Sarov

December 8–9, 2007

The small town of Sarov is nestled amongst forests in the region of Nizhny Novgorod. It’s so small that there’s just one sign pointing to it in the said forests, and there isn’t even a town sign as you approach the city. Plus it’s not all maps that have it marked.

The town is known for Saint Seraphim of Sarov, the reason why Orthodox pilgrims head here. They’ve repainted the church interiors for their benefit.

They also hold church services for their benefit.

As for the pilgrims, they make a beeline for the forest — to drink healing water from the spring and etch a cross into the trunk of a pine tree.

They don’t much like upheavals in Sarov. That’s why here the new does not oust the old.

Modern traffic lights hang on an old-fashioned pole.

The tags on the wall are new, but the decorative support brackets under the balcony are old.

A phone booth with a push button phone and a phone box that predates perestroika by a long shot. On the plus side, calls are free of charge.

New cars drive past Brezhnev-era pavilions.

Modern rubbish in museum-worthy rubbish bins.

This new entertainment centre is called “Samira”, but because of the way it’s written it looks like it says “Satira” i.e. satire.

A structure in the central square intended primarily for displaying portraits and other similar important campaign materials. The only thing currently advertised here is a funeral home. Not because the town is dying out, but rather because there’s nothing else to advertise.

In general, old Soviet establishments here are well-preserved.

As is public transport.

And the nature here is pristine.

By the way, almost all of the houses are made of brick. Half of the balcony balustrades are shaped like special angle irons.

And another thing, they just love connecting houses here, using, well, anything really. For instance, balconies.

If they’re different houses, an arch will do the job.

Generally, Sarov resembles Seversk a great deal, you could even be forgiven for mixing them up.

That doesn’t come as a surprise given that Sarov is also a closed town. It too was recently renamed (it used to be called Arzamas-16). Just like in Seversk you need an access pass to visit, which takes 45 days to get. The main difference is that they don’t enrich uranium here, they actually develop atomic bombs.

That’s why a taxi ride anywhere within the city limits always costs 35 roubles. This is also why all of the building entrances are numbered right to left — to befuddle spies.