ST. PETERSBURG -- In a country that loves to commemorate wartime victories,
the Battle of 1373 is often overlooked.
Little wonder. That was the one where the Russians were so drunk by
the time the enemy showed up that the Tatars won by default. The inebriated
Russians were ingloriously thrown into the nearby river, which from then
on was known as the RekaPianaya -- the Drunk River.
To say that alcohol has played an important role in the history of Russia
would be an understatement. It has unraveled the strategies of generals
and thwarted the will of czars. In modern times, it has sent generations
of Russian men to early graves. But to hear Russians talk, it also links
a society stretched across two continents; it serves that part of the Russian
soul that cherishes hospitality, camaraderie and trust.
So perhaps it was inevitable that here in Russia's imperial capital,
a museum would emerge dedicated to that most Russian of drinks. The Russian
Vodka Museum, preparing to open its doors to visitors this month, provides
something of a tour through the Russian psyche -- the lust for life, the
violence, the pride of craftsmanship, the ingenuity in overcoming anything
that gets in the way of a good bottle.
"The whole history of Russian culture is tied to vodka," said Sergei
Chentsov, one of the museum's founders. "We decided to repair a historical
injustice. There are museums of French cognac, there are museums of whiskey.
Russian vodka is known at least as much, if not more, and it has a huge
history."
Chentsov and his partner, Roman Shevyakov, insist they are not out to
celebrate vodka in a country where alcoholism is a leading cause of death,
but merely want to present a balanced portrayal of its role in Russian
life. "If it is tied with tradition, then it's good. If it's just everyday
drunkenness, it's bad," Chentsov said. "We wanted to show how it can be
good and how it can be bad. In no way is it propaganda for people to drink.
But to close your eyes and ignore its place in our national tradition,
it's impossible."
The vast majority of Russians drink vodka, often in great quantities.
Rare is the host who does not proffer a glass along with pickles and brown
bread when a visitor walks in the door, and to refuse is to risk giving
offense. While beer has become increasingly popular in recent years, it
is seen as a soda pop and does not compete.
Many Russians ascribe medicinal, almost supernatural, qualities to vodka.
Parents soak cotton balls in vodka and dab them on children to bring down
a fever or ease an earache. Vodka with pepper is prescribed for an adult's
cold; vodka with salt for an upset stomach. Some nuclear scientists even
drank it to protect themselves from radiation. And for centuries in a country
that has known enormous misery, it provided one of the few releases from
an often oppressive existence.
But vodka -- a diminutive for the Russian word for water -- has also
become a national crisis. Alcohol use has spiked in the 15 years since
Mikhail Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign; a government researcher estimates
that the typical Russian man drinks 180 bottles of vodka a year, or nearly
one every two days. As a result, alcohol-related deaths have pushed the
average life span of the Russian male below 60 and the high mortality has
pushed down the country's population.
"It's one of the biggest problems, maybe the biggest," in the country,
said Alexander Nemtsov, the top researcher at the Health Ministry's psychiatric
institute.
Nemtsov does not think much of a vodka museum. "We're talking about
the popularization of vodka," he said. "The consumption of alcohol in Russia
is huge and Russia has a lot of alcohol-related problems. It's almost criminal
to have such a museum in Russia."
The new museum in St. Petersburg is not the first of its type in Russia,
but it will occupy a far more prominent location than any previous one.
There's one in the provincial town of Uglich, and a vodka distillery set
up its own museum in the Moscow suburbs a few months ago essentially to
pitch its brand.
But those were unknown to Chentsov and Shevyakov, friends who had been
in real estate together, when they came up with the idea for their St.
Petersburg museum. It actually came to them one day while they were downing
a few at an airport bar.
Inside the well-lit, renovated space along a fashionable St. Petersburg
avenue are exhibits tracing the history of vodka back 500 years, to when
it was called bread wine. Even before that, alcohol played a defining role
in Russian history; on the wall is an illustration of Prince Vladimir choosing
Christianity as the official religion in 988. The reason, according to
the museum? Because it would allow followers to drink every day, not just
on holidays.
Other exhibits show a moonshine machine operated by monks, pistols to
represent alcohol-fueled duels and centuries-old handwritten recipes. Much
of the history of vodka is the history of czars, and later Communist Party
general secretaries, trying to control, regulate or tax it. The prohibition
endorsed by Lenin eventually gave way to the daily allotment provided soldiers
by Stalin during World War II. Posters from Gorbachev's ill-fated anti-alcohol
campaign adorn the walls.
Chentsov, 46, a physician, and Shevyakov, 32, a language specialist,
borrowed from friends and received help from the city to put together their
display. Aside from souvenir bottles, they said, they have not received
help from
vodka manufacturers.
"Alcohol is like every medicine," Chentsov said. "If it's a little bit,
it's good. If it's a little bit more, it's poison."
But many outside Russia underestimate its spiritual importance, he added.
"In the West, people go to psychotherapists," he said. "In Russia, we get
a bottle and sit down and talk through all our problems."