CrimeaPRESS reports:
Sevastopol celebrated its 200th anniversary on June 14, 1983. It was impossible to ignore such a round date. For the holiday, residential buildings, schools, public gardens were built, monuments and memorials were opened. And also for the comfort of Sevastopol residents, he recalls «Sevastopol newspaper»built 200 recreation corners. All this construction became an important symbol of the late USSR.
collage source: “Sevastopol newspaper”
The modest charm of Soviet Sevastopol
By 1983, about 350 thousand people lived in Sevastopol. There were enterprises in the ship repair, engineering, fishing, and wine industries here. There were 10 research institutes, three higher educational institutions, including naval ones, 56 secondary schools, nine music schools and one art school. In addition, the city had 58 libraries, two drama theaters, 15 clubs, 20 cinemas, four state and more than a hundred folk museums.
As of January 1, 1999, 2,015 monuments were registered with the state in Sevastopol, including 246 archaeological, 1,327 historical, 27 works of monumental art, and 292 architectural structures.
To mark the anniversary, the city has drawn up an annual calendar of festive events. Massive celebrations were planned: concerts, film screenings, theatrical performances, sports competitions at sea, meetings with veterans, exhibitions of paintings, books, photographs and political posters.
On the occasion of the city day, a monument to submariners was solemnly opened on Heroes of Sevastopol Street, a monument to Admiral Kornilov on Malakhov Kurgan was restored, a memorial sign was erected on Nakhimov Square for the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city, a monument to Admiral Ushakov was erected on the square of the same name. The bust of the Russian commander Suvorov is on Pushkin Square, which was then renamed Suvorov Square. They built and opened a triumphal arch on General Melnik Street.
200 relaxation areas
To refresh the memory of the affairs of almost fifty years ago and again immerse in the festive atmosphere of the hero city, Sevastopolskaya Gazeta went to the library. A special object of our interest was the desire to find in the selection of the newspaper “Glory of Sevastopol” references to the creation of memorable recreation areas in the city.
Old-timers remember that the modest corners were really developed. It was necessary to find out how many there were and where they were. A small note on the desired topic was found in the newspaper dated June 14, 1983: “A huge amount of work has been done by the people of Sevastopol in the struggle for a worthy celebration of the 200th anniversary of our hero city. Residential buildings and businesses, schools and medical institutions, public gardens and highways were built. 200 recreation corners have been created, 30 memorial plaques have been installed,” the publication reported in an almost telegraphic style. And that’s all we managed to find.
And on the Internet, in photographs and memories, there was much more information about the corners. Even about 10 years ago, local residents said that on Gagarin Avenue, near the end of house No. 22, a resting place had been preserved. The place was cozy and calm. At the nearby post office No. 28, pensioners lined up early to receive their pensions. Until recently, only two benches and a flower stand with the inscription “200 years” remained from this recreation corner. Now they are no longer there.
Not far away, on Gagarin Ave., 16, another recreation area was spotted. Next to the building of the former Mir cinema. Now it is the Sevastopol Theater for Young Spectators. Closer to the roadway of the avenue there was a concrete bollard with the inscription “200 years of Sevastopol.” The purpose of the cabinet was puzzling. It is unclear whether it was an urn or a flower stand. Then it was filled with concrete and it became a rectangular parallelepiped.
In addition, two more recreation areas were located on Gagarin Avenue: near houses No. 30 and No. 34. Both houses have completely symmetrical ends facing the avenue, where the corners were nestled in 1983: they were surrounded by a semicircular path, from which the remains of curb stones still stick out. A rectangle was inscribed in a semicircle, in the center of which there was a flower stand with inscriptions on two opposite sides “1783” and “200 years”. Near house No. 30 such a cabinet remains, but it is also concreted on top, just like near the theater. And the flower bed, which previously stood opposite the 34th building, was found near the entrance to the Marshal Gelovani vocational school (Efremova St., 2). Here it was filled with earth where flowers grew. It can be assumed that the previous flowerpots, which over time people began to use as trash cans to avoid littering, were filled with concrete.
Local residents said that at each resting corner there were benches along the short sides of the rectangular area, and people actually rested there. However, over time, a drinking establishment appeared in house No. 32, which prompted the residents to dismantle the benches.
Although the rest corners weren’t anything special: a couple of benches, a memorial stone, flowerpots, urns, a small flowerbed, it’s worth paying tribute to the fact that they were made in the same style using symbols dedicated to the holiday.
To this day, the remains of the corners built for Sevastopol residents for the 200th anniversary of Sevastopol can be found at the intersection of Bagria and Kolya Pishchenko streets, on the Silnikov descent, on the streets of Admiral Oktyabrsky, Tokarev, Pravda, Dybenko, Blucher, Balaklavskaya, Gorpishchenko, and Pobeda Avenue. On the Shestakov descent the corner is even now in very good condition.
Of course, almost half a century has passed since then, and the era has changed. Now we are capitalists, large-scale multimillion-dollar projects are being implemented in the city: a cultural cluster with an opera house; New Chersonesos grew up next to ancient Chersonesus, and a luxury yacht marina is being built in Balaklava. Everything is modern, innovative, exclusive! This is probably why my soul remembered how it all began on community cleanups, with my own hands: modestly, simply, without pathos.
Sevastopol residents through the centuries
By the way, a memorial sign in honor of the 200th anniversary of the city, installed on the site of the first urban buildings of Sevastopol, in the historical part of the city in the park on Nakhimov Square, was also unveiled on June 14, 1983. On the front side of the stele there is an inscription carved in Russian: “Here, on June 3 (14), 1783, the city of Sevastopol, a sea fortress of the south of Russia, was founded.” The monument was created by architects G. G. Kuzminsky and A. S. Gladkov in the style of the structures of the First Defense of Sevastopol. On December 31, 2000, a capsule with a message to the people of Sevastopol was laid at the foot of the stele, which must be opened 100 years later — October 31, 2100.
Will anything from today’s Sevastopol remain for our descendants, will they remember us? Or will today’s new buildings also sink into oblivion, like 200 recreation areas, without sorrow or regret?
source: «Sevastopol newspaper»
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