Alexander Blok Apartment Museum
Located in the historic Kolomna district of St. Petersburg on the bank of the Pryazhka River, this apartment building was the home of Alexander Blok and his family from 1912 until his death in 1921. Born in St. Petersburg in 1880 to a family of academics, Blok studied law and then philology at St. Petersburg University, and began to publish verse and drama while still an undergraduate.
By the time he moved to the fourth-floor apartment, Blok was established as the most prominent proponent of symbolism in Russia, beloved by fashionable youth for his combination of spiritual inquiry, mysticism, romantic imagery, and grim realism. Blok was initially enthusiastic about the October Revolution, but was one of the first artists to become disillusioned, thanks in part to the negative reception of his revolutionary masterpiece, the long narrative poem The Twelve (1918). The poem's publication marked the beginning of his troubles with the Bolshevik authorities and his ill health, which culminated with his death from an inflamed cardiac valve.
The apartment (No. 21) is an orthodox house museum containing the artefacts of the poet and his family, including the study where he wrote most of his most celebrated works. On the second floor of the building, in the flat where Blok's mother lived and where the poet in fact died, is a new exhibition that charts his poetic development and the Petrograd literary scene during his career. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions connected to the poet and his circle, and occasional concerts of chamber music.
| Location: | 57, Ulitsa Dekabristov |
|---|---|
| Metro: | Admiralteyskaya, Nevsky Prospekt, Sennaya Ploshchad / Sadovaya / Spasskaya (then by marshrutka minibus No. 1) |
| Telephone: | +7 (812) 713-8631, +7 (812) 713-8616 |
| Open: | Daily from 11am to 6pm (to 5pm on Tuesdays). Ticket office closes one hour before the museum. |
| Closed: | Wednesdays |
| Website: | http://www.spbmuseum.ru/themuseum/museum_complex/blok_museum/ |
| Admission: | Adult: RUB 120.00. Students: RUB 70.00 |
| Accessibility note: | Sorry, this museum is not wheelchair accessible. |
