Besides strong Orthodox culture, Russia is known for the concept of “dacha” that we will get to know today.
Why do we usually take photos? Maybe because we want to keep our “carpe diem” in mind and then have the opportunity to send ourselves back to the past. Maybe because we simply like different objects, landscapes and we want to share our opinion on things. In our project, except for the reasons mentioned above, there is still one more. That of keeping the beauties that are leaving, of keeping them at least like this, already in the state of dying, before they disappear forever.
Our protagonist today is the building of Muzer’s dacha (it is a Russian house located in the countryside) which is located in the Kurortnyj rajon (literally “the holiday district”) of St. Petersburg.
The decoration dates back to the Finnish epic “Kalevala”, the wooden decoration truly strikes and captures attention. But the real pearl of this place is inside. Five stoves covered with glazed tiles continue to adorn the interior of the dacha.
Such decoration is typical especially for Saint Petersburg and the surroundings: after the October revolution of 1917 there were many ceramic factories in the region and many intellectuals chose the stoves as the decoration for their rooms.
But luck was not benevolent to the poor thing. After lively evenings of the beau monde of St. Petersburg the building was nationalized along with many other properties of the aristocrats in Russia and then had particulaar fate: first it was a club, then a draft police station and finally a registry office. That’s why there are so many wedding photos with the background of the famous stoves. The dacha has changed many “professions”, but has ended up as a building abandoned by everyone, forgotten and left to ruin in solitude.
Despite everything, the dacha survived, but in horrible conditions: a couple of years ago after the fire the roof fell down but fortunately precious stoves were not hit. To this day, however, they remain inside, in danger of dying without deserving fame.
Hi, I’m Katya and I’m from Russia. I finished St Petersburg State University with my thesis on Italian memes. I like culture and especially architecture, I decided to start an instagram project on abandoned Russian places.
