| By :
Oleg Shkaruta
Copyright (c) 2010 Oleg Shkaruta Apartment Museums are very common in Saint Petersburg. They are the places, where national heroes lived, turned into memorial museums. One of such museums is located on 12 Moika River where the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin lived. This place preserves many of his belongings and special atmosphere of his time. Every year on the 10th of February, the date of death of Pushkin, people gather here to pay respect to his genius. Alexander Pushkin is undoubtedly the greatest Russian poet. He wrote a historical drama "Boris Godunov", which is performed worldwide till now. The world famous operas "Eugene Onegin" and "The Queen of the Spades" by Tchaikovsky were based on Pushkin's works. Besides drama and verses he wrote prose and tales. His talent, rich vocabulary and highly sensitive style made him the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin is considered a genuine Russian poet, although his great-grandfather was born in Africa. In spite of Pushkin's popularity, it took a long time to establish museum in his apartment on 12 Moika River. One of the reasons, it was very uncommon in 19th Century to open a museum dedicated to a poet. Such an honour used to be awarded only to famous statesmen and public characters. Secondly, the government did not favour Pushkin for his independent views and rebellious nature. Memorial Pushkin museum was established in this apartment in 1925. The interior has changed of course during a century. Only in 1987 the original appearance of the apartment was restored based on the records and drawings of Pushkin's contemporaries. In early October of 1950, the monument to Alexander Pushkin was erected in the yard of 12 Moika River. The statue was designed and built by architect N. Medvedev and sculptor N. Didikin. It is a full-scale bronze statue of the poet standing without a hat and wearing his usual long cloak. Pushkin lived in this apartment from October 1836 until February 10th 1837, the day he died from wound from duel with d'Anthes. There are several rooms in the apartment for family as well as for servants but the most capturing is Alexander's cabinet. He spent most of his time reading and working here. You can find here his big library with books in French, Russian and other languages, his work desk, waistcoat, inkpot, feather pen and other authentic things. The walls of the room are decorated with portraits of Pushkin and his beautiful wife Natalya Goncharova. His last drama "The Captain's Daughter" was written in this apartment. Some other novels that he started here remained unfinished. Pushkin apartment museum is open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. every day except Tuesdays and the last Friday of each month. It is located two blocks away from Nevsky Prospect, near Palace Square, on Moika River. It can be easily reached by metro. The two nearest metro stations are Nevskiy Prospect and Gostiniy Dvor.
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