Description of the attraction
In the very center of Saratov, between Kirov Avenue and Teatralnaya Square, there is a four-storey building closely connected with the cultural life of Saratov and its history.
Vakurov Dmitry Maksimovich, the son of a serf peasant, having bought off his landowner in 1826, was assigned to the Saratov merchants, starting his business with a haberdashery trade. But very soon the purposeful and well-read Dmitry Maksimovich, striving for European culture, began to join the book business. For this, according to the project of Alexei Markovich Salko, in 1874 a four-story house was built where the first bookstore in Saratov occupied the first floor. The luxury of decoration, mirrored glass, metal vaults and curtains were conducive to enlightenment and education. There were always a lot of visitors and very soon, the shop became a place of communication for the local intelligentsia. The upper three floors were intended for the "Stolichnaya Hotel" with 70 exquisitely furnished rooms and a hall on each floor for dining and reading. In 1893, the management of the Ryazan-Uralskaya railway was located on the floors of the hotel.
In 1905, a sad event took place that irrevocably changed the facade of the building. On October 19, the six thousandth meeting of the Bolshevik revolutionaries took place on Teatralnaya Square. Speakers spoke from the balcony of Vakurov's house, as a result of which, by order of the authorities, on the night of November 19-20, the shed and the balcony of the building were demolished.
In 1914, the Vakurov house accepted the first applicants of the Agricultural Institute (then the Higher Agricultural Courses for the training of agronomists). From 1917 to 1921, Academician N. I. Vavilov worked within the walls of the building, later his name was given to the Saratov State Agrarian Academy.
Himself, Dmitry Maksimovich Vakurov, who was twice elected to the post of city mayor, was a respected and honorary citizen of Saratov, who left his estates and houses to the city to set up a school and an orphanage.
