The dacha of A. P. Chekhov and O. L. Knipper in Gurzuf

About museum

The museum is located right on the seashore in a picturesque small bay called 'Chekhovskaya.' Chekhov purchased the coastal dacha in January 1900; at that time he wrote to his family: 'I bought a piece of shore with a bathing place and the Pushkin Rock near the pier and park in Gurzuf. We now own an entire little bay where a boat or a launch can be moored. The house is shabby, but roofed with tiles, four rooms, large entrance-hall. One big tree — a mulberry.' This place was a kind of 'secret' corner for the writer, where he could hide from the endless guests and admirers who surrounded him in Yalta. In search of creative solitude he would spend a few days here working on the first act of the drama 'Three Sisters.' Almost none of the writer's friends knew of the Gurzuf house. His mother, his sister Maria and the family of his brother Ivan rested here; in July–August the writer's future wife O. L. Knipper was a guest. Later the younger brother Mikhail and his family would spend the summer months at the dacha, and the elder brother Alexander would visit. During Anton Pavlovich's lifetime, aside from his close relatives, only the actress V. F. Komissarzhevskaya and the writer I. A. Bunin visited here.