Description of the attraction
The Rozhdestveno estate museum is located in the village of Rozhdestveno, Gatchinsky District, Leningrad Region. Its history begins with the decree of Empress Catherine II on the establishment of seven counties in the St. Petersburg province and the command to call the settlement Oranienbaum and the village of Rozhdestvenskoye cities. From that moment on, the construction of residential and administrative buildings for employees of the county and city administrations began here. The center of Rozhdestveno began with two wooden buildings: houses for the mayor and an assessor of the district court.
Emperor Paul I in 1797 by his decree abolished the town of Rozhdestvensk and in February of the same year granted the land to the court adviser N. Ye. Efremov. In our time, in the course of archival research, documents have been discovered that made it possible to assume that the modern estate of Rozhdestveno and the mayor's house, which was the first building, are one and the same building.
During its existence, the estate has never been significantly rebuilt. The architect's name is not set. The estate was built in the Italian style. A distinctive feature of the building is the splendor of all facades. The interior layout is laconic and convenient - the ceremonial premises and living quarters are clearly separated, and the center is a large two-story reception hall.
As soon as the former mayor's house became a private property, a park was laid out next to the building, smoothly turning into a forest. The Efremov family owned Rozhdestveno until the middle of the 19th century, and in 1853 it was inherited by the Savelyevs. The estate, after 4 years, was sold to Yu. D. Manukhina. After the death of Manukhina, her husband Nikolai Nikolaevich owned the estate until 1872. Then the house was sold to the merchant Karl Bush, who owned it from 1872 to 1878. The name of the hill opposite the estate, which the old-timers call Bushevskaya, has survived from it to this day. After that, the family of the collegiate assessor V. F. Dmitrieva.
In September 1890 Rozhdestveno was bought by the actual state councilor Ivan Vasilyevich Rukavishnikov, whose fortune was estimated at one million. From that moment on, the estate began to live a new life. The park was completely planned and planted, in which gazebos, sculptures, fountains appeared, and a tennis court was arranged. A wooden staircase was built from the road to the hill, on which there was an observation deck. Evidence of these changes is captured in photographs stored in the museum's funds. The house, which underwent major repairs, has also changed. The floor in the halls was covered with linoleum, which at that time was considered a great curiosity and high cost.
In 1896, Rukavishnikov's daughter, Elena, married Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. After the death of Rukavishnikov Sr., the estate passed to his son Vasily, who died suddenly in 1916, leaving his nephew, his sister's son Vladimir Vladimirovich, a huge fortune and Rozhdestveno. In those years, Vladimir Nabokov was a minor, and therefore could not fully enter into inheritance rights. However, in 1916, at his own expense, he published a collection of poems.
In 1917, the Nabokov family left Russia. Rozhdestveno shared the fate of other noble estates. The building was transferred to a student hostel. During the Great Patriotic War, German troops were housed in the estate. In the post-war years, the house was rebuilt as a school, a two-story hall was blocked, and the first was divided into several rooms. Then there was the laboratory of the local variety testing site.
In 1974, new owners appeared in the estate. The local history museum is located here. The exposition of the museum is located in 3 halls on the 1st floor of the mansion. Museum staff tried to trace the history of all the owners of the house. A special place is given to the history of the Rukavishnikov and Nabokov families. In the 70s, a family photo album of the Rukavishnikovs appeared among the exhibits, which was donated to the museum by the son of the Nabokov cook, Vladimir Petrovich Zepnov.
A new countdown for the estate began in 1988, when the local history museum was officially named the Historical, Literary and Memorial Museum of V. V. Nabokov.
In 1995, a massive fire broke out in the building. The northern part of the house and the ceremonial hall were burnt down. During the restoration work, traces of the original layout of the estate were found, which made it possible to recreate the original interior.
