State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of A. Ostrovsky "Schelykovo"

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The estate of the famous Russian playwright A. N. Ostrovsky Shchelykovo is located in a village 112 km from Kostroma, 15 km from the Volga. The house and other buildings were preserved in memory of the writer, and now Shchelykovo has the status of a state memorial and natural museum-reserve.

The estate has a rather long history: the first buildings were erected here at the end of the 17th century. For one and a half hundred years, Shchelykov was owned by the Kutuzov and Sipyagin family. During the latter, there were fires that devastated the estate, the farm fell into decay, the last representative of the Sipyagin family completely squandered his entire fortune, including Shchelykovo. In 1847, Alexander Nikolaevich N.F. Ostrovsky bought it at an auction, settled in it and began to put financial and economic affairs in order. A year later, the future writer came there for the first time: by that time he was only 25 years old, and he had only one play to his credit. Twenty years later, Shchelykovo passed to him and his brother, and the new owners began to rebuild old buildings, erect new houses, and arrange a park in a new way. Since then, A. N. Ostrovsky came here every year for 4-5 months with his family: he conducted business, thought about and wrote the plays that made him famous.

The entire important preparatory process for the planned play usually took place with Alexander Nikolaevich during his summer vacation in his beloved Shchelykov. There, while Alexander Nikolaevich sat for hours on the river bank, with a fishing rod in his hand, the play was hatched, carefully thought out and its smallest details were rethought...

Brother of the writer P. N. Ostrovsky

However, the playwright was not a very successful farmer; he became disillusioned with this occupation and transferred the management of the farm to his wife, and then to the manager. The death of Alexander Nikolaevich is also associated with Shchelykov: he believed that the peasants treated him well, until one day one of them tried to start a fire in the estate. Ostrovsky was so shocked that he could not recover; his hands and head were shaking to death. He died in his office in Shchelykovo on June 2 (new style - 14), two years after the incident.

In 1914, all the Ostrovsky heirs went to the front, and until 1917 no one lived in Shchelykovo, the houses were boarded up. The Soviet government established a volost council, then an orphanage, and a rest home for actors of the Maly Theater. Now on the territory of the museum-reserve there is also a children's camp, a sanatorium and a local theater community. In 2016, the Shchelykovo estate museum was included in the state register of cultural heritage sites.

What to see

The estate consists of several objects that can be viewed separately, or all at once with a guide. Firstly, this is the “heart” of the reserve - writer's house. The playwright spent every summer at the estate, creating his best works here. Today Ostrovsky’s house is a museum open to tourists; the furnishings and even the writer’s personal belongings have been preserved in it as they were during his lifetime. The house contains many photographs of Ostrovsky's friends and family, including his wife, actress Maria Bakhmetyeva, and their six children. A sightseeing tour of the playwright's house lasts on average 1.5 hours.

Secondly, the structure of the reserve includes Literary and Theater Museum Shchelykovo. Here tourists are introduced to two existing exhibitions: “Ostrovsky Theater” and “The Fairy-tale World of the Snow Maiden”. The first presents the writer’s personal belongings, household items, magazines where the playwright’s works were published, as well as costumes and scenery for his plays. The second exhibition is dedicated to the history of the creation of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”.

The third object that tourists are offered to visit is the operating St. Nicholas Church 2 kilometers from the estate. The stone church was built in the 18th century, and there is a legend associated with this building. One of the first owners of Shchelykov, F. M. Kutuzov, fought in the Russian-Turkish war and, having found himself in a terrible storm on the Aegean Sea, vowed to build a stone church on his estate if he survived. The church has two floors - a summer floor, with more luxurious decoration and painting, and a winter floor, laconic and austere. The funeral service for the writer was held in this church. Nearby is the Ostrovsky family burial place: the writer himself, his father, wife and their daughter Maria Ostrovskaya-Chatelain rest here.

The tour of Shchelykovo also includes a visit house-museum of Ivan Sobolev. A skilled woodworker, Sobolev was a close friend of Ostrovsky, and the carved furniture in the writer’s estate was his work. A tour of his house, as a rule, ends for tourists with tea drinking, folk games and rituals.

Another interesting attraction of Shchelykov is Blue House. The two-story blue estate was built by Ostrovsky’s daughter Maria Chatelain; the house was perfectly preserved and restored. Now it is a cultural and educational center with video and reading rooms, a music and literary lounge and a library. The museum's ticket office is also located here.

