Haywood - Siberia: a cultural history

Title Page

SIBERIA

A Cultural History

By

A. J. Haywood

Publisher Information

First published in 2010 by

Signal Books Limited

36 Minster Road Oxford OX4 1LY

www.signalbooks.co.uk

Digital edition converted and

Distributed in 2012 by

Andrews UK Limited 2012

www.andrewsuk.com

A. J. Haywood, 2010

The right of A. J. Haywood to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988.

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Cover Design: Devdan Sen

Typesetting: Devdan Sen

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Illustrations: A. J. Haywood: 259; altair.co.uk: 104; dreamstime.com: xi, xix, 120, 125, 154, 161, 168, 184, 189, 202, 221; erpmusic.com: 192; istockphoto.com: i, 101, 243; Nigel Young/Foster & Partners: 97; shutterstock.com: 1, 13, 39, 53, 61, 112, 194, 235, 256, 262; wikipedia commons: 17, 22, 31, 43, 70, 75, 81, 85, 98, 110, 116, 129, 141, 145, 153, 176, 227, 277, 279; World History Archive/Alamy: 266

Preface & Acknowledgements

Before setting foot in Siberia, like most people, I imagined it mostly as a distant but somehow exotic place of extreme cold, and a region of vast forests and steppe filled with exiles. It seemed like Australia - my place of birth - in an ice-box. When I happened to come across someone who had travelled through Soviet-era Siberia with a guitar and collected Russian folk songs, my fascination grew. Several years would pass, however, before I crossed the Urals myself. In January 1992, at a time when the Soviet Union had ceased to exist but Russia was caught in colliding worlds of the past and present, I travelled to Moscow and stayed with a family to round off a Russian language course I was doing at Melbourne University. The Moscow I found in early 1992 was a chaos of systems - some things worked by the old rules, others by the new, and the whole economy had moved out of the shops and onto Moscows bustling streets. Visits to St. Petersburg followed, and in 1998 I finally had the opportunity to travel to Siberia for a couple of months spent working on chapters of a guidebook for an international publisher.

The Siberia I found in 1998 was, as in Moscow six years earlier, a twilight zone between the old and the new way of doing things. Each visit to a region is different in its own way, however, and this was also true for the Siberia I visited most recently to research this book. I was surprised to find that some streets in cities had become unrecognizable because of traffic and advertising hoardings. By and large, the hotels had been partially or fully renovated. Extreme poverty had, if not disappeared, become less of a problem. (The villages nevertheless remain Siberias problem zone.) Restoration of buildings had moved ahead, even if much still needed to be done. A mood of neglect had given way to an upbeat optimism and functioning everyday life. Although the financial crisis of 2008-9 halted some projects, this trend will undoubtedly continue. Beyond the towns, the beauty of Siberias physical landscape remained a stabilizing constant. Crossing large parts of this landscape in trains, communal taxis, buses and in boats to research this book was as enjoyable as the distances were exhausting.

Despite enormous progress, the task of restoring Siberia is as monumentally large as Siberia itself. Its historic churches, for example, condemned to neglect for so much of the Soviet period, are in poor shape and their beauty is often found within decaying baroque forms rather than in restored detail. Another of the large tasks facing Siberia, moreover, is the lack of a cultural context in books or in digital sources with which to interpret and understand these cultural landmarks. This book is hopefully a step towards overcoming the deficit - for the armchair reader with a fascination for foreign places, for the traveller on an organized tour - who can use it as a complement to the tour and engage in a dialogue with Siberia- and finally for the independent traveller who can use it as a resource for breaking out on his or her own.

***

I am indebted to many people for their help while researching and writing this book. In particular, I would like to thank Svetlana Cherkashina from Grand-Tour in Tyumen ( www.gt-russia.com ) for organizing a tour of the town at such short notice. Many thanks in Krasnoyarsk to Maria Khramova of Planeta-Tour (incoming@planeta-tours.ru; www.planeta-tours.ru ), who provided invaluable assistance by arranging accommodation in Krasnoyarsk and in Irkutsk. Both provided highly professional support.

Special thanks to Dr. Holger Finken from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), who helped in pre-planning. In Novosibirk, Anja Hess, Tatjana Molodzowa and colleagues from the Informationszentrum (IC) Novosibirsk des Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes offered invaluable support and insight into the region. In Irkutsk, many thanks to staff at the Baikal Hostel (www.baikalhostels.ru) for practical assistance and language support. Hanks also to Lina Tagirova in Listvyanka/Irkutsk, and to staff at the Gostinitsa Mayak (Listvyanka) and the Gostinitsa Angara (Irkutsk) for advice, assistance and good conversation. Thanks also to Nick Brody in Yekaterinburg, Neil and Joanna in Irkutsk, Elena Pikorovskaya in Frankfurt am Main, and in Gttingen Gert Schrder and Ina Schrder. Thanks especially to my wife Sylvia Mhle for support and encouragement. The opinions expressed in this book nevertheless reflect personal interpretations and views, and any errors of fact are my own.

Introduction

Heaven And Hell

It would be odd to talk about the meaning of Siberia for the world. It is known to every schoolchild. Strangers looking at the map only ask: "Are the dimensions correct?"

Nikolay Rerikh (1874-1947)

For todays traveller, a journey to Siberia begins amid bustling scenes of departure on the crowded platform of Moscows Yaroslavl Station or adjacent Kazan Station. Passengers mill at the head of the platform, waiting in expectation with luggage strewn at their feet. The electronic information boards announce train numbers and their distant destinations: Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok, Novokuznetsk - far-flung and exotic-sounding corners of Russia. The kiosks do a busy trade in last- minute supplies such as biscuits, nuts, bars of chocolate, pastries, water and the ubiquitous Chinese instant noodles. Brakes wheeze and emit exhausted sighs. In the distance railway workers tap wheel hubs on the carriages, making a puk-puk sound with long-handled hammers while listening for loose parts. One by one, the travellers collect their belongings and move off towards their waiting trains. You join them, struggling with your luggage. You fumble inside your pocket for your passport and ticket to show the conductor stationed at the carriage door and strictly controlling access. You board. Then, punctually, the doors close and the carriage fittings begin to creak. You feel the motion of the train and the platform gradually recedes, giving way to ranging yards and the Moscow suburbs. Perhaps a Russian fellow passenger will add finality to departure by announcing poekhali (were off).