Dovlatov Museum

A tour of Dovlatov’s
flat

The study in apartment 34: Dovlatov’s desk, a typewriter, a map of Leningrad and a wall of photographs — a museum guest at the desk
apt. 34
Museum tour

That very apartment 34 — where Dovlatov grew up, wrote and argued with Brodsky. The only genuine, lived-in writer’s flat in Russia.

Ticket993 ₽
Whendaily 11:00,
from 1 September also 16:30
Durationabout an hour
  • The stove — lit in his day: in a quarrel he threw his manuscripts into it, and Elena Dovlatova pulled them out.
  • The peephole in the door — look through it: Dovlatov drilled it himself.
  • The Underwood on the desk — touch the keys; the make gave its name to “Solo on an Underwood”.

★ 4.8 out of 5 — the museum’s rating on Yandex Maps

All formats

Prepayment — 0 ₽, payment at the meeting point · rescheduling and cancellation — free

Artistic reconstruction: Sergei Dovlatov’s room in apartment 34
Dovlatov’s room · artistic reconstruction
A book by Dovlatov with his portrait
That very edition
The Underwood typewriter
The «Underwood» typewriter
The neighbours’ chest of drawers: crockery, postcards and photographs on the wall
The neighbours’ chest of drawers
The desk in Dovlatov’s room
The writer’s desk
A wall hung solid with old framed portraits, a lamp lit beside them
The wall of photographs
Panorama of the room: bookcases up to the ceiling and the green tiled stove
The stove and the library
A guest’s voice
«You can hold everything in your hands, and even drink tea from a Soviet tea set. I recommend it to those who love Dovlatov — and those who don’t know him yet will certainly come to love him».
from a review on Yandex Maps
A wall of books up to the ceiling with a step-ladder in a room of the communal flat
Item 034-18 · The wall of books: up to the ceiling, with a ladder

What to expect

01The street that was «Broadway»Rubinstein Street — formerly Troitskaya, the most fashionable street of Thaw-era Leningrad: the «Saigon» café, the rock club, thick crepe-soled shoes sold under the counter. Courtyard wells, the merchants’ college where Dovlatov, Rein and Raikin studied — short and dense, like his prose.
02That very apartment 34The only genuine, lived-in writer’s flat in Russia — the communal flat at 23 Rubinstein Street, where Dovlatov lived from 1944 to 1975. «Dovlatov is born in evacuation and dies in emigration» — and the best years were spent here. Not a museum with display cases, but living memory.
03Everything can be touchedTouch the typewriter, take the books down from the shelf, drink tea from a Soviet tea set, wind up the gramophone. Even the peephole in the door was drilled by Dovlatov himself. The objects are genuine, and they are entrusted to you.
04Relics found nowhere elseDovlatov’s first book, from «Ardis», 1977, «Kontinent» with Brodsky on the cover, a samizdat copy of Akhmatova’s «Requiem», the trunk from «The Suitcase» — and the note by the writer’s mother found under the paint.
Addressing the doubts

Why go

AuthenticityNot a reconstruction from photographs: a room of almost forty square metres, the tiled stove, port stains on the parquet.
4.8 on Yandex Maps«You can hold everything in your hands, and even drink tea from a Soviet tea set» — from guest reviews.
Easy to get inEvery day at 11:00, from 1 September also at 16:30, about an hour, 993 ₽ — the shortest way into the flat.
No riskNo prepayment: booking is free, payment on the spot.

«The building is residential: there are no large groups here, and there will not be. If you have booked, you are inside».

A desk with a typewriter, an orange telephone and a map on the wall
Item 034-19 · That very desk: the typewriter and the orange telephone

What you will see

Dovlatov’s room — almost forty square metres, with a tiled stove — is the one where he wrote and drank port with Brodsky: the stains from that port are still on the parquet, and Yevgeny Rein was among the guests. You can wind up the gramophone and take a close look at the first Soviet television set and a pre-war telephone. Wallpaper from the middle of the last century, the shared corridor that «ended metaphysically in the lavatory», the kitchen and the telephone on the wall that the whole floor used. The atmosphere of the 1970s has not been recreated here — it simply never went away. The guide takes you through the flat as if you had come to visit and the hosts had stepped out for a moment.

