“Let’s pass by Pushkin’s windows…” Illuminated by the sun of Russian poetry
The address of the house on the Moika embankment, 12, is known to all lovers of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The beautiful mansion of Princess Volkonskaya in warm yellow color, classical style, became the last residence where the poet spent the last four and a half months of his life. During this period, life was difficult for Pushkin: to the sad financial affairs were added rumors of slander, which led to a tragic outcome – from here the poet went to a fatal duel with Dantes, and the last minutes of his life were spent in this apartment. So Pushkin’s St. Petersburg circle closed mystically: starting from Moika 40, where his uncle Vasily Lvovich brought him from Moscow before entering the Lyceum, and ending at Moika 12 with his last breath and burial.
When Pushkin moved here, he expected to live in this house for at least two years. He worked hard (maintaining a large family required a lot of money) – he completed The Captain’s Daughter, edited a new edition of Eugene Onegin, collected materials for writing the history of Peter I, prepared the next volumes of the Sovremennik magazine for publication. He was full of plans and hopes. Everything was canceled with an aggressive anonymous letter that started the countdown.
This apartment museum, like many others, is quite “lively” in its atmosphere. Here you suddenly feel that the “monument not made with hands” is a passionate person with his passions and shortcomings, joys and problems. The interiors and furniture of the apartment have been carefully restored, and original items belonging to Pushkin have been collected: a table and an armchair, the sofa on which the poet died, a lock of hair and a death mask, as well as members of his family and friends. All this, combined with the guide’s emotional story, creates the effect of being there and a sense of attachment to ancient history so strong that visitors sometimes feel uneasy.
“Here is the front entrance…” People’s Singer
Another atmospheric place where you can take a ride in the time machine and enter the era of social and literary life of the Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski magazines and get to know Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov not only as a “Poet and Citizen”, but also as a person. a living person. This is facilitated by a carefully recreated environment with a large number of personal belongings of the author, giving an idea of u200bu200bthe urban noble life of the second half of the 19th century and the hobbies of that time. Like Turgenev, who often visited him, Nekrasov were great fans of hunting, as evidenced by his collection of weapons and trophies. Surprisingly, even the fact that the poet spent the last years of his life almost bedridden does not create an atmosphere of overwhelming despair.
Here a triumvirate was formed, consisting of Nekrasov and Panaevs, both of whom were engaged in literary and publishing activities. The acuteness of the situation was that the Panaevs were officially married (divorces were difficult then), although Avdotya Panaeva had been Nekrasov’s common-law wife for many years. However, this did not prevent the men’s friendship and teamwork. Like the reception area of the Sovremennik editorial office, the “Panaevsky” rooms form a separate exhibition describing the development of Russian journalism.
In this apartment, Nekrasov wrote his textbook works: “Russian Women”, “Red Nose Don”, “Railway”, and probably very few visitors stand at the window and look at the beautiful building with caryatids on the opposite side of Liteiny. Prospekt thoughtfully did not utter the words familiar from childhood: “Here is the front entrance on special occasions…”, he suddenly saw in the blur of time how the drooping, dusty figures of the peasant petitioners, carried away by an indifferent man, appeared. doorman.
“And Dostoevsky wanders around Razyezzhaya…” Defender of the humiliated and insulted
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky lived in St. Petersburg for 28 years, and all the apartments he rented were connected by two features – they were all in corner houses at a street intersection: a crossroads, and from the window there was supposed to be a temple or water visible. The house in which the writer’s museum apartment is located fully meets these requirements – from the window of the corner house on Kuznechny Lane you can see the domes of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Vladimir.
Dostoevsky, St. He did not like St. Petersburg, considering it a gloomy and half-mad city, but at the same time he lived with its atmosphere, which helped the writer to plunge with all passion into the existential depth of human existence. The mystical ghost town became not only the setting of many of his works, but also a full-fledged hero – the same “Petersburg of Dostoevsky”, which Fyodor Mikhailovich glorified and cursed. Today, from the height of his monument, almost two meters, the writer looks thoughtfully at the human river flowing at his feet, as if looking out for his heroes.
