Moscow Region » Abramtsevo estate
Abramtsevo estate
The estate of Abramtsevo, located approximately 70 kilometers north east of Moscow, must be one of the most painted landscapes in all of Russia and has throughout the last 150 years represented a return to traditional Russian life, art and architecture. Abramtsevo was bought by the devout Slavophile writer Sergei Aksakov, who favored its proximity to the nearby holy Trinity Monastery in Sergiev Posad as a perfect backdrop for his meetings of like-minded devoutly Orthodox Moscow intellectuals. It was on the estate that the finer points of the Slavophile movement's campaign to rid Russia of Western influences were decided by some of the greatest Russian minds of the day. In 1870 possession of the estate fell to the Russian millionaire railroad tycoon Savva Mamontov, who was equally passionate about Russian art and culture and supported an artists' colony on the estate that became the nucleus from which the country's modern art movement grew. Some of Russia's most famous modern artists came to the estate to paint, help construct and decorate various buildings there and found the estate's unique Museum of Folk Art, from which many of the artists drew their inspiration. Today visitors are free to wander around the majority of the buildings on the estate and see some of the original art and decorative work created by members of the artists' colony.
