Memorial Flat of Vasily Belov: about first results and plans for future

September 28, 2016

Olga Nikolaevna, the memorial flat has two main directions of work – memorial and scientific and educational. Which direction was the main one within this first year?  

The purpose of the memorial museum, especially the memorial flat, is to preserve the original setting, personal things and archive – in other words, that atmosphere that reigned here during the lifetime of an outstanding person. Everything is to be on the same places; every article or document is valuable both in itself and in connection with each other, with the circumstances of the writer’s life or his epoch in general.

Preservation of authenticity is inseparable from research. Everything in the flat – from pictures in the walls to the smallest household article – has become a museum item. It is to be described and included into the museum catalogue. It is necessary to carry out a real research for it: to find out the legend of acquisition of this or that thing, the time when it was brought to the flat, to determine parallels with the events of the writer’s life. Like all Soviet intellectuals, Vasily Belov showed himself as an amateur of art in its different hypostases. The antique, works of art, souvenirs and a large collection of books containing 4000 volumes evidence it. Only description of the library is a tremendous job for the museum: a lot of books have dedicatory inscriptions and we often find forgotten documents between the pages. Sometimes it can lead to a scientific discovery – finding of an earlier unknown fact from the life or creative work of Vasily Belov.

These are probably subjects for separate researches – the circle of the writer’s reading, inscriptions on the books…

The circle of his reading is huge! Take into account that it was impossible to buy good books in the shops at that time – people had to get them like many other things, to subscribe them during several years. By the way, Vasily Belov bought not only fiction, for example, the collected edition of Dostoevsky or Nekrasov. There are plenty of books on history, ethnography, folklore and art in his library. It is known that Vasily Belov aspired to become a historian himself and in his books, he tried for exact reproduction of that epoch that he described. He had the three-volume dictionary of Dahl edited in 1935 (reprinting of the second edition of 1880-1882) in his library. It shows that he thought over the language of his characters.   

Writer’s widow Olga Belova played a great role in the formation of the book collection. She spent a lifetime teaching Russian and literature. His daughter Anna studying at Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov surely bought some art books - there are more than 200 titles of art books. So it is the family collection of the Belovs in general. But in any case, these books show that the writer liked painting and we can understand what kinds of painting he liked thanks to them. For example, we are opening the album about the sights of Florence and there is an inscription that says: on reading the essay “Spring – Twice a Year” written by Vasily Belov in 1981 after his trip to Italy (in this essay, the writer complained that he was fastidious about a souvenir kiosk and hadn’t bought an album about Florence), his friends – Vadim Kozhinov, Mikhail Lobanov, Yuri Loshits and Yuri Seleznyov – decided to give him this album on his 50th birthday.

As for autographs of authors, friends or admirers of Belov’s creative work, we can see them on each second book. The words of respect and admiration show how many people knew and loved the writer. Among them there are many of those who are recognized as the classics of the Russian Soviet literature and any similar inscription on the book is a fact of history.

The memorial flat has probably its own problems and advantages in comparison with usual museums.

What are they in your opinion?

The advantage of the memorial flat is that it is unique from the point of view of originality of the materials. Even the walls here remember the great writer. Nothing can characterize a person better than everyday setting in which he lived. And it is very interesting for people, particularly when the interior of the late 20th century is history today. Children are especially amazed at Anna’s toys – they are objects of great rarity for them. A typewriter on the Belov’s table, a clock thanks to which he checked the time, a telephone he called on – looking at all these articles we touch the life of Vasily Belov.

