Where were the dachas of Soviet writers? History of Peredelkino
At the end of the 19th century, the Bryansk Railway passed near Lukino, and the 16th Versta station was built here, which was renamed Peredelkino in the Soviet years.
Writers' Village
It is believed that in 1933, Maxim Gorky suggested to Stalin that he organize a vacation spot for writers where they could spend time outdoors at their own dachas. They decided to build the village near the Setun River in Peredelkino. The land was divided into 50 plots on which dachas were built for the most worthy literary figures of that time. By the fall of 1935, the first inhabitants began to move into Peredelkino. All dachas belonged to the Literary Fund and were assigned to the writers for life. The main part of the village was concentrated on six streets: Vishnevsky Proezd, st. Pavlenko, st. Treneva, st. Pogodina, st. Serafimovicha and st. Gorky.
A House of Creativity was built in the town, and soon the village turned from a dacha place into the unofficial capital of the cultural life of the USSR. Over the years, Boris Pasternak, Korney Chukovsky, Bulat Okudzhava, Irakli Andronikov, Konstantin Paustovsky, Bella Akhmadulina, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Fazil Iskander, Anatoly Rybakov and many others lived here.
Boris Pasternak in Peredelkino
In 1936, Boris Pasternak settled in Peredelkino. At first he and his family lived at dacha No. 1 on Treneva Street, and in 1939 he moved to house No. 3 on Pavlenko Street. It was here, after a ten-year break, that Pasternak began writing again:
I'm finished, but you're alive.
And the wind, complaining and crying,
Rocks the forest and the dacha.
Not every pine tree separately,
And all the trees
With all the boundless distance,
Like sailboats' bodies
On the surface of the ship's bay.
In the spring of 1941, Boris Leonidovich released a short cycle of poems “Peredelkino”. In the same house, he finished the novel “Doctor Zhivago”, worked on translations of Shakespeare and Goethe, as well as on his last poetic cycle “When it clears up...”.
After Pasternak’s death in 1960, the house in which the poet’s wife and son lived gradually turned into an unofficial museum where fans of the writer’s work came. The authorities did not really like such a pilgrimage, and in 1984 they decided to take away the dacha that belonged to the Writers' Union. The poet's family's belongings were thrown out onto the street. And only on February 10, 1990, thanks to the support of Academician D.S. Likhachev, poets A.A. Voznesensky and E.A. Yevtushenko, the House-Museum of Boris Pasternak was officially opened.
Korney Chukovsky in Peredelkino
Arkady Raikin writes in his memoirs: “Chukovsky was, as it were, part of the Peredelkino landscape. When he walked along the streets of Peredelkino (and he walked in any weather, even in the bitter cold), he looked like a devil inspecting his possessions.” Korney Ivanovich settled in Peredelkino in 1938, and after the war he lived here permanently. For many years, Chukovsky organized children's parties around the fire in the village, which brought together not only children, but also adults. And today there is a children's library in Peredelkino, built at the expense of the writer, who donated hundreds of volumes from his collection to it.
Now at his dacha at st. Serafimovich there is a museum of the writer and, as before, children's parties are organized around the fire.
Bulat Okudzhava
In August 1998, thanks to the efforts of numerous admirers and friends of Okudzhava’s work, the Bulat Okudzhava People’s Museum was organized on a voluntary basis in Peredelkino. And in October 1999, by presidential decree, the country house became known as the “Federal State Memorial Museum of Bulat Okudzhava.”
Bulat Shalvovich received a dacha from the Writers' Union in the summer of 1987. His later poems and his autobiographical novel “The Abolished Theater” were written here.
Nowadays, every summer, weekly meetings and concerts called “Bulatov Saturdays” are held in the museum’s garden. The museum also hosts children's parties, performances and classes - “Bulat Sundays”, and public lectures are given in the “Unexpected Encounters” series.
Just a few kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road, between the Peredelkino and Michurinets stations, there are cozy summer cottages for writers near Moscow. Peredelkino is a real literary reserve.
