Museum "Integration" named after N. A. Ostrovsky

Moscow
14 Tverskaya Street, Moscow, 125009

The museum has 3 thematic expositions.
The first - "Salon of Princess Z. Volkonskaya " - is dedicated to the" Queen of Muses and Beauty", as Alexander Pushkin called her. It presents a collection of interior, household and decorative arts of the early 19th century, manuscripts and lifetime editions of the Princess's books.
The second is the memorial apartment of Nikolai Ostrovsky – furniture, personal belongings and the writer's library. The rooms have preserved the atmosphere of those years. The museum's collections also contain items donated to Ostrovsky and his family, publications of the writer's books in different languages, memories of Ostrovsky, and illustrations to his works.
The third exhibition – "Overcoming" - is dedicated to the fate of people with disabilities who have realized their talents in various fields of activity. To each of them, you can fully apply the words of Ostrovsky himself: "Know how to live and when life becomes unbearable, make it useful."

The house No. 14 on Tverskaya Street – "palace on Tverskaya" - was built by the outstanding Russian architect Matvey Kazakov in the late 18th century for the widow of State Secretary Catherine II-Catherine Kozitskaya. As a dowry of the Kozitsky's daughter Anna, the luxurious house went to the Russian diplomat Alexander Beloselsky-Belozersky. Subsequently, his eldest daughter Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya settled in it. A patron of the arts, the princess hosted literary and musical salons, where Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Tyutchev, Denis Davydov, Odoyevsky, and Turgenev visited.
In 1898, the mansion was purchased by the St. Petersburg merchant-millionaire Grigory Eliseev, who rebuilt the house into a chic store. He owned the building until 1917.
After the revolution, part of the house was used as apartments. In 1935, by the decision of the Moscow City Council, one of them was given to Nikolai Ostrovsky. Here the last year of the bedridden writer's life was spent, here he dictated the novel "Born of the Storm" and answered readers ' letters.
In 1939, a resolution was adopted by the Presidium of the Moscow City Council "On the placement of the Memorial Museum of the Order-bearing Writer N. A. Ostrovsky organized in Moscow" and a year later the museum was opened.
the fate of the writer, who did not stop creating, despite a severe physical illness, inspired many. The museum's collection increasingly included materials about disabled people who had taken place in literature, sports, politics, and art. In 1992, the museum was renamed the State Museum-Humanitarian Center "Overcoming" named after N. A. Ostrovsky. This meant official recognition of the expansion of the museum's field of activity. In 2016, the museum-humanitarian Center merged with the Center for Socio-Cultural Programs "Integration".

In 1826, the daughter — in-law of Zinaida Volkonskaya, Maria Nikolaevna, the wife of the exiled Decembrist Sergei Volkonsky, stayed in the house on Tverskaya Street before leaving for Siberia. The princess gathered at her "Farewell Party", where she invited the best performers of Italian music. Pushkin was also present at that evening.
During his life on Tverskaya Street, in January 1936 Ostrovsky was enlisted in the Political Directorate of the Red Army with the rank of Brigade Commissar. on holidays, he asked his assistants to dress him in a commissar's uniform. In the last months of his life, he received many visitors, including the pilot Valery Chkalov.
The museum holds an edition of the book of Princess Volkonskaya "Slavic painting of the V century" with the author's autograph.