House-museum of V.L. Pushkin, State A.S.Pushkin Museum Town

The house of Pelageya Vasilievna Katcher (Museum of Vasily Pushkin) is a wooden mansion built in 1819 in the style of classicism at the initiative of Pelageya Ketcher – the wife of the owner of the surgical instrument factory Christopher Ketcher. The building was intended for private rental and from 1822 [the two paragraphs below indicate that he rented it from 1824] to 1830 it was rented by Vasily Pushkin – the uncle of the poet Alexander Pushkin. In 1988, the Moscow government issued a decree on the creation of the branch of the State Museum of Alexander Pushkin in the house dedicated to the life of Vasily Pushkin. The museum was opened for visitors after a long restoration in 2013.

Vasily Lvovich Pushkin House-Museum, a small wooden mansion with nine windows on the facade on Old Basmannaya Street, 36 has long been familiar to Muscovites. In this house lived the uncle of the great poet – Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, a famous poet in the early 19th century, the author of the first manifestos of the Karamzin school, the head of the Arzamas society, the creator of The Dangerous Neighbor – a poem whose appearance in 1811

History
In the middle of the XVIII century, the site belonged to the daughter of Major General Alexei Sukhotin Elena. A stone manor was erected near it, data on which was practically not preserved. Subsequently, the house was purchased by the captain of the first rank Pyotr Khomutov, he owned the site until the fire of 1812. During the withdrawal of the French troops from Moscow, all the buildings on the territory burned down. Later, the land was acquired by Pelageya Ketcher – the wife of the owner of the surgical instrument factory Christopher Ketcher and the mother of the translator Nikolai Ketcher. On her initiative, on the basis of the stone foundation preserved after the fire, a one-story wooden mansion in the classicism style was built, intended for rent. The wooden blockhouse was lined with boards and painted with oil paint, which made the house look like a stone. The central part of the facade was with a risalit decorated with a pediment and a portico with pilasters of the Doric order . In the courtyard there was a garden, which also housed farm buildings.

The main entrance was a wooden vestibule on the southwestern corner of the mansion, the rear half of which was separated by a partition and used as a closet. From the vestibule one could get into the hallway with two windows, and from there into the hall, which occupied the northwestern part of the house. At the end of the room were two identical doors, one of which led to the sideboard. The second door led into the living room with three windows and two corner stoves, from which you could also get into the small living room with fireplace. Next to the kitchen was a footman, overlooking the courtyard .

From 1824 to 1830, the writer Vasily Pushkin rented the house. During his lifetime, the house on Old Basmannaya was one of the centers of the gathering of Moscow intelligentsia: the princes Vyazemsky, Pyotr Shalikov, Baron Anton Delvig, Adam Mitskevich, Nikolai Karamzin, Konstantin Batyushkov and others were in the mansion. It is believed that Alexander Pushkin visited his uncle in 1926, immediately after the end of the forced exile in Mikhailovsky .

” … I, the undersigned collegiate assessor, Vasily Lvov Pushkin, gave these conditions to Mrs. titular counselor Pelageya Vasilyevna Ketcherova in that I hired Mrs. Ketcherova from her… for Pushkin’s residence, a wooden house on a stone foundation with all accessories, such as a large building with mezzanines, a human wing with a stable, a horse-drawn carriage and a cellar, consisting in Moscow Basmanny part of the 3rd quarter of the quarter at number 238…
From a contract of employment by Vasily Pushkin at home Ketcher ”
In 1828, the Ketcher family sold the house to the merchant, Elizabeth Zenker, in which the building was rebuilt several times. After the revolution of 1917, communal apartments were formed in it and in nearby outbuildings. With the beginning of the NEP, part of the estate was transferred to the registry office of the Baumansky district. In the 1970s, the Moscow government initiated a program for the resettlement of communal apartments, as a result of which the house was transferred under the control of one of the trusts of the Ministry of Housing and Civil Engineering of the RSFSR. Since the 1980s, at the initiative of the Main Directorate of Culture of the Moscow City Council, the enfilade was recreated in the mansionfront rooms, and also reconstructed the main facade. After updating the mansion, it housed the Russian Design and Technology Institute .

In 1998, the Moscow government issued a decree “On urgent measures to preserve the monument of history and culture” House of Vasily Lvovich Pushkin “and the creation of the branch of the State Museum of Alexander Pushkin in the building. In the same year, the building was closed for large-scale reconstruction, which, due to lack of funding, started only in 2012. According to the results of the work, the interiors of the beginning of the 19th century were restored, enfilade doors were restored, the basement was improved – it housed an entrance hall, wardrobe, engineering and utility services. Parquet and wooden floors were recreated on the ground floor .

