SOCHI, Russia - He's been dead 60 years, but Russians are still split on how they feel about him.
Some believe Joseph Stalin was a great leader-who inherited an undeveloped country and left it with an atomic bomb. Others think of the millions he killed.
Either way, people are fascinated by this man and visit one his favorite summer homes in Sochi every year.
"He controlled the country from here," Anna Khovantseva said, our guide through Stalin's Sochi country home.
Russians would call it a "dacha" - a home that stands outside a city.
Think of it as the Soviet version of Martha's Vineyard.
"He spent a lot of time here, he rested here, maybe rested his soul here," Khovantseva said.
Stalin's home in Sochi is green and is surrounded by a lush forest.
You'd think the color of the building and the plants around it are there to camouflage it.
Khovantseva said not at all. The architect liked the color and chose it for this Stalin home, as well as five others.
Stalin led the USSR shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. He was the Commander in Chief during the four horrific years of World War Two.
From July to October, Stalin spent three to four months in this home. He loved Sochi, and the house is one of 18 the government built him all over the country.
"He periodically came here from 1937 to 1950, excluding of course the time of war," Khovantseva said.
Today, the place is a private hotel that has special tours through Stalin's private quarters.
"Here, we have a small historical corner, because our country doesn't have state-sanctioned Stalin museums," Khovantseva said. "People have very different attitudes towards him. Mmany consider him a great politician and many a dictator and a killer."
A few original items belonging to Stalin himself remain, including his original desk. Next to it, a small, modest bed and a famous leather couch, which is bulletproof, by the way. Stalin was paranoid, and security was always a priority.
Despite the fact that Stalin ruled with an iron fist, Khovantseva said he didn't ask for the 18 homes the government built him around the country. She said he was a modest man.
The reception hall is considered the most beautiful room in the house. Stalin was a quiet talker-the acoustics there were built to account for that.
"We now call it the fireplace hall, because it has the beautiful fireplace that's been here since the house was built," Khovantseva said. "The house was planned for summer vacation. It gets rainy in the summer time. He liked to sit next to it and warm up."
Not a single nail is used on these walls. Architects believed using glue would be better, more delicate and special. Everything is made to consider what Stalin might have liked.
Our guide said Stalin was also a very private, even a shy, man.
The architect designed an indoor, salt-water swimming pool, so the leader didn't have to walk down to the Black Sea. Buckets of salt water had to be brought up every time Stalin wanted to take a salty swim.
"He got shrapnel injury in 1907. That's why the arm wasn't working very well," Khovantseva said. "Maybe his arm caused him to be uncertain in the water."
A home to such a dark historical figure doesn't feel grim or haunted.
"This house has its own life," said Khovantseva.
It's just a reminder of an era and the man who defined it.
"He wasn't an ordinary individual, a great country was built, but the methods were very arguable," Khovantseva said. "It's my opinion, we can call him a genius, but an evil genius. As Churchill said about Stalin, 'The man who received Russia with a plow, left it with an atom bomb.' So there were achievements and there were mistakes and missteps and losses."