Artek (camp)

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Artek's logo since 1990s

Artek (Russian: Арте́к) was the All-Union and international Young Pioneer camp in the Soviet Union. It was established on June 16, 1925 near the Black Sea in the town of Gurzuf located on the Crimean peninsula, at 44°33′N, 34°18′E The camp first hosted eighty children but it grew rapidly. In 1969 it had an area of 3.2 km², there were 150 buildings, three medical buildings, a school, film studio Artekfilm, three swimming pools, sports stadium (7000 seats), playgrounds for other activities.

Unlike most of the young pioneer camps, Artek was a year-round camp, thanks to the climate.

Structurally Artek was a group of 10 smaller camps. Each of them had its own name: "Morskoi", "Lazurny", "Kiparisny" etc. Four of these smaller camps ("Rechnoi", "Ozyorny", "Lesnoi" and "Polevoi") made up the notable "Pribrezhny" complex of Artek, built between 1960 and 1964. The group of architects led by Anatoly Polyansky which designed "Pribrezhny" was awarded the USSR State Prize in architecture in 1967.

Destination Artek was considered to be a honorable award for Soviet children as well as internationally. During its heyday, each year Artek gave 27,000 children vacations. Between 1925 and 1969 in the camp hosted 300,000 children including more than 13,000 children from seventy foreign countries. In July 1983 Artek was visited by a peacemaker Samantha Smith. Among honorary guests of Artek were Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Gagarin, Indira Gandhi, Urho Kekkonen, Nikita Khrushchev, Jawaharlal Nehru, Otto Schmidt, Lidia Skoblikova, Benjamin Spock, Mikhail Tal, Valentina Tereshkova, Lev Yashin.

Similar distinguished pioneer camps existed under jurisdictions of individual Soviet republics, e.g, Orlyonok in Russian SFSR and Zubryonok on Byelorussian SSR. In East Germany the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation built a pioneer camp similar to Artek in 1952 at Werbellinsee north-east of Berlin.

After the breaking up of the Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union in 1990 its prestige went down, but is has still been a popular vacational site.

At present, Artek belongs to Ukraine and is known as the "International Children's Center 'Artek' ". 60% of visitors arrive on a state subsidized or free basis. The beneficiaries are children from low income and large families, as well as orphans, handicapped, and gifted children. In 2005, full prices were in range 3,000-5,000 UAH, depending on the season and location.

In 2004 it was officially recognized by UNESCO as a site for implementation of international projects, in particular, during the UN Decade of Education (2005-2014).

In 2005, the year of Artek's 80th anniversary, Artek hosted about 13,000 children in ed camps under the supervision of about 2,000 of volunteer squad leaders managed by permanent pedagogical staff of over 200 in personnel, General Director Olga Guzar (Ольга Владимировна Гузар).

Traditionally, Artek provided a base (known as School of Pedagogues-Organizers) for hands-on training of students of pedagogical schools. This tradition has been continued today, known as "Humanitary Institute 'Artek' ". In 2005 students from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan were trained there.