In 2013, the building became a laureate of the Moscow Government contest for the best project in the field of preservation and popularization of cultural heritage sites “Moscow Restoration 2013” in the nomination “For the best organization of repair and restoration works”.

House-museum
The opening of the museum took place on June 6, 2013 and was timed to coincide with the birthday of Alexander Pushkin. Due to the lack of archival documents, the museum staff could not restore the interiors of the rooms as they were under Vasily Pushkin – therefore, they recreated the typical atmosphere of a noble house of the early 19th century. As of 2018, the museum collection includes more than 1600 exhibits collected by employees from 1988 to 2012 .

The exhibition space starts from the basement, where objects and tiles preserved after the fire of 1812 are stored. In the antechamber on the ground floor there is a mahogany sofa and a mirror, for which, to create the effect of presence, business cards of guests of Vasily Pushkin are laid out. From the room you can get into the hall, restored according to documents from the beginning of the 19th century: mirrors are located in the window openings, and on the walls are pictures of friends and relatives of the owner of the house and paintings with views of Moscow. Of particular value is the portrait of Vasily Pushkin, made by an unknown artist, paintings by Fedor Alekseev, handwritten album by Elizabeth Bibikova, as well as a graphic representation of the writer’s brother Sergey Pushkin by Karl Gampeln .

A human room adjoins the hall; the valet Ignaty Khitrov lived in it. In the room there is a wardrobe, a handstand, as well as a retractable chair – integral parts of rooms for servants of that time. From the human room you can get into the living room, where paintings with pictures of places where Vasily Pushkin visited, hang. At the beginning of the XIX century, the room used for dinner parties: at the meetings there were the Minister of Justice and poet Ivan Dmitriev, publisher of the ” Moscow News ” Peter Shalikov, bibliophile Sergey Sobolewski, and the nephew of Alexander Pushkin. It is believed that in this hall the poet first read aloud his work “Journey to Arzrum”. In the dining room there is a sideboard with silver and Arzamas goose in apples – a symbol of the literary community “Arzamas”, whose headman was Vasily Pushkin .

A separate exposition is dedicated to the work “The Dangerous Neighbor “, written by Vasily Pushkin in 1811 and first published in Russia only in 1901. The exhibition space depicts the confrontation of two literary movements – Karamzinists and Shishkovists. Nearby is the office of Pushkin, in which bookcases with books from the family library are stored. The exposition ends with rooms on the mezzanine, where things that characterize the personality of Alexander Pushkin are stored: a bag, papers, a cylinder, as well as objects from the time of his training at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum .

Rooms

Hall
The door from the front, where on the mahogany sofa you can see the outerwear who came to V.L. Pushkin guests (on the table by the mirror – their business cards), leads into the hall. It was here, after ten years of separation, that A.S. Pushkin, by this time already recognized as the first poet of Russia, and aged, suffering from gout, but still retaining his cheerfulness V.L. Pushkin.

The hall is decorated with views of Moscow, among which the painting by F.A. Alekseeva. Uncle and nephew were Muscovites, loved their hometown. Vasily Lvovich knew Moscow sights well, proudly showed them to foreigners.

In the manuscript album E.I. Bibikova – drawing by K.N. Batyushkova, capturing a walk V.L. Pushkin on Tversky Boulevard. Among the portraits – a pictorial portrait of Vasily Lvovich by an unknown artist of the 1810s, a graphic portrait of his brother Sergei Lvovich, made by K.K. Gampelnom. Next to them are picturesque portraits of the 18th – early 19th centuries,

which depict contemporaries V.L. Pushkin. Perhaps this was what his parents looked like – his father, retired artillery Lt. Col. Lev Aleksandrovich Pushkin, and his mother Olga Vasilyevna, nee Chicherina, sisters Anna and Elizabeth (their portraits, unfortunately, were not preserved). Parents gave their sons a brilliant home education. V.L. Pushkin studied several languages, was fluent in French, and from childhood he loved poetry and reading:

To the right of the entrance door to the hall is the valet, where I lived in the valet of Vasily Lvovich Ignatiy Khitrov (and he also wrote poems). But still, the main thing here is the prose of life: a wardrobe, a wardrobe, a retirement chair.

Drawing room
Hall doors lead into the living room, where the color of Moscow literature was gathered, famous poets and writers: former Minister of Justice, poet I.I. Dmitriev, publisher of the Moscow Gazette, poet, prince P.I. Shalikov, closest friend of Vasily Lvovich, poet, Prince P.A. Vyazemsky. Guests V.L. Pushkin were the great Polish poet A. Mitskevich, poet A.A. Delvig, author of witty epigrams, bibliophile S.A. Sobolevsky. A.S. Pushkin read his essay in his uncle’s living room, which was later published under the title Journey to Arzrum.

