Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! You are in the Museum of Literature, a branch of the Kursk Regional Museum. It was opened on 16 of November in 2009. The exhibition, located in 8 halls, tells us about the literary life of Kursk from ancient time to nowadays.

Hall № 1

        Let us start our exhibition with a reference to the first Kursk well-known educator- of the 11th century Theodosius Pechersky, who was the founder of Russian monastic life and one of the founders of Kiev-Pecherskауа Lavra which is still situated in Kiev and is a popular place of  pilgrimage. Here we can see the installation of a monk’s cell. Perhaps Theodosius Pechersky lived and worked in a cell like this. The first works of Old Russian Literature were created in such monastery cells.

        It’s interesting to note that Kursk was mentioned in the famous literary work about ancient Russia of the 12th century "The Song of Igor's Campaign", where  the author wrote very well about  Kursk and Kursk solders:

As to my Kurskers, they are famous knights —
swaddled under war-horns,
nursed under helmets,
fed from the point of the lance;
to them the trails are familiar,
to them the ravines are known,
The bows they have are pulled  tight,
the quivers, unclosed,
the sabers, sharpened;
themselves, like gray wolves,
they lope in the field,
seeking for themselves honor,
and for their prince glory".

From the twelfth century we are moving to the seventeenth century. You might wonder, why we are making such a great leap. The thing is that two hundred and forty years of tatar-mongol yoke domination damaged Russian culture.

Kursk citizen Сильвестр Медведев left a significant imprint in the literature of the 17th century. His composition "the book indexation and who made it» signified the beginning of bibliography in the country.

Каирон Истомин is another name, his greatest achievement is an illustrated ABC book which is both visual and entertaining.

Hall №2

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen! The exhibition of this hall is devoted to the poet, translator, the member of the Russian Academy of Sciences - Ippolit Fedorovich Bogdanovich, the creator of the famous poem "Dushenka".

From 1795 to 1803 he was living in Kursk and there he was buried in the cemetery of Kherson.

Unfortunately, we know little facts about the Kursk period of the life of Bogdanovich. The most valuable memories left are the memories of our great Russian actor MICHAIL Semenovich Shchepkin, which are reflected in "Notes of actor Shchepkin".

We do need to mention, that Michael Shchepkin knew a huge amount of great, famous writers of his time: Gogol, Pushkin, Shevchenko, Belinsky and etc, as he was the real hero of that times. It's common knowledge that exactly he changed Russian theatre. He brought to our theatre new emotions and then actors and actresses played like real people not like dolls. Actor carefully studies the role, trying to do all to play the character more mentally and realistic.

Grigory Shelikhov was born in Rylsk in the little town in Kursk region. Being a  trader, an explorer, a sailor, he is a founder of the first Russian settlement in Alaska. In his book "Travels of the Russian trader Grigory Shelikhov" he described his journey to Alaska and life on the Kodiak island, for this he received the award from Catherine II. He was named as Columbus of Kursk. Our Columbus tried not to enrich Russia, but also protect its interests in the Pacific Ocean. He made new amazing plan to connect to our country new discovered lands, and their economic development and new settlements.

Another writer of that period - Ivan Ivanovich Colikov published 30 volumes "Acts of Peter the Great". Until the middle of  the XIX century they were the main source for  learning of the history of Russia of the end of the XVIII century - beginning of the XIX century.

Hall № 3

In this hall on the left we can see the installation of a merchant’s shop. These exhibits remind us of the Kursk Merchants Polevye who cared not only about profit, but also about the development of literature. They established  the magazine  "Moscow telegraph" and published folk Russian fairy tales and books on housekeeping.

Poet Vladimir Raevsky was famous not only for his poetry, but also for his political ideas. He became a soldier at the age of 17 when Russian people defended our country against Napoleon’s invasion. Then he joined the secret society, whose members protested against serfdom and monarchy. They were called Decembrists.  Finally he was arrested for preparing revolt. Raevsky was sentenced to death, but this sentence was replaced by lifelong exile in Siberia. The main topic of his poetry was not love, but  his political ideas.

Another famouse person of the  Kursk Literature is Maria Marich, Kursk’s writer who lived much later than Raevsky. In fact, she  became interested in the lives of Decembrists. She wrote the novel "Northern lights" about them. The members of this society were noble people who sacrificed their rights and status because they wanted freedom and justice for ordinary Russian people. After they were arrested and they lived the rest of their lives in harsh climate and conditions.

Hall № 4

The exposition of the following hall is devoted to the greatest Russian poet of the 19th century – Afanasiy Afanasievich Fet.  His poetic destiny has been closely connected with estate Vorobjevka Kursk province since 1876. During Vorobjevskij period Afanasiy Fet wrote some of his most brilliant poems which were included into 4 collections “Evening Lights”.

I would like to recite some of his outstanding lines.

        I have come to you to cheer

        And to tell that sun has risen,

        That its blatant light so sheer

        Trembles leaves for no reason.

I believe, that everybody knows this poem, they are like a symbol of the poetry of Fet.

Fet was visited by such famous Russian personalities  as: Lev Tolstoi, Ivan Turgenev, Peter Chaikovski and many others. There was opened a museum at Afanasij Fet’s place.

The next exhibit tells us about the residents of Kursk who belong to the Silver Age of Literature. They are a poet - Valerian Valerianovich Borodaevskiy and the literary critic Eugene Gertsyk.

Hall № 5

This is a hall devoted to Lgovsk. We do mention that there is a small town -Lgov in Kursk’s region which is connected with many talented writers and poets presented here.  One of these poets was Nikolai Aseev. The  main town’s library  is named in his honor.

