Museum-estate of L.N. Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana", Tula region

The Yasnaya Polyana estate, which belonged to the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, is located in the Tula region, near the town of Shchekino. Today it is a museum-reserve that welcomes tourists from all over the world.

The writer has repeatedly admitted that this place helped him a lot in his work. The museum has preserved the original furnishings of the house and the nature around it in its original form, the same one that helped Lev Nikolaevich create masterpieces of Russian literature.

Prices at the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Reserve in 2019

Entrance to the estate is possible without the involvement of guides:

• 100 rub. for adults;
• 50 rub. for students and pensioners;
• children under 16 years old - free of charge.

Prices for the tour depend on the areas of the museum that you want to visit and on the category of the visitor. Schoolchildren, students and pensioners belong to the privileged category of visitors.

For a tour in a foreign language, 1500 rubles are required. additionally. You can find a free day and buy tickets in advance on the official website of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum.

Story

The first mention of "Yasnaya Polyana" is found in the documents of 1652, then it was a small settlement. The settlement began to belong to the Tolstoy family in 1763, when it was bought out by the great-grandfather of Leo Nikolayevich, Prince Sergei Fedorovich Volkonsky. Later it was inherited by her son Nikolai Sergeevich, who gave this place the appearance of a large estate.

The Tolstoy family lived here with five children, including the youngest, Leo. He lost his parents early and the division of estates took place in 1847. Yasnaya Polyana passed to Lev Nikolaevich, who at that time was 19 years old, but he began to live there only in the late 1850s.

The writer married Sofya Andreevna Bers in 1862, and the manor began to change from the woman's hand. The wife created home comfort and beautiful flower beds around the house, and Lev Nikolayevich took care of the gardens and forests around. The latter occupy an area of ​​more than 250 hectares.

In October 1910, Lev Nikolaevich left Yasnaya Polyana, and died in November. After his death, the estate was left to his wife Sofya Andreevna. Tolstaya tried to preserve the inviolability of her husband's belongings and the furnishings of the house, many items were signed by her. She assisted researchers involved in the biography of Lev Nikolaevich.

In 1919, the estate was taken under the protection of the People's Commissariat, and in 1921 it was nationalized and declared a museum, all of which have "exceptional cultural and historical value and are national treasures, are under state protection." By order of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, a cultural and educational center began to be created on the estate.

In 1941, there was a threat of occupation and things from the house had to be evacuated. And not in vain. "Yasnaya Polyana" was occupied for 47 days, and was set on fire during the retreat. The fire was extinguished, but the house was badly damaged, but was restored in 1942. Immediately after the end of the war, historical values ​​returned to the estate.

After the separation of Yasnaya Polyana from the other museums of Tolstoy, a serious restoration of the estate began. In the 50s, according to photographs and stories of residents, all the buildings of the site were reconstructed. For each object, the employees made passports with an exact description and location, which helped to preserve the original look of Lev Nikolayevich's dwelling.

In 1994, the great-grandson of the writer Vladimir Tolstoy became the director. From that moment on, the Tolstoy family began to come here from all over the world every 2 years. New educational programs, exhibitions and excursions began to be implemented. The place began to be visited by foreigners, including writers and other figures of world art.

In 2012, Vladimir Tolstoy was appointed presidential adviser on culture and art, and Ekaterina Tolstaya was appointed director of the estate.

Attractions

The house-museum has preserved the environment familiar to the great writer. Safe and sound in the office of Lev Nikolaevich there is a table on which he completed more than one work. Even his books are partially preserved, but touching them is strictly prohibited.

One of the buildings is the house of Prince Volkonsky, the writer's grandfather. The estate acquired its appearance just thanks to him. Lev Nikolayevich greatly appreciated the taste of his grandfather.

One of the two outbuildings, which housed a school for village children, opened by Lev Nikolaevich, has been preserved. Later, it played the role of a living room, and today exhibitions are organized here.

The estate also has a stable consisting of 30 heads of thoroughbred horses. The sports club "Yasnaya Polyana" is open here. Sightseers spend horse rides on horseback and in a carriage, and in winter - on a sleigh.

There is a birch alley on the site, planted in 1965. Previously, it was spruce, but this was the work of Sofya Andreevna, while Tolstoy preferred birch trees. On the left side of the "Preshpekt" there is a large pond with a bathhouse, and on the right side there are 3 small ponds with a bathhouse.

Lev Nikolaevich was buried not far from the estate, in the forest. Tourists are invited to visit his grave. True, you will not see a large monument here, the writer asked to be buried very modestly. This is just a small mound without flowers and a cross.

