The afternoon will largely be a guided tour of the rich history and contents of one of Russia’s most important literary museums, with the man who has been at its helm since 1988. As well as being director of the Pushkin Museum, Sergey Nekrasov is a well-known historian and cultural figure in his own right; organiser of literary festivals, museology expert and maker of myriad cultural documentaries.

A talk, supplemented by two short films, will describe the ghosts and the relics of the Pushkin Museum; discoveries made in far-flung archives, famous historical artefacts, and the stories of the poet’s contemporaries who set up the museum in 1879. Having overseen numerous exhibitions and refurbishments, Mr Nekrasov will also discuss the challenges and the importance of keeping history and culture alive in the 21st Century, focussing on projects past and present geared towards this end.  Among them are initiatives such as inviting all of Pushkin’s descendants for a party in St. Petersburg, and the painstaking, brick-for-brick restoration of the estate of national poet and Pushkin’s predecessor, Gavrila Derzhavin.  

The discussion and both films will be in Russian, but translation will be arranged for English speakers. Doors will open and tea will be served at 5.30pm before the talk commences at 6pm.

Professor Sergey Nekrasov joined the National Pushkin Museum as its director in 1988, and has been working in the museums of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) since 1967. He has organised numerous exhibitions, written hundreds of books articles and is well-known cultural authority in Russia. He has won several state honours for his contributions to Russian culture, including the Pushkin Medal and the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize in 1999. He joined the ranks of the honoured artists of the Russian Federation in 2005. 

The National Pushkin Museum is one of the oldest and most highly regarded literary museums in Russia. Over the years it has grown to encompass the Pushkin Apartment Museum; the Lyceum Museum; the Pushkin Country House Museum; the Nekrasov Apartment Museum and the Derzhavin Estate Museum.

The museum was born out of the Imperial Alexander (formerly Tsarskoe Selo) Lyceum of which Pushkin himself was a graduate, and was founded in 1879 by other graduates and professors, members of the poet’s family and his contemporaries. The Museum possesses a unique collection of iconographical, memorial and historical materials from Pushkin’s epoch, as well as paintings, graphics, sculpture and pieces of applied arts by the prominent artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Admission is free, but booking is necessary: please contact info@pushkinhouse.org.uk to reserve your place.