Nestor Kukolnik

His father, Bazyli Wojciech Kukolnik, belonged to the ethnic group of Rusyns (Ruthenians) and came from an old noble family.

In 1833 Kukolnik's first play “Tortini” was published by Faddei Bulgarin, soon followed by fantasy drama “Torcuato Tasso”, which resulted in his reputation as a legendary playwright in the capital.

The turning point in his literary career came in 1834, after demonstration of patriotic drama "Ruka Vsevishnego Otechestvo Spasla" (The God's Hand Saved The Motherland), applauded by the Russian Emperor Nicolas I at the play's premiere.

He experimented with multiple genres and formats: novels, historical tales, criticism, poetry and even music.

He was a friend of Mikhail Glinka, who to set some of Kukolnik's verses (Hesitation, Skylark, and Passing Song, among others) to music.

Dizzy from his success, he proclaimed that there were only three geniuses in Russia - himself as a writer, Mikhail Glinka as a composer, and Karl Briullov as a painter.

Since 1865 Nestor Kukolnik led the workgroup that proved necessity of a railroad line from Kharkov to Taganrog.

In 1966 the city administration signed a decree and allowed the Public Joint-Stock Company “The Taganrog Boiler-Making Works “Krasny Kotelshchik” to build additional industrial areas on the territory of Kukolnik's estate.

[2] In Dostoyevsky's novel Demons, the character of Varvara Petrovna Stavrogin uses Kukolnik (as portrayed in Briullov's portrait above) as the model for her idealized presentation of Stepan Verkhovensky.