GALINA, FOR YOU and US - THERE IS ANTIQUE HALICARNAS...

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Galina Schneider comes from a glorious family of The Volga Germans (Wolgadeutsche), i. e. ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov…

Her father, Vitaly Petrovich, was actually the only 100% German in the family. That is, his father was German – Pyotr Yakovlevich Schneider (Peter Schneider) and his mother was also German – Maria Schneider, before marriage Maria Richmeier, who were born in the village of Mariental – the administrative center of Mariental canton (Kanton Mariental), – administrative-territorial unit of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans.

Vitaly Petrovich, as well as such world-famous Baltic Germans as

Count Antony Tiesenhausen (Count Berend Gregor Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen),

Ivan Fedorovich Krusenstern (Adam Johann von Krusenstern),

Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen (Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen),

Baron Vasily Nikolaevich Fersen (Hans William von Fersen),

Count Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff (Konstantin Alexander Karl Wilhelm Christoph Graf von Benckendorff),

His Serene Highness Prince Peter Christianovich Wittgenstein (Peter Dominikus Ludwig, Fürst zu Sayn und Wittgenstein),

Andrei Ivanovich Stackenschneider…,

considered himself Russian by soul, spirit, cultural code and Destiny, understanding “the Russian identity” as Truth, righteousness, freedom, conscience, responsibility for relatives, for the homeland, for the future…

Naturally, therefore, unlike all the other (not exactly German) relatives, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vitaly Petrovich flatly refused to move to Germany for permanent residence as a “German immigrant” under The Law on the Affairs of Displaced Persons and Refugees!

Vitaly Petrovich was a worthy son of his father Pyotr Yakovlevich Schneider – a gardener and an agronomist at different periods of his life, and in his declining years – a family biographer… The fact is that all his life Peter Yakovlevich made clear and detailed notes in his diary, which has yet to be studied, and perhaps even published for descendants… This should be interesting, important and informative even to the widest public, because he was a student of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin – the outstanding biologist and practitioner of selection to produce new types of crop plants, Honorable Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and academician of the All-Union Academy of Agriculture… He lived in difficult, but interesting, times! Moreover, he lived for a long time – 95 years, and living long – is already happiness! By the way, when Pyotr Yakovlevich was writing, his grandchildren walked on tiptoes and everyone in the household spoke in a whisper – they understood the importance of the moment and their responsibility to their descendants…

By the way, Pyotr Yakovlevich successfully passed on his noble redhead to his great-grandson Yuri. Probably not only this remarkable feature… However, this is something that is definitely obvious to everyone!

Vitaly Petrovich, having graduated from the Tallinn Polytechnic Institute (TPI), held high positions in the management of the two largest factories of the city and republic. He was also a member of a quite close social circle in the House of Engineers and an even closer one of the local elite – lovers of Préférence (a popular game in the higher echelons of the USSR society, the regional variant known as Preferans) on Fridays… Furthermore, he was not only an excellent professional, a talented manager and an irresistible man, but also had a bright and charismatic personality… People in the city (by the way, the capital of one of the Soviet Union republics!) knew him well and respected so much…

Well, another enviable quality of Vitaly Petrovich – despite all of the above, he was very modest!

His wife, Galina’s mother, the unforgettable Anna Dmitrievna, was a beautiful and worthy foil for this extraordinary man!

In addition, it should be mentioned that Vitaly Petrovich was fond of reading and did not like Ivan Turgenev at all… He had a serious complaint against him – why all his protagonists were idlers, weak-willed and untalented individuals… Well…, he himself, of course, was not like that!

It is perhaps appropriate to mention here that he could easily and quickly calm down his daughter’s pimply girlfriend, “A face without acne is like a room without furniture!” – And this also characterizes a person quite vividly!

Oh, how his indomitable, constantly seeking perfection, and irreconcilable grandson Yuri reminds of him…

Little Galina was raised, among other mentors, by Aunt Marusya (Marie J. Schneider) – Vitaly Petrovich’s aunt… with a German accent, German pedantry and German severity… Nevertheless, paradoxically, a long train of huge and beautiful (not wasted on her children) maternal love of the long-deceased Frau still envelops her great-niece and her friends with warmth and tenderness… When they get together, they often recall happy moments with Aunt Marusya – how she came from Orsk after the labor camp – restless, lonely, after the death of her paralyzed mother, whom she had been caring for so long… She came on one condition – that there would be a church in the city, where she would pray daily… They remember her rump steaks, pies, prune compotes; Echike met Tiltje – dumplings with fried potatoes and sour cream – a traditional dish of the Volga Germans…