Shchelykovo

Events

At the request of visitors, museum staff can organize a tea party in nature and unique displays: “Signs of a Sweet Old Time” and “Fashionist’s Outfit.” In winter, Shchelykovo hosts performances with the participation of the Snow Maiden, folk games and fortune-telling, festive treats and master classes on making folk amulets.

On September 14, 2016, the Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve will celebrate its 93rd anniversary. In honor of this, I would really like to talk about our two-day trip to these amazingly beautiful places! The events discussed are dated June 2014.
So, it’s the middle of a rainy June, as often happens for us, a cloudy morning and the four of us (without children) hit the road.
The path to Shchelykovo is not close. The plan of action is this: drive through N.E.’s estate. Zhukovsky "Orekhovo", which is in the Vladimir region, spend the night in Kineshma and in the morning in Shchelykovo.

The road was not easy, the rain poured down like buckets. Approaching Orekhovo, we came across a woman who was leaving the estate. We were alone in the parking lot. Everything was somehow alarming... While we parked and looked around, the woman came back. We realized that she was a museum employee. Having contacted her with a question about visiting the estate, we received the answer that: “a strong wind knocked down a tree on the wires, the estate is without power.” But we begged her for an excursion. And she didn’t refuse! After all, she is the director!)
It's a shame that we didn't take pictures there. A couple of pictures were taken on the phone, which then disappeared.
But visiting Orekhovo left a vivid mark on my memory. As I now see these dark rooms, in which there are many flower arrangements, a rocking chair (you can sit), a piano on which you can play. And the beginning of the excursion with the words: “The lady just left, but she asked to receive you hospitably!” Interesting place, kind people.
In Kineshma we had rooms booked in a floating hotel. The view of the Volga is amazing! The beauty is sad-beautiful...
Having visited the square, where the city day was held in the rain and local youth were dancing, walking along the embankment and stopping by a cafe, we went to relax. In the morning we shared our impressions of the night with friends. And we agreed that we would never take rooms in the hold again! It’s just a nightmare when everything around you squishes all night, and upstairs they dance and laugh. Goodbye, Kineshma!
Hello, Shchelykovo!

Brief information: “The museum-reserve unites the house-museum of A.N. Ostrovsky (“Old House”), a memorial park, St. Nicholas Church in Berezhki and the Ostrovsky family necropolis, as well as the Literary and Theater Museum. The exhibition of the house-museum contains personal belongings playwright and members of his family, original furnishings of the house, manuscripts of the playwright and a rich library."
Pick up tickets for all exhibitions at the box office (box office in the Blue House)...
Brief information: "The Blue House is the house of the daughter of the playwright Maria Alexandrovna Ostrovskaya-Chatelain, built in 1903 according to her own design. After the revolution, famous figures of Russian culture lived in the house for many years, since it was one of the residential buildings of the Union House of Creativity theatrical figures. Currently, the Blue House houses a cultural and educational center, an integral part of which is the Children's Museum Center, scientific and public libraries, reading and lecture halls, and a literary and musical lounge."

..after waiting for the guide, we set off.
The beginning of the excursion was dedicated to the memorial park. Shchelykovo is located on the high left bank of the Kueksha River, indented by numerous picturesque ravines. According to tradition, the manor house is surrounded by a park with centuries-old pine trees, birch, spruce and linden alleys, along which the history of its development over more than two centuries is “read”.

The park smoothly flows into the forest.

We climbed up these stairs into the house itself.

"The house of A.N. Ostrovsky is the heart of the museum-reserve. It was in this house that A.N. Ostrovsky lived when he came to the estate for the summer. This is a wooden manor house built in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. On the ground floor there is a memorial exhibition, a significant part which consists of the personal belongings of A. N. Ostrovsky. The Memorial Museum gives the impression of a lived-in, cozy home. It seems that the house has preserved and carried through many years the atmosphere of hospitality that once reigned here, the beauty of the soul and the generosity of the heart of its owner." Don't subtract or add!

According to the information on the museum’s website, the museum gives the impression of a lived-in, cozy house: wallpaper recreated according to original samples from 1847, unpainted floors with homespun paths, white tiled stoves, indoor flowers... Special manor coziness, lovely interior details, the spirit of antiquity - the house is not for anyone leaves indifferent, allowing visitors to better understand Ostrovsky’s personality and his work. Everything is correct, I confirm!)