Excursion programs

Here he was born, lived most of his life, here he is buried. Here was his only favorite home, the nest of his family and clan.

It is in Yasnaya Polyana that you can truly "plunge" into the world of Tolstoy and his works - every year this famous museum is visited by a huge number of people from all over the world.

The first information about Yasnaya Polyana dates back to 1652. From the middle of the 18th century, the estate belonged to the writer's maternal ancestors, Princes Volkonsky. During the 18th and 19th centuries, a unique estate landscape was created here - parks, gardens, picturesque alleys, ponds, a rich greenhouse, an architectural ensemble was created that included a large manor house and two outbuildings.

Together with the architectural ensemble, this landscape has been preserved for more than a hundred years - following the model of 1910, the last year of Tolstoy's life. One of the estate outbuildings eventually became a home for the writer and his family. Here Tolstoy lived for more than 50 years, here he created masterpieces of world literature. All interior items and works of art are authentic and preserve the atmosphere of the life of Lev Nikolayevich and his family.

Centuries-old trees and young growth, picturesque alleys of parks and secluded forest paths, the expanse of ponds and the bottomless sky - all this is Yasnaya Polyana, an amazing world that inspired Leo Tolstoy. The writer did not leave this world even after his death - his grave is located in the Old Order forest, on the edge of a ravine. Tolstoy himself indicated the place of his burial, connecting it with the memory of his older brother and his story about the “green stick”, on which the secret of universal happiness is written.

Fate was favorable to the Tolstoy family nest throughout the 20th century. The estate was not damaged during the Civil War - out of respect for the memory of Tolstoy, the Yasnaya Polyana peasants saved it from the pogrom. 11 years after the death of the writer, in 1921, through the efforts of his youngest daughter Alexandra Lvovna, a museum was opened in Yasnaya Polyana. The descendants of Lev Nikolaevich continued to take part in the fate of the museum. In 1941, when the threat of occupation loomed over Yasnaya, the writer's granddaughter Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya-Yesenina, who was in charge of the museum, organized the evacuation of most of the exhibits of the Tolstoy House to Tomsk.

A completely new stage in the development of Yasnaya Polyana began in 1994, when the great-great-grandson of Lev Nikolayevich Vladimir Ilyich Tolstoy became the director of the museum. From that moment on, we can talk about the return of the Tolstoys to Yasnaya Polyana and a return to the history, roots, and traditions of the old Russian noble estate. These traditions are continued by the current director of the museum, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Tolstaya, who took up this post in 2012.

At the moment, Yasnaya Polyana is a large museum complex, a recognized cultural center of world significance. In addition to the Tolstoy Museum, it includes a whole network of branches. But the center still remains the estate - a real, "alive", exactly the way Tolstoy knew and loved it. Many types of economic activities are preserved here: apples are picked in huge gardens, the apiary brings honey, graceful horses delight the eye ... The entire Yasnaya Polyana estate with its unique beauty retains not only its original appearance, but also the spirit of the Tolstoy era.

The estate, founded in the 17th century, belonged to the bearers of famous noble families. First to representatives of the Volkonsky family, then to Tolstoy. Where is Yasnaya Polyana located? What is today located in the halls, through which the great classic once slowly paced?

Family estate

Tolstoy revered everything that had to do with the history of his family. Perhaps it was some kind of ancestor cult. The ancestors of the writer bowed before the uniform. Lev Nikolaevich carefully kept family portraits, grandfather's books, family legends and even furniture, which, in his own words, "smelled of family memories." Where Yasnaya Polyana is located, a museum has been opened today. Here there are fans of the work of the Russian writer and those who are not indifferent to the history of pre-revolutionary Russia. Where Yasnaya Polyana Leo Tolstoy is located, the culture of ancestors, the manor way of life and the memorial phantom have been preserved.

Greatness and modesty

The places where Yasnaya Polyana is located would not be visited by tourists today, if it were not for Count Tolstoy, the father of Leo Nikolayevich, who moved here in 1824 with his wife immediately after the wedding. In the 20th century, a terrible fate befell the noble estates. Most of them were destroyed. But the new government could not act so barbarously with the estate of a humanist writer, defender of the oppressed and opponent of the church. However, perhaps it could. The estate survived thanks to the efforts of the Yasnaya Polyana peasants.

Where is Yasnaya Polyana located? In the very center of central Russia, in that part of the country that is known for its modest and touching nature. The architecture of the estate is not pretentious - restrained, but at the same time majestic. The estate of a person who created great works, but avoided excess in everyday life, cannot be another.