Galina herself was an excellent student – the hope of the whole class… no, the whole school! She was also a talented musician (It was WONDERFUL to see and hear her performing of “The Seasons” by Pyotr Ilyich! It was WONDERFUL to see and hear her performing “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven… and the octave études by Clementi, Leshetitsky and Loew!)…

She was an obedient and well-bred goody-goody… – a well-read and dreamy beauty in luxurious outfits that her father used to bring her from Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary and from somewhere else (where he was buying new technological lines, machines and other equipment for the plants) … Well, in the Soviet times those outfits represented unprecedented luxury and simply chic…

However, the most amazing thing was that no one envied her… Well, there was no reason for that! Because Galina Vitalievna possessed (and still possesses!) a rare quality… – not to be arrogant, not to rise above others, to be simple and modest even in the royal attires…

No wonder that in this regard, the main existential question arises – how can you grow into not a spoiled doll, if your family, friends and Fortune have been spoiling you? Probably because Galina, a child belonging to the beginning of the Space Age, always dreamed high… Space high… Therefore, also no wonder that she entered right away (on the first try!) the prestigious LIAI – Leningrad Institute of Aerospace Instrumentation, which 5 years later she successfully graduated with a degree in Electronic Medical Equipment for Aviation and Astronautics!

Afterwards Galina Vitalievna added to her education one more… Due to official needs, she graduated from the Central Institute for Advanced Training of Managers and National Economy Specialists in the field of patent work.

Also successfully, Galina got married to Vladimir Ekimov, the China-born son of a war correspondent and his wife – a high-ranking official of the Red Cross. In due course, she successfully gave birth to a tall, rebellious and handsome Yuri – the heir not only of his great-grandfather’s red hair, the moral virtues of his grandfather and the beauty of his father, but also of his mother’s rare gift… The gift of being a decent clean-living individual… always and everywhere – at any time, in different countries, under different authorities and in any circumstances, being always true to oneself… Just like according to Igor Talkov,

This painting was made to order of Galina, “I want there… to be a sea… I love the sea… Seawater always makes me feel good… It should be calm… southern… maybe with mountains… Many flowers… I love flowers… Maybe there should be a sailboat in the sea… or a ship… So… so that, looking at the sea, you can relax and dream…”

Actually, dreams are rooted in the past… THE GLORIOUS PAST… Which means not wandering in the halls of someone’s incoherent and inarticulate memory, but the languid bliss of immersion in the bright moments of our civilization history…, in Antiquity and Ancient culture, that is, the history and culture of states formed since the 3rd millennium BC to the 5th century AD on the territory of the Mediterranean… In the “origins of European civilization”, “the cradle of European culture and “the roots of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations”… Without roots shoots will not appear, the crown of the tree will not rustle, the tree will not withstand onslaughts of a storm, and there will not be future and dreams of it…

Halicarnassus (Greek – Halikarnassos), was a large seaside city, trade and cultural center of Aria in the southwest of Asia Minor (modern Bodrum in Turkey), the center of intersection for maritime trade routes from north to south with the caravan road system of the Great Silk Road from China to the countries of the Middle East and Europe… It makes a very tempting example for this purpose…

On the shore of a convenient bay in the Gulf of Gökova (Turkish: Gökova Körfezi) of the Aegean Sea, Halicarnassus was founded around 1200 BC by Greek colonists from The Peloponnese. (By the way, the name of the peninsula immediately revives the memories of the school history teacher, who one day came to replace Dina Viktorovna Shirekina, Galina’s favorite teacher – she got sick; reanimates Galina’s classmates laugh at the dialectical peculiarities of her speech… – during a recess they were running along the school corridor shouting, “Pyalpanes, Pyalpanes…”).

By the way, in this very Gulf of Gökova there is the island of Sedir, which is called Cleopatra’s island, and it is famous for its golden sandy beach and extraordinary beauty of the sea. The sand of Cleopatra Beach is unique in structure and resembles small pearls, which is completely unusual for this area. However, it is known that it was here that Queen Cleopatra bathed, and there is even a legend that two thousand years ago, Mark Antony gave this island to his beloved, but she did not like the sand of this island, and then, on his order, special sand was delivered in galleys… from Egypt. Legend? Nevertheless, English professor Tom Goedike, having examined the sand, confirmed that the sand from Cleopatra Beach is typical of North Africa.

Today, the unique sand of Cleopatra Beach is considered a state property of Turkey and is strictly protected by the Ministry of Culture, and therefore visitors are not allowed to enter the beach with shoes, smoke there or even take towels with them.

