The Arkady Gaidar House-Museum is part of the Gaidar Literary Museum in Arzamas. The Golikov family lived in this house from 1912 to 1918. The Gaidar Museum was established in 1967, and the house has preserved its original interior. Gaidar`s descendants donated many personal belongings of Arkady and his family to the museum. Here, you can see how the famous children`s writer grew up.
The wooden house where the Golikov family lived was a wing of a larger mansion belonging to the noble Shcherbakov family in the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became the property of a local townswoman, Baibakova. In 1912, she rented the house to the Golikov family. The main noble mansion has not survived to this day.
The interiors of the house have been recreated with historical accuracy, allowing visitors to feel the spirit of that time. The Golikov family was highly respected in Arzamas. They were educated and taught children. The mother had a private midwifery practice and treated people who came to her for help.
Upon entering the house, visitors pass through the hallway and enter a small kitchen with a traditional Russian stove. Further on, you can see what the living rooms looked like. The house had a small living room, and behind a wooden partition stood the parents` bed. Arkady and his three sisters slept in a separate room.
In the hallway, on a coat rack, you can see personal belongings of Natalya Salkova, Arkady Gaidar`s mother. She was born into an impoverished noble family, and her distant ancestor was the great Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov. Gaidar`s father came from serf peasants but became a respected teacher.
Gaidar`s parents were members of various revolutionary organizations opposed to the tsarist regime, and they instilled these ideals in their son. At the age of 14, in 1918, he volunteered for the front and left the house in Arzamas forever. He actively participated in the Civil War and, by the age of 17, became a regiment commander. Starting in 1924, he first worked as a journalist and then began writing children`s books.
