Pushkin Museums

Moscow devotes two museums to the writer most Russians consider to be their greatest national poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born in Moscow in 1799 and at the age of 12 attended the Imperial Lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo, later to be renamed Pushkin. It was here that he embarked on a glittering literary career and penned his first major work - the romantic poem "Ruslan and Ludmilla". Written in the style of the narrative poems of Voltaire, but intertwining elements of Russian folklore, the poem flouted all the accepted rules of literary style and genre and was met with a barrage of criticism from the established literary elite of the day. "Ruslan and Ludmilla" was, however, an enormous popular success and the writer started to take an active part in the literary circles of St. Petersburg.

Like fellow writer Lermontov, Pushkin was sent into exile for poems that were seen as dangerously political at the time, and the Crimean and Caucasus regions in which he was forced to stay had a profound on his writing of the period. During this time he wrote the romantic poems "The Prisoner of the Caucasus" and "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray", which was later staged as a ballet by the choreographer Boris Asafiev.

In 1823 he started work on what was to become his masterpiece, the novel in verse "Yevgeny Onegin", on which he continued to work intermittently until 1831. Taking a growing interest in history, Pushkin completed his historical tragedy "Boris Godunov" in 1831 and is renowned for a hoist of other works including many lyrical poems, most notably the famous "Bronze Horseman". In 1831 he embarked on an unhappy marriage with Natalya Goncharova, which was to end on his death in 1837, when the great poet was tragically defeated by a French officer in a duel to defend his wife's honor.

Pushkin Memorial Apartment on the Arbat

The blue Empire-style house on the Arbat was home to Russia's most beloved poet for a short time in the spring of 1831. It was here that Pushkin held his stag night and spent the first few months of married life with Natalya Goncharova.

The museum houses various pieces of original furniture from the Pushkins' apartment and exhibits an array of original manuscripts and first editions of the writer's works.

Pushkin State Museum

The former Khrushchev Mansion now hosts the Pushkin State Museum, which devotes an impressive 10 rooms to the life and works of the poet. The mansion boasts an impressive exterior, decorated with colonnades and stucco relief work, and an equally impressive interior full of elegant fireplaces and ceiling frescoes. The museum features endless displays of Pushkin's personal sketches, first editions, correspondence and general memorabilia.