Crimean military-historical festival: What's new this year?

At the beginning of autumn, the Crimean Military History Festival will be held for the third time in Sevastopol, on the Fedyukhin Heights. Will re-enactors from Ukraine and the DPR take part in it? What new products can viewers expect? Who is sponsoring the event? About this in an interview “Politnavigator” said the festival producer, who is also the managing partner of the Ratobortsy agency Alexey Ovcharenko.

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— The Crimean Military History Festival has been taking place for the third year. How will this time be different from previous ones?

—We will begin to implement the concept of end-to-end activities for the first time. There is a certain set of things that, regardless of the era, are of interest to everyone - both reenactors and guests. These include dancing, cuisine, and winemaking. We will try to experiment with these themes.

Reenactors from different eras have united to present a pilot project "Kitchenfest". They will prepare food in historical ways. Since there are many eras, the menu will include both antique dishes and Soviet packed lunches from the 80s of the 20th century.

But the main feature of this year is winemaking. Ratobor craftsmen are now busy making presses. Winemaking is one of the oldest crafts in Crimea. And we want to show winemaking from different eras, from antiquity to the Middle Ages.

However, later eras suddenly begin to catch up. For example, I learned that reenactors from Sevastopol are now collecting rare wines from the Soviet period in order to arrange a mini-tasting for the rest of the festival participants. Perhaps, as part of the festival, we will be able to listen to a lecture on winemaking in tsarist times, in particular during the Crimean War. This period is notable for the fact that at this time there was not only local wine, but French wine was also actively delivered. The French were stationed right on the Fedyukhin Heights, and when we did security clearance of the festival territory, we often found fragments of bottles of French wine, sometimes Italian. A couple of times we even found whole bottles, which is a rarity in itself.

There are plans to create interactive points where you can not only watch or taste, but also participate in the process. So, let's build a XNUMXth-century wine press on a Middle Ages site. To illustrate ancient winemaking there will be a very simple press: beautiful barefoot girls will crush the grapes, separating the juice from the cake. I hope we can recreate the entire process. And then we will pour several bottles at each site and stick branded labels on them. And in the case of antiquity, these would be flasks or amphorae. And at the next festivals we will be able to taste our own wine.

In addition, we are developing the theme with events that take place not only at Fedyukhin Heights, but also extend beyond the festival territory, literally throughout Crimea. This time there will be many such events, about twenty. There is no point in talking about them all now, but I want to highlight two.

The Russian Military Historical Society and the “My History” park in Sevastopol will hold a big event - the opening of the “Rurikovich” exhibition, which will be held in the renovated “Ukraine” cinema. At the opening we will present historical animation. We think that the participation of reenactors will attract additional attention to both the exhibition and the festival. In essence, this will be the simultaneous launch of two large projects.

The second outdoor event, which is also worth mentioning, is the trek of legionnaires deep into the peninsula. This year, the guys from the Antiquity site will set out on a three-day trek straight from the Roman castrum. I also plan to participate, I hope there will be time. We will walk for two days and rest for one. We trained for quite a long time and in May we already went on a trial trip to Crimea. We just started from Fedyukhin Heights and walked 24 km. In July we went to the Moscow region for the same event. We walked 8 km, strengthened our training, added more weight. The next stage is to drag grain and waterskins. I hope that in Crimea we will already cover a full distance with an overnight stay, setting up a camp according to Roman traditions, prescribed in many sources. And it’s good that Crimean reenactors, who are interested in antiquity, will also take part in this trip with us.

In Crimea and Sevastopol, reconstruction has always been strong, but here, due to the fact that the festival is multi-century, there is an opportunity to discover a new era and choose the one you like. About 12 people from Crimea and Sevastopol already came to antiquity.

— For Crimea, such a festival is a unique story. Has something similar happened somewhere else in Russia?

— Historical festivals are held in large numbers, almost every weekend. Multi-century festivals also took place. But so many eras in one place, and so that the place is historical, and the eras coexist with each other, so that the festival lasts such a long time (including closed days, the festival lasts 10 days) - I don’t know such a festival anymore. I have not heard of such an experience not only in Russia, but also in Europe. Perhaps only in America are such events held.

