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New Exhibition “The Outhouse.Summer Kitchen of the Sholokhovs” is Opened

On November 27, 2018, an opening ceremony of the new permanent memorial exhibition “The Outhouse.Summer Kitchen of the Sholokhovs” took place at the Estate of M.A.Sholokhov. That day in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya was marked with the first snow, and it was as snowy as on February 1994, when the memorial house of M.A.Sholokhov was opened for visit.

The guests and museum workers gathered on the terrace of the house, where they were greeted by the writer’s grandson Alexander Mikhailovich Sholokhov, Deputy Head of the RF State Duma Committee on Culture. He shared his memory of the outhouse during the life of M.A.Sholokhov:

“This was a very warm, wonderful place, which remembers lots of people and first of all, of course, our dear Nyurushka, for whom it was a workplace and a hot shop. And this shop produced such meals, which, I think, since that time I have never tasted better and will ever hardly do. Because everything was cooked in that very Russian stove or, if not, then on the stove, that is a special charm, you can agree. It was cooked not on gas, not on electricity, it was a meal cooked in a special way. Here I can be remembering lots of things, but, I think, it’s better to go and see – for me to feel a bit of nostalgia, and for you to imagine how it went”.

Olga Alexandrovna Anistratenko, Director of the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve, marked: “The Museum is not set, it is developing, and we are glad to present today another wonderful project. The exhibition we are opening now is not big in area, but it is big in content and in soulfulness. The project mastermind and keeper of all the objects you will see is Valentina Ismailovna Sholokhova, head of the department “Estate of M.A.Sholokhov”. For over thirty years she has been leading the department, and the fine exhibitions “The Nobel Triumph”, ”For Travelling” which became an integral part of the “Estate” were created by the knowledge, labour and soul of our dear Valentina Ismailovna. Now they will be added with the new exhibition we are opening”.

The first visitors were shown round the rooms of the outhouse and told about the simple home life of the Sholokhov’s’ family.

The visitors saw the Russian stove, cookware and different kitchen utensils. A special interest was a hot-water doll belonging to the cook Anna Antonovna Dolgova.

In the lounge there are unique authentic things of the 1930s – an iron bed and a blanket from the prewar house of the Sholokhovs, which the family used in the evacuation and which were miraculously survived to our days.

The tourists got into the atmosphere of the home life of the Sholokhovs, learned about their favourite dishes and about their family traditions.

All the guests were entertained with Cossack songs performed by the municipal ensemble of song and dance “Donskoye Siyaniye” and were treated with dishes of the traditional Don cuisine.

Yelena Popova