LYCEE (MEMORIAL MUSEUM)

A branch of the All-Russia Pushkin Museum
2 ulitsa Sadovaya 188620 Pushkin
Open: 10.30am - 4.30pm
Closed: Tuesdays and the last Friday of every month
Tel. 470-7792, 476-6411
By public transport: Train from Vitebsk station ('Kupchino' platform) to Detskoye Selo

A lycee for sons of the nobility was founded in Tsarskoye Selo in 1811. Its pupils were educated at the expense of the State. Once a wing (1789-92, architect Ilya Neyelov) of the Catherine Palace, the building was reconstructed in 1811 by Vasily Stasov to accommodate the lycee.

Many outstanding statesmen, public figures, writers and scientists graduated from the lycee, including the diplomat and later chancellor, Alexander Gorchakov, Admiral Fedor Matiushkin, the Decembrists, Ivan Pushchin and Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, and the poet Anton Delvig. One of its first pupils, the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin studied in the lycee from 1811 to 1817, and wrote his first poetic works in Tsarskoye Selo, largely inspired by the local scenery. In 1900, in the garden nearby the lycee, a statue of Pushkin was erected by Roman Bach.

A memorial museum was opened i n the lycee in 1949, on the 150th anniversary of Pushkin's birth. Following the reconstruction of the lycee from 1966-74, the building regained the appearance it had had in Pushkin's time. The main staircase, Great Hall, library, classrooms, studies and dormitories have all been restored. The materials on display focus on Pushkin's lycee years, his teachers and fellow pupils. The museum contains two permanent exhibitions: "The Tsarskoye Selo Lycee - Masters and Pupils" and "I exist", devoted to the life and work of the poet Gavrila Derzhavin.

The museum holds lectures and concerts. Every year, on 19 October, Lycee Day is celebrated