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The Estate of M.A. Sholokhov

The central structure of the Museum-Reserve is a memorial complex “The Estate of M.A. Sholokhov” in the centre of Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya, where there is a light two-storied house with a terrace and a balcony facing south, and outbuildings. A garden path leads to the bank of the River Don.

The mansion was built in 1949, instead of the old pre-war house with a mezzanine which was ruined on July, 8, 1942, during the bombardment of the stanitsa. A burst of a bomb killed the writer’s mother, Anastasiya Danilovna.

The house-museum is unique with the authenticity of each thing laid out, of the interior preserved, of everything which belonged to the Sholokhovs, which the writer touched.

On the ground floor there is a hall, a study and reception-room, a dining-room, where all the family gathered.

A study on the first floor is a big light room with a balcony door and windows looking south. Next to it there is a “hunting” room, where all the family prepared for hunting or fishing expeditions.

As well, on the first floor there is a small study of the writer, where he used to work over his manuscripts. Just here the writer created his second book of the novel “Virgin Soil Upturned”, the story “The Fate of a Man”, worked over the chapters of the novel “They Fought for Their Country”.

At the estate, an orchard was restored, an outbuilding with a cellar and icehouse, a garage and an outhouse with a Russian stove are preserved unchanged. In 2003, an exhibition was set up in the garage to display the automobiles which served for M.A. Sholokhov in different times.

In the garden of the Memorial Estate there are tombs of the great writer and his wife. Fresh flowers are always laid on the tombs of Mikhail Alexandrovich and Mariya Petrovna.

The name of Sholokhov is always alive, it hasn’t sunk into oblivion. And here, in his Estate, it is perceived more clearly than in any other place.