Tolstoy's estate Yasnaya Polyana address. History of Yasnaya Polyana

On September 9, 2015 we celebrate the 187th anniversary of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

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.

House of Leo Tolstoy

Yasnaya Polyana - estate in Shchekinsky district 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.

Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky (March 30, 1753 - February 3, 1821) - infantry general from the Volkonsky family, grandfather of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The prototype of the old Prince Bolkonsky from the novel “War and Peace”.

Leo Tolstoy with his wife

The first information about Yasnaya Polyana dates back to 1652. WITH mid-18th century centuries, the estate belonged to the writer’s maternal ancestors, the princes Volkonsky. Throughout the XVIII and XIX 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.

Leo Tolstoy in his bedroom in Yasnaya Polyana, 1910

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.

With family in Yasnaya Polyana.

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 years Civil War- out of respect for the memory of Tolstoy, the Yasnaya Polyana peasants saved her from the 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.

Absolutely new stage 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 this moment we can talk about the return of the Tolstoys to Yasnaya Polyana and a return to the history, roots, traditions of 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.

Architectural ensemble of the 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.

When retreating 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 (2014) is V. I. Tolstoy, the great-great-grandson of L. N. Tolstoy.

Portrait of L. N. Tolstoy in his office, Moscow, State literary museum

Ge. Sofia Tolstaya

Portrait of Maria Lvovna Tolstoy

Portrait of Tatyana Lvovna Tolstoy, daughter of the writer

"Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana", 1908, the first color photographic portrait in Russia.

Volkonsky House

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

Peasant children at the porch of a rural school in the village of Yasnaya Polyana. Kuzminsky outbuilding 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, sister-in-law of Lev Nikolaevich, stayed

Entry tower

Stables and carriage house

Kucherskaya

Forge and carpentry

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

garden house

Zhitnya and Riga

Birch bridge

White kitchen

Natural composition

Big pond.

Lower Pond.

Middle Pond

Afonina Grove.

Diagon Glade

"Christmas trees."

Red forest

Old garden.

Young garden.

“Tree of Love” (birch and oak growing from one place and intertwined with each other),

“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.

Writer's grave

Leo Tolstoy's grave
IN last years During his life, Tolstoy repeatedly expressed a request to be buried 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 to his family about great secret.

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.

Soviet intelligence officers near Yasnaya Polyana, Tula region. Counteroffensive near Moscow. December 1941

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.”

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.”

Tolstoy’s grave in Yasnaya Polyana, November 1941. - from the archives of the German 35th Tank Regiment. Archived from the original on April 4, 2013.

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 ripped off the walls rare photographs Tolstoy was taken away 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.

— Belov P.A. Moscow is behind us. - M.: Voenizdat, 1963.

These statements of Soviet propaganda, however, cannot be considered a proven fact. This is what Guderian himself writes in his book “Memoirs of a Soldier” (also published in Russia under the title “Memoirs of a German General”, M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2007):

We settled in the museum, furniture and books were moved into two rooms and their doors were sealed. We used homemade furniture from simple planks, and the stove was heated with wood from the forest. We did not burn a single piece of furniture, we did not touch a single book or manuscript. All Soviet claims of the post-war period are fiction. I myself visited Tolstoy’s grave. She was in good condition. Not a single soldier touched her. When we left, everything remained in the same condition as before us. Post-war crude propaganda called us barbarians without any reason. Many witnesses could confirm our words.

In a number of Russian reprints of Guderian's memoirs, this quote was removed, but its authenticity can be easily verified from the German original

Now, it seems that in the centuries-old silence a branch will quietly crunch and He will come and sit on His bench and look into the soul with a piercing gaze...

Yasnaya Polyana is an estate in the Shchekinsky district of the Tula region, founded in the 17th century and belonging first to the Kartsev family, then to the Volonsky and Tolstoy families. 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.

I went to Yasnaya Polyana on the last day of my stay in Tula. It takes about 15-20 minutes to drive from Tula itself, so it’s very close and it’s worth visiting such a remarkable place.

At the entrance to this place you can find souvenir rows with various trinkets for tourists, a couple of shops and many people who want to visit these historical places. I immediately order a tour service and, as part of a group, I go for a walk around the estate...

