{"id":2635,"date":"2020-12-02T11:37:35","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T11:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=2635"},"modified":"2021-04-30T14:14:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T14:14:24","slug":"stas-kaliningrad-konigsberg-guide-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/stas-kaliningrad-konigsberg-guide-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Stas Kaliningrad K\u00f6nigsberg Guide has Died"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The loss of an indispensable friend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Published: 2 December 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is with great sadness that I report that our dear friend Stas (Stanislav Konovalov) passed away recently from post-operative complications whilst undergoing hospital treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife, Olga, and I met Stas in January 2019. We were introduced to him by a mutual friend, Victor Ryabinin the artist. Stas told me later that Victor had said to him, \u201cThere is an Englishman moving to Kaliningrad. You should meet him. He is an interesting man, and I think you will find a common language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not altogether certain that I deserve the appellation \u2018interesting\u2019, but we did find a common language in our love of history generally and specifically for K\u00f6nigsberg-Kaliningrad and the surrounding region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important element in that common language was the inspiration we both received from our friend and mentor Victor Ryabinin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A short while after Victor Ryabinin\u2019s death in July 2019, I told Stas that I had found two paintings by Victor among my possessions in England. He replied, with characteristic modesty, that whilst he did not have a signed painting by Victor Ryabinin the artist, it was enough that he had a “secret pride”, which was that he had been “close to this great man”. “I was his student for many years,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I ventured to suggest that Victor had also been his friend, he replied, once again with characteristic modesty, \u201cVictor knew a great many people and associated with a great many people, but he probably would not have considered them all to be his friends. I can say that I was his student, that I admired him and enjoyed his company \u2026\u201d He then paused, before saying, \u201cBut I would like to think that he thought of me as his friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stas was a modest man. He was modest about all of his achievements, when it was quite obvious that he had as much right, if not more, to blow his own trumpet with the \u2018best\u2019 of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recognition of this, I had Stas write a brief biographical account of his work and life, including his longstanding association with Victor Ryabinin<\/a>, and included it, along with references to his tour guide practice, in the permanent pages of this blog, under the \u2018Victor Ryabinin K\u00f6nigsberg\u2019 heading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stas Kaliningrad K\u00f6nigsberg Guide<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stas worked extremely hard on his tour guide projects, honing and perfecting them, making several YouTube videos and always asking, “What did you think of this aspect?” “Was that alright?” “Is there anything in my tour guide script that you think needs clarification?”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Victor Ryabinin before him, Stas\u2019 death has robbed K\u00f6nigsberg -Kaliningrad of yet another great ambassador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has robbed us of so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stas was a straight-talking, open, sincere individual. He was a kind man, always ready to help and good company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, we shared the common language of the past, and I, through him, the common but all-important language of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summation, Stas was that most precious of all commodities ~ he was the indispensable friend that we could ill afford to lose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A sunny afternoon with Stas Konovalov, ‘Stas’, [right of picture] Kaliningrad K\u00f6nigsberg Guide
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stas Kaliningrad K\u00f6nigsberg  Tour Guide ~ links to his videos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2021 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The loss of an indispensable friend Published: 2 December 2020 It is with great sadness that I report that our dear friend Stas (Stanislav Konovalov) passed away recently from post-operative complications whilst undergoing hospital treatment. My wife, Olga, and I met Stas in January 2019. We were introduced to him by a mutual friend, Victor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[75,6],"tags":[619,1296,1291,1295,1290,1292,1293,1294,66],"class_list":["post-2635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diary-2019-2020","category-kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary","tag-an-englishman-in-kaliningrad","tag-stanislav-konovalov-mick-hart","tag-stanislav-konovalov-kaliningrad","tag-stanislav-konovalov-youtube-videos","tag-stas-kaliningrad-konigsberg-guide","tag-stas-tour-guide-kaliningrad","tag-stas-tour-guide-kaliningrad-dies","tag-stas-youtube-videos","tag-victor-rybinin-artist"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t