YalTa: CriMea's PreMiere resorT

Premier Club Magazine #6 21
premiercities
Белая дача
Chekhov's white summer house
("Belaya Dacha")
Anton Chekhov
At the heart of the Municipal Gardens near the sea in Yalta,
stands the beautiful Anton Chekhov Theatre. The first theatre
building made of wood in 1886 had only one level and a narrow
stage. In April 1900, the Moscow Theatre of Arts staged eight
performances there, including the famous Chekhov plays “The
Seagull” and “Uncle Ivan”. Chekhov himself attended the show,
as did such famous Russian artists or art patrons as Gorky,
Mamin-Sibiriak, Kuprin, Bunin, Staniukovich and Garin-
Mikhailovski. In 2008, following a long reconstruction period,
the theatre reopened to the public, with famous British playwright
Tom Stoppard and American actors John Malkovich and
Kevin Spacey attending the opening ceremony.
Long associated with Yalta, of course, is Anton Chekhov. The
short story writer’s white summer house is now a museum, but
here the great writer lived for five-and-a-half years, from 1899
until 1904, while recovering from tuberculosis. During the time
of its construction Chekhov planted trees and flowers around his
future residence with a passion since he always dreamt of a garden
in full bloom. The garden planted by Chekhov has increased
since then in size, and the writer’s home is now surrounded by
abundant greenery. It was here that he wrote such famous works as
“The Cherry Orchard”, “Three Sisters” and “A Lady with a Dog”, in
which he describes much of the city in detail. A lady with a small
dog can today be seen as sculpture on the Yalta seafront.