The museum itself 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 Rifle Division of the 50th Army liberated Yasnaya Polyana. The scouts visited museum-estate of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. When they returned, they spoke with indignation about how the Nazis violated the memory of the great writer. They tore off the rare photographs of Tolstoy from the walls and took them with them. Guderian came to the museum for his superior. “souvenirs” were several valuable exhibits. The soldiers stationed in the estate heated the stoves with fragments 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’ll burn everything that’s left.” your Tolstoy." The Nazis desecrated Tolstoy's grave, which people came from all over the world to worship."

This is the main entrance to the estate, and the entire inspection begins from here. At the entrance to the estate there are two round brick towers, simple and elegant. They were built by Tolstoy's grandfather, Prince N.S. Volkonsky. Once upon a time there were iron gates between the towers, but under Tolstoy they were no longer there. The inside of the towers is hollow; watchmen took shelter from the weather in them. To the left of the entrance - no big house ik, called "kamenka". A gardener lived here. In the 90s, in Kamenka there was a school for peasant children, where Tolstoy’s eldest daughters, Tatyana Lvovna and Maria Lvovna, taught.

Prince Andrei “ordered his horse to be saddled and from the transition rode on horseback to his father’s village, in which he was born and spent his childhood... Prince Andrei rode up to the gatehouse. There was no one at the stone entrance gate and the door was unlocked.”
L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace.”

It is worth noting that although I was in this place in March, it was like winter, cool and snowy, but in my opinion this has its own beauty...

Next, Preshpekt opens before us. “Preshpekt” is the name given to the picturesque birch alley leading from the entrance towers to the writer’s house. In a letter to his wife (1897), Tolstoy spoke about “Preshpekt”: “The extraordinary beauty of the spring of this year in the village will awaken the dead... In the morning again the play of light and shadows 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 is, the waving of the birches of the prespekt is the same as it was when, 60 years ago, I first noticed and fell in love with this beauty.”

“Preshpekt” is mentioned more than once in Tolstoy’s works of art, including in the novel “War and Peace.” In 1903, Lev Nikolaevich’s wife Sofya Andreevna planted spruce trees here instead of old birches. In 1965, spruce trees were again replaced by birch trees.

“The extraordinary beauty of this year’s spring in the village will awaken the dead... In the morning again the play of light and shadows 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, 60 years ago, I first noticed and fell in love with this beauty.”
L. N. Tolstoy. From a letter to S. A. Tolstoy, 1897.

There are also a small number of ponds on the estate. But now they are naturally all covered in ice.

What was disappointing about this estate is that people are not allowed into the house on their own, like into museums. You must pay for the excursion. And what’s more, strangely enough, it’s forbidden to take photographs in the buildings themselves; I don’t even know where they came up with such a rule, but this is clearly a minus of the estate complex. Therefore, all photos are only from the outside)

The oldest building in the estate is Volkonsky's house. It is assumed that the writer’s grandfather, Prince N. S. Volkonsky, lived there for some time. Under the prince, in the central part of the house there were workshops for the production of linen, carpets, and leather processing. Under Tolstoy, servants lived here, there was a laundry and a “black kitchen”. The eastern wing of the Volkonsky House housed the art workshop of Tolstoy’s daughter Tatyana Lvovna.

Polikey, as an insignificant and dirty person, and from another village, had no patronage either through the housekeeper, or through the barman, or through the clerk or maid, and his angle was the worst, even though he was alone with his wife and children . The corners were built by the late master like this: in a ten-arshine stone hut, in the middle, there was a Russian stove, all around there was a kolidor (as the servants were called), and in each corner there was a corner fenced off with boards. (This means there was not much space, especially in the Polikey corner, the one furthest to the door. The marriage bed with a quilted blanket and chintz pillows, a cradle with a child, a table on three legs, on which they cooked, washed, put everything home, and Polikey himself worked (he was a farrier), tubs, dresses, chickens, a calf and the seven themselves filled the entire corner and could not move if the common stove did not represent its fourth part, on which both things and people lay, and if it were still impossible to go out porch).
L. N. Tolstoy. "Polikushka"

There are many old outbuildings on the estate. All of them, as I understand it, are still in use. For example, the stable is full of horses - this is a real tradition of the Tolstoy family - love for horses. As far as I remember from the guide’s stories, Lev Nikolaevich himself went horseback riding every day and adored horses.

