years. Therefore, the capsules were laid for a relatively short period of time, up to 50 years, so that the aged, but still living "mortgages" could enjoy their content. Overestimating the future is a common mistake, especially in societies built on populism and propaganda. And that is why Soviet propaganda capsules of half a century ago cause only laughter today.

If any meticulous historian tries to compile a complete list of time capsules left in the 1960s for posterity, he will quickly lose count. Pupils of almost every second Soviet school wrote letters to the children of the future, after which they laid the capsule under the roots of a freshly planted tree or in the foundation of a new school building. A significant number of such capsules have not been discovered to this day: the burial places of many of them have been lost, and sometimes people even forget about the very existence of the capsules. There is a well-known story that happened with the capsule, which was laid in 1967 in the wall of the Irkutsk Regional College of Pedagogical Education (in those days - Pedagogical College No. 1). The capsule with the message to posterity was supposed to be opened in 2000, but for bureaucratic reasons this was never done. Over the next few years, the building went through a series of repairs and a change of lining - and the markings at the point where the capsule was laid were simply destroyed! As a result, when in 2007 they nevertheless decided to open the capsule, it turned out that no one remembers where it was laid. So the people of Irkutsk will never know what the students of the 1960s wanted to tell them.

Lost capsules

As mentioned above, the location of many capsules has been lost. Even if they are laid down for half a century, it is possible to forget the laying point in a generation. A number of incidents and entertaining stories are associated with the loss of capsules. In the US, there is even an official top list of the most interesting lost capsules.

For example, in 1976, in honor of the bicentennial of the United States, President Gerald Ford was to lay a capsule containing the personal signatures of twenty-two million Americans. But the capsule was stolen from the train, in which they were solemnly taken to the place of laying! The artifact has not yet been found. This story is unique in that the location of the capsule is unknown even though it was never planted.

And in the Californian town of Corona, as many as seventeen time capsules have been laid in different places - there is historical information about each, but not one has yet been found, although for some all the deadlines have already expired. Corona holds the unofficial title of city-record holder for lost capsules.

Sometimes capsules are not lost, but damaged ahead of time - such a case happened, for example, with a Komsomol message in Ussuriysk. The capsule, laid in 1977, had to be opened in 2017, but during the restoration of the monument to the Fighters for the Power of the Soviets, on the pedestal of which it was kept, it turned out that the capsule had lost its tightness. The text was restored by the local historical community based on archival materials (that is, in principle, it was known), and the capsule was laid back - in 2017 it will be opened as expected.

forbidden room

There is an unequivocal answer to the question “which time capsule is the most interesting and meaningful” - this is the so-called “Crypt of civilization”. Its history began in the 1920s, when Thornwell Jacobs, a professor at Oglethorpe University (Georgia, USA), traveled to Egypt and visited the tombs of the pharaohs. Jacobs thought that the Egyptians, in fact, created ideal time capsules that have preserved to this day a huge amount of historical evidence about the life, beliefs, and military art of a civilization that has sunk into oblivion a long time ago.

In the mid-1930s, Jacobs became concerned with the creation of a time capsule, similar to the burial places of the pharaohs. The room was quickly found - the room in which one of the university pools was located was below ground level and was partially hollowed out in the rocks. For three years, the pool was converted into a crypt 6 meters long, 3 meters wide and 3 meters high. The room's natural ceiling was 2.1 meters thick, and the entrance to it was sealed with a stainless steel safe door.

The last picture of the Crypt of Civilization before it was sealed in 1940

What was the largest time capsule in history filled with? In total, the room contains several thousand items that characterize human civilization at the time of laying. Many items are additionally protected by vacuum chambers to protect against exposure to air. Crockery, household appliances and appliances, clothing and food samples (even a bottle of Budweiser beer), a typewriter and a radio, plastic and wooden toys, toothpaste and much more, from women's garters to can openers - list all the elements of civilization that fell into the crypt , impossible.

Thornwell Jacobs, creator of The Crypt of Civilization, displays the last sample cylinder before it is encapsulated.

Of course, Thomas Peters, the chief archivist of the crypt, paid considerable attention to information - more than 800 literary works, the Bible, the Koran and a huge amount of scientific research, in total more than 640 thousand pages, are recorded on microfilms stored in the room. There are also films on metallized films (a technology used for long-term preservation), audio recordings of the voices of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Roosevelt - do not forget, at that time there was no war yet, and all four were perceived as equal leaders of the civilized world. However, at the last moment, when the war had already begun, they managed to add linotype forms of newspapers with articles about battles in Europe to the room.

There are artifacts in the room, the value of which is unlikely to be understood by people of the future. For example, it is there that the first copy of the original script for the film Gone with the Wind, donated by producer David Selznick, is sealed. The capsule was widely advertised, many people wanted to leave something for posterity, but only selected, especially valuable gifts were accepted - mostly from celebrities.