Nothing behind glass. In the room are Dovlatov’s own things and what remains of the era; here is what to look at first.

The note under the paintThe writer’s mother, a proofreader, never got enough sleep and hung a sign on the door: «A half-corpse sleeps here. Keep quiet». Under layers of old paint we found another with the same meaning — «Night Shift». The legend turned out to be a document.
Neighbours who became proseThe engineer who retouched ladies’ buttocks by the shared telephone, and the colonel with a moped in the corridor. Behind the caricatures in «Ours» are real tenants: a cartographer, a variety actress, a military district accountant.
«The Invisible Book»Dovlatov’s first book — «Ardis», Ann Arbor, 1977. A few weeks after it was read on air by Radio Liberty, the writer was arrested. The print run sold out; it has never been reprinted.
«Kontinent» with BrodskyThe leading journal of the Russian emigration, a 1987 issue — with Brodsky on the cover, in the year of his Nobel Prize. Next to it — a samizdat copy of Akhmatova’s «Requiem».
The trunk from «The Suitcase»That very communal trunk — and the peephole drilled by Dovlatov himself. A wardrobe from the reign of Paul I, a pre-war telephone, a «Latvia» radiogram.
The stove the manuscripts were pulled fromThe green stove in Dovlatov’s room was lit in his day. As the writer’s wife Elena Dovlatova recalls, in the heat of a quarrel he threw his manuscripts into the fire, and she pulled them out. The stove still stands in the same place.
Two newspapers — a whole lifeOne from 4 September 1941 — the writer was one day old — with a bravura raid on Berlin that served to cover up the Siege. And one from 1990 — with the obituary. An entire life fits between the two issues.

«We lived in a disgusting communal flat. The long, gloomy corridor ended metaphysically in the lavatory».

Sergei Dovlatov, «Ours», 1983
The room of the artist Tatyana Mileant — seen from above: paintings, a tiled stove, a trunk and objects from the 1970s
Seen from above · Tatyana Mileant’s room, 20 m² — a 1970s time capsule: the room stood locked for more than thirty years and survived better than any other in the flat

Who meets you

The tour is led by a professional accredited guide — one of those for whom this flat is not a place of work but a home. Historians, art historians, devotees of St Petersburg: they are passionate about what they do, and for four years now they have been making guests and residents fall for the city.

People still live behind the wall. That is why a visit is by booking only, even on a weekday morning.

Guide Aleksei Akimtsev: black-and-white portrait, smiling, in a museum room with old portraits
AlekseiAkimtsevhistorian
Guide Maria Valieva: black-and-white portrait at a desk with manuscripts by the window
MariaValievastage director
Guide Eduard Trundaev: black-and-white portrait in a polo neck and jacket in a museum room
EduardTrundaevhistorian
Guide Aleksandra Atakova: black-and-white portrait in a tweed jacket in a room with old portraits
AleksandraAtakovaphilologist
Guide Maria Kulizhnikova: black-and-white portrait in a bright room with bookcases and display cases
MariaKulizhnikovahistorian
Guide Andrei Deev: black-and-white portrait in glasses by the bookcases
AndreiDeevactor
Inventory
Case No. 34Museum tour
Ticket
993 ₽ — the same price as on ticket platforms
When
daily at 11:00, in autumn and winter also at 16:30
Meeting point
at the Dovlatov monument — 23 Rubinstein Street
Duration
about an hour
Where
apartment 34
Group
up to 15 guests
Age
from age 7
What is included
a talk outside the house on Rubinstein Street and apartment 34
Payment
on site, no prepayment
Rescheduling and cancellation
free of charge — an email or a call is enough
Directions
Get directions →
Booking
Choose a date →
Enquiries

