In the house where the museum is now located, the national poet of Belarus Yakub Kolas lived for 11 recent years own life. Museum visitors pass through the same doors through which the poet passed, look into the same mirrors and can sit on the same bench. 
Maria Kazakevich, head of the museum's department, said that the house was built according to the project of Georgy Zaborsky in 1952 as a gift from the government of Belarus for the 70th anniversary of Kolas. By the way, immediately after the Great Patriotic War at the end of 1944, the poet settled in this place in a small wooden house, to which a stone extension was made in 1947. On the third day after the death of the poet, a resolution of the Central Committee for Commemoration of Yakub Kolas was adopted, one of the points of which was the creation of a museum. On December 4, 1959, the Yakub Kolas Museum opened its doors to the first visitors. Now here you can see the 4th exposition in a row, which is divided into two parts: on the first floor - literary and documentary, and on the second - memorial. 
The most interesting exhibits are always photographs and personal items. For example, you can see the bell that Yakub Kolas used at the beginning of 1906 when he worked as a teacher at the Verkhmensky school. But the violin that belonged to Yanka Mavr - he and Yakub Kolas were not only friends, but also matchmakers: the youngest son of Kolos married the daughter of Mavr. It was Mikhail Mitskevich who donated the violin to the museum. 
In the first room we see items that were used by children in the late 21st - early 20th centuries when they went to school: a slate board (analogous to a modern tablet) and a linen bag in which school things were stored. It is no coincidence that a collection of Krylov's fables lies nearby, whose works are studied at school. This was one of the favorite authors of Yakub Kolas, who wrote his first poems precisely under the influence of Krylov's fables. 
A watch that belonged to representatives of three generations of Mickiewicz: Yakub Kolas, then his brother and nephew. 
The snakeskin bag was purchased for Yakub Kolas' beloved wife Maria Dmitrievna in Vilnius around the 1940s. With the silver glasses that were presented to Kolas for the 25th anniversary of family life, it generally happened interesting story. The glasses were kept in a safe, but in the first days of the war a bomb hit the house, and then an acquaintance of Kolas buried the safe in his garden. When the safe was dug up after the war, the cups were slightly deformed, damaged by fire, but intact. 
Yakub Kolas raised three sons. The middle son Yuri, unfortunately, died at the beginning of the war. He was fond of trap shooting, was a master of sports and a hunter, participated in various competitions. The double-barreled shotgun, which can be seen at the exposition, was purchased by Kolas for Yuri. But for the youngest son Mikhail, who was fond of photography, the poet bought a German camera. - Mikhas Mickiewicz loves to shoot today- continues the head of the department of the museum. - An exhibition of his interesting photographs was recently organized.
A silver cigarette case, which was presented to the people's poet by the Belarusian government on the occasion of his 60th birthday (1942). Only at the end of his life, Yakub Kolas gave up such a bad habit as smoking. Receipts that testify to the kindness and compassion of Yakub Kolas. In the postwar period, the poet provided financial assistance to many who addressed him, and many letters were sent to the people's poet ... 
- We strive to make our museum more modern and use new tools, - Maria Kazakevich continues the tour and points to a large touch screen - a multimedia complex "Man. Epoch. Time". - Using the complex, you can see those materials that were not included in the exposition, test your knowledge of the work of Yakub Kolas in a quiz, take a virtual tour of the places of Kolas, make postcards or a CD with your own reading of the poet's works as a keepsake.
In one of the exposition halls, the only virtual book in Belarus "Poetic Kolasiana" is placed so far, leafing through the pages of which you can get acquainted with the lifetime editions of the poet, illustrations for works, excerpts from performances and films. 
But in this hall, museum staff jointly show children puppet shows, which are very popular with young viewers. Now in repertoire 5 puppet shows, on the way - a few more interesting tales. 
It seems that nothing was left without our attention on the first floor - then we move on and go up to the second floor, where the living room, dining room and the heart of the museum are located - the poet's study. 
The living room was always noisy and crowded: everyone who looked into the poet's house was received here. In this living room, by the way, Kolos celebrated his 70th birthday. 
In the exhibition you can see gifts that friends and acquaintances made to the poet, for example, a picture from the Azgur family, which was painted by the wife of the famous sculptor Zair Azgur, Galina Gorelova. 
And here is the grand piano, which celebrated the centenary, acquired by the poet's daughters-in-law. Kolas himself did not play it, the instrument he owned was the violin. 
The oldest exhibit, probably, is an antique chandelier made of bronze and crystal - the same age as Kolas: she is 132 years old. 
Also in the exposition you can see one of the first Temp TVs, however, the poet himself did not like to watch TV, he liked to listen to the radio more. 