The crypt of civilization will be opened in 8113, 6177 years after its foundation (it was sealed in 1940, three years later). This strange number is related to the Egyptian inspiration of Thornwell Jacobs. At that time, the earliest reliably established date for the existence of the Egyptian kingdom was 4241 BC. Jacobs calculated how many years had passed from this date to the year when he planned to lay the capsule (1936) - and decided that the room should be opened after a similar period. Today, the "Crypt of Civilization" is the longest-term time capsule, the most filled, the largest and, apparently, the most legendary. What the descendants will think about it after six millennia - if, of course, they find it at all - we do not know. But let's hope that the work of Jacobs and Peters was not a waste of time and money.

Masonic traditions

Typical Masonic capsule embedded in the building's cornerstone

Freemasons have made a huge contribution to the "industry" of time capsules. Starting from the 18th century, under the cornerstones of the buildings erected by Masons, stone or steel caskets with information of various nature are mandatory laid - in fact, this is one of the oldest "capsule" traditions in the world.

According to legend, George Washington, being a Freemason, in 1793 personally laid a similar capsule in the cornerstone of the American Capitol. Over the next two-plus centuries, the Capitol was repeatedly repaired and even rebuilt, and as a result, the location of the cornerstone was forgotten. It is quite possible that Washington left some instructions for posterity. You never know what these Masons were able to do.

All over the world

The USA and the USSR/Russia are the two world leaders in the number of time capsules. Most of the American capsules are designed for long-term storage, from a hundred years, most of the Russian ones - for one or two generations. However, there were exceptions there as well.

But the rest of the world is also no stranger to trying to send a message to posterity. For example, in 2009, under the monument to Miguel de Cervantes in Madrid, a time capsule was discovered, laid in 1834 during its installation. There was - in excellent condition - a four-volume edition of Don Quixote from 1819. Such time capsules, like, for example, bookmarks in Masonic cornerstones, are usually not designed to be opened at any particular moment. They will find it - and it's good, they won't find it - and okay, they didn't really want to. By the way, the Spanish authorities put a new edition of Don Quixote in a capsule to replace the old one, which went to the museum, and again walled up the cache. A sort of bookcrossing in time.

Monument to Miguel de Cervantes in Madrid, whose base was found to contain a time capsule laid down in 1834 (José María Mateos / Flickr)

Similar capsules - without a statute of limitations - exist all over the world and are most often laid in the foundations of buildings during their construction or in the pedestals of monuments. Like, when the building collapses under the burden of years, the descendants will at least know what stood in this place. For example, in the foundation of the Mahatma Mandir exhibition center in Gandhinagar, India, a capsule with the history of the state of Gujarat is kept.

The fact that the first official capsule was laid during the World's Fair has given rise to a certain tradition. For example, at the World Exhibition in Osaka (Japan), a capsule was also buried following the American example, for 5000 years, with a will to open it in 6970.

Disk of Immortality

Apollo 11 message disc versus coin

In 2008, the Immortality Drive hard disk was delivered to the ISS with the DNA chains of famous scientists and public figures recorded on it - Stephen Hawking, Stephen Colbert, Tracy and Laura Hickman, Lance Armstrong and others. The task of the disk is to save information about human DNA in the event of a global cataclysm on Earth. True, the choice of heroes is rather strange. If the presence of an athlete Armstrong or a writer Hickman can still be understood, then Hawking, for all his genius, is not the best choice for a DNA bank. Still, his unpleasant illness, known to the whole world, is determined precisely by heredity.

A similar attempt to leave something for posterity was the goodwill messages delivered to the Moon by the 1969 mission. On a silicon disc the size of a small coin, there are edifications from the leaders of 73 states of the world, from Iceland to Zambia, excluding, however, the countries of the socialist camp. Interestingly, despite the absence of the USSR in the list, separate messages were left by representatives of Latvia and Estonia, which at that time were part of the Union.

* * *

To date, there are about five thousand unopened capsules worldwide. On average, from two to five capsules are opened per decade, and the same number of new ones appear in different parts of the planet - in the entire history of capsules there have been up to fifteen thousand. This process is being researched by a special organization - the International Time Capsule Society (ITCS). The Society was founded in 1990 by American journalist Knut Berger. The purpose of ITCS is to register and track new capsules, as well as to search for lost ones. The society's office is located at Oglethorpe University, next to the Crypt of Civilization.

No one knows if time capsules will be useful to our descendants. So far, only a few of the opened capsules have brought at least some sense - like the one in which the volumes of Cervantes were found. The lion's share of information about the world around us is stored today in digital form - and is unlikely to be lost. Even if all electricity suddenly disappears on Earth, many carriers in a passive state do not require power supply. However, even knowing what a typewriter looked like from a digital library, a person from the eighty-first century would obviously be interested in touching such an artifact with his hands. And in the "Crypt of Civilization" it is quite worthy of those times. Let it be kept.

Sometimes time begins to run at an unthinkable speed. And in such periods, I really want to plunge into memories, flip through photo albums, look at my school diaries. Hands reach favorite audio and video collections, not to mention those recordings that capture our past life. Memories are an important part of anyone's life. But you begin to understand this only after a few years.

A few words about what a capsule is

You can prepare a gift for yourself that will become very expensive in the future. time. With the help of it, you can convey greetings from the past to your future. This item is not just one way to save memories. With the help of a capsule, you can get nice gifts, go through memory, go on an exciting journey. The time capsule is a way of self-expression.

