Orlyonok

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the ekranoplan, see A-90 Orlyonok

Orlyonok (Russian:Орлёнок, Eaglet in English) was one of the main Soviet Young Pioneer camps in the past and is the main Children Center of Russia nowadays. It was established July 12, 1960 by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Russian SFSR (March 27, 1959) on the Black Sea coast near the town Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, Russian SFSR, at 44°15.5′N, 38°49′E Orlyonok was the Young Pioneer camp that was intended for the children of Russian SFSR, who were notable for excellent study, were prize winners at various Student Olympiads, contests, sports competitions or were notable Komsomol or Young Pioneer organization activists.

In 1960 it hosted 520 children, but it grew and by the year 1973 there had vacations 150,000 children and the count per year increased to 17,000. The area of Orlyonok was 3 square kilometers, there were 60 buildings, including the living ones, the Young Pioneer Palace (with the winter swimming pool filled with the sea water and a cinema), a secondary school, medical building, the Museum of Aircraft and Kosmonautics, the astronomy observatory, the sports stadium; many playgrounds, the winter sports hall. There were more than 200 hobby groups of 50 different kinds, mostly in polytechnical, sports and aesthetical area. Orlyonok had its own passenger ship, 45 yachts, many motor boats and rowboats.

In early 1990s, when the Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union has been broken, the popularity of Orlyonok greatly decreased, but began to increase again since early 2000s, as many people in Russia understood, that the phenomenon of Young Pioneer camps was generally a good idea. Between 1960 and 2004 in Orlyonok had vacations 800,000 children, with the present count at 19,500 per year.

[edit] Cultural references

The book Lost in Moscow (sometimes called Lost in Moscow: A brat in the USSR) by Kirsten Koza, chronicles the true-life experience of an eleven-year-old Canadian girl's summer at Orlyonok during 1977. Lost in Moscow was published by Turnstone Press in 2005.