Where is the Yasnaya Polyana Tolstoy Museum located? Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana", Tula region

Posted Thu, 21/07/2016 - 23:48 by Cap

Yasnaya Polyana- a unique Russian estate, the family estate of the great Russian writer Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Here he was born, lived most of his life, and here he is buried. Here was his only beloved 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 - this yearly famous museum visited by a huge number of people from all over the world.
The first information about Yasnaya Polyana dates back to 1652. Since the middle of the 18th century, the estate belonged to the writer’s maternal ancestors, the princes Volkonsky. Over the course of 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, which 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. Tolstoy lived here for more than 50 years, and here he created masterpieces of world literature. All interior items and works of art are original and preserve the atmosphere of the life of Lev Nikolaevich and his loved ones. The museum's collection includes more than fifty thousand exhibits, the most unique of which are furnishings from the House of L.N. Tolstoy and the writer’s library, included in the UNESCO Memory of the World register.

Century-old trees and young growth, picturesque park alleys and secluded forest paths, the deep surface of ponds and the bottomless sky - all this is Yasnaya Polyana, amazing world, who 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, linking 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, Yasnaya Polyana peasants saved it from pogrom. Eleven years after the writer’s death, 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 headed the museum, organized the evacuation of most of the exhibits from Tolstoy’s House to Tomsk.

Volkonsky House

A completely new stage in the development of Yasnaya Polyana began in 1994, when the great-great-grandson of Lev Nikolaevich Vladimir Ilyich Tolstoy became the director of the museum. From this 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 this post in 2012.

On this moment Yasnaya Polyana is a large museum complex, recognized Cultural Center of global significance. In addition to the Tolstoy Museum, it includes a whole network of branches. But the center still remains the estate - real, “living”, exactly the way Tolstoy knew and loved it. Many species are preserved here economic activity: apples are picked in huge gardens, the apiary brings honey, graceful horses are pleasing to the eye... The entire “Yasnaya Polyana” estate with its unique beauty retains not only its original appearance, but also the spirit of Tolstoy's era.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ESTATE
Yasnaya Polyana is an estate in the Shchekinsky district of the Tula region (14 km southwest of Tula), founded in the 17th century and belonging first to the Kartsev family, then to the Volkonsky and Tolstoy family. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born in it on August 28 (September 9), 1828, here he lived and worked (War and Peace, Anna Karenina, etc. were written in Yasnaya Polyana), and his grave is located here. Main role The writer’s grandfather N.S. Volkonsky played a role in creating the appearance of the estate.

Architectural ensemble of the estate
House of L. N. Tolstoy
Volkonsky House
Kuzminsky wing
Entry tower
Stables and carriage house
Instrument shed
Kucherskaya
Forge and carpentry
Bath
Bath
garden house
Zhitnya and Riga
Greenhouse
Bench by L. N. Tolstoy
Birch bridge
Gazebo tower

Kucherskaya in the Yasnaya Polyana estate

House-Museum of L. N. Tolstoy
Having moved to the estate, L.N. Tolstoy expanded one of the wings. The writer lived in this house for more than 50 years and created most of his works in it. Now the House is a museum of L.N. Tolstoy.

The museum was created by the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on June 10, 1921, largely thanks to the efforts of A. L. Tolstoy, daughter of Lev Nikolaevich. She and her brother Sergei Lvovich were the first directors of the museum. During the Great Patriotic War, its exhibits were evacuated to Tomsk, and Yasnaya Polyana itself was occupied for 45 days. During the retreat of the Nazi troops, Tolstoy's house was set on fire, but the fire was extinguished. By May 1942, the estate was reopened to visitors. In the 1950s, large-scale restoration work was carried out.

The museum's exhibition includes the original furnishings of the estate, personal belongings of L. N. Tolstoy, and his library (22,000 books). The furnishings in the L.N. Tolstoy house-museum have been left the same as the writer himself left it when he left Yasnaya Polyana forever in 1910. The current director of the museum (2015) is V. I. Tolstoy, the great-great-grandson of L. N. Tolstoy.

Volkonsky House
Prince N. S. Volkonsky, L. N. Tolstoy’s grandfather, completely rebuilt the estate. His house is the oldest building on the estate.

Kuzminsky wing
In this house in 1859-1862 there was a school opened by L.N. Tolstoy for peasant children. Then guests stayed in the outbuilding, most often T. A. Kuzminskaya, Lev Nikolaevich’s sister-in-law, stayed.

Bath
In the 1890s, on the Middle Pond in an English park, the writer built a bathhouse, which in different years was either knocked together from boards or woven from brushwood.

Bridge for the former Yasnaya Polyana mill
During the life of L.N. Tolstoy, on the territory of the Yasnaya Polyana estate on the Voronka River, there was a mill that was used for household needs. Currently there is none. All that remains is a bridge adapted for installing a mill; one of the parts of the mill (a stone circle) lies on the shore.

autumn morning in Yasnaya Polyana

Natural composition
Entrance gate

Kucherskaya
Big pond
Lower Pond
Middle Pond
Alley "Preshpekt"
Kliny Park
Abramovskaya landing
Afonina Grove
Diagon Glade
"Christmas trees"
"Chepyzh"
Red Garden
Old Garden
Young garden
Lower Park
Native forest
Guseva Polyana
“Tree of Love” (birch and oak growing from one place and intertwined with each other)
Voronka River

Preshpekt
“Preshpekt” is a birch alley that appeared in Yasnaya Polyana around 1800. It starts from the entrance towers and goes to the Writer's House. “Preshpekt” was repeatedly mentioned in the works of Lev Nikolaevich.

Leo Tolstoy's grave

In the last years of his life, Tolstoy repeatedly expressed a request to bury him in the forest of Stary Zakaz, on the edge of a ravine, in the “place of the green stick.” Tolstoy heard the legend of the green stick as a child from his beloved brother Nikolai. When Nikolai was 12 years old, he announced a great secret to his family. Once it is revealed, no one will die anymore, there will be no wars or diseases, and people will be “ant brothers.” All that remains is to find the green stick buried on the edge of the ravine. The secret is written on it. The Tolstoy children played “ant brothers”, sitting under chairs covered with scarves; sitting all together in a cramped space, they felt that they felt good together “under one roof” because they loved each other. And they dreamed of a “brotherhood of ants” for all people. Already an old man, Tolstoy would write: “It was very, very good, and I thank God that I could play it. We called it a game, and yet everything in the world is a game, except this.” L.N. Tolstoy returned to the idea of ​​universal happiness and love in artistic creativity, and in philosophical treatises, and in journalistic articles.

Tolstoy also recalls the story of the green stick in the first version of his will: “So that no rituals are performed when burying my body in the ground; a wooden coffin, and whoever wants, will take or carry Old Order into the forest, opposite the ravine, in place of the green stick.”

Other facts
The museum was badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. Documentary footage of the consequences of the looting of the estate by German troops is presented in the Soviet film “The Defeat of German Troops near Moscow.”
The commander of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, General Belov, whose troops participated in the liberation of those places in December 1941, recalls it this way:
With the assistance of our reconnaissance detachment, soldiers of the 217th Infantry Division of the 50th Army liberated Yasnaya Polyana. The scouts visited the museum-estate of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. When they returned, they spoke indignantly about how the Nazis had violated the memory of the great writer. They tore the rare photographs of Tolstoy from the walls and took them with them. Guderian came to the museum. One of his officers captured several valuable exhibits as “souvenirs” for his boss. The soldiers stationed in the estate heated the stoves with pieces of furniture, paintings, and books from Tolstoy’s library. The museum workers offered them firewood, but the soldiers laughed in response: “We don’t need firewood. We will burn everything that is left of your Tolstoy.” The Nazis desecrated Tolstoy’s grave, which people came from all over the world to worship.

