Description of the attraction
A tireless researcher, historian, ethnologist, poet, talented lecturer, founder of the idea of passionarity, Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov went through a difficult life path, full of cruel blows of fate: repeated arrests, persecution by the authorities, rejection by fellow scientists of the original theory of ontogenesis. However, until the end of his long and eventful life, he turned out to be faithful to his work - the science of ethnology.
The extraordinary popularity of his works, written in a lively and vivid language, is evidenced by the queues for his books, which in Soviet times were published only in small editions, and even then in specialized editions, and now they have begun to actively appear in print.
For the invaluable contribution of Lev Nikolaevich to science, the Eurasian National University (Astana) was named after him, museums were created: one at the university, and the second in St. Petersburg, in an apartment on the street. Kolomenskaya, where Lev Nikolaevich lived his last years. Despite his merits, the scientist received this own, separate, apartment only when, due to the emergency state, the communal apartment was resettled.
The apartment is located on the second floor of a small building, its furnishings have remained almost the same as they were during the life of the historian. The central place in the apartment is occupied by the living room (it is also the study), in which, in addition to typical bookshelves and other furniture, paintings, various memorabilia, there are also rare things. For example, a homemade table lamp with a paper lampshade painted by his wife, a homemade bookshelf, an old chair restored by a craftsman-neighbor, discarded as unnecessary by the previous owners. The walls of the office are decorated with paintings - watercolors by the artist K. Friedrichson, who was also imprisoned with Gumilyov, the works of the scientist's wife, N. V. Simonovskaya-Gumileva, and a portrait of the owner of the apartment by S. Danilin. A prominent place on the wall of the office is occupied by a graphic display of the theory of the dependence of the passionarity of the ethnic system on the time of its existence, developed by him.
L. N. Gumilyov, the son of poets, rarely saw them, but he loved them very much. In his office, he devoted not the last place to those few photographs where they are captured together. Next to the family photos are portraits of his parents - Nikolai Gumilyov by V. Pavlov and Anna Akhmatova by G. Vereisky. A plaster copy of the bas-relief depicting A. Akhmatova by A. Ignatiev together with an oak branch from the family estate, L. N. Gumilev carefully installed it on the opposite wall. We see gifts from mother to son on the wall near the writing table - this is a "Persian miniature" of the 16th century, as if from the poem of the same name by N. S. Gumilyov, and a red Chinese ashtray on the table itself (once mother and son were engaged in translations of ancient Chinese poets). The very old writing desk, bought in a thrift store, is "decorated" under glass with numerous postcards with views of Mongolia, Samarkand, portraits of khans and images of Buddha statues. Moreover, depending on the subject of the book, on which the scientist worked, the "assortment" of postcards changed to more appropriate to the essence of the work.
In the study-living room L. N. Gumilyov, there were always a lot of people - guests, students, journalists, they worked here, discussed scientific theories, new ideas, and in the kitchen next to the office - they had a rest for a pleasant and interesting conversation with the hospitable hosts.
The corridor of the museum apartment has been slightly changed: at one wall there are bookshelves with drafts of Gumilyov's works and his correspondence, and at the other - an exposition about the life of Gumilyov the prisoner in the camps.
The museum-apartment hosts evenings dedicated to the life and creative heritage of the Gumilevs, screenings of films about Lev Nikolaevich, lectures on ethnology, broadcasting of radio programs.
