Srostki (Altai Krai)

Srostki (Russian: Сростки) is a village in the Biysk District of the Altai Territory of Russia. It is the administrative center of the Srostinsky village council.

It is located on the right bank of the Katun River to the southeast of Biysk. The Chuysky Trakt road (P256) passes through the village.

Vasily Makarovich Shukshin, a Soviet writer, film director and actor, was born in Srostki. Since 1976, the Shukshin Readings have been held in his honor – an annual cultural festival on the writer’s birthday, where Shukshin prizes are awarded for the best literary works, a folklore festival, an exhibition of artists’ works, dramatizations of his works, etc. The venue for the events is Mount Piket, from the top of which a panorama of the village and the foothills of Altai opens up.

History

The village of Srostki was founded in 1804. From 1924 to 1931 and from 1944 to 1960, it was the center of the Srostki district. In the 1950s, when nearby settlements were united, residents of neighboring villages that had been liquidated moved here.

In April 1933, the OGPU arrested about 80 residents of the village. They were sent to Barnaul and shot by court order. Among those arrested was the father of the writer Vasily Shukshin, 21-year-old Makar Leontyevich. In 1956, all convicted residents of Srostki were rehabilitated posthumously.

Nowadays, the village of Srostki is a popular vacation spot for auto tourists and passengers of intercity buses traveling in the direction of the Altai Mountains. The food fair offers souvenirs, products of local craftsmen, Altai honey, food and drinks.

Attractions

All-Russian V. M. Shukshin Memorial Museum-Reserve

Mother’s house
The house was built by a local craftsman in 1957-1958 and bought by Vasily Shukshin for his mother in 1965. Maria Sergeyevna lived in the house until the end of 1972. The original layout and appearance of the brick one-story house remained unchanged. After Maria Shukshina-Kuksina moved to Biysk, the house was sold in 1974, and in 1977 it was bought by the state to organize a museum.
The school where V. M. Shukshin studied
The wooden school building was built in 1928. V. M. Shukshin finished 7 classes at this school, and after returning from the army, he passed the exams for the school-leaving certificate as an external student, and in 1953-1954 worked as a teacher at an evening school, acting as the school director. Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Spekov also studied here. The former school is the main building of the museum.
The house where V. M. Shukshin spent his childhood
The log cross house was built in 1908. Not only Shukshin’s childhood, but also his youth are associated with this house. After the house was acquired by the museum in 2002, repair and restoration work was carried out to recreate the appearance of the house when the Shukshin family lived in it.
Mount Piket
On Mount Piket (the old name Beket), Vasily Shukshin’s favorite vacation spot. In 2004, a bronze monument made by sculptor V. M. Klykov was erected on Mount Picket in honor of the 75th anniversary of V. M. Shukshin’s birth. The height of the monument is 8 meters, and its weight together with the pedestal is more than 20 tons.

Monument to fellow countrymen who died in the Great Patriotic War (WW2).

Monument to the repressed “Stone of Sorrow”.