A. Ostrovsky Museum-Reserve "Schelykovo", Kostroma region. State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve A

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Shchelykovo(State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of A. N. Ostrovsky “Schelykovo”) - a 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”, “Snow Maiden” (the playwright wrote “Snegurochka” 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., who knows little about agriculture. Every year Ostrovsky 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. With local peasants, the philanthropic A.N. Ostrovsky lived in harmony (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 of bread had accumulated. 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 study, 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

Memorial park in the estate of A. N. Ostrovsky “Schelykovo”

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

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 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.

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 writer's death, 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

Notes

Literature

Bochkov V. N. Reserved side: (Around Shchelykov). - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga Book Publishing House, 1988. - 96, p. - 50,000 copies.(region)

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

History of the estate

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.

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

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.

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.

Memorable dates and annual events

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

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".

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

Estate plan

1 - Memorial house-estate of A. N. Ostrovsky

2 - Monument to A. N. Ostrovsky

3 - Staircase and lower gazebo

4 - Blue House

5 - Ostrovsky’s two-story gazebo

6 - Literary and Theater Museum

7 - Pond with island

8 - Church and necropolis of the Ostrovskys in Berezhki

9 - Museum of Folk Life "Sobolev House" in Berezhki

10 - Administrative building of the sanatorium

11 - Residential buildings of the sanatorium

12 - Medical building of the "Chalet" sanatorium

13 - Blue key

House-Museum of A. N. Ostrovsky

The house of A. N. Ostrovsky is the heart of the museum-reserve

Monument to A. N. Ostrovsky

It was in this house that A. N. Ostrovsky lived when he came to the estate for the summer. Having visited Shchelykovo for the first time, the playwright speaks with admiration of the house, noting that it is “surprisingly good both on the outside with the originality of the architecture and on the inside with the convenience of the premises.”

Built in a classicist style on a high brick plinth, the wild stone-colored wooden house under a red roof contrasts gracefully with the white columns and balustrades of the terraces. The building is one-story, on the north side of which there is a mezzanine floor, so from the north the house looks like a two-story building. On the northern façade there are two porches and an open terrace between them. On the south there is a covered terrace with two staircases to the park.

On the ground floor there is a suite of rooms housing a memorial exhibition recreating the furnishings of the house in the last years of the playwright’s life. There are many authentic items here, especially valuable among them are the personal belongings of Ostrovsky and his family.

Dining room.

The first room of the enfilade is the dining room. In the old days, Ostrovsky’s family and his many guests gathered here, at a large centipede-shaped dining table near a Tula samovar. Much here reminds us of the cordiality and hospitality of the owners.

There is an antique piano in the cozy living room. Maria Vasilievna, Ostrovsky’s wife, an actress at the Moscow Maly Theater, often sang to his accompaniment. On fine days, friendly conversations were transferred to the southern terrace, from which a marvelous view of the surrounding area opened up. Amateur performances based on plays by A. N. Ostrovsky were sometimes performed here.

Desk of A. N. Ostrovsky

The owner's spacious and bright office creates a feeling of the presence of his creative personality. The playwright worked tirelessly at his desk. He died while working. On the table are books, dictionaries and author's manuscripts. The walls of the office are decorated with wooden openwork frames, skillfully cut by the playwright himself, photographs of Ostrovsky’s relatives and friends, actors and writers.

Maria Vasilievna's room

Next to the office is the room of the playwright's wife. On the walls are photographs of the playwright's wife and their six children. The playwright loved his children extraordinarily, was proud of them, and paid special attention to their upbringing and education. Maria Vasilievna, having left acting, devoted herself entirely to caring for her family and home.

One of the rooms of the house is occupied by a library. The collected books reflect the broad outlook of A. N. Ostrovsky: here are dramaturgy, and the work of contemporary prose writers, and books on folklore, history, agriculture, and periodicals. The library has books and magazines in foreign languages, which the playwright was fluent in.

The mezzanine floor of the house housed children's rooms. Now in two rooms there is an exhibition “The Living Room of A. A. Yablochkina”, where authentic items that belonged to the famous actress of the Maly Theater are presented.

