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“… To Be Kept for the History and Posterity”

On December, 30, the Starocherkassk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve is going to be 40. The foundation of one of the biggest complexes in the South of Russia, the unique centre of the Don, Russian and International tourism, included into the UNESCO reference books, ows Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov.

Comprehending the importance of the historic and cultural memorials on June, 19, 1970, the year of the 400th anniversary of the Don Cossacks, Sholokhov addressed his letter to the RSFSR Council of Ministers and to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev and suggested to found a museum-reserve in Stanitsa Starocherkasskaya.

In his letter to the Chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers G.I. Voronov Sholokhov says: “… And in regard to Stanitsa Starocherkasskaya we must do something. The people, who long ago inhabited the remote part of Russia, had been guarding the borders of the country for ages, and it is necessary to preserve for the history and posterity at least what has remained despite our neglect of the native country memorials. Why shouldn’t you, Gennadiy Ivanovich, send to Starocherkassk an authoritative State commission of historians to determine what structures and values need reconstruction and preservation? After all, the Ukrainians have done something like that in the former Zaporozhskaya Sech, are we as poor as that? I beg to ask you to attend personally to the Don part of the RSFSR. After all you are not only the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, but a Russian man as well. With my best wishes. Mikhail Sholokhov. Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya. 19.6.1970”.

On December, 30, 1970, a Government Resolution was adopted about the foundation of the Starocherkassk Museum-Reserve. For 40 years already it has been receiving the visitors at an annual rate of 200 thousand tourists from all over the world. About 100 historic, architectural and cultural memorials are preserved, registered and taken for restoration on the territory of the museum.

The workers of the State M.A. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve keep close contacts and co-operate successfully with their colleagues from the Starocherkassk museum.

T. Krikun