People in this hall are very fond of taking pictures during weddings: young people say that they like the cozy homely atmosphere. A sound installation has been made in the living room: numerous recordings have been preserved in the museum's funds, and it will probably be interesting for visitors to hear the voice of Yakub Kolas, who reads his poems. Recordings of the voices of Petrus Brovka, Maxim Tank, Grigory Shirma, singer Larisa Aleksandrovskaya have also been preserved... The dining room during the life of Yakub Kolas was on the first floor, but in the updated exposition it was placed on the second. At this large table, the whole family would surely gather every day to discuss various events, share plans for the next day... 
Many gifts were given to Yakub Kolas: here is a towel from the children from the orphanage in Chausy. 
The poet's study and bedroom, where he spent most of his time, are located in the oldest part of the house, which was added in 1947 to a small wooden house. 
Kolos rose very early, at 6 o'clock in the morning, and always went to work in his farmstead. When he was younger, he sawed himself, cleaned the snow, looked after the flowers. He, a country man, liked all this very much. Relatives recall that Yakub Kolas made scientific experiments: he planted barley and wheat near his estate, followed the plants. Kolos liked to say: "There are two things that cheer me up: a well-written verse and the rain that fell at noon." The poet was very worried when there was a lot of rain or drought, which interfered with the harvest. 
A trophy typewriter, but Yakub Kolas himself did not print on it, and until the end of his life he wrote only with a pen, using ink. A secretary was hired to reprint the poet's manuscripts. In this house, Yakub Kolas finished writing the trilogy "On the Growing", the poems "Rybakov's Hut" and "On the Ways of Freedom". 
Memorial corner in the courtyard: 4 oaks were planted by Yakub Kolas in honor of his three sons and himself. Unfortunately, the birch, planted in honor of his wife, has recently dried up. 
Entrance fee in 2014: Schoolchildren - 6000 Bel. rubles Students - 8.400 Bel. rubles Adults - 12.000 Bel. rubles Excursion service in 2014: Pupils, pupils, students - 12.200 Bel. rubles Adults - 12.200 Bel. rubles Other services in 2014: Free entrance for single visitors - the last Saturday of each month. Days of free admission for all categories of citizens: November 3 - Yakub Kolos Memorial Day May 18 - International Museum Day Free entry to the museum in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Museums and the Museum Fund of the Republic of Belarus" is provided for: - Veterans of the Great Patriotic War; - military servicemen; - Disabled people of I and II groups; - Orphans. Pre-registration for excursions is carried out by phone (017) 284-17-02. Museum address: 220072 Minsk, st. Academic, 5 The material was prepared by Julia Theron.
Translation of material into English language is on the site
Work on the monument to Yakub Kolas, which is part of the famous architectural ensemble on the square named after the poet, Zair Azgur began in 1949.
In the photograph, in which Konstantin Mikhailovich poses for Zair Isaakovich, we see the writer's bust, which eventually remained in the sculptor's creative workshop. But this expression of Kolas's face is also immortalized on the monument, under which several generations of Minsk residents made appointments and appointments for each other.
Due to his age, it was difficult for Kolas to stand in one place when posing, but the sculptor found a way out. He built an impromptu pedestal from two benches, to which the writer reacted with irony: “You built me a luxurious throne. Should I climb it?" Initially, the work of the sculptor looked like this: the writer leaned on a cane with one hand, holding a book in the other. But one element obscured the other, so they decided to abandon the cane, which Kolas did not part with in old age. And yet, the canes that helped Konstantin Mikhailovich move around also became part of history - they remained in the poet's museum. Kolas used to carve them out of wood himself.
This is not the first joint work of two talented Belarusians: for the first time Azgur was commissioned for a bust of Kolas back in 1924. When the still young sculptor set to work, the poet, who had already made a name for himself, began to recite excerpts from New Land. During the second session, Yanka Kupala came to the workshop. Azgur was worried that Kolas was getting older than he really is, to which Kupala said: “Yakube will live for more than a hundred years, it’s not scary that he looks a little older here. Later, he will become older himself, and the sculpture will be younger.” The monument-bust of Kupala himself later also appeared in Azgur's portfolio.
The relationship between the sculptor and the poet went beyond the "master-sitter". Kolas knew that Azgur, who studied in Leningrad from 1925 to 1927, constantly experienced financial difficulties, so he sent him 40 rubles a month. Once, having arrived in Minsk for the holidays, Azgur met with Kolas at the house of an uncle writer, and going home, Zair found pockets full of apples in his jacket. At home, another surprise awaited him: in the same jacket there was huge money for that time - 200 rubles. Kolas helped everyone who addressed him, and not a single letter remained unanswered. The peasants asked for money for a cow; once a girl wrote with a request to help buy a wedding dress - Kolas did not refuse.
