The Dostoevsky Museum in Omsk is located in the historical building (1799) of the commandant of the Omsk fortress. In the 18th century, Omsk was a distant Siberian city. Inside its fortress was a prison where the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky spent four years.
Dostoevsky in 1846 began to attend Petrashevsky`s circles. In those years, he had already published his first stories, and the novel “Poor people” was widely recognized. He wrote the next novel “White nights”, but suddenly the measured rhythm of life stopped. Together with other members of Petrashevsky`s circle, he was arrested. It happened on April 23, 1849. After that, he spent 8 months in the prison of the Peter and Paul fortress.
Dostoevsky was sentenced to death by firing squad, but before his execution the sentence was changed to exile. In 1849, he was sent into Siberia. In January 1850, he was in the Tobolsk Prison Castle, where he managed to see the wives of the Decembrists. On January 23, 1850, Dostoevsky was taken to the Omsk prison.
The conditions of detention were very difficult, and the other prisoners hated people of noble origin. Dostoevsky was constantly in shackles. He worked in a brick factory and in an engineering workshop. The writer often lay in the hospital, as he had increased epileptic seizures. Only there could he write mute. The notes he made were called the “Siberian notebook”.
Dostoevsky then often recalled the doctor of Omsk prison Troitsky, and the commandant of the fortress de Grave. In a letter to his brother, Dostoevsky wrote: "If I had not found people here, I would have perished completely." On January 23, 1854, the writer`s shackles were removed and he was released from Omsk prison. A month later, Dostoevsky was sent as a soldier to the 7th Siberian battalion, stationed in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan).
He believed that these 4 years of Omsk prison formed his worldview and understanding of the people. He reflected his experiences in the famous novel "Notes from the dead house". The Dostoevsky Museum recreates the atmosphere of a prison barracks. Most of the exhibits are dedicated to the writer`s prison life, his letters and various resolutions that concerned Dostoevsky`s stay in Omsk prison.