From the very house in which Lev Nikolaevich was born, nothing remains except this memorial stone. The house did not burn down and was not destroyed, Tolstoy himself sold it during his lifetime and accordingly the house moved)

But even the horizontal bar has been preserved, on which great writer performed various exercises with ease. Anyone can come up and try themselves at pull-ups and more)\

Outbuilding of the Kuzminskys.

Initially, the outbuilding was (like the Tolstoy House) part architectural ensemble, founded under Prince Volkonsky and consisting of a large house in which Tolstoy was born (this house has not survived), and two outbuildings. In 1859, Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in the wing, which existed until 1862. Later guests stayed here. The writer's sister-in-law lived here more often than others, younger sister his wife, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya with her family. After her name, the outbuilding was called the Kuzminsky outbuilding.

In the 50s, the Literary Museum was created in the outbuilding. In the 90s, there was a need to update the exhibition. It was decided to create rotating memorial exhibitions in the outbuilding telling about L.N. Tolstoy and his family. Thus, since 1994, the exhibitions “Faith, Hope, Love of Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy”, “Tolstoy and Cinema”, “Living Tolstoy”, “Glimpses in the Darkness”, created with the participation of the State Museum of Transport, the Tolstoy Foundation and other organizations, were successfully held. .

“The next morning we went to inspect the outbuilding where the school was located. Upstairs there were bright, large, tall rooms with a balcony and a wonderful open view. “Could I have thought then that I would come for the summer almost every year, with my family, for 25 years to this very outbuilding.”
T. A. Kuzminskaya. “My life at home and in Yasnaya Polyana”

The most interesting place of my excursion - this is, of course, the House of L.N. Tolstoy.

This is what a porch with an extension looks like. Pay attention to beautiful patterns, carved on wood, all this was done at the request of Lev Nikolaevich himself, he really liked this design idea.

As I already wrote above, you cannot take photographs in the house itself, which is a pity, since all the decoration has been preserved unchanged since the time when Tolstoy lived in the house. Probably the floors creaked in the same way in his time)

Tolstoy settled in this house (former outbuilding) in 1856. He brought his young wife here in 1862. Later, the small outbuilding was no longer enough for the growing family, and Tolstoy expanded it by adding several outbuildings.
Tolstoy lived in this house for more than 50 years. All things, books, paintings here are genuine: they belonged to Tolstoy, his family, and even the writer’s ancestors. The house still maintains the furnishings of 1910, the last year of Tolstoy’s life.

There are flower beds around the house. Sofya Andreevna, Tolstoy’s wife, loved flowers very much and took care of them herself.

Near the house there are outbuildings. Now is the time to remember the “find the cat” game, try to see the cat) And there are three of them in the photo)

For those who can’t find our smaller friends, I’ll post them in close-up)

And what's most interesting is the place angry dog, in the kennel sits the sweetest cat of the soul)

After inspecting the residential building, I went to the grave site of the great writer, which is located not far from the house. The path there is well trodden.

In the last years of his life, Tolstoy repeatedly expressed a request to bury him in the Stary Zakaz forest, 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 more wars and 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 his artistic work, 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.”

And this is how modestly the grave of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy looks.

But this was not the end of the study of the surrounding area. By chance, not far from Tolstoy’s estate, I also saw some interesting buildings and went to see what it was.

This is what the memorial plaques confirm. This place, as it turned out, is also connected with the name of Tolstoy.

With this I leave Yasnaya Polyana, leaving in my memory one of the most interesting excursions, from those that I have ever seen and there was a clear desire to read a couple of books by Lev Nikolaevich, by the way, I have already read Sevastopol stories, and now I am reading War and Peace) Monumental work, like Tolstoy’s personality itself.

I’ll also note this point: on the road between Tula and Yasnaya Polyana you can see a grandiose urban landscape, in the form of the oldest Tula enterprise - the Kosogorsk Metallurgical Plant.

