- Liteyny pr., 53
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59.936788966306, 30.347926864082 (OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, Yandex Maps)
- Gateway leading to Anna Akhmatova museum. Wall behind the “MUSEUM” installation
- Date under the word “perception” (ощущенье)
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21 августа 1963 года
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Historical background
In 1712, Peter the Great granted Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev a land plot located near the Fontanka River. Since then, and up until 1918, the palace constructed on the plot belonged to a noble family of the Sheremetevs.
The palace that has come to be known as the Fountain House was built by architects Savva Chevakinsky and Fyodor Argunov (Sheremetev’s serf). Some researches credit the original design to Yeropkin and Rastrelli. The Northern wing is located in the yard and features a gate decorated with the coat of arms of the Sheremetev family. It was built in 1864 against the design of Nicholas Benois. Count Sergey Dmitrievich Sheremetev was the last owner of the palace. He was a member of the State Council, an honorary academician, historian, collector and researcher of Old Russian manuscripts and ancient books, and the founder of the Society of Lovers of Ancient Writing.
Following the revolution, the palace served as a Museum of Noble Life, which existed until 1931. Anna Akhmatova and Nikolay Punin lived in this palace for many thirty years, although not continuously. First they stayed in the Northern wing, and later moved to the Southern one. It was here that Akhmatova composed numerous renowned poems. Not all of them were written down. She was afraid of repressions, besides she was being watched. That is why the poetess entrusted some of her verses only to her closest friends, who memorised them. This is how the ‘Requiem’ and the ‘Poem without a Hero’, which Akhmatova herself called a symphony of generation’s fate, survived.
In 1989, Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum was opened in the palace's southern garden wing. Incidentally, Lev Gumilev’s Museum and Memorial Apartment in Kolomenskaya Ulitsa is its branch.
Present in routes of categories Lion & Unicorn