Frequently asked questions

Is the staircase steep?
Yes. This is a residential building from 1912; the quarry-stone steps are original and comfortable to climb; there is a lift in the entrance hall, but the thresholds and narrow doorways are still there. If it will be hard for one of the guests, write ahead to hello@dovlatovmuseum.ru — we will advise on the details.
How do I give a visit as a gift?
Easily. Write to hello@dovlatovmuseum.ru or call +7 931 109-12-35 — we will agree a date, book the visit in the name of the person you are giving it to, and send you a confirmation you will not be ashamed to put in an envelope. Payment on the spot on the day of the visit, no prepayment. The simplest way is the gift certificate «A Telegram Invitation»: a named invitation, ready within a day.
What if you are running late?
Call us — the group can wait about five minutes: the tour starts at 11:00 and at 16:30 for everyone at once. Better to arrive a little early.
Can I take photos?
Yes, but not in the lived-in rooms — people live behind the walls. Commercial filming is by arrangement with the management.
Is it suitable for children?
Yes, this is a daytime format. Children from age 7 are most comfortable, but come with any age — we will adapt.
Is there a toilet?
Unfortunately, no: the toilet is in the residential part of the flat — that is the residents’ area, and the museum has no access to it. Fitting a separate toilet in the museum part is not permitted under the regulations for a residential building. The cafés on Rubinstein Street will help out — there are dozens around.
How do I pay for the visit?
Payment is at the meeting point on the day of the visit, no prepayment. Rescheduling or cancelling a booking is free.
Visitors’ book

What guests say

4.84 out of 5 — the average rating on Tripster · 2793 reviews
«The tour of the communal flat was one of the highlights of our trip to St Petersburg! What impressed us: 1) the authentic setting, with no embellishment; the guide’s interesting stories about the residents’ daily life and fates; 2) the chance to see details you would never notice on your own: from old fittings to writing on the walls».
entry 01Dmitry · Tripster
«I am delighted with this tour!!!! At last I saw from the inside how people still live in St Petersburg’s communal flats — and I had been so curious what lies behind the dirty windows of St Petersburg’s beautiful façades!».
entry 02Irina · Tripster
«We went on a tour of a communal flat. We liked it very much. We found ourselves in a perfectly ordinary St Petersburg flat where people still live. Everything is as in Soviet times — old wallpaper, a sideboard, a shared kitchen. The guide told us how the residents got along in one flat, how they cooked in the shared kitchen, how they shared the bathroom. It was interesting and a little sad».
entry 03Olesya · Tripster
«Really liked the tour! I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a feel for the daily life of St Petersburg’s communal flats. From the first steps a special atmosphere wraps around you: the smell of old furniture, the creak of plank floors, endless corridors and, of course, the famous shared kitchen. Our guide, Maria, was simply magnificent».
entry 04Vladlena · Tripster
«We really enjoyed the tour! We went on 30.03.26, a Monday, the last session at 19.00, and the group was small. Our guide Aleksei told us a great deal that was interesting and informative and led the tour so engagingly that we did not notice the time fly by».
entry 05Valeria · Tripster
Direct

Why book direct

Official websiteYou book directly with the museum — your request goes straight to the keepers, with no intermediaries.
Same price — no prepayment993 ₽, as on the platforms, but there is nothing to pay now: payment at the meeting point.
Rescheduling and cancellation — freePlans changed — an email or a phone call is enough.
Press

Apartment 34 in the city news

This apartment is filmed and written about: the «St Petersburg» TV channel reported from the anniversary «D Day» festival right on Rubinstein Street, Channel One recorded an interview in the writer’s rooms on his 85th birthday, «Komsomolskaya Pravda» came out with photographs of the stove from which manuscripts were retrieved, NTV told the story of the neighbours. On the tour you will see the same rooms — without the cameras.

Press on apartment 34 1 / 5
Other formats

Also in this flat

Secrets of Leningrad Communal Apartments a grand tour of three flats Details → What have I earned? a play based on stories from The Suitcase Details → No goodbyes — call me! immersive tour-performance Details → Literary dinner private tour with a wine flight Details →
Come

A morning with Dovlatov — a walk and apartment 34. Daily at 11:00, by appointment.

A museum tour of Dovlatov’s apartment at 23 Rubinstein Street

Choose a date Read about the museum

Prepayment — 0 ₽, payment at the meeting point · call: +7 931 109-12-35

Museum tour · 993 ₽ Choose a date