Museum-apartment of the Rostropovich family

The museum-apartment of the Rostropovich family is located in the house in which the family of the famous musician lived during the evacuation from 1941 to 1943. This house belonged to a close friend of Mstislav Rostropovich’s mother, the godmother of her children. A graduate of the Sorbonne Elena Adolfovna Lontkevich taught foreign languages and was famous as a bright, outstanding, creative person. In the musical life of Orenburg, she tried to take an active part.

The fate of the Rostropovich family is closely connected with the house of E. A. Lontkevich. It was here that the maestro’s parents met, and in 1922 they married in Orenburg. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Rostropovich family together with their children came to Orenburg in an evacuation and settled in two rooms in the godmother’s house. Now there is a memorial museum here. Unfortunately, you will not find authentic items in the exposition, but the furnishings and interior of those years are recreated with precision.

On a massive desk, visitors see a book by Charles Dickens, which was presented to young Slava Rostropovich by the famous composer Mikhail Chulaki. He was also in Orenburg in evacuation and taught the beginning musician the basics of composition. Photos of Rostropovich's relatives are hung everywhere. The exposition of the museum acquaints visitors with the Orenburg period of the life of an outstanding musician, whose historical roots and fate are closely connected with Orenburg.