In a broad sense, a capsule should be understood as a message to your future generation. Basically, messages are placed in a strong container, after which it must be hidden or buried. You need to choose a place for this yourself, guided by your own preferences. Quite often, a time capsule is created by several people. In such a situation, it often has a historical or political character.

For the first time such capsules were used in 1937. However, examples of such messages can be found in ancient times. The purpose of the epistle is to preserve the history of a certain time period.

In this review, the time capsule will not have a global character. It is only necessary to describe how to create it for yourself and your family. In addition, it should be noted that the time capsule can become a wonderful tradition, eventually becoming a relic, a family treasure.

No need to look for reasons to create a capsule

The event for creating a capsule can be anything. This is the New Year, and the birthday, and the wedding, and the birth of a child. There can be a huge number of options. For example, you decide to create a capsule in which you need to put wishes for your child. It will be possible to open it only when he turns 18 years old. And not before. Accordingly, the capsule will need to be packed and hidden.

Important points to consider when creating a capsule

You can create a time capsule with your own hands. What will need to be taken into account?

1. Its shelf life. First of all, you need to decide how long it should lie before opening. If it was created on New Year's Eve, then the period of its storage should be equal to one year. A capsule created on a wedding day can be opened for a specific anniversary. A message addressed to a child can be printed when the age of majority is reached. When laying the capsule in the base of the house, the period of its storage can reach 70 years. In this case, the message will be read by the grandchildren.
2. If you are wondering how to make a time capsule, look for it storage. Previously, it was buried in the ground. If this suits you, then you need to find a sealed iron shell. You may not bury the message. It is enough to put it in a box and hide it in a secluded place. For example, in the attic.
3. To create, you need to choose specific size container. It can be a beautiful jar, a thermos, a suitcase or a safe. Any container to store the message will do. You should first put a bag inside it that will absorb moisture. Such material is available in new shoes. It will help prevent message corruption.
4. Do you want to understand how to make a time capsule with your own hands? figure it out how do you fill it. After that, it will be necessary to pack the finished box, wrap it with tape or beautiful paper. You can use sealing wax to create a family seal.
5. Well, you definitely need to do reminder. The main thing is not to open the box ahead of time. The date must be indicated on the capsule. In order not to forget about an important event, you will need to send yourself an email with a reminder. At the present stage, there are such opportunities. You can also leave a note on your mobile device.

New wedding tradition

At the present stage, there are a huge number of different traditions and rituals. However, every year there are more and more of them. You can diversify the celebration in many ways. And among the popular options is the creation of a time capsule.

The meaning of the ritual lies in the fact that about a day before the wedding, lovers should write letters to each other. You can specify anything in them. In this case, you need to be guided only by your own imagination. You can also attach objects, souvenirs, memorabilia, etc. to the letter.

After this, the letters must be given to the witness and the witness. They must keep the messages until the wedding celebration begins. During the ceremony, the letters are given to the host. He, without opening them, must hide the messages in a capsule. On it you will need to write the time and date when it should be opened. Then the messages are either buried or hidden in a secluded place. This is the meaning of the wedding time capsule.

Self-manufacturing of the capsule does not pose any difficulties

You can make your own capsule. This will require some capacity. For example, a tea tin or can. A glass bottle might work too. The selected container must be well packed so that it looks beautiful and solemn. You can use wrapping paper, ribbons. In this case, your imagination will be the main assistant. After packaging, the capsule of the message must be corked, close the container. And this should be done as thoroughly as possible. You can even hang a padlock.

What can you put in a memory box?

The above described what a time capsule looks like and how it can be created. But what should be packed in it?

1. A written message to yourself or your family. You can write anything in it.
2. Photos. You, your family, pets can be imprinted on them.
3. Can be packed into a capsule their desires and goals. It will be interesting to see what has been achieved in the future.
4. Can be hidden in the capsule video interview. It will need to be written to a disk or flash drive.
5. Can be placed in a capsule toys, books, magazines, newspapers, diaries and so on.

What should not be placed in a time capsule?

1. Food is better not to pack. In the future, you will not want to be near an open capsule.
2. It is not recommended to place earth and expensive items.
3. Do not install batteries.

The unique opportunity that the capsule has

In this review, it was said about the message to yourself in the future. How to create a capsule with your own hands, what you can pack into it, what you need to consider when creating it - all this has been described in sufficient detail. It should be noted that the capsule is a unique opportunity. With it, you can travel through your memories. Has an important event happened in your life? Create a capsule that will remind you of him ten years from now. You can get a lot of emotions from this. And they will only be positive. It is interesting to know what a person will be in ten years. This time will pass unnoticed. And the capsule will allow him to stop, to remember how you were and what path you have traveled.

Creating a time capsule is exciting, and opening it years later is also exciting. As a time capsule, any container that can be placed in order to open the capsule in the future in 5, 10 or even 100 years is suitable. A good time capsule allows you to safely store the contents for your future self, your grandchildren, or even strangers. Create a time capsule that will make a lasting impression on people in the future.

