Stained Glass Ceilings for a Presidential Retreat on the Volga

Some commissions arrive with a deadline you cannot move. In the spring of 2007 the Russian Federation asked Stanisic Studio for a set of stained glass ceilings for a new conference building on the Volga, and the date they had to be finished was the date the leaders of Russia and the European Union would walk underneath them.

A presidential retreat on the Volga

Volzhsky Utyos, the "Volga Cliff", is a sanatorium of the Administrative Department of the President of Russia. It stands in a pine forest in the Shigonsky District of the Samara Region, on the shore of the Kuybyshev Reservoir of the Volga at the foot of the Zhiguli Mountains, about 70 km from the town of Syzran. It was built in 1976, and Russian presidents have spent time here over the years. In 2007 the complex was rebuilt to host the Russia EU summit, and today it carries the name of the cardiologist Academician Evgeny Chazov.

Made in Sombor, carried to the Volga

The studio was commissioned by the Russian Federation, working together with Energoprojekt, the Serbian engineering company, to create massive stained glass windows set into the ceilings of the new building, about 30 m² of glass in all. Every panel and every frame was made in the studio in Sombor, Serbia. Then they were crated and loaded onto trucks for the long journey east, all the way to the Volga.

The ceilings are classic and generous: rich circles and diamonds of blue, gold, red and green glass, framed in plaster moldings and lit from above, so the corridors of polished marble glow under them like a row of jewels.

2 men, 3 days

The installation was done by just 2 people, Stevan Stanisic and Dragan Bokun, and it was done in a record 3 days on a very tight deadline. Every ceiling had to be in place, sealed and clean before the delegations arrived.

Stevan Stanisic Dragan Bokun

The summit

On 17 and 18 May 2007, the Russia EU summit was held at Volzhsky Utyos. President Vladimir Putin hosted the leaders of the European Union, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country then held the EU presidency, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. All the delegations stayed in the complex, and their meetings took place in the building with our glass overhead.

Before the summit, the final acceptance of the work was made by the presidential architect of Russia at the time. He personally congratulated Stevan in the name of the Russian Federation and President Putin for a job well done.

A long train, and a little car

When the work was finished, Stevan and Dragan took the long train to Moscow, spent a few days in the city and then went home to Serbia. It was Stevan's first trip to Russia, and more followed in the years after.

Along the way there was time for one more photograph. The little cream car next to Stevan is an SMZ S-3D, built by the Serpukhov Motor Plant from 1970 to 1997. It was a 2 seat microcar made for disabled drivers and handed out through the Soviet social welfare system, which earned it the nickname "invalidka". It had an 18 horsepower, 346 cc two stroke engine at the back, and its drivers usually received a new one after 5 years. More about the SMZ S-3D.

Commission: Russian Federation, Volzhsky Utyos sanatorium, Samara Region
In collaboration with: Energoprojekt, Serbia
Fabrication: Stanisic Studio, Sombor, Serbia
Installation: Stevan Stanisic and Dragan Bokun, May 2007
Stained glass ceilings: about 30 m² (about 320 sq ft)