The Brezhnev Dacha: Just Another Lavish Home?

Lavish exterior of the Brezhnev dacha

Leonid Brezhnev (second from right) entertaining important political guests in his dacha

Like Stalin and many Russian and Soviet leaders in Russia’s history, Leonid Brezhnev, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1964 to 1982, had his very own lavish dacha that he utilized as an escape from his hectic political life in Moscow. As seen from the photo, the Brezhnev dacha was extremely grand and lavish as compared to the typical dacha, and his wife, Victoria Brezhnev actually spent the most time at this dacha. Her obituary published in The Independent called the dacha, a three-story building at Zarechye, 10 minutes from the Kremlin, her “kingdom.” (1) Like Stalin and his dacha, the Brezhnevs not only utilized their dacha for recreational purposes, but also for professional and political purposes, as seen in the second image of Brezhnev and his guests in his dacha. Brezhnev often entertained foreign visitors and guests in his dacha including past president of the United States Richard Nixon. (2) These differences in aesthetic and purpose of the Brezhnev dacha and the “typical” Muscovite dacha highlight the elevated prominence of political officials in Russian culture.