Chekhov Library in Taganrog (full name The Central Municipal Public Library named after Anton Chekhov, ) is the oldest library in the South of Russia.

Foundation History

The public library along with a small bookstore were officially inaugurated on May 23, 1876 by the Governor of Taganrog Admiral Johan Hampus Furuhjelm. The City Council gave to the library some of its vacant offices on Grecheskaya Street. Before, there were only private libraries and libraries at the Boys Gymnasium, Mariinskaya Girls Gymnasium and the Taganrog Naval School. In March 1878, the Public Library moved into another building granted by the City Council on Petrovskaya Street.

School years of Anton Chekhov

Among the first subscribers were the future world-famous writer Anton Chekhov, historian Pavel Filevsky, Vladimir Bogoraz, artists Seraphima Blonskaya and Dmitri Sinodi-Popov. Andrei Drossi, the classmate of Chekhov wrote later in his memoirs: ..every Sunday and every holiday we came early in the morning in the city library and spent there hours and hours, forgetting about food, sitting and reading magazines.... At that time, Anton Chekhov lived in Taganrog alone, as the whole family had moved to Moscow. According to archive records, the first books read by Chekhov were books on travel and adventures, then Miguel de Cervantes, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ivan Turgenev and Ivan Goncharov, later - Dimitri Pisarev, Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolay Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov.

Thanks to the library of his home city, Chekhov being a gymnasium student learnt about the periodicals that later published his short stories.

Books from Chekhov writer

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. Anton 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.

The Chekhov Library and Museum

In 1904, following Chekhov's death, the library was named after the world-famous playwright and short-story writer. A room of the library was also dedicated for the first Chekhov Museum in Russia. In 1906-1907, the 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 of 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 September 14, 1910. It was completed in August 1911 and opened its doors in 1912.

Old and Modern Views of the Library

<gallery> Image:Taganrog cityhall19th.jpg|The old City Hall, home to the City Public Library in 1876-1877, photo taken in 2006. Image:Taganrog Library1900.jpg|Taganrog public library, between 1878 and 1910. Image:Schechtel Libraryproject.jpg|The project of the Chekhov Library & Museum in Taganrog designed by the architect Fyodor Schechtel (1911) Image:Chekhov library20.jpg|Chekhov Library & Museum on an old postcard (photo taken between 1911 and 1917). Image:Chekhovlibrary 2006.jpg|The Chekhov Library in 2006. </gallery>

External links

• Official homepage

References

• History of Taganrog by Pavel Filevskiy, Moscow, 1898.
• Encyclopedia of Taganrog, second edition, Taganrog, 2003.
• The official Chekhov Public Library web site.

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