News

News

“Sincerely Yours, Yury Melentyev ...”

April 25 is the birthday of Yury Melentyev (04/25/1932 - 12/19/1997). Over a decade and a half, Yuri Melentyev was the head of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR.

Yuri Melentyev knew domestic culture deeply. He deeply cared for its condition. During all of his conscious life, he fought to preserve the shrines and protected places of Russia.

Working as deputy head of the culture department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Yuri Melentyev often communicated with Mikhail Sholokhov on duty. In 1965, at the request of Mikhail Sholokhov, he was included in the delegation accompanying the writer to Sweden to the Nobel Prize Ceremony. After this trip, spiritual relations, warmth, desire to communicate were preserved.

As Minister of Culture, Melentyev did a lot to publish Sholokhov’s books. A letter from him is stored in the funds of the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve, in which he writes: “Using such a pleasant opportunity, I decided to write to you that the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR together with the State Military Publishing House is celebrating another holiday, the 50th anniversary of the release of the first book of the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don”. We agreed with Kolya Sviridov to jointly prepare and conduct in Leningrad (on the basis of the library named after Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin) a literary evening and a large book exhibition: “50 years of the “And Quiet Flows the Don”. I am very glad that in the year of the sixtieth anniversary of the October Revolution, Tovstonogov’s production of “And Quiet Flows the Don” was rightfully recognized as the best work of our theater, which not only received the approval of the audience and high authorities, but also was nominated for the State Prize. I think that the chances of getting it from the play are quite substantial.

G. Tovstonogov and I have been discussing attacks on the “And Quiet Flows the Don” for several years. He was rightly afraid of taking such a burden on himself, but nevertheless he took it and it seems that it turned out interesting. I would very much like you to be able to ever watch this performance.

Warm greetings to Maria Petrovna and all the good people of your Vyoshensky Nest.

With deep respect, always sincerely yours, Yu. Melentiev.

P.S. I envy Verchenko - I would also like to see you ... "

After the death of Mikhail Sholokhov, Yury Melentyev did a lot to memorialize the writer. By order No. 462 of August 3, 1984, measures were taken to ensure the preservation of historical and memorial buildings, the natural landscape and memorial sites associated with the life and work of Mikhail Sholokhov.

With his help, the structure of the museum-reserve was developed and approved. Yury Melentiev was able to attract the best forces of museum business in Russia to create a museum: the State Literary Museum, the State Historical Museum and others.

The Ministry of Culture of Russia allocated the necessary funds so that the museum could redeem from the owners of the house in which Mikhail Sholokhov lived and worked at different times, to make purchases of exhibits for future expositions, to carry out the restoration of immovable monuments, etc. In short, Melentyev was one of the founders of the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve. He repeatedly came to Veshenskaya, was always aware of all museum problems, and helped in solving them. For this, he is gratefully recalled by the entire staff of the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve.

In February 1994, on the Remembrance Day of Mikhail Sholokhov in stanitsa Veshenskaya opened a museum-estate of the writer. Speaking at its opening, Yury Serafimovich said:

“Today is a big day in the life of the quiet Don, in the history of Russian culture. In the homeland of the great writer, in the Sholokhovs' family nest, the main memorial house is opened as the main pearl of the spiritual necklace of the museum-reserve. From now on, the doors of the world famous Sholokhov’s house will always be open for thousands and thousands of guests who will come from all over Russia, from many corners of the globe, to bow to the memory of the great writer, reverently walk through the rooms - eternal witnesses of his labors and restless thoughts, his moral deed, his daily life and his immortality".

Ekaterina Bulavina