My last day in Taganrog

Today was my last day in Taganrog. My morning began with a trip to Chekhov's birthplace. It is a small home preserved as a museum. Chekhov only spent the first year and a half in the home before money troubles forced the family to move around the area from rental property to rental property. Approximately 10 years later, Chekhov's father was faring better and they moved to another home with the merchant store occupying the first level of the home.

Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, the third of six surviving children, where his father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, ran a grocery store. A choirmaster, religious fanatic, and keen flogger of his children, Pavel Chekhov has been seen as the model for his son's many portraits of hypocrites. Chekhov's mother, Yevgeniya, was an excellent storyteller who entertained the children with tales of her travels with her cloth-merchant father all over Russia. "Our talents we got from our father," Chekhov remembered, "but our soul from our mother."

Many of Chekhov's writings included Taganrog elements and his fondness for the city was not limited to his writings. His legacy also includes the establishment of museums. He did quite a bit for his home city. He did all he could to help Taganrog become a better, more beautiful city. Taganrog turned for him into some kind of a duty, as the writer kept sending books from his personal library, many of which autographed by their authors, and buying dictionaries, encyclopedias, scientific literature according to a wish list that he had established. Thus an extensive and comprehensive library was created with foreign language literature and reference sections. In many respects thanks to Chekhov's efforts, the Cape of Taganrog is now crowned with a Peter I The Great statue, created by the famous sculptor Mark Antokolsky (1903). Anton Chekhov not only took part in engaging the first-class artist to create the monument, but also sent out fund-raising subscription lists. He was also giving new exhibits to the Art Gallery and left the City his personal library.

I had the opportunity to view many of the influences that Chekhov helped to establish for his favored city, Taganrog including a museum devoted to the area and included relics from Tanace, the nearby Greek ruins, bronze age remnants, Don Cossack materials, and remembering the impact of conflict on human lives.

After the various museum and sites, I visited the Don Cossacks to discuss peace education and the role of religion in the classroom. The American versus Russian perspective of the theory of natural selection and creationism.

My time in Taganrog was at a close, and now it was time for the 20 hour train ride returning me to Moscow where I would meet up with the 7 other American teacher ambassadors to tour the Kremlin, go to the American Embassy, and then depart for the US.