Lady with a Racket (Samara)

The Lady with a Racket is a bronze sculpture in Pushkin Square in Samara, in the city's Leninsky District off Vilonovskaya Street. It was modelled on Maria von Bareder, the companion of the brewer Alfred von Vacano, and is dedicated to the history of tennis in the Samara region.

History

In the early twentieth century the city's first tennis courts were laid out where Pushkin Square is today. They appeared in 1911–1912, and games were held there regularly. On 8 September 1912 these courts hosted Samara's first tournament, a competition for the von Vacano Cup, which is regarded as the beginning of tennis in Samara.

Exactly a hundred years later, on 8 September 2012, the Lady with a Racket was unveiled on the same spot. The initiative came from the Samara Region Tennis Federation. The opening ceremony drew honoured guests from the city and the region, and was followed by a tennis tournament in which the guests themselves played, carrying on the century-old tradition.

Maria von Bareder

Maria von Bareder (some sources spell it Barader) was the common-law wife of Alfred von Vacano, an Austrian nobleman and entrepreneur who founded the brewery now known as Zhigulevsky. Maria did much to make the game take root in Samara: with her involvement the sport, new to the province, became popular here, and the city's first tournament bore the von Vacano name.

After the Civil War Alfred, Maria and their son Lothar left Samara for Austria. The family is remembered in the city mainly through the brewery, while the sculpture in Pushkin Square also recalls Maria's part in Samara's sporting life.

The sculpture

The sculptors were Nikolai and Alexander Kuklev of Samara. The bronze figure shows Maria von Bareder with a tennis racket and recalls the first players of the provincial town, who played on the courts that once stood here. It stands in the open in the square, on the very ground where the von Vacano Cup was first contested.

Getting there

Pushkin Square is in Samara's Leninsky District, off Vilonovskaya Street. The sculpture stands in the square itself and can be seen at any time, free of charge.