The stage was set. I got my plane ticket and on September 2, 2000, I flew to Moscow, was picked up at the airport and driven to Ryazan to participate in the conference. While there, Lena informed me that on Wednesday, September 6, we were going to Sapozhok. I was thrilled. Sapozhok!! The place that started my research and grant writing activites. Below you will find photographs of my "Road to Sapozhok" experience.
Anatoli Liferov and me. Liferov is the Rector of Ryazan State Pedagogical University. He has been very supportive of my trips to Ryazan and has arranged some of the most wonderful experiences. We are standing in front of the Sapozhkovskii Region administration building.
This is the Sapozhkovskii Region coat of arms. I do not know the meaning but I recall that it was connected in someway to Catherine I (the Great).
The first site I was taken to visit in Sapozhok was the village museum. It was a small, two story structure, but full of wonderful artifacts. The director of the museum gave me a book about the history of Sapozhok that he had written as well as an oil painting depicting a scene of the region. Individuals in the photo are from left: a friend of the regional administrator, one of the regional officials, Liferov, the museum director, the regional administrator, one of the regional officials, and me.
This is a monument to L. N. Gobyato. I was told he was the inventor of the machine gun. As such, he was a famous "son" of the Sapozhkovskii region. The site of this monument was just east of the village of Sapozhok in the small village of Morozoviy Borki.
Adjacent to the Gobyato monument is this church. It is in the process of being restored. After 1917, many Russian churches were destroyed, abandoned, and left to dilapidate. Those that were abandoned fell into ruin, but since 1991, some have been or are in the process of being restored.
The photo above is very interesting. The people are from the left: Liferov, Dima (the driver), and Lena Biryukova (geographer). The car is a Russian Volga, the one most associated with Russian officials. They are most often black. On top of this car, note the blue light. Just outside of Sapozhok we stopped and Dima put this light on the car. When I asked about it, I was told they put it on the car so that when we drove into Sapozhok, we wouldn't be bothered by hoodlums.
This is the administration building for the small town of Morozoviy Borki.
The two photographs above were taken in the small village of Morozoviy Borki. This village had few paved streets. Note the deep ruts in this "street." We actually were taken by "jeep" to a home in this village (shown on the next page) where I bought some handwork.
