Published on: 2026-08-21
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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History The Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of the Russian Diaspora, subordinate to the metropolitan To the Department of Culture, began in the 1990s. At that time, a repository of memoir manuscripts, books, and periodicals belonging to Russian emigrants and Soviet writers forced to leave the country was created based on the former City Library No. 17 (2 Nizhnyaya Radishchevskaya Street). Over the years, the building has been completely rebuilt. In addition to the archive and library, it houses a research center, a publishing center, and a cultural and educational center with storage and exhibition halls. The collections include more than 250,000 storage units, including relics of the royal family, and the exhibition of the Museum of the Russian Abroad contains over eight thousand rarities donated by emigrants or their descendants.
The exhibition, equipped with modern technologies, revolves around the fates of famous compatriots and ordinary people. Personal belongings, documents, and letters help to better understand the emotions and motives of forced migrants, tell about their adaptation to new conditions, as well as the tragic events of those years. Fifty-four multimedia screens display more than two thousand photographs, documents, and manuscripts. Motion sensors operate in the halls: sound accompaniment is automatically activated when a visitor approaches a showcase. And if you click on the interactive map, you can watch video recordings with stories from descendants of Russian emigrants from different parts of the world.
Drawings of Tsesarevich Alexander II
The museum houses 30 authentic drawings of the future Emperor Alexander II, created in the 1840s. The heir to the throne was taught painting by the most skilled masters, so the pencil and watercolor sketches of officers and soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars era are remarkably accurate. The drawings came to the museum from the collection of the Russian aviation historian and émigré Valery Tomich.
Khodynka circles
Cups coated with colored enamel were produced for the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896. They were planned to be distributed at Khodynka Field on the day of the celebration, but the event turned into a tragedy: a terrible stampede occurred in which, according to official data, about 1.4 thousand people died. Many families kept these cups in emigration as a memory of Russia. They were donated to the museum by the daughter of the artist and writer Valeria Dauvalder, who emigrated to Switzerland.
The little blanket of Tsesarevich Alexei
Under transparent glass lies a fragment of a white woolen blanket. The daughters of Emperor Nicholas II — Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia — knitted it for their brother, Tsarevich Alexei. Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna took the blanket to London, and then gave it to her spiritual father Nikolai Uspensky. He transported it to Australia, where the blanket was cut into parts. One fragment is kept in the Museum of the Russian Diaspora, another in the Museum of the Holy Royal Family in Yekaterinburg.
Photo album of Evgeny Botkin
Among the museum’s most valuable exhibits is the photo album of Yevgeny Botkin, the personal doctor of the Romanov family, who voluntarily shared their exile and death. Several photos depict the royal family on a yacht. Nicholas II poses in a three-quarter turn to the photographer, while Tsesarevich Alexei frolics on the deck. The museum also received Yevgeny Botkin’s personal belongings — inkwells, drawings, and letters.
Frescoes of the church in Medone
The miraculously preserved fragments of the unique murals in the Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior in Meudon, a suburb of Paris, were painted by iconographer Yulia Reitlinger. Created between 1929 and 1932, they are considered one of the recognized masterpieces of Russian church painting of the 20th century.
Alexey Budberg Library
Alexey Budberg was the military minister under Alexander Kolchak’s administration. After leaving, he founded the Society of Russian Veterans of the Great War in San Francisco, and before his death, he bequeathed his books to Russia.
Teddy Bear
The most touching exhibit in the museum is a plush Teddy bear. It belonged to Irina Shimanovskaya (married name von Schlippe), a representative of the second wave of Russian emigration. In 1943, as a little girl, she ended up in Germany. Her mother, Valentina Shimanovskaya, wandered through refugee camps, and Irina was adopted by Baroness Elisabeth von Knorring. During those days, the baroness’s sister died in a bombing. Her favorite bear was buried under the rubble along with its owner. After the body was retrieved, Elisabeth von Knorring gave the sister’s teddy bear to her foster daughter. Irina Shimanovskaya carefully kept it all her life.
Vladimir Nabokov’s jacket
On the first floor of the museum, Vladimir Nabokov’s jacket is kept. In the twilight of his life, the writer went to the Swiss mountains in this jacket to catch butterflies, but he stumbled, fell, and was unable to get up. A ski lift with tourists passed by, Nabokov began signaling to them, but they just waved back, mistaking his call for help as a simple greeting. Only on the way back did the tourists realize that something was wrong. The writer was rescued, but his health was seriously shaken.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Coat
Opposite the display with Vladimir Nabokov’s jacket, a double-breasted drape coat of Alexander Solzhenitsyn is kept. Before his expulsion from the country in 1974, the writer was held in Lefortovo prison. To save face at the airport before the press covering Solzhenitsyn’s exile, the Soviet authorities arranged to give him a decent coat in prison. The writer wore this “gift” even in exile, and after his death, Solzhenitsyn’s widow donated the coat to the museum.
“Alaska Herald”
Vladimir Putin, who attended the museum’s opening, handed over to the institution an issue of the 1868 newspaper “Alaska Bulletin.” The first periodical publication in Russian in the USA was founded by the priest, publisher, oppositionist, and public figure Agapiy Goncharenko (real name Andrey Gumnitsky). Fleeing persecution by the tsarist secret services, he reached Alaska, launched active activities there, and quickly gained popularity.
You can purchase tickets to the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad without any markup or commission through the service “Mosbilet”.
“Mosbilet” — the official service on the mos.ru portal, through which you can purchase tickets to theaters, museums, concert halls, and other institutions subordinate to the Moscow Department of Culture, without commission and markups. The service page features announcements of the most anticipated events, season premieres, activities within city festivals, exhibitions, performances, and concerts that will take place in the upcoming weekend.
You can buy a ticket directly in the service. For events that require personal data to purchase a ticket, entering the last name, first name, patronymic, and visitor information is not necessary: if the user has a standard or full account, it is enough to leave the default value — Mos ID — in the document selection field. Mandatory fields must be filled in manually if the account is simplified. When issuing tickets for young guests through the service, all data must be entered only by the accompanying adult. For children under 14, only the last name, first name, patronymic, and date of birth can be specified; when attending cultural events, the child’s document does not need to be shown.
In addition, authorized users will be able to open ticket QR codes in the mobile applications “My Moscow”, “My id”, and “Moscow Public Services”.
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