Main entrance
Front
Checkroom
Bathroom
Lost and Found Room
Staircase foyer
Museum
Cinema
Museum
Museum
Anresol
Balcony
Terrace entrance

What is the 1930s state summerhouse?

The home is a receptacle of memories. Each space of the house is filled with material evidence, archetypes, which, in turn, create a metaphysical space, influence what we feel, give birth to memories. Memory is the soul of the house. The casa dacha is a house from the past, but without an individual past, it belongs to everyone and to no one. It is filled with a set of objects that fix its meaning and function, there are no random objects there. The objects are impersonal, but they correspond to the culture of their epoch, they carry the collective memory, connecting its temporary occupants to it. The state dacha is a witness of history.

And yet, within the walls of these cottages, the life of that time took place, meetings, holidays, vacations, perhaps dramas. Different fates of people not known to us passed through these walls, leaving no evidence, but leaving us these walls, in which their voices, traces of touch, dust of time, shadows of the past remained. Memory.

State dachas were also an indicator of status: the size of the dacha, its distance from the city and its interior spoke of the status of the person who lived in it. A state dacha could be rented for the weekend, could be obtained for the summer, could be lived in for years — it could be "personal" but never private. All items had an inventory number and were assigned to an interior. These homes could not be made to reflect the individuality of the temporary tenant. Nothing could be taken out of there, and probably only changed with the permission of the dacha management. Everything was somewhat illusory — well-appointed houses, but not one’s own, the availability of a service unavailable to the masses, for a short period of time. The illusion of well-being. The illusion of…

Such dachas were the summer vacation destinations of the Soviet elite. But even with privileges, no one felt quite secure and confident in the future. The fragility and ghostliness of happiness, its temporariness in a temporary dwelling is the main leitmotif of this phenomenon. All this was on the eve, on the threshold. On the eve of arrest and the collapse of destinies, on the eve of a great war, on the eve of tragedy… On the eve.

GosDacha — a place for those who are marked and encouraged by the Soviet authorities
GosDacha is an indicator of status, a sign of elitism and success.
GosDacha is a closed place, a place not for everyone.
GosDacha — "personal" but not private.
GosDacha — state, with a typical set of items,
GosDacha — does not contain personal documents and family valuables.
GosDacha — nostalgia for the nobility’s prosperous past.
GosDacha — discourse on property and rights.
GosDacha — stratification of society in an equal opportunity society
GosDacha — a place of meetings, of life and friendship, of human destinies.
GosDacha — a place connected with history
GosDacha — an attribute of the Soviet era

This house is also known for the fact that in it in 1994, director Nikita Mikhalkov filmed the movie "Burnt by the Sun", which tells about the time when the dacha was built, the late 30s of the 20th century. The plot film very brightly and clearly conveys the atmosphere of that time, materializes all its aspects. The civil war is over, "life is better, life is merrier" and outwardly the whole entourage speaks of the coming socialist happiness. But the feeling of uneasiness does not leave, and the finale of the movie speaks of the ghostliness, brevity and illusory nature of this happiness. The 30s for Nizhny Novgorod province, later Nizhny Novgorod region, even later Gorky region, were as hard as everywhere else: collectivization, industrialization, the era of Stalin’s repressions, when tens of thousands of destinies were ground up in the course of building the Soviet state. The ten-volume book of Memory of Nizhny Novgorod region contains 32,452 references about the repressed. It is noteworthy that A. Zhdanov, who was vacationing at Dacha No. 1 at the time, was a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and signed the execution lists.

Dacha No. 1 was built in the 30s of the twentieth century as a state nomenclature dacha for the highest party officials and prominent Soviet figures of Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) region. It is said that pilot Valery Chkalov used to visit the dacha; there are also notes that Andrei Zhdanov, secretaries of the Gorky regional party committee lived there for some time; later, in our time, there were residences of governors of Nizhny Novgorod region.

Proposal

Preamble

The history of everyday life of that time, not only of state dachas, recreated at Dacha No. 1, as it was shown in Nikita Mikhalkov’s movie "Burnt by the Sun": furniture, its arrangement, objects, interior details, white linen curtains and tablecloths, lampshades, vases with dried flowers, empty frames that once contained someone’s photographs, inventory numbers on items, as at all state dachas, a suitcase at the entrance. A bright pleasant warm space containing a dream of family happiness and serenity, but at the same time containing elements and details that testify to the illusory nature of this serenity. On the third floor there is a small movie room and a gramophone — you can listen to music or watch a movie and fully immerse yourself in the illusion.

Fourth floor: the turret. This is where time stopped. It seems that this floor, as a full-fledged one, did not exist from the beginning, as its ceiling falls into the window of the turret. It is possible that since the lyrical scene in the movie "Burnt by the Sun" nothing has happened there. There is a hayloft here, which is shown in the movie Nikita Mikhalkov symbolizing a dream of happiness and the story of the life of the real Kotov’s commander.

Third floor: it can be accessed by climbing up both a steep, cramped spiral staircase and a wide staircase. This floor is not furnished at all. There are two small light rooms on it, the rest of the space under the roof is dark and mysterious. It was most likely never used, but it definitely holds memories. A space for reflection, for quiet conversations. It could be a place for conversations, there could be a movie in the dark space under the roof. Perhaps there could be a movie there just on a given theme. An immersion in history.

Second floor: smaller, and it is less shown in the movie. The second floor is quiet, peaceful, private. A private space, it has old objects "fixed in the interior". There are new items, as neutral as possible — they were there out of necessity. Everything is quite simple and even ascetic. But, on the second floor there is a "non-obvious place" - there is a room that is now impossible to get into, but on the facade you can see that it has a window, one window, light comes from it, but you can’t see anything through the window. This is the first approximation to history, a space that creates the feeling that "something is there behind the wall".

