State Memorial Historical, Art and Natural Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov

The State Memorial Historical, Art and Natural Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov is one of the few federal-level museums in Russia. This is not only a cultural gem of Tula Region, but also one of the most famous memorials in the whole country.

The State Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov includes a number of buildings located both in and out of the estate premises. The Abbey is an artist’s workshop with a large window, the Fachwerk is a shed for carpentry work, the Admiralty is a former boat shed, and many other outbuildings are of interest to those who visit the Polenov Museum today. The memorial complex includes a school in the village of Strakhovo, built by Vasily Polenov, and the Trinity Church in Bekhovo, next to which his grave is located. The Polenov reserve, known for its beauty and health-improving air, is located in the territory of two regions. In the 1960s, the grandson of Vasily Polenov, Fyodor, devoted himself to the preservation of the nature of this area. The heart of the complex is undoubtedly the Big House, the Polenov Museum, filled with collections of paintings and interior items belonging to the artist himself and four generations of his family.

In 1887, Vasily Polenov was struck by the beauty of the surroundings of the village of Bekhovo. Polenov planned to make this place a museum of his works already at the stage of buying and exchanging land. In 1892, the Big House was completed, and its furnishing began immediately. From the first days of its existence, the exposition has been open to anyone wishing to make an acquaintance with art. It was the first popular museum in the Russian countryside.

In Soviet times, the Polenov Museum in Tula Region was taken under state protection. Even during the total expropriation, the RSFSR Council of People’s Commissars granted the artist’s family the lifelong right to use the memorial estate. For almost 100 years, the Polenov Museum has been under the patronage of the descendants of the great master.

The architecture of the Big House traces the features of the Art Nouveau style fashionable in the late 19^th and early 20^th century and elements of Western provincial architecture, recreated by the artist after his trip to Europe. Such a harmonious combination of styles may, without exaggeration, be called “the Polenov style”.

The exhibition includes personal belongings of the great artist and his family members. Almost every room has furniture made according to Vasily Polenov’s sketches. Countless exhibits brought by Polenov from various travels, like paintings by foreign artists of the 14^th and 15^th centuries, archaeological finds made both by the artist himself and by his father, and weapons brought from the Serbian-Turkish War. The collection is based on the works of the owner, but you can also find paintings by his fellow artists Shishkin, Vasnetsov, and Repin, in the Big House. In the Soviet era, the exposition was supplemented by the works of Baksheyev, the Kukryniksy association, and Krymov.

Concerts and festivals are frequently held at the Polenov Museum, which you can follow on our travel portal in the Events section. Addresses and phone numbers are located in the Contacts tab. Check the ticket prices on the official website. Welcome to the Polenov Museum!