CAVENDISH, Vermont (AP)—Residents of a small town that was the home of exiled Soviet dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn for nearly two decades have decided to create an exhibit honoring him.
About 70 voters at Monday night’s Town Meeting in Cavendish overwhelmingly decided the town should take over a historic stone church to house the exhibit for the Nobel Literature laureate.
Preservationists will examine the church, particularly its roof, in the spring, once all the snow has melted, and the exhibit should be ready by next year, Cavendish Historical Society coordinator Margo Caulfield said. The church likely will need minor repairs and cosmetic work, but events should be able to be held there almost immediately, she said.
Solzhenitsyn lived in Cavendish from 1977 to 1994 and died in Russia in 2008. His house in Cavendish is still lived in by his son, pianist and conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn, and his family.
The Town Meeting, residents’ annual decision-making gathering, was the venue where Solzhenitsyn addressed his new neighbors when he arrived in Cavendish.