On the third day after the death of Kolas, a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPB was issued to perpetuate the memory of the writer. The document included many points: to publish a collection of works, to open a museum, to name it after a street. Tribute to the memory of Uncle Yakub was paid not only by officials. For example, thanks to the Belarusian cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk, a miniature edition of Kolas' poems even went into space: this is how the crew members brightened up their leisure time. Later, Klimuk brought this copy to the poet's museum, signed it and left it as a keepsake. And for the 90th anniversary of Kolas, a 5x4 cm book was published, the cover of which is made of silver and malachite.
Konstantin Mikhailovich Mitskevich is known not only in Belarus. In the Danube Shipping Company, the ship was named "Yakub Kolas". By the way, the captain of the ship personally came to Minsk for materials about Kolas, so that each passenger could not only enjoy the trip on the ship, but also get acquainted with the work of the Belarusian writer. Our compatriot is loved even in China: the poem "New Land" and the story "Drygva" were translated into Chinese. And in 2012, Chinese artist Ao Te depicted an elderly poet on rice paper. This canvas also took its rightful place in the museum of Yakub Kolas.
Yakub Kolas is a nominal classic of Belarusian literature of the 20th century. I will say right away that I do not like Kolas' books - all the problems raised in them have long crumbled and withered along with the system that gave birth to it. Or even earlier. Or even it did not exist at all, this problematic.
In short - all Kolas' books are about peasants and about the village. Even when he wrote about the city, it still turned out to be a villager's book about the village. He did not know how to write about anything else and did not want to. Endless dull wooden huts, a gray and uninteresting life, homespun shirts and rotten potatoes, endless misfortunes of honest working people "fall under the yoke of the pans". For you to understand, it's about as if the entire history of the United States is reduced to the life of African-American ghettos. Then the endless partisans began, speaking in quotations from the reference book of the young Chekist.
For this, he received a bunch of titles and awards and died in a warm bed. And this at a time when Kafka and Joyce, Thomas Mann and Bertrand Russell were creating. When sparks fell from under the literary anvil, forging a new understanding of what a person is.
However, let's not talk about sad things. Be that as it may, Kolas still remains a prominent figure in the culture of Belarus, the central square of the capital and the street on which the house with my Minsk apartment stands are named after him. Let's just see how "dzyadzka Yakub" lived in the fifties.
03. Kolas House is located in Minsk, near the Academy of Sciences. In the early fifties, it was the outskirts of the city, and now it is the most that neither is the center - the city has grown strongly in an easterly direction. The house was built by the architect Georgy Zaborsky; the same one that designed many buildings in . The house looks quite recognizable and interesting.
05. Walk around the house. To the left of the entrance there is a cellar - "lyadounya".
07. To paraphrase a well-known aphorism - "You can take your grandfather out of the village, but you can never take the village out of your grandfather."
08. Behind the fence you can see a simpler building, where the children and relatives of Yakub Kolas were moved after his death, making a museum out of his house. For some reason, it seems to me that they began to design and build this house during the life of Yakub, right in front of the window of his office - but more on that later.
09. On the reverse side, the Kolas House looks like this.
11. Let's look inside. The house begins with a hanger (I recalled the proverb about the theater), on which the original copper hooks are still preserved. Unfortunately, this is one of the few original details left in the house - especially on the first floor.
12. This is the view from the hallway. On both sides of the shooting point - two walk-through rooms. Directly - something like a former kitchen. Now in the Kolas house there is an exposition of the museum, made in the best Soviet traditions - to throw away everything real and leave the ideologically correct. There was no bathroom or kitchen left in the house - as you know, Soviet writers do not pee or eat, but only constantly think about the fate of the people, the world revolution, and write and write.
13. Here, for example, the door. Personally, it is much more interesting to me than the endless collections of works by Yakub Kolas, exhibited around. What was behind her? What did it look like real life in the house? I can look at the book in the store. Why did they throw out the old pen and screw on a Chinese gold-plated one, bought for $ 2 at the Household Goods on Logoisk Trakt?
14. Books under glass. On the right, by the way, is an excellent illustration in the traditions of the Belarusian book graphics, but still - books do not belong here. Bring back the Kolas kitchen, I want to see where he had breakfast every day.
15. Let's look for more original parts. Here, for example, is a stucco plinth. I don't know if he was here in the fifties.
