[DIKANKA]

[DIKANKA] ARCHIVES OF VICTOR SERGEEVICH KOCHUBEI (1860–1923) A unique selection of photographs of the famous village of Dikanka, in the Poltava province, which was made famous by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Includes: • 25 photographs depicting views of the village of Dikanka, the Kochubei estate, the interior of the estate and the church, the garden, as well as the triumphal arch erected in honor of Emperor Alexander I’s visit. Some photos show various members of the Kochubei princes’ family. The albumen prints, mounted on cardboard, bear annotations on the reverse indicating the names of the locations. 193 × 245 mm, A.B.E. • Four photographs taken during a summer stay at the Dikanka estate: a group photograph of the Kochubeï and Belosselsky-Belozersky families before an impromptu theatrical performance, and various family scenes in front of the house. Albumin prints, 180 × 240 mm, as is (tears along the edges). Provenance: archives of D. P. Riabouchinsky (1882–1962), Paris. The village of Dikanka, in the province of Poltava, is one of Ukraine’s most famous noble estates, whose rich history is closely linked to the renowned Kochubeï family and the name of the writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol. The history of Dikanka as an ancestral estate dates back to the second half of the 17th century (around 1687), when the chief judge of the Zaporozhian Army, Vasily Leontyevich Kochubei, received these lands as a reward for his services. From that time until the 1917 revolution, the village remained the property of the noble—and later, princely—Kochubei family. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kochubeys transformed Dikanka into a sumptuous complex in the Classical and Empire styles. At the center of the estate stood a grand two-story palace with about a hundred rooms, featuring a very extensive library, an art gallery, and a private museum. In 1820, in honor of Emperor Alexander I’s visit, a majestic triumphal arch was erected at the estate’s entrance. The Baroque Church of the Holy Trinity, built in 1780 by Pavel Kochubei, and the Rotunda Church of St. Nicholas (1794, architect N. Lvov), beneath which an underground family crypt was built, became the spiritual centers of Dikanka. Within the magnificent park complex, the family planted the picturesque lilac grove and preserved the avenue of centuries-old oaks. All these features of the Kochubei estate are depicted in our selection of photographs. Dikanka gained worldwide fame thanks to the writer Nikolai Gogol, whose family estate, Vasilievka, was located nearby. Gogol’s first collection of short stories, *Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka* (1831–1832), immortalized this village, transforming it into a poetic center of Ukrainian folklore, where the daily life of the Cossacks, folk humor, and mysticism blend harmoniously. Between 1917 and 1919, during a tumultuous period marked by revolutionary upheavals and civil war, the sumptuous estate was looted and set on fire; as early as 1919, the remains of the buildings were demolished to salvage the bricks. Only a small portion of the estate’s valuables has been preserved at the Poltava Museum. The Kochubei family crypt was also desecrated in the years that followed. Only a few isolated monuments have survived to this day from the estate’s former expanse: the triumphal arch, the Churches of St. Nicholas and the Holy Trinity, as well as the famous century-old Kochubei oaks and the lilac grove. [DIKANKA] ARCHIVE OF VIKTOR SERGEYEVICH KOCHUBEY (1860–1923) A unique collection of photographs of the famous village of Dikanka in the Poltava Governorate, made famous by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Includes: • 25 photographs featuring views of the village of Dikanka, the Kochubey estate, the interior of the estate and the church, the garden, and the triumphal arch built in honor of Emperor Alexander I’s visit. Some of the photographs feature various members of the Kochubey princely family. The albumen prints, mounted on cardboard, have annotations on the reverse indicating the names of the locations. 193 × 245 mm, in fair overall condition. • Four photographs from the summer residence