Memorial Museum-Estate of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov

About museum

Memorial Museum-Estate of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov consists of two estates – Vechasha and Lyubensk – and represents a corner of wonderful Russian nature, inseparably connected with the life and work of one of the geniuses of Russian culture of the 19th–20th centuries, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

The question of creating a museum-estate of the great composer on Pskov land was initiated in 1966 by the public of the Plyussky District.

On April 21, 1967 the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR issued Order No. 269 'On the organization of the museum-estate of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov – a branch of the Pushkin State Preserve.' In accordance with this document, the estates Lyubensk and Vechasha were included in the protected zone.

In 1973 the branch of the Pushkin Preserve, the Rimsky-Korsakov museum-estate, was transferred as a branch to the Pskov Museum-Preserve.

The Vechasha estate in the late 18th century belonged to D. V. Tatishchev, who received it as a gift from Catherine II. At the end of the 19th century it was acquired by Colonel Fyodor Ogaryov in the name of his wife, Sofya Mikhailovna. Beginning in 1894, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and his family rented the manor house as a dacha six times (1894, 1985, 1898, 1899, 1904, 1905).

Ogaryova's estate attracted the composer with its extensive park stretching along the shore of Lake Pesno and with the convenient location of the house – on the top of a long ridge running from east to west. The house has a terrace facing Lake Pesno, which opens onto a magnificent view. The nature of Vechasha, so dear to N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, served as a source of inspiration. Here Nikolai Andreyevich worked on the creation of the operas: 'Christmas Eve' (1894), 'Sadko' (1895), 'The Tsar's Bride' (1898), 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan' (1899), 'The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh' (1904), the textbook 'Principles of Orchestration', and the book 'Chronicle of My Musical Life'.

The Lyubensk estate is located one and a half kilometers from Vechasha. In the late 19th – early 20th centuries this estate belonged to A. V. Bukharova, who rented the Big House to the Rimsky-Korsakovs as a summer residence in 1907. In Lyubensk the composer wrote his last opera 'The Golden Cockerel'.

In the autumn of 1907 the estate was purchased in the names of the composer's younger children – Andrei, Vladimir and Nadezhda. However, the composer did not live long to be the owner of this beautiful estate. After a heart attack on the night of June 8 (21), 1908, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov died in his house in Lyubensk. After the composer's death the families of his children lived here, improving and preserving the place as a memorial to their father and the great musician.

The main group of buildings of the Lyubensk estate includes: the Big House, the family room, the stable with the coachman's room, and the icehouse. In the Big House the interiors of the study, the living room and the dining room have been recreated.