Modern literary museums: from an exhibit to visualization (using the example of the Moscow Dostoevsky house)

Akasheva Tatiana ORCID: 0000-0002-2695-5070 PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and Translation, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University 455006, Russia, Chelyabinsk region, Magnitogorsk, Lenin str., 26, office 455006 akasheva.tv@yandex.ru

Zharkova Aleksandra Zharkova Alexandra 455006, Russia, Chelyabinsk region, Magnitogorsk, Zavetnaya str., 22 alexa_04-04@list.ru

The modern concept of museum complexes offers not only the preservation and demonstration of exhibits, but also the possibility of joint participation, cooperation and emotional interaction. The idea of a museum as a place of collection of exhibits is becoming a thing of the past, and integrated complexes combining all types of perception are taking its place. This study is devoted to one of these aspects – visuality. The purpose of the article is to consider the concepts of the modern literary museum and the importance of visualization on the example of the Moscow House of F.M. Dostoevsky.

Today, the museum plays an important role in the cultural life of the country, influencing the formation of our ideological position, the preservation of cultural and historical heritage, patriotism and spiritual component. Literary museums are of particular importance for our research, since literature in Russia has always reflected the spirit of civil society. Consequently, the analysis of literary museums as a phenomenon of modern culture, the study of factors influencing its development, as well as the study of the evolution of its forms and typology in a broad historical and socio-cultural context are a priority task of modern humanities ^{[3, 5]}. The need to modernize museums in order to attract young people is presented in the works of Yeresova E.E., Nikonova A.A. et al. ^[2,9], the search for new meanings and interpretation in museology is widely discussed by museologists Mastenitsa E.N., Nekrasov S.M., Pilyak S.A. Sundieva A.A. ^[6,8,10,11], the works of Ermolin E.A., Klimov L. are devoted to new literary museums ^[3,4].

At the beginning of our study, we will present an overview of the general trends of changes that are taking place in modern museums. The development of technologies used in museums has led to the fact that visitors have become more actively involved in the process of interpretation: "... all definitions of a museum object emphasize its most important characteristic – the ability to serve as a primary source of knowledge and emotions" ^{[11, p.8]}. For the interpretation of cultural heritage, the role of the audience in the cultural and educational process is aimed at "the culture of participation" (participatory culture) ^{[6, p. 94]}. As modern museologists note, "... the main thing for a visitor in a museum is impressions, they are the main museum product, whereas previously the museum was presented primarily as an educational and scientific center, and the acquisition of new knowledge was of paramount importance" ^{[6, p. 93]}. Thus, the modern museum today prioritizes meeting the needs of visitors and takes into account their psychology to a greater extent than the preservation of exhibits. Expositions are often the product of high technologies that affect all the senses of the visitor. They offer a wide range of experiences related to the preserved and interpreted heritage. The ways of interpreting exhibits are associated with various senses, but this typology, according to S.A. Pilyak, is conditional, since in fact the perception of any object will be combined ^[10].

Currently, the transfer of taste sensations and aromas of museum objects is the newest approach. Examples are the pastille Museum and the kalach Museum in Kolomna, in one of which visitors are offered to try traditional pastille recipes, in the other – to bake a cake and enjoy the unique aroma of fresh pastries. At the same time, historical costumed performances are also held here. High attendance and the need to book tickets in advance confirm the popularity of this concept. The next method – the sound of a museum exhibit has been worked out in museums for a long time. The belfries of the Golden Ring of Russia have been widely known since the 2nd half of the XX century, the performance of musical works on authentic instruments. You can also hear the sound of both individual exhibits and entire expositions. For example, in the literary museum of Vienna, you can hear the voice of a writer who reads his work by going to his bookshelf. In addition, there is a "story with a show" tour format, as well as popular audio guides in different languages with many functions. At the same time, observation shows that the older generation still prefers "live" guides, while the youth use portable smartphone headphones that read Q-codes at the entrance to the hall or at each showcase with exhibits. Nevertheless, the ancient practice of feeling museum exhibits through physical contact has not lost its value yet. Here, familiarization with heritage is combined with faith in miracles and pagan tradition, manifested through rubbing to shine or touching specific details of objects, including noses, hands, shoes, fingers, etc.