Then, after visiting another exhibition dedicated to the play “The Snow Maiden,” we went to Sobolev’s house in Nikolo-Berezhki. While visiting the Church of St. Nicholas.

“I.V. Sobolev, from former serfs, became a skilled craftsman, independently learning the carpentry craft. After 1861, he settled in Nikolo-Berezhki, setting up a hut at a distance from the houses of the church clergy.
Sobolev often visited the Ostrovskys, made furniture according to their orders, repaired it, and even taught Ostrovsky carpentry. Currently (as at the time of our visit) in the Sobolev house there is an ethnographic exhibition “The life and traditions of our ancestors”, which presents trades, crafts, life and traditions of peasants of the 19th century, characteristic of our area" - information taken from the estate website .
Well, my friends, we stayed there! The woman guide (unfortunately, I forgot her name) captivated us so much that the conversation flowed from the historical plane to the everyday plane...

Having discussed the eternal issues of fathers and children, family life, Russian traditions, we parted with sadness. We would talk and talk, but it was time to get ready to head back. As a keepsake, in addition to traditional magnets, cups and plates, two copies of paintings by Maria Alexandrovna were purchased. They still decorate our apartments to this day, giving pleasant memories.
By the way, there is a sanatorium on the territory of the museum-reserve, so you can combine business with pleasure!
The way back was more fun, we did not tirelessly remember the details of our trip, the weather improved.
We were home around midnight.
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate all the employees of the museum-reserve on the holiday and wish them creative success, development and personal happiness!!! And also say thank you for their work, which gives people unforgettable and vivid emotions!

Shchelykovo(full title State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of A. N. Ostrovsky “Schelykovo”) - museum-reserve in the Kostroma region.

The estate is located near the village of Shchelykovo, 120 km east of Kostroma in the Ostrovsky district of the Kostroma region and 15 km north of the Volga River and the city of Kineshma, Ivanovo region.

History of the estate

In the old days, Shchelykovo was called the Shalykovo wasteland. Since the 17th century it belonged to the Kutuzov family. In the 18th century, Shchelykovo became famous thanks to the leader of the Kostroma nobility, retired general F.M. Kutuzov, who built a large stone house, services, greenhouses, and created a large landscape park here. By his order, in the neighboring village of Berezhki, the outstanding architect S. A. Vorotilov built the Church of St. Nicholas.

In the 1770s, the Kutuzov house burned down and was never rebuilt on this site. Its remains could be seen in the manor park at the end of the 19th century. On the site of the burnt house, a large park pavilion was built, which stood until the 1820s. F. M. Kutuzov built a new manor house on the banks of the Kuekshi River, but the river unexpectedly changed its course, and the house ended up on an island. Due to the constant dampness, it turned out to be impossible to live in it.

F. M. Kutuzov died in 1801. In 1813, his vast inheritance was divided among his three daughters. Shchelykovo went to P.F. Kutuzova, and after her death in 1825, the estate passed to another sister - V.F. Sipyagina, née Kutuzova. Her son, A.E. Sipyagin, squandered the estate, and in 1847 Shchelykovo was bought at auction by the writer’s father Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky.

The estate at that time consisted of the main building (“Old House”) and three wings, which housed the courtyard people. There were also all the necessary utility rooms: a large stone horse yard, a two-story barn, a feed barn, a chaff barn, three cellars, a bathhouse, a stone forge, etc.

Shchelykovo and A. N. Ostrovsky

I didn’t like it the first time... This morning we went to inspect the game sites. The places are amazing. Game abyss. Shchelykovo did not appear to me yesterday, probably because I had previously built my own Shchelykovo in my imagination. Today I looked at it, and the real Shchelykovo is as much better than the imagined one as nature is better than the dream.<…>
What rivers, what mountains, what forests!.. If this district were near Moscow or St. Petersburg, it would have long ago turned into an endless park, it would have been compared with the best places in Switzerland and Italy.

After the death of his father in 1853, the rights to the estate passed to his wife Emilia Andreevna, who was unable to maintain the estate at the proper level. From a profitable, growing estate, as it was under Nikolai Fedorovich, Shchelykovo gradually declined and turned into a neglected one; the serfs were disbanded.

