The Presidential Library marking Alexander Blok’s birthday

The biography and oeuvre of Alexander Blok are associated with St. Petersburg. He was born on November 28, 1880 in the very heart of the city - on Vasilyevsky Island. The poet's grandfather Andrei Nikolaevich Beketov was the rector of St. Petersburg University, and the first years of Blok's life were spent in the rector's house.

For the last nine years, Alexander Blok lived on Dekabristov Street, in house 57 on the Pryazhka River Embankment, “near the sea gates of the Neva”. In 1921, Blok began to experience the first symptoms of a serious illness. From Nikolai Ashukin’s collection “Alexander Blok in the memoirs of his contemporaries and his letters”: “He categorically refused to undergo treatment and continued to work. In May he went to Moscow, where he performed at six evenings. This greatly undermined his strength. And he returned home to St. Petersburg ahead of time. His wife, Lyubov Dmitrievna, met him at the station. The poet was glad to see her and returned home quite cheerful, but soon fell into his usual gloomy mood at that time. Lyubov Dmitrievna deliberately chose a free evening and lured him out into the street in good weather, she led him along one of his favorite paths to the right along the Pryazhka embankment, then through the bridges and further to the Neva itself...”

The poet died on August 7, 1921, Sunday, at 10 o'clock in the morning. Outside the windows there were sounds of a bell calling for mass. According to Nikolai Ashukin, “the news of the poet’s death spread throughout St. Petersburg, and the apartment of the deceased began to fill with people. Not only friends and acquaintances came, but completely strangers...” The funeral took place on August 10. The poet’s last route through his beloved city led to the Smolensk cemetery, where the coffin, buried in flowers, was carried in their arms.

The Presidential Library's portal features the collection dedicated to Alexander Blok, which includes digital copies of books, periodicals, archival documents, photographs, and video materials.