HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM
Chekhov's Melikhovo is one of the best pages in the history of Russian literature. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov lived here for seven years, from 1892 to 1899. The tide of life in Melikhovo is interesting because not only by the fact that here lived a famous writer, but also because that here lived a doctor who treated a large number of people for free, who fought against cholera, as well as here lived a public figure, and a builder of schools.
A lot of casual encounters, various occasions in local villages and in the "county town of S." — all these are the original stories of Chekhov's works of his Melikhovo life period. During this time, he created 42 masterpieces: two plays "Uncle Vanya" and "The Seagull", stories and short novels such as "Ward No. 6", "Sakhalin Island", "The House with the Mezzanine ", "My Life", "The Man in a Case", "Gooseberry", "About Love", "Peasants" and others.
In 1899, due to health reasons, Anton Pavlovich had to leave for Yalta. His beloved Melikhovo estate was sold.
For a long time, there was no museum here, but the Melikhovo estate has always attracted admirers of Anton Chekhov's talent.
The museum in Melikhov began its life in 1940. By that time, only one of the original memorial buildings had survived. It was a separate wing deep in the garden. Chekhov built it in 1894. It was here where he wrote his famous play "The Seagull". The decision to establish the Anton Chekhov Museum in the village of Melikhovo was made by the Executive Committee of the Moscow Regional Council of Workers' Deputies on March 14th, 1940. It was organized as a branch of the Serpukhov Museum of Local History. This date became the day of birth of Anton Chekhov Museum-Reserve "Melikhovo".
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The war interrupted the life of the museum, but on June 29th, 1944, the independent "Anton Pavlovich Chekhov Regional Museum" was founded. In the 1950s, work began on restoring the manor house. This restoration was completed on January 29th, 1960, right on time for on the occasion of centenary of the birth of Anton Chekhov. In the same year, by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, the museum was granted a status of the A.P. Chekhov State Literary Memorial Museum-Reserve.
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Owing to the writer's relatives, the house was gradually enriched with memorial items that were directly related to Anton Pavlovich and his family members.
At this time, the Museum-Reserve is composed of the following assets: The Main House of the manor, the memorial wing (Wing Seagull), the Kitchen Wing, Russian Bathhouse, numerous outbuildings, the Fire Shed, an exposition of a prerevolutionary medical facility "Ambulance Station", a literary and educational exposition "The Writer's Kitchen", and a large garden area. Fortunately, two of the three schools built by Anton Chekhov have also been preserved and are still standing. In the 1970s, they were transferred to the museum as memorial buildings. The school in the village of Melikhovo has two unique expositions "The Classroom of the old Zemstvo school" and "The teacher's Apartment". In 2009, a new permanent literary exhibition "In the World of Chekhov's Characters" was opened at the school in the village of Novoselki.
The year 1987 was marked by a pleasant occasion - we established a new department under the name "The Museum of Letters of A.P. Chekhov". This exposition is housed in the building of the old post office, which had been opened on the initiative of the writer and the local intelligentsia in 1896, while the building itself is located next to the railway station of Lopasnya (now it’s the city of Chekhov). Here, one can listen to a story about the old post office activity, about history of business letters and pen pals of Anton Pavlovich. In front of this old timber building there is a monument to Chekhov by the notable sculptor Mikhail K. Anikushin.
The ancient manor "Lopasnya-Zachatievskoye", located in the city of Chekhov, also became a branch of the Anton Chekhov Museum-Preserve “Melikhovo”. This is an Elizabethan Baroque stone manor building. Here, for many years, lived representatives of prominent Russian noble families, namely, the Vasilchikovs, the Lanskiys, the Pushkins, and the Goncharovs. In the 1850s, Alexander S. Pushkin's children also lived in this house along with their relatives. In 1917, it was quite by chance discovered that Pushkin's archive, containing the manuscript of "The History of Peter the Great", was also kept in this house before.
To date, the museum's collection of thirty thousand items, includes a unique collection of Chekhov's relics: autographs of A.P. Chekhov and his family members, original photographs, and memorial items. The keen interest of our visitors is always captured by Anton Chekhov's coat, his hat and the famous white cap, the shirt and the bow tie.
In the dining room, on a snow-white tablecloth, there is a faience dinner set which was bought in the Melikhovo years. On the desk in the writer’s library one can see a pen, pencil, Chekhov's favorite inkwell and his nose glasses.
The museum also has a collection called "A Rare Book", which also includes books signed by the author.
The museum's Fine Arts Fund is represented by a magnificent collection of paintings and graphics: works by Isaak Levitan, Vasily Polenov, Nikolai Chekhov, Maria Chekhova; set design works by such theater artists as Evgeni Kuman’kov, Valeri Leventhal, Elena Kachelaeva, Enar Stenberg; illustrations to the works of A.P. Chekhov by the Kukryniksy artists*; sculptural portraits of the writer by Georgy Motovilov, Mikhail Anikushin, Iulian Rukavishnikov.
Every year the museum is enriched with new exhibits. Museum items are often displayed at various exhibitions. Interest in the museum collection is shown not only by Russian museums, but also by foreign ones. Beginning from1998, the museum has presented its exhibits in Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, France, and Republic of Belarus.
The museum undertakes a wide range of scientific and educational activities. In recent years, we have launched several initiatives that involve both children and their parents: "In the footsteps of Kashtanka the dog", "Dacha fever or 22 innocent pleasures", "The Kids", "Marriage: pro et contra». Young visitors and adults alike are greatly interested in getting to know the life of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov at Melikhovo, as well as his works. They take part in interactive and master classes and attend performances at the Melikhovo Theater as spectators.
Beginning from 2006, Chekhov Studio has been performing in the museum. Their repertoire includes plays based on the works by A.P. Chekhov. ("The Lady", "The Bear", "Psychopaths", " Dacha Theater of Antosha Chekhone ", "Chekhov. Chaika (Seagull)", "Uncle Vanya", "Polite People", "The Black Monk", "A Guide for those who want to get married"). It should be noted that our theater also stages plays by other authors.
For your special interest: every Saturday, the museum ticket office offers our guests some exceptional tickets: they say "Theatrical Saturday". On this day, our excursionists, in addition to visiting the manor buildings, can enjoy performances of our theater.
The International Melikhovo Spring Theatre Festival is a highly popular event in the world of theatre. This tradition was born back in 1982 with the performance of the Leo Tolstoy Lipetsk Drama Theater. Nowadays, theaters around the world take great pride in being part of this festival.
We must not forget that the museum also hosts other interesting events. Some of the most popular of them are New Year celebrations, Christmas, Grand Maslenitsa (also known as Butter Week), the three holidays of Savior on the Hill (of honey, apple, and that of bread), and the All-Russia Festival "Chekhov's Dachshunds", which takes place in the open air.
In the line with Chekhov's traditions, Melikhovo annually hosts a Charity literary and musical marathon "Don't get tired of doing good!". It takes place right on the Writer's Memorial Day. The core purpose of this event is to provide financial assistance to families with disabled children living in the Chekhov city district.
Besides that, he museum has a Children's Museum Center, which offers a wide range of different forms of communication with children.
* The Kukryniksy (Russian: Кукрыниксы) was a group of three well known caricaturists/cartoonists in the USSR with their specific recognizable style, - (translator’s note)