“Since I was twenty years old, I have been observing everything that happens in both capitals, eastern and western[1], and I see how the dwellings in the western capital are gradually thinning out: it is almost close to desolation. People are leaving it, but there are no new residents, houses are deteriorating, and new ones are not being built. It is inhabited only by those who have nowhere to move, and those who are not ashamed of their poverty. Well, and, perhaps, those who know the value of solitude, who are striving for obscurity: after all, here they do not need to retire to the mountains or return to the fields. If someone intends to increase his property, whoever is busy with profit, he will not live here even a day...” Translation: Victor Sanovich