Steps

How to choose content

Choose your target audience. Think about who your time capsule will be for. This will make it easier for you to choose the content, container, and storage location. Clearly decide whether you want to open the capsule yourself, give this right to your grandchildren or strangers from the distant future.

• If you find it difficult to determine the target audience, consider which capsule you personally would like to open. A time capsule filled with memorabilia and handwritten notes from your grandparents? A parcel from a century and a half ago from an unknown person whose name has been lost for centuries?

1. Make a list of suitable items. Depending on the target audience, different priorities should be chosen. Extra things can always be weeded out later. You are only limited by the available space and the ability of the capsule to safely store the contents.

   • If the capsule is for you, focus on personal mementos from your current life. A pair of headphones you've been using every day for two years, an old key and a menu from a takeaway restaurant will relive your memories in just a few years.
   • For a capsule intended for your children or grandchildren, you should choose items that will interest them in the details of your life and your world. Great choices are personal items that have value for you or your family, like wedding invitations, as well as things that reflect the state of the world, like technology.
   • If the capsule is meant for people in the distant future who will find it many years after your death, then focus on your era. Things that seem unremarkable today will surely surprise a person who will live in 75 or 100 years.

2. Place the toys in the baby capsule. If you want to make a time capsule with children or for future children, then toys and simple games are a great choice. Of course, don't encapsulate your child's favorite toy, but a few samples from early childhood will help them get excited about the idea.

   • Toys change over time more than you can imagine, and for a child, they will become fond memories years later.

3. Select current newspapers or magazines. For a wider audience, print publications that cover current events or trends are a great choice. Such things will help the people of the future understand what life was like in your time. You can even cut out headlines or articles published on the day of the capsule.

   • Don't forget to wrap your paper in plastic files so it will keep better.

4. Save diaries, letters, and photographs to convey personal information. Even if this capsule is not intended for your family, many people will be interested in reading the correspondence of the inhabitants of bygone times. The diary and photos will also be an exciting showcase of the other person's life.

   • They are particularly susceptible to breakage, so pack them in plastic files if the capsule will be stored for more than 5 years.

5. Choose other compact and non-perishable items. You are not limited in any way, as long as the item is placed in the capsule and does not deteriorate until the moment the capsule is opened. For this reason, food and drinks should not be used, as they will rot or deteriorate long before the capsule is opened.

   • If you run out of ideas, then remember your daily activities. What items do you use? What are you looking at? What are you reading? Questions like these will give you new ideas.

6. Write and attach a letter. In this way, you can tell your future audience about your daily life, current hobbies, fashion, attitudes and trends, expectations for the future, and much more. You can also describe your intentions when creating the time capsule.

   • Write the letter as if it were addressed directly to the person who will open your time capsule. A personal appeal will be much warmer than a bland list of facts.

7. Take inventory of the contents of the capsule. Make a note of all the items that are included in the Time Capsule so that you can keep the list and keep a copy in the Time Capsule. The recipient in the future will understand that everything is in place, and you will not forget about the contents of the capsule.

   How to choose the right container

   1. Choose the duration of the capsule storage. For a personal time capsule, 10 to 30 years is enough, while a message for your great-grandchildren can be kept for 60 or 70 years. If you want to create a capsule for even more distant times, then it is important to correctly plan all the logistics.

      • It is quite normal if you do not know the specific opening date of the capsule. Perhaps this date will be the day of your wedding or retirement.

   2. Consider the worst case scenario for capsule wear. Wherever you choose to store your time capsule, damage can destroy the contents before anyone sees it. Items should be packed individually and a container should be selected that is more reliable than the stresses of possible storage conditions.

      Use a shoebox, basket, or old suitcase for short-term indoor storage. If the capsule is to lie for 5-10 years, a simple and familiar container will be able to safely store the selected items and be easy to transport, provided that it is always stored indoors.

      • It should be borne in mind that a capsule made of cardboard or paper can be completely destroyed in a fire, flood or other natural disaster.

   3. Use a coffee can as a simple short term solution. If you have an empty coffee can, such an aluminum container can lie underground for about 10 years. Place the container in a ziplock bag or other sealed container to prevent moisture from entering the jar through the lid.

      Choose a container with increased protection for long-term storage. If you intend to store your time capsule outdoors or underground, then choose a durable container such as a container made from industrial or domestic aluminum, stainless steel, or PVC.

      How to choose the right place

      Choose a location based on your imaginary target audience. If you are going to open such a capsule yourself, then you can store it in the house or bury it in the backyard. If the capsule is not intended for members of your family, then it is better to choose a place that is not located on private property.

      • If you decide to store the capsule outdoors, then choose a place where construction work will not be carried out. This could be a national park or a landmark near which you can bury the capsule.

      1. Take the traditional approach and bury the capsule underground. This is not the best solution for a number of reasons, but it is the most traditional way to store a time capsule. Underground capsules are almost certain to be unobtainable, and the contents are constantly exposed to the damaging effects of moisture.

         • On the positive side of underground storage, there is a low chance that the capsule will be found and opened too soon. From this side, outdoor storage would be a good solution.

