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Taganrog Chekhov Public Library is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary

January 28, 2014: The Taganrog Chekhov Public Library marked the 100th anniversary of its founding. Many people from all around this country came to celebrate the centennial of the building.

However the history of the Taganrog library started much earlier, in the mid-19th century. Among its subscribers were the future world-famous writer Anton Chekhov, historian Pavel Filevsky, actress Faina Ranevskaya, Vladimir Bogoraz, artists Seraphima Blonskaya and Dmitri Sinodi-Popov. In 1890, mayor of Taganrog Konstantin Foti asked Chekhov to send his books with author's dedications to the Taganrog Public Library. Anton Chekhov considered this request as recognition from the home city, and replied I am happy to be helpful to my homecity, to which I owe a lot and that I love very much. The first three books were collections of his stories and a book by Leo Tolstoy with the author's dedication. Chekhov kept the tradition of sending his books, rare books, books with autographs and foreign books with every opportunity from 1890 up until his death in Badenweiler in 1904.

Event at the book depository of the Taganrog Chekhov Library


Anton Chekhov and Pavel Iordanov (director of Taganrog Public Library, mayor of Taganrog in 1905-1909, and Russian senator in 1917) were the inspiration for the idea of a new building and fundraising. In 1906-1907, Taganrog City Council discussed the construction of a new building that would house both Chekhov Library and Chekhov Museum. After thorough analysis, the council decided to build a library, paying tribute to the late author Anton Chekhov, assigning for this purpose 25,000 rubles. The commission addressed the friend of Chekhov, architect Fyodor Schechtel in March 1910. He gave his agreement along with the library project in July 1910. The small house built in 1878 was demolished and the new library was officially laid down on 14 September 1910. It was officially inaugurated on January 28, 1914.


Event at the book depository of the Taganrog Chekhov Library

January 28, 2014 the Taganrog Chekhov Library's staff staged the events from Taganrog of 100 years ago, dramatized plays and short stories by Anton Chekhov and Mike Galperin. Participants of the event visited book exhibitions "Anton Chekhov - Fyodor Schechtel - Taganrog Library" and "Rare Boooks of Taganrog Library" and attended the performances of Taganrog municipal choir Lik and Taganrog Chamber Orchestra directed by Alexander Gurevich.

Mayor Vladimir Prasolov highlighted that the centennial celebration of Taganrog Chekhov Library is a historical date for all Taganrogers, as 100 years ago the city acquired not only its own book depository, but the center of Taganrog's art life: "Each year within these walls we hold hundreds of interesting events - readings, exhibitions, book presentations, charity actions, ... Today the day before Anton Chekhov's birthday I would like to thank on behalf of all Taganrog citizens our great countryman for all the good things he did for this city. If every one of us makes for Taganrog a little bit of what Anton Chekhov did, then we can be confident that Taganrog's future is bright."

Ashraf Sarhan


Click here for all photos from the event bestoftaganrog.com