When you're in Moscow for six weeks, as I was in summer 2001, it's pleasant to get out to the countryside. Anton Chekhov also thought it was a good idea, so he bought the estate of Melikhovo, forty miles south of the metropolis, in 1892.
He practiced medicine, hosted many guests, and kept up his writing there. A compassionate man, he helped build local schools, much as Tostoy had done for peasant children (see my previous entry on Tolstoy's residence).
He had a small cottage built for guests, and it was there that he wrote The Seagull and completed another play, Uncle Vanya. He also planted very diverse vegetable and flower gardens with the help of his sister Maria.
The property is today a museum, with everything restored or rebuilt. A day-trip from Moscow can be combined with a visit to a monastery in the area. My gracious Moscow host mother, Sveta, along with family, took me there as part of a weekend trip to their dacha. Things are not as neatly mowed, trimmed and painted as in - well, of course - Germany, but sometimes the natural look grows on you.
Next week: Boris Pasternak & the Artist Colony of Peredeldino
He practiced medicine, hosted many guests, and kept up his writing there. A compassionate man, he helped build local schools, much as Tostoy had done for peasant children (see my previous entry on Tolstoy's residence).
He had a small cottage built for guests, and it was there that he wrote The Seagull and completed another play, Uncle Vanya. He also planted very diverse vegetable and flower gardens with the help of his sister Maria.
The property is today a museum, with everything restored or rebuilt. A day-trip from Moscow can be combined with a visit to a monastery in the area. My gracious Moscow host mother, Sveta, along with family, took me there as part of a weekend trip to their dacha. Things are not as neatly mowed, trimmed and painted as in - well, of course - Germany, but sometimes the natural look grows on you.
Next week: Boris Pasternak & the Artist Colony of Peredeldino
RSS Feed