On April 2, the European Foundation for Slavic Literature and Culture participated in an excursion organized by the Bratislava Bilingual Gymnasium named after I. Horváth, where students study the Russian language.For the gymnasium students, this trip to the Slavic Museum of A. S. Pushkin, located in the village of Brodzany (Slovakia), became an exciting and unforgettable journey.
The Brodzany estate is one of the unique places connected to the Pushkin family. Since 1846, it was owned by Baron Gustav Vogel von Friesenhof, an Austrian diplomat who served in St. Petersburg. After the death of his first wife, he married Alexandra Goncharova – the sister of Natalia Goncharova, the wife of A. S. Pushkin. As a result, the children of Natalia Goncharova from the poet and her second husband, Pyotr Petrovich Lanskoy, could spend summers at this estate.
Today, the museum preserves portraits of Alexandra Goncharova and other family members, as well as interior items from that era. The estate is surrounded by a picturesque park featuring busts of A. S. Pushkin and other prominent Russian and Slovak writers.
During the excursion, the students learned about the fascinating history of the estate and its inhabitants. The lecture on the history of A. S. Pushkin’s family and descendants concluded with a reading of the great poet’s verses in Russian. This literary gift was presented to the gymnasium and the museum by the European Foundation for Slavic Literature and Culture.
