Bolshoye Boldino

Bolshoye Boldino is a village on the high right bank of the Azanka, 170 kilometres south-east of Nizhny Novgorod. Boldino and its lands belonged to the Pushkin family — one of Russia's oldest noble houses — for four centuries; the historic part of the village is a federal cultural monument. For Russian literature Boldino is a byword: Pushkin arrived on the eve of his wedding in 1830 and stayed three autumn months in cholera quarantines — the 'Boldino autumn', the most productive of his life. Here he wrote the 'Tales of Belkin', the last chapters of 'Onegin', the 'Little Tragedies' and dozens of poems. He came twice more to manage the estate. Today the estate is a museum reserve: the manor house with the poet's study, a park with groves and giant poplars, a village kitchen and a pond with swans. Around lies the rolling forest-steppe of the Mordva uplands; nearby is the oblast's highest point, 247 metres.