The Kuntsevo Dacha (russian: Ку́нцевская да́ча, Kuntsevskaya Dacha) was
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's personal residence near the former town of
Kuntsevo
Kúntsevo (russian: Ку́нцево) is a district in Western Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population:
History
In the 18th century, a palace and a park were built; they were often visited by the Empress Catheri ...
(then
Moscow Oblast, now part of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
's
Fili district), where he lived for the last two decades of his life and died on 5 March 1953, although he also spent much time inside the
Kremlin, where he possessed living quarters next to his offices. The dacha is located inside a forest not far from the modern-day
Victory Park.
Also called the "nearer
dacha
A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...
" (russian: Ближняя дача, Blizhnyaya Dacha), it was built in 1933–34 to
Miron Merzhanov's designs. One storey was added to the original building in 1943. Stalin lived in Kuntsevo during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It was there that he played host to such high-profile guests as
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
and
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
.
Description
The dacha is located at the heart of a densely wooded
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
forest; its defenses included a double-perimeter fence, camouflaged 30-millimeter antiaircraft guns, and a security force of three hundred
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
(after 1946,
MGB) special troops. The grounds included lemon and apple trees, a rose garden, a small pond, and a watermelon patch which Stalin liked to cultivate.
There was also a sports ground for playing
gorodki
Gorodki (russian: Городки, ''townlets''; sv, Poppi, lt, Miestučiai), is an ancient Russian folk sport whose popularity has spread to Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Ingria, parts of Lithuania, and Estonia. Similar in concept to bowling an ...
.
Upon entering the dacha, there was a lobby with two
cloakroom
A cloakroom, or sometimes coatroom, is a room for people to hang their coats, cloaks or other outerwear when they enter a building. Cloakrooms are typically found inside large buildings, such as gymnasiums, schools, churches or meeting halls.
...
s; to the left a door opened to Stalin's personal study, where he spent most of the day. Directly in front, a door opened to the large dining room, while to the right there was a long narrow corridor.
The rectangular dining room was dominated by a long polished table and covered with rose carpets.
[ It was decorated with images of ]Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
and of the writer Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
. It was in this room that Stalin welcomed the Soviet Politburo
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (, abbreviated: ), or Politburo ( rus, Политбюро, p=pəlʲɪtbʲʊˈro) was the highest policy-making authority within the Communist Party of the ...
for meetings and late-night dinners, and where important decisions were often taken. An "almost invisible" door placed on the wall in one side of the dining room led to Stalin's bedroom, and to a kitchen.[
On the left-hand side of the dacha, there was Stalin's personal study (where he spent most of the day when at Kuntsevo) with his large war-time desk, a radio that was a gift from ]Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
(when he first visited Moscow, in August 1942) and a couch; Stalin preferred to sleep on this couch, instead of his bedroom.[ The bathroom was located next to Stalin's study.
On the right-hand side, the long narrow corridor led initially to two bedrooms (mostly used for accommodating occasional guests) and eventually to a large open ]veranda
A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure.
Although the form ''vera ...
. Stalin spent much time in this veranda; he would sit in a chair there during winter, despite the heavy cold, wearing a warm sheepskin coat and a fur hat.[ He also liked to read books and reports and feed the birds while at the veranda.][
The Soviet leader seldom left his study, let alone visited the second storey (although a ]lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobil ...
was installed on his orders). This storey was originally intended to accommodate his daughter Svetlana, but she used to stay there for only a few days each year. As a result, the rooms there remained dark and empty for most of the time.[
After Stalin's death the Marx–Engels–Lenin–Stalin Institute set up a commission to make arrangements for a Stalin museum at Kuntsevo.][Zhores Medvedev, Roy Medvedev. ''The Unknown Stalin''. . Page 61.]
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
discarded the idea, and the dacha stood unoccupied for several decades.
Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva recorded that a copy of the famous painting ''Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
''Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks'' is a painting by Ilya Repin. It is also known as ''Cossacks of Saporog Are Drafting a Manifesto'' and in Russian, (russian: Запорожцы пишут письмо турецкому султану, Zap ...
'' was hung somewhere on the ground floor but was not clear on exactly where.[
]
The dacha today
The building remains shrouded in secrecy: the grounds are fenced and closed to ordinary visitors. However, the dacha is still preserved in good condition, along with all of Stalin's personal belongings, including his study with the war-time desk and the sofa where he slept.
Upon becoming President of the Russian Federation in 2000, Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
summoned the most powerful business oligarchs of Russia to Kuntsevo in what Sergei Pugachev (a participant in that meeting) described as a "very symbolic" move; another participant, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said that by summoning them to Kuntsevo and by sitting in Stalin's office, Putin "wanted us to understand that we, as big businessmen, may have some power, but it is nothing compared to his power as the head of state." (Khodorkovsky "did not take that message to heart" and wound up serving 10 years in prison on charges of tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
.)
References
External links
Vintage photographs of the dacha's interiors
{{Joseph Stalin
Buildings and structures in Moscow
Residential buildings completed in 1934
Places associated with Joseph Stalin
Dachas
Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union
1934 establishments in the Soviet Union