      2. Store the capsule indoors for safety. Away from the weather, the capsule will be safe compared to underground storage. It may be tempting to open the capsule, and the box in the closet is far less captivating than any find in the ground, but it's a good idea to consider this option for short-term storage.

      3. Store the capsule outdoors above ground. An interesting alternative would be to store the capsule in an airtight stainless steel food container hidden in a hollow decorative stone or polyurethane log.

         • Such terrestrial time capsules are called geocapsules. This method will allow you to increase the excitement and sensations when creating and opening the capsule.

2017 has become a real year of messages from the past - by the centenary of the October Revolution, the inhabitants of the Soviet Union planned to open many "time capsules" - messages addressed to descendants. Among them are wishes, dreams about the future and just things of those times. We studied the messages of the past and how people imagined the future

The tradition of laying "time capsules" was very popular in the Soviet Union - messages were laid during the construction of large construction projects, monuments, during festive events. The autopsy was expected after half a century, or a century - therefore, it is in 2017 that a large number of opened time capsules await us.

The authors of time capsules equally ignore the unpredictability of changing political and economic realities, the speed of scientific and technological progress and the banal renewal of the language. On the one hand, this retrofuturism reflects the linear thinking of an era focused on the inevitability of a “bright socialist future”, and on the other hand, the doom of any far-reaching expectations, writes Pavel Gnilorybov, author of the online magazine Lessons of History.

In the words of Albert Einstein, who put these words into one of the time capsules, which we will discuss below, “everyone who thinks about the future is forced to live in tension and fear. This is because the intellect and morals of the masses are at a lower level than the intellect and morals of the few who produce something of value to society. I believe that our posterity will read these lines with a sense of pride and justified superiority.”

“And apple trees will bloom on Mars”

So, “time capsules” are a good opportunity to look at how schoolchildren, workers and scientists saw the future in the 20th century.

The message of the pioneers of Artek deserved the greatest number of mentions in the press. In 1960, in honor of the 35th anniversary of the camp, the pioneers laid a capsule on Kostrovaya Square with a message to the year 2000. 40 years later, the capsule was removed on a solemn line - a letter from the pioneers was read in front of children from eight independent states. The children of the Soviet Union were very optimistic about the future and confident in the inviolability of the foundations of the present: “We envy you a little ... You live under communism, people fly to the moon every day, and, probably, Artek has its own cosmodrome.”

Sometimes residents find time capsules in their own garden plots and make their contents public: “Builders of power lines in the region of the Tyumen North turn to you from the past millennium. It was curious to find those who were strong with a daring dream to create and build! I am proud that I became involved in the great cause of the development of the North!

Against this optimistic background, the “time capsule” left by the prisoners of the Gulag and accidentally discovered during repairs in the city drama theater of Nizhny Tagil leaves complex impressions: “This inscription was walled up on March 15, 1954, not to the thunder of orchestras and the noise of the crowd. But she will tell posterity that this theater was not built by the forces of the Komsomol brigades, as chronicles will later assert, but was created on the blood and bones of prisoners - slaves of the 20th century. Hello to the next generation! And may your life and your era not know the slavery and humiliation of man by man.

Today's messages

Today, the tradition of laying "time capsules" has by no means sunk into oblivion. Among the messages of modern Russians, there are fewer naive expectations, but there is still enough optimism. At the same time, a characteristic feature is the short term of “delivery” to the addressees.

For example, residents of the Moscow district of Nekrasovka decided not to play on the feelings of their descendants after three or four generations, and in 2000 they laid down an appeal to the residents of 2015. The opened capsule is now stored in the local recreation center "Zarechye":

“Listen, comrade descendants, our voices from the year 2000! We appeal to your heart, your memory, remember those who for a hundred years have made their contribution to the development and prosperity of their native Nekrasovka. Those who stood up for our land to the last drop of blood, who fired back to the last bullet, who gave their lives defending Moscow and did not allow the enemy to enter the streets of the capital, cannot be forgotten.

Similar example. In Omsk, in honor of the 285th anniversary of the city and the laying of a new park, they also acquired a time capsule. It was laid in 2001 and opened in 2016.

“Omsk residents meet the 21st century with confidence that the city will rightfully take its rightful place among Russian megacities. Industry is developing, city blocks are growing, a metro bridge is rising over the Irtysh ... Today we are laying a new park, a park that has no equal in Omsk yet. Whether it will flourish together with the city depends only on us. Today we don't just make a commitment to grow a park. First of all, we think about the future, about preserving the glory of our native city.” Values ​​that should be preserved for posterity are mainly aesthetic and moral: “Amazing image of a sparkling bright city, the charm of quiet streets, cozy courtyards, kindness, cordiality and openness - this is the soul of Omsk. And this is the main legacy that we pass on to future generations with excitement, but also with hope. Man is alive with hope, we hope that Omsk will become the most beautiful city in Russia.”

