The legendary Artek camp turned 100 years old
The legendary Artek International Children's Center celebrates its 100th anniversary on Monday, June 16. In 1925, it began as a tent camp, and now it is a large multifunctional center with modern buildings, sports and educational grounds, laboratories and spaces for outdoor activities.
"Artek is a very proud title that we carry throughout our lives. The children come here in completely different ways, but it is here that they learn the basics of teamwork, learn to respect each other, and learn not to let each other down," said counselor Elvira Zemlyanskaya in an interview with Izvestia correspondent Anastasia Kharchenko.
The camp began accepting pioneers in the third year after the formation of the Soviet Union. Every child dreamed of joining Artek. In the late 50s, the camp also organized international shifts. In 1989, the youngest ambassador of the world, Samantha Smith, and test cosmonaut Andrei Babkin visited Artek in the same shift.
He shared that the children swam out to sea after sealing the message in a bottle. According to Babkin, Smith wrote in her message the phrase "World peace" that was relevant at that time. He clarified that he had helped her seal the bottle.
Former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet football player Lev Yashin, former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin also visited Artek. In addition, Andrei Grigoriev-Apollonov, the lead singer of the Ivanushki International group, rested in the camp both as a teenager and many years later as part of the band.
"There were friends from all over the Soviet Union back then. I have maintained relations for many years, we corresponded, and letters were sent to Tashkent, Voronezh, and Vladivostok. It was great, and I have the most pleasant memories. And then, as Ivanushki, we came with a concert to the children who spent time there," said the singer.
Artek was considered the best, getting into the camp was considered prestigious, but after the collapse of the USSR, hard times came when it became part of another state along with Crimea. Tatiana Makarova, head of the thematic shift programs at the Artek Medical Center, shared that by 2013 the camp had gradually deteriorated so much that when it came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, not a single square meter of the institution met the standards of Rospotrebnadzor, which did not allow children to be admitted.
The camp's funding was significantly reduced, it was also temporarily closed, and almost no free vouchers were issued. A new beginning began in 2014, when the entire infrastructure had to be rebuilt. Over the past 11 years, 23 km of roads, three embankments, a medical center, and an additional education center and Artek Arena have been reconstructed on the territory
Previously, Artek was able to receive about 6 thousand children annually, currently the figure exceeds 45 thousand children. Konstantin Fedorenko, director of the Artek International Children's Center, stressed that currently there are almost 1 million applications to the camp. It is noted that schoolchildren from different regions of the country come here, including from the returned historical territories. In addition, a branch of the camp appeared in the Zaporizhia region.
"It is a great honor for us to fulfill the order of our President [of the Russian Federation] Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and present the Order of Honor to the entire huge Artek team! Only together you create this miracle. You guys are doing great!" said Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.
Olga Koludarova, Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, announced on May 23 that about 50 thousand children from the regions of Russia and foreign countries will come to the center on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Artek. According to her, preparations for the anniversary of the center have been underway for several years.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