Estate expansion

In the twenties of the XIX century, Tolstoy increased the territory of the family estate by acquiring new land holdings. Nikolai Ilyich secured the future for his descendants. Maria Nikolaevna, the writer's mother, had little interest in home improvement. She lived in a new world, more spiritual. For her, the family was a gift from God. Maria Volkonskaya got married at 31.

Where Tolstoy lived

Where is Yasnaya Polyana located? Fourteen kilometers from the ancient city of Tula. Almost the entire life of the writer is connected with the estate. Here he was born and lived for more than half a century. Here, in the silence of Yasnaya Polyana, occasionally disturbed by the rumble of the railway, the writer found his last refuge.

Once upon a time, back in the sixteenth century, on the site of a museum dedicated to the life and work of Leo Tolstoy, there were dense forests. Here was a notch that protected Moscow from Tatar raids. Stepan Kartsev owned Yasnaya Polyana in the middle of the 17th century. In 1763 it was bought by one of the Volkonskys, Tolstoy's ancestor. True, besides him, several more landowners owned the Yasnaya Polyana lands. But not for long - the count bought out part of the adjacent territory.

Estate transformation

In 1784, the estate passed to Nikolai Volkonsky, who, having retired, settled here permanently. Then landscape work began, which changed the original appearance of these places. There were parks, neat ponds, an alley leading from the entrance tower to the main building and called "Preshpekt".

Volkonsky took seriously the transformation of the family estate. Construction lasted fourteen years. There were two stone outbuildings, a large manor house. Many buildings erected in the 19th century have survived to this day. Construction was completed already under the father of Lev Nikolayevich, in 1824. Childhood and youth of Tolstoy

Tolstoy did not remember his mother, but he idolized her all his life. To those corners of the estate that reminded of her, he treated with particular care. The childhood of the writer, as is known from his autobiographical works, passed in a spacious, comfortable father's house, which had about forty rooms.

The life of the Tolstoys was measured, unhurried, proceeded in accordance with the traditions of the nobility. Tolstoy lost his father when he was nine years old. Aunt Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken became the guardian. She took the children to Kazan. The writer returned to Yasnaya Polyana in 1847. When the division of possessions between the brothers took place, Lev Nikolayevich, as the youngest, was to receive Yasnaya Polyana, which pleased him a lot. Even then, he dreamed of a village life and felt that it was here that he would be happy. True, the peasants reacted with distrust to the undertakings of the young Tolstoy. He became disillusioned and went to military service.

In the late fifties, Leo Tolstoy retired. Then he returned to the family estate, although at first he spent a lot of time in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

During his lifetime, certain sections underwent changes. So, Tolstoy, an adherent of labor and an opponent of the exploitation of free labor, planted fruit trees with his own hands. True, the peasants nevertheless erected the greenhouse.

Under Tolstoy, the architecture of the estate also changed. The manor's house was demolished, and a new house was built in its place, to which several outbuildings were added over time. The atmosphere that reigned in Yasnaya Polyana inspired Lev Nikolaevich to an extraordinary degree, giving him the richest material for literary creativity. Here the writer thought a lot and felt a lot. Some of his works reflect Yasnaya Polyana landscapes, including the novels Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

In the trilogy, which the writer dedicated to memories of childhood and adolescence, the Irtenevs' house is not just a rich noble dwelling. This is a symbol of strong family relationships. And this house is very reminiscent of the one located in Yasnaya Polyana, where Lev Nikolayevich spent his childhood and adolescence.

After the writer's death

In 1910, the widow of Leo Tolstoy became the owner of the estate. Sofya Alexandrovna repeatedly turned to the tsar with a request to take the estate under state protection, but she was refused. So the Soviet historians claimed. Why Nicholas II was so dismissive of the architectural complex, in one of the buildings of which the best works of Russian literature were born, is unknown. He must have had other concerns. However, Tolstoy's widow was given a pension, which was partly used to maintain the estate.

Sofia Alexandrovna did her best to preserve the estate in the form in which it was during the life of her famous husband. She didn't change anything in his office or in his bedroom. Under the direction of Tolstoy, the description of the library of the author of "War and Peace" began. The writer's children, Sergei Lvovich and Alexandra Lvovna, also took an active part in the life of the estate.

The estate was included in the list of objects that are under state protection in 1919. Two years later, it was nationalized and converted into a museum.

In 1925, an exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the writer was opened in the Kuzminsky wing. Then came the complete works of Tolstoy. A school was opened in Yasnaya Polyana. Alexandra Lvovna did a lot for the development of the museum, but at the end of the twenties she was forced to leave the USSR forever.

