The apartment museums in St Petersburg are like time capsules. History comes out of the walls and you absorb it effortlessly just by walking through the rooms or gazing at an old photograph on top of a piano.
Such a museum is the Elizarov apartment in St Petersburg, preserved exactly as it was in the 1920s. It belonged to Lenin’s sister Anna who was married to Mark Elisarov. Mark had been a friend of Sasha, Lenin’s elder brother who was hanged by the Tsar as a terrorist. It had fallen to Lenin to break the news of Sasha’s death to his mother – a catalysing moment for the revolutionary.
No 52 Shirokaya was famously the scene of Lenin’s homecoming from years as a fugitive in Europe – a life of forged papers, coded knocks on doors and meals cooked on a portable stove in dismal rented rooms.
When news of the revolution reached Lenin in 1917 he immediately cabled his sister Anna from Zurich: ‘Leaving Wednesday. Arriving Monday 11 P M. Inform Pravda.’
This is the apartment which Anna and Lenin’s younger sister Maria readied for Lenin’s return. Lenin and Nadya shared this room – albeit with separate beds. Their marriage had effectively ceased in Europe as a result of Lenin’s long affair with Inessa Armand.
According to Michael Pearson, ‘the arrival of Lenin and Nadya had required a change in the family’s living arrangements. Maria had moved into the same room as her sister. Mark had a bed set up in his study. This was to be Lenin’s home for some weeks until it was no longer safe for him to remain in the city. In the living room was a chess table, fitted with a secret drawer which had long been a hiding place for the more incriminating documents and which had survived many police raids.’
Besides being a treasure trove of Lenin trivia – you’ll find his glasses in the drawer and his suitcase in the hall – there’s also lots of bric a brac for people who prefer flea markets to musea. Oil lamps, samovars and an old two-button telephone, one of the first in St Petersburg. Although Lenin lost his title to Leningrad, Shirokaya has been renamed Ulitsa Lenina – many give the address of the apartment incorrectly.
Address: Ulitsa Lenina #52, Sixth Floor. Metro Petrogradskaya. Phone: (812) 235-3778. Opened: 10.00 – 18.00, closed on Wednesdays and Sundays.
