“A house that looks like a chest of drawers,” - so Anton Pavlovich called it in one of his letters. Now in this house there is a memorial museum of the writer, the space and decoration of which is restored from the memoirs and drawings of his brother and sister. It was here that more than 100 stories were written, as well as plays: “Leshiy”, “Tragedy of the will”, “Ivanov”, “Tatyana Repina”; vaudevilles: “Swan Song”, “Proposal”, “Bear”, “Wedding”. In this house came out from under the pen of A.P. Chekhov: “Boring history”, “Lights”, “Steppe”. This amazing, historical and memorial house-museum of the writer will be discussed in the article.
Memorial building
The first Chekhov house-museum in Moscow (the Chekhov room) was created on the initiative of members of the writer’s family in the library of the Rumyantsev Museum in April 1912.
In 1921, the exposition received the status of a museum, however, a separate building for it was not allocated. Since the 1920s, the replenishment and scientific study of the museum’s collection has continued, in 1934 most of which was transferred to the State Literary Museum.
One of the departments of the Goslitmuzey in 1954 began to bear the name "Chekhov's House-Museum", under the exposition of which a historical building was allocated, in which the writer lived from 1886 to 1890. The building was built in 1874.
Many artists, artists, writers, critics, musicians visited the writer here: Gilyarovsky V. A., Tchaikovsky P. I., Levitan I. I., Nemirovich-Danchenko V. I., Grigorovich D. V., Suvorin A.S., Plescheev A.N., Shekhtel F.O., Sumbatov-Yuzhin A.I., Korolenko V.G.
Collections and exposition of the Chekhov House-Museum
At present, the State Literary Museum, the house of A.P. Chekhov's museum, has the second largest and largest collection of writings in the world after the Chekhov Museum in Yalta.
The decoration of the house was restored according to the memoirs and sketches of Anton Pavlovich’s brother and sister. From the first minutes it can be seen that the family led a poor lifestyle, its main income was Chekhov’s literary earnings.
In the three halls of the literary exposition, one can clearly see Chekhov's literary growth from the writer of the "small press" to the world-famous author, in addition, his portraits by artists Chekhov N.P. and Serov V.A., autographs of the writer, lifetime editions are presented here. There is a hall dedicated to Chekhov’s journey to the Far East and Sakhalin Island.
The Chekhov House-Museum in Moscow presents photographs of the writer, members of his family and his entourage, Chekhov's literary publications, theater posters, and household items.
In the living room there are a lot of artwork by Anton Pavlovich’s brother, Nikolai, who died very early.
In Chekhov’s office, the situation was restored, the same as during the writer's life, there are: a writing desk, dragon-shaped candlesticks, an inkwell donated by a grateful patient, fishing supplies, a photograph of Tchaikovsky with his autograph. In his office, he not only wrote his works, but also received patients.
All the rooms of the house-museum are presented exactly as they were under Chekhov, as if they were saturated with the atmosphere and its spirit.
The Chekhov House Museum in Moscow holds scientific conferences, literary evenings dedicated to the life and work of the writer, tours and thematic lectures for visitors of all age groups. The museum works with schools, organizes and conducts children's art festivals dedicated to the Chekhov theme.
Excursions
The museum conducts extensive museum and scientific activities, one of which is excursion work. Tours are organized: a survey of the house-museum, a survey in English, thematic.
On a sightseeing tour, visitors can enjoy the unique atmosphere of the house, learn about the writer's creative path, his works and interesting facts from his biography. The same tour is conducted in English.
A lot of thematic excursions are organized in the museum, for example, “Chekhov A.P. -doctor. I am flying and writing ... ”, which tells about the university years of Anton Pavlovich, about his attitude to the profession of a doctor, about his medical practice. In thematic excursions based on Chekhov’s works “A Boring Story” and “Vanka,” we are talking about the history of the creation of these creations, which are written in a “chest of drawers,” and about the original artistic style of the author.
Classes
The museum provides thematic classes for visitors of all ages. For example, in the lesson “What is a museum?” a journey into the world of museums. We are talking about the first museums in the world, starting from the time of Ancient Greece, about the largest and most famous world museums, about the first museums in Russia, about the most famous Russian museums. Visitors are taught to navigate the museum exposition of the Chekhov House-Museum, everyone can be a museum worker. At the Kashtanka lesson, children are introduced to the story of the story, they play a scene from it and watch a cartoon. Other thematic classes are conducted on the works of the great Russian writer.
Thematic Lectures
For schoolchildren and adults, thematic lectures are held, for example, “Creativity of the writer of the 1890s” and “Ioanych”, which talk about Chekhov ’s work, about the life that he describes, about the problems of that time. The lecture “Innovation” is devoted to the principles and a peculiar type of construction of plays that were not understood by contemporaries at first, but later called innovative by critics. The lecture “Chekhov's Journey to Sakhalin” is dedicated to the writer’s eight-month journey to the Far East and Sakhalin Island, as a result of which he wrote a book dedicated to the island.
Theater at the House Museum
A theater was organized at the Chekhov House-Museum in Moscow in 2017, which presents only the works of Chekhov to the audience. The performances were staged: “The Wedding”, “From the notes of the hot-tempered person”, “The Seagull”. Preparing for the premiere: “Offer”, “Bear”, “Ivanov”, “Anniversary”.
Museum working hours
The Chekhov House Museum is open daily from 11:00 to 18:00, on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 21:00. Closed on Monday. Entrance to the museum is free every last Friday of the month.
How to get there
The Memorial House-Museum is located at: Moscow, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Street, 6.
You can get on the metro to the stations:
- Smolenskaya or Mayakovskaya by bus number 39 or trolleybus number 10 to the stop "Chekhov Museum";
- "Barricade", from her 6 minutes on foot;
- Krasnopresnenskaya, from it by bus No. 39, 64, 6 or trolleybus No. 10, 5.