News

News

Century Landscape - in the Territory of the Forest Park

Sholokhov museum-reserve took part in the IX scientific-practical conference of the National Association “Revival of Historical Gardens and Parks” on the topic: “The restoration of historical parks after the destruction of the Great Patriotic War and the present”. The conference was held on October 22-23, 2020 at the Ostafyevo State Museum-Estate – “Russian Parnas”. 

Deputy Director for Ecology and Environmental Management of the Natioanal Sholokhov museum-reserve Taras Turchin and junior researcher Tatiana Balak presented the report “Forest of the Quiet Don” for discussion. They told that on the territory of the ecological-literary forest park “Pearl of Eurasia” of the National Sholokhov museum-reserve was able to restore a century-old landscape. Museum staff analyzed the flora depicted in the novel "And Quiet Flows the Don", the frequency of descriptions of certain trees and herbs. Based on these studies, a reference site has been created where you can see all types and all landscapes of the Sholokhov steppe, as well as the Quiet Don Forest, where all 26 species of tree and shrub species mentioned in the novel grow. This is a forest where each tree is somehow connected with the heroes of the novel, their feelings and experiences. 

Reading Sholokhov's lines, it is so easy to imagine everything described and, on the basis of this, recreate exactly the landscape that Mikhail Sholokhov saw. 

The Quiet Don Forest in the park is an example of the practical use of the literary landscape. The recreated landscapes have become a kind of museum exhibits. They were included in ecological and literary tours laid through the territory of the “Pearl of Eurasia” park. Everyone can join these tours, get acquainted not only with the literature work of the genius, but also with the recreated landscape of that historical time.

Tatiana Balak
Evgeniya Gudzenko