The Grinland Exhibition, dedicated to the life and creative work of writer Alexander Grin, is a joint project of Channel 5 (part of the National Media Group JSC) with the assistance of Rossiya Bank joint-stock bank and the Leningrad Center gallery.
2020 marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Grin, a poet and prose writer who created one of the most radiant pieces in Russian literature — the tale of the Scarlet Sails. An image of a dream and unwavering faith in the best in life, a symbol of freedom, and of a heart open to a brighter future still inspires young people across the world, and in St. Petersburg it’s tied in with one of the largest annual events — a school graduation festival.
Many romantics still consider Grin’s work a place to escape from reality, to recapture their youth, overwhelmed with expectation for a miracle. To ‘look for themselves’ on streets of their childhood towns: Zurbagan, Poket, Liss, and many others. At the exhibition in the Leningrad Center gallery, you can set off on a journey across the fantasy world created for us by the author.
The plot of this extravaganza takes place in the expanse of a fictional country created by Grin’s genius mind, just like events described in most of his books. It was after the author’s death that the country came to be known as Grinland.
Please enjoy the interactive map of Grinland, designed with scrupulous precision and a great degree of detail. It occupies the central part of the gallery within the Leningrad Center’s exhibition space. Across the vastness of the peninsula, almost all the cities are sea ports — that’s where the events from the tales we remember from our childhood took place: Assol, Reno Island, The Golden Chain, Blue Cascade of Telluri, She Who Runs on the Waves, and many others. All in all, the plots of more than half the works from the writer’s huge creative heritage take place in legendary Grinland.
Along with the largescale mock-up model of a fairytale land, the Leningrad Center’s gallery presents a detailed exposition dedicated to all stages of the writer’s life and work. It includes rare photos of Grin’s family and the places where he used to live; his first poems and reviews by his teachers; biographical information about challenging years of his life when he ‘collaborated’ with SRs; gendarmerie reports and field surveillance data; information about twists and turns in his personal life, and especially the author’s literary legacy.
An important part of the exhibition is a unique collection of printed publications: original copies of magazines where Grin’s short stories were published while he was alive. Ogonyok, Krasnaya Niva, Literaturnaya Gazeta and other periodicals are among them. Many exhibit items have come down to us as the only remaining copies.
Dates: June 28, 2021 – August 15, 2021
The exhibition is open from 12:00 to 20:00 daily
The entrance is free.