You can get here by car along the Minsk highway, or by train from Kievsky station .
This is an amazing place - beautiful cozy houses, tall birch and pine trees, an atmosphere of calm and creativity. In the 30s At the request of Maxim Gorky, the USSR government allocated land for the construction of a writers' town. There is a legend that Stalin, when signing the documents, joked: “It would be better if it were not Peredelkino, but Perepiskino.”
All dachas were built according to German designs: huge windows, bay windows, spacious balconies and cozy verandas.
Such dachas were the dream of any Soviet person, especially in the 30s, when all of Moscow huddled in communal apartments.
But the beautiful German projects were poorly adapted to Russian weather conditions; the new owners had to redo a lot, insulate and modify them. All dachas were the property of the Literary Fund; they were assigned to the writers for life, and after the death of the writer, the wives and children had to leave the premises.
Residents of the first Peredelkino dachas were Leonid Leonov, Isaac Babel, Ilya Erenburg, Lev Kassil, Boris Pasternak, Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov, Korney Chukovsky, Veniamin Kaverin and others. Valentin Kataev, Alexander Fadeev, Konstantin Simonov, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Andrei Voznesensky, Bulat Okudzhava, Bella Akhmadulina and other Soviet classics also lived in Peredelkino.
From this incomplete list of literary names, it is obvious that Peredelkino is inextricably linked with the entire history of Russian culture of the 1930-1980s. XX century
Now this writers' town with a special atmosphere will interest everyone who loves poetry and is interested in Russian literature of the Soviet period and the life of the Soviet intelligentsia. Here you can spend more than one day walking through museums that used to be the homes of great writers. It's cozy here Boris Pasternak's house, And fairytale house of writer Korney Chukovsky, and d Museum of Bulat Okudzhava, And gallery of Evgeniy Evtusheko And new museum of sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. And now Peredelkino lives a vibrant cultural life, numerous poetry evenings, open-air concerts.
House-Museum of Boris Pasternak
The museum in the house of Boris Pasternak was created in 1986. Musicians and writers have visited the house.
The house has huge windows overlooking the garden; Pasternak joked about it, calling it “an unclear clearing.”
The museum has a lot of paintings, light, little furniture - strict simplicity and asceticism in everything. There is a lot of space in the house, because there were always a lot of guests there. The expensive Bechstein grand piano, which can now be seen in the museum, was played by outstanding pianists: G. and S. Neuhaus, S. Richter and M. Yudina. Pasternak's neighbor K. Chukovsky, Pasternak's close friend A. Akhmatova, A. Efron, B. Livanov, A. Voznesensky, E. Yevtushenko visited Pasternak at different times.
It was in this house that Pasternak learned that on October 23, 1958, he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. By the way, the museum has a photograph showing Pasternak and his friends on that very day.
House-Museum of Korney Chukovsky
The real name of the beloved “children’s” writer is Nikolai Korneychukov. Chukovsky was expelled from the fifth grade of the gymnasium “due to low origin,” which did not prevent him from subsequently receiving the degree of Doctor of Literature from Oxford University.
Korney Ivanovich was always engaged in self-education. There are a huge number of books on the shelves in his house, and he only put on the shelves those that he had read.
Everyone is accustomed to considering Chukovsky a children's author. But only a few know that Chukovsky’s children’s works comprise only one volume (including translations of fairy tales), the remaining 14 volumes of his collected works are serious literature. He researched the works of Nekrasov, Blok, Chekhov, and Dostoevsky.
And Korney Ivanovich’s children’s poems, which every child knows, are not just entertainment for children. They have a linguistic basis. “And the pillow, like a frog, jumped away from me” - the constantly repeating sound “k” makes the body seem to jump, and the lungs work in a certain way when spoken out loud. This is how poetry is absorbed on a bodily level. You can avoid trips to a speech therapist if you read Chukovsky’s poems to your kids.