Since the earliest times, visual perception has remained the main and most widespread feeling in museum activities. According to A. Nikonova, informativeness, expressivity, attractiveness, representativeness and associativity are especially important for museum objects ^{[9, pp. 12-13]}, and they are primarily related to the appearance, not the sound, smell or surface properties of the object. It is worth noting that the scientific description of museum objects also often focuses on their appearance. Museum objects can be visually perceived in various ways, for example, by directly examining images in photo and video formats in the museum hall, a special type of representation of cultural heritage includes the image of museum artifacts on souvenirs, which also helps to expand the audience of museums. Thus, combining different ways of perception makes it possible to present cultural heritage as accessible as possible to a wide audience.

As we said above, the modern literary museum is a special museum, let's look at it in more detail. Initially, the predecessors of literary museums were the repositories of manuscripts located in monasteries, temples and public or private libraries ^[6]. The first museums, which later became known as literary ones, were created in order to preserve the memory of great writers, but this happened much later in Russia. For example, the Biblioteka Pushkiniana at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum (1879), which became a museum ten years later, was opened half a century after the death of A. S. Pushkin in 1937. The first literary museums of the late XIX – early XX centuries were isolated, but could serve as confirmation of the memorialization process ^[6]. Initially, it was not directly related to the creation of museums, but was expressed through the publication of materials about the biography and work of writers, the designation of their special places (study, corner), the collection of "memorabilia" and the installation of monuments and plaques.

The first decade of Soviet power marked the beginning of the development of literary museums, which became cultural institutions and contributed to the formation of a network of such museums in Russia. Thus, the state museums of I. S. Turgenev in Orel (1918), N. G. Chernyshevsky in Saratov (1920), A. P. Chekhov in Yalta (1921), the museum-apartment of F. M. Dostoevsky in Moscow (1928) were opened; estate museums: S.T. Aksakov (Abramtsevo near Moscow, 1918), F. I. Tyutchev in Muranovo near Moscow (1920), L.N. Tolstoy in Moscow (1920) and Yasnaya Polyana (1921), A. S. Pushkin in Mikhailovsky (1922), etc. ^[7]. Despite criticism of "materialism" as a petty-bourgeois trait in Soviet ideology, objects have always had a special significance in literature, and museums have preserved the setting and personal belongings of writers with a reverent and sublime atmosphere. In such a museum, irony was impossible and play was unacceptable. That is, the literary museum of the beginning of the Soviet era was no different from the memorial museum of any other great man: an artist, scientist or politician and was called the "museum of writer's life". However, the 1960s and 1980s were a time of rapid development of literary museums in Russia. They became more and more popular, and museum forms of representation and interpretation of literary heritage began to evolve. The museum-reserve becomes a form of preservation and presentation of a wide range of historical, cultural and natural objects, vast territories associated with the places of residence of the writer and inspired him to creative revelations. At the beginning of the XXI century, a significant change took place, and literary museums ceased to be only repositories of materials and began to use new technologies to transfer heritage to another spatial dimension in order to get away from the dominance of paper and planar material and transfer heritage to another spatial dimension. The museum has become more often perceived as a metaphor.

Museums dedicated to literary heroes and works have become the next step in this direction. Russia occupies a leading place in the world in terms of their number. Examples include the Kozma Prutkov Museum in the Bryansk Literary Museum and the Museum of the work of A. Tolstoy "The Golden Key" in the Samara Literary Museum. The State Literary Museum initiated the creation of the encyclopedia "Literary Museums of Russia", which received the support of the community of literary museums and specialists. This project, according to E. N. Mastenitsa, "is aimed not only at eliminating gaps in the history of the development of literary museums, but also aims to reveal the importance of the literary museum as a cultural phenomenon of different eras, including modernity." This is one of the attempts at the state and professional levels to change the situation against the background of the decline in interest in literature, the crisis of writer's status and the crisis of literary museums and attract visitors ^[7].

