Exhibition "The Green Parlor"

About exhibition

You will visit the central hall, the "Green Parlor", whose interior has been recreated based on photographs from 1916. From 1915 the house was home to Boris Zbarsky, a young scientist who managed chemical plants. At his wife's request he invited an "interesting man" — Boris Pasternak, who worked here from January to June 1916 as a clerk and cashier. In the center of the room stands a dining table covered with a linen tablecloth. Against the wall is a black piano by the German firm Ed Seiler from the early 20th century. During the first months of his time in Vsevolodo-Vilva, in February and March, Boris Pasternak would sit at the piano for hours. He spoke of music as a future profession. Those plans were not to be realized, but music would live on in his poems. The east wall of the room is decorated with black-and-white photographs — they were taken in the spring of 1916 in the manager's yard with a Kodak camera that Boris's parents had given to the homeowners as a thank-you for the warm welcome shown to their son. In this room the residents gathered for lunch and dinner, conversed, and made plans. One can imagine how cozy the parlor was in the evenings: music played, conversations were held, the poet read his verses. Years later Boris Pasternak would call his stay in this house "one of the best times of his life".