Teleshov House

About museum

Teleshov House on Pokrovsky Boulevard is a 19th-century merchant's estate that today serves as the public center of VOOPIK for the preservation of cultural heritage. It hosts lectures, exhibitions, performances and master classes; there is a restoration workshop and a coworking space, and in the cozy area you can have a cup of tea or coffee.

The history of the House began at the end of the 18th century, when Count Fyodor Tolstoy built an estate here. After the fire of 1812 it was rebuilt by the merchant and tea trader Andrey Karzinkin, who founded an entire family dynasty. At the end of the 19th century his great-granddaughter Elena married the writer Nikolai Teleshov, and the mansion became a center of Moscow's cultural life. The famous 'Teleshov gatherings' were attended by Gorky, Bunin, Kuprin and other writers and artists of the Silver Age.

After the Revolution the house was nationalized and partly converted into communal apartments, but since the 1970s VOOPIK has been based here, thanks to which the estate was preserved. Today the Teleshov House has three permanent exhibitions: antique tiles and stucco, stamped bricks and elements of wooden architecture. Each season also features temporary exhibitions on cultural and historical themes.

Nowadays the House hosts public and non-profit organizations engaged in the preservation of cultural heritage: the Moscow regional branch of VOOPIK, the 'Konservatsiya' project, ANO 'Traditsiya', the 'Krokhino' foundation and the 'So_khranenie' laboratory.

A distinctive feature of the Teleshov House is its living continuity: for more than 200 years members of the same family have lived in the estate. On tours visitors can visit the Teleshov family's apartment and meet the keeper of family traditions — Tatyana Yuryevna, the widow of the writer's grandson.