In 1867, Alexander Nikolaevich, together with his brother Mikhail Nikolaevich, bought his father’s estate from his stepmother for 7357 rubles 50 kopecks in installments over three years and put it in order. From now on, the playwright spends 4-5 months here. Shchelykovo became the main place of inspiration for A. N. Ostrovsky, here he worked on the plays “Thunderstorm”, “Forest”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Dowry”, “Snegurochka” (“The Snow Maiden” the playwright wrote in Moscow, but was thinking about his plan , while in Shchelykovo).

The entire... most important preparatory process for the planned play usually took place with Alexander Nikolaevich during his summer vacation in his beloved Shchelykov. There, while Alexander Nikolaevich sat for hours on the river bank, with a fishing rod in his hand, the play was hatched, carefully thought out and its smallest details were rethought...

From the memoirs of the writer's brother P. N. Ostrovsky

For his brother, co-owner of the estate M. N. Ostrovsky, a house was built, which later received the name “guest”, since Mikhail Nikolaevich came to Shchelykovo infrequently, and guests were often accommodated in this house (not preserved). In addition to the siblings M. N. Ostrovsky and S. N. Ostrovsky, half-brothers Andrei and Peter and sisters Nadezhda and Maria were also frequent guests. On the name days of the owner of the estate and his family members, theatrical performances were staged, and the house and park were decorated with illumination. At first, in the first years of his stay in Shchelykovo, A. N. Ostrovsky enthusiastically plunged into the economic life of the estate. He ordered new seeds, breeding animals, and purchased agricultural equipment. All this was done in the hope that income from business activities would allow him to not depend so much on royalties for plays - the playwright did not have enough money. But the reality turned out to be not so rosy: A. N. Ostrovsky, who knew little about agriculture, annually either found himself at a loss, or, in a more successful combination of circumstances, discovered that he managed to earn exactly as much as his own funds were invested. And A. N. Ostrovsky soon lost interest in farming, shifting most of the economic concerns to his wife, and later to the manager. The philanthropic A. N. Ostrovsky lived in harmony with the local peasants (as the playwright himself imagined), but in September 1884, shortly before the Ostrovskys left for Moscow, someone set fire to the owner’s threshing floor in seven places, where by that time 30,000 sheaves had accumulated of bread. The arsonists hoped that the wind would spread the fire to the Ostrovskys’ house. The wind, fortunately, died down, the house survived, but A. N. Ostrovsky was so shocked by the news that the arson was deliberate that it affected his health. In a letter to his friend, he later wrote: “I was trembling all over for a long time, my hands and head were shaking, in addition, there was a complete lack of sleep and an aversion to food. Not only could I not write, but I couldn’t even connect two thoughts in my head. Even now I haven’t fully recovered and I can’t work for more than an hour or two a day.” Subsequently, until his death, the playwright’s hands trembled and his head shook - he was never able to recover from the shock he experienced. And he didn’t live long after what happened.

In Shchelykovo, in his office, A. N. Ostrovsky died on June 2 (14), 1886 and was buried in the graveyard of the St. Nicholas Church in Berezhki.

Objects of the museum-reserve

House-Museum of A. N. Ostrovsky (“Old House”)
Memorial Park
St. Nicholas Church in Berezhki and the Ostrovsky family necropolis
Sobolev House
Blue House
Literary and Theater Museum

House-Museum of A. N. Ostrovsky

The central object of the museum-reserve is a well-preserved manor house built at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, in which the memorial museum of A. N. Ostrovsky is located. This is a wooden classical building of gray color with white-columned porticoes on two facades and two terraces, on the northern facade it has a mezzanine floor and two porches - the front and the service.

Even on his first visit to Shchelykovo, Ostrovsky noted that the house “surprisingly good both on the outside with the originality of the architecture and on the inside with the convenience of the premises”.

On the ground floor there is an exhibition, a significant part of which consists of personal belongings of A. N. Ostrovsky and members of his family, items from the original furnishings of the playwright’s house.

