Center of Russian Culture (Tallinn)

Grand Marina Cinema

At the end of the 19th century, on the site of the current Center for Russian Culture, there was a two-story stone residential building, designed by architect Nikolai Tamm Sr. and in its appearance typical of the outskirts of Tallinn ^[3] .

In 1914-1940, the cinema luxurious for those times, worked here (later “Grand Marino” and then “ARS” ^[4] ), built on the site of an apartment building by engineer Vasily Simeonovich Voinov, director of Baltic lighthouse workshops , owner of two Revel cinematographs . The cinema had a hall with more than 1200 seats, which at that time was the largest in Tallinn. Next to it was the popular Must-Kass night cabaret restaurant (translated from Est. - “Black Cat”). ^{[1] [3] [4]}

The ceiling of the auditorium and the frame of balconies were mounted from reinforced concrete structures, which at that time was a novelty of technological progress for the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire ^[4] .

Since the “Grand Marina” was the largest building in Tallinn that could be rented for various events, several events related to it took place during the crucial years for Estonia: ^[5]
- On March 16, 1917, a meeting of the Tallinn Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies took place in the premises of Grand Marina
- ( April 10 (March 28), 1917 ) the first organizational meeting of Estonian soldiers was held in the premises of Grand Marina, where 500 soldiers representatives decided that Estonian soldiers and officers should be transferred to the fronts closest to the homeland, as well as the need to create international military units;
- On April 19, 1917, the first conference of soldier organizations was held at Grand Marina, at which the Estonian Central Soldier Bureau was elected and a decision was made to convene the First Congress of Estonian Soldiers.

At the end of 1940, the building passed into the possession of the Red Army ; Vasily Voinov was exiled to the Vyatka forced labor camp , where he died in 1942 ^[4] .

In June 1941, the headquarters for deportation of the local population was opened in the building, but already in August of that year the building burned down: when the Red Army men retreated from the city, as directed from above, films of Soviet films collected in Tallinn cinemas were burned, and the fire covered all the rooms, leaving at home only a box of walls; during the bombing of Tallinn in March 1944, several air bombs fell into it ^{[3] [4]} .

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  “Grand Marina” and “Must Kass”, 1920

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  Auditorium "Grand Marina"

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  The ruins of the Grand Marina in 1944

House of Fleet Officers

In 1948, on the site of the ruins of the cinema, the city authorities planned to build an indoor swimming pool , but there was no money for it ^[3] .

In 1951 - 1954, military builders, mostly donated ^[3] , erected a building here according to the standard project of architect A. D. Kuznetsov (Voenmorproekt No. 28) ^[6] . It was built at a time when the Main Headquarters of the Baltic Fleet was still in Tallinn, the culture house of which huddled in the premises of the former Revel Naval Officer Assembly on Town Hall Square ^[3] .

The building is a remarkable example of the Stalinist empire with elements of neoclassicism ^{[1] [3]} . During the construction, the surviving fragments of the Grand Marina cinema were partially used, as well as a neighboring house belonging to the community of the Tallinn Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (home of the rector) ^{[1] [3] [4]} .

The building has a large triangular pediment ; on the main facade there are six quadrangular columns with Corinthian capitals , six round columns adorn a large balcony on the left side ^[1] .

To decorate the external facade, 14 reliefs were made on the everyday life of the Russian and Soviet fleet and its history, high reliefs with portraits of Marx , Engels , Lenin and Stalin were placed in the auditorium; A number of Estonian sculptors participated in their creation: Ann Roos , Alexander Kaasik , , , , and Elfriide Maran. ^{[6] [7]}

The internal plan of the building included 168 rooms; it had a theater hall with 1100 seats, a reading room, a lecture hall and a cafe ; the stage accommodated 150 people ^[6] . Where there used to be a cabaret restaurant, there was one of the largest dance halls in Tallinn ^[6] . The basement was rebuilt into a restaurant ^[1] .

The total area of ​​the building was 7500 square meters. m. ^[6]

The interiors of the building were made at the highest level for that time. The lobby and halls were decorated with columns of artificial marble , theatrical balconies and cornices with gilded ornaments . A collection of paintings and sculptures on the naval theme was placed in the corridors, the ceiling of the large hall was decorated with a round ceiling , depicting the celebration of the Day of the Navy of the USSR. Ceiling chandeliers and wall lamps were brought from Moscow .

Next to the cultural institution was a park , which is now called Kanuti park ( Est. Kanuti park ). The building was named "House of Fleet Officers" ( Est. Laevastiku Ohvitseride Maja ).

Before the main entrance to the building, until the beginning of the 2000s, there were two guns from , which are currently installed in front of the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces .

In 1997, by a regulation of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Estonia, the Navy Officers House was recognized as a cultural monument and entered into the State Register of Cultural Monuments of Estonia under the number 8171 ^[1] .

Center for Russian Culture

In 2001, the building became the property of Tallinn; from the same year, the Center for Russian Culture began to work in it ^[8] .

In the fall of 2005, the gallery of the Association of Russian Artists was opened at the Central Exhibition Complex ^[9] .

In 2006, an extensive renovation began at the Central Exhibition Complex, which ended in 2009 and restored the building to its former splendor. The ceiling panel and all the stucco molding were restored. After repairs, 850 seats remained in the Great Hall of the Central Military District (about 200 seats were removed from which it was impossible to follow what was happening on the stage, and due to this, the distance between the rows was increased) ^[10] .

Currently, the CRC performs three main functions: the development of amateur creativity, the provision of a hall for tours to foreign professional groups, mainly theatrical, and the provision of additional education in the field of creativity, and for teachers of Russian schools to take advanced training courses ^[11] . Various creative teams work in the CRC, in particular, the Art-Grotesk theater studio, the Allegro vocal and choral studio, the Entreé choreographic studio, the Artec children's art studio, and the Instrumental studio ^[12] ; festivals are held (including international ones), shows, competitions, lectures, holidays, concerts and exhibitions are organized.

In 2009, a virtual branch of the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg was opened at the Central Exhibition Complex ^{[13] [14]} .

In 2006–2017 , the Tallinn Center for Russian Culture was headed by Yuri Timofeevich Polyakov (1953–2017) ^[15] .

Since October 9, 2017, Eduard Toman ^[16] has been working as the director of the Central Control Commission, he is also the chairman of the Union of Russian Educational and Charitable Societies in Estonia .

Monument to F. M. Dostoevsky

In 2002, a monument to F. M. Dostoevsky was erected near the wall of the Central Democratic Party, overlooking Kanuti Park. He was donated to Tallinn by the Moscow government . The author is an academician of the Russian Academy of Arts , people's artist of the Russian Federation Valery Andreevich Evdokimov . The monument was created on the initiative of the Tallinn Society of Slavic Culture, the pedestal was erected on public donations. ^{[17] [18]}

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