The exhibition features a crystal vase with a portrait of Vitaly Zakrutkin that was given to the writer by the regional leadership during the celebrations of his 75th anniversary.
Ivan Afanasyevich Bondarenko, the first secretary of the Rostov Regional Committee of the CPSU, flew to the Kochetovskaya area by helicopter to congratulate Vitaly Zakrutkin on his 75th birthday. The festivities took place in the Palace of Culture, where representatives from the regional and district leadership, public and writers’ organizations, stanitsa residents, and friends gathered to celebrate the guest of honor. They read letters of congratulations, delivered ceremonial speeches, and presented gifts.
Among the gifts presented at the anniversary celebrations, this crystal vase, made to order at the Aksay Glass Factory in the Rostov region, stood out for its exquisite beauty and elegance.
Ivan Bondarenko presented this vase to Vitaly Zakrutkin as a token of gratitude for his literary achievements, his active parliamentary work in the Don region, and “for his fiery heart, bright and sensitive soul, his sincere empathy, and eagerness to help those in need.”
Bondarenko noted that, in his works, Vitaly Zakrutkin glorified the Don, the working people, soldiers, and defenders of the Fatherland while celebrating the beauty of nature. For his literary achievements, Zakrutkin, who was also a front-line soldier and order bearer, received state prizes of the USSR, the RSFSR, the Central Committee of the Komsomol, and the Armed Forces. Zakrutkin wrote, “Oh blessed Cossack Land! The land of warriors, fishermen, winegrowers, farmers, scientists, and writers! How many songs have been composed about you, how many tales and legends have been told!.. May your land be blessed, Cossack Land!“
Zakrutkin’s books “Creation of the World”, “Mother of the Human”, “Floating Stanitsa”, “Notes from the Caucasus”, “Academician Plyushchov”, “Pushkin and Lermontov”, and “Along the Roads of the Great War” have become integral to Russian literature.
The Aksay Glass Factory, where the vase was created, was founded in the 19th century. Although the factory celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1966, the exact date of its establishment remains unknown. The products of this enterprise continue to delight many people, including visitors to the Vitaly Zakrutkin House-Museum.
