Saint Petersburg Guide

VLADIMIR NABOKOV MUSEUM

The Vladimir Nabokov Museum is located at 47 Bolshaya Morskaya Street. On April 10 (23), 1899, Vladimir Nabokov was born in this house. Much later, the writer revivified the years he spent in the house as his "paradise lost." The house on Bolshaya Morskaya - "of pink granite with frescoes and other Italianate ornaments," witness of how Nabokov's gift matured - forms the setting for many of his novels and short stories; it is especially apparent in his autobiography, Speak, Memory. According to Nabokov, the house always remained his "only home in the world": after being forced to leave St. Petersburg in November 1917, he never acquired a permanent home abroad.

The Nabokov Museum is both a cultural center and a memorial venue. It occupies the first floor of the Nabokov House. Exhibits and other events take place in the former Dining Room, Comitetskaya [The Committee Meeting Room], Green Sitting Room, and the Library. During the complicated years of the Soviet rule, when the memorial value of aristocratic Russian houses was, at best, ignored, some architect decided that it would make sense to break or move a couple of walls and create a more open space in the first floor of the house. Thus, a part of the Dining Room and Comitetskaya merged to form a large "Central Hall" and a small office-like room was cut off from the Green Sitting Room. But apart from that, the interiors of the first floor suffered very little. Thanks to the restoration of 1999-2001, the beautiful carved wooden panels lining the walls and the carved oak ceiling in the library look just as elegant as they did when the Nabokovs lived here.

Our goal is to give a new, vital spark to one of the most celebrated houses in literature. In addition to temporary and permanent expositions housed in the museum, we also organize conferences and international educational programs, celebrations and festivals. We aim at becoming an international center for studying Nabokov's heritage as well as a center for promoting global cultural exchange.

The St. Petersburg Vladimir Nabokov Museum is one of the first museums in Russia not to be supported by the State. It is supported by grants from foundations and corporations and gifts from individuals. Dmitri Nabokov kindly donates the receipts of payments from Russian publishers licensing Nabokov works to the museum dedicated to his father. We also hope to get support from the recently established Friends of the Nabokov Museum, Inc. Tatyana Olegovna Ponomareva is Director of the Nabokov Museum. Prof. Brian Boyd is the museum's Academic Advisor. The museum greatly relies on its volunteers, who help with organizing and running various events.

• Open: Monday through Thursday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 12 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  Closed on Jan.1, May 1, May 9, Nov.7, Dec.31.
  The museum is open on other National Holidays.
  From October 1 through April 30 museum is closed on Mondays.
• Location: 47 Bolshaya Morskaya Street

SIGHTS OF SAINT PETERSBURG
Alexander Nevsky Lavra Amber Room Cruiser Aurora Dostoevsky Museum Gatchina Hermitage House of Peter Great Isaak Cathedral Kazan Cathedral Kunstkamera Nabokov Museum Nevsky Prospect Novgorod Oranienbaum Peter and Paul Fortress Pavlovsk Peterhof Pushkin Museum Russian Museum Savior on the Blood Cathedral Tsarskoye Selo Vodka Museum Vyborg Yusupuv Palace