Repino (Russian: РеÌпино) is a municipal settlement in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, and a station of the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It was known by its Finnish name Kuokkala until 1948, when it was renamed after its most famous inhabitant, Ilya Repin. It is located approximately 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of St. Petersburg proper, on the Karelian Isthmus on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Population: 2,478 (2010 Census); 2,011 (2002 Census); 4,215 (1989 Census).
The settlement is known for Repin's estate Penaty and for its sanatorium.
History
At the beginning of the 20th century, Repino (then Kuokkala) was located in the Grand Duchy of Finland, a part of the Russian Empire. Shortly after the October Revolution in 1917, Finland declared its independence from the Soviet Union. When the Karelian Isthmus was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Winter War and the Continuation War (1939â€"1944), Kuokkala became Russian. In 1948, it was renamed Repino in honor of the painter Ilya Repin.
Penates
In 1899, Repin bought an estate here and called it Penaty (Russian: Пенаты, meaning Penates, Roman household gods). He designed his own house, and after it had been built several years later, Repin moved to Kuokkala. He would live there until his death in 1930. The house is surrounded by a large park.
The estate is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. The estate has been a museum since 1940.
Famous inhabitants
- Mikhail Botvinnik, World chess champion, was born in Kuokkala in 1911.
- Vladimir Lenin, Russian Communist leader and founder of the USSR, lived in Kuokkala between 1906 and 1907.
- Ivan Puni, avant-garde artist, was born in Kuokkala in 1894.
- Ilya Repin, painter and sculptor, lived in Kuokkala from the beginning of the 20th century until his death in 1930.
- Korney Chukovsky, children's poet and philologist, lived in Kuokkala from 1906 till 1916.
- Elena Mrozovskaya, an early female photographer, died in Kuokkala in 1941.
Notes
External links
- (Russian) Sanatorium "Repino"
- (Dutch) Eikonikon Bulletin about Ilya Repin
