Today our "Where to Go" column takes us to the Chekhov museum-reserve: what to see at Melikhovo in May?
"Everything here is in miniature: a little avenue of lime trees, a pond the size of an aquarium, a little garden and park, little trees, but you stroll about a time or two, look closely, and the impression of smallness vanishes." So Anton Chekhov described the Melikhovo estate in a letter to his publisher Alexey Suvorin. He had bought it in 1892 from Nikolai Sorokhtin, a scene painter of the Hermitage Theatre. Here the writer spent seven exceptionally fruitful years: he wrote some forty works, among them The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, which have never left the stages of the world.
The main house has been recreated, while the memorial one has not survived, and it has recently reopened its doors after reconstruction, refreshed and prettier than before. Photographs, items of clothing and furnishings are kept here.
The lodge where The Seagull was written is the pearl of the museum. Chekhov often escaped here from noisy company to be alone with himself and to work. He called it a toy, so charming did the little house turn out to be, from a design by his friend the architect Fyodor Shekhtel.
The museum's exhibitions include "Chekhov's Drawings", a graphic portrait of Anton Pavlovich with a study of his handwriting and signature, as well as the inter-museum exhibition "Levitan and Chekhov: The Poetics of Landscape".
The ideal end to a walk around the estate may be a performance at the "Melikhovo Spring" theatre festival, which runs here until 31 May. It presents productions from around the world based on Chekhov's works and, this year, also on Mikhail Bulgakov, in honour of his anniversary.