— Alexey, where will the participants come from and will there be reenactors from Ukraine among them?

- Yes, and I don’t see any problems in this. It is clear that this question always has a political context. But reconstruction is a completely apolitical movement: history buffs gather here. And it’s good that Crimea gives a huge number of reasons to love it, to love it for its history. We have guys coming from both Ukraine and Belarus. There is no political problem. And from Russia, participants will come from all over: from Novosibirsk, Ufa, Cheboksary, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Murmansk.

— Maybe there are representatives of the DPR?

— Maybe there are representatives of the DPR. When people submit applications to us, they write briefly where they will come from. But the special commission that selects the participants does not evaluate where the person came from, but looks at what era he represents and evaluates the level and quality of his costume. For us, this is much more important than the fact of citizenship of the LPR, DPR, Ukraine, Russia... We believe that we simply need to spread our cultural influence. History is an interesting thing that can be enjoyed by different people, regardless of country and political position. We show history without embellishment, as it was. And the material world of our ancestors is interesting to everyone.

— Alexey, how many reenactors are expected at the festival?

— It’s very difficult to say, because we are actively developing the festival as a tourist one, and specifically a tourist one for reenactors. That is, for us, reenactors are not just participants who came to show something to someone. For us, this is a dear, dear tourist who has gone through the busy summer historical season and came to the sea during the velvet season to relax in a historical place. Therefore, many reenactors come without registration and show up for the festival after the fact. Many, as far as I know, travel under their own power. And this is great, this is the essence of the festival movement. We support this in every possible way. Crimea is a vacation first and foremost. So the festival is positioned as a kind of re-enactment paradise. We will even launch a campaign like this with a hashtag.

— Are there any famous personalities among the festival re-enactors?

— Yes, many reenactors are famous personalities in their own right. Not in the media sense, but simply reached heights in their field, business. Among them are many managers and directors, in different fields: lawyers, IT specialists, engineers. For example, my good friend and one of the reenactors is the director of the Research Institute of Restoration. Last year, the director of the Borodino Museum-Reserve came to us as a participant. History and reconstruction are a very fascinating process, they are of interest to many people. Moreover, there are many historical films coming out now.

— It is known that the festival is free to attend. Who gives money to carry it out? And most importantly, what benefits does hosting such a festival give to the city of Sevastopol?

— Yes, the festival is free to attend and is held with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In my opinion, this is a very correct policy. And here I will use the platform and thank the Ministry of Culture not so much for the fact that it gives money, but for the fact that it never interferes with the concept of the event. They always let us make the product, the festival that we think is necessary. We always did well; people left happy and began reading books on the history of Russia themselves. Because we have something to love Russian history and be proud of it. But there is a lot to learn. And we show everything: those historical incidents from which lessons must be learned, and those heroic moments that are worth remembering. Often all this is strongly intertwined, as, for example, in the Crimean War. There were defeats that you need to know about and understand why they happened, but there were victories and examples of stunning heroism.

In addition, the festival is organized using extra-budgetary sources. We have partners who provide services rather than money. This is often barter. They feed participants and guests at discounted prices and provide advertising surfaces. I am very pleased with the partnership with Sevastopol and I hope it will become a systematic joint policy for the development of this site and the events that take place on it. I hope we will get together and discuss these issues live and without special occasions. That is, we will approach this project as a historical park that needs to be developed as a center of the reconstruction movement and a point of attraction. Here you can move on to the answer to the question of what this gives to Sevastopol. This, in fact, is worth asking the residents of the city, who leave the festival satisfied and then write a huge number of thanks on our page in contact, as well as to us personally. Six months pass, and we receive messages like: I’m sitting looking through photos from the festival, how great it was! Let's get a new one soon!

