Komarovo, Saint Petersburg

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Komarovo (Russian: Комаро́во; Finnish: Kellomäki) is a municipal settlement under jurisdiction of Kurortny District of Saint Petersburg, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and a station of the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It is located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of central Saint Petersburg. Population: 1,062 (2002 Census); 1,635 (1989 Census). During the summer months, the population increases by five to six times.^[2]

Contents 1 Finnish history 2 Soviet and Russian history 3 Famous residents after 1940 by area of prominence 3.1 Literature 3.2 Visual Arts 3.3 Classical and Popular Music 3.4 Science and Exploration 3.5 Theater and Cinema 4 Scenic features 5 Komarovo in Popular Culture 6 Quotations 7 Bibliography 8 External links

[edit] Finnish history

Like many settlements located on the Karelian Isthmus on the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad line, Kellomäki was vigorously developed in the late 19th - early 20th century at the height of the summer-resort boom. The original meaning of Kellomäki was "Bell Hill", named after a bell that was positioned on a sandy hill for the use of railroad workers. The bell notified of dinner break and the end of the workday. A railroad station opened near that spot on May 1, 1903, which is the unofficial date of Kellomäki's founding.

The Russian Orthodox church of the Holy Spirit was built in 1908, and burnt down in 1917. After that, a house chapel in one of the dachas served as church until the Soviet takeover. In 1916, about 800 dachas were counted in the settlement.

Among the well-known residents of Kellomäki before the Russian revolution were:

• Leonid Andreyev - writer
• George Borman - owner of a famous Saint Petersburg chocolate factory
• Peter Carl Fabergé - jeweller
• Mathilde Kschessinska - ballerina
• Augustin Reiche - speech therapist, had a facility for children at his dacha.
• Anna Vyrubova - lady-in-waiting to the Romanov family

The development of summer-resort towns on the Karelian Isthmus was slowed down after Finland's declaration of independence in 1917. Many of the dachas were abandoned, and some 200 buildings were auctioned off, dismantled and rebuilt in other Finnish towns. An Émigré community formed in Kellomäki after the revolution as the White Russians fled to Finland. By the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish War, 167 families remained in the settlement - most of them were evacuated to Järvenpää during the Soviet-Finnish border negotiations in the fall of 1939. On November 30, 1939, after artillery bombardment, Kellomäki surrendered to Soviet troops without battle. Several buildings were destroyed, but overall the damage to the settlement was not serious.^[3]

[edit] Soviet and Russian history

The town was annexed to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty (1940). Immediately after World War II, the Council of Peoples Commissars issued decree № 2638 "on building dachas for members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and setting aside land plots from 1.25 to 2.5 acres as gratis personal property". Standard houses manufactured in Finland on account of war reparations, were transported and assembled on the spot. Kellomäki was renamed to Komarovo in honor of botanist Vladimir Komarov, President of the Academy in 1948. Special resorts and dachas were also established for Writers, Composers, Theater and Cinema Workers. Land was set aside for Atomic Scientists as well.

Komarovo was built on this principle : people serve the state, the state pays back with rewards. And the principle was subverted by an aging lady: Anna Akhmatova. It turned out that there are more attractive values than those offered by the state.^[4] - Lev Lurye, historian.

Easily reachable from the city by elektrichka train, the settlement became home to many prominent figures in science and culture, members of the Saint Petersburg (then named Leningrad) intelligentsia.

Komarovo <...> was a place of both family relaxation and work. The settlement had developed its own daily routine. Usually, from the morning until six in the evening, people were busy with <scientific or cultural> work, and closer to seven, under the rays of warm evening sun, the unhurried stroll along the Kurortnaya street and the nearby paths took place. On this street they walked, discussed various topics with colleagues, talked about books, theater, and life, brought guests...^[5]

Since the 1990's, the academic and cultural traditions of Komarovo have been weakened, and currently, the New Russians and the well-to-dos of Saint Petersburg construct new villas here or redesign existing dachas purchased from the older residents.

In 2005 a nonprofit fund "Kellomaki-Komarovo" was founded. Some of the projects include building a new church, opening a museum, and preserving the yet unprotected forests.^[6]

Komarovo has served as a residence for government officials of Saint Petersburg, and still does today. Mayor Valentina Matviyenko lives here in the summer and commutes to the city.

