The priest Pyotr Dmitriyevich Pavlov used to say to his children, “Duty comes before pleasure.” His great-nephew Alexander Fyodorovich Pavlov wrote about him, “He was a man of strength and integrity to a ripe old age.” Pyotr Pavlov was an intellectually curious and sensitive person who stood out among other city priests with his worldly wisdom.

Several items made by Pyotr Pavlov have been preserved in the family house. One of them is a perpetual calendar that hangs over the desk in Pyotr Pavlov’s office. This is a wooden box in an openwork frame with the year 1899 carved into the surface. Pyotr Pavlov built a mechanism into the calendar that allowed setting any date, day of the week, and month. This is why such calendars were called perpetual. The carved pattern is designed in the shape of scrolls and leaves woven into a vine. The upper part is decorated with a symbolic cross. The calendar also had a pocket where Pyotr Pavlov could place letters and newspapers that he received.

Perpetual calendars were popular in Russia at the turn of the 20th century. There were pocket, tabletop, and wall-mounted versions, as well as reference books and literary almanacs. “At bedtime, the family read the calendar, ” is a phrase that can be found in the literature of that period. After the Great Patriotic War, perpetual calendars made of cardboard and later aluminum were mass-produced in the Soviet Union.

Disc calendars were easier to use: the disc was turned to select the year and month, and the mechanism showed the corresponding days of the week. Such discs were divided into 28 parts and were designed for up to 28 years. With the rapid development of the Internet and mobile communications in the new millennium, perpetual calendars fell into disuse and are only made as souvenirs.