Yasnaya Polyana - Grave of Leo Tolstoy

Grave of Leo Tolstoy

Long before he died Tolstoy announced the place where he wanted to be buried; in a small clearing called "the place of the green wand", next to a long ravine in a part of the old forest called the Forest of the Old Order (Старый Заказ, Stariy Zakaz) because cutting trees there had been forbidden since the time of his grandfather, and many trees there were over a hundred years old. The name 'place of the green wand' had been given by Tolstoy's older brother Nikolai, who said that the person who found the magic wand there would never die or be ill. He and his brother frequently sat in the darkness in the clearing and talked.

  • Tolstoy in the park in May 1908. taken by Prokudin-Gorsky, this was the first color photo portrait made in Russia

  • Tolstoy's simple bedroom, as it was when he left the house for the last time in 1910

  • Large pond where Tolstoy bathed in summer and went ice-skating in winter

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