dinsdag 17 augustus 2010

Repin and the Gulf of Finland

Station Repino
What has Repin, the famous painter, got to do with the gulf of Finland, you may ask? Well, besides the fact that Repin used to live close to this sea, not so much, actually, the title points out the walk of our day, Saturday 7th of August. Because Petersburg had been subjected to extremely high temperatures this summer, somewhere between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius, Nastya suggested to combine the weekend's excursions and visit Repins house in Repino and the beach in one day. The trip to Repino was an excursion in itself, for we experienced the Russian electritchka. The train itself, I must admit, did not really startle me with enthusiasm, the only difference is that there are wooden seats in stead of clothed ones. The special thing about it, though, is the use of it by the Russian people, who massively use this transportation to go to their dacha's on Saturday. It really was full, so we had to sit on the ground. Not something that would withhold Nastya from introducing us to the subject of Repins house. The lazy tourists in us, would not let the day fully start before having a cup of coffee in Repino.

Nicole (l) and Nastya (r) in electrichka
Extensive sightseeing needs good preparation!
After quite a good walk through the forest, we reached Repins house, now a museum. It felt good being out of the city for a day. Nastya bought us tickets (she really knows her way around with student discounts!) and let us enter Repins house and atelier. Ilja Repin was born in 1844 in Tsjoehoejiv, Ukrain. In 1866 he attended the Academie in Saint Petersburg and painted his most famous painting in 1870, called the "Бурлаки на Волге", translated: the men who pulled the boats over the Wolga, which can now be found in the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. His works belong to the movement of Realism and were either social-critical or historical. Until 1907 Repin stayed close to the Academie in St. Petersburg, working there as a teacher. In 1918 he had a house/atelier built on ground that became to belong to Finland. The house was called Penati and was designed in a way that Repin could use good ligth all day long to paint. It is the place where he died in 1930 and can still be visited today. Much of the original equipment of the house and his paintings remaining intact. During Sovjet time the village was called Repino (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilja_Repin 17-08-2010).
Бурлаки на Волге
(http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Ilia_Efimovich_Repin_(1844-1930)_-_Volga_Boatmen_(1870-1873).jpg)
During our walk through the forest we encountered many lovely situated dacha's, as one of my pictures shows. A dacha, Nastya told us, is not something you can buy. Dacha's are passed on through generations of families, each "new" generation adding something to it, like a floor.
Penati











Dacha, covered in the woods
After our visit to Repins beautiful house, we went on to the beach near the Finnish Gulf. The beach was dirty, but OK, and the water was lovely!!! Being there at noon with an empty stomach it could not go without noticing that there is nothing commercial about this beach, because you cannot buy any food or drinks in the nearest surroundings! Of course this directly depicts the beauty and naturality of this area!
We ended our day spent in nature, with a trip back by, of course, elektrichka!

The beach
Going back home


Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten