Vyra, village

Subject / Topography/Villages
VYRA, a village in Gatchina District. Population: 257. It is located on the banks of the Oredezh River. The Kiev Highway extends across V. The toponym Vyra is traced to “vyr” or “vir” (Slav) = abyss or deep (a Baltic Finnish origin of the name is also possible.) First mention was in Novgorod’s scribe roll of 1499/1500. In 1800, a postal station was moved to V. from Rozhdestveno village. A. S. Pushkin traveled past V. several times, and a character of his story “The Station Keeper” is named Samson Vyrin. Painter I. I. Shishkin rented a summer cottage in V., and writer V. V. Nabokov spent his childhood in the Vyra estate. Several feature films and documentaries were shot in V., among them “Two Voices” (1979), “The Snow” (1981), “Elegy” (1983), “The Last Way” (1987), “The Emperor’s Steps” (1990), “The Crazy Ones” (1991), “The Russian Rebellion” (1998). Landscapes by St. Petersburg’s painter M. V. Kremer are dedicated to V. The “Station Keeper’s House” museum was opened in 1972. A cafe named “At Samson Vyrin’s” may be visited, where the interiors are styled to resemble wayside taverns of the 19th century. Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Kremer, Mark Veniaminovich
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich
Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich
Shishkin, Ivan Ivanovich
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District
Topographical landmarks/Oredezh River, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District/Rozhdestveno Village
Семочкин А. (авт.-сост.) Тень русской ветки. Набоковская Выра. СПб., 1999
Бурлаков А. Туристские маршруты Гатчинского района. Южное направление. Гатчина, 2003., С.31-34
"The House of a Station Master", a museum