Solvychegodsk



Solvychegodsk

Name: Anton Unitsyn

Age: 29

Profession: Photographer 

City: Solvychegodsk

How long have you been doing photography? What style or genre most interests you? I fell into photography by accident; I never dreamed of becoming a professional photographer. At first it was a hobby, but with time it turned into my favorite activity. I began to be drawn into photography in 2006, and became a professional in 2009. From the very beginning, I have been most interested in real, unplanned, un-staged photography. To this day I remain convinced of this and for the most part do documentary photography.

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for?

Solvychegodsk is in Arkhangelsk Oblast. It is a city with a great past and a quiet present. It was founded in the sixteenth century, and its name is derived from two words: salt (соль) and vychegda. Salt was the city's basic trade resource and the reason for its rise. Vychegda is the name of the river, upon which the city was founded.

What is something about your city that only locals would know?

Solvychegodsk was the cradle of the famous Stroganov dynasty. In gratitude for their wealth, as believers, they built many churches in the city – thirteen by all accounts. Solvychegodsk was a place of political exile, and was "visited" for that reason by such historical personalities as Gannibal, Pushkin's grandfather, and Joseph Stalin.

Which places or sites are a must for someone to see if they visit your city?

Vvedensky Sobor, Blagoveshchensky Sobor, the Sanatorium for Treatment with Unique Sulphurous Mud.

Anything else you would like to add?

Since the sixteenth century, as the value of salt has fallen, so has the general condition of the city. At the beginning of century there were 13 churches [built by the Stroganovs], but just 3 remain. This is largely connecte with the communist period and the persecution of churches that occured then. However, in the Soviet era the city developed through industry, yet after the fall of the USSR the majority of the city's enterprises were shuttered. Since 1992, the population of Solvychegodsk has been cut in half. At present, the city's most prosperous enterprise is the local sanatorium that offers healing treatments with unique sulphurous muds.

Your website: unitsyn.com

Your Instagram: @unitsyn



Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955