LEV TOLSTOY AND HIS FAMILY
Valeria Dmitrieva, a researcher at the traveling exhibitions department of the Yasnaya Polyana museum-estate, talks about the family customs and traditions of the count’s family.

Valeria Dmitrieva
- Before meeting Sofia Andreevna, Lev Nikolaevich, at that time a young writer and an enviable groom, had been trying to find a bride for several years. He was gladly received in houses where there were girls of marriageable age. He corresponded with many potential brides, looked, chose, evaluated... And then one day a happy accident brought him to the house of the Berses, with whom he was familiar. This wonderful family raised three daughters at once: the eldest Lisa, the middle Sonya and the youngest Tanya. Lisa was passionately in love with Count Tolstoy. The girl did not hide her feelings, and those around her already considered Tolstoy to be the groom of the eldest of the sisters. But Lev Nikolaevich had a different opinion.
The writer himself had tender feelings for Sonya Bers, which he hinted at in his famous message.
On the card table, the count wrote with chalk the first letters of three sentences: “V. m. and p.s. With. and. n. m.m.s. and n. With. In the With. With. l. V. n. m. and v. With. L.Z.m.v. with v. With. T". Tolstoy later wrote that his entire future life depended on this moment.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, photo from 1868

According to his plan, Sofya Andreevna was supposed to unravel the message. If he deciphers the text, then she is his destiny. And Sofya Andreevna understood what Lev Nikolaevich meant: “Your youth and need for happiness remind me too vividly of my old age and the impossibility of happiness. There is a false view in your family about me and your sister Lisa. You and your sister Tanya will protect me.” She wrote that it was providence. By the way, Tolstoy later described this moment in the novel Anna Karenina. It was with chalk on the card table that Konstantin Levin encrypted Kitty’s marriage proposal.

Happy Lev Nikolaevich wrote a marriage proposal and sent it to the Bers. Both the girl and her parents agreed. The modest wedding took place on September 23, 1862. The couple got married in Moscow, in the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Immediately after the ceremony, Tolstoy asked his young wife how she wanted to continue family life: whether to go on a honeymoon abroad, whether to stay in Moscow with parents or move to Yasnaya Polyana. Sofya Andreevna replied that she immediately wanted to start a serious family life in Yasnaya Polyana. Later, the Countess often regretted her decision and how early her girlhood ended and that she never visited anywhere.
In the fall of 1862, Sofya Andreevna moved to live at her husband’s estate Yasnaya Polyana, this place became her love and her destiny. Both remember the first 20 years of their lives as very happy. Sofya Andreevna looked at her husband with adoration and admiration. He treated her with great tenderness, reverence and love. When Lev Nikolaevich left the estate on business, they always wrote letters to each other.
Lev Nikolaevich:
“I don’t need anything but you. 1863 January 29 - February. Moscow."
“I’m glad that I was entertained this day, otherwise my dear I was already feeling scared and sad for you. It’s funny to say: as soon as I left, I felt how terrible it was to leave you. - Goodbye, darling, be a good girl and write. 1865 July 27. Warrior."
“How sweet you are to me; How you are better to me, purer, more honest, dearer, dearer than anyone in the world. I look at your children's portraits and rejoice. 1867 June 18. Moscow."

Sofya Andreevna
Sofya Andreevna:
“Lyovochka, my dear darling, I really want to see you at this moment, and again drink tea together under the windows in Nikolskoye, and run off on foot to Alexandrovka and again live our sweet life at home. Goodbye, darling, darling, I kiss you warmly. Write and take care of yourself, this is my will. July 29, 1865"
“My dear Lyovochka, I have gone through a whole day without you, and with such a joyful heart I sit down to write to you. This is my real and greatest consolation, writing to you even about the most insignificant things. June 17, 1867"
“It’s such hard work to live in the world without you; everything is wrong, everything seems wrong and not worth it. I didn’t want to write you anything like that, but it just happened. And everything is so cramped, so petty, something better is needed, and this best is only you, and you are forever alone. September 4, 1869"
Fat people loved to spend time together big family. They were great inventors, and Sofya Andreevna herself managed to create a special family world with its own traditions. This was felt most of all on family holidays, as well as on Christmas, Easter, and Trinity. They were very loved in Yasnaya Polyana. The fat people went to liturgy at the parish St. Nicholas Church, located two kilometers south of the estate.
Turkey and the signature dish, Ankovsky pie, were served for the festive dinner. Sofya Andreevna brought his recipe to Yasnaya Polyana from her family, to whom the doctor and friend Professor Anke passed it on.
Tolstoy's son Ilya Lvovich recalls:
“Ever since I can remember, on all special occasions in life, on major holidays and name days, Ankovsky pie has always and invariably been served in the form of a cake. Without this, dinner would not be dinner and the celebration would not be a celebration.”
Summer at the estate turned into an endless holiday with frequent picnics, tea parties with jam and games. fresh air. They played croquet and tennis, swam in the Funnel, and went boating. We organized musical evenings, home performances...

Birch bridge

We often dined in the courtyard and drank tea on the veranda. In the 1870s, Tolstoy brought children such fun as “giant steps.” This is a large pole with ropes tied at the top, with a loop on them. One foot was inserted into the loop, the other was pushed off the ground and thus jumped. The children loved these “giant steps” so much that Sofya Andreevna recalled how difficult it was to tear them away from the fun: the children did not want to eat or sleep.
At the age of 66, Tolstoy began riding a bicycle. The whole family was worried about him, wrote letters to him so that he would leave this dangerous occupation. But the count said that he was experiencing sincere childish joy and would under no circumstances leave his bicycle. Lev Nikolaevich even learned to ride a bicycle at Manezh, and the city government gave him a ticket with permission to ride along the city streets.
Moscow city government. Ticket No. 2300, issued to Tolstoy for cycling on the streets of Moscow. 1896
In winter, the Tolstoys enthusiastically skated; Lev Nikolaevich loved this activity very much. He spent at least an hour at the skating rink, teaching his sons, and Sofya Andreevna - his daughters. Near the house in Khamovniki, he filled the skating rink himself.
Traditional home entertainment in the family: reading aloud and literary lotto. Excerpts from works were written on the cards, and you had to guess the name of the author. IN later years Tolstoy was read an excerpt from Anna Karenina, he listened and, not recognizing his text, highly appreciated it.
The family loved to play mailbox. All week long, family members dropped pieces of paper into it with jokes, poems, or notes about what was bothering them. On Sunday, the whole family sat in a circle, opened the mailbox and read aloud. If they were humorous poems or stories, they tried to guess who could have written them. If there were personal experiences, we sorted it out. Modern families can take this experience into account, because now we talk so little to each other.
For Christmas, a Christmas tree was always put up in the Tolstoys' house. They prepared decorations for her themselves: gilded nuts, figures of animals cut out of cardboard, wooden dolls dressed in different costumes, and much more. A masquerade was held at the estate, in which Lev Nikolaevich, and Sofya Andreevna, and their children, and guests, and servants, and peasant children took part.
“On Christmas Day 1867, the Englishwoman Hannah and I were passionate about making a Christmas tree. But Lev Nikolaevich did not like either Christmas trees or any celebrations and then strictly forbade buying toys for children. But Hannah and I asked for permission to have a Christmas tree and to be allowed to buy Seryozha only a horse, and Tanya only a doll. We decided to invite both the courtyard and peasant children. For them, in addition to various sweet things, gilded nuts, gingerbread cookies and other things, we bought wooden naked skeleton dolls, and dressed them in a wide variety of costumes, to the great delight of our children... About 40 children from the yard and from the village gathered, and the children and I were It’s a joy to distribute everything from the Christmas tree to the kids.”
Skeleton dolls, English plum pudding (pudding doused in rum, lit while serving), masquerade become integral part Christmas holidays in Yasnaya Polyana.
Sofya Andreevna was mainly involved in raising children in the Tolstoy family. The children wrote that their mother spent most of the time with them, but they all respected their father very much and were quite afraid of them. His word was the last and decisive, that is, the law. The children wrote that if you needed a quarter for anything, you could go to your mother and ask. She will ask you in detail what you need, and with persuasion to spend it, she will carefully give you the money. Or you could approach your father, who would simply look straight at him, glare at him and say: “Take it from the table.” He looked so soulfully that everyone preferred to beg for money from their mother.

