The Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum is named after a famous female poet, remembered for her writings on World War II and Stalin’s Terror. Tread the same floorboards as Akhmatova and get a glimpse into how she lived. Read manuscripts by the author, who is most famous for her Requiem poem, a damning indictment of the Stalinist purges.
Anna Akhmatova was the pseudonym of Anna Andreyevna Gorenko. She was born in Odessa, but was a long-term resident of St. Petersburg. Akhmatova lived in what is now the museum until she passed away in 1966. It belonged to Nikolai Punin, her common-law husband. Punin, an art historian, fell foul of authorities and died in a gulag. His incarceration was a major source of inspiration for Requiem. Spend an hour or two learning more about Akhmatova's life and work, and reflecting on her contribution to the Russian literary landscape.
Visit the living room where she famously talked with Isaiah Berlin, the Secretary of the British Embassy, through the night as Stalinism gripped the nation. See photographs of her life, pieces of art and move among the very furniture she used in her daily life. The exhibits shed light on how she managed to survive and work in the totalitarian Soviet state, despite being censored and constrained by the authorities.
Take the opportunity to learn about Akhmatova’s son, the historian Lev Gumilev, and her fellow poet and protégé Joseph Brodsky while in the museum. Find exhibits devoted to Gumilev in the apartment and use the audiovisual materials provided in Brodsky’s recreated Massachusetts office to discover more about Akhmatova’s mentee. Although he was young and relatively unknown when he encountered Akhmatova, Brodsky would eventually go on to win a Nobel Prize.
The Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum is just a short walk from the Mayakovskaya or from Vladimirskaya and Dostoevskaya metro stations. It is open Tuesday to Sunday. There is an entrance fee. For further insight into the extraordinary life of Akhmatova, purchase an English audio guide for an extra fee.