January 29, 2016: the home city of Anton Chekhov paid tribute to their great countryman. Traditionally the date is celebrated by a program of commemorative events organized by Taganrog Arts & Culture Council and Taganrog State Museum Reserve.

In the early morning citizens and guests of the city gathered in front of Chekhov Monument on the Red Square in Taganrog. Rostov Oblast's deputy minister of culture Mr. Ivan Grunskiy, chairman of Taganrog City Council (Duma) Mr. Yuri Stefanov, deputy mayor for social affairs Mrs. Yelena Shelukhina, director of "The White Dacha" Chekhov Museum in Yalta Mr. Alexander Titorenko, widow of Anton Chekhov's grand-nephew Mrs. Yevgeniya Philipovna Chekhova, director of Taganrog State Museum Reserve Mrs. Yelizaveta Lipovenko, Taganrog City Council's aldermen, students, representatives of NGOs and national diasporas. "We love and value Chekhov. The credit for what this city's cultural life has to offer today also goes to Anton Pavlovich", remarked deputy mayor Yelena Shelukhina at the rally.

After this event the guests of honor visited all memorial sites related to the years of Anton's childhood, adolescence and youth in Taganrog, starting with "Chekhov's Birth House" memorial museum. The literature and music soiree "Domesticity" at "Chekhov Gymnasium" literature museum was also attended by Rostov Oblast's Minister of Cultural Affairs Mr. Alexander Rezvanov. The highlight of this event was donation of unique Chekhov family items, which was made by Mrs. Yevgeniya Philipovna Chekhova. Taganrog museum's exhibition has been enriched with a collection of Frédéric François Chopin works, photos and various objects of the past century.

Minister of culture reminded that the year 2016 was named "The Year of Cinema" in Russia: "The festive events in Rostov Oblast dedicated to cinema will kick off with exhibition of a 1987 Soviet-Italian film "Oci ciornie" ("Dark Eyes") adapted from four Anton Chekhov's stories".

On the evening of the same day the play "The Last Page" was again on stage of Taganrog Drama Theater named after Chekhov to conclude the 156th birth anniversary commemorative event. This theater party first premiered in 2005 and was based on correspondence between the playwright and Olga Knipper-Tschekhowa and memoirs of Chekhov's contemporaries.