Saratov Embankment Wall Painting – Part 1

In 2014 and 2015, on the occasion of the City Day, graffiti artists from different parts of Russia were invited to Saratov where they splashed out on to the walls of the new embankment their inspiration and vision of the important events, memorial places, and famous people of Saratov land. You are welcome to take a look at their works: all 47 paintings...

This sketch portrays a memorial to a famous song "How many golden lights there are in the streets of Saratov": a young man waiting his beloved one by the clock. The memorial was placed at Kirova Avenue next to the Volga Hotel in 2009. Its author is a Saratov sculptor Nikolay Bunin.

 

 

To the left: a panorama of the main pedestrian area of Saratov – Kirova Avenue (the avenue was granted the status of a pedestrian zone in 1983); in the foreground there is a memorial to Nikolay Chernyshevsky (1953), Saratov Sobinov Conservatory (1912), and dancing and sound-to-light fountain "Melody" (1986).

To the right: a highway and pedestrian bridge over the Volga River, and a Soviet passenger hydrofoil motor ship "Meteor".

At the moment of opening in 1965 Saratov bridge was the longest bridge in Europe (around 3 km or 1.6 mile). A movie "Bridge in Progress" was made at its construction – with participation of stars of the Soviet cinema as well as Saratov dwellers. The cast is as follows: Oleg Dahl, Oleg Efremov, Oleg Tabakov, Vladimir Zamansky, Lyudmila Krylova, Valentin Nikulin, Mikhail Kozakov, Igor Vasiliev, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev, Pyotr Shcherbakov, Victor Pavlov, Lilia Tolmacheva, Galina Volchek, Igor Kvasha, Vladlen Paulus, Galina Sokolova, Victor Sergachev, Nina Doroshina, Lyudmila Ivanova, German Kovalenko, Inga Shantyr, Tatiana Lavrova, Vladimir Zemlyanikin, Sergey Sazontiev.

The "Meteor" hydrofoil motor ship series was developed by a Soviet engineer Rostislav Alexeyev. The ships were built from 1961 till 1991 at Zelenodolsk Gorky Shipyard, Russia. In total, more than 400 ships came off the stocks. Starting from 1963 the Meteors were faultless and fast in carrying Saratov residents along the routes of Saratov–Samara, Saratov–Volgograd, Saratov–Samara–Zolotoye, Saratov–Volsk, Saratov–Voskresensk, Saratov–Sinenkie.

 

 

These are the construction stages of Saratov State District Power Plant devoted to its 85th anniversary. The plant was launched in 1930. In 1942 Saratov Power Plant was the first in the USSR to start using natural gas. Up till now the plant keeps the emblem of the GOELRO days: the oldest working lamp in Russia is mounted at the power plant main switch board.

 

 

Oleg Yankovsky is a People's Artist of the USSR. He finished the Secondary School 67 of Saratov, and Saratov Theatre School later. After that Oleg Yankovsky worked in Saratov Drama Theater from 1965 till 1973.

Graffiti made by Damir Daksov (Kazan, Russia).

 

 

On March 19, 2013 Saratov Circus accommodated an opening of the program titled "In the Сonstellation of Leo" led by a Russian predator tamer Olga Borisova. She is the only lion tamer in the world who performs single. Olga continues a famous circus dynasty in the fourth generation.

Graffiti made by Damir Lotfullin (Kazan, Russia).

 

 

In 1864 they built a house for circus shows in Saratov which was named Circus Theatre, but it was not spared. In 1876 the Nikitin brothers, Dmitry, Akim and Pyotr, constructed a circus in Saratov that became the second Russian stationary circus – after the first one in Penza that was opened by the same brothers in 1873. So Saratov and Penza circuses laid the foundations and traditions of the whole Russian circus art.

Graffiti made by Mikhail Dmitrienko (Moscow, Russia).

 

 

Yuri Gagarin is a first man in space. In 1951 Yuri entered Saratov Industrial Technical School to finish it with honours in four years. On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin successfully orbited around the Earth and landed in Saratov Region, not far from the city of Engels.

Graffiti made by Ilya Mozgi (Yekaterinburg, Russia).

 

 

A memorial complex "Zhuravli" (crane birds) is built in the Victory Park at Sokolovaya Hill in Saratov. It is a memorial to Saratov residents that were killed at the fronts of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. The complex is situated at 160 meters (525 feet) above see level. It has an artificial mound 100 meters (328 feet) high and pylons each 40 meters (131 feet) long which allow Zhuravli to be seen from many parts of Saratov or Engels as well as within 20 km (11 miles) up and down the Volga River.

Graffiti made by Leonid Valeev (Chelyabinsk, Russia).

 

 

Vasily Klochkov was a military commissioner of the 4th Company, 2nd Battalion, 1075th Regiment, 316th Divison, 16th Army of the Western Front – a Hero of the Soviet Union. Vasily was born in the settlement of Sinodskoye of Voskresenk District in Saratov Region. In the thirties of the 20th century he lived and worked in Mokshan and Saratov.

On November 16, 1941 by the village of Dubosekovo (Volokolamsk District of Moscow Region) Vasily headed a group of soldiers of the 4th Company and participated in the repelling of tank attacks by the German forces. Before the fight that turned out to be the last one for the majority of the 4th Company, he said the famous words that "there is nowhere to retreat – Moscow is behind us!". In the heroic combat that followed more than 100 fighters of the Company fell, but German tanks were not allowed to Moscow. Vasily Klochkov died by throwing himself on a German tank with a bunch of grenades.

