And to this day in many cities of the republics of the former Soviet Union there are dovecotes. Or at least what's left of them. In the Soviet years, birds were bred on a truly massive scale. They do this today, but in that era, dovecotes could be found in the most unexpected places. They even stood in the courtyards of residential buildings. So, why did the country of the defeated socialism need so many birds?
Interesting fact: The dove was made an international symbol of peace by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in 1949. Picasso himself was an avid breeder of these birds.
In fact, breeding pigeons in the USSR is not something unique. Moreover, the construction of dovecotes is by no means a young phenomenon by historical standards. The dove was domesticated thousands of years ago. Moreover, scientists still do not know exactly when people first began to breed these wonderful birds. According to the most conservative estimates, the first dovecotes date back to the period of the formation of civilization between the 7th and 3rd millennium BC. Apparently, the “fashion” for pigeons has spread throughout the rest of the world from the Middle East. To date, people have bred over 800 breeds of domestic pigeons. Curiously, about 200 breeds were bred in Russia (empire, Union, modern country).
The goals of pigeon breeding in the Soviet Union were not much different from those in the rest of the world, perhaps except for such items as eating and hunting pigeons. The first recipes for cooking pigeons date back to ancient Mesopotamia. An Akkadian tablet with a dove recipe dates back to 1700 BC. From Mesopotamia, the fashion of eating squab spread throughout the Middle East, from there it came to Egypt, where, by the way, pigeons are bred for food to this day. A squab is a young pigeon raised for meat and slaughtered for food before it could fly. The meat of such a bird is very tender and tasty. From Egypt, the fashion for pigeons came to the Etruscans, and from them to the Romans. Thanks to the latter, the whole of Europe eventually learned about breeding pigeons. But in the USSR, dishes from pigeons did not actually take root, although when there were a lot of these birds in the Union, the authorities tried to stimulate their cooking.
Dove hunting also did not take root too strongly in the Union. But it was quite popular fun for the nobility in Russia and the rest of Europe in imperial times. By the way, pigeons were actively eaten in the Russian Empire. In the modern era, pigeon dishes were very popular. At the end of the 19th century, Paris alone consumed up to 2 million birds each year. Of course, if pigeon meat is only wealthy citizens. The only time when almost all Soviet pigeons were under the threat of being eaten was the Second World War.
Perhaps the most famous article of breeding pigeons was and remains pigeon mail. For these purposes, birds were bred in the years of the USSR. Moreover, when the Second World War began, the authorities, for obvious reasons, began to requisition birds. This was done so that the pigeons were not used on occasion by traitors. This practice may seem strange, but such measures are not something unique in a war. For example, the authorities were engaged in confiscating from the population, including personal radios. Also, since the First World War, pigeons in all countries have been used for aerial photography. At the same time, the first "military" postal dovecote appeared in Russia in 1874. After the advent of Soviet power, postal pigeon breeding was revived in 1925 under the auspices of the Defense Assistance Society.
>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<
Finally, pigeon breeding is a hobby and sport. Moreover, the fashion for sports breeding came to Russia back in the days of the empire. The first major lover of pigeons was the eccentric Peter I. In a predictable way, the fashion for a hobby of the king was picked up by the rest of the nobles, as well as large merchants. One of the most famous pigeon holders of pre-revolutionary Russia was Count Alexei Orlov, who lived during the reign of Catherine II. At the same time in Russia for the first time they began to release pigeons into the sky at state events. The Russian Pigeon Sport Society was founded in 1890. After the Revolution, the new government did not refuse to breed birds. Although Soviet pigeon breeding dates back to breeding for military purposes, already in 1930 the Center for Sports Pigeon Breeding was launched, for which 16 thoroughbred birds were purchased. Few? In fact, no, because poultry breeding for sports and communication purposes has been actively developing. In 1957, there were more than 80 thousand purebred pigeons in Moscow alone! And in 1961 their population increased to 100,000.
Under the Soviet regime, carrier pigeon competitions in flight speed were actively held. The practice of building dovecotes spread throughout the country. By 1975, there were more than 2,000 dovecotes in Moscow alone. The golden era of domestic pigeon breeding was the first half of the 1980s. Soviet pigeons were released at the Olympics, the Youth Festival, and the Goodwill Games. In 1984, the All-Union Association of Pigeon Sports included about 100 regional clubs. At the same time, Vladimir Menshov's wonderful tragicomedy Love and Pigeons, well known to most of his compatriots, was released. Russian pigeon breeding fell into decline along with the departure of the country. In the 1990s, almost no one was engaged in pigeons.
In continuation of the topic, read about 10 features of pigeons, because of which they do not want to meet.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/280522/63115/