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KAMENKA
More than three centuries have passed since the foundation of this town. In the beginning of
the 17th century fugitive serf peasants settled on the uninhabited banks of the Tyasmin.
Having escaped from brutal oppression of the landlords, exhausted by slavery and dreaming
of freedom they came here. But soon to the land that they have settled upon came greedy
gentry and appropriated the fruits of labour of the first settlers.
The Cossacks and peasants of Kamenka were “lucky” in one things: in 1649 the Polish
king Kazimir granted the village to no one other than Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the hetman of the
Ukraine, the leader of the Liberation War of the Ukrainian people against the PolishShlyakhtich yoke, who called for the reunification of the Ukraine with Russia.
1812. The peoples of Russia were celebrating the victory over Napoleon invasion. Soon
after the war Colonel V.L.Davydov, the younger son of Yekaterina Davydova, retired and
came to live in is mother’s estate. In Kamenka Vasily Lvovich was often visited by his
combatant comrades – Generals N.N.Rayevsky and A.P.Yermolov.
“… Now I’m sojourning in Kiev Province, in a village belonging to the Davydovs, those dear
and intelligent hermits, General Rayevsky’s brothers… The society of ours… is various and a
jolly mixture of original minds, of people renowned in our Russia… ”These are the extracts
from a letter of a man who visited the hospitable Davydov estate for the first time. This
person was not a member of the secret society, but many a time he took part in the political
disputes of the Decembrists, his “… Now I’m sojourning in Kiev Province, in a village
belonging to the Davydovs, those dear and intelligent hermits, General Rayevsky’s brothers…
The society of ours… is various and a jolly mixture of original minds, of people renowned in
our Russia… ”These are the extracts from a letter of a man who visited the hospitable
Davydov estate for the first time. This person was not a member of the secret society, but
many a time he took part in the political disputes of the Decembrists, his freedom-loving
poetry became a poetical manifesto of their movement and his name is always mentioned
with the names of the heroes of the 1825 December uprising – Alexander Sergeyevich
Pushkin.
Having been exiled to the south of Russia by the tsarist autocracy Pushkin visited Kamenka several times
in 1820-1822. He fell in love with it: he breathed here easily “for an exile under surveillance”, in the
company of the Davydovs, the “dear free-thinkers”, Pushkin relaxed.
Sojourning in Kamenka, the poet attended merry public gatherings, the noisy and colourful fairs, wrote
down pld Ukrainian songs which he used in composing the poem “Poltava” and other works. Long
hours were spent reading in the large, perfectly chosen library of the Davydovs.
Here born were such masterpieces of Pushkin’s lyrics as “A Nereid”, “The flying wrack of clouds grows
flimsier far…”, “My former dreams have long since vanished…”. In Kamenka Pushkin completed his
work on the poem “The Captive in the Caucasus”. He began to write it earlier in the Caucasus.
The poet remembered with love the days spent in the corner of the Ukraine which had charmed him :
“your quite, dear Kamengrad to leave at all I am not glad – these words, according to legend, were
written by him on the margin of one of the books of the Davydovs’ library. With same profound love
and the friends of freedom - the Decembrists. Pass along the streets of the modern town – much will
remind you about them: the shady paths of the ancient Decembrists’ Park, Pushkin’s Grotto in the
park, the picturesque “Decembrists’ Mill”, where their secret meetings were held. And at quiet
evening hour, having come to the bank of the poet by its solitude, you will imagine hearing the
words of his message addressed to his friend – Decembrist V.L. Davydov
To you, the Rayevskys and Orlov,
And Loving the memory of Kamenka…
The visit to Kamenka, the Pushkin and Tshaikovsky Literary-Memorial Museum means unforgettable
meetings with the great poet and his life-giving poetry. Never do cease to excite us the great son’s
patriotism, the love of freedom for the sake of which never in his life in “gloomy Russia”, based on
serfdom,
Could he account to any one,
Serve and only himself;
For power, livery bend his conscience, thoughts, neck…
(From Pindemonty)
The spirit of freedom-love hovered here still many years later…
In the A.S. Pushkin and P.I. Tchaikovsky Museum, in the hall devoted to the life and creative
work of the composer in Kamenka, there stands the piano that belonged to the Davydov
family at which the composer had worked.
Winners of annual regional competitions of young pianists are allowed to play the piano.
The graduates of the Kiev State Conservatoire named after P.I. Tchaikovsky come here
“to feel in their hearts”, to plunge
into the world of the great composer’s music. Then, in the Little Green House, sound the
beautiful familiar melodies without ceasing from early morning till late at night.
The Decembrists, Pushkin, Tshaikovsky… How fortunately are the destinies of these
remarkable sons of Russia with the destiny of the small Ukrainian town, into what an
unfading wreath of friendship of fraternal peoples they have united!
The Pushkin and Tshaikovsky Literary-Memorial Museum located in the Little Green
House of the former Davydovs’ estate
marked its 50th anniversary in 1987. It is
visited annually by more than 30,000 excursionists from all parts of our country and from
abroad. Monuments to the poet and “the best men of nobility” stand in the Decembrists’
Park.
The Decembrists, Pushkin, Tshaikovsky and the memory of the people are in granite,
music, poetry… and in our hearts.