A.P. Bondin Memorial Literary Museum

About museum

The house where the Ural writer A.P. Bondin (1882–1939) lived and worked is a regional historical monument. It was built in the second half of the 19th century. The building is typical of 19th-century wooden architecture of the Middle Urals. It consisted of two single-storey houses joined under one roof. There were two apartments; one of them belonged to the Bondin family in 1935–1939. In 1942, by decision of the Nizhny Tagil City Executive Committee, a memorial plaque was placed on the house with the inscription: "In this house lived and worked the Ural writer A.P. Bondin. 1882–1939." From that time the apartment where the writer's widow and her sister lived became an unofficial museum. During the Great Patriotic War (World War II) the apartment was visited by Moscow writers M.S. Shaginyan, E.A. Permyak, Leningrader V.P. Barmin, and Sverdlovsk writers P.P. Bazhov, B.A. Dizhur, K.V. Bogolyubov, K.V. Rozhdestvenskaya, E.E. Khorinskaya, B.S. Ryabinin. Throughout all these years the writer's widow, Aleksandra Samuilovna, carefully preserved his archive. In addition, biographical documents, photographs and memoirs of people who knew the writer were collected. In 1982, on the centenary of A.P. Bondin's birth, the museum building was repaired and a new exhibition was created by T.N. Petrukhina, head of the department of literary-ethnographic exhibitions, and S.I. Petrova, head of the branch. The Nizhny Tagil railway division (NOD-5), where the writer had once worked, took an active part in the reconstruction. In the memorial part — the Bondin house — the living room and the writer's study were recreated as they had been during his lifetime; in the former neighbors' section a new exhibition 'Life and Works of A.P. Bondin' and a permanent exhibition 'History of the Literary Life of Nizhny Tagil' were installed. In 1993 the exhibition was reconstructed, which expanded two themes: A.P. Bondin's work and the literary life of Nizhny Tagil. The reconstruction was carried out by M.A. Boykova, head of the A.P. Bondin Memorial Literary Museum. The A.P. Bondin Museum is one of the centers of literary life in Nizhny Tagil; since 1992 members of the literary studio 'Stupeni' ('Steps') have met within its walls, from which many talented poets emerged. A children's literary salon operates. Temporary exhibitions are held.