KAMENKA

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KAMENKA

• More than three centuries have passed since the
  foundation of this town. In the beginning of the
  17th century fugitive serf peasants settled on
  the uninhabited banks of the Tyasmin. Having
  escaped from brutal oppression of the landlords,
  exhausted by slavery and dreaming of freedom they
  came here. But soon to the land that they have
  settled upon came greedy gentry and appropriated
  the fruits of labour of the first settlers.
• The Cossacks and peasants of Kamenka were
  lucky in one things in 1649 the Polish king
  Kazimir granted the village to no one other than
  Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the hetman of the Ukraine,
  the leader of the Liberation War of the Ukrainian
  people against the Polish-Shlyakhtich yoke, who
  called for the reunification of the Ukraine with
  Russia.
• 1812. The peoples of Russia were celebrating
  the victory over Napoleon invasion. Soon after
  the war Colonel V.L.Davydov, the younger son of
  Yekaterina Davydova, retired and came to live in
  is mothers estate. In Kamenka Vasily Lvovich was
  often visited by his combatant comrades
  Generals N.N.Rayevsky and A.P.Yermolov.
• Now Im sojourning in Kiev Province, in a
  village belonging to the Davydovs, those dear and
  intelligent hermits, General Rayevskys brothers
  The society of ours is various and a jolly
  mixture of original minds, of people renowned in
  our Russia These are the extracts from a letter
  of a man who visited the hospitable Davydov
  estate for the first time. This person was not a
  member of the secret society, but many a time he
  took part in the political disputes of the
  Decembrists, his Now Im sojourning in Kiev
  Province, in a village belonging to the Davydovs,
  those dear and intelligent hermits, General
  Rayevskys brothers The society of ours is
  various and a jolly mixture of original minds, of
  people renowned in our Russia These are the
  extracts from a letter of a man who visited the
  hospitable Davydov estate for the first time.
  This person was not a member of the secret
  society, but many a time he took part in the
  political disputes of the Decembrists, his
  freedom-loving poetry became a poetical manifesto
  of their movement and his name is always
  mentioned with the names of the heroes of the
  1825 December uprising Alexander Sergeyevich
  Pushkin.

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• Having been exiled to the south of Russia by the
  tsarist autocracy Pushkin visited Kamenka several
  times in 1820-1822. He fell in love with it he
  breathed here easily for an exile under
  surveillance, in the company of the Davydovs,
  the dear free-thinkers, Pushkin relaxed.
• Sojourning in Kamenka, the poet attended
  merry public gatherings, the noisy and colourful
  fairs, wrote down pld Ukrainian songs which he
  used in composing the poem Poltava and other
  works. Long hours were spent reading in the
  large, perfectly chosen library of the Davydovs.
• Here born were such masterpieces of
  Pushkins lyrics as A Nereid, The flying wrack
  of clouds grows flimsier far, My former dreams
  have long since vanished. In Kamenka Pushkin
  completed his work on the poem The Captive in
  the Caucasus. He began to write it earlier in
  the Caucasus.
• The poet remembered with love the days spent
  in the corner of the Ukraine which had charmed
  him your quite, dear Kamengrad to leave at all
  I am not glad these words, according to legend,
  were written by him on the margin of one of the
  books of the Davydovs library. With same
  profound love and the friends of freedom - the
  Decembrists. Pass along the streets of the modern
  town much will remind you about them the shady
  paths of the ancient Decembrists Park, Pushkins
  Grotto in the park, the picturesque Decembrists
  Mill, where their secret meetings were held. And
  at quiet evening hour, having come to the bank
  of the poet by its solitude, you will imagine
  hearing the words of his message addressed to his
  friend Decembrist V.L. Davydov
• To you, the Rayevskys and Orlov,
• And Loving the memory of Kamenka
• The visit to Kamenka, the Pushkin and
  Tshaikovsky Literary-Memorial Museum means
  unforgettable meetings with the great poet and
  his life-giving poetry. Never do cease to excite
  us the great sons patriotism, the love of
  freedom for the sake of which never in his life
  in gloomy Russia, based on serfdom,

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• Could he account to any one,
• Serve and only himself
• For power, livery bend his conscience, thoughts,
  neck
• (From Pindemonty)
• The spirit of freedom-love hovered here still
  many years later
• In the A.S. Pushkin and P.I. Tchaikovsky Museum,
  in the hall devoted to the life and creative work
  of the composer in Kamenka, there stands the
  piano that belonged to the Davydov family at
  which the composer had worked.
• Winners of annual regional competitions of
  young pianists are allowed to play the piano.
• The graduates of the Kiev State
  Conservatoire named after P.I. Tchaikovsky come
  here to feel in their hearts, to plunge
• into the world of the great composers music.
  Then, in the Little Green House, sound the
  beautiful familiar melodies without ceasing from
  early morning till late at night.
• The Decembrists, Pushkin, Tshaikovsky How
  fortunately are the destinies of these remarkable
  sons of Russia with the destiny of the small
  Ukrainian town, into what an unfading wreath of
  friendship of fraternal peoples they have united!
• The Pushkin and Tshaikovsky
  Literary-Memorial Museum located in the Little
  Green House of the former Davydovs estate
• marked its 50th anniversary in 1987. It is
• visited annually by more than 30,000
  excursionists from all parts of our country and
  from abroad. Monuments to the poet and the best
  men of nobility stand in the Decembrists Park.
• The Decembrists, Pushkin, Tshaikovsky and
  the memory of the people are in granite, music,
  poetry and in our hearts.