Leo Tolstoy's family

The Tolstoy family spent a lot of money on the education of their children. They all got a good home elementary education, and the boys then studied at Tula and Moscow gymnasiums, but only the eldest son, Sergei Tolstoy, graduated from the university.
The most important thing that children were taught in the Tolstoy family was to be sincere, kind people and treat each other well.
In their marriage, Lev Nikolaevich and Sofia Andreevna had 13 children, but only eight of them survived to adulthood.
The most difficult loss for the family was the death of their last son, Vanechka. When the baby was born, Sofya Andreevna was 43 years old, Lev Nikolaevich was 59 years old.

Vanechka Tolstoy
Vanya was a real peacemaker and united the whole family with his love. Lev Nikolaevich and Sofya Andreevna loved him very much and experienced the untimely death of their youngest son, who did not live to be seven years old, from scarlet fever.
“Nature tries to give the best and, seeing that the world is not yet ready for them, takes them back...” These were the words Tolstoy said after Vanechka’s death.
In the last years of his life, Lev Nikolaevich did not feel well and often gave his family cause for serious concern. In January 1902, Sofya Andreevna wrote:
“My Lyovochka is dying... And I realized that my life cannot remain in me without him. I have been living with him for forty years. For everyone he is a celebrity, for me he is my whole existence, our lives went into each other, and, my God! How much guilt and remorse has accumulated... It’s all over, you can’t return it. Help, Lord! How much love and tenderness I gave him, but how much of my weaknesses upset him! Forgive me, Lord! I’m sorry, my dear, dear dear husband!”
But Tolstoy understood all his life what a treasure he had inherited. A few months before his death, in July 1910, he wrote:
“My assessment of your life with me is this: I, a depraved, deeply vicious sexually person, no longer in my first youth, married you, a pure, good, intelligent 18-year-old girl, and despite this, my dirty, vicious past, you She lived with me for almost 50 years, loving me, working a hard life, giving birth, feeding, raising, caring for children and me, not succumbing to those temptations that could so easily seize any woman in your position, strong, healthy, beautiful. But you lived in such a way that I have nothing to reproach you with.”

Plan diagram of Yasnaya Polyana

A TRIP TO YASNAYA POLYANA
The museum-estate of Leo Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana" is a popular attraction of Tula and the entire Tula region. Perhaps only the Museum of Weapons can compete with Yasnaya Polyana in popularity. And yet, still... These are things of a different order. Leo Tolstoy is the universe, the genius of Russian literature. It is impossible to know where all this came from without getting to know his estate.
When uttering the phrase “On a visit to Leo Tolstoy,” you are essentially not lying. This is the Writer's House. He was born in Yasnaya Polyana, lived for almost 60 years, conceived and wrote many of his immortal works here ("War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", etc.). This is where he is buried. Leo Tolstoy is a man - a legend, everyone who loves Russian literature and history should visit here.
Elena Sebyakina talks about her trip to the Yasnaya Polyana estate. This post is a continuation of her story about getting to know Tula and its surroundings.
Two weeks before the trip I heard a program about L.N. Tolstoy, I learned a lot of new and interesting things. This is probably why the idea of ​​a trip to Tula was born, with the condition of a subsequent visit to Tolstoy’s house.
We decided to start the trip to Yasnaya Polyana from Kozlova Zaseka station. The distance from the hotel was only 14 kilometers. This is the railway station where Tolstoy received his mail and made calls from. From here he secretly went south in November 1910, fell ill on the way and died a few days later at the Astapovo station. The coffin with the writer’s body was brought to the same station two days later.
In 2001, restoration work was carried out here and the exhibition “Leo Tolstoy’s Railway” was opened. The station is very clean and beautiful. I didn’t like the museum, maybe I should have taken a tour, especially since the price of a ticket with a tour is only 40 rubles.
The presented objects simply allow us to understand the appearance of the station at the time Tolstoy was sent on his final journey. Here you can see a model of a train from the early 20th century, old photographs, travel items, a telegraph, and a telephone. There are many such museums... In general, the walk around the station seemed more exciting, although it was raining and it was very chilly.
From the station to the estate it is only 4 kilometers, the road is good. Entrance to the manor park is paid. A walk around the estate without visiting the houses costs 50 rubles, a walk with a guide around the estate and houses 250 rubles.
Excursions in Yasnaya Polyana start every half hour, but the system is very strange. First, you go to the window and they give you a card with the time of the excursion, and only then you come up to the time with this card and buy a ticket. While you wait, you have the opportunity to wander around the souvenir shops, fortunately there are a lot of them.
The tour starts right from the estate gates. We came across a guide, towards whom I initially had a feeling of incompetence, but then I realized that the person knows a lot, is in a hurry to tell, is worried, stutters a little and is embarrassed because of this.
The excursion is long, the children can’t stand it. There were three children with us in the group, probably 5, 7 and 10 years old, all three were very tired towards the end, and it was obvious.
I liked the estate, but I still had one unanswered question: where did such a huge family live? The house, it seemed to me, was very small for such a family. The smooth surface, the ponds, the variety of plantings, beautiful views from the windows, paths running in all directions and the feeling that you are about to see a living Tolstoy - this is probably how I can describe the estate. I really want to come back here in the spring, because I think that all those gardens that are located on the estate bloom unusually and smell the same.
Avenue.
Tolstoy was very fond of this alley of birch trees. He loved the sound of the wheels of carriages approaching the house and loved one of the ponds along the avenue, where he said he was thinking well.


How to get there, where it is:
How to get to the Yasnaya Polyana Estate Museum?
It’s not difficult to go to Tula, but you definitely need to visit.
By car you can get to Yasnaya Polyana via M2. From Moscow to the estate it is only 200 kilometers - a 3-hour drive.
Directions from Moscow.
On your own - by train from Kursk station on the Lastochka train Moscow-Kursk takes only 2 hours. Train 737 runs daily. Departure from Moscow at 08:30, arrival in Tula at 10:38 - 10:40. Fare - from 363 to
534 rub. You can buy a ticket on the website Lastochka-poezd.ru
If you are short on time and the trip is a one-day trip, then it makes sense to immediately take a taxi from the train station to the estate (450 rubles).

I honestly admit that the literary nests of Russian classics make me sad, but Yasnaya Polyana has changed my attitude towards “village” estates. We drove up to the main entrance of the L.N. Museum-Reserve. Tolstoy with the famous turrets already in the evening, they were looking for hundred-dollar bills for a long time in order to pay for the entrance to the territory through the terminal, because The ticket offices are already closed. When they found the two treasured banknotes, we were simply beside ourselves with happiness...

Operating mode: Tue-Fri 9:30–15:30; Sat, Sun 9:30–16:30

Entrance to the reserve territory is carried out daily by entrance tickets. We arrived at the estate after 17.00, when the ticket office was already closed. The only option left was to buy a ticket through an electronic terminal, which uses banknotes of ONLY 100 RUBLES (!) to pay. NO CHANGE (For the convenience of visitors). Having done this a long way from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana it was a shame to turn around with nothing. Having searched all the pockets, backpacks, bags and glove compartment in the car, we still found two treasured hundreds; my daughter, a schoolgirl, got in for free. Just in case, when going to Yasnaya Polyana, take small money with you.

