Shushenskoye wooden architecture museum

One of the most interesting Russian museums of wooden architecture comparable to a similar museum in Kizhi (Karelia) is located 500 kilometers to the south of Krasnoyarsk in Shushenskoye. A Siberian village of the end of 19 century was completely preserved on an area of 16 hectares.

The location of this museum in such a remote place is related to the fact that in 1897-1900 in Shushenskoye Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) served his exile, who then headed the revolution 1917, as a result of which the Bolsheviks came to power in St. Petersburg.

The memorial part of the exposition has 29 houses, 23 of which are the original houses of the end of 19 century. Of a particular interest are the house of Zyryanov where Lenin lived the first year of his exile and the house of Petrova where he moved after he was joined by N. К. Krupskaya. Also, it will be very interesting to have a look at the volost government and prison of the end of 19 century. Everything was preserved in its original state there.

The history of Lenin`s stay in Shushenskoye began in 1895 after his arrest. After a year of investigation, he was sentenced to exile in Siberia under police supervision, but his mother made sure that Lenin went into exile, not as addressed, but at his own expense.
In may 1896, Lenin left Krasnoyarsk for Shushenskoye on the steamer St. Nicholas. Now this ship has been turned into a Museum, and it can be seen in Krasnoyarsk. On may 8, Lenin rented a room in the house of the wealthy landowner Zyryanov. He was assigned a state allowance of 8 rubles a month, and this money Lenin gave to Zyryanov.

Simultaneously with Lenin, Nadezhda Krupskaya was arrested. She was sentenced to exile in Ufa, but she asked to be sent to Shushenskoye, where Lenin and Krupskaya wanted to get married immediately. In 1898, she came to Shushenskoye with her mother. Rings made of copper nickels were made by a local blacksmith, and the young couple were immediately married.
After their marriage, they moved to the spacious house of the landowner Praskovya Olympievna Petrova, where they rented half of the house: a kitchen, a room, and separate rooms for Lenin, Krupskaya, and her mother. As Krupskaya wrote in her memoirs: "... we lived a family Life. And we fought with the Russian stove together with my mother.