On September 9, 2026, the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate and its Tula branch will celebrate the birthday of Leo Tolstoy with a program of special events. Tolstoy was born on August 28, 1828, according to the Julian calendar; today, his birthday is celebrated on September 9.
Admission to the museum-reserve grounds will be free from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A Word about Tolstoy
At 12:00 noon, the traditional “A Word about Tolstoy” program will begin outside the Writer’s House. Museum staff, faculty and students of the Leo Tolstoy Tula State Pedagogical University, students from the Yasnaya Polyana Educational Complex, and Russian and international writers and scholars will share their thoughts about Tolstoy and his legacy.
Among the speakers will be Georgian playwright Pyotr Khotyanovsky, Tajik writer Hafiz Saifullaev, and Irina Bakanova, Professor of Museology and Director of the Museum Center at the Russian State Humanities University.
The program will conclude with a performance by Dobrasvet, an ensemble of bayan players from the Leo Tolstoy Children’s Music School No. 1 in Shchyokino. Participants will then lay flowers at Tolstoy’s grave in the Stary Zakaz forest.
Free Tours of Tolstoy’s House
From 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., visitors can join free ten-minute tours of the Leo Tolstoy House. Groups will form at the entrance to the Writer’s House.
The Leo Tolstoy Chess Cup
At 1:00 p.m., Yasnaya Polyana will host a special event as part of the Leo Tolstoy Chess Cup: a simultaneous exhibition for children, with 40 boards and Russian grandmasters taking on the young players.
The celebrations begin earlier in the week. A children’s blitz tournament will take place on September 6, followed by a rapid chess tournament for schoolchildren on September 7 and 8.
The Leo Tolstoy Chess Cup has been held since 2021 by the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate, the Chess Federation of Russia, and the Tula Chess Salon, with the support of the Government of Tula Region and the Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.
The tournament celebrates one of Tolstoy’s favorite pastimes. He often played chess with family members, friends, and guests. For Tolstoy, chess was more than entertainment: it was also a way to unwind after periods of intensive intellectual work.
Living Tolstoy in Tula
At 1:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., the Cultural and Exhibition Complex “L. N. T.” in Tula will screen the documentary Living Tolstoy.
The 35-minute film features footage shot in 1908 by Alexander Drankov, one of the pioneers of Russian cinema, during celebrations marking Tolstoy’s 80th birthday.
Two Days at Yasnaya Polyana
The birthday celebrations will begin on the evening of September 8 at 7:00 p.m., with a screening of Galina Yevtushenko’s 2025 documentary Two Days at Yasnaya Polyana at the Yasnaya Polyana House of Culture.
The screening is part of the 4th International Conference “The Legacy of Classical Writers across the CIS.”
The film tells the story of photographers Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky and Pyotr Kulakov, whose photographs preserve a remarkable visual record of their era and important chapters in the history of Yasnaya Polyana.
Admission to the museum-reserve grounds will be free from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A Word about Tolstoy
At 12:00 noon, the traditional “A Word about Tolstoy” program will begin outside the Writer’s House. Museum staff, faculty and students of the Leo Tolstoy Tula State Pedagogical University, students from the Yasnaya Polyana Educational Complex, and Russian and international writers and scholars will share their thoughts about Tolstoy and his legacy.
Among the speakers will be Georgian playwright Pyotr Khotyanovsky, Tajik writer Hafiz Saifullaev, and Irina Bakanova, Professor of Museology and Director of the Museum Center at the Russian State Humanities University.
The program will conclude with a performance by Dobrasvet, an ensemble of bayan players from the Leo Tolstoy Children’s Music School No. 1 in Shchyokino. Participants will then lay flowers at Tolstoy’s grave in the Stary Zakaz forest.
Free Tours of Tolstoy’s House
From 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., visitors can join free ten-minute tours of the Leo Tolstoy House. Groups will form at the entrance to the Writer’s House.
The Leo Tolstoy Chess Cup
At 1:00 p.m., Yasnaya Polyana will host a special event as part of the Leo Tolstoy Chess Cup: a simultaneous exhibition for children, with 40 boards and Russian grandmasters taking on the young players.
The celebrations begin earlier in the week. A children’s blitz tournament will take place on September 6, followed by a rapid chess tournament for schoolchildren on September 7 and 8.
The Leo Tolstoy Chess Cup has been held since 2021 by the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate, the Chess Federation of Russia, and the Tula Chess Salon, with the support of the Government of Tula Region and the Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.
The tournament celebrates one of Tolstoy’s favorite pastimes. He often played chess with family members, friends, and guests. For Tolstoy, chess was more than entertainment: it was also a way to unwind after periods of intensive intellectual work.
Living Tolstoy in Tula
At 1:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., the Cultural and Exhibition Complex “L. N. T.” in Tula will screen the documentary Living Tolstoy.
The 35-minute film features footage shot in 1908 by Alexander Drankov, one of the pioneers of Russian cinema, during celebrations marking Tolstoy’s 80th birthday.
Two Days at Yasnaya Polyana
The birthday celebrations will begin on the evening of September 8 at 7:00 p.m., with a screening of Galina Yevtushenko’s 2025 documentary Two Days at Yasnaya Polyana at the Yasnaya Polyana House of Culture.
The screening is part of the 4th International Conference “The Legacy of Classical Writers across the CIS.”
The film tells the story of photographers Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky and Pyotr Kulakov, whose photographs preserve a remarkable visual record of their era and important chapters in the history of Yasnaya Polyana.