Fyodor Dostoyevsky, his wife Anna and their remaining children moved to a spacious apartment on Kuznechny Lane in central St Petersburg following the greatest misfortune in their lives in 1878. "On May 16th," Anna Dostoyevskaya wrote, "an awful tragedy struck our family: our youngest son Lyosha passed away."
The death of the little boy, from epilepsy inherited from his father, was so traumatic that it caused the family immediately to embark on the search for somewhere else to live. At the beginning of October they moved into their new abode. There were six rooms, an entrance hall, a kitchen and an large storeroom for books.
Dostoyevsky was to spend the last three years of his life in this place and it was here that he wrote his final great work and masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov. The apartment now houses the F. M. Dostoyevsky Literary-Memorial Museum which is open to visitors from 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. daily, excluding Mondays and the last Wednesday of each month.
The building stands a short walk, appropriately, from the Dostoyevsky Metro station, past the Kuznechny market, at the corner of Kuznechny Lane and Dostoyevsky Street.
Opened in 1971 to mark the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth, the apartment has been restored, as closely as possible, to what it looked like in Dostoyevsky's lifetime. This was no simple operation, for during the Communist period the apartment was given over as communal living quarters to a number of families and was re-structured and redecorated over generations.
Up to a dozen layers of wallpaper were removed before examples of the originals were found. The designs were then copied and, after the original layout of rooms had been restored, the old decor was reinstated.
Dostoyevsky lived in the building twice. On the first occasion in 1846 when, as a young man not long up from his native Moscow, he embarked on a career which was to make him one of the greatest figures of world literature.
At that time Petersburg was to him "an intentional and abstract city". Unlike Chekhov whose characters often yearned for Moscow, Dostoyevsky created figures who held St Petersburg in low esteem. It was, he once wrote, "a particular misfortune to live in Petersburg." This is hardly surprising for in the 26 years from his arrest for involvement in a "conspiracy of ideas" in 1849, Dostoyevsky found himself either imprisoned, condemned to military service or under surveillance by the Tsarist secret police. In the 28 years he lived in the imperial capital Dostoyevsky was resident in 20 different addresses and in none of them for more than three years. He never owned a house or apartment. He always rented.
The museum-apartment at Kuznechny Lane, therefore, is as representative as any of places in which he lived. The first thing one sees in the hall is the writer's top hat in a glass case. The study and desk at which he wrote The Brothers Karamazov has been meticulously restored. Personal belongings have been donated by the writer's descendants. There is a touching note on an envelope from his daughter which reads "Milyi Papochka Ya Lyublyu Tebye, Lyuba" (Dear Daddy I love you, Lyuba), and a mantel calendar-clock is stopped at 8.36 p.m. on January 28th, 1881, the date and precise time of Dostoyevsky's death.
A comprehensive museum devoted to themes connected with Dostoyevsky's life and literature adjoins the apartment. True devotees can enquire at the ticket desk about walking tours around the locations in St Petersburg associated with Crime and Punishment. If time permits, it may be worth travelling to Moscow to visit the apartment in the Mariinsky hospital on Dostoyevsky Street (Metro Novoslobodskaya) where he grew up.
