The first thing to note is that this institution can be quite a stumbling block: all the material is in Russian, so this place is really only worth a visit if you’ve read Blok before in some capacity. Besides the potential inaccessibility for foreigners, this apartment-museum dedicated to the early 20th century Russian symbolist poem is excellently curated. Information sheets can be read under the watchful eyes of icons hung in upper corners. Perhaps the most well-executed part of this complex is the untraditional literary exhibit, which follows an associative, almost poetic organizing principle. Age is deduced from photos; time passes via dates of poems, copied out in full; and characters emerge from items arranged, collage-like, under glass displays with headings like “Cosmos - A Secret Freedom”.
