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The Priyutino estate, a scenery corner of
the town of Vsevolozhsk, played its special role in the Russian
culture. It is preserved as a monument keeping memories of
the prominent people of art of the so called "Pushkin
epoch". Priyutino is one of the rare 19th century country
estates in the vicinity of St.Petersburg that survived up
to our days.
The splendid country house belonged to
Aleksei Olenin, the first director of the Public Library in
St.Petersburg and president of the Academy of Arts. It was
not only Aleksandr Pushkin who was a guest of the house. The
intimate and friendly atmosphere of the place and its owners
erudition and unfailing charm invited the pick of the art
community of those days, including painters Karl and Aleksandr
Bryullovs, Orest Kiprensky, Fyodor Tolstoy, poets and writers
Ivan Krylov, Konstantin Batyushkov, Vassily Zhukovsky, Aleksandr
Griboedov, actors Ekaterina Semenova, Ivan Sosnitsky and many
others - the full list would be endless.
On the restoration completed in 1990, the
mansion of the memorial estate has been housing the exhibit
of Russian history and culture showing life of its owners
and guests. Personalia of the Olenins and their visitors,
documents, original paintings, books are carefully preserved
and displayed in the restored interiors. The park reconstruction
with many buildings on the site is also started.
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