Barvikha is a village in Odintsovsky District

Odintsovsky District

Odintsovsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 38 in Moscow Oblast, Russia....

 of Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It is the site of the Barvikha Sanatorium, the health resort of the President of Russia. During the Soviet era, Barvikha was known as the site of the most desirable state dacha

Dacha

Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...

s for government officials and leading intellectuals, and many of Russia's wealthiest individuals have built private luxury dachas here since the late 1990s.

Geography

The village lies on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye road leading to the west from Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, just outside the Moscow Ring Road and the boundaries of the city of Moscow. There is a Barvikha rail station on a spur of the Belarus direction of the Moscow Railway

Moscow Railway

The Moscow Railway is a subsidiary of Russian Railways that handles half of Russia's suburban railway operations and a quarter of the country's passenger traffic...

, first opened at the current site in 1927.

Barvikha is surrounded by a zone of pine forest nature preserve on the south bank of the Moscow River.

History

Two villages, Lutskaya and Shulgina existed in the area where modern Barvikha now stands. Later they grew and merged into a settlement, which was originally called Samynki , after the Saminka River, on which the settlement stood. Over time, the name changed to Borikha and later—to Barvikha. By 1890, the population of the village consisted of almost 100 people.

Sanatorium

Barvikha contains the Barvikha Sanatorium , a well-equipped medical center which treated several Russian leaders. The sanatorium was designed by architect Boris Iofan

Boris Iofan

Boris Mihailovich Iofan was a Russian Soviet architect, known for his Stalinist architecture buildings like 1931 House on Embankment and the 1931-1933 winning draft of the Palace of Soviets.- Background :...

, and completed in 1935. It was designated as a clinic for leading government officials suffering from illnesses of digestion and metabolism; it was there that Bulgarian leader Georgi Dimitrov

Georgi Dimitrov

Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...

 died in 1949. In 1944 and 1945, writer and Communist Party official Aleksandr Shcherbakov

Aleksandr Shcherbakov

Aleksandr Sergueyevich Shcherbakov , was a founding member of the Soviet Writers' Union, along with Maxim Gorky. Following the latter's death in 1936, Shcherbakov was transferred from his role as First Secretary to the lower role of Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee where he reported...

 was treated at Barvikha for cardiac illness. He died of heart failure in 1945. In 1952, Shcherbakov's death became one of the issues in Doctors' Plot

Doctors' plot

The Doctors' plot was the most dramatic anti-Jewish episode in the Soviet Union during Joseph Stalin's regime, involving the "unmasking" of a group of prominent Moscow doctors, predominantly Jews, as conspiratorial assassins of Soviet leaders...

 affair. The deputy director of the medical department of the sanitarium, Roman Ryzhikov, was arrested and interrogated, but later released.

Today the sanatorium is owned by the Administration of Affairs of the President of the Russian Federation

President of the Russian Federation

The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation...

. It provides deluxe accommodations and high-quality medical services. Its grounds include a lake that offers fishing and swimming in the summer. The first President of Russia

President of the Russian Federation

The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation...

, Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...

, made frequent stays at the Sanatorium during his second presidential term and retirement. From 1996 until his death in April 2007, his primary residence was the Gorki-9 presidential dacha on the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Road, not far from Barvikha. This allowed quick access to the Sanatorium's medical facilities.

Dachas

The Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Road, colloquially known as the Rublyovka

Rublevka

Rublevka or Rublyovka is an unofficial name of a prestigious residential area west of Moscow, Russia. The name is derived from the name of Rublyovskoye shosse. The residences of many Government officials and successful businesspeople are located along Rublevka. Real estate prices there are some of...

, has long been a site for dacha

Dacha

Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...

s. During the Soviet period, prominent officials and intellectuals often used state-owned dachas in the vicinity of Barvikha. Writer Aleksey Tolstoy and his family occupied a state-owned dacha in Barvikha from 1938 through his death in 1945.

Development

Beginning in the late 1990s, Barvikha has become a popular site for the dachas of wealthy residents of Moscow. In contrast to the traditional wood-built dachas, these new, privately-owned cottages are often much larger and include mansion-like residences with full amenities and private security. The rapid development has substantially increased property values and has generated some friction with long-term local residents.

The Barvikha Luxury Village, a high-end shopping center including Ferrari

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

 and Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...

dealerships, opened in 2005.