• From November 1 to March 31, entrance is from 9.00 to 17.00, you can stay on the territory until 18.00
• From April 1 to October 31, entrance is from 9.00 to 20.00, you can stay on the territory until 21.00
• Visiting memorial buildings – from 10.00 to 15.30
• From April 1 to October 31, on Saturday and Sunday, visiting memorial buildings from 10.00 to 16.30
• Excursions - from 9.30 to 15.30
• From May 8 to October 31, on Saturday and Sunday, excursions are held from 9.30 to 16.30

Please note that on days of high excursion demand (weekends, holidays), the sale of tickets for excursions may be completed until deadline due to the increased excursion flow.

How to get there?

By car

1. Through Tula (detour from the south side).
   Drive along the M2 “Crimea” highway towards Belgorod. At the traffic light before the Kaluga-Tula fork, turn left and move towards Tula (the Metro shopping complex will be located on the right side). Take Kaluga Highway to Lenin Avenue and turn right towards Yasnaya Polyana and Shchekino. After the bridge over the Voronka River, you need to follow the Tula-Shchekino highway and at the sign “Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate” turn right and drive to the car parking lot.
2. Via Tula (via Oktyabrskaya street)
   Drive along the M2 “Crimea” highway towards Belgorod. Ten kilometers from Tula, at the Tula-Belgorod fork (on the right is a non-working traffic police post), turn right and, without turning, move along the Moskovskoye Highway, which turns into Oktyabrskaya Street. From Oktyabrskaya, drive through the city in a southerly direction, following the Yasnaya Polyana signs.

On your own

1. By train
   From Kursky Station in Moscow to Tula by electric train. From the Moskovsky railway station in Tula to Yasnaya Polyana, trolleybus No. 5 to the stop. "Pedagogical Institute", then by buses No. 114, 117, 280 to the stop. "Yasnaya Polyana" or "School". Next 10 minutes walk to the entry towers.
2. By bus or minibus through Tula: From Moscow from the metro stations “Tsaritsyno”, “Domodedovskaya”, “Prazhskaya”, “Ul. Academician Yangel" to the stop "Ul. Mosin" in Tula. From Tula to Yasnaya Polyana you can get by buses No. 114, 117, 280 from the stop. "St. Mosin" to the stop. “Yasnaya Polyana” or “Shkolnaya”, then 10 minutes walk to the entrance towers.

Description of the estate L.N. Tolstoy

Immediately behind the security barrier, another world begins... or so it seemed to me... Perhaps I perceived everything so acutely because of the impending thunderstorm - I was both anxious and joyful, the desire to see the estate as quickly as possible before the rain covered us (we had prudently forgotten our umbrellas in the car), literally urged me on.

So, we rushed past the picturesque pond with yellow water lilies, along the light birch alley-enfilade deep into the territory (how elegant and solemn it probably is on a sunny, fine day). Having passed almost the entire alley, we turned left to the Volkonsky House and the stable building. Coming out into the open space, we were amazed by the “wide-open” landscape. The whitewashed, extended house with “outbuildings” at the ends and a raised central part under a triangular pediment completely dominated this panorama. The clouds were gathering, their powerful blue-black clouds kept us in constant suspense. Suddenly the sky “cracked”, and the sun came out from behind the clouds for a moment, illuminating the old mansion and gilding the surrounding area... It was a magnificent picture, a priceless gift for the photographer!

We hurried to capture not only the architectural components of Tolstoy’s estate, but also the writer’s grave. The signs did not quite clearly direct us to the last one, it was not clear how long to go, and given the current circumstances, we wanted to know for sure whether we would have time to get to the edge of the Old Order forest before the rain fell on us... It seemed that this journey took an incredibly long time. Walking through a gloomy forest, weaving its branches low above the road, it seems to be preparing for a meeting with the eternal, setting one in the right mood... The bends, turns, branches towards smaller paths and stitches are confusing... but soon a small shady clearing opened up, with neat velvet-cut grass and a green mound... And we, and everyone who walked parallel to us, including noisy Chinese tourists, suddenly stopped rooted to the spot and became silent... only the wind continued to hum ominously, bend the crowns, sprinkle torn leaves and drizzle... It flashed in my head: “This is where this Great Man found his refuge,” how modest but beautiful his last refuge is, although there is not even a tombstone...”

1. I.E. Repin, L.N. Tolstoy and S.A. Tolstaya at the table, 1907-1911.
2. L.O. Pasternak, L.N. Tolstoy with his family, 1902-1903.
3. V.P. Baturin. House L.N. Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana, 1911
4. VC. Byalynitsky-Birulya. View of the village and Yasnaya Polyana estate, 1928

On the way back to the residential part of the estate, the wind died down a little and large raindrops began to fall through the green canopy of the forest. We almost ran to Tolstoy’s house, hoping to shelter from the bad weather... Every moment spent here was so piercing and memorable that even now, when I am writing these lines, I clearly see everything that happened and experience it again...

How mysterious and wonderful it is in Yasnaya Polyana during the rain, there is no feeling that you are in a museum... Here is the kingdom of nature, carefully preserved and replenished; it literally envelops you, enchants, captivates. A luxurious park, delicately complemented by magnificent creations of flora - now apparently my affection is on long years…

Here is the house of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, with a carved terrace, with a balcony, over which stretches a faded linen awning, wet from the rain. Around the house there are paths lined with shrubs and phloxes, in no way inferior to them in height, absolutely marvelous flower beds are laid out... The air is pleasantly fresh and cool, the chirping of birds was heard again, the mass of clouds gradually dispersed, acquiring an innocent fluffiness and whiteness... The park was illuminated by the evening light and began to plunge into darkness... There are almost no visitors. Wet, but happy, he returns to the front entrance... We haven’t left yet, and I already know that I will come back here again...

Plans of the Yasnaya Polyana estate

PLAN OF THE YASNAYA POLYANA ESTATE MUSEUM (CENTRAL PART)

1. Entrance gate;
2. Tower - gazebo;
3. Bath;
4. Greenhouse;
5. Stable;
6. Volkonsky House;
7. Kucherskaya hut;
8. Zhitnya;
9. Riga;
10. Kuzminsky outbuilding;
11. Blue Pavilion;
12. House L.N. Tolstoy;
13. Grave of L.N. Tolstoy;

PLAN OF THE YASNAYA POLYANA ESTATE MUSEUM (FULL, LARGE RESOLUTION 1200×1187)

