Serednikovo estate is located a few kilometers Northwest of Moscow, near the city of Zelenograd. Pyotr Stolypin, Prime Minister of the Russian Empire, spent his childhood here. Mikhail Lermontov also came here for the summer 3 years in a row, and life in Serednikovo had a great influence on his work.
The beautiful Serednikovo estate complex is located on the top of a hill. In the center is a two-story house with a Belvedere, and a semicircle from it radiates a colonnade with four wings, which are almost the same size as the main house. There is a landscape Park with larch trees on the hillside. Through this Park, a large staircase descends from the main house to the pond.
In 1825, the Serednikovo estate was purchased by major General Dmitry Stolypin, the brother of Elizabeth Arsenyeva, the grandmother of Mikhail Lermontov. Mikhail Lermontov visited Serednikovo manor for the first time on July 1, 1829 with his grandmother. This was the first year when, at the age of 16, Lermontov left the Tarkhany estate and entered a Moscow University boarding school.
Many children were resting in the manor. Alexey Stolypin, whom Lermontov often called by the nickname "Mongo", also rested here. They became close friends. In 1836, Lermontov even dedicated the poem Mongo to him. Stolypin was a second in both of Lermontov`s duels.
Nearby lived the Vereshchagins family, who were also relatives of the Lermontovs. Alexandra Vereshchagina introduced Mikhail to her friend Ekaterina Sushkova. She was already 18 years old, and the young poet fell in love with her. Lermontov came to Serednikovo three years in a row and spent the summer months here. Later researchers of creativity of Lermontov even call these years "Sushkova period." Ekaterina Sushkova herself later described her love affair with Lermontov in her memoirs. At first, she was very mocking about Mikhail`s courtship, but a few years later she fell in love with him, but at this time Lermontov became very vindictive.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Serednikovo estate was owned by Vera Ivanovna Firsanova. She was an entrepreneur and highly valued the arts. Many famous artists came to visit her: Fyodor Chaliapin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Valentin Serov, Yuli Konyus, Konstantin Yuon and many others.
After the revolution of 1918, Vladimir Lenin rested here and even planned to make Serednikovo his permanent residence, but later the Leninskie Hills estate was chosen for this purpose.
