On 11 December 2025, the exhibition “Farewell, Old Year!”, dedicated to the winter traditions of the Tolstoy family, will open in the exhibition hall of the Volkonsky House in Yasnaya Polyana. The exhibition will open as part of the “Museum Winter in Tula” project.
The exhibition will feature personal belongings of Leo Tolstoy, a gramophone and Christmas-melody records, books and photographs from the collections of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum. Visitors will also see snowy landscapes of Yasnaya Polyana painted by S. A. Tolstaya, V. S. Konstantinov, B. V. Shcherbakov, A. L. Moskalenko, V. P. Golubov and other artists.
Sophia Tolstaya noted that winter was the busiest time of year for the whole family: Leo Tolstoy wrote, the children studied, and the countess herself attended to numerous household duties and helped her husband. But there was also time for traditional winter amusements. Family members skied and sledded, arranged an ice rink on the Big Pond, staged plays, held masquerades and musical evenings, and read their favourite books.
For New Year and Christmas, a tree was set up in the Hall of the Yasnaya Polyana house. The decorations for it were made in advance by the family themselves. These included gilded nuts, various paper and cardboard figures, and wooden “skeleton dolls” for which bright outfits were sewn.
One of the exhibits of the exhibition is Sophia Tolstaya’s book Skeleton Dolls and Other Stories. In it, the countess describes how this symbol of winter holidays appeared in the Yasnaya Polyana home.
The exhibition “Farewell, Old Year!” will run until 21 January 2026.
The exhibition will feature personal belongings of Leo Tolstoy, a gramophone and Christmas-melody records, books and photographs from the collections of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum. Visitors will also see snowy landscapes of Yasnaya Polyana painted by S. A. Tolstaya, V. S. Konstantinov, B. V. Shcherbakov, A. L. Moskalenko, V. P. Golubov and other artists.
Sophia Tolstaya noted that winter was the busiest time of year for the whole family: Leo Tolstoy wrote, the children studied, and the countess herself attended to numerous household duties and helped her husband. But there was also time for traditional winter amusements. Family members skied and sledded, arranged an ice rink on the Big Pond, staged plays, held masquerades and musical evenings, and read their favourite books.
For New Year and Christmas, a tree was set up in the Hall of the Yasnaya Polyana house. The decorations for it were made in advance by the family themselves. These included gilded nuts, various paper and cardboard figures, and wooden “skeleton dolls” for which bright outfits were sewn.
One of the exhibits of the exhibition is Sophia Tolstaya’s book Skeleton Dolls and Other Stories. In it, the countess describes how this symbol of winter holidays appeared in the Yasnaya Polyana home.
The exhibition “Farewell, Old Year!” will run until 21 January 2026.
Posted : 2 december 2025