The Melikhovo estate, located 60 kilometers to the south from Moscow, is one of the most famous museums devoted to Chekhov. The estate has a wooden house, where the family of the write lived, as well as a big park with numerous buildings.
A famous writer and playwright Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born at Taganrog in 1860. He spent his childhood and youth at this town. And then he traveled over the country very much, as well as made long journeys to Sakhalin. In 1890 he returned to Moscow and settled down in the house in Malaya Dmitrovka. However, he didn’t like urban life very much, so he bought the Melikhovo estate in the near Moscow in 1892.
For about a year he and his family put very much effort in its development. They moved there as soon as it became suitable for permanent dwelling. At Melikhovo he lived to 1899, until the acute condition of tuberculosis made him to move to Yalta.
The big Berlin poplars are the first thing you see when approaching the main house of the Melikhovo. They were planted by the father of Chekhov 120 years ago. The main house was turned into an interesting museum. Now it looks like it did in the lifetime of Chekhov.
To the left of the main house is an orchard and to the right of the main house is a vegetable garden called the «south of France.» Near the bath-house is a fallen but still alive 120 year old willow. The Alley of Love running around the estate begins at this tree.
At the orchard you can see a small outhouse where Chekhov liked to write his literary works, as well as received his patients. On the outhouse is a plate with the following inscription: «My house where "The Seagull" was written». Totally, Chekhov wrote 42 plays and short stories at Melikhovo, including «Uncle Vanya», «Ward No. 6», «Sakhalin Island», «The House with a Mezzanine», «My Life», «The Man in a Case», «Gooseberries», «About Love», «Peasants» and many other works.
