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National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve celebrates 35 years

More than once the employees of the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve, translating the next news material for the English version of site, faced an unusual problem. Say, the message says: "... the sightseers also saw the feather-grass-fescue steppe." It seems that everything is clear, but how can one say in English that the steppe is “feather grass-fescue”? There is no analogue! But there is such a steppe. It is in our area, there are the Don chalk mountains, deep gullies overgrown with forests, red bushes on sand dunes not only on the Sholokhov’s pages, there are islands of feather grass on untouched lands, there are, finally, Don rapids, which are familiar to readers around the world.

And here it is best not to be satisfied with words, but to visit these places forever associated with the name of the writer Sholokhov.

Come see for yourselves. Let those come in whose language there is no “feather grass-fescue” steppe, and be convinced: there is something that cannot be said in Sholokhov’s homeland, but can be seen!

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Now everyone knows that the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve, celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, is a whole complex of historical and architectural monuments, unique natural territories, museum collections that reflect not only the writer's life and work, but a much wider historical and literary context.

No wonder at the beginning of the XXI century the renewed concept of the museum’s development was formulated as “An Open-Air Novel”. After all, the Upper Don Cossack farms and villages are still alive, including those surrounded by the museum's protected landscape, which occupies almost 40 thousand hectares.

Over the 35 years of its existence, the museum has grown not only territorially; it has done a great job in all areas of museum activity. The main task is to entice the visitor into the inimitable world of Sholokhov books, to acquaint him with the origins of the work of the classic of Russian literature of the twentieth century.

The central and most recognizable object of the museum was a memorial estate where the writer and his family lived in the post-war years. The authenticity of the decor in the house is almost absolute. Expositions are periodically replenished with new sections, for example, such as “The Nobel Triumph”, “On the Road”. And since 2003, in the garage on the estate, an exhibition of cars by M.A. Sholokhov, which is very popular.

In the village of Vyoshenskaya, the house in which M.A. Sholokhov lived with his family in the 1930s. Here was written the third book of “And Quiet Flows the Don”, the novel “Virgin Soil Upturned”. In the nearby typological kuren there is the Children's Museum Center, which organizes with children interesting classes with Sholokhov subjects.

Historical and literary exposition “M.A. Sholokhov. Time and Destiny”, deployed in the building of the former village chieftain’s government, tells about the life and career of the writer. It is built on documents, manuscripts, memorials, photographs, and fine art. For the 100th anniversary of the writer, a full re-exposure was held in all the halls of the exhibition.

In 2005, in the village of Kruzhilin, next to the memorial house where M. Sholokhov was born, a typical Cossack farmstead of the late XIX - early XX centuries was recreated. Here, the species of local traditional farming and livestock farming was revived, farm buildings were erected, and ancient implements were presented. Here an annual festival is held for mutual assistance of farmers in agricultural and other works - "Kruzhilin Toloki". Its participants, in front of those present, really plow the land on bulls, rake and sow straw, grind grain with flour with a stone millstone. All this causes a true delight among the audience and participants.

In the village of Karghinskaya, where the author wrote most of the “Don Stories”, a number of expositions are intended to convey the spirit of the time of those years when M. Sholokhov took his first steps as a writer. In Karghinskaya, large restoration work was carried out at the mill and farmstead of Cossack Timofey Karghin, in the building of the former cinema "Ideal" - one of the first on the Don land. The mill complex especially attracts visitors during the days of the literary and ethnographic festival “Karghinskaya Fair”. This stanitsa fair was revived by museum workers after a break of a hundred years.

The collection of funds, scientific research, exposition and exhibition activities of the museum reflect the theme of the Cossacks, their culture and way of life, labor and military service. The writer himself constantly cared for the preservation of the Cossack culture, and the museum seeks to maintain this good tradition.

The main purpose of the conservation area is the work of the open-air museum, in which expositions and exhibits are farms, villages, the very nature of the Don region. Children and youth participate in environmental activities with a desire; the environmental movement “Sholokhov Spring-well” has been created for them.

The Museum-Reserve is now known not only in Russia. Every year, in the village of Vyoshenskaya, international scientific and theoretical conferences are held - “Sholokhov Readings”. Researchers of Sholokhov’s work from Russia, the USA, England, China, South Korea, Serbia, Poland, etc. come here for participation.

The museum regularly organizes its traveling exhibitions in Russian cities and abroad (Madrid, Taipei, Berlin, Alicante, Cologne, London, Havana). And in Vyoshenskaya, in the Excursion and Exhibition Museum Center "People’s House" in recent years exhibitions of museums from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Penza, Cheboksary, Elabugha, Konstantinovo and others have been successfully held.

The collection of the Sholokhov Museum consists today of more than 77 thousand storage units. It contains memorial items belonging personally to the writer and his family, the library and the manuscript fund of M. Sholokhov, the publication of his books in the languages ??of the peoples of the world, the collection of works by illustrators of the works of M. Sholokhov, the first editions of his works. A large collection of documents and objects related to the history of the Cossacks of the late XIX - early XX centuries is also interesting. Museum funds continue to replenish.

A striking event in the cultural life of the country is the All-Russian literary and folklore festival “Sholokhov Spring”, which is held annually at the end of May and is dedicated to the writer's birthday. During three days, hundreds of creative groups and performers show their skills to residents and guests of the village, collecting from 50 to 70 thousand spectators. Sholokhov’s lines are sounds, scenes from performances based on his works are played out, exhibitions and sales of books, and decorative and applied arts are held. But the heroine of the holiday is a folk Cossack song, which M. Sholokhov loved so much.

Especially large-scale "Sholokhov Spring" was held in May 2005, when the 100th anniversary of the writer’s birthday was celebrated. In preparation for the anniversary, buildings were restored and reconstructed, new expositions and exhibitions were created, excursion routes were developed, a large environmental and educational work was organized, and the material and technical base was strengthened. During the celebrations, the village of Vyoshenskaya, the objects of the museum were visited by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. He left warm words of gratitude to the museum workers in the Book of Honored Visitors.

A high assessment of the achievements of the museum-reserve was its inclusion on October 31, 2006 in the State Code of the most valuable objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation.

The museum has received many awards over the years of its existence. It was awarded the International Prize named after M. Sholokhov, the silver crown of the All-Russian competition "Leaders of the travel industry", the gold medal "National Treasure" for the nobility of thoughts and deeds, the medal and the badge-order "M. Sholokhov” for promoting the writer's creative heritage.

The museum confidently shows itself in the international arena. In 2006, after receiving the Grand Prix of the festival “Intermuseum-2005”, at the 5th International Annual Conference “The Best in Heritage” (Dubrovnik, Croatia), it was awarded a certificate for its valuable contribution to the world heritage process and received membership in the International Club of Professional Excellence, participated in several international exhibitions. It is registered in databases and on the sites of major international museum organizations and tourist associations. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve is nominated for the title of "The Best European Museum of 2007", is a diploma winner of the “EcoMir” of the National Ecological Prize and the National Tourist Prize named after Yu. Senkevich in the nomination "The Best Regional Museum", has other awards.

The museum continues to actively develop in accordance with its basic concept - “An Open-Air Roman”. Memorial sites, nature conservation area, the farms and villages themselves - everything lives in real time today, but at the same time everything is filled with the breath of the great novel. The descendants of the heroes of “And Quiet Flows the Don” museum workers continue to add new pages to the epic. And this novel will last as long as the people live a love for their native land, for the work of Mikhail Sholokhov.

Alexey Kochetov