The plant was opened in 1897, and what is noteworthy is that Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy himself was present at the opening. Now this plant is seen as some kind of unreal industrial giant, creating something of a fantastic landscape - this is for people like me who are far from various working industries. Believe me, it looks much more majestic live)

This is where I finish my Tula sketches and there are many other stories ahead, no less interesting)

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- 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.

On the right side of the main alley is the lower park (or English garden) - favorite place walks of mother Lev Nikolaevich.

The oldest building of the estate is Volkonsky's house. The writer's great-grandfather and grandfather lived there. And after the death of her grandfather in 1821, his 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 on the estate from the large 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 a large house that was sold, Tolstoy built 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 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.

Yasnaya Polyana is the estate of the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910). Here he was born and lived most of his life. This place inspired the writer to create world-class works. Even during his lifetime, the entire enlightened public of that time considered Lev Nikolaevich the leader of Russian literature. His fame was great. He was respected not only by nobles, but also by ordinary peasants. There is such a case that occurred several years after the death of the writer. In those troubled revolutionary times, when the landowners' estates were robbed, destroyed and set on fire, in Yasnaya Polyana no one even touched the "carnation". The peasants of the surrounding villages could not even imagine such a thing. Despite the revenge against the landowners that captured the common people, they defended the estate from “uninvited guests” who wanted to indiscriminately destroy everything “left and right.” Currently, the Yasnaya Polyana estate is located in the Shchekinsky district of the Tula region. It has the status of a State Memorial and Nature Reserve. As the old Russian proverb says - the house begins with the threshold, so the Yasnaya Polyana estate begins with the entrance gate, on both sides of which there are ancient stone turrets. You can see one of them in the photo on the left. They were built by the writer’s grandfather. For many years, the towers served as shelter from bad weather for the watchmen who guarded the estate and opened the massive iron gates. During the writer’s lifetime, the gates were dismantled. To the left of the turrets there is a small house called a “kamenka”. A gardener lived in it. Lev Nikolaevich mentioned this place in his novel “War and Peace”, describing Andrei’s arrival at his father’s estate: “... Prince Andrei drove up to the gatehouse. There was no one at the stone entrance gate, and the door was unlocked.".

History of Yasnaya Polyana

In 1652, the Yasnaya Polyana tract on the Zasechnaya Line (a special defensive structure against enemy attacks) was mentioned. Then it was owned by a serviceman Stepan Kartsev. His descendants divided these lands into five parts and owned them until the 1760s. Unfortunately, history is silent about which of them founded the estate and laid out the park with a wide central alley. In 1763, this estate was bought by Major General Prince Sergei Fedorovich Volkonsky (1715 - 1784, great-grandfather of L.N. Tolstoy). The estate got its name from the name of the village located nearby. The main transformation of Yasnaya Polyana began under his son Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky (1753 - 1821, grandfather of L.N. Tolstoy). Like his father, he was also a military man. The prince rose to the rank of infantry general. In 1799 he retired and settled on the estate. With redoubled force, Nikolai Sergeevich took up the task of transforming the territory. Construction began on the manor house and two outbuildings on the sides. The house was built to be large; 32 rooms were planned. There should have been columns and a balcony in front. Subsequently, it was in this house that Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born. Unfortunately, Nikolai Sergeevich only managed to build both wings and the first stone floor of the house (Tolstoy’s father L.N. had to complete its construction). In addition, a large landscape park was laid out on the territory and a number of new outbuildings were erected. The central birch alley, which leads from the stone gate to the house and outbuildings, was updated.

Central alley of the estate

Look at spring photograph. Not only princes, counts, writers, creative intelligentsia, but even the emperor passed along this alley. On one of his trips, Alexander I (1777 - 1825, Emperor of Russia) made a special trip to Yasnaya Polyana to visit Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky. Of course, photography cannot convey the beauty and grandeur of this place. You need to visit the estate and see everything with your own eyes. Hear the chirping of birds rejoicing at the arrival of spring and feel the spirit of that time. Appearance Yasnaya Polyana, which has survived to this day, was formed thanks to the efforts of Nikolai Sergeevich. The staff of the museum-estate make incredible efforts to ensure that everything remains as in the 19th century.

