{"id":4569,"date":"2021-08-30T17:51:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T17:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=4569"},"modified":"2024-06-04T16:56:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T14:56:45","slug":"a-memorial-garden-for-victor-ryabinin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/a-memorial-garden-for-victor-ryabinin\/","title":{"rendered":"A Memorial Garden for Victor Ryabinin"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Pushing the boat out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Published: 30 August 2021 ~ A Memorial Garden for Victor Ryabinin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea to create our own, modest memorial garden to Victor Ryabinin came to us when we were deliberating on what name to give to the dacha. My wife, Olga, said that she wanted to name it \u2018Boat with Flowers House\u2019 after one of Victor\u2019s paintings, which was also used as an illustration for the front cover of his and Sam Simkin\u2019s book on East Prussian poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Victor<\/figure>
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Victor Ryabinin’s ‘Boat with Flowers’, shown here as the front-cover design for his and Sam Simkin’s book on East Prussian Poetry<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We already felt obliged, motivated by our sensibility for history and heritage, to renovate the statue that stands in our garden. The statue is that of a fisherman. We did not put him there and neither did the Germans. In German times the dacha was the village hall, but in the Soviet era it became a hostelry for fishermen. Now it is a place where Olga plays houses and gardens, and I drink beer that I have bought from the local shop. And although I believe that a statue of me with a pint glass in my hand would be something that Nigel Farage would approve of, as the fisherman was there first, there he should remain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statue is Captain Codpiece. That is not his real name, of course, but one that has been bestowed upon him by my brother. I don\u2019t think Codpiece minds. He knows we respect him, and he has certainly benefitted from our recent ministrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Memorial Garden for Victor Ryabinin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I started the ball rolling by removing the moss, most of which had gathered on the plinth of the statue, and cleaned the flaking concrete from it, then some chaps from the village, whose building skills are far superior to mine, reconstructed the plinth using wooden planks for shuttering and pouring fresh concrete into the mould.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The statue with its new plinth under construction<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week, our friend Chilikin, artist and conservationist, drank beer and vodka with me, and he also gave Codpiece the once over with a wire brush before saturating him in a transparent sealing compound, which will also act as a base substrate for the paint job that is to follow. In Soviet times, the statute was bright silver; the paint acted as a weather-shield, but it also transformed the concrete man into something resembling a metallised robot. Times change, and as the silver has worn off and with it the sheen of dubious taste, we have decided to act on Chilikin’s advice and go for a mottled bronze. The ‘distressed’ look will preserve antiquity, and a fresh coat of paint will give the statue a new lease of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chilikin
Valordia Chilikin restoring the statue of the fisherman<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whilst Codpiece will stand tall, literally head and shoulders above the ensemble, iconic to the composition will be the boat we acquired some weeks previously, which will be used to recreate Victor\u2019s Boat with Flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mick
Mick Hart applying preservative to the boat that will be used in<\/span> <\/strong>
Victor Ryabinin’s memorial garden<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A memorial plaque has been commissioned and is in the process of being made. Next week we hope to find a suitable boulder on which to mount the plaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we adhere to our timetable and complete the garden by mid-September, there is talk in the air of commemorating the event with a private gathering of clans. The occasion, I have been told, will not be black or white tie, but all attendees will be expected to wear some kind of hippy dress that backdates them to the 1960s. Codpiece was erected in the 1960s, so somehow it only seems right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F.A.B. cats!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Links to posts on Victor Ryabin, Artist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ryabinin at One with K\u00f6nigsberg<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pushing the boat out Published: 30 August 2021 ~ A Memorial Garden for Victor Ryabinin The idea to create our own, modest memorial garden to Victor Ryabinin came to us when we were deliberating on what name to give to the dacha. My wife, Olga, said that she wanted to name it \u2018Boat with Flowers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"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":[1366,6],"tags":[1599,1603,55,281,623,1600,1602,1601,1554,276,278,1328,66],"class_list":["post-4569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diary-2021","category-kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary","tag-a-memorial-garden-for-victor-ryabinin","tag-east-prussian-poetry","tag-mick-hart-in-kaliningrad","tag-mick-hart-with-victor-ryabinin","tag-olga-hart-in-kaliningrad","tag-renovating-soviet-statue-kaliningrad","tag-sam-simkin-russian-poet","tag-soviet-history-kaliningrad-region","tag-tourist-attractions-kaliningrad-region","tag-victor-ryabinin-artist-historian","tag-victor-ryabinin-konigsberg-kaliningrad","tag-victor-ryabinin-the-artist-born-in-konigsberg","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\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t