Kolya Vasin (Nikolai Ivanovich Vasin)

About museum

Kolya Vasin (full name – Nikolai Ivanovich Vasin) – a Soviet and Russian collector, writer-historiographer, creator of the country's largest museum dedicated to the group "The Beatles", and founder of the "Temple of Love, Peace and Music named after John Lennon." In 1964 he became deeply fascinated with The Beatles and in 1966, after the release of the album Revolver, converted his apartment into a museum, which later acquired the unofficial name "Yellow Submarine" (after the song of the same name).

Vasin is called the only person in Russia who corresponded with John Lennon himself. In 1970 he sent the musician a telegram in which he congratulated his idol on his 30th birthday. By a fortunate coincidence, among thousands of letters from fans Lennon chose the message from Russia, read it and was touched. As a token of gratitude he sent Nikolai a record with his autograph. In 1981 Vasin received membership card No. 1 of the Leningrad Rock Club. The collector traveled extensively in the USA and the UK, meeting researchers of The Beatles' work. During one of his trips he met and befriended the group's first manager – Alan Williams.

Vasin regularly held concerts in Leningrad in honor of the birthdays of each of the four. Well-known Russian musicians performed at these events – Boris Grebenshchikov and the band "Akvarium", Yuri Ilchenko, Olga Pershina and others. In 2007 his book "Rock on Russian Bones" was published, which tells in detail about The Beatles' influence on Soviet musicians and about the emergence of Russian rock under that influence. On August 29, 2018 Nikolai Vasin committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of the Galeria shopping complex. He is buried at Porokhovskoye Cemetery.