Archive photos

Archive photos from the site https://russiainphoto.ru

1. Leo Tolstoy with his family. From left to right: Misha, Leo Tolstoy, Lev, Andrey, Tatyana, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya, Maria. In the foreground are Vanechka and Alexandra. Photo 1892
2. Lev and Sofya Tolstoy in a group with relatives and Albert Shkarvan in Yasnaya Polyana park. From left to right: Albert Albertovich Shkarvan, Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy, Maria Lvovna Tolstaya, Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (son of Tolstoy’s niece Elizaveta Valeryanovna Obolenskaya, from June 2, 1897 - husband of Maria Lvovna Tolstoy), Dora Fedorovna Tolstaya (wife of Lev Lvovich Tolstoy), Lev Lvovich Tolstoy, Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy, Sergei Lvovich Tolstoy, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy. Photo from 1896
3. Lev and Sophia Tolstoy on their 34th wedding anniversary. Photo September 23, 1896
4. Lev Tolstoy. Photo July 28—August 2, 1897
5. Leo Tolstoy with his family under the “tree of the poor.” Standing: Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (son of Tolstoy’s niece Elizaveta Valeryanovna Obolenskaya, from June 2, 1897 - husband of Maria Lvovna Tolstoy), Sofya Nikolaevna Tolstaya (daughter-in-law of Leo Tolstoy, since 1888 the wife of his son Ilya) and Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya. From left to right are sitting: grandchildren Anna and Mikhail Ilyich Tolstoy, Maria Lvovna Obolenskaya (daughter), Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy with her grandson Andrei Ilyich Tolstoy, Tatyana Lvovna Sukhotina with Volodya (Ilyich) in her arms, Varvara Valeryanovna Nagornova (niece of Leo Tolstoy, eldest daughter his sisters Maria Nikolaevna Tolstoy), Olga Konstantinovna Tolstoy (wife of Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy), Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy with Ilya Ilyich Tolstoy (grandson of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy). Photo September 23, 1899
6. Lev Nikolaevich and Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy, Vladimir Stasov and Ilya Ginzburg. Photo from 1900
7. Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. Photo October 8, 1900
8. Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana on the upper balcony. Photo 1901
9. Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. Photo August 28, 1903
10. Leo Tolstoy on the terrace of a Yasnaya Polyana house. Photo May 1903
11. Leo Tolstoy with his family on his 75th birthday. From left to right are: Ilya, Lev, Alexandra and Sergei Tolstoy; sitting: Mikhail, Tatyana, Sofya Andreevna and Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Andrey. Photo 1903
12. Portrait of Leo Tolstoy. Photo 1905
13. Leo Tolstoy with his sister Maria Nikolaevna in Yasnaya Polyana. Photo July 1908
14. Leo Tolstoy with his grandchildren Vanya and Tanya Tolstoy near their house in Yasnaya Polyana. Almost every day, Lev Nikolayevich was waited under the “poor tree” or at the porch of the house by “beggars and unemployed passers-by to ask for alms or “books to read,” or peasant fire survivors from the surrounding villages for financial assistance, or litigating men and women for legal advice. , or various kinds of city people from Tula, from Moscow, with similar goals, or, finally, people eager to talk with him about intangible, spiritual issues” (according to the recollections of secretary Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov). Photo 1908
15. Leo Tolstoy and Yasnaya Polyana peasants. Photo 1908
16. Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Chertkov in the office of the Yasnaya Polyana house. Photo 1909
17. Lev and Sophia Tolstoy. Photo 1884
18. Interior of a room in the Leo Tolstoy museum-estate in Yasnaya Polyana. Photo from the 1960s.
19. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Photo 1891

From scientific sources: “Yasnaya Polyana” - museum-estate of L.N. Tolstoy

Material from the official website of the museum Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate

In the very center of central Russia, with its discreet but surprisingly touching nature, the Yasnaya Polyana estate is located - just as modest, but beautiful and majestic in its simplicity. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born and lived most of his life in Yasnaya Polyana. This is where it began own world, here the world of his works and heroes was born. It was here that his only beloved home was, the nest of his family and clan.

Once upon a time these lands were borderlands. Northern forests gave way to forest-steppe - Wild Field; From there, waves of nomadic invasions rolled towards the Russian borders. In the 16th century, to protect Moscow lands, fences began to be built in the local forests. Settlements appeared near the gates, and one of them was the village of Yasnaya Polyana. It was first mentioned in documents of 1652.

The first owner of Yasnaya Polyana was the aristocratic governor Grigory Ivanovich Kartsev, mentioned in the boyar book for 1628. Subsequently, his numerous descendants owned various estates in the territory of Yasnaya Polyana and its environs.

Part of Yasnaya Polyana was acquired in 1763 by Prince Sergei Fedorovich Volkonsky, L. N. Tolstoy’s great-grandfather on his mother’s side. Subsequently, the estate was inherited by his son, Nikolai Sergeevich. It was he who played a decisive role in the fate of the Yasnaya Polyana estate. Having become its main builder and having bought scattered parts of Yasnaya Polyana from the previous owners, he created a large estate here, to which we are accustomed to attribute the name “Yasnaya Polyana”.

Through the efforts of the prince, parks, gardens, picturesque alleys, ponds, a rich greenhouse appeared in the estate, and an architectural ensemble was created, which included a large manor house and two outbuildings. One of Volkonsky’s favorite places to walk was the Kliny park adjacent to the greenhouse, which appeared back in XVIII century, before his arrival in Yasnaya Polyana. During the time of Tolstoy’s grandfather, music was heard in Kliny - a small serf orchestra played for the prince.

There is an assumption that Kliny is only part of a larger old park that once covered the entire top of the hill, where Prince Volkonsky later built big house with outbuildings. While construction was going on, the prince and his daughter lived in the house, which later received the name Volkonsky's houses. The exact time of its construction is unknown. But, probably, it was not erected by Prince Volkonsky, but appeared earlier. But be that as it may, Volkonsky House– the oldest stone building on the territory of Yasnaya Polyana.

Already under the prince, estate workshops were located in the Volkonsky House; a stone stable was built opposite the house (it is still preserved); The residential part of the estate, according to the prince’s plan, was to be located away from the economic services.

During the prince's lifetime, the construction of the new architectural ensemble was not completed. He managed to erect two elegant wings and the lower floor of a large manor house. In 1821 the prince died. His daughter Maria Nikolaevna remained the owner of a huge estate. A year after her father's death, she married Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy.

Immediately after the wedding, the Tolstoys settled in Yasnaya Polyana. Nikolai Ilyich completed the large house in which his family settled in 1824 and increased his land holdings. He bought back his family estate Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye, taken into custody for debts, acquired the rich estate of Pirogovo and reliably secured the future of his children. Maria Nikolaevna seemed to live in a slightly different world; she was more interested in spiritual life.

Extremely religious, she probably saw her family as God's gift, after all, she was already thirty-one years old when she got married, and she happily devoted herself entirely to her husband and children. Five children were born into the Tolstoy family: sons Nikolai, Sergei, Dmitry and Lev, daughter Maria. Happy life The family ended a few months after the birth of the youngest daughter - in 1830 Maria Nikolaevna died.

At this time, her youngest son Lev was not even two years old. Tolstoy did not remember his mother, only vague memories of her lived in his soul, but he idolized his mother. According to him, she always remained a “sacred ideal” for him. And years after her death, Tolstoy especially loved and carefully preserved those corners of the Yasnaya Polyana estate that reminded him of his mother - Lower (English) park, gazebo-tower in it, greenhouse.

Lev Nikolaevich's childhood in the estate is a spacious and cozy father's house, a large patriarchal family, noisy games with his brothers. The large house had a children's room, a classroom, a waiter's room, a piano room, a sofa room, a large living room, a small living room - supposedly about forty rooms in total. The life of the family proceeded measuredly and slowly, in strict accordance with traditions.

When Tolstoy was nine years old, his father died, and the children’s aunt, Nikolai Ilyich’s sister Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken, who lived with them, became the children’s guardian, and after her death in 1841, another aunt, Pelageya Ilyinichna Yushkova, became their guardian. She took her nephews to Kazan, where she lived with her husband. Tolstoy would return to Yasnaya Polyana - as a master - only in 1847, leaving his studies at Kazan University.

In 1847, the parental estates were divided between the Tolstoy brothers. “According to custom, as the youngest in the family, they gave me the estate in which they lived - Yasnaya Polyana,” writes Lev Nikolaevich. He immediately decides to radically change his life and settle in his village. Like the hero of the story “The Morning of the Landowner” Dmitry Nekhlyudov, nineteen-year-old Tolstoy with all his soul strives to “devote himself to life in the village” because he feels that he was “born for it.”
But even the first enterprises cause disappointments. Everything turns out differently than he expected, and the peasants are distrustful of the young master’s endeavors. Disillusioned with his desire to do good, he enlists in military service.

