TO SEE
CHEKHOV HOUSE MUSEUM
МУЗЕЙ "ДОМИК ЧЕХОВА"
About
A tiny white house surrounded by a cherry orchard is one of the oldest museums of Chekhov in Russia, opened in 1926. A former annexe to a rich merchant's mansion, the house consists of only 3 rooms, where Chekhovs made their quarters for several years with their 3 elder children. And it was here that Anton Chekhov was born on 29 January 1860. Much later, Chekhov would write in a letter to a friend: 'I was born in the house of Bolotov (as my mother says) or Gnutov, close to V.N. Tretyakov, on Politseiskaya St., in a small annexe in the yard.' The largest room in the house is the living room (9.5 sq.m) which also served as a dining room and a study. Everything in the house is indeed very ascetic. Two bedrooms with ubiqiotous carpets on the walls. One where parents slept, and where Anton was born (a copy of his cradle can be seen next to the bed), the other bedroom was for two elder sons of Chekhovs. Finally, there's a tiny kitchen with traditional Russian stove, and wooden and copper crockery. After Chekhov's death in 1905, the name of the street where he was born was changed to Chekhov St, so it's very easy to find the house.
Info
69 Chekhova St. (ул. Чехова, д. 69)
+7 8634 39 42 76
Go to Website (Only in Russian)
Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Last admission at 5pm. Closed on Mondays.
General 60₽/ Children 30₽/ Children under 7 20₽/ Senior 30₽
Guided tours in English on Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun. Ask for Galina Alexandrovna, she works for the museum, and can usually be found in a room next to the ticket office. The tour last 20-25min, and it costs 500-700RUB per group (depending on the size of a group, and your negotiation skills).
Average visit: 20min
Cash only
Souvenir shop
CHEKHOV SHOP MUSEUM
МУЗЕЙ "ЛАВКА ЧЕХОВА"
About
Chekhovs rented this redbrick house from 1869 until 1874. The ground floor was occupied by the shop selling 'Tea, Sugar, Coffee, and Other Colonial Goods', as the vintage sign above the doors states. The shop belonged to Chekhov Senior, and Chekhov Junior spent a lot of time here helping his father. Here, he also wrote his first stories, and staged theatrical performances with his siblings. The family mostly lived upstairs. Anton Chekhov's brother Mikhail later remembered: 'we lived in Moiseev's house on the corner of Monastyrskaya St. and Yarmarochniy Lane, nearly on the outskirts of town. We lived in a large two-storey house with a yard and the barns. Our father's shop, the kitchen, the dining room and two other rooms were located on the ground floor, while our family, and other lodgers lived upstairs.' Memories of this house were later reflected in 'Van'ka', 'Longing for Sleep'. 'Three Years', and many others. The living room with a piano upstairs is where family reunited in the evenings, and where Chekhov Sr, and all the children sang and played. There's also a nursery where you can see the original toys of Anton Chekhov and his siblings. Ask the museum attendant to play his clockwork lantern, it's still working! Just like 150 years ago, there's a tea shop on the ground floor selling various kinds of Russian and Chinese loose leaf tea.
Info
100 Alexandrovskaya St. (ул. Александровская, д. 100)
+7 8634 61 27 82
Go to Website (Only in Russian)
Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Last admission at 5pm. Closed on Mondays.
General 60₽/ Children 30₽/ Children under 7 20₽/ Senior 30₽
Average visit: 30min
Cash only
Souvenir shop
CHEKHOV MUSEUM OF LITERATURE
ЛИТЕРАТУРНЫЙ МУЗЕЙ ЧЕХОВА
About
Chekhov Museum of Literature occupies a large classical building which once housed Taganrog Gymnasium for Boys, the oldest school in the south of Russia, founded in 1806. The building still bears the original sign of gymnasium in the old Russian spelling. All five Chekhov brothers, and also Tchaikovsky's younger brother Ippolit studied here. The museum managed to preserve many documents related to Chekhov's school days. Even the results of his exams are there, and his marks are, in fact, very average. Coincidentally, one of his examers was Edmund Dzerzhinsky, father of the revolutionary Felix Dzerzhinsky.
