Celebrating artists in St Petersburg

The Pushkin Museum was established in the mid-1920s, in the 11-room flat near the city's elegant Nevsky Prospekt in which Pushkin and his family once lived. Above, the library.
Photograph: Massimo Listri/Corbis

A corner of the bedroom in the Pushkin apartment.
Photograph: RIA Novosti/Alamy

A clock in the Pushkin apartment – the shrine to the poet is one of nearly 300 Pushkin memorials in Russia.
Photograph: Massimo Listri/Corbis

Pushkin died at 37 in a duel, and supposedly taking his last breath on the sofa pictured here. In the last few years blood marks on the sofa were tested, and, in 2010, Russian newspapers announced that they belonged to Pushkin.
Photograph: RIA Novosti/Alamy

The salon in Pushkin's apartment. Photograph: Massimo Listri/Corbis

Across the Neva river is the Dostoevsky apartment, which contains a theatre and exhibition space devoted to the author's life and literary accomplishments. Above, the children's room.
Photograph: Peter Forsberg/Alamy

A tour of another famous apartment museum, that dedicated to Feodor Chaliapin, ends in a large music room, where recordings of the singer play as poignant reminders.
Photograph: Hemis/Alamy

Chaliapin in 1913 in his signature role of Boris Godunov, from the Mussorgsky opera. He created his interpretation of the role while studying with composer Rachmaninov.
Photograph: Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis

Statue of Pushkin on a bench in Alexander Park, in St Petersburg. For details on visiting the Pushkin Museum, see museumpushkin.ru/eng.
Photograph: Steve Raymer/Corbis