Yasnaya Polyana, Historic estate in Tula Oblast, Russia
Yasnaya Polyana is a historic estate in Tula Oblast, Russia, extending over four hundred hectares. The grounds include parks, gardens, tree-lined avenues, ponds, and conservatories from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that remain preserved in their original state today.
The property first belonged to the Kartsev family starting in sixteen fifty-two, before passing to the Volkonsky princes in seventeen sixty-three. The Tolstoy family eventually acquired the estate and inhabited it across several generations.
The Russian writer Leo Tolstoy spent most of his life here and composed his major literary works at this location. His private library with more than twenty thousand volumes remains in the main building and shows the author's broad interest in philosophy and world literature.
The grounds open from November through April between nine in the morning and five in the afternoon, while from May through October they remain accessible from eight in the morning until eight at night. Mondays are reserved for maintenance work and the site stays closed.
Leo Tolstoy lies buried in a section of the Old Zakaz forest with no monument or cross marking the spot. He wished to rest at the location where, according to a family legend, a green stick held the secret of happiness.
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