“In this very place” – a photo project with the same name was launched in Saransk on City Day, which is celebrated on June 12, Russia Day. In several places, stands with historical photographs have appeared that remind us of what was here before. The photographs come from the archive of the oldest photographer in the capital of Mordovia: Valentin Krainov, 94, who has been photographing his hometown for more than 80 years.
Project “Exploits”
Archive photographs of the monument to Emelyan Pugachev show what the monument looked like before new high-rise buildings appeared around it.
This gift was delivered to Saransk by the team of the “Feats” media project. For eleven years now, public activists have been talking about the good deeds of our contemporaries all over the country: during this time seven books about the “people’s heroes” have been published, a series of video interviews have been recorded and even established a special prize.
– Our new project “In this very place” received support from the Presidential Grant Fund. In ten places in the city there are stands with historical photographs,” said Tatyana Korchagina, spokesperson for “Feats”. – We use 30 frames. The surroundings and the people depicted in them are a thing of the past or have changed a lot, but thanks to Valentin Krainov’s unique photo archive we can see them today.
Thus, the stand on the square dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the unity of the people of Mordovia with Russia will remind you that previously on this place there was the Svetotekhnika stadium, where international speed competitions were held, to which the entire city gathered. . And in the gallery of the Republican Puppet Theater you can nostalgically admire the famous stained glass windows that, unfortunately, the theater lost after modernization.
Historical photographs will tell how, before the opening of Feodor Ushakov’s cathedral on the boulevard in front of the temple, a sculpture of the famous naval commander was installed on a pedestal, and how the sculptor Nikolai Filatov created the first monument in Russia to the great philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin – the monument was erected near one of the buildings of the Mordovia State University, where the exiled scientist worked for almost a quarter of a century…
The photographs come from the archive of Saransk’s oldest photographer, 94-year-old Valentin Krainov. Photo: Nikolai Gagarin
The author of the photographs, Valentin Krainov, has long become an urban legend. What did he not experience in his life! He flew a plane and jumped with a parachute, served in torpedo boats, was a sailor, a musician, a historian, visited more than 50 countries, and all this with a camera in his hand.
His photographs include the Siberian taiga and the Tower of London, Indian yogis and Venetian gondoliers, but the main source of inspiration is his native Saransk.
As the teacher told Rodina’s correspondent, he has kept his photographic archive since 1943: it was then that, as a 12-year-old schoolboy, he first picked up a camera.
“It also had glass plates and was called Photocor,” shared Valentin Sergeevich. – Each frame is a separate cassette, which had to be developed and then printed using the contact method. Then I bought film cameras and then digital ones. This is how I managed to work on all the photographic equipment of the 20th century and the present. Now I have Nikon, but I mostly photographed with Soviet cameras.
How many photos of Saransk are there in my collection? I can’t say, there’s no way to measure it in thousands. I gave over 100 albums to the archives.
The photographer found out about the “Feats” project through a television program, then he went to meet him and offered his help.
“At the end of the day, they do what I have done all my life: only I talk about people and events in the language of photography,” says the interlocutor. “I am glad that my works help my compatriots to immerse themselves in the history of their hometown.”
