House of the stationmaster in Astapovo

The small house of the stationmaster is located opposite the Astapovo station. On the evening of October 31, 1910, a man knocked on Ivan Ozolin`s workroom. This was Lev Tolstoy`s personal physician, Dusan Makovitsky. He asked if he could provide a room for the sick writer Leo Tolstoy.

Ivan Ozolin ordered to prepare a room in his house at the station and called a doctor from the local outpatient clinic. The doctor asked Tolstoy as he was filling out his medical card: "What is your position?" He answered him: "Write simply: passenger of train No. 12. We are all passengers, only one gets in, and I got off."

The news that a seriously ill writer was lying in the house of the stationmaster of Astapovo station quickly spread all over Russia. A large number of admirers of his talent and journalists from many Newspapers gathered here. Several cars were allocated for their accommodation. The Astapovo Telegraph station was working to the limit, and the Central Newspapers published daily reports on the writer`s health.

At first Leo Tolstoy was lying on the stationmaster`s small bed, but a large bed was brought here from Moscow. After his death, the stationmaster`s house and the furnishings of the room where Leo Tolstoy spent his last 7 days were preserved intact. A Museum was immediately established here. It is called Leo Tolstoy Museum Station. Later, it was decided to preserve not only the stationmaster`s house, but also all the surrounding buildings within a radius of 1 kilometer: the train station, the dispensary, the Trinity Church, water towers, and six two-story houses for workers.