Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
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Tverskaya Street, one of the main streets in the capital, bore the name of the Soviet writer Maxim Gorky for several decades of the last century. Here, in house 12, building 2 (the address is modern, the numbering was different before), Ivan Sytin lived until 1934. He knew Gorky, Anton Chekhov and other writers of that time well. Before the revolution, he was a famous entrepreneur, one of the first publishers of the Russian Empire, the man who introduced the peasants to the works of Alexander Pushkin.
Together with Alexey Shalamov, a tour guide at the I.D. Sytin Apartment Museum, we travel into the past, which “begins” on the second floor of the house, now a 19th century cultural heritage site, at the entrance to apartment No. 274.
Family portrait in the interior
“Ivan Dmitrievich and his family moved here in 1928. He lived in Moscow for a long time – from the age of 15, and moved several times. This apartment was his last home. Before that, the Sytins lived in a mansion on Pushkinskaya, but when the enterprises were nationalized, the family was given this apartment as a replacement. They moved some of the furniture here, so now we can show you the original items,” Alexey Shalamov begins the tour.
The apartment is truly amazing — an interesting layout, high ceilings, burgundy walls in the hallway elegantly set off by Art Nouveau chandeliers and a pear-wood wardrobe, in the mirrors of which outstanding figures of the early 20th century looked at themselves on Pushkin Square. Alexander Kuprin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Ivan Bunin, Alexander Blok, Ilya Repin, Nikolai Roerich, Ivan Bilibin — invisible traces of their coats and hats are kept on the hooks and hangers in the hallway. The Sytins lived here as a large family of 15 people, the last of which moved out of the apartment only in the 1970s. The museum is currently hosting an exhibition called “Traditions of the Sytin Family,” created with the participation of Ivan Dmitrievich’s great-granddaughter. The exhibition tells about the family’s legacy and memory, gives an opportunity to look into the home world, and touch upon the personal life of one of the main educators of the Russian Empire.
What was read on the “gulvars”, bazaars and in villages. We study popular literature of the 19th-20th centuries
Ivan Sytin’s career path is truly impressive – the future publisher came from the Kostroma province and went to work in the bookstore of the merchant Pyotr Sharapov as a 15-year-old teenager, and ten years later he acquired his first lithographic press and started his own business, which later turned into a bookstore at the Ilyinsky Gate, and into the “Partnership of I.D. Sytin and Co.”, and into the publishing house “Posrednik”, created jointly with Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Chertkov. He developed the magazine “Around the World”, which exists to this day, and on Chekhov’s advice acquired the rights to publish the newspaper “Russkoye Slovo”, deciding to increase its circulation at all costs. And he achieved his goal!
Pushkinskaya Square and its surroundings
Having learned the family history and imbued with the atmosphere of those years, we go out onto Tverskaya Street and move towards the monument to the sun of Russian poetry, crossing Strastnoy Boulevard. If you leave Pushkin Square on the right, then straight ahead, to the left of the Izvestia newspaper building, you can see the house of I.D. Sytin, where the family lived for more than twenty years before moving to an apartment. The estate, built according to the design of Adolf Erichson, is an example of the Art Nouveau style, very popular at that time. The publishing houses of the Pravda and Trud newspapers were later located here. Due to the fact that the building was moved several dozen meters at one time, the authentic architecture was partially lost, but on the facade you can see details decorated according to sketches by Ivan Bilibin.
We go deeper into Pushkin Square and stop at the memorial stone to the Strastnoy Monastery. Founded in 1654, it was destroyed in 1937; its territory also housed a necropolis. Ivan Dmitrievich was a religious man, and when his wife died, she was buried here. The monastery’s bell tower offered a magnificent view of the city. Alexey Shalamov explains: “It is known that Nicholas II came here. The King of Sweden and Norway also climbed the bell tower, looked around Moscow and said that all foreigners should visit this monastery.”
Passing the building of the Izvestia newspaper, on the same side we pay attention to the main house of the city estate of the Dolgorukovs – Bobrinskys. At one time, the president of the Academy of Arts and the Minister of Public Education Sergei Uvarov lived there, Alexander Pushkin and Anton Chekhov visited many times, the Itinerants organized exhibitions, the editorial office of the magazine Novy Mir worked there.
Along Malaya Dmitrovka
Around the corner on Malaya Dmitrovka is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putinki, a beautiful Orthodox tent-roofed church, unique in its kind. Ivan Sytin often came here with his family and was even the church warden of the parish – it is known that two of his sons were married in the church. Literally in the next building is Mark Zakharov’s Lenkom – now a famous capital theater, and once a gentlemen’s club a la russe. “The merchants decided to build their own opposite the aristocratic club – and so that it would be better,” comments Alexey Shalamov. The 1909 building was erected according to the design of the architect Illarion Ivanov-Shits in a style that is difficult to describe unambiguously: a careful look will recognize elements of Art Nouveau, classicism, eclecticism, and signs of Art Deco. Inside is a large concert hall, a library, billiard rooms, a winter garden and, of course, a very good restaurant. Important business meetings and gatherings were also held here, and Ivan Sytin was also present.
The final point of this part of the route is the building of the Loan Treasury in Nastasinsky Lane, built in the 1910s by Vladimir Pokrovsky, one of the founders of the neo-Russian style (now a cultural heritage site of federal significance). Here, loans were issued to merchants, among whom, probably, could have been the main hero of our excursion.
Back to the roots
On the way back, Alexey Shalamov told about the specifics of the publisher’s branded stores – there were five of them in Moscow, all of them were easily recognizable, thus creating additional advertising for Sytin’s life’s work. The talented entrepreneur grew up in a simple family and knew well what people liked. Therefore, he paid special attention to illustrations that attracted the eye more than the text, collaborated with talented artists, as well as with peddlers who delivered books for sale to peasants in remote villages and hamlets.
And here we are again, the entrance to the I.D. Sytin Apartment Museum. “The house is very old, it has been heavily remodeled. If we talk about the foundation, it is from the 18th century – the Saltykov estate was here. And the house was built in the 1820s for the chief of police Alexander Shulgin – a very interesting person. Firstly, he was a contemporary of Pushkin, and secondly, his namesake. And there are many similarities in their fates,” says Alexey Shalamov.
Classicism, Art Nouveau, Constructivism — these walls remember everything. After Shulgin, the house was owned by the entrepreneur Shevaldyshev, who opened a hotel here, where Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Tyutchev stayed. On the ground floor there was a stagecoach office — one of the first types of public transport in Moscow, and in the neighboring Kozitsky Lane, taxis now stand, just like carriages a hundred years ago. After the revolution, various editorial offices and studios were located here, in one of them Vladimir Lenin recorded his fiery speech. Since 1928, the house has become associated with the name of Sytin, without whom the map of the Tverskoy District would be incomplete.
Ivan Dmitrievich was an extraordinary, very hardworking person, a visionary and a pioneer, whose life path deserves a separate book. On excursions in the I.D. Sytin Apartment Museum, you will be told more about him. Tickets can be purchased atMos.ru.
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