At the Dacha

The 1917 October Revolution caused an upheaval in Russian life and society. One thing that did not change, however, was the Russians’ deep love for the countryside. In the old days the gentry would migrate each summer to their country estates, escaping the heat of the cities. These large estates were composed of a manor house, vast meadows, fields, woods and a village for the peasants who lived there year round and worked the estate for the mostly absentee owners. A few landowners chose to dwell on their property, but more often than not they were considered provincial for doing so. Today, of course, the large estates no longer exist, but a yearly summer exodus from the cities still takes place. And the scale is even larger now that the bulk of the Russian population is urban.