The last three years of his life the writer spent in an apartment in Kuznechny Lane; He wrote his most important novel, The Brothers Karamazov, here. The museum area consists of a monument section; The apartment itself, with recreated furniture including original items and books passed down from Dostoevsky’s grandchildren, and a literary exhibition in the form of manuscripts, lifetime publications and photographs. In addition to excursion work, the museum also conducts serious scientific activities, organizes literary evenings, lectures and even performances based on the author’s works in a special theater hall.
Every year on the first Saturday of July in St. “Dostoevsky Day” is celebrated in St. Petersburg. On this day, the city center is transformed – mini-performances are staged, readings and research are held, as well as atmospheric excursions following in the footsteps of the heroes of the works.
“Under the Roof of the Fountain House…” The Spirit of the Silver Age
Accustomed to wandering around other people’s apartments, Anna Akhmatova called herself a “nomad”. But such homelessness was characteristic of many poets of that time – Mandelstam, Tsvetaeva. Khlebnikov… The house for him was the Poet’s House – that’s right, with a capital letter – a kind of metaphysical abode of a poetic genius, in no way connected with a roof over his head. Nevertheless, for the poet (Akhmatova did not recognize the word “poetry”), the communal apartment in the palace wing of the Sheremetev Palace on the Fontanka embankment – the Fountain House – became a refuge for the poet. Although his life here was strange, as if it were out of everyday proportions.
In total, Akhmatova lived in the Fountain House for 25 years, with a break from evacuation. Here he wrote “Requiem”, “Poem without a Hero” and many other poems, survived the arrest of his son and the verdict on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”, after which he was expelled from the Writers’ Union, from which he left. For Komarovo he was given a country house called “cabin”. The house remained on Fontanka.
The museum opened in 1989 in the third-floor apartment where Akhmatova lived. The original interior of the 20s and 40s of the 20th century is recreated here, the poet’s personal belongings, books, manuscripts and photographs are stored. The literary exhibition is organized on the basis of immersive technologies, the “Museum + Theater” project is carried out, creative meetings and presentations are held. The museum is a participant in the “Accessible Environment” program, which provides comfortable accommodation for visitors with disabilities. The entrance to the museum is under the arch of building number 53 from Liteiny Prospekt.
“Between Pestel and Mayakovskaya” One and a half rooms
The recently opened Joseph Brodsky Museum in the Muruzi House at the corner of Liteiny Prospekt and Pestel Street is probably the most unusual among the memorial apartment museums – this is a space about the poet’s idea and spirit, not his life.
The museum is divided into two parts: a memorial section in apartment 28, where Brodsky’s room is located, and an exhibition section in the neighboring apartment 36, entered through the front door. High white ceilings, shingles, brick walls and an Underwood typewriter. On the shelves of books standing in the poet’s closet, clips from his favorite films are played on the screen of an old Soviet television, and outside the window is the Transfiguration Cathedral, on whose chains Brodsky loved to swing as a child. .
A video of Brodsky’s friends reading his poems is shown in the hall, where there is a small amphitheater. A room with a bay window – torn walls, remnants of wallpaper from the 60s, a piano on which the neighbor’s daughter plays, which, as the poet wrote, prevents her from sleeping. And here is the same “room and a half” – walls covered with green paint, panels preserved in some places in the Moorish style, a complete absence of furniture – emptiness, the understanding of which is one of the main themes in Brodsky’s poetry.
Tour tickets can be purchased from the museum’s website; The “End of a Beautiful Era” store on the ground floor sells branded products as well as entire collections of the poet’s biographies, poems and essays. Entrance from Korolenko street, 14.
In literary criticism, there is such a concept as “chronotope”, literally “time-space”, in which several rich layers of time converge into a single spatial point. This is when layers of time of several centuries are concentrated in space to the point of simultaneity, and St. It is the chronotope through which St. Petersburg is felt. Therefore, the flow of people who are interested in history and want to touch it does not dry up.
St. for at least a few days. Come to St. Petersburg, or better yet, plan 2-3 week themed trips to avoid information confusion and immerse yourself in a St. Petersburg trip. Feeling like a native of St. Petersburg, enjoy gradually discovering a new side of this beautiful city. time.
And St. Let such trips to St. Petersburg become a tradition for you, and let the reasons for coming to the city on the Neva be very different – a theatrical premiere or a book festival, a romantic walk along rivers and canals or an interesting exhibition. Our Visit Petersburg portal will help you navigate the kaleidoscope of offers and learn more about the classic attractions and objects of the new tourist geography.