Literary Pages of Tver

16 points4 km4 hours

Join us for a walk along the embankment and the central streets, and recall how great and forgotten poets, prose writers, and publishers of other centuries saw this beauty: Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Ostrovsky, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and many others. They declared their love for “dear,” “beautiful” Tver and dedicated their finest lines to it.

Route author

Tver Tourist Information Center

Things to do

📚🎬 Recall films and books
📜 Learn the city's history

Route points (16)

Merchant Barsukov's Hotel in Tver

Point on route “Literary Pages of Tver”

Point 8

Merchant Barsukov's Hotel

📜 Historic site • 🏟️ Architectural landmark

Historical Background

The Barsukov Hotel is a historic building in the center of Tver, built in 1760–1770 in the Baroque style under the direction of P. R. Nikitin, with the participation of A. V. Kvasov. The hotel became one of five sections of an ensemble of houses built with a “single facade.”

Ostrovsky's Favorite Place

Alexander Ostrovsky stayed at the Barsukov Hotel. He first came to Tver in 1853. In April 1856 the playwright set off for the upper Volga to gather material about the life of the local people. He took a keen interest in fishing, being a passionate angler himself. Ostrovsky's impressions of his journey through Tver Governorate found their way into “The Storm,” “Without a Dowry,” and “A Lively Spot.” Every town that travelers pass through, Ostrovsky wrote, should have its own “culinary specialty”: “Torzhok is known for Pozharsky cutlets, Valdai for baranki (ring-shaped rolls), and Tver for pryaniki (spiced gingerbread).” You can still buy gingerbread to suit any taste in Tver today.

Fun Facts

Ostrovsky won literary fame with the comedy “It's a Family Affair—We'll Settle It Ourselves,” which he first read aloud in Tver.