House-Museum of N.A. Nekrasov

The district center Chudovo is associated with the work of the poet N. A. Nekrasov. Nikolai Alekseevich acquired an estate with a beautiful name Chudovskaya Luka. The estate is located on the bank of the Kerest River, which flows into the Volkhov. In the center of the estate, surrounded by an old garden, stands a wooden house of two floors. In this house the great Russian poet in the seventies of the nineteenth century repeatedly lived in the summer. Nekrasov did not come to rest in Chudovo himself, but with his beloved wife Zinaida Nikolaevna, whom he affectionately called Zinochka. Nikolai Alekseevich liked life in the estate, it allowed him to distract from work in the magazine and at least for a short time forget about the cruel censorship.

In the summer of 1874 he lived in Chudovsky Luki for two months. It was during this period that a cycle of eleven poems was born, later called the Chudov cycle. During his life in the estate, the poet constantly traveled to Chudovo and the surrounding villages. These trips allowed Nekrasov to get acquainted with the life and living conditions of ordinary peasants. Subsequently, the material he received was used to write such works as “The Fire”, “The Railway” and, of course, the immortal “Elegy”.

In the "Railroad" was so accurately conveyed the life of the common people, full of hardships and hardships that the tsarist censorship twice warned the editors of the magazine "Contemporary", which published this work. The magazine was subsequently closed. This event happened in 1866.

On trips, Nekrasov’s wife was always there, even on the hunt, in which Zinaida took part on an equal basis with men. Chudovskaya hunting was reflected by Nekrasov in the work “Dearness”.

The local peasants loved Nikolai Alekseevich, because he held with them simply, on an equal footing. “He is not a master,” said the peasants. Adored Nekrasov with his wife and peasant children, whom the Nekrasov couple repeatedly invited to his estate for holidays.

The wonderful atmosphere prevailing in the Chudovsky bows caused a creative upsurge in the poet, and he wrote about a thousand lines during the two summer months of 1874. In Miracle, he wrote poems “Traveler”, “The Terrible Year”, “Departing”, “The Prophet” and others.

But sometimes there were dramas in Chudovsky bows. So, on the hunt, Nekrasov’s dog Kado accidentally died. Nekrasov loved his dog very much, for him her death was a real blow. Cado was buried at the estate. A granite slab was placed on the grave. Nikolai Alekseevich stood beside her for a long time.

At the end of 1877, Nikolai Alekseevich, briefly ill, died. By inheritance, the estate passed to Nekrasov’s brother Konstantin and his sister Anna. In 1892, an agricultural school was opened on the estate, which lasted until 1906. During epidemics, a hospital was opened in the room. During the war, during the occupation, a German barracks were located here, and the garden was cut down.

By the hundred-fiftieth anniversary, a museum was opened in the estate, and in 2004 the appearance of the estate was restored in its original form. Museum workers also removed modern objects from the rooms and returned furniture used directly by N. A. Nekrasov. Near the house, presumably, on the site of the tomb of Kado, a sculpture of bronze “N. A. Nekrasov with a dog” was installed.

On the territory of the estate, next to the house - museum, there is a scientific and cultural center, where documents and photo materials related to the period of Nekrasov's stay in Chudovo are collected.

Every year in Chudovo there is a poetic holiday, which attracts participants and guests from the near abroad and Russia.