Restoring the Future

A Small Town Gets a Makeover

- Yevgenia Volunkova

Anya Melnikova is saving what time destroys. And, because of the work she does, the residents of Buzuluk have begun taking pride in the place they call home, and their obscure little town is even getting its share of the tourist trade.

Anya came to Buzuluk from Vladivostok in the fall of 1996, wearing a white down jacket. After she got out of the car and was eyeing the mud, the puddles, and the decrepit buildings, her jacket was spattered with black slush and could not be rescued. But only a few years later, Anya was on a rescue mission of her own, to bring Buzuluk’s signature architectural style back from the brink. Little wooden masterpieces with features showcasing the uniquely Russian twist on Art Nouveau were disintegrating all over Buzuluk, but none of the townsfolk seemed to have any idea of what was being lost.*

Postcards and Tattoos

When we meet, in a café, Anya is eager to show off her first tattoo. She recently had the word svoboda (freedom) inked just above her wrist.

“It’s in honor of Grandpa Fyodor,” she tells me. “We buried him not long ago. He was very active all his life, but he drank and was partially paralyzed at the age of 50. Walking was difficult, and being helpless infuriated him. He died in my arms. I’d been wanting to get a tattoo for a long time, but everyone warned me to think about how it would look when I was an old woman. Grandpa had a tattoo, though. And watching him during the last months of his life, I realized that the last thing on his 92-year-old mind was what his tattoo looked like. So I went and got one. To me, “freedom” means