Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Moscow Government – Moscow Government –
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Ivan Turgenev, a writer who spent most of his life abroad, confessed: "My soul, all my thoughts, are in Russia." Moscow is not the most obvious, but it is an important point on the map of this wandering writer who had no sense of sedentary life. Many striking facts of his biography are connected with it.
Elena Polyanskaya, head of the memorial, led a tour of the writer’s Moscow addresses. House-Museum of I.S. Turgenev.
A spanking for childish naivety. Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, Building 57/46, Building 1
The Turgenev family seat was the Oryol estate of Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. But in February 1824, the writer's family—retired Colonel Sergei Nikolaevich, the imperious and extraordinary Varvara Petrovna, and their sons, eight-year-old Nikolai and six-year-old Ivan—arrived in Moscow for the first time. They stayed in the house of State Councilor Kopteva at the very end of Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street (now 57/46, building 1, heavily rebuilt). They did not yet have their own home, and this address was merely their entry point into Moscow life.
The fabulist Ivan Dmitriev lived nearby. Varvara Petrovna, eager to show off her son's successes, arranged a literary exam in the presence of the master, and little Vanya recited a fable to the writer. Then he began to improvise… "Imagine the horror of both my mother and those around me when I blurted out to this venerable elder's face: 'Your fables are good, but Ivan Andreevich Krylov's are much better.' My mother was so angry that she flogged me, thus cementing in me the memory of my first meeting and acquaintance with a Russian writer," Turgenev recalled. Thus, Moscow taught him a very painful lesson in literature.
Boarding house and underground passage. Gagarinsky Lane, Building 15/7
In the fall of that same year, Varvara Petrovna bought a house on Samoteka, but another address is more important to us. In 1830, while the father of the family was receiving treatment abroad, the family rented the house of the city secretary Kvashnin on Gagarinsky Lane. The reason for the move was purely practical: right across the street was Johann Friedrich Weidenhammer's boarding school, where the Turgenev brothers studied.
The Empire-style mansion built by the Decembrist Baron Vladimir Shteingel still graces the alley. For the brothers, it was full of secrets. Elena Polyanskaya recounts: "In the Kvashnin house, where the family lived for a year, the boys were drawn to a mysterious room with a hidden mirrored door that led through an underground passage to the neighboring alley."
The years at Weidenhammer's boarding school formed the basis for the story "Yakov Pasynkov." Winterkeller's boarding school is an artistic reimagining of it. The protagonist, Pasynkov, who shares traits with two people—his childhood friend, the writer Nikolai Reinhold, and the renowned critic Vissarion Belinsky—is socially awkward: "…he grabbed Varvara by the waist, but slipped with the first step and, quickly separating from his partner, rolled right under the nightstand on which stood a parrot's cage… The cage fell, the parrot took fright and screamed: 'Crawl!' A general roar of laughter arose…"
Family Drama and "First Love." Sivtsev Vrazhek, Building 24/2, Neskuchny Garden
In 1831, the Turgenevs rented General Alekseyeva's house in Sivtsev Vrazhek (now number 24/2, its facades are undergoing restoration, but one can still appreciate the atmosphere of the old street). Meanwhile, the head of the family, the handsome Sergei Nikolaevich, rented two separate apartments for himself. The reason: a secret affair.
"Sergei Nikolaevich was handsome, six years younger than his wife, a favorite and lover of women—on his part, the marriage was one of convenience. His last love was the Moscow poetess Princess Ekaterina Shakhovskaya, who served as the prototype for Zinaida Zasekina in the story 'First Love,'" comments Elena Polyanskaya.
The love story that shook young Ivan formed the basis of one of his most poignant stories. It's a coming-of-age drama about a hero whose childish infatuation clashes irrevocably with the drama and sacrifice of adult love. In the story, 16-year-old Vladimir falls in love with 21-year-old Zinaida, and later discovers that her true passion is his own father. Turgenev never hid the fact that the story was autobiographical.
This story is connected to Neskuchny Garden, across from which the Turgenevs rented a summer cottage, and their neighbor was… Princess Shakhovskaya. "There's a theory that Ekaterina Shakhovskaya gave birth to a daughter by Sergei Nikolaevich, whom Varvara Petrovna kept in exchange for her husband's promise to keep the family together," says Elena Polyanskaya. This girl could have been Varenka's ward—Varvara Zhitova, the author of "Memories of the Family of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev." The stern Varvara Petrovna loved the girl and cared for her in memory of her beloved husband, who died at age 40. Ekaterina Shakhovskaya married and gave birth to a son, but died shortly after giving birth.
A "warm-as-warm" house. Ostozhenka, Building 37/7, Building 1
Turgenev's most famous Moscow address is a wooden mansion on Ostozhenka (house 37/7, building 1), which today houses a memorial museum, a branch State Museum of A.S. PushkinVarvara Petrovna rented it from 1840 to 1850. Turgenev visited here occasionally.
