Leo Tolstoy State Museum (Muzey L.N. Tolstogo)

One of the three museums dedicated to the life of Leo Tolstoy n Moscow, the Leo Tolstoy State Museum (Muzey L.N. Tolstogo) was the winter home of the writer in the 1880s and 1890s. Containing more than 6,000 items belonging to Tolstoy and his family, the museum not only offers a glimpse into Tolstoy’s life, but also provides visitors a sense of how the nobility lived in the 19th century. The house sits on nearly a hectare of land lined with maple and linden trees and has remain mostly unchanged from when Tolstoy called it home.

The house’s 16 rooms have been carefully preserved, from Tolstoy’s raccoon coat hanging on the wall in the entrance, to the toys in his youngest child’s bedroom. The second floor study is where the writer penned many of his masterpieces and in the large living room, he and his wife hosted literary and musical evenings with the likes of Rachmaninov.