The people of Crimea have voted to become part of Russia in a bitterly disputed referendum.

It's a region that has huge significance in the Russian psyche. Why? In 1893, Maximilian Voloshin's mother bought a plot of land in a little Crimean village called o!tebel" #he iev$born Voloshin, a poet and philosopher, built a house on the %aterfront and %ould invite his friends, poets, artists, %riters, from Mosco% and &t 'etersburg, to sta( for months at a time during the first three decades of the )*th Centur(" #he poet Marina #svetaeva met her husband &ergei +fron on the beach at o!tebel %hen the( %ere teenagers" 'oets ,nna ,!hmatova and -sip Mandelstam both spent time %ith Voloshin" ,%a( from the cit(, in a tin( bac!%ater, the artists could be bohemian $ %ear their hair long, or cut it short and shoc! the locals" o!tebel became, and to a degree remained, an artists' colon(" 'art of the appeal of Crimea for Mandelstam and #svetaeva %as its exotic, Muslim atmosphere" Mandelstam's poem .eodosia is an ode to the #atar to%n of affa" Surrounded by tall hills, Like a flock of sheep you run down the mountain, And sparkle like pink and white stones in the dry, transparent air. Pirates' feluccas rock back and forth, Flags like poppies set alight the Turkish port, ane!like masts, elastic crystal of a wa"e, And boats hanging like hammocks from ropes. .or #svetaeva and Mandelstam, the /lac! &ea and Crimea %ere fascinating and exotic, %orlds a%a( from Mosco%, an id(llic, pre$ lapsarian, pre$revolutionar( time and place the( return to in their poetr(" Voloshin's artists' colon( inaugurated a centur( of Crimea as holida( destination" 0is love of %al!ing and other outdoor pursuits, and the upper class fashion for ta!ing the %aters in health resorts %ere metamorphosed into holida( camps and spa retreats for the ne% &oviet masses"