On the ground floor there is a memorial exhibition, a significant part of which consists of personal belongings of the playwright and members of his family, items from the original furnishings of the house. The suite of rooms opens with the dining room, which served as a gathering place for the playwright’s family members and guests. Further in the office, a spacious and bright room, there is a desk, on it are books, dictionaries, manuscripts of the playwright, photographs of relatives, friends, actors, writers... Adjacent to the office is the room of the playwright’s wife, Maria Vasilievna. The next room is the library of A. N. Ostrovsky, the contents of which reflect a wide range of his interests. On the mezzanine floor there is an exhibition dedicated to the famous actress of the Maly Theater - A. A. Yablochkina.

St. Nicholas Church and the Ostrovsky family necropolis in Berezhki

Construction of the Church of St. Nicholas in Berezhki is associated with the vow made by Shchelykov’s first owner F.M. Kutuzov during a severe storm in the Aegean Sea, when he commanded a battalion as part of the Mediterranean squadron of Count A.G. Orlov-Chesmensky.

The two-story stone St. Nicholas Church was built on the site of a wooden one. The authorship of the project is usually attributed to the prominent Kostroma architect S. A. Vorotilov. The temple was built over 10 years and was consecrated in 1792.

The appearance of the church is very harmonious: it is successfully “fitted” into the surrounding nature and has slender and strict forms. The eclecticism of Baroque and Classicism styles is evident both in the exterior and in the interior decoration of the temple. The upper summer temple is distinguished by its splendor: a richly carved iconostasis, brightly painted walls and ceilings in Western European traditions with elements of Masonic and naval symbolism. The Winter Church is modest, there are no wall paintings, and the icons collected in the temple carry the tradition of Orthodox icon painting.

The church cemetery is surrounded by a brick fence with east and west gates. Here, on the southern side of the temple, in a common low wrought-iron fence, there is the Ostrovsky family necropolis. Buried next to the playwright’s grave are his father, Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky, his wife, Maria Vasilievna Ostrovskaya, and his daughter, Maria Alexandrovna Chatelain.

Church of St. Nicholas is jointly owned by the Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve and the Kostroma Diocese; it is a monument of federal significance and is protected by the state. Currently under restoration.

In the summer of 2010, a story related to the protracted restoration work at the cemetery, during which the ashes of A. N. Ostrovsky and his relatives remained unburied for several months, received wide resonance.

Sanatorium

After the death of the writer, the Shchelykovo estate became a resting place for actors of the Moscow Maly Theater. Since 1928, Ostrovsky’s “Old House” began to be officially considered a rest house at the theater.

In 1970, the House of Creativity of the All-Russian Theater Society was founded in Shchelykovo. It is interesting that three residential buildings are named after the heroes of A. N. Ostrovsky’s works “The Snow Maiden”, “Berendey” and “Mizgir”. Currently there is a sanatorium, a children's health camp, and a local theater society.

Memorable dates and annual events

June 14 - Memorial Day of A. N. Ostrovsky.
Annual “Schelykov Readings” in September

F. M. Kutuzov built a new manor house on the banks of the Kuekshi River, but the river unexpectedly changed its course, and the house ended up on an island. Due to the constant dampness, it turned out to be impossible to live in it.

F. M. Kutuzov died in 1801. In 1813, his extensive inheritance was divided between his three daughters. Shchelykovo went to P.F. Kutuzova, and after her death in 1825 the estate passed to another sister - V.F. Sipyagina, née Kutuzova. Her son, A.E. Sipyagin, squandered the estate, and in 1847 Shchelykovo was bought at auction by the writer’s father Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky.

The estate at that time consisted of the main building (“Old House”) and three wings, which housed the courtyard people.

There were also all the necessary utility rooms: a large stone horse yard, a two-story barn, a feed barn, a chaff barn, three cellars, a bathhouse, a stone forge, etc.

Shchelykovo and A. N. Ostrovsky

“I didn’t like it the first time... This morning we went to inspect the game sites. The places are amazing. Game abyss. Shchelykovo did not appear to me yesterday, probably because I had previously built my own Shchelykovo in my imagination. Today I looked at it, and the real Shchelykovo is as much better than the imagined one as nature is better than the dream.<…>
What rivers, what mountains, what forests!.. If this district were near Moscow or St. Petersburg, it would have long ago turned into an endless park, it would have been compared with the best places in Switzerland and Italy.”

