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Concept
Kuntsevo Dacha
Summary
The Kuntsevo Dacha (Kuntsevskaya Dacha) was Joseph Stalin's personal residence near the former town of Kuntsevo (then Moscow Oblast, now part of Moscow's Fili district), where he lived for the last two decades of his life and died on 5 March 1953, although he also spent much time inside the Kremlin, where he possessed living quarters next to his offices. The dacha is located inside a forest not far from the modern-day Victory Park.
Also called the "nearer dacha" (Blizhnyaya Dacha), it was built in 1933–34 to Miron Merzhanov's designs. One storey was added to the original building in 1943. Stalin lived in Kuntsevo during World War II. It was there that he played host to such high-profile guests as Winston Churchill and Mao Zedong.
The dacha is located at the heart of a densely wooded birch forest; its defenses included a double-perimeter fence, camouflaged 30-millimeter antiaircraft guns, and a security force of three hundred NKVD (after 1946, MGB) special troops. The grounds included lemon and apple trees, a rose garden, a small pond, and a watermelon patch which Stalin liked to cultivate. There was also a sports ground for playing gorodki.
Upon entering the dacha, there was a lobby with two cloakrooms; to the left a door opened to Stalin's personal study, where he spent most of the day. Directly in front, a door opened to the large dining room, while to the right there was a long narrow corridor.
The rectangular dining room was dominated by a long polished table and covered with rose carpets. It was decorated with images of Vladimir Lenin and of the writer Maxim Gorky. It was in this room that Stalin welcomed the Soviet Politburo for meetings and late-night dinners, and where important decisions were often taken. An "almost invisible" door placed on the wall in one side of the dining room led to Stalin's bedroom, and to a kitchen.
On the left-hand side of the dacha, there was Stalin's personal study (where he spent most of the day when at Kuntsevo) with his large war-time desk, a radio that was a gift from Winston Churchill (when he first visited Moscow, in August 1942) and a couch; Stalin preferred to sleep on this couch, instead of his bedroom.
Official source
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