In the thirties, the study of the history of the estate of Leo Tolstoy began according to surveys of his contemporaries and documents. They put the siege in order, restored the apiary, planted trees. In 1939 the estate became part of the Tolstoy State Museum. This also included three museums located in Moscow.

Current state

A new stage in the history of the estate began in the mid-nineties of the last century. The grandson of Leo Tolstoy was appointed director of the museum. Since 2000, a meeting of representatives of the famous noble family, who come from all over the world, has been regularly held here. New tourist programs appear, seminars, symposiums, conferences dedicated to the work of Leo Tolstoy are held. Writers' meetings are also held here, in which foreign, Russian authors take part.

The structure of the museum has become more complex in recent years. The tourist complex includes several branches, including places that are associated with the name of the writer: Pokrovskoye, Pirogovo, Nikolo-Vyazemskoye, Mansurovo. Tula is home to the scientific and cultural center Yasnaya Polyana, which includes an art gallery and a publishing house. Where is Yasnaya Polyana Tolstoy located? Address: Tula region, Shchekino district, Yasnaya Polyana village.

Museum of Tolstoy

The writer lived in the estate for half a century. After retiring, he first of all converted one of the outbuildings, which today houses a museum dedicated to his work. During the Second World War, the exhibits were evacuated to Tomsk. The places where Yasnaya Polyana is located were occupied for forty days. The German troops set fire to the house in which the museum is located during the retreat, but the fire, fortunately, was extinguished. The estate was opened already in 1942, and five years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, restoration work was carried out here.

Other objects on the territory of Yasnaya Polyana

Here is Volkonsky's house, an outbuilding of the Kuzminskys, a bathhouse. Volkonsky's house is the oldest building on the estate. For three years in the middle of the 19th century, in the wing of the Kuzminskys, there was a school that Lev Nikolayevich opened for peasant children. Then guests stayed here, but more often a relative of the writer Tatyana Kuzminskaya. The bath was built in the nineties of the XIX century.

Objects of natural composition: Lower Pond, Bolshoi Pond, Sredny Pond, Kliny Park, Preshpekt Alley, Red Garden, Young Garden, Native Forest, Guseva Glade, Voronka River, Chepyzh, Yolochki.

Writer's grave

As a child, Leo Tolstoy heard the legend of the green stick, and it sunk into his soul. The writer's elder brother, according to his memoirs, once carved the secret of universal happiness on a stick, then buried it and said that he would reveal it to someone who did not remember the polar bear even once during the year. There were other conditions as well. But, as Tolstoy later recalled, it was most difficult for him to give up the idea of ​​a polar bear. Towards the end of his life, the writer increasingly recalled this story and bequeathed to bury him where his brother buried a wand many years ago.

"Yasnaya Polyana" (Cheboksary)

We found out where Tolstoy's family estate is located. But there is another object with the same name. Where is the residential complex "Yasnaya Polyana"? In Cheboksary, not far from the stop "Bauman Street". This LCD has nothing to do with the life or work of Leo Tolstoy. The developer company Chestr-Invest uses the name of the Yasnaya Polyana estate for its next project.

Where apartments with a modern layout are located in Cheboksary, many residents of the city know. New buildings appear here like mushrooms after rain. That is why a construction company, in order to attract attention, has to resort to associative methods in naming. Where Yasnaya Polyana is located in Cheboksary, only those who have been to the Kaluga region know. The name of the residential complex is associated by many residents of this city with something bright, cozy, kind. Sales department address: st. Universitetskaya, house 9, building 1. The company practices the conclusion of contracts on the basis of equity participation. Offers economy class apartments. The initial payment when buying a home in installments is 100 thousand.

In the Shchekino district of the Tula region there is an ancient village of Yasnaya Polyana. For a long time we wanted to visit it and the nearby estate of the famous writer. And on a warm April day, we loaded into our new horse and set off. And for a horse, this is also the first long-distance trip, a run-in.

From Pushkino near Moscow to the village. Yasnaya Polyana according to the navigator 216 km. South. And that means it's warmer. Indeed, in the Tula region greener noticeably. The road there took 3.5 hours with a stop at a gas station and a snack. The road is good (most of the Simferopol highway). I managed to experience the cruise, I liked it ... There is a large parking lot in front of the estate. Parking was no problem at 11 am. But by lunchtime, the cars were already on the side of the road.

The entrance to the estate is located between two watchtowers (previously guards used to sit in them). And now the guards are like this.

