Museum-Mansion Lopasnya-Zachatyevskoye (Lopasnya-Conception)

The Museum-Mansion Lopasnya-Zachatyevskoye (Lopasnya-Conception) is a heritage-listed architectural and landscape ensemble of the 18^th – 19^th centuries of Federal significance. The Museum exhibits are devoted to the historic family and personal relationships of the estate owners: the Vasilchikovs with the Pushkins, Lanskys and Goncharovs. Although the Museum is still very new, the exhibits are already attracting attention, being dedicated to the owners and guests of the estate, their way of life, leisure time and their contribution to the history and culture of Russia.

The Museum is located in one of the beautiful corners of the Moscow Region, in the city of Chekhov, in the ancient manor park, stretching along the right bank of the Lopasnya River. This land is closely associated with the names of the descendants of Alexander Pushkin, who were frequent and welcome guests here for many decades. The mansion, built in the middle of the 18^th century in the Baroque style, but with an Empire style porch built in 1827, has survived.

The house has a beautifully landscaped park with traces of regular planning along with seven cascading ponds adjacent to it. Mansion house windows open directly towards the park, and the green leaves of the old trees keep the halls cool and fresh.

Owing to the careful restoration, the interiors are as they were in the latter half of the 19^th century, when the descendants of Alexander S. Pushkin lived there. There is no doubt that the manor complex is one of the most beautiful places in the Moscow Region.

The historical manor complex also includes the Church of St. Anne's Conception, dating from the end 17^th to the first half of the 19^th century. In the church, one can see the necropolis, where a number of the descendants of Alexander Pushkin have their final resting place.

Here, the eldest son of the poet, Alexander A. Pushkin, his wife Sofya Alexandrovna (née Lanskaya), their sons Sergey and Gregory, granddaughter Sophia Pavlovna Vorontsov-Velyaminov rest in peace. In the necropolis, one can also find the family tombs of the owners of the estate, the Vasilchikovs, who were related to the Pushkins, Lanskys and Goncharovs.

Maria A. Hartung, the eldest daughter of the poet, also often visited this estate; the Museum has carefully reconstructed her room, as well as the room of her elder brother, Alexander Alexandrovich Pushkin.

In 1917, the heirs of Alexander Pushkin came upon a box of papers belonging to the poet in the mansion; inside, they found business letters and the manuscript of his unfinished, History of Peter the Great.

Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, the estate belonged to the Goncharov sisters, nieces of Natalia N. Pushkina-Lanskaya (née Natalia Nikolaevna Goncharova), who was the wife of the poet in her first marriage. During this period, the main manor house got the name "Goncharovsky Dom" (The Goncharov House), later the estate became known as the “Pushkinskoye Gnezdo” (Pushkin Nest). One of many family seats, Lopasnya-Zachatyevskoye manor, however, is of universal importance for Russian culture by virtue of it being interwoven with the lives of several generations of the ancient nobility, whose lives were spent under its roof.

The Museum-Mansion Lopasnya-Zachatyevskoye is a member of the Association of Pushkin Museums in Russia and the near abroad. It is also a branch of the State Literary-Memorial A. P. Chekhov "Melikhovo" Museum-Reserve (14 km by highway towards Nerastannoye Village).

The Children’s Museum Center at the Museum is focused on local history; the mezzanine and attic floors house the educational center with a library and exhibition rooms.

The Museum is busy organizing thematic exhibitions, balls and recitals. Every year we highlight noteworthy events: February 10 is the date memorializing Alexander Pushkin; June 6 is the day of the Pushkin Festival; September 8 is Natalia Day; the last Saturday of September is the day of remembrance for the Prince N. D. Kudashev Partisans; October 19 is dedicated to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum (The Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg). The Museum staff are passionate professionals, and using the Museum, they are eager to create not just a cultural center, but to recreate, as it were, a second home to host the living descendants of Alexander Pushkin, most of whom are still have roots in this “Pushkin Nest’.

Direction:

- take trains from the Kursk Railway Terminal to the Chekhov Station, then take a city bus to the stop "Skver imeni Chekhova" (Chekhov Square);

- from Yuzhnaya (South) Metro Station, take bus № 365 up to the stop "Skver imeni Chekhova" (Chekhov Square);

- by a car, drive from MKAD (Moscow Automobile Ring Road) along the Federal Hhighway "Crimea" to the kilometer sign "65^th km", turn to the city of Chekhov.