Simbirsk Theatre
Simbirsk Theatre
In 1759,
Aleksey Durasov, officer of the Orenburg garrison, bought the village of Nikolskoye-on-Cheremshan outside Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) and built a textile factory and a foundry in the village.
In 1785,
Alexey's son Nikolai Durasov moved his serf theatre from Simbirsk to Nikolskoye-on-Cheremshan, making his village estate a major attraction for the Simbirsk nobility. At the time, it was a large estate with four stone outbuildings at the corners and a riding arena, surrounded by a park and greenhouses. Nikolai Durasov was famous for his hospitality; people used to say that it was almost impossible to ride past Nikolskoye-on-Cheremshan without paying him a visit. In 1798, the Russian writer Sergey Aksakov, then a young child, visited the estate with his family.
He was so impressed that he later shared his recollections in the book Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson, where he described opulent interiors, greenhouses full exotic plants, a fountain, and an orchestra and choir made up of serfs.
Today,
the Kuibyshev reservoir is on the site of the former village of Nikolskoye-on-Cheremshan; the estate was flooded in 1950 during the construction of this reservoir. The existing village of Nikolskoye-on-Cheremshan was rebuilt in a new location between 1953 and 1955.