Vitruvius compared the urban layout of Halicarnassus with an ancient theater: the agora was situated on the shore of the bay like a choir platform, from the agora the city rose up the hill in a semicircle, and in the center of the city, there was a Mausoleum, the famous tomb of the satrap Maussollos. It was one of the “seven wonders of the world”. Unfortunately, in 334 BC Alexander the Great besieged Halicarnassus and destroyed it.

Here is also The Amphitheater – a classical ancient theater, one of the oldest and most magnificent stone art theaters of the ancient world, also built during the reign of Maussollos. The Amphitheater was originally a place of worship for the god Dionysus, and later, during Roman times, it became a site for gladiatorial battles.

Another attraction of Halicarnassus is the magnificent Myndos Gate, which even in the form of semi-ruins conveys the full scale of the structure.

Halicarnassus is the birthplace of the historians Herodotus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The fates of such most famous and influential people of all time who have changed society, culture and science forever as Hippocrates, the already mentioned Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I, Gaius Julius Caesar, also the already mentioned Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Octavian Augustus, and later – Richard the Lionheart, Tamerlane, Suleiman the Magnificent, Piri Reis and Barbarossa Khizar Hayreddin Pasha… are also associated with Halicarnassus.

Modern Bodrum dates its history back to 1402, when the Knights Hospitaller, whose headquarters were on the island of Rhodes, founded Saint Peter’s Castle here, in the construction of which they used stones from ancient temples, defensive fortifications and, of course, the Mausoleum. The castle and its town became known as Petronium, from which, as a result of a series of orthoepic transformations, the modern name Bodrum cropped up.

English-speaking tourists jokingly dubbed Bodrum “the bed of Europe” (meaning a play on words: Bodrum – bedroom).

Today Bodrum is known as “a heaven on earth” – a heaven of turquoise blue hyaline sea and emerald greenery… Who knows what other secrets of ancient ruins these greenery and transparent depth hide?

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Bodrum is a delight for the eyes, setting you in a dreamy and contemplative mood, calming the body, soul, spirit, and mind… That is, the choice of the main character for the picture is not at all accidental!

However, as befits a real protagonist, this is a collective image… Halicarnassus is the Past, Bodrum is the Present, and together they make the Future!

Moreover, this picture is not a specific landscape, it is an example of Positive Synergism, one of the modern conceptual art manifestations, the meaning of which is not physical, emotional and aesthetic revelation, but disclosure of an idea or a set of ideas, and therefore the picture is full of meanings, signs and symbols, which create them:

the sun symbolizes the source of life, grace; divine essence (with the advent of Christianity – Jesus Christ; and here again is a play on words: son – sun); time flow; happiness, good luck; the immutability of the world structure; brightness, originality, bizarreness of someone or something;

spring, morning… – that is, the beginning of life;

mountains symbolize “The Heavenly World”, which in Russian philosophy designates “The Universe” as the true eternal world, containing the creative concept of an ideal, reasonable, God-like, God-given world… That is, “external”, cosmic world, in contrast to the “internal”, called “The Earthly World “;

the sea – Mind (in contrast to Thinking – a stream, a rivulet, a river; Intellect – a swamp, a pond and Common Sense – a lake);

a ship or any other vessel – symbolizes The Path of Life and success in life;

a modern yacht (the production of yachts “Azimut 68” began in 2021) means that that the owner of the painting “goes with the times”;

it is very easy to navigate the terrain with the help of GPS technology, but travelers, sailors and military personnel do not always use the Internet as a reliable companion, they quite often prefer a compass and their own knowledge – they find the way to their destination – using azimuth…

In other words, azimuth is used to find out the position of something; it helps stay on track; it shows the True Path!

a marina with yachts is a symbol of home, its warmth and comfort;

three seagulls point to the Trinity – a symbol that everyone understands;

the seagull is a symbol of freedom, flight and life;

a blooming apple tree is a symbol of spring, feminine beauty and peace;

rhododendron is considered a symbol of spring, a symbol of female attractiveness, charm and unquenchable youth, as well as fidelity, love and adoration;

orchids symbolize perfection, fertility, beauty and sophistication;

lilies symbolize purity, sincerity and noble origin, and also symbolize purity, grace, beauty, and luxury;

orange lilies signify success, appreciation and respect;

chamomiles symbolize family, love, fidelity, sweet simplicity and tenderness.

When the artist of the painting was asked what the picture was about, the artist, without hesitation, answered, “About love!“