Chekhov Gymnasium
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The Chekhov Gymnasium in Taganrog on Ulitsa Oktyabrskaya 9 (formerly Gymnasicheskaya Street) is the oldest gymnasium in the South of Russia. Playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov spent 11 years in the school, which was later named after him and transformed into a literary museum. Visitors can see Anton's desk and his classroom, the assembly hall and even the punishment cell, sometimes visited by the whiz kid.
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[edit] History of the school
The Boys Gymnasium was founded in 1809, this building was completed in 1843 by the plans of the French architect Buffeau. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the following Civil War, the building housed a cavalry school (6th Cavalry College), frequently visited by Semyon Budyonny, Klim Voroshilov and Efim Shadenko. In 1975 opened as The Literary Museum named after Anton Chekhov, more commonly known under the short name Chekhov Gymnasium.
[edit] School years of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog (1866-1868), and at the age of eight he was sent to the local grammar school (Gymnasium) where he proved an average pupil. Rather reserved and undemonstrative, he nevertheless gained a reputation for satirical comments, for pranks, and for making up humorous nicknames for his teachers. He enjoyed playing in amateur theatricals and often attended performances at the Taganrog Theatre. As an adolescent he tried his hand at writing short "anecdotes," amusing or funny stories, although he is also known to have written a serious long play at this time, "Fatherless," which he later destroyed.
After the business of Anton Chekhov's father failed, the whole family left for Moscow in 1875-1876. Anton was left in Taganrog to care for himself and finish school. The future world-famous playwright survived selling off household goods and tutoring younger school students at the Boys Gymnasium. In 1879, Chekhov passed his final exams and joined his family in Moscow, where he had obtained scholarship to study medicine at the Moscow University.
[edit] Museum
Today the Gymnasium is open to public as The Literary Museum named after Anton Chekhov (Литературный музей А.П.Чехова). After the famous Pushkin House museum in Saint Petersburg, this is the second-largest literary museum in Russia both in terms of space and unique funds. The exhibition includes the library that consists of the antique books of the time and books later sent by Anton Chekhov, his personal belongings, photographs, documents, autographs by Chekhov and other famous people - friends of the writer.
[edit] Other famous graduates
- Nikolay Chekhov, artist
- Mikhail Chekhov, writer
- Alexander Chekhov, writer
- Nikolay Sherbina, poet
- Ivan Martos, sculptor
- Valentin Parnakh, poet, founder of the Soviet Jazz music
- Konstantin Savitsky, artist
- Vladimir Bogoraz, anthropologist and writer
- Samuel Maykapar, composer
- Sergey Dmitrievich Balukhatiy, bibliographer, academic
- Nikolay Apollonovich Belelyubski, scientist, famous designer of bridges
- Alexander Korsun, writer
- Osip Notovich, writer
- Andrei Grechko, Soviet general, Marshal of the Soviet Union (graduate of the Cavalry College)
- Ivan Golubets, the first Hero of the Soviet Union in the Black Sea Fleet
[edit] Old and Modern Views of Gymnasium
 The Boys Gymnasium on an old postcard, late 19th century. |
 The Boys Gymnasium on an old postcard, late 19th century. |
 The Literary Museum Chekhov Gymnasium in 2006. |
[edit] Trivia
- Father of the revolutionary Felix Dzerzhinsky, Edmund Dzerzhinsky gave lessons of mathematics in two of Taganrog's gymnasiums - the Girls Gymnasium of Empr. Maris (Мариинская женская гимназия) in 1868-1873 and in the Boys Gymnasium from 1873 until late seventies. The school-leaving certificate of Anton Chekhov features his signature for the maths rating.
- Students of the Boys Gymnasium benefited from various grants, most of them being introduced by the Greek-Russian merchant and benefactor Ioannis Varvakis. Anton Chekhov received the annual grant of 300 rubles introduced by the Taganrog City Council after the failed assassination attempt on the tsar Alexander II of Russia.
- The boys gymnasium used to have its own school church (the cross may be seen on some of the old postcards)
- Chekhov's theology teacher, Fyodor Pokrovski (Федор Платонович Покровский) gave him the famous nickname Antosha Chekhonte (Антоша Чехонте).
[edit] References
- Taganrog Encyclopedia (Энциклопедия Таганрога), 2nd edition, Taganrog, 2003
