Ostrovsky Museum

Alexander Ostrovsky has been called the ‘Russian Shakespeare’, and he is comparable, writing an impressive 47 plays which are still read and performed today. However, outside Russia he is bizarrely overlooked, as is this museum in his home town of Zamoskvoreche. This wooden house is where the playwright was born in 1823, and the surrounding environment inspired him to write. Although he had problems with censoring, and his attempts to accurately portray genuine Russian life were seen as vulgar by some, he won over big names in Russian literature, including Gogol and Tolstoy. The museum has thorough documentation of performances of his plays in photographs, as well as numerous set design sketches on display, which are works of art in themselves.