“The entire... most important preparatory process for the planned play usually took place with Alexander Nikolaevich during his summer holiday in his beloved Shchelykov. There, while Alexander Nikolayevich sat for hours on the river bank, with a fishing rod in his hand, the play was hatched, carefully thought out and its smallest details were rethought ... "
From the memoirs of the writer's brother P. N. Ostrovsky

In addition to the siblings M. N. Ostrovsky and S. N. Ostrovsky, half-brothers Andrei and Peter and sisters Nadezhda and Maria were also frequent guests. On the name days of the owner of the estate and his family members, theatrical performances were staged, and the house and park were decorated with illumination.

At first, in the first years of his stay in Shchelykovo, A. N. Ostrovsky enthusiastically plunged into the economic life of the estate. He ordered new seeds, breeding animals, and purchased agricultural equipment. All this was done in the hope that income from business activities would allow him to not depend so much on royalties for plays - the playwright did not have enough money.

But the reality turned out to be not so rosy: A. N. Ostrovsky, who knew little about agriculture, annually either found himself at a loss, or, in a more successful combination of circumstances, discovered that he managed to earn exactly as much as his own funds were invested. And A. N. Ostrovsky soon lost interest in farming, shifting most of the economic concerns to his wife, and later to the manager.

Almapater44, CC0 1.0

The philanthropic A. N. Ostrovsky lived in harmony with the local peasants (as the playwright himself imagined), but in September 1884, shortly before the Ostrovskys left for Moscow, someone set fire to the owner’s threshing floor in seven places, where by that time 30,000 sheaves had accumulated of bread. The arsonists hoped that the wind would spread the fire to the Ostrovskys’ house. The wind, fortunately, died down, the house survived, but A. N. Ostrovsky was so shocked by the news that the arson was deliberate that it affected his health. In a letter to his friend he later wrote:

“I was trembling all over for a long time, my hands and head were shaking, in addition, there was a complete lack of sleep and an aversion to food. Not only could I not write, but I couldn’t even connect two thoughts in my head. Even now I haven’t fully recovered and I can’t work for more than an hour or two a day.”

Subsequently, until his death, the playwright’s hands trembled and his head shook - he was never able to recover from the shock he experienced. And he didn’t live long after what happened.

In Shchelykovo, in his office, A. N. Ostrovsky died on June 2 (14), 1886 and was buried in the graveyard of the St. Nicholas Church in Berezhki.

Objects of the museum-reserve

House-Museum of A. N. Ostrovsky (“Old House”)
Memorial Park
St. Nicholas Church in Berezhki and the Ostrovsky family necropolis
Sobolev House
Blue House
Literary and Theater Museum

Even on his first visit to Shchelykovo, Ostrovsky noted that the house was “surprisingly good both on the outside with its original architecture and on the inside with the convenience of its premises.”

St. Nicholas Church and the Ostrovsky family necropolis in Berezhki

Construction of the Church of St. Nicholas in Berezhki will be associated with the vow made by Shchelykov’s first owner F.M. Kutuzov during a severe storm in the Aegean Sea, when he commanded a battalion as part of the Mediterranean squadron of Count A.G. Orlov-Chesmensky.

Photo gallery

Helpful information

Shchelykovo
full name of the State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of A. N. Ostrovsky “Schelykovo”

Cost of visit

A.N. Ostrovsky’s house and park (sightseeing tour, 2 academic hours)
adult: 80 rub., 120 rub. with excursion
schoolchildren, students: 50 rubles, 90 with excursion
Tickets for other venues must be purchased separately and their prices are lower.
Complex: A.N. Ostrovsky House and park, St. Nicholas Church, Ethnographic Museum Sobolev House, exposition “Ostrovsky Theater”, exhibition “Fairy-Tale World of the Snow Maiden”
adult: 350 rub.
schoolchild, student: 200 rub.

Opening hours

Ostrovsky House, Literary and Theater Museum, Ethnographic Museum -
daily: 9:30–17:45
St. Nicholas Church - daily: 9:30–17:30, in the summer - summer church, in winter - winter church
There are no excursions in the temple during the service.

Address and contacts

157925 Kostroma region,
Ostrovsky district, settlement Shchelykovo

Location

How to get there

From Kostroma: by bus to Ostrovskoye, then by bus “Ostrovskoye – Kineshma”.

From Kineshma, Ivanovo region: by bus “Kineshma – Ostrovskoye” to the Shchelykovo stop.

