Description of the attraction
Eliza Ozheshko is an outstanding Belarusian writer of the 19th century, revered by both Belarusians and Poles. The current building of the museum is an exact copy of the house built by her second husband Stanislav Nagorsky in the 1860s and 70s. This is the last house where Eliza lived. She lived here for 16 years from the moment of her marriage in 1894 until her death in 1910.
Eliza Ozheshko was not only a talented writer, whose novel "Over the Neman" entered the literary classics, but also a person with a kind soul and an active civil position. She had a wonderful motto, which she followed all her life: "Have a purer heart and render as many services as possible to the land and people."
Eliza Ozheshko was loved during her lifetime and revered after her death by her compatriots. The whole city gathered in 1910 at her funeral, and in 1929 grateful townspeople unveiled a monument to her in Grodno Park.
After the death of the writer in 1911, according to her will, her house was transferred to the Grodno Child Welfare Society.
The house has lived a long and difficult life. In the 1920s, a trading school was opened there, and in 1940 a music school. After the end of World War II, when most of the houses were turned into ruins, the surviving house of Eliza Ozheshko housed the regional project administration, a blood transfusion station and an inventory and technical bureau. In 1948, the building was transferred to the House of Pioneers.
In 1958, almost all of Grodno gathered at Eliza's house again. The occasion was special - the reading room and the museum of Eliza Ozheshko were opened in the house. Later, in the 1960s, a branch of the Writers' Union of the Grodno region worked here. The office of Eliza Ozheshko, the library and the branch of the Writers' Union remained in this house even now.
In 1976, a decision was made to renovate the house. Unfortunately, the building was so dilapidated that it was decided to completely disassemble it and build an exact copy of it a little further from the roadway.
The next reconstruction of the house-museum took place in 2009. The library has installed a modern air conditioning system to maintain the necessary conditions for storing books in the library. New modern equipment was installed in the library, including equipment for people with disabilities.
