St. Petersburg’s Pushkin Museum is really all about a tabloid story.
Pretty mother of four, Natalia Goncharova, is seen flirting with a foreigner – the military and moustachioed D’Anthes. Meanwhile, hubby Pushkin has received one of those anonymous, ‘Dear Cuckold’ letters.
Our poet has no choice but to challenge the philandering Frenchman to a fatal duel. It’s the moment when Pushkin comes to shove.
The Pushkin House museum documents the timeline to tragedy. But it also leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Was Natalia really a slapper? Did she sleep with d’Anthes or not? And why doesn’t the Pushkin’s huge apartment have a kitchen or a loo? Not to worry, there’s a cafe with cream cakes on the ground floor, just past the room where Alexander spent his last agonising hours.
Police today might write this up as domestic argument and even suspect Natalia of putting the boys up to it. Pushkin was close to bankruptcy most of the time. His publishing ventures were wobbly. Worse, he pawned quite a lot of Natalia’s stuff to pay the rent. (The rental agreement – which must have given the couple a few sleepless nights – is one of the exhibits.) So, not a Russian girl’s dream.
Though little is known about Goncharova’s lovers, Pushkin certainly had a loose trouser belt. He entered all his (37) conquests in a special ‘bonking book’. To say he wasn’t very bright about women would be an understatement. One girl, Karolina Sobanskaya, only dated him to report on his movements to the Tsar’s secret police. Pushkin also proposed unsuccessfully to a few other girls before Natalia – and her parents with-held consent for a couple of years hoping for a suitor with more valuta.
Other literary commentators, such as Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetayeva, firmly blame the marriage breakdown on Natasha. They say she had little interest in his life or poetry since his scribbling didn’t really support her shopping. Hmmm, Russian girls haven’t changed much over the years.
The apartment museums are something St Petersburg does brilliantly. Audio guides (in various languages) give plenty of slice of life docu and there’s a stunning collection of memorabilia. On display here is The Last Waistcoat Pushkin Ever Wore. No hole in it though as he was shot in the hip and lower abdomen.
Pushkin’s study is one of the busier rooms in the apartment. Seems like he pawned more of her stuff than his.
| Address: | 12, Naberezhnaya Reki Moyki, 191186 | |
| Metro: | Nevsky Prospekt or Gostiny Dvor | |
| Telephone: | +7 (812) 311-3531, +7 (812) 314-0006 | |
| Fax: | +7 (812) 311-3801 | |
| Open: | Wednesday to Monday, 10:40 am to 5 pm | |
| Closed: | Tuesday and the last Friday of each month |