The difficulties in the work of the memorial flat are connected with the fact that having become a museum, it is a still an apartment in a literal sense: there is little museum space and it doesn’t give a chance to stage permanent exhibitions except a memorial one. Besides, location on the first floor of the dwelling house is a problem for constant visits and visits of big groups. Consider, for example, the autographs on the books: we would like to show them to visitors, but how can we do it? The space of the flat doesn’t allow us to present a lot. To stage an exhibition of our items in a different place, we must receive authorization of the Ministry of Culture (the Memorial Flat of Vasily Belov is a branch of the federal institution) and it is a long negotiation process. We hope that we will eventually manage to place exhibition stands in the hall to display separate documents there. We also consider travelling exhibitions as a variant for the future – if you cannot make own space bigger, you can move beyond it.

In June, the museum was a cofounder of an interesting project – a cycle of author’s tours of literary Vologda. Do you plan to implement anything similar in future – to move beyond the memorial flat without taking any exhibits?

Yes, we do. We want to conduct such tours not once, but systematically during the whole summer. We will certainly repeat the cycle of author’s tours next year because they have aroused great interest.

This autumn we intend to implement a new project together with the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis in the Vologda eparchy. Its tentative title is “Cultural Conversation”. It is planned to hold meetings of people who are concerned about the present state of culture and who can reason about it. According to the idea, at the beginning of such “conversations” one participant will speak on this or that subject connected with culture in modern society, issues of the crisis in culture or its development and then they will exchange opinions. The first reporter will be Roman Krasilnikov, Doctor of Philology, professor of history, culture and ethnology in Teachers’ Training Institute of Vologda State University. The topic is “Modern Culture: Benefits and Drawbacks”. These meetings will be held in the memorial flat first, then we will try to expand the lecture room.

It is a very broad subject – how will it be connected with Belov?

Vasily Belov was a many-sided personality – he was not only a writer, but also a statesman and a public figure, a person who had a fine appreciation of culture in all its manifestations. He was seriously concerned about the issues of culture preservation and development – he expressed his concern in his writing on current affairs. Being a large moral authority, he influenced shaping of public opinion on many life issues. Therefore I think it should come as no surprise that such meetings are held under the aegis of the Memorial Flat of Vasily Belov. The subject of one of them will be surely about the writer himself.

Do you consider possibilities for cooperation with other cultural institutions when holding these meetings or other similar projects?

I hope we will cooperate with the Vologda Regional Universal Scientific Library, the Vologda Central Library Network, the Vologda State Museum-Preserve for History, Architecture and Art and the Vologda Regional Picture Gallery. We could also prepare a joint program with the Vologda Regional College of Arts – Vasily Belov was a real lover of music, he had a large collection of canned music; he wrote an essay about the composer Valery Gavrilin. We can organize an event about screen adaptation of the Belov’s works with the Club of Film Fans in the Regional Picture Gallery. Cooperation with the Museum of Architecture and Ethnography in the village of Semenkovo and the Centre of Folk Artistic Crafts and Trades “Carved Palisade” on the basis of the famous book “Lad” (Harmony) would be interesting. As a matter of fact, all cultural institutions can be our partners and we can find common points in popularization of the writer’s personality and creative activity with everybody.

Whom do you see as the main visitors of the memorial flat in general and who makes up the majority now?

When the memorial flat was opened, a lot of people visited it. The interest in Belov connected with the Year of Literature also helped. Now the circle of visitors is small. Pupils mainly come to the museum during the school year. In summer, there are fewer visitors, but we are pleased that people in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Kirov and other cities know about the museum: tourists from other regions ordered individual tours of the museum quite often. There were those who came to us after the visit to the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve. In autumn, we wait for schoolchildren again. Besides, participants of the Third All-Russian Belov Readings that will take place from October 19 to 21 will surely visit our museum. We are also cooperating with travel agencies – they send people to us. Senior citizens are our most appreciative audience.

We are oriented to everybody who is interested in the creative work and personality of Vasily Belov and I think more people will visit the museum in future. But this is not about a large flow of visitors – hundreds of people won’t come to a dwelling house. It is a problem of all memorial flats – they are destined for group and scheduled visits that don’t disturb local residents.

Interactive is very popular in museum activity now – can it be applied in your museum?

