Exhibition "Varlam Shalamov — the Tragic Voice of 20th-Century Russia"

About exhibition

The memorial exhibition is conventionally divided into three sections: about the writer's childhood and youth, about his literary work, and about his tragic fate. Museum visitors can immerse themselves in the remarkable world depicted by Shalamov in his autobiographical book "The Fourth Vologda", learn about his family's life in the first quarter of the 20th century — a difficult and turbulent period for Russia: about the biographies of his father and mother, the family's stay in Alaska, and his socio-political activities throughout his life. The information displayed in the showcases also allows visitors to familiarize themselves with the interests of the young Varlam Shalamov. The exhibition contains many fascinating documents and unique photographs that also recount the writer's later fate — his time in Moscow in the 1920s and 1930s, his first and second arrests, the camps, his life and literary activity in the subsequent period, and the people who surrounded him. The creators of the exhibition attach special importance to the memorial chamber, conceived back in 1991, dedicated to the memory of all victims of the political repressions of that period.