About the author
Evgeniya N. Stroganova — DSc in Philology, Professor, A.N. Kosygin Russian State University (Technology. Design. Art), The Institute of Slavic Culture, Sadovnicheskaya str., 33, p. 1, 117997 Moscow, Russia.
E-mail:
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0288-4287
Abstract
The paper is dedicated to the issue of establishment of colonies and communes for homeless children on the site of former estates. The focus is on A.S. Makarenko’s colony n.a. M. Gorky, which had been located on a farm, in Triba, Poltava province, since 1920, and which moved to rural area of Kovaliovka in 1923 (previously owned by brothers V.E. and E.E. Trepke). According to the “Pedagogicheskaya poema” (“The Pedagogical Poem”), letters of Makarenko and historical references, it can be understood what history the landscaped estate with a rationally established economy had had. Though it had being plundered and finally had become “dead kingdom”. Colonists not only renewed the buildings but also landscaped the surrounding area: they built the greenhouse, put in order the yards and the riverbank, cleared the garden and laid out flowerbeds. Beside this, they regulated agricultural production: they cultivated and planted fields, started farming. The Trepke estate has changed, but the cultural layer has been preserved, since the new householders have not destroyed it but adapted to their needs. The history of the colony n.a. Gorky presents how the new owners of ruined country estates have given to estate the new life.