In the very heart of Saint Petersburg, just a few steps away from Nevsky prospect, in the house number 12 on Moika embankment there is a memorial literary museum of the most famous Russian poet of the 19th century - A.S. Pushkin. The museum, located in the apartment, where Pushkin family lived from autumn of 1936 till winter 1937, holds the great collection of poet's personal belongings, books and objects of art, connected with the life and creativity of the outstanding Russian poet.
A.S. Pushkin had never owned a house in Saint Petersburg, all his life he lived in rented apartment. The apartment in the house on Moika embankment was the sixth one during poet's family life and his last address. He moved in this flat in September 1836, and on January 29, 1837 the city was shaken by the news of the poet's death.
The famous Moika house, dating back to the beginning of the 18th century, is one of the oldest brick buildings in Saint Petersburg. The owners of the house changed, thus changed its interior and exterior. In the beginning of the 19th century the three-story classical building carried over to princess Volkonskaya, whose family owned the house up to 1917. Pushkin was closely acquainted with this family, belonging to the elite of Russian noble society. During his exile he made friends with prince Sergey Volkonsky, who later was banished to Siberia as a participant of the Decembrist movement.
Tsarist government didn't favour the poet during his life and after his death strove to consign to oblivion all the facts connected with him. That's why the museum on Moika embankment appeared only in 1925 under the Soviet. Naturally the apartment had changed a lot for the century that had passed since the time Pushkin lived there. In 1987 after the painstaking reconstruction work, that based on the rough plan drafted by Zhukovsky after Pushkin's death and the memorials of poet's contemporaries, the original look of the flat was reconstructed. While from the original furnishing of the flat just a few objects had left the museum was furnished with resembling the original typological items of Pushkin's epoch.
In the whole world there are just few personal belongings of Alexander Pushkin. The majority of them have been retained in the poet's study, the interior of which has been carefully recreated according to the drawings and memorials of his contemporaries. In the middle of the study there is the original writing-table, comfortable and modestly decorated like all the things poet prefered. On the table there are objects, that keep the warmth of Pushkin hands: his visiting card, paper knife, inkstand with the figure of a Negro, bell and pen, that stayed lying on the table after the poet's death. Books and copies of manuscripts show what the poet was working on in the last months of his life - final pages of "Captain's daughter", letter to Chaadaev and the poem devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Lyceum foundation.
Next to the table there is a big Voltairian armchair, poet liked to sit in. As during his life the walls of the study are decorated with the portraits of his friends and those who were congenial to him. The extensive library, collected by Pushkin, determines the look of the study. It contains about 4,000 volumes in 14 foreign languages, among them - encyclopedias and reference books, scientific studies, rare books, works of Russian and European authors. Some of them were signed by outstanding Pushkin's contemporaries.
As poet's friends recollected, Pushkin spent in the study most of the day. The last 48 hours of his life he also spent there. The mantle-piece clock have been stopped at the time of poet's death - at 2:45 p.m.
The museum treasures unique exhibits, carefully preserved by poet's friend: the waistcoat Pushkin was wearing on the day of duel, the death mask, medallion with the lock oh his hair, etc.
The tradition of literary and musical evenings held in Pushkin apartment has been maintained for many years. February 10th (January 29th according to the Old Style) is a special day for the museum, it is the memorial day. Annually on this day one minute silence honors the memory of the great Russian poet.
Nowadays the Pushkin Memorial Museum is the only one of this kind in Saint Petersburg. Its Literary and historical exhibitions charts poet's life and work, tells about the tragic duel and the last days of his life and pictures the broad panorama of Pushkin's epoch - the beginning of the 19th century.