The museum gives the impression of a lived-in, cozy house: wallpaper recreated from original samples from 1847, unpainted floors with homespun paths, white tiled stoves, indoor flowers... Special manor comfort, lovely interior details, the spirit of antiquity - the house leaves no one indifferent, allowing visitors to better understand Ostrovsky's personality and his work.

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 manor park was founded by the first owners of Shchelykov, the Kutuzovs, in the mid-18th century. From that time, only a few corners of the park have been preserved: a pond with an island, a pond-cage and elements of a regular layout on the southern side of the manor house.

Three generations of the Ostrovsky family also contributed to the formation of the estate park. To this day, there are trees planted here by the playwright’s father Nikolai Fedorovich, the writer himself and his brother Mikhail, as well as the children of A. N. Ostrovsky.

Under the Ostrovskys, the landscape park with elements of a regular layout was divided into “Upper” and “Lower”. The lower park was the name given to the area on the southern slope from the manor house. The upper park is located around the manor house, its western part under the Ostrovsky brothers was called “Ovrazhki Park”.

The Ostrovsky brothers constantly took care of the park: they laid dirt paths there, placed benches in the most beautiful places, laid out flower beds, and arranged “turf sofas” on steep slopes. According to the design of the architect S. Elagin from Moscow, gazebos and “humpbacked” bridges were erected. One of the two-story gazebos was called “Snegurochkina” by Ostrovsky’s children: it was here that the writer thought about his famous fairy tale.

Alexander Nikolaevich loved flowers. The manor house was literally buried in greenery; the southern side and terrace were covered with wild grapes. Flower beds surrounded the house on three sides. Plants were selected according to the fashion and taste of the owner of the estate: multi-colored phlox, asters, dahlias, fragrant peonies, lilies, petunias, pansies, nasturtiums. All these views still serve as the frame of the manor house.

Various perspectives and views, delightful panoramic landscapes, which Alexander Nikolaevich admired in the old days, still excite the soul and delight the eye today. A favorite place for Shchelykov’s guests to this day remains the cliff where the Guest House was located during Ostrovsky’s time. The magnificent, multifaceted view of the water meadow, the floodplain of the winding Kueksha River and the pond with the island that opens from here is the main decoration of the park.

The plantings of the park and the natural forests surrounding it organically merge into a single ensemble, giving special attractiveness and picturesqueness to the Shlykovsky landscapes. The singing of birds, the bustle of curious squirrels, the aromas of flowers in summer, pristine snow, the frosty lace of sleeping birches, the snow caps of pines and spruces in winter, as in the time of A. N. Ostrovsky, continue to delight the guests of Shchelykov.

St. Nicholas Church

The Church of St. Nicholas in Berezhki, built in 1792 by the owner of the Shchelykovo estate, leader of the Kostroma nobility F. M. Kutuzov, is a monument of federal significance.

There is a legend about the history of the construction of this temple. During the Russian-Turkish War, in which F. M. Kutuzov took part, commanding a battalion as part of the Mediterranean expedition of Count A. G. Orlov-Chesmensky, during a sea passage near the Greek islands, a terrible storm hit the ship. Kutuzov offered a fervent prayer for salvation and vowed to build a stone church in his estate on the site of a wooden church dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of sailors. His vow was fulfilled.

The construction of the temple was carried out by the talented Kostroma architect Stepan Andreevich Vorotilov. This wonderful temple, admiring its proportions, severity and harmony of forms, was built over the course of 10 years.

The appearance of St. Nicholas Church does not have the excessive pomp characteristic of urban architecture. The exterior of the temple and its interior combine several artistic styles: from Baroque to Classicism. The temple naturally and beautifully fits into the surrounding landscape.

The temple has two floors: the lower one is winter, the upper one is summer. The summer temple is distinguished by its splendor of decoration: a carved iconostasis in the Baroque and Rococo styles with sculptural and floral-plant compositions and icons made in a Western style, painting of a light drum and walls, double-light windows. The Winter Church is more laconic: chamber-like, without wall painting, with icons made in Orthodox traditions. It was here in 1886 that Father Anthony of Kherson, the rector of the temple, held the funeral service for the playwright Ostrovsky, who died in his Shchelykov estate.

