Literature and Art museum of Sakhalin Island, the book  by A. P. Chekhov

Sakhalin Oblast
Mira Prospect 104, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Oblast
Phones: +7 (4242) 43—66—36
Web site: chekhov-book-museum.ru

The museum collection includes the collections "Painting", "Graphics", "Written sources", "Photographic materials", "Numismatics / Faleristics", "Household items and decorative and Applied arts", "Sculpture" and has about 14.5 thousand items of storage. Among them are authentic things of the Chekhov family: a travel bag, medical needles, a straight razor, tongs for chopping sugar, a lamp, a basin for making jam. The museum's collections contain a letter from A. P. Chekhov to O. I. Cherepova-Orlovskaya, drawings and paintings by artists S. M. and S. S. Chekhov, as well as the largest collection of editions of the book by A. P. Chekhov. Chekhov's "Sakhalin Island" in Russian and foreign languages. The museum's collection contains copies of all the census cards filled out by A. P. Chekhov (more than 7,5 thousand), and a copy of the draft manuscript of the book "Sakhalin Island".

Today, the museum has two permanent exhibitions: "Man and Sakhalin through the eyes of Anton Chekhov" and "Sakhalin Island: Open Final". They present the history of the convict Sakhalin, depicted by A. P. Chekhov, and the life of the book "Sakhalin Island" in the theater, museum and scientific space.

The museum began its existence in 1989 as a public organization established by the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Executive Committee. It was opened in September 1995 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. One of the initiators of the creation and the first director of the museum – Georgy Ilyich Miromanov. In 2013, the museum moved from Kurilskaya Street to a new building on Mira Ave. with an area of 1884 sq. m.

The decision to cross the country to visit Sakhalin came from Anton Chekhov’s lengthy musings and quest for inspiration. The writer was enthusiastic about creating a detailed account of his exhausting trip, which resulted in a book – Sakhalin Island – an encyclopedia of life on Sakhalin.

The Museum conducts guided tours on the route Chekhov volodymyrivka – post Nibouche and volodymyrivka – post Korsakov. The weekend route introduces the main settlements of the south of the island, visited by A. P. Chekhov in the autumn of 1890, and is in great demand among residents and visitors of the city.