From 18 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, the cultural and exhibition center “L. N. T.” invites children to the holiday program “New Year with Lelya and Minka.”
The program takes place within the “Museum Winter in Tula” project.
Individual visitors: tickets are purchased online.
Organized groups: advance registration is required; upon request, the program may include a tea party; the maximum group size is 35 people (visitors must bring indoor shoes).
Lelya and Minka are the main characters of a cycle of autobiographical stories by the writer Mikhail Zoshchenko. The Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate invites its young visitors to celebrate the New Year together with literary characters of the past.
“What’s a New Year without a festive tree? But here’s the trouble: the ornaments have scattered across the pages of New Year stories. Together with the characters of Mikhail Zoshchenko, Nikolai Nosov, Tove Jansson, Ernst Hoffmann, and other writers, we will journey into the land of captivating tales and stories to gather the holiday decorations for the forest beauty,” say the staff of “L. N. T.”
During the journey, visitors will learn how and where the tradition of decorating a New Year tree originated, and whether it has always been the main symbol of the holiday. Together with the guide, young guests will find out whether Bengal tigers have any connection to sparklers (called “Bengal fires” in Russian), and who is older — the snowman or Father Frost. Participants of the program will discover many other interesting facts about the main winter holiday.
“New Year with Lelya and Minka” will continue with a workshop where children will be able to create a paper ornament for their home Christmas tree. At the end of the program, every participant will receive a New Year gift — a set of cardboard cutouts specially made for visitors of “L. N. T.”
The program takes place within the “Museum Winter in Tula” project.
Individual visitors: tickets are purchased online.
Organized groups: advance registration is required; upon request, the program may include a tea party; the maximum group size is 35 people (visitors must bring indoor shoes).
Lelya and Minka are the main characters of a cycle of autobiographical stories by the writer Mikhail Zoshchenko. The Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate invites its young visitors to celebrate the New Year together with literary characters of the past.
“What’s a New Year without a festive tree? But here’s the trouble: the ornaments have scattered across the pages of New Year stories. Together with the characters of Mikhail Zoshchenko, Nikolai Nosov, Tove Jansson, Ernst Hoffmann, and other writers, we will journey into the land of captivating tales and stories to gather the holiday decorations for the forest beauty,” say the staff of “L. N. T.”
During the journey, visitors will learn how and where the tradition of decorating a New Year tree originated, and whether it has always been the main symbol of the holiday. Together with the guide, young guests will find out whether Bengal tigers have any connection to sparklers (called “Bengal fires” in Russian), and who is older — the snowman or Father Frost. Participants of the program will discover many other interesting facts about the main winter holiday.
“New Year with Lelya and Minka” will continue with a workshop where children will be able to create a paper ornament for their home Christmas tree. At the end of the program, every participant will receive a New Year gift — a set of cardboard cutouts specially made for visitors of “L. N. T.”
tickets online