The famous poet Anna Akhmatova lived in a flat on the second floor of the Sheremetevsky Palace during the majority of her life and wrote many of her famous literary works here. The museum celebrating her life opened in 1989 for the 100th year anniversary of Akhmatova's birth and under no censorship restrictions, not only does the museum retell her life, but it illustrates how the intelligentsia continued to live and work in a totalitarian state.
The poet is most famous for chronicling the suffering and hardship endured by the city during the Stalin's terror and during WW2. On display are many of her personal belongings, photos, written works, manuscripts and the original furniture found in the flat. Although it is a small space, consisting of only 4 rooms, it is rich in detail and really opens your eyes to the difficulties that she suffered to continue working as a poet in such tough circumstances.
Photo by Express To Russia Staff
Also in the museum is a section dedicated to her son. You can see some examples of care packages that Akhmatova sent to her son whilst he was imprisoned. Furthermore there is a reconstructed study of Joseph Brodsky, who was expelled from the Soviet Union a few years after Akhmatova died. It was common knowledge that he befriended her and she offered to help him with his underground work.
This is a truly emotive museum, full of interesting memorabilia not just relating to Akhmatova and her fellows, but also to the complicated period of time that she secretly circulated her work.
