Staraya Russa (Dostoevsky House Museum)
Старая Русса
An old spa town with salt springs on the south shore of Lake Ilmen, where Dostoevsky spent his summers and wrote The Brothers Karamazov.
Staraya Russa is famous for its salt-spring spa treatments. Dostoevsky’s family lived here frequently between 1872 and 1880, and the town in The Brothers Karamazov is modeled on it. The Dostoevsky House Museum preserves the writer’s study and furniture. The town also has the Resurrection Cathedral, a spa park and salt spring fountains. It is about 100 kilometers by road from Veliky Novgorod (about 60 kilometers in a straight line), or roughly 1.5–2 hours by coach, making it suitable for a day trip.
Opening hours
House museum about 10:00–18:00 (closed Mondays)
Nearby sights
- Lake Ilmen
- Peryn Skete
- Yuriev Monastery
- Rurikovo Gorodishche
- Vitoslavlitsy Museum of Wooden Architecture
- Church of the Saviour at Nereditsa
- Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyina Street
- Znamensky Cathedral