Literary Museum of A. S. Pushkin (Vilnius)

The Markutier estate on the outskirts of Vilna, to the south-east of the city center, was acquired in 1867 by an engineer general, railroad construction specialist A.P. Melnikov and built a two-story summer house on a high hill covered with linden and oak trees. In 1875, the estate of Markutier, together with the estate of 270 hectares of land, was presented to Melnikov by his daughter Varvara Melnikova ( 1855 - 1935 ) as a dowry to her wedding with the guard, Lieutenant Vasily Moshkov. The marriage was unsuccessful and soon Varvara Melnikova divorced her husband. In 1880, at a ball in St. Petersburg, she met the younger son of A.S. Pushkin and N.N. Pushkina, Grigory Pushkin ( 1835 - 1905 ).

Grigory Pushkin and Varvara Melnikova October 24, 1883 (according to other sources in 1884) got married in Vilnius in the church of the orphanage "Jesus the Baby" and left for Mikhailovskoye . In Mikhailovsky, the couple lived until 1899 . In anticipation of the centennial of A.S. Pushkin in 1899, Mikhailovsky was sold to the poet at the Imperial Academy of Sciences to preserve the family estate as a national monument.

In the same year, Grigory and Varvara Pushkins left the Mikhailovskoye, which did not belong to them, and settled in Markutye. The central house of the estate, the former summer cottage, they adapted for life in the winter: the stove was built, the walls and ceiling were upholstered with fabric. The interior was decorated with the poet’s personal belongings brought from Mikhailovsky.

During his years in Markutier, Grigory Pushkin was a member of the Vilnius Court of Justice. Together with his wife, he took part in Vilna's public life, organizing charity evenings, financially supporting and patronizing the poor students of the gymnasium. Grigory Pushkin was a member of the anniversary committee for the celebration of the centenary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin in Vilna. He devoted his leisure time to reading various literature and hunting.

True, the son did not inherit his father's talents, but he carefully cherished the memory of his great father, his faithful assistant in this noble cause was his wife, Varvara Melnikova.

- ^[1]

In 1903, the construction of the family chapel began in the estate park. Grigory Pushkin died on August 15, 1905, before the completion of construction work, and was buried in a family cemetery on the estate, not far from the estate. ^[2]

Varvara Pushkina was fond of literature, music, art (her drawings and paintings were preserved); according to her project, a tombstone to G. A. Pushkin was made. She participated in the activities of the charitable organization “Good penny” and in various charitable endeavors, was a member of the jubilee committee to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of A. Pushkin in Vilna. In the period between the two world wars, Pushkin took care of the students of the Russian gymnasium and arranged in her house meetings of intelligentsia and evenings related to the memory of A. S. Pushkin, preserving the “Pushkin’s corner” created by her husband - a memorial room with the poet’s original things brought from Mikhailovsky. V.A. Pushkin died on December 11, 1935 and was buried in a family cemetery on the estate near the chapel of St. Barbara.

Varvara Pushkin in her will made in 1935, wrote off the estate of Markutier estate with all the inventory to Vilna Russian society, instructing him to preserve the memory of the great poet A.S. Pushkin in the estate's house and take care of it so that the estate always serves the culture . ^[3]

However, even during the life of V. A. Pushkina, significant debt obligations accumulated. The executor Vladimir Nazimov made efforts to liquidate the debts of the estate and create conditions for transferring the estate free of debts into the ownership of the Vilna Russian society. But he did not succeed in fulfilling his will before the outbreak of World War II (V.L. Nazimov died in 1941 and was buried in Markutier).

In letters to the Literary Museum in Moscow, under the direction of VD Bonch-Bruyevich, Varvara Pushkin suggested purchasing a Florentine writing desk and a set of writing instruments belonging to N. N. Pushkina, a two-meter trunk of one of Mikhailovsky’s pines sung by A. S. Pushkin and broken during a thunderstorm in 1895 , embroidered curtains, a soft couch with walnut trim, two whatnots and other items. These items were exhibited in Vilnius on the centenary of the death of the poet. In the fall of 1939 , when the city was occupied by Soviet units, a certain P. Shmakov took them in an unknown direction, leaving a hand-written receipt (stored in the museum’s archive). ^[4] After the incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR, the estate was nationalized. In 1940, the Council of People's Commissars of the Lithuanian SSR decided to establish a museum in memory of the poet, but it was not implemented. In 1946, V. Pavlyukovsky was appointed director of the museum, who was engaged in the repair of premises and the preparation of museum exhibits. In 1948, the museum was open to visitors.

Until 1949, the museum was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Cultural and Educational Institutions under the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1949 - 1955 the museum belonged to the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR , in 1955 - 1984 - to the Ministry of Culture of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1984 - 1986, a major overhaul was carried out, during which an extension was built to the estate for administrative, office and utility buildings. At this time, the museum was attached to the Culture Department of the Vilnius City Executive Committee. In 1986 - 1990, the museum was reorganized into a unit of the Vilnius Memorial Museum of Writers. Since 1990, the museum has been run by Vilnius City Government. In 1961 - 1986, the director was Giedre Juodwalkite, then Birutė Sarzhitskene ^[5] , later T. L. Mikhneva, now NF Petrauskene ^[6] . In 1992, a bronze bust of A.S. Pushkin was placed on a high granite pedestal next to the museum; before, since 1955, standing at the foot of the Castle Hill in Pushkin Square, now this territory is part of Sereikiskes Park, authors: sculptor B. Vishnyauskas , architects V. Nasvitis , A. Nasvitis ^[7] .

