Russian Parnassus or what is interesting about Ostafyevo estate

A palace with white columns dominates the picturesque courtyard, with whispering leaves instead of the city noise. We see Ostafyevo State Museum Estate/ Russian Parnassus — a symbol of the Ryazanovsky settlement. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Troitsky and Novomoskovsky Districts, we will tell you why the estate is referred to as Russian Parnassus, where you can take beautiful pictures, and why this place attracts poetry and history lovers.

Palace, health resort, and museum

The architectural and park ensemble of the estate takes up almost 38 hectares. A wide path leads from the front entrance to the main manor house along the dam across the Lyubucha River. Snow-white colonnades connect the building with the western and the eastern wings. The roof of the palace is decorated with a remarkable belvedere. We see an example of an estate near Moscow of the late 18th — early 19th centuries.

“Ostafyevo estate has a rich history. In the 19th century, it was a gathering place for prominent writers and poets. Vasily Zhukovsky and Nikolai Gogol stayed here, Alexander Pushkin also was a frequent guest. Legend has it, he was the one who called this place Russian Parnassus. The poet believed that just like the sacred mountain of Apollo the estate is home to muses,” Yury Yevtyukhin, Director of Ostafyevo State Museum Estate/ Russian Parnassus, told mos.ru

The estate began to acquire its modern look in 1792, when Ostafyevo was bought by Prince Andrey Vyazemsky. By 1807, the palace and the park ensemble were constructed here. By that time, the estate was inherited by Pyotr, the son of Andrey Vyazemsky, then it passed down to his grandson Pavel in 1865, and later to his great-grandson Pyotr. At the end of the 19th century, Count Sergei Sheremetev became the owner of the estate. In 1899, he established a museum of its historical and literary heritage. Count Sheremetev Museum is one of the first public museums in Russia associated with the name of Alexander Pushkin.

After the revolution, the estate was nationalized and the Museum of Noble Life was established in the palace. It was regularly visited by a large number of people until 1930. The decision was made then to open a pioneer camp in the building. The exhibition was closed, the collections handed over to more than 20 institutions. But the pioneer camp was open only one summer, a government recreation center taking its place.

The estate served as a hospital since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. It housed an elite recreation center of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from 1947 to become a museum again in 1988. The museum in Ostafyevo first served as a branch of the Pushkin State Museum and received a federal status in 1994.

The office of the historian and sculptor from the past

Ostafyevo Museum Estate has four permanent and five temporary exhibitions. The museum displays memorabilia of the Vyazemsky and Sheremetev families, as well as authentic household items of the 18th-19th centuries.

One of the museum’s first exhibits, the bust of an Amazon, opens the main exhibition. This garden sculpture was found underground during the upgrading of the estate. Experts believe that it was deliberately hidden when the exhibits were removed from the museum. This is how the sculpture survived to this day.

“Large wooden angels dating back to over 400 years ago are also of interest. They were acquired by the third owner of the estate, Pavel Vyazemsky. Now the angels, which apparently belonged to a catholic church in Germany, hold candlesticks in their hands, but originally there were crosses. Their original purpose is indicated by their flat and unfinished backs. It’s highly likely that they were attached to a wall or had wings. Interestingly, these candlesticks are also made of wood,” says Ekaterina Borisovskaya, the Museum Estate’s guide.

As old as they are, the wooden angels are not the earliest exhibits of the museum. In the library, there are almost unnoticeable pieces of ancient sculptures on the top of a big cabinet — marble heads of Jupiter, Dionysus, and Hercules, as well as the bust of Aphrodite. This part of the collection belongs to the ancient artifacts of Andrey Vyazemsky. They are dated to the 1st–2nd centuries AD.

On the second floor of the building is a large exhibition dedicated to an outstanding person — Nikolay Karamzin. He lived in the estate for 12 years (from 1804 to 1816) and wrote 8 out of 12 volumes of his History of the Russian State here. The writer’s study where he created his monumental work is open for visitors.