Opening of the time capsule in Smolensk

In 2013, the residents of Smolensk bricked up a message to the residents of the city in 2063:

“It is easier to look into the past than into the future, and you know more about us than we do about you. At the turn of the century, we happened to live in a difficult era of radical change. Freedom has become the main principle of our society, thanks to which everyone has the right to choose. The more valuable the foundations we have preserved. After all, completely voluntarily, without coercion, just because we feel this way, we - Smolensk people honor our history, protect the cultural heritage that we inherited, appreciate the achievements of science and art, respect the exploits of the heroes of our Fatherland, preserve and protect the family way of life, love our city " .

What they writeresidents of other countries

The tradition of laying "time capsules" is popular all over the world. However, in the West, mostly household items are sent to the future, perhaps to remind posterity of the material world of the past. Maybe soon this need will disappear - after all, today there are online museums of things that surround us, but so far the tradition is alive.

Computer mouse from Steve Jobs found in a time capsule

For example, Steve Jobs, after speaking at a conference in Aspen in 1983, put a computer mouse into a time capsule, which was then buried in a nearby field. In 2013, the National Geographic team managed to find a capsule, inside which, in addition to the mouse from the Lisa computer (the unsuccessful predecessor of the Mac), there was a Rubik's cube and 8 cassettes with the music of the Moody Blues.

Westinghouse Time Capsule. Photo by Getty Images

In 1938, in preparation for the New York World's Fair, Westinghouse Electric created the first ever "official" time capsule. The capsule contained 35 small objects characterizing the era (a pencil, a pack of cigarettes, a dollar in change, and so on), 75 samples of various materials, edible and inedible, and a set of microfilms about the life of the first half of the 20th century. Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann left their messages to posterity in a capsule. The capsule should be opened in 6939, that is, five thousand years after the laying.

However, among foreign capsules there are also written messages. In Spain, in 2009, they found a capsule from 1834 - under the statue of Miguel Cervantes in Madrid. It contained a guidebook and four volumes of Don Quixote, published in 1819. And at the headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes there is a special armored safe for letters to the future - since 2007, famous figures of Hispanic culture have left messages in it. There are 1,800 cells in the safe, in which 18 messages have already been invested - they will be stored until 2057. Some authors hide the content of their letters, and some, on the contrary, happily share them with the press. For example, in 2009, writer Juan Marse announced that he had posted in his cell a family recipe for escalivada, a Catalan vegetable dish.

Another European time capsule is located in the building of the Millennium Dome, built in 1998 on the British island of Greenwich. Until 2050, it will house letters and drawings from 2,000 English children, selected in a competition launched by the BBC children's show Blue Peter.

Peace - about the world

Among the foreign messages, one of the most sentimental can be considered the message that in 1993 in Bendery the townspeople laid a capsule in memory of the Transnistrian conflict. The text read: “Without today there is no tomorrow, without tomorrow there is no future, without us there would be no you. We want you to love this land, these city streets, watered with the blood of your grandfathers and great-grandfathers, just like we do. After all, your future is connected with our present, which we carry for you through torment, suffering, blood. And it's not sentimental to shed tears where blood has already been shed. You can shed a tear if you haven't dropped your weapon. We were like that. Know about it. We give you our faith in a better future, our hopes and aspirations.”

Some more interesting examples of "time capsules"

However, even greater intensity is contained in the message of the Komsomol members of the Nikolaev region in a capsule embedded in the wall of the local house of culture. The appeal read: “We, the generation of Komsomol members of the 60s, could not imagine life without struggle and creative work in the name of the triumph of communism, which has become a reality for you.

We were proud of our region with its boundless steppes, eared fields, forests of new buildings and tried to do everything to make its future wonderful. We, like you, our descendants, have always been the first, have always been where it is difficult. Zoya... Matrosov... Heroes-Iskrovites... Their names are immortal, as the Komsomol is immortal. Virgin lands ... Space - these are the heroic stages of the path of our contemporaries.

Message from the Komsomol members of Nikolaev. Photo "Timer"

Today, on the eve of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of our state, we extend our friendly hands to you in the 21st century and proudly announce: socialist competition under the motto "To you, dear party, our work, our hearts!" went great." Next comes the enumeration of the names of the workers of the garment factory and other workers and participants in socialist competitions.

“You are a happy generation: there is a clear sky above you, and wars in the world for everyone living in 2017 have become history. You did not chant: "Shame on the aggressors of Israel!" You did not have to participate in protest rallies against the criminal war in Vietnam, read in the newspapers about provocations against revolutionary Cuba. How far are these contemporary events from you! For a long time, mischievous boys have not found cartridge cases, rusted gun bolts. Only in severe silence, like us in 1967, do you stand at the obelisks of the dead, only as tremulously as half a century ago, your heart stops when you step on the land of the legendary Krymka, ”the Komsomol members wrote.

How to send your message to the future

Today, in order to send a message to the future, there is no need to participate in laying the first stone in the foundation of any construction project. It is enough to use one of the services for sending delayed messages to yourself. Some do it easier - they create a post on the social network that they themselves or their descendants will be able to read after a few years. For example, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife did this when they left a message for their daughter.

You can leave a video message - the Minute Of Life service will deliver it to the addressee at the specified time or publish it on the specified social network. Listing on any search engine for “Message to the Future” also offers many common email services.

Website of the KEO project. The launch year is still in question.