Until 1857, Tolstoy was not at the estate, but the farm was growing little by little, and his brother Dmitry Nikolaevich wrote to him about Yasnaya: “... going to Moscow in May, I... drove up to the outbuilding, and from there... walked around the garden and the exhibition, where then everything was in excellent condition. flowers, and this gave me such pleasure that I drove all the way to Moscow with a pleasant impression. On the way back I also stopped at Yasnoye; ...ate pears, which you have in abundance today.”

In the absence of the owner in a dramatic way The appearance of the central part of the estate changed: the large Yasnaya Polyana house was sold for removal, and the majestic architectural ensemble planned by Prince Volkonsky lost its integrity. At this time, Tolstoy urgently needed money to publish “Military List” - a magazine for soldiers, which he conceived with a group of officers who served with him in the Crimea. The publication was banned, the money was dispersed into little things, and the house, transported 40 miles from Yasnaya Polyana to the village of Dolgoye, stood there until 1913 and was dismantled due to its disrepair. At the site of the building, only a stone from its foundation remained, on which the inscription was subsequently carved: “Here stood the house in which L.N. Tolstoy was born.” In December 1897, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “On the 4th I went to Dolgoe. A very touching impression of the collapsed house. A swarm of memories." The large Yasnaya Polyana house was resurrected by the writer in the pages of the trilogy “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”.

At the end of the 1850s, Tolstoy retired and returned to Yasnaya, although he did not live there permanently, spending a lot of time in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He settled in one of the outbuildings, which eventually became home for him and his family - he lived in it for more than 50 years. Along with him, old furniture, books, great-grandfather's mirrors of the 18th century, and family portraits moved into the new house. It is this house that is today known as the House-Museum of L. N. Tolstoy.

At this time Russia entered into new era- leisurely manor life was becoming a thing of the past. Tolstoy undertook two trips abroad, the impressions of which influenced the course of life in Yasnopolyansk, being translated into new ideas and projects of the owner of the estate, who had a creative approach to any business.

Returning to Russia, he eagerly set about transforming Yasnaya. One of his most wonderful undertakings was a school for peasant children, opened in 1859 in an outbuilding (the Tolstoys called it “another house”, and later - Outbuilding of the Kuzminskys. It was a completely new school, built on the principles of freedom and creativity.

On September 23, 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married the daughter of a Moscow medical doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers. Life of the young for the most part took place in Yasnaya Polyana, where at first it was not easy for the young countess to get used to it. Gradually she managed to become the real mistress of the estate, and soon female hand began to be felt here in everything: the house became cozier and more comfortable, elegant flower beds appeared around it.

Lev Nikolaevich also paid more and more attention to the economy. He expanded his grandfather's apple orchard. Gradually, the area of ​​the Yasnaya Polyana gardens increased 4 times and exceeded 40 hectares. In total, five gardens were planted in Yasnaya Polyana: Red, Young and Old, as well as gardens near the Volkonsky House and the Big Pond.

Every spring the Tolstoys admired the extraordinary beauty of the blooming gardens. “The apple trees are blooming unusually,” Sofya Andreevna wrote in her diary. “There’s something magical and crazy about their blossoms.” I've never seen anything like it. You look out the window into the garden and every time you are amazed by this airy, white cloud of flowers in the air, with a pink tint in places and with a fresh green background in the distance.”
The gardens provided a steady income to the estate. They were always rented out to tenants for a price of two to five thousand a year, and according to the terms of the agreement, part of the apples were kept for themselves.

Tolstoy's forest plantings turned out to be even more extensive. Before him, the Yasnaya Polyana forests were sections of old forestland. Their ancient names have been preserved to this day: Chepyzh, Old Order, Arkovsky Verkh. Tolstoy's forestry activities significantly expanded the forest areas of Yasnaya Polyana; the newly appeared forests not only decorated the estate, but also brought undoubted practical benefits: they secured the spreading slopes of numerous ravines. In addition, the lands in the Yasnaya Polyana area were very poor, and it was more profitable to plant forests here. In total, forest plantings in Yasnaya Polyana occupy a huge area - 254 hectares.

Horses occupied a significant place in Tolstoy’s life. In Yasnaya Polyana, as in any estate, there were always horses, both working and traveling. In the early 70s, Tolstoy bought land near Samara and, as his eldest son Sergei Lvovich writes, wanted to breed “steppe horses and sheep” there. Tolstoy even wanted to develop his own breed by crossing purebred English riding horses with fleet-footed steppe horses. The plant grew to 4,000 heads, but during the hungry years the horses began to fall, and, according to S. L. Tolstoy, “in the 80s this business somehow melted away unnoticed.” And in Yasnaya Polyana there remained horses brought from Samara, whose descendants lived in Tolstoy’s last years. In 1897, Bashkirs came from Samara province to Yasnaya, milked mares and made kumiss here.

Since the 1860s, the Yasnaya Polyana house of the Tolstoys also began to change: from now on it grew together with the family. During the years of marriage, the Tolstoys had 13 children. Five of them died in early childhood, before mature age eight survived - sons Sergei, Ilya, Lev, Andrey, Mikhail and daughters Tatyana, Maria and Alexandra. Over the years, extensions were added to the central part of the house - several rooms arranged in an enfilade.

In 1881, the Tolstoys bought a house in Moscow. The older children grew up, they needed to continue their education, the daughters needed to leave. Now the family spent winters in Moscow. However, the city weighed heavily on the writer; he needed a “bath village life" In the spring, he strived to quickly return to Yasnaya Polyana, where he could breathe and work so well. In recent years, Tolstoy no longer moved to Moscow for the winter, preferring peace and solitude to Yasnaya.
By that time, the Yasnaya Polyana estate no longer belonged to Lev Nikolaevich. Back in 1892, in accordance with his views, he renounced his property and divided everything he owned among his heirs. Yasnaya Polyana was received by Sofya Andreevna and a very small younger son Vanechka, who later died of scarlet fever (in 1895, at the age of seven).

In the last years of Tolstoy's life, the atmosphere of the house changed; family discord marred the lives of its inhabitants. On October 28, 1910, Lev Nikolaevich left Yasnaya Polyana forever. On November 9, 1910, he was buried on the edge of a ravine in the Stary Zakaz forest.

Estate founded in XVII century, belonged to bearers of famous noble families. First to representatives of the Volkonsky family, then to Tolstoy. Where is Yasnaya Polyana located? What is located today in the halls that were once leisurely walked great classic?

Family estate

Tolstoy revered everything that had to do with the history of his family. Perhaps it was some kind of ancestor cult. The writer’s ancestors worshiped the uniform. Lev Nikolaevich carefully preserved 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 is open today. Fans of the Russian writer’s work and those who are not indifferent to history come here pre-revolutionary Russia. Where Leo Tolstoy's Yasnaya Polyana is located, the culture of their ancestors, the estate's way of life and a memorial phantom have been preserved.

Greatness and humility

The places where Yasnaya Polyana is located would not be visited by tourists today if it were not for Count Tolstoy, the father of Lev Nikolayevich, who moved here in 1824 with his wife immediately after their wedding. In the 20th century noble estates suffered a terrible fate. Most of them were destroyed. But 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 she could. The estate survived thanks to the efforts of Yasnaya Polyana peasants.

Where is Yasnaya Polyana located? In the very center of central Russia, in that part of the country 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 man who created great works, but who avoided excess in everyday life, cannot be anything else.