Juri German went to school in Kursk and published his first stories in Kursk’s newspapers. He was a war correspondent during the war and was not afraid to report the news from the front and from battles on warships in the North.  In his novels he wrote about strong-willed people ready to sacrifice their comfort for people in need. “Kursk is a dear and beloved town for me” were his words about our town.

Moreover,  Valentin Ovechkin – another famouse writer of that age, wrote about the hard life that ordinary people had after the Second World War. He presented true facts about hardships of people working on the land.

The books by a children’s writer  Arkady Gaidar were published more than a thousand times in more than one hundred languages. “Timur and his Squad” is the most famous story which tells as about a group of children which helped people in need trying to stay unnoticed. They were like young volunteers. Gaidar worked as a correspondent  during the Second World War, and lost his life in a combat.

Alexander Krivitsky was also a war correspondent who wrote about war heroes. He was present at the signing “The act of German’s capitulation”. Here we can see some of his personal things. For example, the souvenir canon, the present from one of the hero he wrote about.

Hall № 6

We are standing in the hall dedicated to K. D. Vorobyov, the writer with a difficult life and creative destiny. According to the writer Zolotussky "Name K. Vorobyov has become a symbol of honor in literature."

He was born in the village of Nizhny Reutets Medvinsky district of the Kursk region, where he was living for only 16 years. A cadet of the Kremlin military school in 1941 he participated in the defense of Moscow; was severely wounded, was captured, was a prisoner of 6 Nazi camps and 1 prison, ran three times, fought in the guerrilla unit "Kestutis" in Lithuania before the war ended.

 Author of books: "It's us, Lord...", "Killed near Moscow", "Scream", "Gray poplar" and others. These books are dedicated to the events of the first months of the war, telling about the heroism and courage of ordinary soldiers and officers, who are former students and pupils.

After the war he lived in Lithuania, which, according to him, became his second homeland. Dreamed of returning to the homeland. It was not possible, as the way was closed for the prisoners of Nazi camps. "I'm screaming, want to Russia," he wrote in a letter to Victor Astafiev. In Russia there was refused to print him. Accused that such events didn't happen during the war. Died on the 2nd of March 1975 and was buried in Lithuania on Antokolskio cemetery.

Only since 1984 in Russia there has begun to speak about K. Vorobyov.K. Vorobyov's ashes was reburied in Kursk at the Memorial of military glory in 1995.

In 1991 he was posthumously awarded the prize after St. Sergius of Radonezh for the best literary work for children and adults ( "It's us, Lord...", "Killed near Moscow", "Scream").

In 2001 -  the prize of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

In 2009 in Kursk there was installed the monument to K. Vorobyov. It is located at the intersection of Perekalskogo and Blinov Street, in the square at the Kursk state Philharmonic society. The author is sculptor V. Bartenev.

His name is the school No. 35 in the city of Kursk, library No. 2, in his native village of Nizhny Reutets Medvinsky district there restored the house in which he lived until the age of 16, and made a Museum. There made a film "Test of immortality."

Hall № 7

This room is dedicated to a writer, who is the pride of our region, Yevgeny Nosov, a participant of the Second World War. He is the author of many stories and short novels, for which he was awarded many literary awards. The main theme of his works is the village topic - a life of ordinary man, who works on the land, the theme of nature.

Nosov wrote about war a lot. But he focused on human’s emotional and moral state at war, not on heroic warfare. The horror of war is shown through people’s fates. The his novels and stories help us to keep the memory of such people, who fought at the front, worked in the rear, bringing The Victory Day.

Yevgeny Nosov was a jack of all trades: he painted the landscapes of native land Kurschina, photographed beautifully, made toys from natural materials.

The writer has a lot of awards: he is “ The Hero of the Socialist Labour”, The Chevalier of twenty six orders and medals, the Solzhenitsyn Prize’s laureate.

There is his monument and two libraries named after him in Kursk.  Look at his awards and medals. You can see a lot. And now look at his portrait. You see no medals on his coat. He was a really modest person!

Hall №8

The eighth room is dedicated to the development of the literature process in post-war years, to the writers, who have been at the head of the Kursk writing organization since 1958. Here we can see Mikhai Makarovich Kolosov who was the head of the Kursk writing organization from 1958 to 1963, Mikhail Mikhailovich Obukhov from 1963 to 1964, Vyacheslav Vasil'evich Tychinin from 1964 to 1967, Alexander Alexandorovich Kharitanovskythe head of the Kursk writing organization from 1967 to 1971, Victor Makarovich Malygin from 1971 to 1976, Peter Georgievich Salnikov from 1976 to 1987, Vladimir Pavlovich Detkov from 1987 to 2009 and Nikolai Ivanovich Grebnev from 2009 till our times.

This man never stop the process to generate ideas and to implement them. Imagine how much mental effort was spent by Grebnev in the nineties to create a newspaper "Slavyanka", which would have continued to associate Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples, peoples-brothers, living on the borderline. Imagine a map of the Soviet Union. The country, like a huge ice floe suddenly split into many pieces; and and Grebnev, maneuvering, trying to save for years to strengthen the unity of the people. He tried to unite the former fraternal Republic, " he himself lived by this idea and wouldn't let us, his friends, co-workers to doubt its correctness. And today, after a lot of time, when there was a "Slavyanka", watching developments in neighboring Ukraine, we can endlessly admire the  political instincts and prophetic foresight.

Many people are grateful to Nikolai Ivanovich Grebnev for his confidence, gave rise to the fruitful feeling of inner freedom.

The center of the hall exposition is devoted to writers-contemporaries.

Creativity of the Kursk writers suggests that Kursk land is rich in talent and we are very proud of it.