However, the most unusual, albeit not the most reliable way may be to send a message to descendants on a space satellite. The launch of the KEO satellite, named after the three most common sounds in the modern languages ​​of the world, was scheduled for 2014, but the launch was postponed tentatively to 2019. The satellite is a hollow sphere 80 centimeters in diameter, surrounded by several layers of titanium and other metals. He is expected to return to Earth in 50,000 years. KEO will store a diamond containing a drop of blood from a randomly selected person, as well as samples of air, sea water and soil. A chain of human DNA will be engraved on one side of the diamond.

In addition, any person on Earth could send his letter to the future - the memory of the satellite is enough to take away four pages from each inhabitant of the planet. Messages were accepted until the end of 2013. However, examples of letters surprise with their chaotic content. Despite the obvious globality and significance of the KEO mission, people send to their descendants absolutely everything that comes to mind: from confessions of unrequited love to a hamburger recipe. But perhaps this attitude towards the future is the most typical property of humanity.

Now, on the centennial anniversary of the 1917 revolution, time capsules are being opened everywhere - cheerful messages to posterity, which were laid down by enthusiastic Soviet citizens.

Although the fashion for such greetings from the "bright past" existed not only in the Soviet Union. In the 20th century, this was a craze in many countries: handwritten letters addressed to people of the future, newspaper clippings, commemorative photographs, and the like were placed in boxes or boxes. Most often, they were buried somewhere or poured with concrete in the hope that the descendants would discover the “treasure”.

However, sometimes instead of solemn greetings from the past, gloomy messages are also found in the capsules. From strange prophecies to corpses, today we will tell you about the most unusual and terrible finds that were discovered in time capsules by the inhabitants of the "bright future".

"I'm dead:" a scary letter from a ghost boy

In the summer of 2016, during construction work in a school in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a time capsule was found, laid in 1968. The glass bottle contained letters from elementary school students. This has been practiced throughout the country for many years. As a rule, schoolchildren's letters contain many fantasies about the future. For example, about flying cars.

However, this time the content of one of the messages attracted close attention. Judging by the signature, it was written by a boy named Greg Lee Youngman. However, information about him has not yet been found. There is no record of such a student in the school archive. Even more strange and frightening is the text:

"I'm dead. I go to Montgomery School. This is the old name of the school. I was born in 1900. But now I'm dead. My favorite pastime is scaring the police. I play guitar. It's a board with strings if you don't know. I am 10 years old. See you later, savages."

The frightening message could have been a dark joke from one of the students. Local journalists tried to find the mysterious boy or those who knew him, but their search was unsuccessful.

A grim hello from psychiatrists of the past

In 2015, on the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital in Indiana, USA, workers stumbled upon a time capsule left by psychiatrists from the 1950s. Inside were films recorded by doctors back in 1958. In the footage, experts of the last century talked about the bright prospects for electroconvulsive therapy, and also reflected on how to effectively treat psychosis through artificial insulin shock.

Of course, it is easy to understand the desire of psychiatrists of that time to share their experience with colleagues from the future, but in modern times such treatments cause shivers and only confirm the difficult path of development of psychiatry.

Time capsule in the form of a bomb caused a stir in Manhattan

And this surprise from the past has a completely harmless content, albeit a frightening form. It was discovered in early July 2017 during renovations in Manhattan. Emergency services and sappers were called to the scene, and nearby buildings were evacuated. Soon, however, experts found that the object found, which outwardly resembled a World War II bomb, did not pose any danger. As it turned out, a time capsule with a message to posterity was disguised as a bomb. More than 30 years ago, it was buried in the ground as a joke by the owner of the then popular Danceteria club.

In the 80s of the last century, Danceteria was one of the iconic places in New York. Stars such as Madonna, Billy Idol and Duran Duran performed there. Entrepreneur John Argento, the former owner of the club, admitted that in 1985 he bought a fake bomb in a New York military supply store, collected “messages to the future” from club visitors for three weeks, and then buried it in front of the entrance to the institution.

“It was kind of a joke. We thought someday someone would dig this thing up and think it was an unexploded bomb. Buried and forgotten - went to the next party.

The police carefully examined the contents of the capsule (only letters and photographs were found inside), and then handed it over to the ex-owner of the nightclub.

"Islamic threat and the rise of China": an Australian wrote very true prophecies for the sake of a joke

In the summer of 2017, a resident of Sydney accidentally found a "letter of the times" under the tiles in the bathroom wall. A plastic capsule, which contained photographs and a letter with amazing prophecies, was immured in the wall 22 years ago by a former resident of this house. The content of the letter quite accurately described many global events in the modern world.

Greg Wilkinson wrote his message on Easter Sunday 1995. First, he told the details of his biography and indicated the state of affairs and the cost of everyday goods at the time of writing the letter, and then moved on to predictions for the future.

According to his forecast, in the future China was to become a semi-democratic state, reach the level of a superpower and become the main partner of the United States. Interestingly, in 1995, China was inferior to many states in terms of the size of its economy, and now it has risen to second place in the world. Among Greg's predictions are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also wrote that growing Islamic radicalism will become a global problem that will develop into a big war that will end only when "both sides understand that their God does not want to continue it."