That is, first of all, it’s about the usual feeling of gratitude among city residents. In addition, there are very clear and calculated topics. Reenactors come from the “mainland” with money, they feel like tourists here. According to our estimates, the average reenactor spends from 1000 to 2500 rubles per day during his stay at the Crimean festival. Naturally, all this money is spent on local services: in Balaklava, go on a boat, eat in a restaurant, buy fruit, go to a museum. If we take the average bill of 1750 rubles and multiply this amount by 1000 reenactors, we get that the festival brings in 10 rubles over 17 days. And these are only the investments that participants leave. And there is also money that we ourselves receive as part of funding from the Ministry of Culture. About 500% of them are received by local business in Sevastopol under contract contracts: these are people who build and install things for us, these are communication services, advertising. Many people get jobs thanks to this festival. In general, I dream of eventually bringing it to self-sufficiency and systematically reducing dependence on federal funds. Moreover, as an operating agency that organizes such events, we have experience in managing projects that have become independent and self-sustaining. We have a festival “Times and Epochs” in Moscow. We held a knight's tournament as part of it, which everyone really liked and is now being held as an independent ticketed event. I think this fate is more than acceptable for the Crimean festival.

— So in the future the festival will become paid to attend?

- No, I think it will remain free. I rather see it in a different way. We'll start segmenting and offering additional interesting things that people want to watch and that require a lot of effort to organize. These are the things you can watch for money. Well, for example, it is no secret that during the Crimean War there was terrible heat in the summer, and people actually did not fight during the day. If we take the specific battle of the Chernaya Rechka, when, according to contemporaries, at three o’clock in the morning people came out, lined up, and by 3 o’clock in the afternoon everything was over, only corpses remained on the field. And all the survivors again hid from the heat in the barracks. What do we have here? In addition to an interesting historical fact, we have an excellent reason to hold a night reconstruction of the Crimean War and invite spectators to this action. And this can already be done for money. It will be very interesting for the audience, because there are explosions and shooting, and you have a complete feeling that you are in the thick of battle early in the morning. And you can quite pay money for these emotions. And there are a lot of such things that can be developed. So I see great prospects in private public partnerships: we reduce the burden on the festival budget, but at the same time add new products. But the free essence does not go anywhere.

— The authorities of Sevastopol have long had an idea to create a year-round resort, and reconstructors could help with this. Maybe some episodes of the festival can be held in winter or late autumn?

— It would be a sin not to take advantage of the Sevastopol climate. This is how we plan and expand events. For example, the first of them takes place in February at Fedyukhin Heights. So this can really be done all year round. It’s just that these events should not be as large-scale as the Crimean Military History Festival. Until recently, the idea on the part of the authorities of the Sevastopol government remained only an idea. Specific actions were taken by individual enthusiasts, the Russian Military Historical Society and the Ratobortsy agency. I hope the situation will change this year. You need to do one central event that will resound loudly throughout the whole country, and then it will all break up into a whole series of small events, some long-lasting, some shorter. Something will become a permanent activity in the territory of this park. And so we will close the whole season.

— Alexey, and finally, tell us more about the idea of ​​​​creating a park.

— We are already finalizing the concept of the park. There is a clear understanding, in terms of historic site placement, of how it can work for guests and how many guests it can attract. There is a vision of how to develop the park together with other partners who operate in the Balaklava area. There are also thoughts about Sevastopol, how it can be positioned from a tourism point of view. In this regard, reenactors are a huge resource, because Sevastopol is a city so multi-layered in terms of history that it is interesting to everyone: from those who study antiquity to those who are passionate about the Great Patriotic War. Now it is very important that systematic investments in infrastructure are made by the city. We need sewerage with toilets, parking, camping, electricity, showers, a road - that is, the most basic things. But they are expensive, and we will never be able to handle them ourselves. All this will allow tourists who have experience traveling to similar historical parks in France or Spain to enjoy the same quality of infrastructure. If all this is done, then I guarantee that within two or three years the historical content of the park will flourish, because everything is done by enthusiasts. And as soon as they see that the flow has started, it will become an additional incentive. We need a ready-made economical model for this to work as a tourist attractive place. I think that if there is political will, in two or three years the park will be completed.