Taking into account the significance of this great Russian writer not only for Russian but also for world literature, it will be very interesting to see around the places, which are sometimes called the «Petersburg of Dostoyevsky» in the vicinity of Sennaya Square. These were rather poor districts of St. Petersburg. There were a lot of so-called tenement buildings occupied by the people of middle class, as well as those who for some reasons either approached the poverty line or was on the breadline. All these scenes are vividly described in the novels of Dostoyevsky.
The most impressive picture of the Petersburg of «the poor» is described in the novel ‘Crime and Punishment`. Today the atmosphere of Sennaya Square is somewhat better than it was described by Dostoyevsky: «It was terribly hot, and moreover, stuffiness, crush, grout everywhere, scaffolding, bricks, dust and the specific summer stench, which is so familiar to every citizen of Petersburg who can`t rent a dacha, - all this combined bethumped the young man now that his nerves have been so shattered». However, if you have enough adequate imagination, now you can see and feel it too.
When going to the district of Griboyedov Canal one may take the novel ‘Crime and Punishment’. There it is described in detail where the house of Rodion Raskolnikov (19, Grazhdanskaya, St.) was, as well as the house of the old pawnbroker (104, Griboyedov Canal). There is also the detailed description of the way that Raskolnikov took when he went to kill the old woman. The apartments where these two heroes lived (Raskolnikov rented a tiny garret, and the pawnbroker had a good apartment on the 3rd floor) really existed and earlier one can easily approach them.
Now the inhabitants of these houses, having tired of such attention, installed strong locks in the yards. Particularly, it refers to the house of the old pawnbroker. The walls of its entrance were covered with such inscriptions as «How do you do, granny, we have come to you. Pupils of the 9th form.» Also, there were a lot of people with fevered eyes wanting to ring the same doorbell to know the feelings of Raskolnikov.
Not far from the place where Rodion Raskolnikov lived there`s located the house of Sonia Marmeladova. In the immediate vicinity of it, on Kaznacheyskaya Street in the house of Olonkin, Dostoyevsky lived. And two quarters off, on Gorokhovaya Street, the house of Rogozhin is located, which windows the prince Myshkin from the novel ‘Idiot’ always tried to look in.
The Museum of Dostoyevsky is on 5/2, Kuznechny Alley (near Vladimirskaya Metro Station). The last apartment that the writer rented was at this house. There he wrote his novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov’. Nearby Vladimirsky Cathedral is located, which was visited by Dostoyevsky.
