This is not a montage, in front of you the tallest man ever lived on earth. 2 meters 85 centimeters! Fedor Makhno, a native of the unpreserved village Kostyuki, Vitebsk region. Man had conquered the world. Pope, the Chancellor of Germany and the U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt considered for the honor the opportunity to talk to the giant.We do not know the height and weight at birth of Fedor. However, he was born (June 18, 1878) is so great that his mother died in childbirth. Grow uncontrollably Fyodor began about 8 years old. And for four years, he grew up to two meters. Boys, peers, of course, teased tall man, but he just took off their hats and left on the roof of the house.
The world is so would not have learned about Vitebsk Gulliver, if the case is not brought him - 14-year-old boy, a German, Otto Billinderom, director of the circus. And the meeting took place on a summer morning in 1892 in Polotsk market, which in Vitebsk.
German circus toured in Vitebsk, Billinder went to the market to purchase provisions. Fedor Makhno had arrived with his father in the town to sell flour. German, like all visitors to the market, was stunned by the impressionable growth of Fedor. And then he offered a good bargain - he picks up Fedor to Germany and teaches him the art of circus. Consent was obtained and, after a while, Makhnov goes to the circus in Europe.
It must be said that a German circus businessman treated carefully and respectfully with young giant. During the eight years that Fedor played in a circus, Otto Billinderom paid him a a lot of money. With this money the giant lived comfortably the rest of his life. He bought manor houses, land and a mill in his native village. And even traveled to Europe and America.
Fedor Makhnov died at age 34 from lung disease. He was buried at home, there was a notice about his unique growth on the monument. True, made a mistake, pointing youthful growth of Mahnov - 3 feet 9 inches, which corresponds to 254 centimeters. The real Fedor’s growth was recorded by Austrian anthropologist Felix Lushan, which was confirmed by many researchers during the life of a giant.
The monument still stands in the place of burial. However, the skeleton was sold by relatives to the Minsk Medical Institute to 5 000 rubles and
removed from the graves in the 30 years of the last century.Dmitry Rubanik
