Tschechov

Tschechov (Anton Chekhov)

The Tschechov, also known as the Anton Chekhov, is a river cruise ship. It belongs to the Soviet Q-056 project and has registration number RRR 034941. The 115.6-metre-long vessel was built for navigation on the Yenisei River. Its history links Siberia’s great river routes with later cruise operations in the European part of Russia.

Construction and transfer to Siberia

A contract to build two passenger ships under the Q-056 project was signed at the end of 1975 between the Linz-Korneuburg shipyard and the Soviet foreign trade company Sudimport. The keel of the Anton Chekhov was laid on 4 November 1976, and the ship was launched on 17 July 1977. After fitting out, it underwent a technical preliminary inspection in April 1978. It was officially accepted in Galați, Romania, on 30 June and entered the fleet of the Soviet Ministry of River Transport.

The journey to its future operating area was itself a long transfer voyage. The ship first sailed through the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, then along the Don and the Volga and through the Volga–Baltic Canal. Via Lake Onega, the Svir, Lake Ladoga and the Neva, it reached Leningrad in August. From there, the voyage went around Scandinavia and along the Northern Sea Route to Siberia. The Anton Chekhov arrived in Dudinka on 7 September 1978; two days later, it began its journey on the Yenisei towards Krasnoyarsk. This route connected European waterways and the Arctic coast with a river system far inland.

Cruises on the Yenisei

The first tourist voyage began in May 1979. Until the spring of 1991, the ship operated for the Krasnoyarsk Tourism Council on the Krasnoyarsk–Dudinka–Dikson route and back.

In December 1992, the Swiss company Miggel Turgau agreed to a multi-year charter. In the spring of 1993, it had the public and technical areas refurbished: the restaurant and bow bar received new furniture and lighting, mattresses and bed linen were replaced, and the galley and laundry were modernised. These changes show how the ship was prepared for a new role in tourism. At the same time, the Yenisei route linking Krasnoyarsk and Dudinka was reorganised; from 1995, voyages to the Lower Tunguska were added.

Transfer to the Don

After its cooperation with Miggel Turgau ended, the ship initially entered a new charter for the 2002 season. In August 2003, it began its transfer to Rostov-on-Don. After a stopover in Saint Petersburg, the ship arrived in Rostov in the autumn. In May 2004, it began its first cruise from there for Doninturflot. Its focus thus shifted from the Yenisei to Russia’s European river network. In the winter of 2017–18, the central deck area was remodelled: at the stern, an extension to the restaurant replaced an open promenade area, while an outdoor area on a higher level was enclosed.