16. The door frame is definitely original. Maybe a little tinted during the renovation.
17. Let's go to the second floor, there are more interesting original pieces left. Ladder. Under the ceiling - a typical lamp of the fifties (I have the same one at home, left from the previous owners of the apartment), to the right - the doors to the large balcony-terrace, straight ahead - the doors to the office and Kolas's bedroom (we'll look there), to the left - the doors to the front part of the house. Let's go there.
18. On the second floor, the original parquet of the fifties has been preserved. Yes, just like that - not very high quality, uneven. The joints between the rooms "got" from the remains. When walking, the parquet creaks. By the way, on the ground floor, under the modern gray carpeting, the same parquet was left - old and creaky.
19. Living room. The original furniture remained here - Kolas brought it, it seems, from somewhere in the Baltic states, and already at that time it was antiques. The furniture, in my opinion, is rather tasteless.
20. Despite the rather presentable appearance, the house smells of a poor village - the smell of dampness and mice. I don't know why.
21. Under the ceiling in the living room - a lurid socket.
22. TV. I don't know if Kolas watched it. At present, only one frame remains from the original TV set of the fifties, inside of which there is a horizontal "cube" - already also old.
24. Modern double-glazed windows were inserted into the old window frames. It's good, they left the pens.
25. Dining room on the second floor. Reminds me of a typical Minsk apartment of the fifties.
26. The furniture here is nicer than in the living room.
28. Door handle. This real life- a roller with which the door was closed. Most often, it fell inward - and it was necessary to knock out an elastic band on the door frame so that the door closes tightly. The screws are also very remarkable - they often did not twist, but were hammered - once and for all.
30. Typewriter. This is still a pre-revolutionary model, to which the Belarusian letter "u is not warehouse" is added. An eloquent text was typed on paper - about the wise policy of the Communist Party, the Soviet people, blah blah blah. And this at a time when Elias Canetti... well, let's not talk about sad things.
24. Bookcase. I will not comment on the choice of the writer's books.
24. Clock on a bookcase. In general, there are quite a few clocks and several barometers left in the room - this produces a rather strange and mysterious impression. And I think I figured out this riddle. Sitting in the office of his new house and now and then looking at the clock, so quickly counting the time, the already very elderly Yakub Kolas realized that this house was not built for him at all - but for the future museum named after him. In which ideologically faithful guides will tell about his life.
25. I know how Kolas felt, every day sitting down at new table working office. Books are no longer expected from him, poems are not expected; there is a kind of ban on transformations - he must remain a "Belarusian writer about the village." Nothing more needs to be written.
26. Life is lived. You live in a museum of your own caution, spinelessness, loyalty. Those who were different are lying in the ground with their heads laid out. You survived, you're better than them. Really, Jacob? asks the owl-press-weight.
27. I do not know what Kolas answered his conscience.
28. The last door remains. The door to the writer's bedroom is a small walk-through room from the office. It leaves an amazing impression - a small room lurks in the farthest corner of a huge house. The ceiling is lower than in the rest of the house. In the corner is a small, almost teenage bed. At the foot of the bed is the door to the lavatory, to the left of the door is the stove.
Everything is very reminiscent of a small room in a village house.
29. A portrait of a son and a barometer hang on the wall. It seems to me that it was in this room that Kolas felt comfortable. He recalled the days of "Nasha Niva" - when there was still neither the USSR, nor titles and regalia, nor the daily need to write about successes at the sowing field, nor the nervous duty to answer daily calls from a "benevolent organization."
He reminisced about life without the golden cage.
30. I woke up, looked at the ceiling and thought, thought.
30. And on the chair is the writer's briefcase...
Over the last four years of his life in the new house, Yakub Kolas did not write a single new book.
Photo: Yakub Kolas State Literary Memorial Museum
Photo and description
The State Literary and Memorial Museum of Yakub Kolas was opened on December 4, 1959 in the house where the people's poet of Belarus lived. Located at F. Skorina Ave., 66a.
Today it is impossible to imagine modern Belarusian literature without Yakub Kolas. The great Belarusian poet sang the song of revolution and war, glorifying the heroic deed of his people.
Yakub Kolas (Konstantin Mikhailovich Mitskevich) was born in 1882 in the village of Okonchitsy. From 1906, he led an active revolutionary struggle, published poems and poems with vivid revolutionary content. In 1928, Yakub Kolas became an academician, during the war he wrote poems about heroic deed Belarusian people, after the war, in 1946 he became chairman of the Belarusian Committee for the Defense of Peace, since 1953 he was the editor of the Russian-Belarusian dictionary.
A two-storey house with a garden, in which the museum is located, was built on the territory of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The house was repeatedly rebuilt and in the form in which we can see it now, it was built in 1952 for the 70th anniversary of the poet.
