Cozy retro PHOTOS of dacha life in tsarist Russia
The word ‘dacha’ still pleases the ear of Russians today. And, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, it was a favorite place for summer leisure, outdoor family meals and walks.
The first dachas appeared under Peter the Great – he granted St. Petersburg nobles pieces of land outside the city, where they built estates, often on the seashore.
In the second half of the 19th century, a real dacha boom began. Now, not only rich high-ranking people could “escape” from the bustle of the city to dachas, but also the "middle class". It was also connected with railway development in St. Petersburg and its suburbs.
A dacha is a place of summer vacation, a sun-drenched veranda, tea drinking in nature – and, of course, photos to remember! This is what dacha dwellers looked like at the end of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century.
Hot day at the dacha.
Officers with their wives pose at a dining table.
A group portrait around a hammock at a dacha.
A woman poses in a dacha orchard.
Artist Ilya Repin used to welcome lots of guests to his Penaty dacha outside St. Petersburg.
Karl Kosse’s summer house in Dudergof near St. Petersburg.
Karl Kosse and his guests pose at a set table.
Maria Kosse, daughter of Karl Kosse, poses with a book in the garden.
Maria Kosse talking to an officer from her bedroom window.
An unknown couple of dacha dwellers pose on a veranda.
Daughters of artist Ivan Vladimirov paint at their family dacha in Kellomäki (now Komarovo).
A woman on the way to a country house on a train.
A woman staring out at the shore of the Gulf of Finland.
‘Dacha Life. Photographs of the late 19th - early 20th century’ exhibition will be held in the ROSPHOTO museum and exhibition center in St. Petersburg from November 29, 2023 to January 14, 2024.
