The device of the samovar
The samovar was for the Russian people a kind of symbol of the family hearth, comfort, friendly communication. The presence of a samovar in the house testified to material prosperity. Samovar often resolved serious business issues, without the samovar, did not do in the hottest creative and political discussions. The samovar was necessary both in the house of the St. Petersburg aristocrat, and in the tavern or in the tea-room for the poor people of the towns. Throughout the XIX and XX centuries, the samovar became the most characteristic symbol of Russian life, the central subject of tea drinking, which from the XIX century began to be considered as part of the national cultural tradition.
For Russian people, the concept of "Samovar" had a very specific meaning: to gather at the samovar at the tea table, sit and talk leisurely, chat and have tea.
Being an ornament of the house, the samovar from the moment of its appearance took a special place among household products, very quickly becoming one of the most original items of Russian decorative and applied art. The artistic design of samovars was able to satisfy all the variety of artistic and aesthetic demands of various strata of Russian society.
Convenient design, durability and artistic merit made the samovar irreplaceable. This remarkable product, widely spread in Russia for quite a long time, has not been studied practically from the point of view of history, either from the point of view of applied art or from the point of view of technology. This situation can be understood. When the samovar was an ordinary household item, it never occurred to anyone to devote separate studies to it, and when, after a very short time, the samovar became an antique rarity and a collector's item, it was too late to investigate the samovar. Too much has changed in the country. Many political epochs have passed, social revolutions have died down, and many secrets of the samovar business have been forgotten or lost. So it turned out that for today there is not a single serious scientific work devoted to the samovar.
Our publication is not able to fill this huge gap, but we will try to make at least a step in this direction.
"The samovar is boiling - he does not order to leave." "The samovar, that the Solovetsky Sea, drink from it for the health of the ladies" -that and many other playful proverbs reflected that respectful and kind attitude towards the samovar, which he deserved for several centuries. The growing interest in the history of the samovar as an original example of Russian decorative and applied art and Russian way of life, the extraordinary popularity of the samovar in our country for almost two hundred and fifty years, is explained by the fact that this metal aggregate for the heating of water has acquired a living "soul", becoming the material embodiment of hospitality And cordiality, friendly communication, intimate conversations, home peace and coziness.