St. Petersburg identifies as the capital of art in Russia, because of the numbers of artists and art and cultural museums that it provides. If tourists want to learn about the history of the art or culture of Russia, they should visit St. Petersburg on their tour to Russia. There they can find multiple art museums, such as the State Hermitage Museum, which is the second-largest art museum in the world, and only the Louvre museum surpasses them in the competition. You can also visit several other sorts of art and culture museums, including fine art museums, such as the State Russian Museum, Museum of decorate arts, such as the Faberge Museum and Applied Art Museum. There are also literary museums, Music and Theatre Museum, and commercial museum. St. Petersburg also provides multiple biographic museums for poets, writers, people of music and theatre, and intelligent Russian who had shaped the society of St. Petersburg in the past to the present.
St. Petersburg also home to several poets of the silver age of literature in Russia, which is said to be the most exceptional creative period of Russian poetry. The Silver Age of Russian poetry had begun in the last decade of the 18th century, and it ended after three to four decades after that in the 20th century. While there's no specific museum about the Silver Age in St. Petersburg, many believe that the Anna Akhmatova museum of Literary is the best place for tourists who have decided to check on that matter on their travel to Russia to learn about that age in St. Petersburg. However, there are several biographic museums about the prominent personages of the Silver Age in St. Petersburg, including the ones that many believed the Silver Age had begun with his works, Alexander Blok.
Although many believe that the silver age of poetry had begun years before Alexander Blok's appearance, no one can deny the influence of 'Verses to the Beautiful Lady, ' which was Blok's love poet dedicated to his wife, Lyubov Mendeleeva. It was Blok's first collection of poetry that had been published in 1905. Alexander Blok was born in 1880 in St. Petersburg to an intellectual family. His father was a professor at Warsaw University and his mother was a literary translator. His grandfather was also an intelligent person, who was the rector of St. Petersburg University. Since his parents divorced when he was nine, he spent most of his summers in Moscow at the family estate of Shakhmatovo. There he came to contact Vladimir Solovyov, who had a massive impact on Blok's understanding of contemporary symbolism. Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet poetries made Blok discovers his love and talent for poetry. He first entered St. Petersburg University to study law, but later transferred his interest in philosophy and history. While he was still a student at St. Petersburg University, Blok married Lyubov, who was going to be one of the top actresses and historian of Russia. From when Blok got his first recognition after his first collection of poems published from 1905. He published two more collections of poems after until 1910. At the beginning of the 1910s, everyone admired Blok's works and talent, many even identified him as Alexander Pushkin's literary heir. The term 'the Silver Age' was only used in the 1960s, and Blok was the star of that era without any doubts.
He became the idol to many next-generation poets who had shaped the silver age of Russian poetry, including Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, and Vladimir Nabokov, which each of these well-known poets had dedicated at least one poet to this famous figure. Unlike his contemporary artists, Blok was welcoming the October Revolution and bolshevik's movements. He even wrote a poem about a scene during the October Revolution, where twelve red soldiers fought on the streets of Petrograd, which was brutally rejected by his former admirer. However, his last work of poetry was later considered as the beginning of the Soviet literature era. Even though he had supported the revolution and bolshevik's movement, his beliefs and works were not well-matched with the Soviet government's views, which led to his isolation of mind and depression. Blok's final public appearance was in 1921 when he made a statement that he's dying because life had no more meaning for him. Despite the support of Maxim Gorky and several other bolshevik's figures, Blok's doctors wish to allow him to leave the country for treatment were denied, and when that wish was granted, it was too late for the poet. Alexander Blok died six months later in August of 1921.
The Alexander Blok Apartment Museum locates in historic Kolomna district of St. Petersburg, away from the usual tourist areas of the city, which is the reason why this museum is not as welcoming for foreign tourists as the biographic museums about the golden age artists. This apartment museum was the family home of Alexander Blok in his last decade of life. However, It's not one of the museums that travel agencies would often offer to people who visit St. Petersburg. If you want to visit it during your tour to Russia program, you should be aware that there's no English guide inside the museum. However, you can buy an English booklet that tells you about most parts of the museum. The museum contains three sections, Memorial Museum, Alexander Blok and his circle, and literary exhibition.
The Memorial Museum locates on the third floor. Alexander Blok and his family lived there from 1912 to 1920. The interior of this flat has been recreated to when they have lived there. You can visit the study room, dining room, bedroom, and his wife's private room in this museum. This flat is connected to most of Blok's masterpieces, including «Black Blood,» «Of What the Wind Sings,» «The Twelve,» and «The Life of My Friend.» You can include this museum on your Russia tour program if you're interested in the poet's life.
Many of the personal belongings of the poet and his family were also loaned to the museum from the Institute of Russian Literature, which you can see on your tour to Russia. This collection launched in the museum under the title of Alexander Blok and his circle and contains photographs, portraits, books, drawings, manuscripts, and other personal belongings from the poet, which tells the story of the poet's life to its visitors on Russia tour.
The fourth and last floor of the apartment is dedicated to the temporary exhibitions and works of Alexander Blok. There you can find all the editions of his work published in his life as well as multiple photographs and personal belongings regard of his work. While all the sections of this museum are all about Alexander Blok, if you want to learn about his work, you must visit this floor on your tour to Russia.
We at the Star Travel Company also recommend our tourists visit this museum if they have enough time and energy on their travel to Russia. However, since there are loads of significant tourist attractions in St. Petersburg that you should visit first, we do not encourage our tourists to push this museum up their list, especially since there's no English guide on this museum yet. Many foreign visitors don't even know about its existence. If you want to learn about more St. Petersburg attractive places or read our tips about how to travel to Russia, you can visit our weblog.