First floor: light, clear, warm, with many entrances, attached large bright veranda, made for the filming of the movie "Burnt by the Sun". This floor appears a lot in the movie, family gatherings are held here, joyful and carefree, playing the piano, winding up the gramophone, dancing, drinking tea. The first floor is active, lively, lucid, social. At the same time, one can see how it has been changed: boarded up doors, new partitions in the windows, new doors punched through, a "sewn" stove, the absence of a handle on the front door — they can let you in, but you can’t enter yourself, mundane objects with inventory numbers, empty picture frames.

The space of the house and its history is revealed gradually, from bottom to top. From the threshold to the spire of the tower. At first, details, hints, give rise to figurative associations of the house’s history. As we move higher, the story of the house becomes clearer. The story ends with the "museum" on the top floor, which concretizes the hints scattered throughout the house. A journey from the everyday and from the living first floor to the attic, always full of mystery. Dacha No. 1 has two faces (or many faces). Behind the first face, the second face is not visible at first. But it is always present on all floors, in details, in unobvious dark places. By opening a door or veil, the second face can be seen and jump back out into the light of the present. In the unobvious places, the house holds its memory. The higher one climbs, the more specific the hints and clearer the story. The outwardly obvious face of the house gives way to the face of history.

1. A vacation residence
2. Venue for receptions, meetings, concerts, other cultural and scientific events
3. Museum

Dacha No. 1 contains a lot of storylines:

The story of time and people, on the eve of events that entailed many tragedies. It appears before the guest twelve volumes of the Book of Memory of Nizhny Novgorod Region in the under-roof space of the attic, which also tells the story of the fate of the former head of the Lipetsk Higher Flying and Tactical School, Commander Kotov — a real person who became the prototype of Commander Kotov from Nikita Mikhalkov’s feature film "Burnt by the Sun".

Fabula

The day before

Illusion

Memory

The story of time told in documents, magazines, newspaper files, propaganda posters: the story of the personalities who lived at Dacha No. 1. The history of the Green City — an important and special place in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The history of the Dacha itself, shown in the layout of the Dacha, which is located on the 3rd floor and the memory of the house, shown by objects from the past in the "room of forgotten things" on the second floor.

Dacha №1

2020 - until now. Russia, Nizhny Novgorod

Concept of construction and organization of space of premises and adjacent territory of the building Dacha No. 1 located at the address: Nizhny Novgorod, dacha farm Zeleny Gorod, house No. 1.

Catalog of 1930s GosDacha objects

Existing interior

Interior analysis of Dacha No. 1 in the movie “Burnt by the Sun”, 1st floor

Value catalog of Dacha No. 1

Peridizing Dacha No. 1

The turret. This is where time stopped. It seems that this floor, as a full-fledged one, did not exist from the beginning, as its ceiling falls into the window of the turret. It is possible that since the lyrical scene in the movie "Burnt by the Sun" nothing has happened there. There is a hayloft here, which is shown in Nikita Mikhalkov’s film, symbolizing a dream of happiness and the story of the life of the real Kotov’s commander.

Fourth floor

It can be accessed by climbing both a steep, cramped spiral staircase and a wide staircase. This floor is not furnished at all. There are two small bright rooms on it, the rest of the space under the roof is dark and mysterious. It was most likely never used, but it definitely holds memories. A space for reflection, for quiet conversations. It could be a place for conversations, there could be a movie in the dark space under the roof. Perhaps there could be a movie there just on a given theme. An immersion in history.

Third floor

Mode 3: Excursions

Catalog of objects from the film “Burnt by the Sun”

Interior analysis of⦁Dacha No.⦁1 in the movie “Burnt by the Sun”

First floor

Bright, clear, warm, with many entrances, a large light veranda attached, made for the filming of the movie "Burnt by the Sun". This floor appears a lot in the movie, family gatherings are held here, joyful and carefree, playing the piano, winding up the gramophone, dancing, drinking tea. The first floor is active, lively, lucid, social. At the same time, one can see how it has been changed: boarded up doors, new partitions in the windows, new doors punched through, a "sewn" stove, the absence of a handle on the front door — they can let you in, but you can’t enter yourself, mundane objects with inventory numbers, empty picture frames.

Mode 1: Event, reception, meeting, concert

Main entrance
Front
Checkroom
Bathroom
Living room
Dining room
Scullery
Veranda
Kitchen
Bathroom
Bedroom
Boudoir
Living room
Bedroom
Terrace entrance

Mode 2: Aparaments

Second floor

Smaller, and it is less shown in the movie. The second floor is quiet, peaceful, private. A private space, it has old objects "fixed in the interior". There are items new, as neutral as possible — they were there out of necessity. Everything is quite simple and even ascetic. But, on the second floor, there is a "non-obvious place" - there is a room in it, in which but on the facade you can see that it has a window, one window, light comes from it, but you can’t see anything through the window. This is the first approximation to history, a space that creates the feeling that "something is there behind the wall".

The Apartment mode can be combined with the Events or Excursions mode due to the separate entrance from the terrace directly to the staircase

The story of time and people, on the eve of events that entailed many tragedies. It appears before the guest twelve volumes of the Book of Memory of Nizhny Novgorod Region in the under-roof space of the attic, which also tells the story of the fate of the former head of the Lipetsk Higher Flying and Tactical School, Commander Kotov — a real person who became the prototype of the prototype of Kommdiv Kotov from Nikita Mikhalkov’s movie "Burnt by the Sun".

The day before

2

1