It's this house, with its way of life, serf servants, and imperious mistress, that the reader recognizes in the short story "Mumu." And in the novella "The Unfortunate One," Turgenev placed the student hero in "a large wooden house on Ostozhenka, so warm, so warm, the likes of which you won't find anywhere except in Moscow."
Varvara Zhitova's memoirs offer a glimpse into the everyday life of this household. She describes how Turgenev, already a famous writer and mildly ironic about her childhood successes in learning languages, once reprimanded her for being naughty and unwilling to sit down to her lessons: "They praised your progress, but I'll tell you that, although you've learned to chat in English, you don't know two very important phrases: 'be quite' and 'hold your tongue.'"
Moscow University. Mokhovaya Street, Building 11, Building 1
1833 – Turgenev was not yet 15 years old. He was planning to enroll in the literature department of Moscow University. The age limit of 17, set by the university, seemed an insurmountable barrier.
His father, Sergei Nikolaevich, lobbied to have his son admitted to the exams, but was rejected by all authorities. The situation was resolved by the personal intervention of the Minister of Public Education, Sergei Uvarov. Ultimately, the university board accepted Ivan Turgenev's request to "subject him to a proper test." The competition was fierce: out of 167 applicants, only 25 were accepted. Turgenev was among them.
He studied in Moscow for only a year (1833–1834), but it proved to be an eventful year. Nikolai Stankevich, Alexander Herzen, and Nikolai Ogarev were also in his senior year. Although they likely didn't meet directly at the time, the atmosphere itself shaped Turgenev's intellectual horizons. Young Ivan's progress was impressive: after passing his transitional exams in June 1834, he finished third in his class.
The family moved to St. Petersburg, and Turgenev transferred to the Imperial St. Petersburg University to the second year of the Faculty of History and Philology.
His first novella, "Andrei Kolosov," recounts the events of a first-year student "in the summer of 1833"—the year he enrolled. The protagonist's personality, along with that of several other characters, reflects traits of Turgenev himself and his friends.
Writer, art historian, composer, aeromechanic. Student stories from Moscow museums
The Bolshoi Theatre. Limelight and the "Damned Gypsy"
It was at the Bolshoi Theatre that, for Mikhail Shchepkin's benefit performance, Turgenev's play "The Sponger" was presented to audiences.
"The play 'The Sponger,' written especially for Shchepkin back in 1848, wasn't performed until 1862: the censors stubbornly kept it under lock and key, but Shchepkin managed to get it staged. The public, according to Turgenev himself, received the play with great enthusiasm," says Elena Polyanskaya.
But for Turgenev, the theater wasn't just a place where he delighted audiences as a playwright. In 1845, the opera diva Pauline Viardot sang there, becoming his "North Star" and muse. Even being married couldn't change the Russian writer's attitude toward the singer—the "central light" of his life. From now on, he would follow her everywhere and live near her family, "on the edge of someone else's nest."
Turgenev, already captivated by her, attended all the concerts. His mother, Varvara Petrovna, decided to attend one of them, a morning one, displeased with her son's infatuation. Varvara Zhitova recalls: "Towards the end of dinner, she [Varvara Petrovna] angrily slammed her knife on the table and, as if speaking to herself, to no one in particular, said, 'But I must admit, that damned gypsy sings well!'"
You can visit the house-museum thematic excursion, dedicated to the love story of Ivan Turgenev and Pauline Viardot.
"Dear Friend Ivan Ilyich." Gogolevsky Boulevard, Building 10, Building 1
After 1860, whenever Turgenev visited Moscow, he stayed in the apartment of his faithful friend Ivan Maslov, the manager of the Moscow Appanage Office. The building still stands today on Gogolevsky Boulevard (Building 10, Bldg. 1). It houses the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Maslov was the writer's faithful assistant in both his personal and publishing affairs. Their correspondence is full of warmth and trust. "Dear friend Ivan Ilyich!" Turgenev wrote to him from Paris in 1874. "I leave here in six weeks—and, with almost no stopover in St. Petersburg, I will travel to Moscow, where, if you allow me, I will again avail myself of your hospitality."
"The writer always had a large, bright room overlooking the garden. From the window, one could see a 'little red Byzantine church with green roofs'—the ringing of its bells woke Ivan Sergeyevich in the morning," says Elena Polyanskaya.
Despite the years he spent in Europe, Moscow hosted significant events for Turgenev. At the end of his life, the writer, who had achieved worldwide fame, celebrated his life in this city. "The days I spent in Moscow, the reception I received, will remain forever in my memory," Turgenev said.
The I.S. Turgenev House-Museum will host a celebratory program on his birthday, November 9. A performance will also take place on November 19. I.S. Turgenev. Malek-Adel based on the writer's works.
You can spend the New Year holidays in the atmosphere of a "noble nest": the I.S. Turgenev House-Museum has come up with a walking tour "From the First Snow to Epiphany: Winter Holidays in the Turgenevs".
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