State Museum-Reserve of A.S.Pushkin
I have recently been lucky to discover, for the joy of my eyes and soul, the beauty of the State Museum-Reserve of Alexander Pushkin, "Mikhailovskoye».
It was an unexpected discovery, since I only knew that I would travel for a ballet gala close to the frontier of Estonia, and only when I arrived at the place did I understand the uniqueness of this trip.
At first, I thought, "Just another place about Pushkin" since there are between 10 and 20 places dedicated to Pushkin in Russia.
But when I arrived, I got overwhelmed by joy : it was not a typical natural landscape but a true earthly paradise.
A little bit of History !
Mikhailovskoye, Trigorskoye, Petrovskoye, Pushkinskie Gory (or Holy Hills) are well known as the memorial Pushkin’s places, connected with life and creative activity of the poet.
Among them, Mikhailovskoye, which we will talk about now, used to be the family estate of A. S. Pushkin’s family, his poetic homeland, and the place of the poet’s spiritual formation, where he lived and worked in 1817, 1819, 1824–1826, 1827, 1835 and 1836.
On January 12, 1742, most of the lands (41 villages on 5,000 acres of land) that made up Mikhailovskaya Bay, by a personal decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, were granted eternal possession to the great-grandfather of A.S. Pushkin, Abram Petrovich Hannibal, “the Arab of Peter the Great.” After the death of Abram Petrovich in 1781, the village of Mikhailovskoye went to Osip Abramovich, who built a manor house and estate in it and laid out a park with curtains, alleys and flower beds.
In 1818, by legacy, it went to Nadezhda Osipovna, the poet’s mother and in 1836, to her children - Olga, Lev and Alexander.
After the death of A.S. Pushkin, for more than twenty years, the house stood without an owner, gradually collapsing.
In 1899, with the 100th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin, the estate was purchased with public donations and became state property.
In memory of the poet, a colony for elderly writers was established in Mikhailovskoye, and in June 1911, the opening of the first Pushkin museum took place.
Small Excursion !
The domain includes the House Museum of A.S. Pushkin and the Manor Building of Mikhailovsky, surrounded by a vast, beautiful park.
In the House Museum, I found the most interesting being the memorial items, objects from the Pushkin and Lansky families, and, of course, the office of A. S. Pushkin.
His office included a desk made of Trigorsky mahogany, an armchair from Golubovo, an inkwell from the Goncharov estate Linen Factory, a candlestick with cap and tongs, a pen stand, and A. S. Pushkin’s cane, which was recreated based on the memoirs of contemporaries, the poet’s correspondence, and his works.
The Manor Building of Mikhailovsky also called the "Nanny's House" is located on the left of the entrance to the House Museum.
In the summer, the poet’s nanny, Arina Rodionovna, lived here, where in the bathhouse (soap house), Pushkin, just like the hero of his novel Onegin, took ice baths.
But it seems to me that all the beauty of this place lies in its park. The beauty of this nature makes it a true earthly paradise, and we find ourselves instantly transported into a meditative, contemplative and dreamy state.
From the outskirts of Mikhailovskoye there is a view of lakes Kuchane (Petrovskoye) and Malenets, the floodplain of the Sorot River, the “wooded hill” and Savkina Gorka - a classic Russian landscape, reflected in the poetry of A. S. Pushkin.
The park offers beautiful paths surrounded by flowers, fruit trees and ancient oaks.
You can also discover ancient Slavic burial mounds of the 5th-10th centuries with runes scriptures.
This place has such an incredible Russian beauty and marvelous landscape that no foreigner knows about it, though everyone would be transformed by its discovery.
It's a place of true power.
Wild though well maintained, inspiring, old but alive, diverse but harmonious, poetic, full of perfumes and colors, a mix of your grandmother garden and aristocratic arrangement, you can not welcome this wind of inspiration.
I started there, not only desiring to read more poetry, but also writing poetry again.
You are surrounded by Pushkin's presence, poetry and inspiration.
There are so many unexpected places like this in Russia, of such beauty, waiting to be discovered.
This again shows how Russia is a country with an abundant-rich culture.
It's an earthly paradise in which you immediately desire to drown yourself and disappear for a few days.
Located on the reserve itself, there are simple hotel rooms and a café in the middle of the field offering delicious countryside typical kitchen : the borsh, mashed potatoes, omelette, etc. Everything was incredibly delicious !
You immediately want to enjoy life, the simple state of being, having a walk, laying in the grass, watching the sky, having a swim in the lake, and enjoying the simple beauty of the "little things" of life.
Far from the agitated civilization, there you can come back to your roots and remember the beauty and essence of being alive, here and now.
BEAU VOYAGE !
