Rakitsky Arboretum and House-Museum in Tarusa

About museum

In Tarusa, owned by the sole proprietor E. S. Zhdanova, there is a cultural heritage site of regional significance — the Rakitsky Arboretum and House-Museum. In 1929 the Soviet agronomist and plant collector N. P. Rakitsky established an experimental arboretum there, where he acclimatized plants from other climatic zones and assembled a unique collection of rare exotic species. Over the past fifty years the garden fell into decline, but in June 2020 the well-known Russian designer Evgenia Zhdanova purchased it. She restored the house interiors and commissioned the landscape bureau MOX to develop a project to restore the garden's plant collection. In May 2022 the Rakitsky Arboretum and House-Museum opened to the public. The site hosts guided tours, home-style tea parties, games, as well as exhibitions, concerts, theatrical performances, literary evenings and design festivals. An outdoor summer cinema is planned.