The journalists managed to find Greg Wilkinson, who is now 61 years old. According to him, after writing the letter, he argued with his wife when it would be discovered. He himself was inclined to believe that the letter would be found closer to 2060, while his wife pointed to 2020.

Greetings from Auschwitz: a message from the prisoners of the death camp

In 2009, during construction work to destroy one of the buildings that were part of the Auschwitz concentration camp system, a bottle was discovered with a note signed by seven prisoners. The bottle was immured in the wall of the building, which during the Second World War housed warehouses used by the guards of the death camp.

The note, written in pencil on a label from under a bag of cement and placed in a glass bottle, gives the names and surnames of the prisoners - six Poles and one Frenchman, their personal numbers and place - the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Auschwitz.

“All between the ages of 18 and 20,” reads the note, which was handed over to the museum of concentration camp prisoners.

In 1940-1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi concentration camp, where people were massacred. The exact number of those who died in Auschwitz is still unknown, since before the onset of the Red Army, the Nazis destroyed all the documentation of the camp, and before leaving Auschwitz they carried out mass executions of prisoners.

It is assumed that millions of people died in the camp: some were tortured and poisoned in gas chambers, others died of starvation and as a result of medical experiments.

Peter Pan's dead brothers

In 2010, an American woman found a travel trunk in the basement of her Los Angeles apartment building that looked like it was at least 80 years old. At first, the woman was very happy, but when she opened the time capsule, her enthusiasm instantly subsided.

Inside were newspapers and other junk from the 1930s, a few books about the adventures of Peter Pan, a fan club membership card for this wonderful children's story, and a few Peter Pan-themed souvenirs. However, the most "bright" contents of the box were the embalmed bodies of two babies wrapped in newspaper.

The most interesting thing is that the name of Janet M. Berry was stamped on the box, which is strikingly consonant with J. M. Berry - the name of the author of everyone's favorite book. This discovery caused a great resonance, the police even conducted a DNA test. However, experts have not identified any relationship between the writer and the corpses in the basement, so the origin of the "dead brothers of Peter Pan" is still a mystery.

Strange sticky find in the garden: a curse or a blessing?

In 2016, a Reddit user from Costa Rica dug up a strange object in his backyard, which was a tightly closed metal container. At first he thought it was money, drugs, or a simple message to posterity from people who once lived here. But when he opened the vessel, it seemed to him that he was in some strange horror movie. The container was filled to the brim with a sweet-smelling, thick, sticky goo in which the photograph floated.

Many Latin Americans believe in brujeria, a special form of magic that uses natural elements. Therefore, the Costa Rican was sure that his find was connected with some kind of magical ritual. When the owner of the house came, he told his tenant that the woman in the photo lived in this house about 15 years ago. He also suggested that she was a victim of corruption or a curse. Then they decided to immediately burn the strange find.

However, some commentators on the Reddit post stated that it may not have been a corruption at all. Judging by the sweet smell of the contents in the jar, it could be honey, and the ritual itself was carried out more as a blessing, in order to “sweeten life” for the couple shown in the photograph.

Mothballed Parisian apartment as a time capsule

The next message from the past is different from the rest. This is a spacious apartment in Paris, full of dusty personal items, exquisite furniture and art that has stood untouched since 1939. When you look at this interior, you get the impression that the time machine has taken you to another era. .

The owner of the apartment, a French actress, fled Paris at the very beginning of World War II and never returned there. For 70 years, she continued to pay the rent of the apartment, but she did not tell any of her relatives about her. Relatives learned about the abandoned housing after the death of a woman at the age of 91.

The experts described all the belongings in the apartment, among which many personal items were found, such as hairbrushes and letters. In addition to them, other interesting objects were also found: a life-size stuffed ostrich or Mickey Mouse. The media dubbed the unusual apartment a "time capsule".

“It feels like we are in the Sleeping Beauty's castle, where time stopped more than a hundred years ago,” admitted auctioneer Olivier Chopin-Janvie, who conducted the opening of the apartment.

Everything around was as if frozen - at one moment the experts seemed to have stepped into the past. The air was filled with dust and there were cobwebs everywhere. A heavy dressing table and curtains, huge mirrors entirely in curls, ornate armchairs - all this transfers not even to the beginning of the 1940s, but to the beginning of the 20th century.

Eyes and nails in a teapot: greetings from the Japanese at Expo 70 Capsule

In 1970, electronics giant Panasonic built a teapot capsule in the Japanese city of Osaka that was supposed to stay closed for 5,000 years. The main container was filled with a layer of inert argon gas to protect the contents, but project leaders have also built a second, "control" capsule, which will be periodically opened, inspected and cleaned to help keep the project alive.

The first discovery of one of the most famous time capsules in the world already took place in 2000, and the rest will occur at intervals of 100 years. In total, each capsule contains a cargo of 2,098 culturally significant objects. If the two modern-day capsules survive until their scheduled opening date of 6970 AD, their future owners will find an extensive collection of films, seeds, and microorganisms, as well as the glassy eyes and blackened fingernails of survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.