герои писателя вытесняют здесь, в Ивановском, далеко не поэтическую память о московской Мессалине, графине Закревской, и мало в чем уступающей ей дочери Лидии . Обстановка дома давно вывезена на многих десятках подвод при продаже усадьбы графу Келлеру. С тех пор всегда полупустым был дом, ставший после 1917 года грязным, загаженным, засоренным обиталищем каких-то рабочих и служащих из Подольска. Через Ивановское проходит дорога в соседнее знаменитое село Дубровицы.
Obviously, what is needed is a specialist study of the life and work of Alexei Grech. Alas, not a single essay devoted to him has appeared so far. One hopes that the members of the Society for the Study of Russian Country Estates, formed in April 1992, which has taken over from the society of the same name that existed in the 1920s and was so closely linked with the name of Alexei Grech, will address themselves to this exacting task. At this stage the information available is still extremely meagre.
Alexei Grech (Zaliman, Zaleman, Stepanov) was bom in 1899. In 1931 he became an inmate of the Solovetsky
labour camp, convicted on political charges. At 32 years of age Grech had already established himself as an historian and art specialist of wide-ranging erudition and had authored many works, some of which had been published. His main achievement, however, was that he helped to launch two societies, Artifex and the above-mentioned Society for the Study of Russian Country Estates. As regards the former, Grech was literally its prime mover. However, it eventually emerged as a kind of intellectuals' club, lacking a clearly defined program, and this ran counter to Grech's original plan. This is what he wrote in a 1921 letter: I find it hard to visit the "Artifex, I realise that it is not what I would like it to be, and so I quit. I've had enough of decadentism, aestheticism and dilettantism..." Many of the "Artifex most active members left it for the same reasons and set up the Society for the Study of Russian Country Estates in December 1922. The founders were Yury Bakhrushin, Alexei Grech and Vladimir Zgura; the latter presided over the Society's work in 19231927, until his tragic death during a Crimean holiday.