In the post-war years and until his death in 1968, Chukovsky had such high authority that he could afford to provide refuge for the disgraced Solzhenitsyn for several months.
The interior furnishings of the house in which Korney Chukovsky lived since 1938 were preserved by the writer’s daughter after his death.
Photographs, graphics, paintings, and a collection of books remind us of Korney Chukovsky’s connections with the largest representatives of Russian culture in the first quarter of the twentieth century. – Ilya Repin, Alexander Blok, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Leonid Andreev.
What is there in this house: there is the robe of the Oxford Doctor of Literature, an amazing chandelier, a crocodile that swallowed the sun, gifts from children and adults.
In the living room there is a jug, which became a model for the artist who designed the first edition of Moidodyr, and a black rotary telephone, on which an elephant called Chukovsky. The famous “miracle tree” can be seen in the garden next to the house. The museum will appeal not only to adults, but also to children.
Chukovsky loved children very much, loved to listen to them, to notice the peculiarities of children's speech. He gathered children from all over Peredelkino - he read his works to them, played with them, and had conversations. There is still a fire pit on the territory of the museum, and traditionally “Bonfires” are held here in the fall and spring, as it was in the time of the writer.
House-Museum of Bulat Okudzhava
The Peredelkino life of Bulat Okudzhava began in the summer of 1987, when he received a small country house for rent from the Writers' Union, he settled surrounded by his literary “countrymen”: B. Akhmadulina, E. Yevtushenko, F. Iskander, V. Ivanov and many others .
There are numerous bells on the ceiling of the museum. This collection in the house of Bulat Okudzhava began with a bell donated by Bella Akhmadulina.
Before going to the Writers' Town, it is better to print out a map and mark the places where you want to go. A trip to Peredelkino is a real tour of literary places, or even a quest through a nature reserve. One day will not be enough to visit all the cottages and all the interesting places. After all, there are still museum-gallery of Evgeny Yevtushenko, house-museum of the sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, with many outdoor sculptures.
Next to the village is the residence of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. There is a new temple next to the patriarchal residence. The temple is truly fabulous, the domes of this temple are made of porcelain. On the territory of the Patriarchal courtyard you can taste incredibly delicious apple pies with cinnamon.
And in Novo-Peredelkino there is a house-museum of the architect Shekhtel, the former summer house of the publisher Levinson. In 1901, at the International Exhibition in Glasgow, five tower pavilions were built according to Shekhtel’s designs. The only wooden house designed by Shekhtel can be seen here. A fairytale house with a cockerel will not leave anyone indifferent. For an excursion to Shekhtel’s house, you need to sign up in advance at the Moscow Heritage Committee.
Only a person who has visited it more than once and experienced all the charm of country life can know what a real “Russian dacha” is. To fully understand, you need to spend a couple of weeks outside the bustle of the city: in the morning, take a deep breath of fresh air, enjoy the aromas of a blooming garden, listen to birdsong, taste the simplicity, calm and regularity of life away from the eternal rush, noise and large flow of people.
How did dachas appear in our country?
The emergence of the first dachas is attributed to the beginning of the 18th century - the era of Peter I. The original meaning is “land given by the prince”, dacha “giving as a gift” (Ukrainian). The first dachas were presented by the Tsar to noble persons for their services to the state. And these were not just small plots of land with simple buildings, but stunning estates near Peterhof. Until the mid-19th century, dachas remained the privileges of the aristocracy, who were tired of city life and spent weekends in the summer escaping the stuffiness and heat. People with less income could not purchase a dacha as private property, so they rented them for the summer. In those days, traveling outside the city became fashionable and prestigious; such vacations began to be given more preference than trips abroad. And when the railways were built in 1936, the “dacha boom” gained full momentum.
It is worth noting that life in country houses did not involve hard work in the garden, only The resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On collective and individual gardening and gardening of workers and employees” in 1949 gave rise to collective and home gardening. True, modern dacha buildings are increasingly looking like beautiful country estates with 2–3 floors. Often there is a thoughtful landscape design with small areas set aside for growing certain fruits and vegetables.
