Dacha: The Soviet Country House

The ‘dacha’ is a uniquely Russian phenomenon, the word has been used to describe constructions ranging from grand imperial villas to small sheds. Usually however, it refers to a second home, constructed from wood, located on a small plot in the countryside surrounding a major city.

Originally dachas were bestowed by the Tsar to reward courtiers. After the revolution, this custom continued into the Soviet era, with cooperatives building dachas for their members. Although described as being for the benefit of labourers, in reality they were destined for those favoured by the State, including famous writers, architects and artists - from Pasternak to Prokofiev. In the 1980s, threatened by shortages, Gorbachev provided a further two million dacha plots. The fall of the Soviet Union accelerated their use, with economic uncertainty pushing Russia’s city dwellers towards self-sufficiency.

The dacha tradition has survived Revolution, war and the collapse of Communism, becoming an integral part of Russian life in the process. Today, across the Russian Federation, there are over 15 million dacha owners.

This important cultural and architectural form, largely ignored in Russia, has been intimately documented by Fyodor Savintsev. His photographs serve as a significant record of an astonishing wooden world that is rapidly vanishing.