The memorial exhibition doesn’t suppose interactive in fact, but we will include separate elements into the programs to vary the traditional tour. For example, screening of the interview with Belov (documentary television materials with participation of the writer have been preserved) or listening to a gramophone record - the phonograph was given to the writer by one of the admirers of his creative work.

Many people who knew Vasily Belov personally are alive now. Do you plan to cooperate with them?

It is very important for us to gather any recollections about him – at least to record stories and to keep audio messages. Later on they could be perfected and even published. The main figures for us are the wife and the daughter of the writer, his closest friends and colleagues. Besides, some people find us themselves to share some information. For example, some people from Gryazovets called us: they remember Belov when he lived in Gryazovets.

What about researchers of Vasily Belov’s creative activity? Will you collaborate with them?

This is the goal of the Belov Readings. In future, the memorial flat will probably manage to implement a parallel project – a purely scientific conference aimed at the study of his literary heritage. The readings are a wider format that includes local history and popularization components. But the museum will take an active part in the readings: one of the central events of the readings – the Literary Marathon – will be held in the memorial flat along with tours. During the whole day, we will read the novel “Business as Usual” – it was written 50 years ago. Belov was awarded the All-Russian Literary Prize “Yasnaya Polyana” for this work and his writer’s fame began with this text.

What was the most significant event in the museum life this year? Let’s say discovery of any interesting document or anybody’s visit?

Marlen Khutsiev visited the museum during the Festival of Young European Cinema “VOICES”. The great film director and the great writer were acquainted and met many times when Khutsiev came to Vologda. It was very interesting and exciting to present the exhibition to such a person. As for discoveries, Sergey Tikhomirov, research officer of the Memorial Flat of Vasily Belov, found the documentary novel of Vasily Belov “In Native Palestinas” among the materials kept here. It has never been published. Making the inventory of the antiques, we found some interesting articles that were of considerable historical value. For instance, a coronation glass – a souvenir made on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II in 1896 with embossed monograms of the imperial couple and the coat-of-arms of Russia. This article reminds of one of the tragic events in the Russian history (when these mugs were given to people on Khodynka Field, a human stampede occurred and resulted in the death of over a thousand people). Or an ancient Russian naval compass – an azimuth compass made in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century in the famous workshop “G. Belau and Syn”. Just a few similar articles have come down to us and each of them is of historical and collector’s value. As Olga Belova told us, this azimuth compass was found in the basement of a deserted house in the Kharovsk district – Vasily Belov had a nose for curiosities. And how interesting his collection of pictures is! It includes works of People’s Artists of Russia Valery Strakhov, Mikhail Abakumov, Dzhanna Tutundzhan, People’s Artists of the USSR Nikolay Romadin, Vladimir Igoshev, Honoured Artists of Russia Vladimir Korkodym, Yevgeny Sokolov, Vladislav Sergeev and other famous painters. The collection of antique painting also contains the pictures of the artists of the late 19th – early 20th centuries – Igor Garin, Mikhail Guzhavin and Porfiry Seryogin. The name of the last painter was mentioned in the letters of Anton Chekhov many times. For me personally, it was a revelation that Belov acted as an art critic once ad wrote an introduction to the catalogue of Vladimir Igoshev’s works.

What will be the main development vector of the Memorial Flat of Vasily Belov in future?

It will be the continuation of meticulous research, educational and memorial work. Commemoration of the writer includes description of all sides of his personality and probably making of a detailed chronicle of his life. As for popularization of the writer’s creative activity, next year when we are going to celebrate the 85th anniversary of Belov’s birth, the museum plans to implement some projects that will be different in matter and form. For example, we would like to cooperate with television channels of Vologda and to prepare a cycle of small programs about the writer.

Svetlana Grishina

According to the materials of the electronic magazine about culture of the Vologda region “Sfera”:

http://cultinfo.ru/journal/new.php