Repino Penates

Repin, the painter of Barge Haulers and Ivan the Terrible, bought this plot in 1899 and spent thirty years extending the house himself, ending with a rambling wooden building of odd angles and glass roofs designed for light rather than symmetry. His studio has a north-facing glass roof and wall. The household ran on his own rules: Wednesdays were open to visitors, guests served themselves from a round table with a rotating centre because there were no servants at table, and anyone who broke the rules had to make a speech from a rostrum. Chukovsky, Gorky, Chaliapin and Mayakovsky came. After 1918 the border moved and Repino was in Finland, so Repin lived out his last twelve years there without leaving home, dying in 1930 and buried in the garden. The house burned in the war and was rebuilt from drawings and photographs in the 1960s, so the fabric is a reconstruction; the contents are largely his.

What you actually see

• The glass-roofed studio - built for north light, at the centre of the house.
• The rotating table - the self-service dining arrangement of the Wednesday gatherings.
• The grave in the garden - where Repin was buried in 1930.
• The rebuilt house - reconstructed in the 1960s after wartime destruction.

When to go

May to September for the garden and the gulf. Two hours. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Honest expectations

The building is a 1960s reconstruction, not original fabric. Visits are guided, mostly in Russian. It is about an hour from the city by train plus a walk. The gulf shore here is popular in summer and the road is busy.

Nearby

The Gulf of Finland shore runs past; Zelenogorsk is further along the coast.