Description of the attraction
The beautiful old building, now occupied by the Institute of Russian Literature, was built according to the project of I. F. Lukini on the Makarov embankment for the St. Petersburg port customs in 1832. Initially, as part of the preparation of ceremonial events dedicated to the anniversary of the birth of A. S. Pushkin, it was planned to erect only a monument. However, over time, on the initiative of the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, the idea arose of creating a museum - the Pushkin House - which was opened in 1905.
Since 1995, the Pushkin House has been included in the list of especially significant objects of cultural heritage. Employees and directors of the Pushkin House (among them were N. A. Kotlyarevsky, M. Gorky, A. V. Lunacharsky, P. I. artistic), having a close connection with Russian literature and its history, fruitfully worked on collecting, storing and studying materials on Russian literature. As a result, today the Pushkin House keeps the richest archive, one of the largest in the world.
More than 120 thousand titles of documentary, visual, historical materials directly related to Russian literature of the period of the XVIII-XX centuries: rare copies of handwritten books and early printed literature, portraits of writers, rare photographs, author's illustrations to works, art objects of that era, personal things, death masks, relics and household items. From the moment of its foundation, the funds of the Literary Museum have been formed through donations by individuals and purchases of well-known collections. Many exhibits were transferred from the personal collection of A. F. Onegin-Otto, founder of the Pushkin Museum (Paris).
Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich bequeathed personal correspondence, literary archive, collection of autographs to the museum; the museum keeps the relics of the Vyazemsky, Vrevsky, Arapovs, Pletnevs, Longinovs, Raevsky families. Priceless materials were donated by the Department of Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences and the Society of the Tolstoy Museum. The Alexander Lyceum (where Alexander Pushkin studied) handed over the collection of the Pushkin Museum, and the Nikolaev Cavalry School (the place of study of M. Yu. Lermontov) - the Lermontov Museum. The museum funds were substantially replenished due to the memorial heritage of prominent representatives of Russian society - Ya. P. Polonsky, S. S. Abamelek-Lazareva, A. F. Koni, N. N. Wrangel.
Over time, the activities of the Pushkin House became more and more multifaceted - other literary museums emerged from its depths: the N. A. Nekrasov, All-Union Museum of A. S. Pushkin (with its branches), A. A. Blok, F. M. Dostoevsky and G. Uspensky. In addition, the museum has organized personal literary exhibitions dedicated to N. A. Nekrasov, F. M. Dostoevsky, I. S. Turgenev. It should be noted that the collection of the Tolstoy collection is a whole independent museum. In fact, the expositions of the Pushkin House neutralize the absence in St. Petersburg of memorial museums of famous writers - Gogol, Lermontov, Tolstoy.
In the premises of the Pushkin House, exhibitions are held, timed to coincide with the significant dates of Russian literature, and the following main thematic halls are open: "Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century"; "The life and work of the poet M. Yu. Lermontov"; "Russian literature of the period of the 2nd half of the 19th century"; "Life and Work of the Writer Leo Tolstoy"; "History of Russian Literature: The Silver Age".