Nikolai Sergeevich was married to Princess Ekaterina Dmitrievna Trubetskoy (1749 - 1792). Their marriage produced two daughters - Varvara and Maria. Varvara died in infancy, and Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya (1790 - 1830) was destined to become the mother of the great Russian writer L.N. Tolstoy. Unfortunately, Nikolai Sergeevich was widowed early. Ekaterina Dmitrievna, his wife, died in 1792. Until 1799, little Maria was raised in the family of her uncle (Prince I.D. Trubetskoy). Nikolai Sergeevich doted on his daughter. As soon as circumstances permitted, he immediately resigned. The prince took Maria and settled with her in Yasnaya Polyana. He was a strict but fair man. It was in vain that he did not punish his serfs. Therefore, no one held a grudge against him. The order in the estate was clear, more like a military one. The prince devoted all the remaining years of his life to his daughter. For Nikolai Sergeevich she was the light in the window. Thanks to him, Maria received a very decent home education. She knew history, physics, mathematics, geography well. Even the fact that Maria owned four foreign languages says a lot.

In 1821, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky dies. This was a big blow for Maria, who had always been under his protection. She led a secluded life and had not yet married at the time of her father’s death. She was already 30 years old and this was considered quite old at that time. Numerous relatives got involved and introduced Maria to Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794 - 1837). Their wedding took place in 1822. At first it looked more like a marriage of convenience, but later it turned out to be a good and strong family. They had five children: Nikolai, Sergei, Dmitry, Lev and Maria.

Childhood of Tolstoy L.N.

Lev Nikolaevich spent his childhood in Yasnaya Polyana. He was left without a mother very early, about two years old. After the birth of his sister, literally six months later, Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya dies. The house was practically orphaned. Fate gave her a short (39 years old) but full of love life. In childhood and adolescence, her father adored her. I literally did everything for her. Then, although not immediately, they developed mutual love with their husband. And when children began to be born, and there is nothing to say, Maria Nikolaevna’s happiness knew no bounds. Lev Nikolaevich simply idolized his mother. True, due to his young age, he did not remember her at all, but he asked everyone at home and studied the diaries left after his mother’s death. He spent a lot of time in the lower garden of the estate, where Maria Nikolaevna loved to be. He carried this love for his mother throughout his entire subsequent life.

Lev Nikolaevich and his brothers took patronage over their younger sister Maria, named after her mother Maria Nikolaevna. They always took her with them. Of the children's games, Lev Nikolaevich remembers the “brotherhood of ants” most of all. Emotions filled the souls of the little people when they covered the chairs with scarves, climbed under them and dreamed of the “brotherhood of ants.” The initiator of the game was his older brother Nikolai, who told his family the legend about the green stick. As if a secret was written on it, if revealed, no one else would die on earth, there would be no wars or diseases, and all people would be “ant brothers.” You just need to find this green stick, buried on the edge of the ravine in the Old Order. The guys tried to find her many times, but she probably still lies somewhere in a secluded place.

Their second cousin Ergolskaya T.A. was involved in raising children left without a mother. She tried with all her might, if not to replace their mother, then at least to give them some female love, so necessary in the early childhood. Unfortunately, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy unexpectedly died in 1837. The children were completely orphaned, having lost themselves after the death of their mother. loved one. Countess Osten-Sacken A.M., paternal aunt, becomes the official guardian. Together with Ergolskaya T.A. they were raising children. True, a few years later (in 1841) the Countess herself dies. The children move to Kazan to live with their father’s sister P.I. Yushkova, who became their new guardian. Gradually, the children grow up and study at Kazan University. In 1847, Lev Nikolaevich came to Yasnaya Polyana, which he inherited during the division of the inheritance.

The beginning of the life of Tolstoy L.N.

During this period of his life, Lev Nikolaevich “looks for himself.” He is trying to change something in the economic issues of the estate. He tries himself as a teacher and opens a school for serf peasant children. For some time he lives first in Moscow, and then in St. Petersburg. Starts to write short stories. In the spring of 1851, his older brother Nikolai, who by that time served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana to stay. He talked a lot about the army and described in colors the nature of southern Russia. One day, while walking along the alleys of the park, Nikolai invited his brother to join the army service. After his departure, Lev Nikolaevich pondered his proposal for some time. Then I got ready and went to Pyatigorsk. Closer to autumn, he takes an exam in Tiflis (Tbilisi) and enters the 4th artillery battery as a cadet. He served in the Caucasus for two years. At this time, Lev Nikolaevich did not abandon his literary pursuits. He writes stories and sends them to Sovremennik magazine.

