Battle for "Ancient Land":
How Penza summer residents created a unique sculpture park and why they want to destroy it.
SNT "Vishenka" is located on the eastern outskirts of Penza, in a pine forest.
The idea of carving fairy-tale characters from fallen trees came to the summer residents in the spring of 2020, when they were building a sandbox and swings for their children.
Now their park boasts over 60 wooden sculptures, which attract not only Penza residents but also tourists from other cities. For the members of the gardening community, this sudden fame has created significant problems: the "Vishenka" area has become overcrowded and noisy. A cloud of dust hangs over the gravel road, unable to settle due to the constant flow of traffic.
A correspondent attended a meeting of summer residents where the fate of the unique park was being decided "NotMoscow".
Fairy forest
The boundaries of the "Vishenka" gardening community begin almost immediately after turning off the asphalt road. The first wooden sculptures appear at the entrance, but this isn't a park yet: the path to it runs through the entire gardening community, which stretches along a pine forest. Some drive along the gravel road, while others leave their cars and stroll leisurely along the forest path.
On this Saturday morning, pedestrian traffic is heavy: members of the gardening association (SNT) are heading to a meeting to vote on whether to demolish or preserve the park. Among the summer residents is a young couple with a three-year-old son.
— We haven’t decided yet how we’ll vote, — they admit to a NeMoskva correspondent.
We live right at the entrance, so all the traffic passes through us. Someone estimated that 300 or 400 cars pass through each day. The dust rises like a cloud.
Even the bushes growing in the forest, 20-30 steps from the road, are covered with an impressive layer of dust.
“But overall the park is good, my child and I often go there for walks,” the fellow travelers continue their reasoning.
They believe the problem can be solved by building a bypass road that will allow tourists to approach Drevlandia from the other side, bypassing Vishenka.
Meanwhile, sculptures begin to appear on the forest path: epic heroes, fairytale animals, and birds. Most of the figures are carved from oak trunks, every detail meticulously rendered.
Summer residents gather at the playground where "Drevlandia" began four years ago.
— There was Covid, everyone was sitting in their polling stations, it was boring, — the chairman of the SNT says Sergey Kalinichenko. Then it snowed, knocking down a lot of trees and leaving a lot of building material. A few people spontaneously decided to get together and make a sandbox and a train.
That same year, people who specialize in chainsaw carving learned about the SNT initiative. That summer, a nationwide festival was held specifically for the future park.
— Four festivals have been held in four years, — Kalinichenko clarifies. - First this was done at some venues in the city, and the last festival took place in the park itself.
Each festival costs between 750 and 800 rubles. All of this money was provided by an entrepreneur. Sergey Bogomolov, who is a member of the SNT.
Conversations about the park having outgrown itself and no longer fitting into the concept of a quiet dacha community began this summer. Thus, an initiative group was formed, which put the question of Drevlandia's continued existence to a vote.
How a Masterpiece Became a Liability
According to Irina Monakhova, which advocates for the dismantling of the park, "Drevlandia" began as an ordinary children's playground.
“The summer residents made it all together, for their children and grandchildren, it was all very friendly and wonderful,” reminds me of Monakhov. — And when someone came along who started investing in sculptures, we looked at him and thought, "What a great guy!" But then time passed, and he started calling himself an investor and monetizing his investments.
Admission to the park remains free. However, Irina Monakhova and other summer residents are unhappy with the introduction of paid quests and outdoor events. Even large tourist buses now visit, turning the quiet, beautiful "Drevlandia" into a source of noise and dust.
Another member of the SNT - Natalia — She told NeMoskva that at the end of September, her little grandson went to the park for a walk, but he was asked to leave because it was a school excursion, and he was not part of the group.
“When we became dissatisfied with this large number of machines and started asking questions in the internal chat, this chat was simply closed,” Monakhova assures. — Essentially, we were forced to organize a new chat. That's how our movement—a grassroots movement of ordinary summer residents—was born.
Opponents of the park emphasize that formally it belongs to a gardening association (SNT), meaning responsibility for any incidents lies with all summer residents.
"Just imagine there's a forest fire right now—right up to the point of criminal liability. We'll draw lots to see who's going to jail?"
— asks a member of the initiative group named Anna.
SNT versus the city
City residents who came for a stroll in the park on Saturday look at the summer residents' gathering with surprise and horror.
- If something happens to this place, it will be a great pity, - He speaks Alexander Zorin, who came here with his family.
“This is a place that should be protected, in principle, by the state, it seems to me,” his wife agrees with him Olesya. - A huge thank you to the organizers, they created a fairy tale. It's wow, there's nothing like it anywhere else.
Another family strolls through the park with large branches in their hands, using them to clear away mushrooms from the base of the sculptures that could cause rot.
“I am against the move because the location is accessible and not far from the city, - He speaks Ivan. - All other good places are far away, you have to make a special trip for the whole day.
In September, in the public "Drevlandia" appeared a message that some of the summer residents have already begun to break signs and throw broken glass into the parking lot for park guests.
