Casa-muzeu „A. S. Pușkin”

What you see

The museum consists of the modest single-storey house with a courtyard where Pushkin lived, and an exhibition about his time in Bessarabia. The collection includes paintings, prints and decorative art from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sculpture and editions of work he wrote during these years.

Even if you do not know Russian literature, the museum is interesting as a window on the Chișinău of shortly after 1812, when Bessarabia had just been added to the Russian Empire and the city was growing fast as an administrative centre.

History

Alexander Pushkin (1799 to 1837) is regarded as the founder of modern Russian literature. When he came to Chișinău, Bessarabia had only been part of the Russian Empire since 1812, and the city was developing into the administrative centre of the new province.

In 1820 Alexander Pushkin, then 21, was banished to the south by the Tsarist authorities. On 21 September 1820 he arrived in Chișinău, where General Ivan Inzov headed the administration of Bessarabia. He lived for about three months in this house, which at the time belonged to a merchant named Naumov. He stayed in the province until 1823.

On 10 February 1948 the house officially became a museum. A second place linked to Pushkin's Bessarabian years is in Dolna, where he visited the estate of the Ralli family and where there is also a museum dedicated to him. Visit both and you get a good picture of how the young poet lived between town and countryside.

Tips for your visit

• Allow three quarters of an hour to an hour.
• Ask at the ticket desk whether explanations in English are available.
• The museum is at Strada Anton Pann no. 19, a short walk from Bulevardul Ștefan cel Mare.
• Combine it with a stroll to the Parcul Ștefan cel Mare and along Bulevardul Ștefan cel Mare.

More information from Visit Chișinău.