Come "for the atmosphere"
Marina Kutsina, AiF-Samara: They want to actively "promote" Samara abroad. Our city is included in the “Visit Russia. Alliance of Hospitable Cities”, which will be actively advertised in Europe. What, besides the theme of space, can we lure foreigners?
Vera Zakrzhevskaya: We have many museums, but this space can still be expanded and supplemented. This year, the city's tourism industry received a powerful boost. Oddly enough, the crisis contributed to this. People began to come up with new ideas, develop crafts. In all European countries, city dwellers make money by small business - street cafes, where a guest of the city goes "for the atmosphere", selling handmade things, etc. I jokingly call it "Arab shop" …
This year there are many excursions through which you can promote Samara brands - the Volga, beer, fish, the historical center … We have incredibly interesting streets filled with the atmosphere of an original merchant city. Samara residents are unusual in themselves, perhaps they are more pragmatic than residents of other Volga cities - "they look at the floor more often than at the sky."
Stories and legends are the soul of Samara, which can also become a tourist attraction of the city. Therefore, I am happy to deal with this topic. I have a dream - to open a mystic museum. The walls of houses in the streets of the old city keep the energy of the past, the patina of time. We often remember not a specific place, but our impressions. If we are able to artistically beat our urban legends, we will get a beautiful and interesting story for tourists. If we develop this direction now, there will be more courtyards like ours. With due attention, it can turn out like in Prague, with its mystery and mystical flair.
Turn the city into a museum
What other city attractions would you include in a mystical city map?
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- Yes, the whole old part! Lenin Museum, for example. A ghost also lives there, and on holidays it smells of apple pies, which the future leader of the world revolution loved very much.
Almost from birth I lived on Frunze Street, 155, now there is a literary museum. The kitchen windows overlooked the Polish church (at that time the regional museum of local lore). Since childhood, I have seen walls in the Gothic style, and it excited my imagination. I remember I was sure that in the basement of the church there is a secret room in which the treasure is kept. I was so attached to this house, I missed it so much. In the 80s we were resettled, and I did everything to return to the old part of the city. And today, from the roof of the estate, I again see the spiers of the church. Isn't it a miracle when you realize that your life is made up of such iconic moments.
The concept of "Samara courtyard" is gradually returning to our life, and your courtyard is a vivid example. In order to preserve the spirit of the city, how can people who grew up in panel high-rise buildings return the feeling of being a master?
- First of all, we need an example. Excursions often come to me, people are interested in how I organized all this. I, they say, want it too. This is more than 20 years of hard work. It was a goal and a dream. This example is contagious, now there are people who see that this is possible. Samara residents are gradually beginning to clean up their yards, decorate them. We have people in the city who already live like this, and these are not only the inhabitants of the center. The most important thing is not to be disturbed, not to demolish old houses.
A lot of people in power consider the old city to be rotten, "a mothballs corner." If it were preserved, restored, our descendants would receive such a bonus - an open-air museum city. If someone comes to consult on how to equip the estate, I am ready to help, advise, breathe hope. There are many houses in Samara that yearn for a real owner who is ready to invest in a building and renovate it.
It must be love. When I was trying to find investors, I wrote my wonderful projects, like Ostap Bender, I told what “chic New Vasyuki” would be here, I was told that it is difficult to find a serious sponsor or investor. For now, the psychology of Samara business is to fill your pocket here and go on vacation abroad. That is, to take money somewhere, instead of investing where he lives. It is a matter of consciousness. It is good that now there are people who begin to "breathe" the city, love it, and a reassessment of values is gradually taking place. We gradually pay attention to the place where we live. We have lost the true meaning of patriotism. This is an attitude to your land, to the surrounding space - just behave yourself decently where you live, love the space that surrounds you.
Spirit to help
The walls of the estate where you live and work also keep mystical stories. The building is almost 150 years old …
- Indeed, the first mention of it dates back to 1860. The estate belonged to the priest Evgeny Tychinin, who served in the local diocese after graduating from the Tula seminary. In 1869 he applied to the city government for permission to add a stone room to the house - a kitchen. After 1870, the land was bought by the petty bourgeois Petr Bogdanov, a fishmonger. He quickly passed away from delirium tremens, and his wife, Praskovya Bogdanova, began to fill the estate. When the brief history of this house became known to me, I decided for myself that it was the spirit of Praskovya Alekseevna Bogdanova that helped me to conduct business. I think it was a strong, grasping woman, in fact, this house was finally completed with her. In 1872, she turned to the council to build a stone shop on the site. Officially this house is a workshop built in 1900,but he is much older. In 1902 Tit Ivanovich Malkov became the owner. But the next owner - a remarkable personality - Samara merchant Govsha Bordukhovich Kogan, who owned this house in 1905 -1917. During the revolution, he very cleverly resells it. During the Soviet period, the house began to be divided into small rooms and small cells - there was a communal apartment here. I gradually bought the rooms. Now I have collected several apartments.
And often "spirits" wander here?
- Every now and then in the house the dishes are moving, the glasses are clinking. These extraneous inexplicable sounds are heard by everyone - even skeptics. There are ghosts in my house! Once my husband was left alone in the house on the last, fourth floor, there was no one else, and suddenly he hears someone's steps on the stairs, for a minute or two or three. It turns out, asks: "Who is there?" And in response, silence …
The builders assure that this old tree "makes noise", but I do not believe it. Once I woke up at night, I turn around and see a man lying next to me, not breathing. I turn on the light, turn around - no one!
There is a legend that once upon a time soap was brewed in our house. The master was a very cruel, evil and rude person. He was very much disliked and feared, and once the workers either accidentally or on purpose killed him. Now his spirit appears to us. Probably, an explanation can always be found, but some things cannot be explained by physics. Once we are sitting at the table, once - the light went out. And I have guests. I am a shocking girl, I clap my hands, she just lights up. Surprise froze on their faces …
In the mid-90s, there was another case. One night I hear that someone is throwing small stones at the windows. It is dark, there is snow all around, the street is quiet and empty, there are no traces. And in the morning I look - there is a crack on the window pane. And I didn’t dream it. I still store glass.