History lovers will find another interesting exhibition in the Museum Estate. A separate building houses the only Cabinet of Medals in Russia. There are about 20,000 commemorative medals featuring Russian rulers, military leaders, historians, writers, and poets. The oldest ones are from 300 years ago. The exhibits include copper medals with Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Nikolay Karamzin, Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky and others.

A place where families are started

When visiting the palace, one cannot go past its crown jewel — the oval hall. Almost 200 years ago, it welcomed the highest society during magnificent balls. Today, it is not just a room in the museum. As part of the New Addresses of Happiness project by the Moscow Mayor, it is now a  marriage registration venue. Newlyweds walk through the front door, the main staircase is covered with a carpet runner.

“This place attracts newlyweds by its incredible beauty and solemnity. Visitors are staggered by the looks of the oval hall with its light-pink walls, semi-columns made of artificial marble, its light and space. But most importantly, by the fact that they can get married where Alexander Pushkin and members of the Vyazemsky family once danced at the ball,” says Ekaterina Borisovskaya.

After the ceremony, the couples can have a photoshoot in the hall or outside with the palace in the background. They can also walk to the pond. There they will see a row of beautiful wooden boats and seagulls hovering above the water.

“TiNAO residents had the opportunity to get married at the venue almost at the very start of the project in 2019. The beautiful 18th-century estate is very popular, marriage ceremonies take place almost every Friday or Saturday. For the 2022 wedding season, all the dates in Ostafyevo are booked until late in September. Based on couples' reviews, it’s safe to say that the Ostafyevo estate is the most popular location for photoshoots among newlyweds in the district,” said Svetlana Ukhaneva, Acting Head of the Moscow Civil Registry.

Two hundred couples have got married in Ostafyevo this year, with more than 750 couples registered here since 2019.

Reviving the legacy

In 2017, the estate restoration project won the Moscow Restoration competition. It took 16 years of painstaking work to restore the façade of the palace and the interiors of the main house according to archival documents, old photographs and a watercolor which dates back to 1817 that has survived to this day.

“During the Soviet period, the palace underwent a number of significant changes that ruined the style of strict classicism. Some of the palace’s lost exterior elements were restored, with layers of later periods removed. Staircases in the inner corners of avant-corpses from the park façade as well as the main staircase and the porch of the southern façade were reconstructed. The colonnades, glazed while the palace housed a recreation center, were opened. Dismantled due to its dilapidation in the 1860s, the belvedere became the vertical dominant and the main decoration of the palace,” said Irina Reznikovskaya, chief architect of Ostafyevo State Museum Estate/ Russian Parnassus.

According to her, the oval hall was preserved better than other rooms. Six doors of the hall leading to the park were restored. They had been converted into windows in the 1930s. A moulded ceiling cornice, which was modified in the same period, was recreated based on historical pictures. The bases and capitals of the semi-columns, as well as the artificial marble of the walls and semi-columns, were restored.

Not only the palace was transformed during the restoration, but the surrounding territory as well. Regular and landscape parks, Pedion Areos were recreated in the estate, coniferous and linden groves of quincunx were planted. Five monuments were also restored here, the Temple of Apollo arbor and the wooden humpback bridge were brought back. Big Pond was equipped with a boat station.

From the viewing point of the reconstructed eastern porch adjacent to the wing of the palace, one can see how the sun sets behind the pond in the evening. Meadows and glades in the estate were greened. In summer, under the crown of 200-year-old Karamzin oaks, thyme blooms resembling a lilac cloud. Its flowers look like a lavender filed from a distance. On warm days, families take beautiful pictures with them in the background. One can also have a picnic in the estate. Those who seek a quiet retreat will enjoy Pedion Areos where they can see red squirrels.

The park is open daily 8 AM -11 PM (entry until 10 PM). You can get to the estate by car, or by public transport from Buninskaya Alleya and Ulitsa Gorchakova metro stations or from Shcherbinka MCD-2 station.