V.L. Pushkin, a fashion lover, admirer of beautiful ladies, a witty conversationalist, entertained guests with stories about Paris (in 1803–1804 he visited Germany, France, England; introduced himself to Napoleon, then the first consul) in Paris, read his poems.

About foreign travel V.L. Pushkin resembles a unique handwritten album by E.A. Demidova with his autographs in French, a view of Paris, a portrait of Madame Recamier, which gave him a place in the box, English landscapes. The portrait of Alexander I (a rare sheet made by Fragonard and Dubois), the medallions of F.P. Tolstoy, notes of music composed on patriotic verses by V.L. Pushkin “To the inhabitants of Nizhny Novgorod.” Vasily Lvovich loved Italian music, admired the singing of Catalani, whose portrait is also presented in the hall.

Dining room
The next room is the dining room. Among the picturesque canvases adorning her is a view of Italy, a country where a Moscow poet has dreamed of a lifetime. In the buffet – silverware of the sister V.L. Pushkin Elizabeth Lvov, married Sontseva. On the laid table is the Arzamas goose, a symbol of the cheerful literary society “Arzamas”, whose headman was Vasily Lvovich. His friends gathered here, Moscow Arzamas. Here A.S. had dinner Pushkin. There were jokes, laughter, champagne glasses foaming.

Cabinet
In bookcases – books in leather bindings, the works of the Society of lovers of Russian literature at Moscow Imperial University, one of the founders of which was V.L. Pushkin, lifetime editions of uncle and nephew. Vasily Lvovich had a rich library.

Of particular value is the book brought by Vasily Lvovich from Paris with his autograph – “Theater of Mr. de Lano”, the only lifetime collection of poems of the poet-uncle of 1822 with his dedicatory inscription. Here, next to bookcases and portraits of beloved poets, uncle and nephew talked about literature. Here Vasily Lvovich composed poems, read the works of A.S. Pushkin, whose poetic fame he was always proud of.

Collection
The collection – works of fine and decorative art, pieces of furniture and decoration, books of the 18th – first third of the 19th centuries allowed to recreate the interiors of rooms in which many famous writers visited, tell about the life and works of V.L. Pushkin, a wonderful poet and man’s kind soul, imagine his relationship with his nephew. It recreated not only the life of the Pushkin era with trifles long gone from our lives, but also the very atmosphere of a hospitable Moscow house.

State A.S.Pushkin Museum
State Museum A.S. Pushkin today is one of the recognized cultural centers of Moscow and Russia. In addition to the main museum, the GMP includes five more branches: A.S. Memorial Apartment Pushkin on the Arbat, A. Bely Memorial Apartment on the Arbat, I.S. House Museum Turgenev on Ostozhenka, House Museum of V.L. Pushkin on Old Basmannaya and Exhibition Halls in Denezhny Lane. The main museum complex is located in a wonderful architectural monument of the beginning of the 19th century – the city noble estate of the Khrushchev-Seleznev on ul. Prechistenka, 12/2.

The historical mansion houses permanent expositions “Pushkin and his era” and “Pushkin’s Tales”, exhibition halls, a reading room, concert and conference halls. Here, on Prechistenka, there are funds of the museum with open storage of rare books, paintings, graphic and miniature portraits of the 18th-19th centuries, porcelain, bronze, art glass and ceramics, genealogical materials. The GMP Open Storage includes unique private collections donated to the Moscow Museum of A.S. Pushkin – “Library of Russian poetry of I.N. Rozanov”, “P.V. Collection Gubara “,” Cabinet T.A. Mavrina and N.V. Kuzmina ”,“ Cabinet of drawings by Nadia Rusheva ”. The Atrium is intended for large-scale cultural events – a manor courtyard covered with a glass dome, combining the museum complex in a single space in 1999, to mark the 200th anniversary of A.S. Pushkin.

Museum town
Museum Town – a project to expand the Pushkin Museum, dedicated to the centenary of the opening of the Pushkin Museum. In 2008, the museum management announced the first competition for the design of the museum quarter, in which the bureau of British architect Norman Foster won. According to the plan presented, the town was supposed to stretch from the Kropotkinskaya metro station to Borovitskaya square, part of the streets would become pedestrian, and on the territory of the Golitsyn estate and the Kremlin gas stationwould build a glass exhibition “five leaf”. Since the project involved the demolition of some historical buildings, the bureau presented in 2012 an updated project. However, a year later, Foster refused to participate in the project.

In the second architectural competition announced in 2014, the Rhizosphere program was won by the Meganom Bureau, which is led by Yuri Grigoryan. According to the plan, nine museums, an exhibition hall, a depository, a depository, as well as public areas will be created in the town. According to the plan, the area of the cultural cluster should be 105,000 m². Initially, the construction was planned to be completed by 2023, but in July 2019 it became known about a two-year shift in the timing of reconstruction.