IN Crimean War(1853 - 1856) Count Tolstoy L.N. protects the Russian city of Sevastopol from coalition troops (British, French, Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia). Lev Nikolaevich is in the thick of things. He commands a battery in the battle of the Black River, where the Russian army had a very hard time. Does not hide from bullets in battles on Malakhov Kurgan. In these difficult conditions, he showed himself to be a worthy Russian officer. For the defense of Sevastopol he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree and medals. Here he writes the first of his Sevastopol stories, which had some success in society. Even Emperor Alexander II, who had newly ascended the throne, read it and appreciated it. While Lev Nikolaevich was in the active army, he urgently needed money. In 1854, the house in which the writer was born was sold, on his instructions, by the manager of Yasnaya Polyana to the merchant Gorokhov and taken to the village of Dolgoye. For the rest of his life, Lev Nikolaevich reproached himself for this act.

Stone on the site of the house

When the estate received the status of a museum, a stone was installed at the location of the main manor house with the inscription: “Here stood the house in which L.N. was born. Tolstoy." This moment in his life made him sad. Lev Nikolaevich planted trees here. Some members of the household sometimes asked where he was born. Then the writer pointed to top part tree and said: “Over there, where the top of this larch is now, was my mother’s room, and that’s where I was born, on a leather sofa.” 43 years later he visited this house in the village of Dolgoe. A storm of feelings stirred the heart of the elderly man. He remembered how, as a little boy, he ran through these rooms with his brothers and sister. Only years later you understand that happiness consists of such small moments of life that you want to return to, but are no longer possible.

At the end of 1855, Tolstoy L.N. sent by the command to St. Petersburg, where free time finishes two more Sevastopol stories. They have big success. We can say that from that moment Tolstoy L.N. fully formed as a writer. In 1856, Lev Nikolaevich left military service with the rank of lieutenant. He visits St. Petersburg and travels around Europe. He meets there with many cultural and artistic figures. In 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married Sofya Andreevna Bers (1844 - 1919). She was 18 years old and he was 34 years old. In their marriage they had 13 children. Five children died in childhood. Their family life was not at all simple, but Lev Nikolaevich was a patient man and the marriage lasted 48 years.

Writer Tolstoy L.N.

Lev Nikolaevich worked a lot on his books. He wrote more than 170 works of art. True, during his lifetime only 78 were published, which the writer considered complete. The rest were stored in personal archive and only after the death of Tolstoy L.N. most of them reached wide range of people. In Yasnaya Polyana, the writer and his family lived in the right wing. Subsequently, it began to be called “Tolstoy’s House”, because it was in it that he spent many years of his life and wrote so many works.

House of Tolstoy L.N. in Yasnaya Polyana

The novel “War and Peace” brought Lev Nikolaevich worldwide fame. At the beginning family life it took 6 years to create. Some chapters were rewritten and changed several times. But in the end it worked out greatest work. This suggests that writing is not an easy job and requires enormous amounts of effort and time. He wrote two more great novels - “Anna Karenina” and “Sunday”. In addition, during his life Lev Nikolaevich wrote many more novels and short stories.

He also paid attention to the children's audience. Many adults remember with emotion how their parents read the stories “Filipok”, “Kostochka”, “Kitten” to them in childhood. But they are even more surprised to learn the authorship of Lev Nikolaevich for stories known to them previously. For example, how a boy tending sheep called adults many times out of boredom. He shouted: “Help, wolf, wolf!” The men came running, but there was no one there. When the wolf actually came, no one came running to his call. The men thought that he was playing around again, and the wolf slaughtered the entire herd. This is a story by L.N. Tolstoy. with the title "Liar". Or another example. The father had many sons. They argued and fought all the time. One day the father called them, laying out two brooms in front of him. One is divided into sticks, and the other is whole. I asked my sons to break first one and then the other. They easily broke individual sticks, but they couldn’t break a whole one. The father said then: “So you too, if you live in harmony, then no one will defeat you.” This is again the story of Tolstoy L.N. "Father and Sons." Admit it, not everyone knows that this was written by Lev Nikolaevich, although in my life I have heard these stories retold more than once.

