The Marine Station of the Sochi Port – Creation of Karo Halabyan

Summer. The season of river walks along the Moscow River, Volga, and other channels of Russia. On such trips, beautiful landscapes with small towns and villages along the coast are revealed.

No less impressive are sea cruises, for example, along the Black Sea. In Soviet times, the route Odessa – Sevastopol – Yalta – Novorossiysk – Sochi – Sukhumi – Batumi was highly popular. The love of cruise travel was reflected in Leonid Gaidai’s comedy “The Diamond Arm” (1968).

When traveling through the Black Sea, you can go ashore to inspect the main terminal building of the Sochi Sea Station, the railway station complex of the city’s seaport.

The marine station was built in 1955. The authors of the project were Karo Halabyan and Leonid Karlik. The two-story building of the station is crowned with a 71-meter tower with a spire. Above the three levels of the tower are sculpted figures representing the seasons and cardinal points. Their author is famous Soviet sculptor Vladimir Iosifovich Ingal. By the way, he is one of the authors of the tombstone on the grave of choreographer and teacher Agrippina Vaganova.

We have already talked about Halabyan and his heritage more than once. Let’s say a little about Leonid Karlik.

Honored Architect of the RSFSR Leonid Borisovich Karlik was born in 1912. Together with Karo Halabyan, he drew up a plan for the construction of the Sochi port in 1950–1951. Then, they together took part in the construction works of the Sochi marine railway station.

Karlik participated in the design of a number of buildings during the construction of Leningradsky Avenue in Moscow.

Leonid Karlik died in 1986. He was buried at the Armenian Vagankovsky cemetery.

Karlik was married to Maria Vardanovna Lisitsian. She was a Soviet rhythmic gymnastics coach and one of the founders of the Soviet school of this sport. In 1966, she was awarded the title of Honored Trainer of the USSR.

Maria Lisitsian was the niece of Stepan Danilovich Lisitsian, founder and first chairman of the Armenian Geographical Society.

… Returning to the “Diamond Arm.” One of the episodes of the film was shot at the main deep-sea pier of the Sochi marine station. This is the scene where Semyon Semyonovich Gorbunkov says goodbye to his family before setting off on a trip on the liner “Mikhail Svetlov.”

Hripsime Galstyan

P.S. Recall that recently, mass layoffs of Russian citizens of Armenian origin have occurred at the airport in Sochi. There are many cities in the world that Armenians have built from scratch. The city of Baku also belongs to such cities, in which no Armenians live today.

In the Southern Federal District of Russia, there are at least two such cities – Rostov-on-Don and Budyonnovsk. In the architecture of the remaining cities of the Southern Federal District, the Armenian heritage is visible on almost every corner.

Is it possible that tomorrow, we will look at photos on the Internet and talk about the buildings and cities that the Armenians have built, which, by the way, no one except us will know? And maybe, we won’t have access to those cities, judging by the example of Baku. In any case, the trend is obvious.