It no longer exists, the cargo and passenger Volgograd landing stage is a favorite vacation spot for young people, the hero of numerous amateur photo shoots. The floating pier had a chance to be included in the list of cultural heritage sites of the Soviet period. Restored, it could be listed in the leaders of the local tourism industry. It didn’t come true ...
The subject of admiration and controversy
The fire that illuminated Money Lake, near the village of Bobra (Sredneahtubinsky district), where the gray-haired giant lived out its life, crossed out all plans. They burned down on July 26, 2013, together with the "subject of admiration and debate."
It is no secret that among the local population there were also those who believed that the path to the dilapidated landing stage was only for firewood. The source of fire has not been established: the poor fellow blazed - ends in water. Well, remember the "old man." His "life" was not easy, but glorious, friendly to people.
The Volgograd landing stage descended from the slipway of the Gorodets shipyard in the Gorky Region (now Nizhny Novgorod) in 1954 (some want to believe that the "grandfather" was more than a hundred years old). There was a time in the yard when the Soviet Union consistently overcame the devastating consequences of World War II (1941-1945).
The people, having experienced a lot of grief, were glad to build up by all means. Plants and factories grew everywhere, ships were built, marinas multiplied. Cute "little boats" on the Volga shores became so familiar that the older generation of our country could not imagine that the time would come when there would be almost no convenient miniature river stations.
He remembered Alexei Maresyev
“Meteors”, “Comets”, “Rocket” (high-speed hydrofoil passenger ships) moored to the stations near the eternal Volga waters, and, of course, motor ships were the pride of the vast expanses of the river. The Volga was known as a highway with active traffic, almost independent of the time of day.
Swinging peacefully on the waves of the Kamyshinka River in the city of the same name Kamyshin, the cargo-passenger landing stage honestly served the people. Old-timers today remember this typical wooden two-deck structure, characteristic of the pre-war and post-war period of the USSR.
A beautiful, albeit without frills, cozy place for passengers to sit was, it seems, the main place in the historical town in which the pilot of the Soviet Union, the hero of the Soviet Union, Alexei Petrovich Maresyev and many other heroes of war and labor, was born and raised.
It is believed that it was on this pier that the real man went to his first visit to his small homeland, after he set off to build the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur at the age of 17. Here he was met with bread and salt by fellow countrymen.
From Kamyshinka to Money Lake
The marina, reminiscent of a ship-house, was extremely popular among the reeds: "station objects" at that time were used, in particular, as restaurants. Everything would be fine, but once the time has come to change the “home office”.
In 1966, the landing stage was found on Lake Denezhnoye near Krasnoslobodsk. Overnight, the Sredneahtubinsky district of the Volgograd region became its refuge . The Traveler became the rowing base of the Dynamo Sports Society (later VGAFK - Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture).
Is it not since those sporting days that the tradition of holding youth parties in this picturesque corner of the Volgograd region has gone? The attractiveness of the place was preserved even after the "old man" was empty, gradually sinking into oblivion. But these were already “aliens”. And why did the hosts leave?
Decided to tear down
Everything is simple. Upon completion of construction work on the construction of a new bridge across the Volga (opened in October 2009), it turned out that the lake was becoming shallow. The process of reducing the level of the reservoir has led to the fact that the Volgograd landing stage was surrounded by trees and shrubs. Water approached him only on tap. What rowing base is this? Over the years, an object that was not undergoing major repairs was finally in decline.
In 2013, at the very beginning of April, the balance holder (Volgograd Academy of Physical Culture) decided to dismantle the landing stage. According to the rector of VGAFK Alexander Shamardin, the marina has become so dilapidated that there was no sense in reconstructing it, which means that "the time has come to part."
The motivation for demolition was the fact that three hectares of land occupied by a local attraction are expensive. The Ministry of Sports pays tax virtually for nothing. Many residents of the famous Stalingrad stronghold, including eminent ones, spoke out against liquidation.
They were convinced that the Volgograd landing stage could not disappear without a trace. The small, but very popular Einstein Museum (Volgograd) proposed creating an exposition dedicated to the Volga River on a rare basis. But the proposals remained unclaimed.
All-round defense
Analysis of the structure began in late April. According to security, the unknown drove the excavator and began to destroy the facade. And then, as if a heavenly angel decided to close with his wing the long-suffering old marina. It was not possible to complete the matter in a short time: the spill arrived, which impeded the delivery of people and equipment allocated for the demolition.
Activist defenders used a hitch, built a raft, reached it to the landing stage and took up a "circular defense". Another part of the "fighters" collected signatures on a petition to save a dying landmark. There was a kind of "Battle of Stalingrad", with threats and attacks on the "garrison", pouring gas over the camp with subsequent arson. Leader of the indifferent Daniel Angil went on a hunger strike. It seemed to him that this measure would speed up the decision of the authorities to preserve a unique object.
Sad end
While the brave men and their supporters were negotiating with the unique holder of the balance sheet to "not finish off" the Volgograd landing stage, the most optimistic representatives of the "landing stage brotherhood" claimed that there were investors ready to revive a dilapidated history. During the period no one but activists guarded the “culprit” of the conflict.
Nevertheless, everything was working out perfectly: the landing stage was theoretically recognized as an object of cultural heritage of regional significance. Prior to the actual (legal) recognition, it was separated by several steps that the hero of the Volga shores could not “pass” without protection. Firefighters arrived at the call of local residents, who sounded the alarm immediately as soon as they saw puffs of black smoke above the tops of trees on Denezhny.
They say there were no activists nearby at that moment. When they arrived, the marina practically did not exist. Volgograd landing stage burned down.