It is better to get from Moscow not through Kostroma, but from the Kineshma railway station.

Do not miss

From December 15 to February 1, in the Blue House you can meet the Snow Maiden herself and play Berendey. You can take a photo in the Snow Maiden's outfit, but check the cost of photography.

Sanatorium

The Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve in the Kostroma Region is a living monument to architecture. Its fate is inextricably linked with the life of the Russian writer Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, who spent his last years here. Nowadays, the museum carefully preserves furniture, household items, archival documents and photographs of the writer. The building itself and the buildings around it are of great value.

Ticket and excursion prices

You can visit the Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve on your own or as part of an excursion group. Entrance tickets for each site are purchased separately.

Entry tickets:

adult from 70 to 170 rubles;
Children under 16 years old - free.

Tickets with excursions:

adult from 100 to 800 rubles;
children up to 16 years old from 70 to 280 rubles.

Walking tours “Shchelykovo - Nikolo-Berezhki” - 140 rubles.

Operating mode

The objects of the museum-reserve can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:45. Monday is not a working day.

History of the Ostrovsky estate

The first mention of this area appeared in the 17th century as the “Shalykovskaya wasteland”. During this period, the Shalyki estate of landowner Ivan Matveevich Kulomzin was built. After which it passes to the boyar family of the Kutuzovs, and belongs to them for a long time. The estate burned down and was rebuilt several times. Experienced ups and downs.

In 1847, the Shchelykovo estate was bought at an auction by Alexander Nikolaevich’s father. After which the new dynasty chose this place. Every summer the Ostrovsky family comes here on vacation. Here, for twenty years, the writer creates his great works. There are nineteen of his forty plays in total.

The fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” was written on the second tier of the two-story gazebo, which is why it is sometimes called in honor of the snowy beauty. In 1886, Alexander Nikolaevich dies. His grave is located next to the house, near the Church of St. Nicholas. Afterwards, the estate is inherited by the spouse and children. The “New Estate” and “Blue House” are under construction. After the revolution, an orphanage appeared on this site, and then the state farm of Kineshma Factory No. 2. Today, the Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve is under state protection.

Attractions

The complex includes: the Literary and Theater Museum, the Church of St. Nicholas in Berezhki, the Blue House cultural and educational center, the Sobolev House Museum of Folk Life and the Memorial Park. In the center of the reserve is the writer’s estate, surrounded by a garden. The playwright called this area “Russian Switzerland”.

All this splendor against the backdrop of green forest, gardens, gazebos. The Kueksha River became a natural barrier from the outside world, as if protecting the estate from outsiders.

Near Ostrovsky's house there was a small pond with a small island in the middle. It is possible to stay for a few days on the territory at the reserve's sanatorium. There is also a medical building “Chalet” with health programs. Visitors can expect a variety of excursions, master classes, quests, documentary film screenings, and festive events. Events are posted on the official website.

How to get there

The Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve is located in the Kostroma region, not far from the village of the same name. The nearest large settlements are the village of Ostrovskoye, the city of Kineshma, Ivanovo region, and Kostroma. From them you can get to the reserve by regular buses or car.

Buses

Buses stop at the turn to Shchelykovo. Then walk 1.5 kilometers to the Literary and Theater Museum.

The road from the village of Ostrovskoye, Kostroma region, to the museum-reserve takes 30 minutes. Buses depart from the bus station along the following routes:

“Ostrovskoye - Kineshma” daily at 05:40;
“Kostroma - Kineshma” daily at 9:30, 15:50;
"Kostroma - Zavolzhsk" daily at 14:30.

The path from the city of Kineshma can be covered in 40 minutes. Buses depart from the local bus station to the following destinations:

“Kineshma-Kostroma” daily at 14:50;
“Kineshma - Ostrovskoye” daily at 18:10.

It's about two hours' drive from Kostroma. Buses depart from the bus station along the following routes:

“Kostroma - Zavolzhsk” daily at 13:00;
"Kostroma - Kineshma" daily at 07:40, 14:00.

Automobile

The distance from the village of Ostrovsky to Shchelykovo is 33 kilometers. By car you need to move south along the P101 highway.

The village of Shchelykovo is located north of Kineshma. The distance is about 30 kilometers along the P101 road.

From Kostroma - 114 kilometers to the east. Highway "P98".