Dostoyevsky Museum, St Petersburg

Visit the Memorial Flat of the Russian Literary Icon

Sep 21, 2006 Amanda Kendle

Ever read Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment"? If not, grab this literary classic now, then visit the Dostoyevsky Memorial Flat and Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.

Quiet moments on the seven days' worth of Trans-Siberian train travel were, for me, spent immersed in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. After a few days in Moscow I headed up to St Petersburg and high on my list of things to see was the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum. His preference was to live in corner flats which had a view to a church, and the story goes that he lived in twenty such flats in St Petersburg - so keep an eye out for Dostoyevsky-approved flat locations.

Overview of the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum

The museum is located inside Dostoyevsky's last residence, a flat in a building just a block from the Vladimirskaya metro station, naturally in a corner flat. It contains room after room of Dotoyevsky-related memorabilia along with relevant historical displays. Even without being a book-lover, a visit to the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum and Flat is a well-spent morning, giving you an insight into life in nineteenth century Russia.

Highlights of the Dostoyevsky Collection

Despite the darker side of some his novels, Dostoyevsky was known to be a real family man who often liked to gather his extended family together for meal - always promptly having dinner served at six o'clock in the evening. In one room of the museum, notes from Dostoyevsky's children rest on a desk as an exhibit. From his daughter, simply "Dear Papa, I love you, from Luba", and from his son, also named Fyodor, "Dear Papa, please give us sweets!".

Like many intellectuals of the time, Dostoyevsky was imprisoned in exile in Omsk, Siberia from 1850 to 1854 for being involved in the socialist Petrashevsky Circle. But he'd been lucky: his initial sentence had been death, and he'd even been marched out into Semyonovsky Square to be shot by firing squad, and pardoned literally at the last moment. Newspaper clippings, drawings and other displays explain this critical time in his life.

Dostoyevsky was in fact born in Moscow, but as a teenager was sent by his father to the Military Engineering College in St Petersburg: according to the museum exhibits, Dostoyevsky said that this move "successfully ruined my life". Nonetheless, the college records displayed show he was quite a good student, despite his lack of interest in a military career.

Visiting Information

You'll find the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum at Kuznechny Pereulok 5/2 in the Vladimirksy district of St Petersburg. Normal opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm; reach it best from the Vladimirskaya / Dostoyevskaya metro stations.

The copyright of the article Dostoyevsky Museum, St Petersburg in Russia/Central Asia Travel is owned by Amanda Kendle. Permission to republish Dostoyevsky Museum, St Petersburg in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Dostoyevsky's Statue