The museum has more than 8,000 exhibits. The interior and furniture of the late XIX - the first half of the XX centuries have been preserved here. The basis of the collection is household items, manuscripts, photographs and negatives, books, magazines and other publications that remained after Grigory and Varvara Pushkina Alekseevna. Among the exhibits acquired by the museum since 1940 are the values ​​accepted in 1984 from the fund of the poet P. G. Antokolsky (books from his library, notebooks, manuscripts, memorial objects, works of art, over 2000 units). ^[8]

While still living in Mikhailovsky, Grigory and Varvara Pushkins ordered furniture for the estate from the Vilnius craftsmen. Most of it is made of oak from the vicinity of Vilna. The furniture is decorated with the coat of arms of the Pushkin family and the initials of Barbara Pushkina. It is exhibited in the memorial exhibition of the museum, deployed in six rooms on the ground floor, introducing the life of the Vilnius landowners of the late XIX - early XX centuries . Among the exhibits in the living room there is a Becker piano made in 1876 , a portrait of Uncle Varvara Pushkina, Minister of Railways P. P. Melnikov , and a round Dutch stove lined with green tiles. In the “Pushkin’s corner” there is a ombre table and two armchairs with upholstery of green velvet, which belonged to A. S. Pushkin and brought from Mikhailovsky by Grigory and Varvara Pushkin. The walls of this room are upholstered with a copy (created by Vilnius textile workers from preserved samples) of a canvas embroidered by serfs in Mikhailovsky. The dining room has preserved authentic mosaic parquet, carved chairs by Warsaw craftsmen (XIX century) with the arms of Italian cities on the backs, four oak sideboards, richly decorated with carved floral patterns. The next billiard room has a large pool table. The exhibition presents family photographs, as well as paintings and applications by V. A. Pushkina. ^[9] There are 21 lifetime editions of the works of A. S. Pushkin in the mahogany cabinet (34 books were published during the poet’s life). ^[10] In three rooms, formerly bedrooms, there is a panoramic exposition devoted to the life and work of A. S. Pushkin ^[11] .

Grigory Pushkin’s office has a desk, bookcases and bookcases made in Vilna in 1884 . The furniture is decorated with the family coat of arms of the Pushkins and the monogram of Barbara Pushkina. On the walls are a portrait of A. S. Pushkin, Gregory and Varvara Pushkina, photographs of the estate, two hunting horns.

Section of the exposition on the second floor “A. S. Pushkin and Lithuania ”introduces the biographical and literary ties that unite the poet and Lithuania, with the episodes of the biography of Pushkin’s great-grandfather Ibrahim Hannibal , the poet’s son and his daughter-in-law, connected with Vilnius. Manuscripts of translators, photographs, books published in Lithuanian, their illustrations tell about the history of translations and translators of A.S. Pushkin's works in Lithuanian (starting from the first translation of 1885 ). Photos, programs and playbills, costumes, sketches of costumes and sets created by artists M.V. Dobuzhinsky , N. Zelinsky, M. Pertsov, are introduced to productions based on the works of A.S. Pushkin in Lithuanian theaters: in 1923, at the State in the theater in Kaunas, the premiere of P. I. Tchaikovsky ’s opera Eugene Onegin , which was then staged repeatedly in various theaters in Lithuania , the operas Mermaid ( 1948 ), Mazepa (1951), and Mozart were staged at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater and Salieri "( 1963 )," Boris Godunov "( 1981 )," Pico Vaya Dama ”(2002), the ballet“ Bakhchisarai Fountain ”( 1950 ). Some of the exhibits recall the 200th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin (1999), widely celebrated in Lithuania. ^[12]

Museum materials convincingly speak of the enormous influence of Pushkin’s work on Lithuanian literature; the poet’s works published in Lithuanian are on display here. ^[13]

In the museum’s temporary exhibition hall, exhibitions are held about the life and work of A.S. Pushkin, the preservation of the memory of him and his contemporaries. The museum celebrates memorable dates related to the life and work of A.S. Pushkin, holds literary and musical evenings, concerts, exhibitions and other events. The museum holds various kinds of creative contests among schoolchildren, designed to popularize Pushkin’s work. During literary and musical evenings, famous writers, scientists, actors and singers of Lithuania and other countries performed in the museum’s lounge - Nijole Ambrazaitite , A. Berba, V. I. Efremov , A. Inozemtsev , Virgilius Noreika , Vladimir Prudnikovas , S. Yanchait, Lyubov Nazarenko, R. Alekhnovich, L. Lenz, S. Vidakina. ^[fourteen]

• Literary Museum of A. S. Pushkin (Neopr.) (Unavailable link) . Vilniaus miesto savivaldybės muziejai . Date of treatment May 20, 2008. Archived on June 9, 2007.
• Alexander Pushkin Literary Museum Museums of Lithuania . Lithuanian Museums' Association. Date of treatment May 20, 2008. Archived March 14, 2012.
• Literatūrinis A. Puškino muziejus (lit.) . Pramogos Lietuvoje . Entertainment bank. Date of treatment May 20, 2008. Archived March 14, 2012.
• Literatūrinis A. Puškino muziejus (lit.) (Unavailable link) . Vilniaus turizmo informacijos centras. Date of treatment May 20, 2008. Archived March 14, 2012.

• B. Saržickienė. Literatūrinis A. Puškino muziejus. A. Pushkin Literary Museum. Literary Museum of A. S. Pushkin. - Vilnius: Literatūrinis A. Puškino muziejus, S. Platūko fotografijos ir leidybos agentūra FLA, 1999 .-- 22 p.