Petersburg of Anna Akhmatova

The poetess moved here to live with her new husband, art critic Nikolai Punin, in 1924. Before that, “homeless” Akhmatova found her corner here for thirty years. After parting with Punin in 1938, she simply changed rooms and stayed in the Fountain House.

The difficult years of deprivation, terror, and ban on publications ended with a creative flourishing for Akhmatova in 1940, when she had written more than thirty works. Many of them were memorized by friends for preservation, because the manuscripts were unreliable at the time. Akhmatova returned to the same apartment after being evacuated in 1944, and her son Lev Gumilyov, who had returned from the war, settled in the next room.

The modern exposition of the museum recreates the meager environment of their lives. However, the walls are decorated with priceless portraits of Anna Akhmatova by Lev Bruni, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Zinaida Serebryakova. Another part of the exhibition is devoted to her literary work. In the courtyard of the Fountain House there is a unique monument — a plank stand built by Anna Akhmatova's son after her death.