Joseph Brodsky. Museum in St. Petersburg

Joseph Brodsky is a Soviet poet, playwright, essayist and translator. He was born and lived in the Soviet Union, but his work was not accepted by the authorities in his homeland, he was accused of parasitism, and Brodsky had to emigrate from the country.

Poet Brodsky

In his work he reached great heights, his name is known throughout the world. Already in emigration he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Only in times of perestroika his poems began to be published in his homeland. Up to this point, Brodsky's work was known to a limited number of people in the USSR. He was invited to return, but he kept postponing his visit.

After his voluntary exile, he never visited Russia and died in exile. His memory created the Brodsky Museum in St. Petersburg.

American cabinet Brodsky in the museum of Anna Akhmatova in the Fountain House

Brodsky never lived in the Fountain House, moreover, he never visited him. But he was very close to Anna Akhmatova.

In 2003, the poet's widow gave the museum things from his house in Sait Hedley, where he lived. These are pieces of furniture, posters, a library, a collection of postcards and many other small things. Even there was a place for a suitcase with which Brodsky left the country.

Akhmatova Museum presented some of them in the exposition. In the office is a desk, a sofa, an armchair, a lamp, a typewriter. You can also see the installation media artist Bystrov, which tells about Leningrad and the house where Brodsky lived.

The museum tried to arrange all the items exactly as it was in the poet's study. In the newspaper are the very newspapers that Brodsky read. There is a heap of bills and receipts, and the pillows on the couch are laid out in the same way as the poet's.

The background is a recording of the trial, after which he was sent into exile. In the office you can watch films about Brodsky.

Various people come to the poet's office: schoolchildren and people of the older generation, those who are familiar with his work, and those who do not know about him at all.

The poet's apartment

Despite the fact that Brodsky is an honorary citizen of the city of St. Petersburg and a great poet, until recently it was mentioned only in the exposition at the museum of Anna Akhmatova.

Brodsky's apartment in St. Petersburg, where he lived with his father and mother, was decided to be turned into a poet's memory museum.

The premise is located on Liteiny Prospect, 24, in the Muruzi apartment building. In this structure lived and there were many famous writers: Merezhkovsky, Gippius. Here Gumilev opened the Union of Poets.

Brodsky's family moved into the apartment in 1955. Joseph Brodsky lived there until 1964, after he was sent into exile for parasitism. Then he returns and lives in it until emigration.

Work on the Museum

Brodsky Museum in St. Petersburg planned to organize in the nineties. Many prominent cultural figures, both domestic and foreign, applied for a museum in the former apartment of the poet to the governor. He gave good, but did not participate in the process.

Five of the six rooms in the communal apartment to the foundation for the creation of the museum managed to be redeemed at the expense of sponsors. It took almost fifteen years.

The first repairs were completed by the poet's 75th birthday, and Brodsky's museum-apartment was opened for a free visit for one day. And after it was closed for further repairs, the date of completion of which is unknown.

Exposition of the museum

The exposition of Joseph Brodsky's house museum shows the main events in the life of the poet from the beginning of his literary path.

In the museum you can see one and a half rooms, where Brodsky lived with his father and mother, communal kitchen and rooms of neighbors.

Also on display are prints of photographs taken by the poet's friends and acquaintances, preserved interior elements and sculptural portraits.

The creators of the museum tried to preserve the atmosphere of the Soviet communal apartment where the poet lived. In the rooms you can hear the verses that Brodsky himself reads.

The museum opened for one day, there were practically no real exhibits, because the construction and repair work was not finished. But in the future it is supposed to place things that the poet's widow gave to the museum.

Obstacles

Great difficulties caused the resettlement of tenants of the communal apartment where Brodsky lived. The museum managed to be located in five rooms of a communal apartment, but in the sixth there is still a neighbor. She did not agree to sell her room, and the organizers of the museum decided to fence off the exposition. Because of this, the opportunity for visitors to enter the main entrance is lost.

Now the museum-apartment Brodsky uses a backdoor, and immediately from the stairs a man enters the kitchen. And in the future, probably, it will remain so. This greatly upsets the organizers of the museum.

In addition to the lack of finance, the work on creating the museum is complicated by legal and everyday problems. The house is old, in emergency condition, and the premises require a lot of repairs, primarily to preserve the exhibits.

It is necessary to transfer the apartment to a non-residential fund, so that Brodsky's museum in St. Petersburg will appear officially. And it is not known how long the bureaucratic procedure will take.

There are professional problems. Views on how the museum should be, diverge. Director of the museum Akhmatova in the Fountain House believes that the rooms should preserve the authenticity, the spirit of that time without embellishment.

It is possible, in the future, the museum of Joseph Brodsky expects expansion. The organizers of the museum are thinking over buying an apartment below or an attic space. While the museum can accommodate about ten people at the same time.