Volzhanka from Tver [#1]

Product Description

Volzhanka (Волжанка). This cute nesting doll from Kalinin (see below) is named after Russia's most famous river: The Volga. She is different in style from Viatka (aka Kirov or Nolinsk), Semenov or Polkh-Maidan dolls. The wood is linden and many of the decorative elements are burnt in. The colors are bright and the paint thickly applied. 3 nest, 4¼" down to 1¾".

The Kalinin Matryoshka (Калининская Матрешка) was made in Kalinin, situated on the Upper Volga River. In actuality, Kalinin was the medieval city of Tver, but had been renamed Kalinin after one of Stalin's loyal henchmen. After 1991, many cities were restored to their pre-Soviet names, for example Sergiev Posad (Zagorsk), Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) to name just a few. Thus, Kalinin was restored back to Tver.

This matryoshka was actually made in the late 1980's and imported to the United States around 1992. Thus it spans two distinctly different political systems!