Today we will present some of the dachas where famous Russian writers lived and spent their summer days. In 1934, the Moscow government allocated land in Peredelkino for the construction of a writers' town. This beautiful place was known for its unique microclimate, which arose due to the surrounding pine forests. Here the people's favorite Russian writers had the opportunity to live, be inspired and create. The houses were provided to them on the basis of free and indefinite use. Some dachas have become museums that we can visit and study the features of the interiors and life activities of their former inhabitants.
Our country club is located in one of the most famous places in the Moscow region - a village whose name has long been firmly associated with creativity, talent and talent. And all because since 1934. here, by order of the leader of the people, a village was built for the summer cottages of members of the recently created Union of Writers of the USSR. Thus began the history of the world-famous village of the best writers of the country of the Soviets.
Pre-revolutionary chronicles
Writers brought fame to Peredelkino, but the first mentions of it appeared in historical chronicles much earlier. The earliest ones are dated back to 1646. In pre-revolutionary times, the estates of the counts Samarins and barons Bole-Kolychevs were located on this site.
True story or legend?
There is a story about how the idea of creating a writers' village was born. Its author, Vladimir Karpov, heard it from someone he knew and outlined it in his book about the lives of writers in Peredelkino. Of course, he himself was not personally present at the famous conversation between Maxim Gorky and Joseph Stalin. Therefore, today it is impossible to know for certain what is true in the version he told and what is fiction. And this is what supposedly happened...
As you know, the USSR Writers' Union was created specifically for M. Gorky. To head it, the famous writer returned in 1931 from abroad, where he had lived before. Of course, soon he met with the leader of the peoples, at which Joseph Vissarionovich was very interested in organizing the life of foreign writers.
Gorky did not prevaricate and talk about the “decaying West,” but simply said that foreign writers prefer the peace and tranquility of country life to the bustle of the city.
This topic interested Stalin, and he asked whether Soviet writers had dachas? It turned out that they do not have any. The leader of the peoples decided that this was not order, and the situation required his intervention. This is how the idea of allocating suburban areas for the most worthy writers of the USSR was born. By the way, the list of those chosen who were the first to receive the right to a country dacha can still be found on the map of historical Peredelkino.
The place was chosen by Maxim Gorky himself
The leader of the peoples had just decided to create a village, and he entrusted the choice of location for it to the head of the Union of Writers of the USSR. Maxim Gorky approached the task facing him very responsibly. He carefully studied the history of the surrounding settlements, and found in one of the old chronicles that the navigable Setun River used to flow near Peredelkino. True, by that time it had practically turned into a stream, but the writer either did not know about it, or simply did not pay attention. But he definitely remembered that he had once been in quiet places and felt great there. So much so that he even temporarily forgot about the consumption that tormented him.
This is not difficult to believe for anyone who has ever been to Peredelkino. The resinous air of the local pine forest really has a beneficial effect on health.
There is a river, but no village
Interesting fact. If we look at a map of the Moscow region, we will see a river called Peredelka, the Peredelkino station of the Kievsky railway station, a specially protected natural area with that name, the Novo-Peredelkino microdistrict, consisting of high-rise buildings, and even the village of Peredelki. But we will not find the village of Peredelkino either on maps or in documents.
And it really doesn’t exist formally. Even the writers' settlement itself has long been renamed the village. "Michurinsky". But still…
And yet Peredelkino exists! This is our history, our cultural heritage, known throughout the world. And even if the settlement is officially called whatever you like, among the people it will still always bear the name that made it famous.
origin of name
According to one legend, this area received the name Peredelkino thanks to Ivan the Terrible, who sent here disgraced courtiers who were guilty but were spared by him for re-education. We can say that the first “dissidents” lived here. True, it is not known for certain how much of this version is truth and how much is fiction. One thing is obvious - Peredelkino is a legendary place, the entire history of the appearance and existence of which is surrounded by many secrets, mysteries and legends.