You need to buy a ticket in the machine - the entrance to the territory of the Yasnaya Polyana estate costs 100 rubles. (children free of charge). To the left of the entrance to the estate there are excursion ticket offices. There are many excursions, every 10 minutes for groups of 15 people. Us at 11 o'clock. offered only at 12 noon. nearest one (everything is booked). The tour costs 400 rubles, without benefits, lasts about 2 hours. While waiting for the tour, we walked near a large pond.

The history of the estate Yasnaya Polyana.

The tour starts from the entrance. We were not very lucky with our tour guide. A certain Evgenia Petrovna constantly stammered and spoke very quietly. But in general, the tour is very interesting and informative.

The estate was purchased by Leo Tolstoy's maternal great-grandfather Sergei Volkonsky in 1763. His son Nikolai Sergeevich successfully advanced in the service under Catherine II, retired as a general under Paul I, and went to live in his estate. He began the construction of the Yasnaya Polyana ensemble, which was completed by his son-in-law Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, the writer's father. Lev Nikolaevich's parents died quite early, and at the age of 19 he became the owner of the estate. And after the death of the writer, one of his sons Sergei and the youngest daughter Alexander lived here. With the advent of Soviet power and the nationalization of the estate, she became the first director of the museum.

Sights of the estate Yasnaya Polyana.

From the entrance towers up to Tolstoy's house there is a wide birch alley decorated by the writer's grandfather.

Immediately at the entrance to the estate on the left is the Big Pond. In it, Lev Nikolaevich swam in the summer, skated with the village children in the winter.

Behind the pond begins an apple orchard. There are many gardens in the estate. The whole estate occupies 400 hectares, and the gardens are spread over 40 hectares. N.S. Volkonsky was also engaged in apples as a household activity, and his grandson Leo developed this activity.

Engaged in Tolstoy and the apiary. In several places in the gardens there are now apiaries.

On the right side of the main alley is the lower park (or English garden) - a favorite place for walking mother Lev Nikolayevich.

The oldest building of the estate is Volkonsky's house. The great-grandfather and grandfather of the writer lived in it. And after the death of his grandfather in 1821, his only daughter Maria married Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy. They settled in Yasnaya Polyana. They built a big house. And the grandfather's house was used as an outbuilding: servants lived there, there were laundries, the manager's office, etc. Now there is a library.

Opposite Volkonsky's house are the stables.

Now the estate contains about two dozen horses. The fat ones knew a lot about them. They had their own stud farm not far from Yasnaya Polyana.

From the house of Volkonsky, the excursion goes higher to the wing, which remained in the estate from the big house. Lev Nikolaevich sold the big house himself when he needed funds. The wing is called the Kuzminsky's house. For many years, the family of Tatyana Kuzminskaya, the sister of Tolstoy's wife, who became the prototype of Natasha Rostova in the novel War and Peace, stayed there for many years.

In the same house was located, created in 1859 by Lev Nikolaevich, a school for peasant children. He taught there himself.

A stone has now been erected in place of the main part of the large house.

Opposite - a guest house for those who came to the writer. There was also a medical station. Lev Nikolaevich demanded from doctors that they treat all the peasants who asked for help here. An unprecedented thing in those days, like the school in general ...

L. Tolstoy was physically well developed, every day he worked out on this horizontal bar.

Instead of the large house sold, Tolstoy built a new house. Sofya Andreevna Burns, the daughter of a Kremlin doctor, a German and a Russian noblewoman, became the hostess in it. Her grandfather lived in the Tula province. And one day, on the way from Moscow to the grandfather's estate, they stopped in Yasnaya Polyana. Although Sophia was familiar with Leo, but that time he saw her for the first time as an adult girl. And fell in love. In this house they lived most of their lives.

They had 13 children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.

House tour.

The house takes up most of the tour. Leading us through the rooms, the guide tells about the life of the writer and his family. The tour starts from the living room.

Lev Nikolaevich did not like luxury, so the most valuable things in the house are portraits of relatives and personal belongings. Everyone had their own place at the table. At the head of the table sat Sofya Andreevna.

The situation in the writer's office is the same as it was on the last day of his stay in the house.

No food was cooked in the house. We didn’t take a tour to the utility yard, but we understood that the kitchen was to the left of the house.

The writer's bedroom is also modest. He always cleaned it himself.

From here he went on his last journey in 1910 from which he did not return alive. Tolstoy was excommunicated for his views on religion. But when they went to bury him, the whole procession began to sing the funeral prayer.

Lev Nikolaevich was buried on the outskirts of the Yasnaya Polyana estate near the ravine in which he was looking for a “green stick” as a child. The older brother told him in childhood that if you find her, then she can make all people happy.