Artek, the last pioneer camp

Since the collapse of the USSR, many things have changed, while others have disappeared. However, Artek, the most reputed pioneer camp, is still standing. It is truly an institution.

Located in the Crimea, on the Black Sea, Artek was founded in 1925 with 4 tents and 80 children, the survivors of the terrible famines of the twenties. With the passing years, it became a giant centre with buildings scattered over several hectares of land. Artek was a holiday camp for the Soviet Union’s “deserving” children: a recognition bestowed as a result of hard work and an irreproachable political attitude, an honour to which only the elite was entitled to aspire.

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The communist society's shop window, the centre became an example of what the USSR could offer its children. Today, however, three weeks at Artek cost 400 dollars, the equivalent of about 6 months' salary for the average Russian. But the basic ideology survives: Artek also takes in children who are sent thanks to a solidarity fund or charitie organizations, as well as the children of company employees. Each summer, 4,500 youths come to stay in what its director asserts is an "oasis of communism in a sea of chaos". The prestigious erstwhile pioneer camp – at the time, the highest reward for right-thinking young Soviets – today comes across as completely incongruous, separated from the real world by thick walls and inconspicuous guards that let no one in.

In limbo between the great celebrations of the past and the uncertainty of the present, Artek has remained, against all odds, a sought-after holiday centre. Artek is the last place where Russia's nouveaux riches can bring their children for a day of "make-believe Soviet life", paid for in dollars.