The settlement of Captain V.F. Rzhevsky.

The settlement of Captain V.F. Rzhevsky

As part of the "Photobiennale 2008".
The exhibition opens on April 4, 2008 at 19:00.
1965, the courtyard of a private house on Rzhevka. A
little boy sits proudly on a tricycle. It's me.
As fate would have it, of all the diversity and splendor of St.
Petersburg's neighborhoods, it was Staraya Rzhevka that became my Alma Mater.
Rzhevka, which I don't remember at all. Because he was small, and no
shocks remained in the memory of a three—year-old child.
Rzhevka, which my relatives left without regret, moving to other areas.
Rzhevka, where I returned and where I found my Home.
Rzhevka, where people still live both in the village, some in a private house, and some coming to
garden plots to dig in the beds. And then you come across blocks of apartment
buildings.
Rzhevka still lives as a settlement, the name of which was given by the owner of these lands
, Captain V. F. Rzhevsky.
It is worth explaining here that my story is about old Rzhevka, and not about the new area of the city.
Rzhevka is Gunpowder, and Captain V. F. Rzhevsky in no way concerns the lieutenant.
Rzhevsky, the hero of jokes.
Romantic walks along the banks of the Okhta River under blooming bird cherry trees and weeping
willows. A dance floor and a sauna on the riverbank, near the railway tracks of the Irinovsky
direction. One of the first concerts of VIA "Time Machine" at
the Monolith stadium, the Zvezdochka cinema, the board of honor of the powder factory, almost all of these are
museum exhibits, which, unfortunately, have not been preserved.
"Of course, St. Petersburg is a museum city, but you can't live in a museum." We usually say:
"if you can't live in a museum city, you have to rebuild it..."
But you can't live on a construction site either. And Rzhevka turned into a construction site in a museum, where the
residents were given the last place.
A new transport artery has cut this "quiet corner" of the city with a deep scar.
But "quiet corner" is a conditional concept and describes only a rural lifestyle, but in
reality, explosions are always heard on Rzhevka. 
The cannonade from the territory of the Rzhevsky landfill or the Powder Factory sounds like an echo of the Leningrad blockade.
The ring road passed not only through houses and gardens, but also through destinies.
It was almost like the Great Patriotic War, leaving indelible scars on the land
and in the destinies of people who defended their homes in battle.
For our family (and this includes the names Pavlov, Smirnov, Shvedov, Kryukov,
Semenov, Kushpel) Rzhevka is both a home, a job, and a resting place.
I never thought that I would have so much in common with Rzhevskaya Sloboda.
Alexander Smirnov
March 2008
Tutor: Ekaterina Kondranina
The project is presented by the Moscow House of Photography Museum