There were also stories in which the meaning was not at all childish. For example, Tolstoy’s fable L.N. " old grandfather and granddaughters." It tells that a grandfather lived in one family, and he was very old. I couldn’t see well, and I had difficulty moving at all. When he ate food, he stained and splashed everything around him. That’s why they didn’t sit him at the table, they fed him at the stove. One day my grandfather was eating from a cup and accidentally broke it. The daughter-in-law cursed and began to bring him lunch in a bowl. The grandfather said nothing, only sighed sadly. One day, a husband and wife are sitting at home and watching their little son trying to put something together out of planks. The father asked: “What are you doing, Misha?” And Misha replies: “It’s me, father, who’s making the basin. When you and your mother are too old to feed you from this tub.” The husband and wife felt so ashamed that they began to cry. From then on, they began to sit the old man at the table and take care of him.

This is why Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a great writer, because even in a few sentences he can very strongly express his thoughts, showing simple problem in society. But this is a small children's fable, but his serious works need to be read very thoughtfully, empathizing with the characters in the story. Try to imagine yourself inside storyline books, as if you yourself were in those events. Then detailed description individual scenes will only help you feel what is happening more vividly and believably.

Creativity of Tolstoy L.N. constitutes an invaluable contribution to Russian and world literature. His works were published in tens of millions of copies. They have been translated into many languages ​​of the world. Films have been and continue to be made based on them. Some of his books are included in the compulsory literature study program. Truly, Russia should be proud that it has raised one of greatest classics peace.

Lev Nikolaevich died in the fall of 1910 at the Astapovo railway station (Lipetsk region). He and his entourage went to visit his niece in Novocherkassk. On the way, the writer became ill. Lev Nikolaevich caught a cold and contracted pneumonia. He was transferred to the station master's house. After a short illness, the heart of the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy stopped beating. Fulfilling the will of the deceased, he was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, on the edge of the ravine, where they were looking for the “green stick” as children. His grave is very modest, one simple mound has been built. Think how great and humble person was. We all need to learn life from such people every day in order to get even a millimeter closer to their culture.

Yasnaya Polyana on the map

From Prince Nikolai Volkonsky Yasnaya Polyana passed to him only daughter, who a year after her father’s death married Count Nikolai Tolstoy. He completed the large house in which his family settled in 1824 and increased his land holdings. Five children were born into the Tolstoy family: four sons and a daughter. In 1847, the parental estates were divided between the Tolstoy brothers. Leo Tolstoy was given Yasnaya Polyana, where he settled, but soon, disappointed by the unsuccessful management experience, he left for Moscow, then to St. Petersburg, then entered military service, where he needed money to publish “Military List” - a magazine for soldiers. Because of this, a large Yasnaya Polyana house was sold for removal. It was transported 40 versts (about 42.7 kilometers) from Yasnaya Polyana to the village of Dolgoye, where it stood until 1913 and was dismantled due to its disrepair. At the construction site, 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.”

At the end of the 1850s, Leo Tolstoy retired and returned to Yasnaya Polyana. He settled in one of the outbuildings, which eventually became home for him and his family. Subsequently, extensions were added to the central part of the house - several rooms arranged in an enfilade - as the Tolstoy family grew.

In 1859, Leo Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in the outbuilding (the Tolstoys called it “another house”, and later - the Kuzminsky outbuilding). He expanded forest areas and apple orchards. Gradually, the area of ​​Yasnaya Polyana gardens quadrupled and exceeded 40 hectares, and forest plantings in Yasnaya Polyana began to occupy 254 hectares.

In 1892, Leo Tolstoy renounced his property and divided everything he owned among his heirs. Yasnaya Polyana was given to his wife, Sofya Andreevna, and his very young youngest son Vanya, who died of scarlet fever in 1895.

