54°04′34″N 37°31′34″E / 54.07611°N 37.52611°E
Yasnaya Polyana (Russian: Я́сная Поля́на, IPA: [ˈjasnəjə pɐˈlʲanə], lit. 'Bright Glade') is a writer's house museum, the former home of the writer Leo Tolstoy.[1][2] It is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Tula, Russia, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) from Moscow.[3]
Tolstoy was born in the house, where he wrote both War and Peace and Anna Karenina.[2] He is buried nearby. Tolstoy called Yasnaya Polyana his "inaccessible literary stronghold".[4]
In June 1921, the estate was nationalized and formally became the State Memorial and Nature Reserve "Museum-Estate of L. N. Tolstoy — 'Yasnaya Polyana'" (Ясная Поляна).
It was at first run by Alexandra Tolstaya, the writer's daughter. As of 2023, the director of the museum was Ekaterina Tolstaya, the wife of Tolstoy's great-great-grandson (and former museum director, 1994–2012) Vladimir Tolstoy.[5][6] The museum contains Tolstoy's personal effects and movables, as well as his library of 22,000 volumes. The estate-museum contains the writer's mansion, the school he founded for peasant children, and a park where Tolstoy's unadorned grave is situated.
- ^ Bartlett, p. 25
- ^ a b Wright, Charles Theodore Hagberg (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). pp. 1053–1061.
- ^ Bartlett, pp. viii, 22
- ^ Massie, p. 308
- ^ Guzeva, Alexandra (11 October 2021). "The Tolstoys family: Modern-day descendants of the great author". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ Living with Leo: Tolstoy's impressive dynasty by Holly Williams of The Independent, 20 November 2010