Museum-Reserve "Towel Factory"

The memorial historical, architectural and natural museum-reserve “Tolotny Zavod” was opened on June 4, 1999, to the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin. The exposition of the museum is located on the second main floor of the three-storey Goncharov house and has 13 halls. On the first floor there is a village library, on the third there is a children's art school named after N.N. Goncharova.

The formation of the estate complex took place in the first half of the XVIII century under Afanasia Abramovich Goncharov - great-great-grandfather N.N. Goncharova-Pushkina. The main feature of this estate was that it was formed on the territory with an industrial complex, where the buildings of the sailing-cloth and paper manufactories were organically combined with the palace-like house of the Goncharovs, the Church of the Transfiguration, the Horse Yard, parks, greenhouses, ponds and other objects.

The main manor house was built in the 30s of the XVIII century. Unfortunately, there are no documents from which it would be possible to know the name of his architect, but there is an assumption that he could be the great B. Rastrelli. Initially, the house had only two floors, was dark red with snow-white details of lush baroque decor. In the 40-50s. it was repainted in azure color, and in the 70s. rebuilt in the style of the then dominant in architecture classicism. The reconstruction of the house was carried out according to the project of the Moscow architect K.I. Blanc. By the end of the XVIII century it was a three-storey house of light color with risalites on the main facades. This is how this house was seen in the 30s of the XIX century by A.S. Pushkin, who came to the Plant. The Goncharov estate was one of the largest in size and the richest in decoration of Russian estates.

In 1918, the main house of the estate was nationalized, and furnishings were sent for storage in the Kaluga provincial historical (now local history) museum. For several decades of Soviet power, the house was a secondary school, and courses were operated to improve the skills of workers in the writing industry.

A tragic milestone in the history of the Goncharov estate was the Great Patriotic War. In October 1941, the Plant was occupied by German fascist troops. On the first day of the occupation, the estate was almost completely destroyed by fire. From the magnificent palace there was only a skeleton. The following decades continued to have a devastating impact.

The decision to restore the estate was taken by the Kaluga Oblast Executive Committee in October 1967. The first restoration work began in 1972 under the leadership of the Moscow architect V.A. Zhilina, the great-great-granddaughter of Sergei Nikolaevich Goncharov (younger brother N.N. Pushkina). Then the restoration was continued by architects V.A. Korchagin and A.A. Kondratiev. In June 1999, a museum was opened in the main manor house.

Working days:

Tuesday - Sunday, from 9:30 to 18:00, without lunch.

The ticket office is open until 17.30.
Weekend is Monday; sanitary day is the last Wednesday of the month.