Cultural news in the Vologda region

On a visit to Totma, Public Affairs Officer of US Consulate General in St. Petersburg Suzanne Bodoin attended Ivan Kuskov Memorial Flat.

Of the 58 years that Ivan Kuskov was alive (1765-1823), 31 of them were dedicated to service in the Russian possessions in America. He spent 21 of them in Alaska, and ten in California, where he founded the southernmost permanent Russian settlement on the North American continent - the fort and settlement of Ross. Three months before his death he returned from America to his native town of Totma, a district center in Vologda province. Thus, separated by thousands of miles, Totma and Fort Ross, on the Pacific coast of California, were forever linked in the history.

Public Affairs Officer of US Consulate General in St. Petersburg Suzanne Bodoin got interested in the life history of Ivan Kuskov.

Friendly partnership ties between Totma, located in Russia’s Northwest, and California have been sustained for several years. A delegation from Northern California that included members of the Kashaya Pomo tribes travelled to the Vologda Region town of Tot’ma four years ago to commemorate two centuries of bilateral relations.

Then Suzanne Bodoin visited the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum. The main objective of the visit is to get acquainted with the historical and cultural heritage of the Vologda Region. The visiting Public Affairs Officer of US Consulate General in St. Petersburg has already attended the Vologda State Museum-Preserve, the Vologda Lace Museum, the Museum of Architecture and Ethnography in Semenkovo and the Memorial Flat of Ivan Kuskov, the founder of Fort Ross in California.

The majestic architectural ensemble of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum is one of the largest in Russia. It has kept architectural monuments of XV-XIX centuries, massive walls and towers. The Kirillo-Belozersky monastery boasts a collection of ancient icon painting and applied arts, monastery books of the 15-17th centuries.

Suzanne Bodoin was impressed by the frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral, works of “silver” embroidery and the beautiful landscapes.