In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

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Memorable places associated with the prototypes of literary characters and the literary characters themselves from works of Russian literature.

Jermaine

The Romance of Count Arakcheev and Nastasya Minkina – Two of the Most Cruel People of Their Era

4VWJ+PH Gruzino, Novgorod Oblast, Russia

Russia: Lost Monuments

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

"—…Madam Minkina, oh how beautiful! A bit nervous. Why on earth burn the maid’s face with curling tongs! Of course, under these circumstances, they’ll be killed!.."

Jermaine

Lions from the Bronze Horseman

Admiralteysky Ave, 12, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190000

Petersburg: Stories, Legends, and Myths

Petersburg: Unusual Monuments and Places

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Where above the elevated porch, With a raised paw, as if alive, Stand two guardian lions,

Jermaine

Blokovskaya "Stranger" - Ozerki Station

Ozerki, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197375

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok

Russia: Lost Monuments

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Petersburg: Lost Architectural Monuments

“In the evenings above the restaurants, the hot air is wild and deaf…” Who isn’t familiar with these lines from the famous Blok poem *The Stranger*? Under the poem, there is a note: “April 24, 1906, Ozerki.” It is commonly believed that the poet wrote it in the station restaurant in Ozerki. But where exactly? In this popular summer suburb, there were two stations: one on the Finland railway line, the other on the Ozerki branch of the Primorskaya (Sestroretskaya) railway…

Jermaine

The Suicide Pharmacy of Blok

Chkalovskaya metro station, Admiral Lazarev Embankment, 24, BC "Trinity", Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197110

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Night, street, lamp, pharmacy, Meaningless and dim light. Live for another quarter of a century — Everything will be the same. There is no way out.

Jermaine

The House of the Queen of Spades

Malaya Morskaya St., 10-4, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

Petersburg: Stories, Legends, and Myths

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

In every corner stood porcelain shepherdesses, a dining clock made by the renowned Leroy, little boxes, tape measures, fans, and various ladies' toys invented at the end of the past century along with the Montgolfier balloon and Mesmer's magnetism. Hermann went behind the screens. Behind them stood a small iron bed; to the right was a door leading to the study; to the left, another — to the corridor. Hermann opened it and saw a narrow, winding staircase that led to the room of the poor ward... A. Pushkin. The Queen of Spades

Jermaine

Oh, don’t believe this Nevsky Prospect!

Nevsky Ave., 38, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

St. Petersburg of Nikolai Gogol

Petersburg: Stories of Nevsky Prospect

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Всё обман, всё сон, всё не так, как кажется!

Jermaine

The Story of Noses or Nose No. 1

Voznesensky Ave, 36, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

St. Petersburg of Nikolai Gogol

Petersburg: The Three Noses of Major Kovalev

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

The nose was intercepted on the way to Riga.

Jermaine

Raskolnikov's House - Crime and Punishment

Grazhdanskaya St., 19/5, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is commonly believed that "Raskolnikov's house" is house No. 5, the corner building at the intersection of Srednyaya Meshchanskaya and Stolyarny Lane. Today, this is 19/5 Grazhdanskaya Street (the corner of Grazhdanskaya St. and Przhevalsky St.). In the mid-19th century, this house belonged to one of the heirs of the carriage master Joachim and was five stories tall (now, after major renovations, it is four stories). From the archway, you need to turn immediately to the right; at the corner, there is a door to the staircase described in the novel.

Jermaine

The Old Pawnbroker’s House – Crime and Punishment

Griboedov Canal Embankment, 104d, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The old pawnbroker’s house is located on the embankment of the Griboedov Canal. The character killed by Rodion Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s novel *Crime and Punishment*, Alyona Ivanovna, who was engaged in usury, lived there. The address of the old pawnbroker has been the subject of many years of searches and discussions among researchers of the novel’s topography. Since the 1920s up to the present, various versions of the house’s location have been proposed, with most researchers considering the residential building facing three streets, located at the address: 104 Griboedov Canal Embankment, to be the one that most closely corresponds to the description in the novel.