Chekhov Gymnasium is the second largest literary museum in Russia (after Pushkin House Museum in St Petersburg), and boasts an impressive collection of documents, photographs, books, letters, objects related to Anton Chekhov, and his life in Taganrog. Besides, it's a rare example of a 19th century Russian school which survived unhurt until our days. There're also several rooms dedicated to Chekhov's plays. You can see the original scripts, costumes, decorations, and playbills.
Info
9 Oktyabrskaya St. (ул. Октябрьская, д. 9)
+7 8634 38 36 97
+7 8634 61 00 13
Go to Website (Only in Russian)
Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Last admission at 5pm. Closed on Mondays.
General 80₽/ Children 40₽/ Children under 7 20₽/ Senior 40₽
Average visit: 1h
Cash only
Souvenir shop
TAGANROG MUSEUM OF ART
ТАГАНРОГСКИЙ ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННЫЙ МУЗЕЙ
About
Taganrog Museum of Art boasts one of the best collection of Russian art in the South of Russia. As almost everything in Taganrog, the opening of the city art museum is closely related to Anton Chekhov. It was his idea to open a museum in Taganrog, and he used his connections, notably the painter Ilya Repin's influence, to persuade the Academy of Art in St Petersburg to hand some works of Russian artists over to the Taganrog Museum. In 1902, the museum received its first paintings. Today, the collection consists of over 7000 works of art. In Soviet years, when palaces and mansions in Taganrog were nationalised, museum was moved into a former mansion of a merchant called Khandrin. Despite the beauty of this house, it only allows to display 10% of the collection that the museum owns. And the collection is impressive indeed. Famous works by Aivazovsky, Repin, Shishkin, Savrasov, Surikov, Vereshchagin, Makovsky, Levitan, Korovin, and many others are on display in the museum. Don't miss the courtyard with sculptures. They are in fact sepulchral monuments which were moved here from the abandoned old cemetery of Taganrog.
Info
56 Alexandrovskaya St. (ул. Александровская, д. 56)
+7 8634 38 31 70
Go to Website (Only in Russian)
Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Closed on Mondays and on the last Friday of each month. Sculpture garden is open Tue-Fri 10am-5pm.
General 50₽/ Students 30₽/ Children 20₽. Extra 30₽ for sculpture garden. Extra charge for temporary exhibitions.
Average visit: 45min
Cash only
MUSEUM OF URBAN PLANNING AND CITY LIFE
МУЗЕЙ ГРАДОСТРОИТЕЛЬСТВА И БЫТА
About
The most exciting in the Museum of Urban Planning and City Life is the building itself. The museum is housed in a beautiful mansion designed by the famous modernist architect Fyodor Schechtel for merchant Sharonov. The design of the building is very similar to that of Yaroslavsky railway station in Moscow. The decorations for the frieze (notably the majolica panels, and the mosaics) were made by the celebrated Russian painters Viktor Vasnetsov, Nicholas Roerich, and Mikhail Vrubel. The permanent exhibition is dedicated to the historical development of Taganrog from the beginning of the 17th century onwards. You can see the original plans of the city (Taganrog was the first city in the South of Russia which had city planning) signed by Peter the Great, the rapid growth of the city in the 19th century when it became one of the important market towns in Russia. Moving from one room to another, you travel from one historical period to another, peeping into the reconstructed rooms of Taganrog inhabitants. There's also a room dedicated to Schechtel, and his architectural masterpieces in Russia, and to Faina Ranevskaya, a popular Russian actress who was born in Taganrog.
Info
80 Frunze St. (ул. Фрунзе, д. 80)
+7 8634 61 43 33
Go to Website (Only in Russian)
Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Last admission at 5pm. Closed on Mondays.
General 60₽/ Students 30₽/ Children under 7 20₽/ Senior 30₽. Separate tickets for temporary exhibitions.
Average visit: 50min
Cash only