In Saratov Region they named streets in Saratov, Volsk, and Sinodskoye settlement in honour of the hero.

Graffiti made by Victor Ershov (Perm, Russia).

 

 

Stepan Razin was a cossack who led the people's uprising of 1670-1671 – the largest in the Russian history before Peter the Great. On August 15, 1670 Stepan Razin and his force entered Saratov whose population greeted him by ringing of church bells and welcomed cordially with bread and salt.

By the settlement of Belogorskoye of Krasnoarmeysk District in Saratov Region there is a cliff named after Stepan Razin. According to legend, the top of the cliff once accommodated a military camp of Razin from where they spotted and then looted merchant ships that sailed by along the Volga River. The captives were put into Turminsky Ravine next to the cliff – until ransom was paid. Some researchers believe that Stepan Razin's Persian princess was thrown by him into waters of the Volga River near this very cliff.

Graffiti made by Anton Lebedev (Saratov, Russia).

 

 

Saratov was founded in 7098 from CPST as a town fortress to protect the southern frontiers of Moscow State from the inroads by nomads and other lovers of easy gain – half way from Samara and Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd).

Graffiti made by Alexander Vasiliev (Moscow, Russia).

 

 

Saratov City Gorky Park is one of the largest in Saratov. It is located where once a grove was. The latter used to be outside city limits but became part of Saratov according to the new development plan of 1813. At the beginning of 19th century the grove became property of Alexey Panchulidzev – then governor of Saratov Region. After the Patriotic War of 1812 with Napoleonic France they started sending French prisoners of war to Saratov where the latter cleared themselves of their bad conduct by work, so the governor used their labour to plant oaks and rearrange alleys in the park. That is why many oak trees of the city park are more than 200 years old, and local residents sometimes call them "French oaks".

Graffiti made by Konstantin Antonov (Moscow, Russia).

 

 

Saratov through space and time...

Graffiti made by Dmitry Kabanin (Moscow, Russia).

 

 

Marina Raskova was a Soviet flight navigator, a major, one of the first women who received the "Hero of the Soviet Union" award. In October of 1941, with the approval of the USSR Supreme General Headquarters and support of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Youth Communist League, she raised an air group of three women air regiments in the city of Engels of Saratov Region: Fighter Aircraft Regiment 586 (Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter planes), Bomber Aircraft Regiment 587 (Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber planes), and Night Bomber Aircraft Regiment 588 (Polikarpov Po-2 bomber planes). This group had an informal name of "night witches". Some time later Marina Raskova was appointed a commander of Bomber Aircraft Regiment 587.

In Saratov Region they named the following after Marina Raskova: a street and a square in Saratov, a street in Engels, a street in Balashov, a settlement in Saratov Distriсt.

Graffiti made by Andrey Elbakidze (Saint Petersburg, Russia).

 

 

"Barge Haulers on the Volga River" or "Burlaki on the Volga River" is a painting by a Russian artist Ilya Repin made in 1870–1873. It depicts a group of barge hauling laborers in their back-breaking effort. In May 1870 Ilya Repin took a journey on the Volga River from Tver to Saratov by a steamship belonging to the Samolet company. The scenes from burlaki life made an indelible impression on the artist, so he immediately picked up his brush...

Graffiti made by Sergey Pshenichkin and Kirill Sidorov (Samara, Russia).

 

 

Sports slides in a skate and roller camp on the water front of Saratov. In the frost-free season here and around you can see many amateurs or professionals of roller blade, skateboard, bike, scooter, etc.

 

 

Saratov horse-drawn tramway was opened on May 1, 1887. It included two routes: from the railway station – along Moskovskaya Street – to Starosobornaya Square (now Museum Square), and along Bolshaya Sergievskaya Street (now Chernyshevskogo Street) – from Moskovskaya Street to Aleksandrovskaya Street (now Gorkogo Street). The horse-drawn tram ran from 7am till 10pm with a 10 minute interval. The fair was 5 kopecks first class or 3 kopecks second class. A ring for the reverse motion was made by the railway station, and by Gostinyi dvor (now its place is occupied by a building of the Volga Region Railroad Administrative Office built in 1909–1914) at Starosobornaya Square (now Museum Square) there was a reverse dead-end: horses were reharnessed from one end of a car to the other. Later on the number of horsecar routes increased: the new ones were opened along Ilyinskaya Street (now Chapaeva Street), Astrakhanskaya Street, Nikolskaya Street (now Radishcheva Street), and Konstantinovskaya Street (now Sovetskaya Street).

 

 

People taking a promenade or biking a tricycle in old Saratov.

 

 

The wooden buildings of ancient Saratov and its coat of arms: three silver sterlets (approved in 1781). Sterlet is a fish of the sturgeon family. Our ancestors put it in the coat of arms due to abundance of sterlets in the area of Saratov – to emphasize the city prosperity and beauty: sterlet fish is really elegant and graceful in nature.

 

 

Droshky (kind of light horse-drawn vehicle) in the streets of old Saratov. Regardless of starting a horsecar in the city in 1887, a demand for cabs kept on growing. Even the launch of electric tram in 1908 could not change that. So, at the beginning of 1890s there were around a thousand cabs in Saratov, whereas in 1914 the city administration registered 3200 cabs – in addition to 1200 of private carriages run by well-off city residents.

 

 

CONTINUED – PART 2