[edit] Famous residents after 1940 by area of prominence

The † sign denotes a grave at the historic Komarovo Cemetery (established in the mid 1910's)

[edit] Literature

• Fyodor Abramov - writer
• Anna Akhmatova † - poet
• Joseph Brodsky - poet
• Daniil Granin - writer
• Lydia Chukovskaya - writer
• Lydia Ginzburg - literary critic
• Dmitry Likhachev † - linguist
• Vera Panova † - writer
• Evgeny Shvarts - playwright
• Mikhail Slonimsky - writer
• Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - science fiction writers

[edit] Visual Arts

• Nathan Altman † - painter
• Boris Piotrovsky - director of the Hermitage Museum
• Sergey Speransky - architect
• Ivan Vladimirov - painter, graphic artist

[edit] Classical and Popular Music

• Boris Grebenshchikov - rock musician
• Oleg Karavaychuk - composer
• Sergey Kuryokhin † - rock musician
• Dmitri Shostakovich - classical composer
• Vasili Solovyov-Sedoy - songwriter

[edit] Science and Exploration

• Zhores Alferov - physicist, Nobel laureate
• Vladimir Fock † - mathematician
• Abram Ioffe - physicist
• Yuri Linnik† - mathematician
• Vladimir Komarov - botanist
• Mikhail Somov † - oceanologist
• Vladimir Smirnov † - mathematician
• Aleksei Treshnikov† - polar explorer
• Ivan Yefremov † - paleontologist

[edit] Theater and Cinema

• Aleksey Batalov - actor
• Nikolai Cherkasov - actor
• Alisa Freindlich - actress
• Grigori Kozintsev - film director
• Nadezhda Kosheverova - film director
• Andrey Krasko - actor
• Innokenty Smoktunovsky - actor
• Georgy Tovstonogov - theater director.
• Galina Ulanova - ballerina

[edit] Scenic features

Komarovo is renowned for its sandy beaches and dunes, scots pine, and spruce forests, and glacial lakes. Its residents and visitors enjoy cross-country skiing in the winter, and hiking, bicycling, fishing, wild mushroom, blueberry and raspberry picking in the summer. Its coastal stretch has been designated a protected zone: "Komarovo Shore Natural Reserve".^[7]

Remnants of the Winter War, such as trenches and dug-outs, can be seen in the surrounding forests.

[edit] Komarovo in Popular Culture

Komarovo became well-known throughout the entire former USSR in the 1980s because of the popular song by Igor Sklyar: "На недельку, до второго, Я уеду в Комарово" ("For a week until the second, I will leave for Komarovo") Complete lyrics in Russian.

Komarovo Beach is supposedly the setting of the 16th episode of Nu, pogodi! (a popular Russian animated cartoon), that also features the song.

[edit] Quotations

In general, if you speak of Komarovo as a phenomenon - maybe this is a grandiose and pathos-arousing comparison - I would compare it to a certain Soviet Atlantis, which has gone and disappeared into the abyss of time, together with the epoch that gave birth to it. And I am convinced that the fate and appearance of Komarovo is altogether inseparable from the Soviet era. And with that era, Komarovo has vanished as well. - Dmitri Svetozarov, film director. ^[8]

Nowadays, many are lobbying for Komarovo to be preserved as a monument. The only question is - a monument to what? And the only answer can be this: a monument to Leningrad civillization. A monument to Leningrad culture of the 1940's-70's. When actually, here, in Komarovo, the most important indvidiuals for Leningrad culture, official and unofficial, lived, worked, rejoiced and fell in love. And then, that time has ended. The urgency of Komarovo has passed. And Komarovo, this remarkable place, has become the same kind of reserve as Yasnaya Polyana, Mikhailovskoye and other pilgrimage destinations for cultured Russian people. - Lev Lurye, historian.^[9]

[edit] Bibliography

The following sources were consulted for this article:

^ Kellomäki - Komarovo. Komarovo Municipal Council, Balashov et al. / Saint Petersburg: Izdatestvo "MKS", 2003. - 48pp. ISBN 5-901810-03-1

^ Komarovo Shore - Complex Natural Reserve. edited by Volkova, Isachenko, Khramtsov. / Saint Petersburg, 2002. - 92pp. ISBN 5-93938-030-1

[edit] External links

• ^ komarovo.spb.ru Official website of Komarovo (Russian)
• ^ Kellomäki-Komarovo - nonprofit fundraising organization dedicated to cultural and ecological preservation / development of Komarovo (Russian)
• ^ Komarovo History - includes numerous photographs (Russian)
• ^ Kellomäki - article on the Finnish period of the settlement's history by E.A. Balashov (Russian)
• ^ TV Program on Komarovo part 1 ^ ^  part 2 - complete transcript of a 2 part TV episode that includes interviews with many Soviet-era residents and their children. Part of the "Kультурный Cлой/Cultural Layer" program, led by historian Lev Lurye. (Russian)
• Komarovo Shore Description of the Natural Reserve (Russian)
• Anna Akhmatova's grave at findagrave.com
• Kellomaki Peschannye Holmy poems by Joseph Brodsky dedicated to Komarovo.
• Eccentrics of Bell Hill Recollections about Komarovo's famous Soviet-era residents. (Russian)
• Villa Renault Russian text (multi-part) of a novel by Natalia Galkina set in Kellomäki/Komarovo. One of Kellomäki's pre-revolutionary villas is the setting.

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Note: The text of this article incorporates a partial translation of the Russian version of the article