Jan/22

Nikolai Bugrov’s Summer Dacha in Volodarsk

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Architecture, Regions, Travel

Volodarsk is a small town with a population of about 10 thousand people located in Nizhegorodskaya Oblast, about 60 km west of Nizhny Novgorod. In most cases, the main tourist attraction of small Russian towns is the local museum of local lore and Volodarsk is no exception.

However, the museum in Volodarsk occupies a unique wooden building known as “Nikolai Bugrov’s Summer Dacha” – one of the few surviving houses of similar architecture in the European part of Russia. Photos by: Anna Sukhareva and Yaroslav Gunin.

This unique merchant mansion of the 19th century was built in the Russian popular print (“lubok”) style, combining the abundant lush wooden ornamentation of boyar chambers and the shape of a peasant dwelling.

In the 1860s, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bugrov (1837-1911), a Russian industrialist and philanthropist, built a complex of steam mills in Volodarsk. In order to personally control the flour-grinding production, a summer cottage (dacha) was built here. On the first floor of the building there was a study, on the second – two living rooms.

After the death of Nikolai Bugrov, the building was empty for several years. In Soviet times, the mansion began to be used as a palace of pioneers. Today, the building has been restored and hosts a historical museum with exhibits found during archeological excavations carried out in the vicinity of Volodarsk There is also a separate exhibition dedicated to Nikolai Bugrov. Nikolai Bugrov’s Summer Dacha in Volodarsk on Google Maps.