Jermaine

Sonechka Marmeladova's House - Crime and Punishment

Griboedov Canal Embankment, 73, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Griboedov Canal Embankment 73 is the house where, according to one version, the heroine of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's novel, Sonia Marmeladova, lived. The house is on a corner, located at the end of Malaya Meshchanskaya Street, where Dostoevsky himself lived while writing the novel *Crime and Punishment*, and it faces the "ditch." The house has a characteristic "ugly" blunt corner — one of the distinctive features of Sonia Marmeladova's house.

Jermaine

Porfiry Petrovich's House - Crime and Punishment

Bolshaya Podyacheskaya St., 26, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Porfiry Petrovich is investigating the case of the murder of the moneylender Alyona Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta. Razumikhin, for the first time, brought Raskolnikov (at his own request—he said he was also a pawnbroker with the old woman and wanted to get his watch back...) to the investigator’s apartment: “Porfiry Petrovich was at home, in a robe, in very clean underwear, and in worn-out slippers. He was a man of about thirty-five years old, shorter than average height, plump and even with a belly, clean-shaven, without a mustache or sideburns, with closely cropped hair on a large round head, somehow especially prominently rounded at the back.”

Jermaine

Russian Tristan and Isolde – punishment for the "vile abomination"

Nevsky Ave., 16, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

Petersburg: Stories, Legends, and Myths

Petersburg: Stories of Nevsky Prospect

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

The story began on a May day in 1851, when a carriage pulled up to the "English Shop." Lavinia, who had flown out of the store, disappeared into it, and the horses galloped at full speed along Nevsky.

Jermaine

The Island and Château d'If – a Terrifying Prison with a 200-Year History

Embarcadère Frioul If, 1 Quai de la Fraternité, 13001 Marseille, France

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

World: Prison Islands, Active and Historical

The Château d'If – a fortress located on the eponymous island and famous thanks to Dumas' work – is situated just a mile from Marseille and is clearly visible from the city’s waterfront. Since the late 16th century, the castle has been used for isolating and guarding particularly dangerous criminals. It was from that time that the fort received the name Château d'If. The dungeons housed Huguenots, politicians, leaders of the Paris Commune, as well as individuals who posed a threat to France.

Jermaine

Head of a Knight (Sculpture at the Spring or Adam's Head)

Boulder "Adam's Head," Oranienbaum Highway, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 198504

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Imperial Parks: Sergievka, Sobstvennaya Dacha, and Ropsha

Head (or Sculpture at the Spring) — a sculpture by an unknown artist, carved into a giant granite boulder and located on the territory of the former Leuchtenberg estate in Peterhof. It is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance.

Jermaine

Monument to Leo Tolstoy and Hadji Murat

JH4C+F2 Tsalkita, Republic of Dagestan, Russia

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

Hadji Murat, the real-life hero of Tolstoy's work, was an Avar leader and a naib of Imam Shamil. But over time, the relationship between the two military leaders deteriorated; Shamil began to suspect Hadji Murat because of his growing popularity. They had a quarrel, and Hadji Murat's wife and children were taken captive by Shamil. To free them from captivity, Hadji Murat switched to the Russian side. However, the Russians did not intend to help him in rescuing his family. Then Hadji Murat returned to the mountains and died in a clash with the Cossacks.

Jermaine

Cranes - Seven Fates Crippled by War

2CJ8+FF Dzuarikau, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

North Ossetia: Stories, Legends, Tragedies

They slow down. Above the gray rock by the mountain river Fiagdon, seven white cranes, touching wings, are frozen in eternal flight. The monument is dedicated to the Gazdanov brothers. One after another, Magomed, Dzarakhemet, Khadjismel, Makaerbek, Sozyrko, Shamil, and Khasanbek went to the front during the Great Patriotic War, and one of them did not return. Their mother Tasso died when the third death notice arrived. Three more times after that, the village postman knocked on their door with sorrowful news. When the seventh death notice came, he refused to deliver it to the Gazdanovs. This difficult mission was taken on by the elders. The head of the family, Asakhmat, fell dead when he saw the elders dressed all in black entering his yard…

Jermaine