A brick fence with eastern and western gates was erected around the church graveyard. Near the temple, on its southern side, behind a low wrought-iron fence, there is the Ostrovsky family grave. Buried here are the playwright himself, his father Nikolai Fedorovich, his wife Maria Vasilievna and daughter Maria Alexandrovna Chatelain.

Ethnographic Museum "Sobolev House"

The village of Nikolo-Berezhki has been directly connected with the Ostrovsky family for several generations. The road to it from the estate passes through a deep picturesque ravine with wooden stairs and a bridge.

A. N. Ostrovsky often visited Nikolo-Berezhki. He became attached to this quiet and secluded village not only because his father was buried here. The writer's deep interest in folk culture and language is known. Alexander Nikolaevich communicated with the villagers cordially and naturally, making good acquaintances and friends among them. Ivan Viktorovich Sobolev, a wonderful cabinetmaker, was such a friend.

I. V. Sobolev, from former serfs, became a skilled craftsman, independently learning the carpentry craft. After 1861, he settled in Nikolo-Berezhki, placing a hut at a distance from the houses of the church clergy. Situated on the outskirts, the house is the first to greet passersby, effectively starting the prospect of a short street with centuries-old birch trees and a white church. The house itself - an ordinary peasant house, with a gable wooden roof, simple white carved frames of small windows - naturally fits into the surrounding landscape.

Sobolev often visited the Ostrovskys, made furniture according to their orders, repaired it, and even taught Ostrovsky carpentry.

Currently, the ethnographic exhibition “Life and Traditions of Our Ancestors” is located in Sobolev’s house, which presents trades, crafts, life and traditions of peasants of the 19th century, characteristic of our area. Many of the objects on display were collected during ethnographic expeditions that took place over several decades.

After visiting this small cozy museum, you can learn a lot about folk life, drink tea with a collection of medicinal herbs, and take part in traditional rituals and holidays.

Blue House

At the beginning of the 20th century, a new estate appeared in Shchelykovo, which was uncharacteristic of the Russian estate culture of that time. Built by the daughter of the playwright M.A. Ostrovskaya-Chatelain, the estate became another attraction of Shchelykov, and over time it turned into a rare monument of estate culture and landscape construction of this period.

The center of the new estate is the Blue House, built in 1903 from a dismantled guest house according to Maria Alexandrovna’s own design. Two-story, log, not sheathed either inside or outside, with figured platbands on the windows and the same balustrades on terraces, balconies and porches, the house is made in the Art Nouveau style. Subsequently, the house was painted blue and its decorations were white.

After the revolution, fate spared these “promised places.” A significant role in this was played by the position of A. N. Ostrovsky’s son-in-law M. A. Chatelain (one of the authors of the GOELRO plan). Shchelykovo was transferred to the People's Commissariat of Education for the purpose of organizing a museum.

The further fate of the estate for many decades has been connected with the Maly Theater and the Union of Theater Workers of Russia. Since 1928, famous actors came here every year: Vera Pashennaya, Varvara Ryzhova, Evdokia Turchaninova, actors from the Sadovsky dynasty, Mikhail Tsarev, Sergei Yursky, Nikita Podgorny and many others.

In 2001, the Blue House was restored. It opened a cultural and educational center with a video room, a literary and musical lounge, a wonderful library with a cozy reading room. The museum's ticket office is also located here. Excursions around the museum begin from the Blue House, and in winter the residence and workshop of the Snow Maiden are open here.

Literary and Theater Museum

In the year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of A. N. Ostrovsky, in 1973, a literary and theater museum was opened. The purpose of its creation is the need to acquaint visitors with the creative heritage of the playwright. Over the 40 years of the museum’s existence, it has seen dozens of displays and exhibitions. Currently there are two exhibitions.

The exhibition “Ostrovsky Theater” introduces visitors to the personality of the playwright in its development, the realities of contemporary life, and his environment. Here are the writer's personal belongings, household items, picturesque portraits of Ostrovsky's contemporaries, and 19th-century magazines where his works were first published.

