Dostoevsky Museum in St. Petersburg

The largest museum devoted to the life of a great Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was opened on the corner of Kuznechny Alley and Yamskaya Street in 1971. The monument of the writer is in front of the Prince St. Vladimir`s Cathedral near the museum.

In Petersburg Dostoevsky always lived in rented apartments and tenement buildings. Most often he rented corner apartments with a view on a church. The apartment #5 in the building #10 on Kuznechny Alley, with windows facing the above mentioned Cathedral of St. Vladimir, was rented by him for a short period of time in 1846. Then he again rented it October 1878. That time Dostoevsky lived there for 3 years, to his death on January 28, 1881.

The literary and memorial museum of F. М. Dostoevsky created based on the memoirs of his wife, Anna Grigorievna, was opened in this apartment on November 11, 1971. She wrote: «Our apartment, which consisted of six residential rooms, a huge room for books, a hall and a kitchen, was on the first floor. Seven windows were facing Kuznechny Alley».

Of a particular interest are the sitting-room and the study of Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky always wrote at night. It was in that apartment that his famous novel «The Karamazov Brothers», a novella «The Double» and some other works were written. The interior of the study was restored with exceptional accuracy. A reproduction of «Sistine Madonna» by Raphael, a favorite picture of Dostoevsky, is on the wall near the table. As for the personal things of the writer, a feather pen is on the table, a carved wooden paper folder is above the table, the icon «Joy of All Who Sorrow» is on the wall. The hat of Dostoevsky is under the dome in the hall. It was given to the museum by the wife of the writer. 

When he and his family settled in the apartment on Kuznechny Alley, Dostoevsky was already a famous writer and he always had many visitors. He received all his visitors in the sitting-room. Cigarettes are on the table. Dostoevsky always bought tobacco of various factories and mixed it preparing for night work. The inscription made by his daughter Luba is on a pack of cigarettes: «On January 28, 1881 father died». 

Dostoevsky wanted to be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery but his family couldn`t afford it. The hegumen of Alexander Nevsky Lavra offered to bury the writer at the Lavra cemetery and pay all expenses. The coffin with the body of Dostoevsky was carried from his apartment to the Lavra. About 50 thousand people attended the funeral. 

The museum devoted to the life and literary work of F. M. Dostoevsky is in a room near the memorial apartment. There you can see many photos of the writer, from childhood to death, various manuscripts and documentary evidences of contemporaries.