tavern "Slavic Bazaar" in Tomsk Konstantin Imendaev, Olga Potapova

Passing the gallery

A photo: Karen Manko

Text: Nina Farizova

Architect: Konstantin Immenayev

Designer: Olga Potapova

Magazine: N1 (79) 2004

Could Anton Pavlovich Chekhov suppose that his words "Feed well!" about the tavern "Slavic Bazaar" in Tomsk will be remembered in the twenty-first century. Merchant's mansion on Lenin Square, 10, c. 1898, never changed its purpose - to be a place where they eat, drink, make deals and just wealthy citizens walk. True, the "tavern", "sex" and "merchants" now sound like a "restaurant", "waiters" and "businessmen." But this fact does not change. Three rooms are located on two floors. The first - pompous, merchant, with a pompous, as it should be, interior. Everything is there: Russian carved patterns, English handmade ceramic tiles, a fountain where foreign turtles swim. Immediately forgotten Siberian cold and lack of sun. The second floor is not just high - rather "elevated." Gothic vaults and windows are balanced by restrained classics. The mix of Siberian and Victorian creates a solemn and theatrical atmosphere. Maybe that's why Tomsk ladies prefer to dine here. The pride of the "Slavonic Bazaar" is a banquet hall with a smoking room. Bilateral fireplace heats both rooms. The dark wood, gold, the carpet embroidered with paradise birds, the bourgeois portieres “Venice” from Faberge` are perfectly suited for business conversations, secret negotiations and reception of high-ranking officials (for “white people” there is a black staircase). “And in the tavern they drink because it’s disgusting to drink in a pub and beer shop: such an act would entail censure from the congregations and alienation of the members of the corporation with which their interests are connected ...” Nikolai Leskov wrote, and he was right.