The stage history of A. N. Ostrovsky’s works is represented by lifetime productions and productions of the 20th century. Visitors can see the works of theater artists: sketches of costumes and scenery, models for performances. An important place in the exhibition is occupied by the plays that Ostrovsky worked on in Shchelykovo, and the masterpieces of his literary work: “The Thunderstorm”, “Dowry”.

The exhibition “The Fairytale World of the Snow Maiden” reveals the role of A. N. Ostrovsky’s play in the formation of everyone’s favorite New Year’s character.

The playwright's fairy tale about the Snow Maiden, the young daughter of Frost, is inextricably linked with Shchelykov's realities. Mighty nature, colorful peasants, festive festivities, folk tales, songs and legends directly influenced the plan of A. N. Ostrovsky.

The stage fate of “The Snow Maiden” was not easy. Its staging turned out to be too complex for a dramatic scene. The production by K. S. Stanislavsky in 1900 is considered the most famous. The play inspired composers. The music for “The Snow Maiden” was written by P. I. Tchaikovsky and N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

The fairy tale also appealed to filmmakers. In the 50s, a cartoon by director and artist I. P. Ivanov-Vano was released, in 1968, director P. P. Kadochnikov made a full-length feature film, in 2006, artist-director M. V. Kurchevskaya created another cartoon about the Snow Maiden . At the exhibition you can see photographs, set sketches and models for these films.

In addition to permanent exhibitions, the Literary and Theater Museum organizes temporary exhibitions on various topics, including exhibitions of outstanding cultural and artistic figures who come to Shchelykovo on vacation.

All year round, visitors can feel like the Snow Maiden or Frost by taking pictures in character costumes at the specially created installation “Winter Shchelykovo”.

Museum funds

The museum collection of the Shchelykovo Museum-Reserve consists of ten collections. Acquisition is carried out in the following areas:

Life and work of A. N. Ostrovsky;

The playwright's family and his descendants;

A. N. Ostrovsky’s environment (literary, theatrical, friendly);

The embodiment of the playwright’s works on stage and in film;

The existence of the creative heritage of A. N. Ostrovsky in the cultural process;

The life of artists and cultural figures associated with Shchelykov;

History and existence of the Shchelykovo estate;

Local history and ethnography.

Paintings, graphics and sculpture are combined into the “Fine Arts” collection. The special values of the collection are the lifetime iconography of the playwright, icons of the 17th - 19th centuries, paintings by B. M. Kustodiev, I. M. Pryanishnikov, V. E. Makovsky, scenography by leading theater artists for performances based on the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky.

Products of applied art, everyday life and ethnography are divided into three museum collections: “Applied Art”, “Fabrics and Costumes”, “Ethnography”. These collections include: furniture, noble and bourgeois utensils and dishes, figurines made of various materials, jewelry, accessories, secular costumes, church vestments, tools and items of traditional peasant life in the Kostroma province of the mid-19th - early 20th centuries. Of particular value in the collections are items that belonged to the playwright’s family and actors who performed roles in performances based on the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky.

The “Numismatics” collection, in addition to coins, includes items of bonistics, faleristics and postage stamps. The coins and banknotes date back to the 18th - early 20th centuries.

Documents and rare books are divided into four museum collections: “Manuscripts, Documents”, “Rare Book”, “Photographs”, “Audio-Video”. Handwritten documents, books, magazines, newspapers, audio and video recordings are valuable, first of all, for their information content. The information they contain documents events in personal and public life. The main fund of the museum includes documents related to the life and work of the playwright and his circle.

The “Programs, Posters” collection brings together printed materials: programs, posters, booklets, invitations and theater tickets for performances based on the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky. The most valuable and rare of them were produced during the playwright’s lifetime. The earliest posters date back to 1855.

A significant part of the museum collection consists of gifts. We hope that the museum’s collections will continue to be replenished with new items and delight our visitors who love the work of A. N. Ostrovsky.

Address: 157925 Kostroma region, Ostrovsky district, settlement Shchelykovo

Website http: //www.museumschelykovo.ru/

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.”

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 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

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.