Yesenin's estate in Konstantinovo

The village of Konstantinovo stands on the high bank of the Oka River, 43 kilometers from Ryazan. In a large house, in the center of the village, opposite the church, on October 3 (new style), 1895, the great Russian poet Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was born. Here he spent his childhood.

He was brought up in the family of his maternal grandfather. Sergei Alexandrovich’s grandmother knew a great variety of folk tales, songs, and ditties. Yesenin later admitted that he began to write poetry largely thanks to her influence.

On a winter evening in the backyards
A rollicking crowd
Over the snowdrifts, over the hills
We're going home.
The sled will get tired of it,
And we sit in two rows
Listen to old wives' tales
About Ivan the Fool.
And we sit, barely breathing.
It's time for midnight.
Let's pretend we don't hear
If mom calls you to sleep.
All fairy tales. Time for bed...
But how can I sleep now?
And again we began to shout,
We're starting to pester.
Grandmother will say timidly:
“Why sit until dawn?”
Well, what do we care, -
Talk and talk.

The amazing beauty of Russian nature, the opening panorama of the Oka River floodplain, birch groves and endless Russian open spaces inspired Sergei Yesenin from childhood. Yesenin's distances and Yesenin's Rus' - beautiful Ryazan landscapes:

White birch
Below my window
Covered with snow
Exactly silver.

On fluffy branches
Snow border
The brushes have blossomed
White fringe.

And the birch tree stands
In sleepy silence,
And the snowflakes are burning
In golden fire.

And the dawn is lazy
Walking around
Sprinkles branches
New silver.

The Memorial House-Museum of S.A. Yesenin is one of the most visited literary museums in Russia. Meetings, literary evenings, theatrical performances, village fairs and folk festivals are held here. The State Museum Reserve of Sergei Yesenin is a unique natural landscape complex reflecting the years of childhood, youth and early maturity of the poet (1910 - 1918) Yesenin in Konstantinov. The area of the entire museum is 14.6 hectares. Main attractions:

The house where the poet was born and raised;
Konstantinovskaya zemstvo primary four-year school, where he studied;
Kazan Church (1779)
Estate and park L.I. Kashina, the last landowner of the village of Konstantinovo, where the museum of the poem “Anna Snegina” is located; (1770s – early 20th century)
Literary Museum S.A. Yesenin, where unique exhibits are collected
The house of priest Ioann Smirnov, who played a significant role in the fate of young Sergei Yesenin;
, where the poet studied for 3 years and where his talent began to form.

In addition, 14 estates have been preserved in the historical environment, the owners of which were the poet’s relatives, peers, classmates, and fellow villagers.

Immediately after the poet’s death in 1925, fans of the poet’s work began to come to the village of Konstantinovo. Yesenin’s mother met them at Yesenin’s house. It so happened that the village of Konstantinovo became a meeting place for lovers of Russian poetry. On October 2, 1965, the S.A. Yesenin Memorial House-Museum was opened. Initially, the house-museum had the status of a branch of the Ryazan Museum of Local Lore, but was soon renamed the S. A. Yesenin Literary and Memorial Museum. Over the years of its existence, the museum has turned into one of the largest museum complexes.

Large two-story the house where Yesenin was born, was built in 1871 by his grandfather, Nikita Osipovich Yesenin. It burned down in 1909, and in 1910 the poet’s father built a smaller house on this site. The exhibition in the house restores the atmosphere of a peasant hut of that time. The house stands in the middle of a garden in which a temporary hut has been preserved, where the poet’s family lived after a fire that destroyed the house. In front of the house there is a poplar planted by Sergei Yesenin in 1924.

Museum of the poem "Anna Snegina" is unique in that it was opened in a manor house that belonged to the prototype of the main character of the poem - landowner Lydia Ivanovna Kashina's House. The building dates back to the 19th century and is a classic “house with a mezzanine”:

Sergei Yesenin studied at the zemstvo school for 5 years (since 1904). The exhibition is dedicated not only to Yesenin, but to the entire education system of peasant children of that time. Zemstvo school in the village of Konstantinovo is the only restored elementary zemstvo school in Russia:

The beginning of Sergei Yesenin’s literary activity dates back to 1914, when his first poems were published in the Mirok magazine. By this time, the 19-year-old author is already a fully formed poet who clearly knows that his work is inextricably linked with his native land. Having left the village of Konstantinovo, Yesenin is constantly transported in his mind to his parents’ old hut and wanders through the green endless meadows, describing his memories in poetry.

Goodbye, dear Pushcha,
Sorry, golden spring.
Clouds float and break
O solar coulter.

Shine on, fine day,
And I want to be sad.
Knife behind the boot
I can't wear it anymore.

Under the belly of a foal
Don't sleep in the dead of night
And with ringing joy
The forests should not be made public.

And you can't escape the storm,
Can't avoid losses
To ring in the azure
The ring of invisible gates.