Karabikha Museum Reserve

Karabikha is the estate Nikolai Nekrasov bought in 1861; the poet spent ten summer seasons here until 1875. In these years he wrote 'Frost, Red Nose', 'Russian Women', 'Grandfather', 'Grandfather Mazai and the Hares', and continued work on 'Who Is Happy in Russia'. The museum was founded in 1946 and has been a museum reserve since 1988, with branches in Abbakumtsevo and Greshnevo. The main manor house has been restored (reopened in 2002 after a decade of work), along with the east wing with baroque window surrounds of the 17th–early 18th centuries. Two parks of 15 hectares — a French regular Upper park and an English landscape Lower park — hold ponds and the Gremikha cascade. The collection holds about 25,000 items: estate belongings, rare books of the 18th–20th centuries, including ten volumes from the poet's own library and a 19th-century 'hoard' of crystal found in 1996. Karabikha is a federal cultural heritage site.