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Boris Pasternak's museum in Peredelkino

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Boris Pasternak

A short ride by a local train will take you to a charming writers' village, Peredelkino. During the Soviet times, it was a colony of Russian poets, writers, and literary critics. It used to be the center of Moscow's cultural life. Today Peredelkino attracts people from all over the world who come here to visit the house-museum of Boris Pasternak and see his grave in a local cemetery.

Boris Pasternak's museum in Peredelkino photographed by Sam Plompen
Tour highlights:

Learn the story of Boris Posternak, who is a Nobel Prize-winning Russian poet and writer. He's famous all over the world for his novel Doctor Zhivago.
Visit his house where Pasternak spent his last 20 years of life. Wandering around the museum, you'll plunge into the musical atmosphere of the place and get an insight into the writer's life, family, work, love, and tragic conflict with the Soviet government.
Take a stroll around the writers' village, enjoying the peacefulness of the pinewood and fresh air. Your guide will talk about the brightest representatives of the Soviet cultural elite and their dramatic life.
Find Pasternak's final resting place at Peredelkino cemetery
Take a look at the stunning summer residence of the Patriarch of Moscow, and have a stop to try delicious local pastries with a traditional herbal honey beverage.

.Peredelkino photographed by Sam Plompen

Tour itinerary

09 am Meeting your guide at the hotel and get to the train station by metro
10 am Train to Peredelkino

Upon arrival, we'll have a quick stop near the church to get tasty local pirozhki, tea, or coffee (at extra cost). We'll visit the local cemetery and take a walk through Peredelkino village

12.30 - 13.30 The tour of Boris Pasternak house museum
14.30 - 15.00 Train back to Moscow

Comments:

We don't stop for lunch during this tour but we'll have a chance to get tasty pirozhki with tea or coffee
It'll take you 20-30 min walking to get to Pasternak house. We may arrange a taxi if someone needs it however the area is pleasant to walk
Upon request, we may arrange a car from your Moscow hotel to Peredelkio and back.

The grave of Boris Pasternak at Peredelkino cemetery

What we see

Peredelkino has several literary museums. This day we'll visit Boris Pasternak's house museum. If you love literature this museum can be included in your Moscow in 3-day tour.

Boris Pasternak house-museum in Peredelkino

Boris Pasternak moved to Peredelkino in 1936. Life in the countryside brought peace and tranquility to his life and inspired the writer to be creative after several years of intermission. 'This is what you could dream of all your life. '

Boris Pasternak's museum in Peredelkino photographed by Sam Plompen

Pasternak lived in his house in Peredelkino from 1939 till 1960, when he passed away. In this house, Pasternak finished his novel "Doctor Zhivago," translated Shakespeare and Goethe. It was in Peredelkino where he heard the news of the Nobel Prize award for Literature in 1958.

The house is small but atmospheric. His coat is still hanging on a hook; his shoes are still by the door. On the walls, you can find lots of paintings by his father, Leonid Pasternak. If you play piano, you might even be allowed to play the original piano of the Pasternak family as the museum wants this house to be always filled with music.

Boris Pasternak's museum in Peredelkino photographed by Sam Plompen

Peredelkino Cemetery

Boris Pasternak died in his dacha on May 30, 1960. He was buried in the Peredelkino cemetery. Even though the authorities were hoping to make his funeral private and insignificant event, thousands of admirers came to pay tribute to their favorite poet and recite his poems.

Perdelkino cemetery is the final resting place of many writers and poets from Peredelkino. Here are the graves of Boris Pasternak, Korney Chukovsky, Arseny Tarkovsky – the poet and the father of the Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky. Not far from the tomb of Boris Pasternak you may find the grave of Olga Ivinskaya, who was an inspiration for the character of Lara in his novel Doctor Zhivago.

The cemetery is still a mecca for all Pasternak admirers. Thus, in 2004 the Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino while visiting Moscow, asked to take him to Peredelkino cemetery to the grave of the poet, whose poems he knew by heart from childhood, and which, greatly influenced his work.

Quentin Tarantino at Pasternak grave

The Patriarch's residence

Upon arrival at Peredelkino train station, you'll discover a stunning complex with churches, gardens, and a luxurious palace. It is the country residence of the Russian Patriarch.

An older church of Transfiguration dates to the early 19th century. Boris Pasternak admired its beauty and even dedicated poetry to this temple.

The complex was reconstructed in the 1990s to become the summer residence of the Russian Patriarch. You can only see the palace from afar, but you can visit some of the churches. The church of Igor of Chernigov resembling St. Basil's Cathedral was built recently but has become a new attraction of Peredelkino.