ANNA AKHMATOVA MUSEUM AT THE FOUNTAIN HOUSE

 Anna Akhmatova is acclaimed in St. Petersburg not simply as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century but also as the foremost chronicler of the suffering and hardship endured by the city during the Stalinist Terror and the Second World War. For this reason, her former apartment in part of the Sheremetev Palace on the Fontanka Embankment is held in particular reverence, and houses one of the most emotionally moving museums in St. Petersburg.

One of the oldest palaces in St. Petersburg, this noble residence (which was nicknamed 'the Fountain House') was built in 1750 on land given by Peter I to Field-Marshal Count Boris Sheremetev in 1712. Until the October Revolution, it was home to five generations of the Count's descendants. Akhmatova's second husband, the poet and orientalist Vladimir Shileiko, tutored the last Count's children, and after the family fled she lived with him for two years in his lodgings in the northern wing of the palace. The apartment in the southern wing, which now houses the museum, was assigned to her third husband, the art historian Nikolai Punin, and Akhmatova lived there until her death in 1966.

As well as the poet's artefacts and original furniture, the museum's displays include thematic installations which trace Akhmatova's life featuring photographs, artwork, sculpture, and original manuscripts. Separate sections of the museum are dedicated to Akhmatova's son, the controversial historian Lev Gumiliev, and to Joseph Brodsky. The latter befriended Akhmatova in her later life, and is widely considered her literary heir. He is commemorated here with a creative reconstruction of his study in South Hadley, Massachusetts, featuring videos of interviews with the poet. The museum also has two exhibition halls for temporary art exhibitions (usually by contemporary local artists) which often spill out into the building's garden.

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/anna-akhmatova-museum-at-the-fountain-house/