Mikhail Lermontov House Museum

Moscow
Malaya Molchanovka str., 2, Moscow
Phones: +7 495 695-53-08
Web site: https://www.goslitmuz.ru/museums/dom-muzey-m-yu-lermontova/

Mikhail Lermontov House Museum on Malaya Molchanovka is an oasis of old Moscow, preserved in the very center of the capital. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov lived in this house from August 1829 to 1832 before leaving for St. Petersburg. These were the years of study at a boarding school and at Moscow University, when the poet wrote more than two hundred poems, seventeen poems, including one of the early versions of "The Demon". Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Arsenyeva, grandmother of the poet, chose this small mansion in Moscow because of its proximity to the University, where he studied under the grandson.
Relatives, neighbors, and Lermontov's friends from boarding school and university often gathered in the house: M. I. Saburov, D. D. Durnov, N. S. Shenshin, N. I. Polivanov, and A.D. Zakrevsky. To the latter, Lermontov presented a book by the English writer and poet of the XVIII century V. Dodd "Reflections of Dodd and his lamentations in prison" with the inscription: "To my dear friend Andrey. M. Lermontov 1830". A notable item in the exhibition is the issue of the magazine "Athenaeum for 1830", where Lermontov's poem "Spring" was published. Under it, there is not yet a full signature of the poet, but only a pseudonym — the Latin letter "L".
The short and stormy life of Lermontov did not leave us many autographs by which one could judge the creative process of the poet. The notes were often made by him on random sheets, not in office conditions, but at the crossroads of military roads, in the bustle of urban life. Much better preserved paintings and graphic works, allowing us to talk about Lermontov-the artist. It is no coincidence that the future poet is depicted in a child's portrait with unusual attributes: in the hands of a boy — a pencil and a scroll. Lermontov was gifted musically: he played the clavichord, the violin, took guitar and flute lessons, sang, and tried to compose music.
A steep wooden staircase leads to the mezzanine. The first thing that attracts attention in the office of a young poet is a cabinet with books. On the shelves are the best publications of that time: the works of Fonvizin, Derzhavin, Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Pushkin. Speaking three foreign languages, Lermontov read Shakespeare, Goethe, Rousseau, Chateaubriand, and Byron. On the walls in the poet's room are portraits of his idols — Pushkin and Lord Byron.

The exposition of Mikhail Lermontov House Museum is a recreated interior of a Moscow mansion of the 1820s-1830s, tells about Lermontov's early childhood, the years of study in Moscow, the interests and hobbies of the poet, the people around him, life in St. Petersburg and the Caucasus. The museum presents the only known self-portrait of Lermontov; books with his autographs; family portraits: the poet himself in early childhood, his mother and grandmother — Maria Mikhailovna and Elizabeth Alekseevna, a watercolor portrait of his father, Yuri Petrovich; priceless drawings and oil paintings of Lermontov with views of the Caucasus.

The one-story house with an attic was built by merchant Pyotr Chernov after the end of the war of 1812.
On February 19, 1981, after the completion of the restoration of the house and the scientific reconstruction of its interiors, a museum was opened in the building. One of the initiators of its creation was the writer and literary critic I. L. Andronikov. For the 200th anniversary of the birth of M. Y. Lermontov in 2014, a re-exhibition was held, the purpose of which was to show not only the poet's life path, but above all the uniqueness of the house itself — an architectural artifact of post-fire Moscow.

During a sightseeing tour of the museum, its researchers will tell about the poet's youth home, about the life and creative path of M. Y. Lermontov, his studies at the University Noble Boarding School and the Moscow Imperial University, as well as introduce him to the original family portraits, drawings and paintings of Lermontov stored in the museum.

The thematic tour "The Years of Lermontov's Teaching" is a story about home teachers, teachers, the reading circle and the environment of Lermontov; an opportunity to trace the path of the poet's formation and learn the history of the creation of his first works.