Dostoevsky Memorial Museum is situated in a former apartment building that was once inhabited by this famous Russian writer. Current area around the house underwent dramatic change over the course of last couple of decades. New houses were erected, flowers were planted, new parks were open. But in the late 19th century this area around Obvodnoy Channel was an outskirt of Saint Petersburg. Some of the poorest residents of the city lived and here and many were the prototypes for characters in Dostoyevsky books like "Crime and Punishment", "Notes from the Underground" and many others.
The life and work of Dostoevsky are largely associated
with St. Petersburg, since the writer lived a significant part of his
life there, and many of his works take place there. The house where the
museum is now located is by no means the only St. Petersburg address
featured in Dostoevsky's biography. However, when creating the museum,
the choice fell on him, since the writer lived the last years of his
life in this house, and his last novel, The Brothers Karamazov, as well
as a speech about Pushkin, were written there.
House number 5 on
Kuznechny Lane, on the corner of it with Dostoevsky Street (during the
life of the writer it was called Grebetskaya, and then Yamskaya) is an
apartment building that was built in the first half of the 19th century
(the exact year of construction is unknown) according to the project of
architect S. Ponomarev, and in 1882 it was partially rebuilt according
to the design of the architect Wassily von Witt. Initially (when
Dostoevsky lived there for a short time in 1846), the house belonged to
the Kuchin merchants, and then, in the last years of the writer's life,
to the merchant Rosalia-Anna Klinkstrem.
For the first time, the
need to perpetuate the memory of the writer, at least in the form of a
memorial plaque on the facade of the house, was discussed even before
the revolution. In particular, the writer's widow Anna Dostoevskaya came
up with such an initiative, who left Petrograd in 1917, leaving the
house for storage at the warehouse, many of which subsequently
disappeared, and their fate is still unknown. In Soviet ideology, the
attitude towards the writer, due to his socio-political views, remained
negative for a long time, but by the 1960s it had changed for the
better. In 1956, a memorial plaque was placed on the facade of the house
in Kuznechny Lane, and the creation of the Dostoevsky Memorial Museum
was started only in 1968, when the overhaul of the house began. The
active initiator of the creation of the museum was the artist Georgy
Piontek, who developed the concept of the exposition for him. The
apartment in which the writer lived was given directly to the
exhibition, and three more apartments were given to the museum funds and
temporary exhibitions. A significant contribution to the creation of the
museum was made by the writer's grandson Andrei Fyodorovich Dostoevsky -
the collection he collected became the basis of the exposition. Also,
some of the items were donated to the museum by his great-niece Maria
Savostyanova. But most of the surviving personal belongings of the
writer by that time were already in the Moscow Dostoevsky Museum, and
the apartment was reconstructed according to the archival plans of the
house and the memoirs of contemporaries. On November 11, 1971, on the
day of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the writer, the museum
opened. Boris Fedorenko became the first director of the museum.
Exposition
The exposition of the museum is divided into two main
parts. The first is Dostoevsky's memorial apartment with an
approximately recreated setting in which the writer lived. The second is
a literary exposition located in the halls opposite the memorial
apartment. The division of the exposition into these two parts is
reflected in the name of the museum - "Literary and Memorial". The
fundamental difference between the two parts is that the memorial
apartment as a whole remains unchanged, and the literary exposition, as
it is not intended to statically reflect any situation, is periodically
subject to changes. The current literary exposition is already the third
in a row during the existence of the museum, and opened on February 9,
2009:
"Our apartment consisted of six rooms, a huge pantry for books,
a hall and a kitchen, and was located on the second floor. Seven windows
overlooked Kuznechny Lane
from the memoirs of Anna Dostoevskaya"
Dostoevsky's memorial apartment consists of seven
rooms: Dostoevsky's study, living room, dining room, Anna Grigorievna's
(Dostoevsky's wife's) room, children's room, washroom and entrance hall.
The situation in the apartment was recreated with the help of archival
plans of the house and the memories of contemporaries. The source for
the reconstruction of Dostoevsky's office was a photograph taken by the
St. Petersburg photographer Voldemar Taube in 1881 after the death of
the writer, in connection with which the exposition of the office can be
considered the closest to historical reality. Dostoevsky died in this
office in 1881. One of the exhibits placed here is a watch that belonged
to the younger brother of the writer Andrei Dostoevsky; they stand on a
table near the window and constantly show the time of the writer's
death. There is a table with memorial objects near the wall of the
office: a fountain pen, a medicine box and a wallet are on it, there are
candlesticks. Also on the table are the pages of the literary magazine
"Diary of a Writer", the only author of which was Dostoevsky, the novel
"The Brothers Karamazov", as well as Pushkin's open novel "Eugene
Onegin". Next to the desk is a bookcase with Dostoevsky's personal
library, which is recreated according to the lists of books compiled by
his wife Anna. In the corner of the study on the wall hangs the icon of
the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in a silver setting with a
lamp in front of it.
In the living room of the memorial
apartment, there is carved wooden furniture of the 19th century, the
situation is approximately recreated according to the memoirs of his
wife. The walls are covered with green wallpaper. The dining room
contains several authentic items that belonged to the Dostoevsky family
- vases, a decanter, a silver bell and a silver spoon with Dostoevsky's
monogram. Also in the dining room there is furniture - a table, chairs,
cupboards with dishes. Photos of the writer's relatives hang on the
walls, and portraits of his brothers and sisters are on the table near
the windows. In Anna Grigorievna's room there is furniture assembled in
approximate accordance with her recollections. There is also a
photograph of Dostoevsky himself, presented to his wife by the writer,
with his personal signature. The children's room is also furnished
according to the descriptions, without genuine family items. There are
two more rooms in the memorial apartment - a washroom and an entrance
hall. A notable exhibit in the hallway is a genuine felt hat that
belonged to Dostoevsky. A sign with the inscription “Fyodor Mikhailovich
Dostoevsky” is nailed to the front door of the apartment from the
outside, imitating the one that was there during the life of the writer.
The literary exposition of the museum is located in a neighboring
apartment, opposite the memorial one. It is dedicated to the life and
work of the writer. The current exposition is the third in a row and has
been operating since 2009. The exposition is decorated in dark colors,
which, according to its creators, enhances the atmosphere of
Dostoevsky's Petersburg. It is divided by the authors into three levels.
The first of them demonstrates evidence of the writer's life - his
personal belongings, photographs, portraits, images of places associated
with his life, historical documents of that time. The exhibits here are
placed in "light boxes" behind glass, which emphasizes the personal
character of the exhibited items. The second level demonstrates exhibits
related to the writer's work. And the third talks about the places
associated with his life and work, using modern technical means.
In addition to the exposition, the museum has extensive funds. They
contain about 2,000 illustrations for Dostoevsky's works, 117 lifetime
editions, and 272 manuscripts. The scientific library of the museum has
about 24 thousand books. The museum collection is constantly updated.
Among the most noteworthy items kept in the museum's funds are memorial
items that belonged to Dostoevsky himself and his family (the writer's
hat and fountain pen, the engagement ring of his wife Anna, flowers and
bay leaves from Dostoevsky's coffin), as well as works of art dedicated
to Dostoevsky and his work: a portrait and a bust of the writer by Ernst
Neizvestny, his own illustrations for the novel "Crime and Punishment",
the figurines "Alyosha Karamazov" and "Myshkin" by Gavriil Glikman.