MOSCOW, October 1 – Novosti, Karina Ivashko. As part of their regular press tour to Russia, Belarusian journalists visited the Kaluga region, visiting together with their Russian colleagues the ultra-modern school and the VoenFilm cinema complex in Medyn, the Polotnyano-Zavodskaya paper manufactory in the Dzerzhinsky district, and the Tsiolkovsky Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga.
Thematic press tours of representatives of the Belarusian media to Russia and Russian – to Belarus have long been part of the practice of dialogue between the two countries. The core of the current visit, organized by the Standing Committee of the Union State and the media group “Russia Today”, was the expert media forum “Industrial and scientific-technological cooperation between Russia and Belarus. Science. Space. Education”, which partly explains the choice of objects of the press show. Another reason lies in the fact that the objects have long-standing relationships with Belarusian partners.
Superschool with its own film studio
The new ultra-modern “Medyn High School” for a thousand places is a vivid example of this. Russian and Belarusian flags flutter in front of the building.
“This school was built for us by the Belarusians – Belstroytsentr. The company has already built several schools and kindergartens in different cities of the Kaluga region. We decided that it would be right to hang not only the Russian, but also the Belarusian flag in front of the school. And you “We should have seen the reaction of the workers! Someone even had tears – they were so pleased! See the bee on the facade of the building? It’s not a drawing – it’s a mosaic. The name Medyn is also from the word “honey”. So the Belarusians gave us such a gift” , – Nikolai Kozlov , head of the Medynsky district, told reporters .
The school is amazing! The territory is over eight hectares. It seems that there are grounds for all possible sports, and all this is surrounded by forest. The area of the building is 30 thousand square meters, the equipment is state-of-the-art. A class of holography and 3D modeling, a class of robotics… The hall can hardly even be called an assembly hall – a real theatrical one, with a lift, with a sound production room… Two swimming pools – for older students and a paddling pool for younger ones, gymnastic and other sports halls, including a gym. A center for children’s initiatives for creative activities, a spacious reading room … Own chromakey room with the latest expensive equipment!
Chromakey here is no coincidence. As the head of the district said, it would be absurd to have a film studio nearby and not organize a film school.
The film complex “VoyenFilm Medyn” is really very close – within walking distance. It is headed by a Russian actor, director and producer Igor Ugolnikov , who is well known in Belarus. In particular, Ugolnikov initiated and produced the film “Brest Fortress”. Therefore, for Belarusian journalists, of course, his appearance in the Medyn school was a surprise.
“For me, this school is fantastic. I saw how it was being built, now a television and film pavilion is being equipped here. It will be the VoenFilm film school. High school students are about to start classes. I would like to instill in them interest and joy in our profession. Who “Someone will be a director, someone will be an actor, someone will choose technical professions in the cinema. Here the children will study, and very close by, at VoenFilm, they will train. This is our dream – and we are getting closer to it. And what there is a wonderful stage and a huge hall! We will be able to do performances with children,” said Ugolnikov.
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
According to him, work at the film studio goes non-stop. “Now we are filming the scene of the new film “At the call of the heart” about the people’s militia and the series “Everyday life of front-line intelligence. Callsign “Cranes”.
Further, the director showed the guests a cinema complex: an automobile and tank hangar, where wartime equipment is collected, a recreated village with real log cabins brought from different parts of the region for location shooting, an airfield, a specially built bridge that can withstand the weight of tanks, and the film set itself – a village recreation center .
Without “Bummontazhprom” – not a single reconstruction
The next item on the program is one of the oldest industrial enterprises in Russia: Polotnyano-Zavodskaya Paper Manufactory, founded in 1718 by the personal decree of Peter I. It is located in a picturesque place – in the estate of the Goncharovs, those same ones.
“Over the 304 years that the company has existed, it has practically never stopped working, except during the war. We have four areas of work. The main one is the production of containerboard. We work 100% on waste paper raw materials and produce about 70,000 tons of containerboard per year. Second direction – notebooks, albums, sets for art, sketchbooks. The third direction is ecological bags. We make them from container cardboard, which we produce ourselves. And the fourth – we have a wonderful museum of paper “Buzeon”, the only one in Russia” , – said Svetlana Nikolskaya, deputy director of Polotnyano-Zavodskaya Paper Manufactory LLC.
© Photo: Karina Ivashko
Linen-factory paper manufactory, Kaluga region
Museum – with unique equipment, exhibits, rare samples of paper from around the world.
Allied journalists are interested in whether the manufactory has business ties with companies from Belarus.
“We take Belarusian paper in Shklov – for notebooks. In addition, we have been working with the Bummontazh company for more than 20 years. Not a single major reconstruction at our enterprise takes place without it. Right now, with the help of Bummontazh, a new unit is being built to dissolve the container cardboard,” Nikolskaya said.
“The moon is solid – we will work”
The big excursion day of the three-day press tour ends with a visit to the State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga, in particular, the new modern museum complex “Second Stage”.
“We start from 1957 – a landmark for the country. Because this year on October 4, the Soviet Union sent into space the first artificial satellite of the Earth . The story is unique. Sergei Korolev undertook the creation of the satellite . The satellite turned out to be so simple that any boy from the circle could make it young technicians. They made it very quickly. There is a legend that Korolev said: “The Earth is round, the Moon– round, which means that the first artificial body should have the shape of a ball. “There is a direct parallel with the plans of Tsiolkovsky. Everything worked out! Our satellite was in orbit for three whole months. During this time, it completed 1440 revolutions around the Earth. Everyone understood that the Soviet Union is a serious scientific power that will give odds to any country in the world,” says Nadezhda Pavlishak, head of the new sector of the museum.
4 out of 4
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
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Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
© Photo: Karina Ivashko
4 out of 4
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
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Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga
© Photo: Karina Ivashko
The exhibition exposition “Rockets. Ships. People”, dedicated to the history of space exploration, outstanding achievements of Soviet scientists, unique authentic exhibits will not leave anyone indifferent.
“Colleagues dissuaded Korolev from engaging in the lunar program, since there was a theory that the Moon was covered with a huge, several meters thick layer of dust. They say that the devices will drown in this dust – it makes no sense. But Korolev was firm: “The moon is solid – we will work.” And it turned out right,” says Pavlishak.
And further – about the history of research on the Earth’s satellite, about the launch of automatic stations “Luna-1”, “Luna-2” and “Luna-3”, which photographed the far side of the Moon, and the stations “Zond-3” and “Zond-4” completed this work.
“And we gave the world the globe of the Moon. In addition, the first animals on the Zonda-4 circled the Moon, returned and lived happily on Earth further. These are turtles. They could not eat or drink, but they allowed themselves such a cruise. The next big step “This is a soft landing. And serious research is already on the Moon, which was carried out by the automatic station Luna-9,” the guide continues.
Lunokhods, descent space vehicles, full-size models of rocket and space technology: satellites, automatic interplanetary stations, orbital complexes and spaceships, the life of astronauts with the opportunity to feel the limited space and – “icing on the cake” – a session of a scientific and educational program in the multimedia complex “Interactive planet”! Nothing less than a culture shock. And a mutual sense of pride – both among Russian and Belarusian journalists, because in the era of the great achievements of Soviet scientists in space exploration, we were one country.