Next, we will take a closer look at the Dostoevsky Museum as an example of a modern literary museum. We believe that it includes all stages of the development of the literary museum, from the classic repository of exhibits to an innovative museum with modern technologies and a unique interior design, which is ideal for privacy and full immersion in the creative world of the writer through visual, sound, color and other aspects. The place of F.M. Dostoevsky as the most Russian writer in world literature is difficult to overestimate, therefore the need to preserve the author's legacy is obvious ^{[1, p.13]}. The world's first Dostoevsky Museum and one of the first literary museums in Moscow was opened on November 11, 1928, on the writer's birthday. In the 1940s, it became part of the State Literary Museum. The museum is located in the northern wing of the former Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, built in 1806 by I. Gilardi and A. Mikhailov, designed by D. Quarenghi in the style of late Russian classicism. It was here that the family of the physician M. A. Dostoevsky, the father of the future writer, occupied a small apartment. Interestingly, the room has preserved its historical interior with unchanged walls, stoves and ceilings from the time of the writer's life. This interior was recreated in 1980 based on the memoirs of F. M. Dostoevsky's younger brother, which described in detail his childhood apartment along with drawings and diagrams. Among the many memorial exhibits at the exhibition, you can see original items of the Dostoevsky family, such as a sofa bought by Fyodor Mikhailovich during his stay in Moscow in 1866, a desk from the writer's last apartment, an ink device, glasses, a Gospel presented by the wives of the Decembrists in 1850, business cards of the writer, a box with cigarette casings, books on engineering and mechanics with the writer's notes in the margins. In addition, the museum contains copies of interior elements, for example, a bookcase commissioned by A.G. Dostoevskaya for the "Museum of the Memory of F.M. Dostoevsky" in 1913.

Thus, at present the museum consists of two parts: in the memorial part, as mentioned above, you can see objects from the Dostoevsky family, get acquainted with everyday life, the moral way of life and the children's environment in the life of the family, including the reading, theatrical, spiritual impressions of F.M. Dostoevsky and their reflection in his letters, memoirs and other works. The historical and literary part of the exhibition contains the writer's original belongings and a collection of illustrations related to his works from the museum's collection.

The other part is the reception of the writer's work. The author's installation by M. Shemyakin, "Dostoevsky's Dreams", dedicated to the novel "Crime and Punishment" deserves special attention. A visitor to the museum seems to be transported to stuffy and dusty St. Petersburg, walks along the pavement to the house of an old interest-bearing woman. Here we can physically feel the torments and doubts that Raskolnikov is experiencing, standing in front of her door. Visitors do not miss the opportunity to ring the bell hanging over the door, and a museum curator runs out to its ringing. The cinema hall, made in black, is also amazing, where films based on the novel or based on the novel "Crime and Punishment", including foreign films with subtitles, are shown on several screens at the same time. These are films shot since 1925, and ending with a modern reading. There is even a black Raskolnikov. It's amazing to watch the different faces of the hero, who share epochs and boundaries. There is also a room dedicated to the novel "The Gambler", the walls of which consist of fragments of the text of this novel.

There is a gallery of paintings written about the life of F.M. Dostoevsky, about the places where he visited. The canvases are presented opposite each other, the visitor is instantly transported to the era of the writer, creating a complete feeling of walking along a boulevard or alley, for example, in Baden-Baden. At the end of the exhibition, the guest will be able to capture his emotions by creating his own painting in the hall with easels. It is also worth noting that, having become the winner of the grant competition "Without exception" of the Svet Charitable Foundation in 2022, the project "Show Dostoevsky" allows people with disabilities to gain access to the literary museum. It includes a series of sign language excursions for children, teenagers and adults at the Moscow Dostoevsky House, implemented jointly with the Association of Figures of Inclusive Arts (ADII) The theater of the deaf actors "Nedoslov". This project is becoming an excellent example of a modern literary museum expanding its boundaries.

Modern changes in the development of museum institutions, where they grow from the storage of exhibits into high-tech products, cover all the feelings and emotions of visitors. As a result of our research, we conclude that the literary museum is currently not just a building for reading works and collecting things of the writer, but is a much more significant tool in understanding the individuality of the author, literary creativity and its interpretation in the modern world. These changes correspond to the general trends of the museum world and the Institute of museum business in general. Only by combining the traditions of preserving cultural values and modern technologies of representativeness, including visualization, can we talk about the importance of such an important institution as the literary museum in the development of spirituality of citizens. Hence, the desire and attempts of the literary museum to change and become the center of cultural life and lively cultural communication are understandable, since "the best way to preserve cultural memory is not to keep, but to waste" ^[6]. The Moscow Dostoevsky House fully corresponds to all these trends.