Each place has its own story but some stories are more exciting than others. The story of the building of Narva Art Residency, the former Kreenholm director’s villa, is particularly colorful and important for the city of Narva and its people. The aim of the research project was to gather the history of the building from the tsarist era up to the present day. We collected the stories of different owners and functions as well as involved local residents by gathering their memories that are connected to this place.
Since the beginning of the project in the spring of 2022, a dozen interviews were held, and research has been carried out in the archives of Narva, Tallinn, and Tartu. The outdoors photography exhibition “Carr – Amalie – NART” (https://www.nart.ee/et/naitused/fotonaitus-maja-ajaloost-carr-amalie-nart/) was opened in the summer of 2022. In spring 2023, we took a section of Fyodor Shantsyn’s Kreenholm model on loan from the collection of the Narva Museum and exhibited it at NART. From the summer of 2023, all visitors have the opportunity to see an installation about the history of the building, consisting of cabinets from different eras. An interactive timeline with historical photos is now on the wall of the foyer. Visitors can listen to the sound installation “What sounds did the house hear?” on a vinyl player. Mirjam Kalamees will make a detailed model of the house, which will also become part of the permanent exhibition. And a large metal installation “NART” will be installed in front of the house in autumn 2023 to highlight this special building in the urban space. Lastly, we will publish a small newspaper that summarises the story of the building in print.
During the one-and-a-half years of the project, Narva Art Residency carried out more than ten historical tours in and around the house. Guests were able to visit rooms that are usually closed. We hope to continue with the tours in the future!
Past events:
– The 165th anniversary of Kreenholm Manufactory
– A series of tours in 2022 of the history of the building
– Heritage Days event and lecture by Madis Tuuder
– Presentation of the Kreenholm’s model by Fyodor Shantsyn
– Lecture by Aleksandr Openko
– The 166th anniversary of Kreenholm Manufactory
– Newspaper “Krengolmskii listok”
Project team: Denis Jatsenko, Gleb Kuznetsov, Johanna Rannula, Maria Kopytova, Deniss Girenko
Thanks to: Alexey Ivanov, Maria Zheleznova, Arina Yegorova, Olga Clark and all interviewees
The project was supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment.