Excursion to the Chukovsky House Museum in Peredelkino

       Schoolchildren of our school took an exciting stroll, arranged by teachers Severina O.V. and Samsonova N.I., along the historical site of Peredelkino. They walked by the Church of Transfiguration, literary cemetery, where famous Russian writers are buried, the settlement of writers.

      The heart of their trip was the Chukovsky House Museum, where they listened to a very interesting excursion introducing Korney Chukovsky as an outstanding literary translator  from English, who discovered names of Mark Twen, Conan Doyle and other English and American writers to Russian readers.

     Their guide Pavel Kruchkov, a  literary critic, told the children that their neighborhood is rich in translating traditions. There lived such famous translators as Boris Pasternak, Arseny Tarkovsky and others.

One of the participants of the excursion Alexey Zarin shared his impressions in his essay.

Alexei Zarin, 4-B

A Walk In Peredelkino.

      I live in Moscow, in one of its city districts, called Novo-Peredelkino. It is a modern urban residential area in the south-west of Moscow. But on the other hand, Novo-Peredelkino is a very special place. Next to modern blocks of flats there is a writer’s settlement Peredelkino.

Everyone in Russia knows this name. A lot of famous and world-known Russian writers lived or still live there. You can visit the memorial house museum of Kornei Chukovsky, the Bulat Okudzhava and the Boris Pasternak Museums.  Moscowvites, people from all corners of Russia and even foreigners come to visit the museums to learn more about their favourite writers and enjoy the lovely atmosphere of the village which is in a beautiful pine forest. Also, there are some old beautiful churches in Novo-Peredelkino which also attract a lot of people.

      I would like to tell you about one day of my life when I also had a chance to learn more about the history of my birthplace. That day our teacher of English Oksana Vladimirovna Severina arranged a thematic excursion for our class to the Kornei Chukovsky’s Museum. Most of the pupils of our class had attended the museum before and knew a lot about Kornei Chukovsky as a beloved children’s author but that day the purpose of our excursion was to learn more about Chukovsky as a translator of English and a literary critic.

     We began our journey from Peredelkino railway station. On our way to the museum our teacher told us many interesting  facts about the history of Peredelkino. We learnt that people wrote about this place for the first time in 1646.  Our teacher told us that people do not know exactly why the village is called «Peredelkino» which means «The changed» in English. Some people think that the place was named so because Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible sent there the boyars he did not like much to change their behavior. Other people think that the place got its name because a local river Setunka was once blocked with a dam or was changed in other words.

      The road to the museum  led us through a cemetery, where Kornei Chukovsky and Boris Pasternak were buried. Not far from the cemetery we saw the Residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The palace was  very beautiful. Next to the palace we saw the lovely Cathedral of Igor Chernigovsky which is in the process of building.

      It took us not more than twenty minutes to get to the museum on foot. When we went through the gates the first thing we saw was a ‘wonder tree’ covered with shoes, trainers and sandals of every size. Every person in Russia knows the tree from one of Chukovsky’s fairy-tales. As our guide told us the tree has a lot of fruit every May. But later, during the year tourists and visitors pick them up. Behind the house there was a small forest path leading to a stage and campfire site for visiting school groups. Next door was a children’s library.

      The museum itself is a two-storeyed wooden building. Everything inside it is the same as it was at the writer’s life.  A great number of old books, a lot of old photos and an interesting lecture were waiting for us. 

During the lecture, which lasted for more than two hours, I knew that Chukovsky’s fairy-tales were only a small part of his work, that Chukovsky translated into Russian works of R.Kipling, M.Twen, A.Doyle, W. Shakespeare and G. Tolkien. Also, Chukovsky retold ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Baron Munchhausen's Travels’, Bible stories and Greek myths for children. 

      The guide also told us stories about Chukovsky’s difficult early life, when he worked as a roof painter and taught himself English at the same time. 

      Later he became one of Russia’s most famous translators. At the age of eighty Chukovsky was awarded with an  Honorary degree and the academic gown of Oxford University which is hung in his study. In the library, there is a portrait of Chukovsky, which was painted by Vladimir Mayakovski. The famous poet did it with a cigarette dipped in black ink.

     I liked the excursion very much. It was very interesting and informative. I think, there will be more such excursion as our district has an interesting history and I enjoy learning about it.

     I have lived in Novo-Peredelkino since I was born and I am proud of my district as it has its own special atmosphere: the present goes together with the past here.