Nolinsk: gingerbread, lemonade, matryoshka

A task with an asterisk

What to do when: Karina wants to go to a museum, Stan just wants to stroll around town, and neither is going to compromise?

Exactly! Head to an open-air museum! Nolinsk, here we come ;)

By the way, our dizzying adventures began back in Kirov. 3 hours in a PAZ bus facing backward with equipment and Karina’s “bundles” — quite a ride. There was one consolation — the road would eventually end, and the adventures would stop being “static.”

The main square

And so they began. Right from the city center. We headed to the square. Sitting on a bench and hugging the iron musician, it was impossible not to notice the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, built in 1843. By the way, the archpriest of this church was Mikhail Vasnetsov, a relative of the famous painters.

St. Nicholas Cathedral

Continuing to explore the architectural monuments that have survived to our day, we headed to one of the oldest buildings in Nolinsk — St. Nicholas Cathedral. It was built in 1724 and, as you can see, is in need of restoration.

These photos of St. Nicholas Cathedral were taken in 2018. The roof is now finished.

The Theological School

We cross the street and see the Theological School, which opened in the early 19th century and was designed for 150 places. Quite recently (until 2011), it housed a secondary school. According to locals, it used to be possible to walk underground from St. Nicholas Cathedral to this building. The same source lamented that the building’s restoration isn’t progressing as actively as one would like.

Local History Museum (and gingerbread too)

To learn about peasant life, archaeological finds, a merchant’s interior, and even a collection of radio equipment, visit the Local History Museum, where Karina dragged Stan under false pretenses.

Right next to it is the Museum of Gingerbread and Lemonade. Highly recommended!

The House of Pyotr Bratukhin

Currently, this is the military enlistment office. After the Revolution, the Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution was located here.

And before the Revolution — this was the house of the famous self-taught architect Pyotr Bratukhin.

The House of Olga Chirkova

And this is the house of Olga Yakovlevna Chirkova, where her grandson, People’s Artist of the USSR Boris Chirkkov, spent his childhood and youth. Yes, we (millennial Karina and millennial Stan) may not be familiar with him from films, but the old man from the Soviet animated film about the golden fish speaks in his voice. This year (2018), a sculpture of the actor was installed in the gazebo next to the house.

The Realschule

This was once the Private Realschule for Boys. It was graduated by the most famous resident of Nolinsk (if you read the previous paragraph carefully — or at all — you know who we mean). Later it became a general education secondary school.

Not everyone graduated from it (the school, in the 21st century) because the building was declared hazardous. Students were transferred to School No. 2 (into the building of the former Theological School. Now — also under restoration). Money for the building’s renovation was found. True, its spaces are now used not for enlightenment but for the battle for our wallets. And in front of it, following a very old tradition, fairs are held. Yes, to this day. You can arrive on a Saturday and think nothing is happening here and there are no people. But on Sunday morning!

“Spartak” Cinema

The building of the now-defunct “Spartak” cinema, thirty meters from the Nolinsky District administration. The showdown of the Avengers’ battle with Thanos was not shown here.

On believing in a bright (and touristic) future

During this trip, as tourists, we found it very sad to see advertising on the facades of historic buildings in its current form. The project for a visual concept of the city’s historic part still exists. We’re now in 2018 — wouldn’t it be great if in 2021 some 10th-grader declared war on this (and won).

The beautiful

You can never have too many drone photos, we thought, and decided this would be a great ending to our story about a trip to the “gingerbread-lemonade” capital of the Kirov Region.

Visualization of geotags from photos on a map

Video

“But where was the part about gingerbread and lemonade?” you may ask. That’s in our video.

And we also have a video that was shot while writing this article. Also great ^_^