October 25, 2019

Saving Moscow - One Letter at a Time


Saving Moscow - One Letter at a Time
A bakery sign restored. Remember Everything

Any visitor to central Moscow in early twentieth century would have been overwhelmed by the quantity of small business advertisement plastered across buildings. Photo studios, rooms, glass-cutters, bakers and sellers of everything from seeds to dental equipment – their signs beckoned locals and visitors, many of them painted directly on the walls. 

Central Moscow in 1913. Photograph by Alexander Gubarev

Few remnants of that economic activity survived. But some Muscovites today are trying to resurrect signs that have hidden beneath decades of paint, on buildings that are still standing. Meet the team of Remember Everything, a group of activists, preservationists and art restorers crowdfunding their way to the resurrection of several old signs around the Russian capital.

 

Central Moscow in 1913. Photograph by Alexander Gubarev

 

Over the past few years the group, coordinated by Natalia Tarnavskaya, has restored about a half-dozen signs from the first two decades of the 20th century, as well as other curious Moscow elements, bringing back the quirky character of the city of that era. We caught up with Natalia Tarnavskaya after her team completed its latest project, the sign of a former bakery.

The grand opening of the Streletskaya bakery sign in Kostyansky alley, restored in October. / Remember Everything

RL: How do you find projects? Do you get tips from locals or historians? 

NT: It's always some kind of magic. Whether the info is from spies, local historians, or ourselves, it's always by accident. You can't find these objects if you're looking, because even if a sign existed somewhere, the odds that it's still there beneath the paint is a fraction of a percent, and we can't just pick apart the whole city looking for them.

Sign from the 1910s advertising the firm of engineer Samuil Falkevich, who made his fortune fixing cars and extracting peat. / Remember Everything

RL: What are the biggest obstacles in your work? Does bureaucracy get in the way? 

NT: The main problem is greedy property owners and residents. Bureaucracy is nothing when compared with the belief of human beings that their comfort is the top priority. The rest of the problems are easy to overcome.

A 1920s sign advertising the home-based dental office of Sergei Kapnik. / Remember Everything

RL: How do you make sure that the building won't get knocked down, along with the sign, a couple of years after putting in all that work?

NT: We aren't guerrilla volunteers, our restoration is done with agreement of the Moscow culture department. The latest project is a house that's already under protection, and now the sign is simply added to what's protected, which means that you can't paint over it or obstruct it. 

A huge bakery sign from the NEP era on Prechistenskaya Street. / Remember Everything

RL: Why do you think Moscow needs these signs?

NT: Moscow needs them as much as anything else. The signs are just there, like archaeological remains, and we have no right to question whether we need them or how to make them financially profitable. History is there and that's what makes it valuable, and if we don't like it, that's not history's problem, that's our problem. It means we need to be educated to have a taste for history, while tour guides need to learn how to talk about it in an interesting way.

In terms of the signs as a genre of tourist sight, of course they are more human-scale and understandable, because we also go to bakeries and shops now, and we can compare the signs of today and a century ago. That falls under the so-called history of daily life, which is popular now, and which presents national history at a smaller scale. Also, you don't need to have special education to interpret the signs, like you do with architecture. You can just look at the sign and feel the past.

 

The organization's restoration season is over for this year, but you can support their future projects through their website or follow them on Facebook.

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

Some of Our Books

The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

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.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

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.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

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