Expansion of the estate

In the twenties of the 19th century, Tolstoy increased the territory of the family estate by acquiring new land holdings. Nikolai Ilyich provided the future for his descendants. Maria Nikolaevna, the writer’s mother, had little interest in home improvement. She lived in a new world, more spiritualized. For her, family seemed like God's gift. Maria Volkonskaya got married at 31.

Where Tolstoy lived

Where is Yasnaya Polyana located? Fourteen kilometers from ancient city 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 railway noise, 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. There was a fence here that protected Moscow from Tatar raids. Yasnaya Polyana was owned by Stepan Kartsev in the mid-17th century. In 1763, it was bought by one of the Volkonskys, Tolstoy’s ancestor. True, besides him, several other landowners owned Yasnaya Polyana lands. But not for long - the count bought part of the adjacent territory.

Estate transformation

In 1784, the estate was transferred to Nikolai Volkonsky, who, having retired, settled here permanently. Then landscape work began, which changed the original appearance of these places. Parks, neat ponds, and an alley leading from the entrance tower to the main building and called “Preshpekt” appeared.

Volkonsky took seriously the transformation of the family estate. Construction lasted fourteen years. Two stone outbuildings appeared, a large manor house. Many buildings erected in the 19th century have survived to this day. Construction ended under Lev Nikolaevich’s father, in 1824. Tolstoy's childhood and youth

Tolstoy did not remember his mother, but all his life he idolized her. He treated especially carefully those corners of the estate that reminded him of her. The writer’s childhood, as is known from his autobiographical works, was spent in his father’s spacious, cozy house, which had about forty rooms.

The Tolstoys' life was measured, unhurried, and proceeded in accordance with noble traditions. Tolstoy lost his father when he was nine years old. Aunt Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Sacken became the guardian. She took the children to Kazan. The writer returned to Yasnaya Polyana in 1847. When the division of property between the brothers took place, Lev Nikolaevich, as the youngest, was supposed to receive Yasnaya Polyana, which made him very happy. Even then he dreamed of village life and felt that this was where he would be happy. True, the peasants were distrustful of the endeavors of the young Tolstoy. He became disillusioned and went to military service.

At the end of the 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 areas underwent changes. Thus, Tolstoy, a supporter of labor and an opponent of the exploitation of free work force, planted fruit trees with his own hands. True, the greenhouse was built by peasants.

Under Tolstoy, the architecture of the estate also changed. The manor house was demolished and a new house was built in its place, to which several extensions were added over time. The atmosphere that reigned in Yasnaya Polyana unusually inspired Lev Nikolaevich, giving him a wealth of material for literary creativity. Here the writer changed his mind 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 the 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 Nikolaevich 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 more than once appealed to the Tsar with a request to accept the estate under state protection, but she was refused. This is what Soviet historians claimed. Why was Nicholas II so dismissive of the architectural complex, in one of the buildings of which they were born? best works Russian literature, unknown. He probably had other concerns. However, Tolstoy’s widow was awarded a pension, which was partially used to maintain the estate.

Sofya Alexandrovna tried in every possible way 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 his bedroom. Under Tolstoy's leadership, a 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 it happened full meeting 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 Leo Tolstoy’s estate began based on surveys of his contemporaries and documents. The sieges were put in order, the apiary was restored, and trees were planted. In 1939 the estate became part of state museum Tolstoy. 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. New tourism programs are appearing, seminars, symposiums, conferences are being held, dedicated to creativity Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Writers' meetings are also held here, in which foreign and 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. Located in Tula scientific and cultural center"Yasnaya Polyana", which includes art Gallery And Publishing House. Where is Tolstoy's Yasnaya Polyana located? Address: Tula region, Shchekinsky district, Yasnaya Polyana village.

Tolstoy House Museum

The writer lived in the estate for half a century. After retiring, he first refurbished 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. German troops set fire to the house in which the museum is located during their retreat, but, fortunately, the fire was extinguished. The estate was opened 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 the Volkonsky house, the Kuzminsky outbuilding, and a bathhouse. Volkonsky's house is the oldest building on the estate. In the Kuzminsky wing for three years in mid-19th century there was a school opened by Lev Nikolaevich for peasant children. Then guests stayed here, but more often the writer’s relative Tatyana Kuzminskaya. The bathhouse was built in the nineties of the 19th century.

Objects of natural composition: Lower Pond, Big Pond, Middle Pond, Kliny Park, Preshpekt Alley, Red Garden, Young Garden, Native Forest, Guseva Polyana, Voronka River, Chepyzh, Christmas Trees.

Writer's grave

As a child, Leo Tolstoy heard the legend of the green stick, and it sank 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 anyone 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 recalled this story more and more often and bequeathed to be buried in the place where his brother buried the stick many years ago.

"Yasnaya Polyana" (Cheboksary)

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

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

In the Shchekinsky district of the Tula region there is an ancient village of Yasnaya Polyana. We have long wanted to visit it and the nearby estate famous writer. And so, on a warm April day, we loaded ourselves onto our new horse and set off. And for the horse, this is also the first long-distance trip, a break-in.

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

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

You need to buy a ticket from the machine - entrance to the Yasnaya Polyana estate costs 100 rubles. (free for children). 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. We're at 11 o'clock. They offered only for 12 hours. the nearest one (everything is booked). The excursion costs 400 rubles, without benefits, lasts about 2 hours. While we were waiting for the excursion, we took a walk near the large pond.

History of the Yasnaya Polyana estate.

The tour starts from the entrance. We weren't very lucky with the guide. A certain Evgenia Petrovna constantly stammered and spoke very quietly. But overall the excursion is very interesting and educational.

The estate was acquired 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 on 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 writer’s death, one of his sons, Sergei, and his youngest daughter, Alexandra, lived here. With coming Soviet power and the nationalization of the estate, she became the first director of the museum.

Sights of the Yasnaya Polyana estate.

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

Immediately upon entering the estate, there is a Big Pond on the left. Lev Nikolaevich swam in it in the summer and skated with the village children in the winter.

Behind the pond there is an apple orchard. There are many gardens in the estate. The entire estate occupies 400 hectares, and the gardens are located on 40 hectares. N.S. Volkonsky was also involved in apples as an economic activity, and his grandson Lev developed this activity.

Tolstoy was also involved in the apiary. There are still apiaries in several places in the gardens.

By right side From the main alley there is a lower park (or English garden) - a favorite place for walks of Lev Nikolaevich’s mother.

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

Opposite Volkonsky's house are stables.

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

From Volkonsky's house the excursion goes higher to the outbuilding that remains in the estate from big house. Lev Nikolaevich himself sold the large house when he needed funds. The outbuilding is called the Kuzminsky house. 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 there was a school for peasant children, created in 1859 by Lev Nikolaevich. He taught there himself.

A stone has now been installed on the site of the main part of the large house.

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

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

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

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

Tour of the house.

The house takes up most of the tour. Taking us through the rooms, the guide talks about the life of the writer and his family. The tour begins in the living room.

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

In the writer's office, the atmosphere has been preserved as it was on the last day of his stay in the house.

No food was prepared 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 left on his last journey in 1910, from which he did not return alive. Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church 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 looked for the “green stick” as a child. His older brother told him in childhood that if you find her, she can make all people happy.

Municipal secondary school No. 16.

Yasnaya Polyana peasants

The writer was once asked:

- Lev Nikolaevich,

have you been abroad?

Is it better there?

“No,” he answered, “

there is nowhere better than your homeland.

The best thing for me is

YASNAYA POLYANA

,...The extraordinary beauty of this spring in the villages will awaken the dead. A hot evening at night, young leaves swaying on the trees, and moonlight and shadows, nightingales lower, higher, further away, closer, all at once with syncopations, and frogs in the distance, and silence, and fragrant hot air - and all this suddenly, at the wrong time, very strange and good.

