Public Story
Doves In The City
Last fall, after reading an article about dovecote owners I became determined to shoot a photo story about them. I started searching for dovecotes in various neighborhoods of Moscow and getting acquainted with their owners. I discovered that there are plenty of dovecotes in Moscow which are able to survive in the city and become a part of its urban environment. I was surprised to learn of the different variety of dovecote styles and architectural forms. Some dovecotes are standalone structures which look like small Russian fairytale houses with brightly painted facades and interesting architectural forms. Yet there are some, which lack character and are nested right on top of the garages or temporary structures. In these bird houses the dovecote owners spend most part of the day carrying for their birds. Many dovecote owners are trying to make the birds' habitat attractive and appealing by planting flower gardens and trees around dovecotes.
The dovecote owners are people of different gender, age, social status and income, but they all are united by unconditional affection for their birds. Tatiana, one of the dovecote owners, was saving money to buy a car for the family, but instead, spent it all on renovating the dovecote. Another dovecote owner, Anatoly Gennadievoch, a retiree living in the historic citycenter, despite his age and fragile health, every weekend travels to a distant flea market to buy grain for his pigeons. Mingaukas Vaitus, a retired professional athlete from the Baltics who moved to Moscow over 40 years ago, built a separate room on top of his
dovecote in order to be close to his birds all the time.
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