In October 1910, fulfilling his decision to live his last years in accordance with his views, Leo Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, but on the way he fell ill with pneumonia and died on November 20 (November 7, old style). He was buried in Yasnaya Polyana on the edge of a ravine in the Stary Zakaz forest.

The transformation of Yasnaya Polyana into a museum was a complex and lengthy process. In 1911, the writer's widow Sofya Andreevna twice appealed to Emperor Nicholas II with a request to accept Yasnaya Polyana under state protection, but was refused. It was decided to grant the writer’s widow a pension, which was partly used to maintain the estate. Sofya Andreevna did everything possible to keep the house, park and estate buildings in their original form. The children of Leo Tolstoy took an active part in the life of the estate: Sergei (author of the first guide to Yasnaya Polyana, 1914) and Alexandra.

The estate survived the Civil War. Out of respect for the memory of Tolstoy, the Yasnaya Polyana peasants saved her from the pogrom.

On May 27, 1919, the People's Commissariat of Education issued Alexandra Tolstoy a safe conduct to Yasnaya Polyana, which stated the exclusive cultural value objects located on its territory. The estate was declared a national treasure and taken under state protection. On June 10, 1921, a resolution was issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), according to which Tolstoy’s estate in Yasnaya Polyana was declared state museum-reserve. Alexandra Tolstaya was appointed “Commissioner-Curator” of the museum, who played a huge role in the creation of the museum and its development in the 1920s. But in 1929 she was forced to leave the Soviet Union forever.

In the 1930s, special attention was paid to the restoration and preservation of Yasnaya Polyana in its historically intact form. The study of the history of Yasnaya Polyana began based on documents and surveys of Tolstoy’s contemporaries; The apiary was restored, the gardens were put in order, trees were planted to replace the extinct ones. The work was carried out under the direction of the Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1940, masters of the State Tretyakov Gallery We restored works of art in Tolstoy’s house (canvases by Repin, Ge, Kramskoy). Yasnaya Polyana was transferred to the jurisdiction of the USSR Academy of Sciences; The museum began to turn into a research center for studying the legacy of Leo Tolstoy.

During the Great Patriotic War, the museum exhibits were evacuated to Tomsk. The evacuation was organized by the writer’s granddaughter Sofya Tolstaya-Yesenina, who in 1941 became the director of the United Tolstoy Museums. Yasnaya Polyana was occupied for 47 days, from October 29 to December 14, 1941. During the retreat of the Nazi troops, Tolstoy's house was set on fire, but the fire was extinguished, and restoration work immediately began on the estate. The first restoration was completed by May 1942. In May 1945, the exhibits of Tolstoy's house returned to their original places. The restoration of the museum-estate continued until the mid-1950s, when some outbuildings were recreated, an apple orchard that had frozen out before the war, and the house was restored.

In 1978, in honor of the 150th anniversary of Leo Tolstoy, the museum was awarded the Order of Lenin.

In 1986, the Yasnaya Polyana museum-estate received the status of a State Memorial and Natural Reserve; in 1993 - the status of a cultural object of particular importance.

In 1994, the great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy, Vladimir Tolstoy, was appointed to the post of director of the museum. Since 2012, the Yasnaya Polyana museum-estate has been headed by Ekaterina Tolstaya, historian, wife of Vladimir Tolstoy.

Since 2000, the Tolstoy Family Congress has been officially held in Yasnaya Polyana every two years, bringing together the writer’s descendants from different countries peace.

Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana" occupies 412 hectares of the reserve. The museum's exhibition includes the writer's house, a literary museum, his library, Volkonsky's house, Tolstoy's grave, an ancient linden park, ponds, forests, meadows, arable lands and gardens, as well as dozens of memorial objects and the richest funds of priceless relics associated with the life of the writer. Furnishings in the house-museum of L.N. Tolstoy has been preserved the same as the writer himself left it when he left Yasnaya Polyana forever in 1910.

The structure of the museum includes a number of branches. First of all, these are cultural and historical places associated with the name of Tolstoy: Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye, Pirogovo, Pokrovskoye, Mansurovo, Kozlova Zaseka station, Krapivna. The branches also include the Yasnaya Polyana scientific and cultural center in Tula, where a publishing house and an art gallery are located.

The material was prepared based on open sources