In the morning, again, the play of light and shadow from the large, densely dressed birches of the preshpect on the tall, dark green grass, and forget-me-nots, and dull nettles, and that’s all - the main thing, the waving of the birches of the preshpect is the same as it was when I, 60 years ago, for the first time I noticed and fell in love with this beauty. “This is what Tolstoy wrote on May 3, 1897 from Yasnaya Polyana to his wife in Moscow. This letter is like a lyric poem, vividly conveying state of mind the author from contact with nature, this most direct expression of beauty and goodness.”

Tolstoy did not like city life. He loved the countryside, forests, fields, meadows. Here, far from the social contrasts of the city, he found relative peace of mind and the opportunity to engage in creative work. Here he was visited by “the purest joy - the joy of nature.” Until his old age, he had a keen and youthful sense of beauty and strength. native land. He called nature best friend, which you will not lose until death.

The historical fate of Yasnaya Polyana is closely intertwined with the history of Russia, its hardships and joys. “Everything came together here. The nature and history of our Motherland seem to have been gathered here, on a small piece

land...many traits necessary to brilliant writer was able to paint the broadest pictures of Russian life. These paintings contained all of Russia, as it was imprinted in the consciousness of the beloved realist artist, and the defense of Sevastopol, and the Samara famine, and the Moscow shelters, and yet it was on Yasnaya Polyana, on this fragment of Russia, that Tolstoy’s all-pervasive gaze was focused for half a century " The passage quoted from the “Book of Reviews” of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum shows our contemporaries’ perceptions of Yasnaya Polyana, its place and role in the life and work of the writer. Without knowing Yasnaya Polyana, it is impossible to truly deeply understand Tolstoy and his works. Yasnaya Polyana brings us closer to the great artist of words.

Tolstoy was born in Yasnaya Polyana and lived most of his life. This is where his knowledge of the Motherland began. Here his boundless and real love for Russia grew. All heroic things are connected with Yasnaya Polyana. literary path Tolstoy. The writer’s first steps on the path to the people and his multifaceted social activities are also connected with Yasnaya Polyana.

A passionate defender of the oppressed, a formidable denouncer of those in power - that’s how Tolstoy was, and that’s how he remains to this day for millions of people around the world. He personified the civic conscience of his era. His name was known to everyone. Yasnaya Polyana was known in the most remote corners of the globe. “Russia, Leo Tolstoy” - this is how some of the writer’s foreign correspondents addressed their letters. Outstanding figures of Russian and world culture, science, and politics visited Yasnaya Polyana. Passionate debates raged here about the fate of Russia, about moral, social, aesthetic ideals, about the most exciting issues of our time.

“For decades,” wrote A.M. Gorky, “a stern and truthful voice sounded, denouncing everyone and everything; he told us almost as much about Russian life as all the rest of our literature.”

Tolstoy always keenly felt the needs of the era. “I am very busy with modernity...” - this confession is often found in his diaries and letters. Tolstoy posed in his works the most pressing questions of life with a force and acuity previously unseen in literature. His works were warmly received not only by Russians, but also by foreign readers; they taught people to understand life and fight. Lyudmil Stoyanov, who translated “Resurrection” into Bulgarian, wrote that as an artist and interpreter of his era, Tolstoy took one of the first places in the historical development of not only Russia, but of all mankind...

In the last three decades of his life, the writer experienced a stronger, deeper, more tragic discord with environment. During these years, his disagreements with his family deepened, especially with his sons and wife, who did not accept his worldview and did not want to give up his rich lordly life. Gradually but inevitably, the spiritual and family drama is growing, which ultimately forced Tolstoy to leave Yasnaya Polyana.

After the death of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, the widow of the writer S.A. Tolstoy did everything in her power to save the house and estate from ruin and prevent its sale into private hands. An appeal to Tsar Nicholas II with a proposal to take Yasnaya Polyana under state protection was received a categorical refusal.

The work of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstov, according to V.I. Lenin, reflected an entire era in the life of Russian society. He left a unique pedagogical legacy: articles, letters, a diary of the Yasnaya Polyana school, the Yasnaya Polyana school, “ABC”, “ New alphabet”, Russian books for reading.

In our time, a time of transformation in the social and spiritual life of society, Lev Nikolaevich’s pedagogical searches are attracted by the relevance of posing problems of education, education of the teenage generation, and democratization of public education. Tolstoy considered the idea of ​​​​creating a new school and educating a creative personality to be the most important, and teaching pedagogy as the most joyful and happiest time in his life.

The pedagogical views of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy reflected a philosophical and dialectical approach to the question of the origin and development of human consciousness and showed the pragmatism of the writer’s thoughts. The experience of the Yasnaya Polyana school was an experiment in developmental education and proved the hypothesis put forward by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy about the lifetime formation of all human abilities in various types activities. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy introduced the concept of active morality, which accepts man as religion, the meaning of life. As you know, the leading idea of ​​the moral and ethical teaching of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, which has yet to be deeply and comprehensively studied.

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy's intensive pedagogical work began in 1859, ten years after his first classes with peasant children, when he opened a free elementary school in Yasnaya Polyana. The activity of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, a teacher, is divided into three periods: the first - 1859 - 1869, the second 1870 - 1876, the third - 1876 and until the end of the writer’s life.

The writer called the first period of teaching activity a period of “passionate interest in teaching.” “The science is different now... it’s not we who need to learn, but we who need to teach the morfut and the tarasque at least a little of what we know.” Lev Nikolaevich considered nurturing the creative personality of a child to be the most important task of the school.

Educational work with children and extracurricular activities at the Yasnaya Polyana school were constantly developing and improving. The school was attended by 30-40 boys and girls aged 7-13 years. School lessons began at eight o'clock in the morning and often lasted until two o'clock in the afternoon; from two to five o'clock there was a lunch break. At dusk, classes resumed and ended at eight nine in the evening.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy emphasized that children from the people should receive the same knowledge as children from a privileged society. In his opinion, peasant children should be introduced to the world of art and nobility.

In his first pedagogical notes (March 1860) and in the rough draft “On the Tasks of Pedagogy,” he spoke out against the “empirical, abstract” pedagogy that was dominant in the mid-19th century.

Acting as a peace mediator, Lev Nikolaevich invariably addressed the needs of the peasants in almost all cases, made decisions in their favor and sought the opening of schools throughout the district. These schools existed on funds contributed by parents, who paid from 50 to 80 kopecks in silver per month for the education of each child. During this period, over 10 schools were opened; in others, students worked as teachers. Lev Nikolaevich invited teachers, helped them in drawing up curriculums, supported and ideologically directed their pedagogical activities, and tried to improve their material conditions.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy began publishing the monthly magazine “Yasnaya Polyana” on February 4, 1862, each issue of which included a pedagogical section and stories for children (12 issues in total). Addressing teachers, he spoke about the need to form creative thinking and the moral consciousness of students already at the initial stage of education. The magazines published articles by Lev Nikolaevich of a programmatic nature: “On public education”, “On methods of teaching literacy”, “Upbringing and education”, “Progress and definition of education”, “Diary of the Yasnaya Polyana school” and others.

After the completion of the novel “War and Peace”, the second period of teaching activity of Lev Nikolaevich (1870 - 1876) begins. He begins to compile the “ABC” - a unique set of educational books for the initial teaching of children reading, writing, grammar, Slavic language and arithmetic. The ABC consisted of four books.

The first book - including your own alphabet, letters, texts for reading, learning to count, guidelines for teachers.

The next three books include fiction and non-fiction popular stories in history, geography, physics, natural science.

However, the first reviewers noted the outstanding merits of stories for children, condemned the method of teaching literacy proposed by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, and noted that the arithmetic section was written unsatisfactorily.