Most famous buildings are often notable for their unique architecture, but sometimes, these buildings are only famous because of the people who lived there. For example, we can point out to the apartment in Kuznechny Street which is an ordinary building without any architectural complex, but it’s quite famous in the St. Petersburg city. This apartment was the beginning and the ending point of great Dostoevsky’s career. He once rented this apartment at the beginning of his writing career, and once a few years before his death. He finished writing his last novel “The Brothers Karamazov” in this apartment.
Dostoevsky was a great Russian novelist who had a great impact on Russian literary. He mostly wrote short stories and novels which many of them are quite well-known in the world such as Poor Folk, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov. The legendary writer wasn’t quite favorite among the Soviet officials because of his religious beliefs and radical political views. This particular reason made it almost 90 years late for them to establish the memorial museum.
The Dostoevsky museum locates at the Kuznechny street in St. Petersburg. This museum is where he started his writing career and also where he encountered death. He rented this apartment twice in his lifetime, once when he was young and at the beginning of his writing career in 1846, and once at the old ages when he wrote The Brothers Karamazov, and died in 1881.
Dostoevsky rented several houses in St. Petersburg, but only one of them got famous. Dostoevsky moved into this apartment in 1878 with his family and remained there for the rest of his life. Most of the contemporary artists visited Dostoevsky in this apartment.
Even before the revolution, many people wrote articles in support of building the memorial museum for Dostoevsky and his works in St. Petersburg. However, there was one Dostoevsky Memorial Museum in Moscow where Dostoevsky spent his childhood, but there were none in St. Petersburg where he spent most of his life.
Dostoevsky’s wife left St. Petersburg a year before her death in 1917 and stored all the valuables and furniture of the house in storage which most of them destroyed. Though, there were few examples and manuscripts survived and ended up in State Archive later. The apartment, given over for shared apartments in the Soviet years for decades.
In those years even imagining to have a memorial museum for Dostoevsky was quite impossible because of the differences between Soviet government’s ideology and Dostoevsky’s beliefs, but even in those years, several writers talked about the importance of a memorial museum for this great writer in the St. Petersburg city.
Finally, in the 150th anniversary of the writer’s birthday, the news of establishing a memorial museum for Dostoevsky in the apartment on the Kuznechny street in St. Petersburg which was under restoration at the time, hit the papers. The administrators of the museum used the memories of contemporary, his wife, and the photographs that existed from the house to recreate the house in its original plans when Dostoevsky lived there.
So many people and relatives helped the museum to be a bizarre museum, especially his grandson and grandniece who donated lots of valuable stuff from the Dostoevsky family to the museum. One of the unforgettable days in Russian literary history would be the opening day of the Dostoevsky memorial museum when hundreds of fans rushed to St. Petersburg from all around the world to witness the grand opening of the memorial museum.
The museum on the 5th street of Kuznechny street is a literary memorial museum which includes four main parts. The central hall which is the apartment that Dostoevsky lived there with his family. This hall includes the personal belongings of Dostoevsky such as his work desk, his library, and other things. This hall completely dedicated to the Dostoevsky only.
The next hall is the Literary Exhibition in which one can learn about the biography and bibliography of the writer. This collection includes short stories, novels, essays, translates, and interviews by the writer. There’s also the exhibition hall which includes the contemporary arts by other artists.
The last part of the museum which is out of the main apartment is the small theater located at the bottom of the building. This theater is the same one that Dostoevsky used to hold poetry reading, conferences, and plays by small companies. Today, the theater is dedicated only to Dostoevsky’s works, but in some special events, they might change the plans.
The collection of the museum increased throughout time. Currently, there are over 24,000 manuscripts exist in the museum library collection, all thanks to the Dostoevsky’s fans, the museum’s friends, and the Dostoevsky’s foundation.
The main section of the museum which is the apartment has never changed, but the other parts of the museum such as the exhibition hall and the literary exhibitions are frequently changing. There are new collections to display in the exhibition hall each month and there is a new performance to play in the theater each night, but the central part remains untouched. The most remarkable part of the museum is the literary exhibition, which added to the museum after the restorations of 2009.
The museum directors used technology to present a new way to observe Dostoevsky’s life. This section includes three-part; the first part is represented by exhibits such as photographs, documents, portraits of him, letters, and manuscripts. Then on the next level, exhibits associated with the productive manner. The third level is the most important part of the literary exhibition which is equipped with technology and monitors that is used to display movies about Dostoevsky’s works and documentaries about his life.
In overall, visiting this museum would be quite interesting for people who love literary, especially Dostoevsky. This museum is often included in Saint Petersburg’s literary tour, but it's not included in regular St. Petersburg tour programs. If you want to visit this museum on your trip to St. Petersburg, check with your Russia tour agency beforehand.
