Stanislav Khorobrykh

Born in 1970 in the city of Kungur, Perm Region. In 1993 he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the Perm State University of Humanities and Pedagogy, in 2002 — graduate school. The author, co-author of 11 monographs on the traditional culture of Russians living in the Perm Perm Territory. Created the museum «Chamber of the Stroganovs,» repair and restoration ceramic workshops, the result of which was the revival of the tile craft of the Stroganovs.

Quotes

• A person can't but identify himself, one can't have his own life without a national color.
• At large scales, you lose the perception of geography.
• Usolye not only attracts itself, but it also forms around a vast space of new culture.
• Here the purity of the genre is sustained in architecture, painting, cooking, and finally, in people. From this appears the richness of life. Like Brodsky wrote: about the empire, the sea, and the province.

My story

Getting acquainted with Solikamsk, we see a lot of architectural structures of the past and don't even guess what they were built for. Each architect was bent upon to find compliance with the natural and climatic conditions of the North, the proposed material, and most importantly — the fit of the building into the general settlement ensemble. The basic principles of styles and trends, which we now call with approximate honesty «Naryshkin,» «Stroganov» or'Northern» baroque, were based on this. There is some truth in this because our Upper Kama region is very clearly distinguished in this respect compared to other territories with architectural techniques: in different definitions, we still tend to define this era as «Stroganov's Baroque.» The fact is that masters of architecture developed and improved their skills without neglecting borrowing techniques and new materials in the period of «Europeanization,» «construction of new capitals,» deprivation of the usual construction experience norms in connection with the stone building ban decree of Peter the Great.

And this is not by chance. The fact is that the Stroganovs annually sent 200 artisans to the «eternal residence» of St. Petersburg under construction, they supplied the new capital with construction materials, and financed the military campaign of Peter I. Grigori Dmitrievich makes a magnificent gesture: he builds two frigates with his own funds. For such vigor to the state affairs, Peter I favors the illustrious man Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov and his wife with an «icon in pearls» for «great wearing» and, contrary to his decree, he allows to build a stone mansion and church in the domain of Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov's young son in the Novo-Usolsky patrimony. This is where it all started.

All the unique architectural techniques developed by the Stroganov masters in the Kama region turned out to be repeatable in many monuments of that time. For example, when decorating windows, masters use an ornament that we still see in the settlements of the Komi-Perm region. And what does this give for understanding Usolye? Imagine, a person cannot read and write, comes from a deaf village to the territory of uncrowned kings and does not feel rejected. All architecture turns out to be understood by an ordinary person, because in his village he sees about the same thing, only not in stone, but in wood. This is aerobatics and a starting point in understanding the Stroganov model, so it is valued today, unlike the Demidov model or, for example, the Morozov model. And this is not eclectic. Not a mixture of styles, but a prudent use, interweaving of different ideologies, philosophies, and creative groundwork.

This approach has manifested itself in almost everything: in architecture, icon painting, the organization of life. Just take the culinary code. We can safely relate the Northern Kama region to the classic version of cooking «beef stroganoff»: when a spur of blood splashes when meat is pierced. If you look at the «beef stroganoff» culturally: the product was fried and steamed, subjected to some kind of «cultural» processing. On the other hand, the dish shows dense paganism — flesh and fresh blood. All these fancies were mixed up in one pot, which allowed the recipe to become the hallmark of Prikamye in the Russian space. Somewhat like frogs in France, and snails in Lombardy.

We came to Usolie and thought: «What should a museum be like? The same as in Cherdyn? There's no point. How in Perm? Moreover». Clone museums are not interesting to anyone. There was a principled search for «rifts and cracks,» where you could settle yourself and become self-sufficient, unusual. Thanks to our achievements, it was possible to protect Usolye from ridiculous new models and other encroachments. Usolye, though slowly but surely, is moving in the direction of proper reconstruction and restoration: in details, in square centimeters, it shows signs of life. And this is very important. Usolye still manages to save its face in the cultural field of the country.

There is more air, more potential, more opportunities. In the Chamber of the Stroganovs museum itself, more than 150 cultural exhibition projects have been implemented, of which 42 are Russian, and 14 are international. When the architectural school leaves, the publishing season begins immediately, when it ends in its turn, a new exhibition is on the way. Six thousand people live in Usolye, and the museum's attendance per year is 90 thousand. This is a huge load for local residents in the absence of high-quality infrastructure, but it also is a big incentive for development. Over 10 years, 15 shops and 3 supermarkets have appeared here. It sounds positive, but it is not enough. In the coming years, it is necessary to build an actual interdepartmental logistics and recreational base. There should be a clear program for the development of all elements, hotels, parking lots, sports facilities and so on should be built. Then attendance can be doubled, up to 250 thousand a year, and we could hold festivals at the proper level. At the moment, during festivals, the city just cannot cope with the influx of people. We are working on it now.

At large scales, you lose the perception of geography. Here it does not matter who lives where: if we agree, then the project becomes interesting to all. For example, serious musicians come to us, including from Great Britain, Germany, Scotland and other countries. The acoustic capabilities of the museum are high, and people come not so much to earn money as to live themselves through time in excellent acoustics. And artists come because to place an object created by a modern artist, though a gifted one, in the traditional interior is a serious task. After all, the historical environment is very demanding, it will merely crush if the author did not complete something in himself or did not put it into the work.

A fundamental approach is vital in everything, with a qualitative study of history, especially the spiritual one. During the construction of new churches, artists of the 21st-century copy artists of the 15th century. But you and I understand that we need things that meet the requirements of modern man, the consciousness that has been passed through the centuries, modernism, postmodernism.

Co-operating with universities is essential. In our case, students of more than ten leading universities in the country and abroad are practicing in different areas under the patronage of major specialists: linguists, ethnographers, archeologists, and scientists of building faculties. As a result, all the materials developed become the basis of major restoration projects, are used in real museum practice, and that, by the way, doesn't happen in most territories. It is a typical situation, but temporary. The fact is that a person can't but identify himself with the place he lives, one can't have his own life without the national color, understood and heartfelt, and can't enrich it as a result.