The museum has an exposition with a total area of 319 square meters, located in 10 halls, telling about creative way Yakub Kolas, about the famous guests who visited this house, the interiors of the office and bedroom were restored.
In the garden of Yakub Kolas, his favorite pine trees, under which he liked to sit with friends, and other trees planted by the poet's hands, are preserved. The poet lived a modest simple life. Everything in the museum has been preserved and recreated in the same form as it was during the life of Yakub Kolas.
It is cozy in the house-museum of Yakub Kolas: it seems that footsteps on the stairs are about to sound, the armchair in the office will move away by itself, the sofa springs will bend, the typewriter will chirp. The spirit of the poet hovers here definitely. Tourists are slowly wandering through the halls, and the SB correspondent, together with the director of the State Literary and Memorial Museum of Yakub Kolas Zinaida Komarovskaya, is looking at the tasks for the future: two important dates are coming in 2018 - the 95th anniversary of the creation of the poem "New Land" and 100 years of lyrical epic poem "Simon-music".
The current staff of the museum is small, but it is amazing what work is carried out by only 5 researchers. The poet had close ties with Vilnius - today cooperation has been established with Lithuanian colleagues from the Literary Museum of A.S. Pushkin, a joint walking tour route “Kolas and Vilnius” has been developed along the places described in the poem “New Land” in the sections “Dzyadzka ў Vilni” , "Castle Gara" and "Pa Darose ў Vilnius". The Pushkin Literary Museum plans to create a separate exposition dedicated to Kolas. Its funds contain items from the house of Kamensky (relatives of the writer's wife): a table, a bed, a wall clock, an icon in a silver setting, a candlestick engraved in 1910.
In 2017, when the 135th anniversary of the classic was celebrated, in Vilnius, at the initiative of our embassy in Lithuania, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where Yakub Kolas worked for the Nasha Niva newspaper. The writer is not forgotten in Uzbekistan, where he lived in evacuation in 1942-1943: in Tashkent, a memorial plaque was restored on his house and a bas-relief by sculptor Marina Borodina was installed. And poets from St. Petersburg for the first time translated the entire “Symon-music” into Russian and published it in Northern Palmyra.
In a word, there is something to be proud of and there are long-established plans, which the museum is starting to implement in the new year, preparing to celebrate two significant dates at once. But the most serious problem and the biggest pain of Zinaida Komarovskaya for all the decades of work is the Lastok estate, part of the Nikolaevshchina branch, which unites 4 former foresters on the Radziwill lands, where the poet's parents lived. Lastok is a unique corner where a house built in 1890 has been preserved, and the only one of all the estates included in the branch, which requires serious restoration and conservation. The director does not hide sadness:
Zinaida Komarovskaya.
- Swallows is the brightest place of all the Kolas estates, here the poet lived in his childhood, from 3 to 8 years old. It is in Lastok that the action of "Symon-Music" unfolds, because Symonka is Kolas himself, a little boy in the bosom of nature, for which everything around was magical, wonderful, beautiful ... It would be a shame if this house is not preserved - and we are trying with all our might to save it. We have groundwork to make a more detailed exposition of "Symon-Music" in it, to ennoble the territory, to carry out a thorough repair. But to create a full-fledged museum, our efforts alone, even with the support of the Ministry of Culture, are not enough - too serious investments are required. We tried to look for investors, but few people can afford such expenses alone.
12 km from the city, forest road - places really remote from civilization. But... on 2 hectares of land next to Lastok, an agroestate could well appear, or even better - a writer's house like those that can be found in the corners of Poland or Estonia: a place where authors from all over the world come all year round to meet, get acquainted , work, and at the same time translate the Belarusian classic into their own languages - so that the word of Kolas would continue to spread around the world.
Stolbtsovshchina pleases not only with natural beauties and historical details. In Akinchitsy, Albuti, Smolny and Lastok, an art-memorial complex “Way of Kolas” was created: wooden sculptures of folk craftsmen, rare in expressiveness, based on the works of Yakub Kolas, unite all the museums of the branch.
- We would like more visitors,- Zinaida Komarovskaya sincerely worries. - Many years ago, they considered the excursion route Minsk - Nesvizh - Mir, and I raised this issue: you can call in Akinchitsy, it's only 2 km from Stolbtsy. It is necessary to show not only castles, it is necessary to see the life and life of those who served the Radziwills. However, this topic has been omitted. We have developed both cycling and skiing routes, and walking tours, but there are not as many guests as we would like.
But the Kolas places could become a nature reserve, no less serious and visited than the Russian Pushkinogorye. Is it really such a great difficulty to slightly correct popular tourist routes?
