If you’ve read or seen Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, you will be familiar with the quintessentially Russian concept of the dacha. But it’s not just a cottage, or even a weekend retreat–it’s a space for summer living that has played a critical role in the development of Moscow and St. Petersburg, offering an escape to city dwellers needing country air. Derived from the verb “to give,” the word “dacha” was present in Old Russian from the 11th century, but it was under Peter the Great that dachas evolved into summer residences for the middle classes. In Dacha, a new book from Grand Journal faves Fuel, Fyodor Savintsev documents this particularly Russian phenomenon in photographs that capture the fairytale architecture of these country retreats.
Dacha (Fuel), $34.95, is available now.