The news has already spread across social media and local resources. Residents are leaving mostly negative comments and demanding that "Drevlandia" be preserved.
“When people on the internet call us all sorts of bad names, that we don’t love children, that we want to destroy them, it’s all untrue,” says Irina Monakhova. — We love children, we love all this beauty. But this beauty shouldn't be in a gardening community.
Four points
It takes about an hour and a half to prepare for the voting procedure: each summer resident's documents must be checked, after which a ballot must be issued.
There are four points on the ballot:
- returning the site to its original condition (leaving only the swings and the football field)
- dismantling of the "structures" by November 30
- a ban on posting announcements about any events in the park
- removal of all references to the Drevlandia park from the media and the Internet
When everyone is ready to vote, the chairman of the SNT, Sergei Kalinichenko, gives a parting word.
“During my work, I tried to make our society more prosperous, well-known, and attract the city’s attention to us,” he says. — This partly worked out, and "Drevlandia" helped with this.
According to the chairman, the park was partly responsible for repairing the road and replacing wooden utility poles with concrete ones.
“We were planning to make an approach from the asphalt, but we didn’t quite make it,” Kalinichenko laments. — There were a lot of people in cars, they got ahead of our actions.
The chairman reminds that the park itself is located on land that the city leased for 49 years.
“If all that’s left here is a sandbox, swings, and a [football] pitch, it’s not a given that the city will be interested, and the contract can be terminated unilaterally,” he ponders. — This land could go to an entrepreneur building a hotel in the forest. And instead of children's laughter, we'll see tourists grilling kebabs, playing paintball, and riding ATVs.
After these words, it starts to rain. A tipsy park supporter suggests abolishing the paper ballot and lining up "wall to wall": who's "for" and who's "against."
Ignoring these words, about 100 summer residents shelter from the rain under a small shelter, huddling close together. A transparent ballot box is filled with ballots in about 10 minutes. The fate of "Drevlandia" is sealed: more than 50 out of 75 people voted for dismantling.
— Our boys are fighting there, and you decided to demolish the park?! a tipsy supporter screams, but the summer residents silently pass by her.
Two police officers, called to the scene of an unauthorized picket in defense of the park, try to ignore the woman's emotional outbursts.
Battle for the Park
A City Duma deputy is monitoring the progress of the meeting. Mikhail LisiMr.
— The essence of the conflict lies in the flaws in people’s communication with each other, — he shared his opinion with NeMoskva. As a city resident, I support such projects. But as a lawyer, I know that this shouldn't violate the rights of third parties. Dialogue is necessary. And unfortunately, dialogue is often lacking in our country.
According to the deputy, the problem can still be solved: for example, by building a bypass road.
The chairman of the SNT also intends to fight to save the park: he promises to challenge the voting results in court.
Residents of Penza also demand the preservation of "Drevlandia": in three days petition More than three thousand people signed a petition in defense of the park.
Commenting on the summer residents' complaints, the owners of the public page "Drevlandia" underlineThe dust on the SNT roads was already present before the tourist sculptures appeared—"there was just no one to blame." Meanwhile, on dry days, the park ordered watering trucks to at least somehow improve the situation: "Vishenka" simply doesn't have the funds for such expenses. They also don't have the funds to remove six KamAZ trucks of trash from the forest or build a proper road.
«Previously, the road was very bad, and summer residents could not get to their dachas along it during heavy rains, they write in public. — Thanks to Drevlandia, we won a grant! The road was paved, and we also contributed our own funds. The grant requires us to hold events for children aimed at preserving cultural heritage. Which is exactly what we're doing."
The authors also admitted that they had long turned down requests for school excursions. They only began offering paid services after developing special, original programs aimed at reviving traditions and Russian culture.
«Why should we refuse? — they asked themselves. — "Is it better if kids are constantly on their phones? But here they play old games and learn about the lives and customs of our ancestors."
Where else does tourism bother local residents?
The case in Penza is not the only one where tourism development has caused discontent among local residents.
In the spring, "Not Moscow" told the history of the Karelian village KindasovoTales of its "unlucky" residents circulated as early as the 19th century, and a few years ago, two local entrepreneurs organized tourist trips here. They restored the club, built a mill, and created jobs for residents. Now Kindasovo is marketed as the capital of Karelian humor. Some brochures call it the "village of fools." In the summer, up to 300 tourists a day come here.
Not all locals are happy to host so many guests. They also don't like being the butt of jokes, living in a constant state of celebration, and feeling like museum exhibits: tourists peer into their windows, make noise, and litter. Sometimes it's even impossible to go to the outdoor restroom: you hear the clicking of cameras as soon as you step outside.
There are also complaints about the wooden sculptures that the tourist route organizers have installed throughout the village: they depict the local residents as "simple" and "simple-minded."
Due to the expansion of the tourism industry in Kindasovo, where the doors to houses were always open, high fences are now appearing – to somehow protect one's life from prying eyes.
