When we went to meet with our new friends in Kaluga, we, frankly, could not even imagine that we would find ourselves in such an interesting place called Nikolo-Lenivets. The name in no way speaks for itself. On the contrary, a very active person and enthusiast Nikolai Polissky lives in this village. Being an artist who decided to hide from the bustle of the city in the bosom of nature, he could not sit idle here for a long time, and in 2006 he organized on the territory of a natural-historical reserve «Ugra» an architectural festival that is now held twice a year, in summer and winter.
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Archstoyanie Festival
The name of this event is very sonorous - Archstoyanie. Once upon a time, a historical event took place in this place - Standing on the Ugra, but now there is a huge number of amazing works of art, more precisely - architecture.
Archstoyanie Festival in Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga Region
Festival Archstoyanie in Nikolo-Lenivets
Archstoyanie Festival in Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga Region
Every year, various architects come to Nikolo-Lenivets for the Archstoyanie festival on the territory of the natural-historical reserve «Ugra» create their extraordinary art objects from environmentally friendly materials, which will subsequently dissolve harmlessly and will not bring any harm to the surrounding nature. Almost all of these masterpieces remain accessible for the viewer even after the festival, and many of them can be penetrated in one way or another, which we did while walking along the vast territory of this unusual exhibition..
From an unusual angle
A map of the area can be captured and then viewed on the screen
Lyuba and Vova - our guides are guides in Kaluga and its environs
They introduced us to this amazing place.!
Leaving «for later» the older part of the exhibits is in the field, we decided to first go deeper into the forest and study the newer works of the masters. I will not say that I understood the intent of all the authors, some works left me more than indifferent, one significantly touched me with its undisguised resemblance to an object that was not so ethical, some really touched and delighted with the flight of thought of their creators, despite the fact that their implementation did not require a lot of materials and any special preparation. For example, earth sewn with ropes or wooden «mushrooms» on a birch.
Land sewn with ropes, Archstoyanie festival
Wooden mushrooms on birches
Wooden mushrooms on birches
Installation we misunderstood, Archstoyanie festival
Something that evokes not quite aesthetic associations
The name of the exhibit that evokes not quite aesthetic associations
TO «chain» we successfully arrived at the house just before sunset, which made it seem even more airy and ephemeral, and the hanging chain-walls gave off pleasant sunny «gold».
Chained house in the rays of sunset, Archstoyanie festival
Chained house in the rays of the sunset
Magical chain walls of the chain house
Magical chain walls of the chain house
Nature at sunset
And one of the most impressive buildings we thought of was a rotunda standing in a field, from the roof of which a beautiful view of the Ugra River and the nearby village opens up. In the rotunda itself there are many different doors, on each of which were previously written various important phenomena of life, such as Children, God, Love, Joy, Travel, etc. Now, however, these inscriptions have already been erased, and some doors for some reason are boarded up and no longer open..
Rotunda, Archstoyanie festival in Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga region
At the foot of the rotunda
Doors of the amazing rotunda
Doors of the amazing rotunda
Inside the rotunda, Archstoyanie festival in Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga region
Doors of the amazing rotunda
Doors of the amazing rotunda
And already at night we got to the old part of the exhibition and in the rays of the almost hidden sun were able to admire such powerful in the power of fantasy and impressions exhibits, such as a huge wooden bull, strange pillars, columns, a dome-shaped structure, named by us «brains».
Sunset sky
We named this exhibit - Brains
Archstoyanie Festival in Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga Region
Inside one of the old exhibits
Archstoyanie Festival in Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga Region
Wooden bull
The impressive virtues of the wooden bull
Amazing wooden bull at sunset
In general, we realized that the Archstoyanie festival is such a place where you have to come for a whole day, or even better for a few days with a tent. And the surroundings of the natural-historical reserve «Ugra» stunningly beautiful, and constantly appearing and updated exhibits stir the imagination, and during the festival, a very interesting audience is likely to gather in this place.
Hotels in Nikola-Lenivets
Now around the landscape park Nikola-Lenivets with architectural objects and a reserve «Ugra» several guest houses, hotels and campgrounds were opened (in summer). In the village of Koltsovo, within walking distance of architectural exhibits, there are guest houses with heating, showers and toilets either on the floor or in the room. There is a dining room next to the houses where breakfast included in the price is served, as well as lunch and dinner. In addition, there is a hostel nearby «Barracks» for a large number of seats. The building of the hostel in a modern style is also to some extent an exhibit of the landscape park. For families in Nikola-Lenivets there are large comfortable houses with heating and amenities, called DublDom. Summer accommodation options are stylish wooden houses of modern architecture with characteristic names: Clover, St. John's wort and Tansy. They are without amenities, the bathroom is shared and located in a separate building. Near the houses there are modern summer cafes, a pond, gazebos and bonfires for barbecue. Well, for the biggest nature lovers, there is the simplest accommodation option - you can either pay for a place for a tent in the form of a small wooden podium or rent a tent on site. There is wi-fi in the park - in guest houses and cafes.
All accommodation options can be viewed and booked through RoomGuru. This is exactly what I advise you to do, because there are few hotels and it is better to look at them in a hotel search engine. And already book where he suggests. In half the cases, it will be familiar to everyone Booking.com
The best search is on the map near the hotel Complex Park Nikola Lenivets. And it’s not immediately clear where all this is. You can live in the park itself (where the link leads) or in neighboring villages.
How to get to Nikola-Lenivets
Getting to Nikolo-Lenivets is not difficult, especially if you have a navigator. The village is located between Kaluzhskoe and Kievskoe highways and the nearest village, which must first be reached, is Grebnevo and Ostrozhnoe (they are nearby, but for some reason only the second village is marked on Google).
The road to Nikolo-Lenivets, Kaluga region
Instead of models of traffic police cars in Kaluga, there are such masterpieces
