Presidential Library marks Akhmatova's anniversary

June 23, 2024 will mark the 135th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian poet of the XX century, Anna Akhmatova. She was born in 1889 near Odessa, in the family of a hereditary nobleman and retired naval mechanical engineer, Andrei Gorenko. From a young age, she took on the pseudonym "Akhmatova".

Almost from her birth, her life was linked to St. Petersburg, where she lived from 1890 onward, including in Tsarskoye Selo, where she spent her childhood and studied at the Mariinsky Gymnasium. There, she began writing poetry and formed her artistic identity. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, a bronze plaque was dedicated to her on the facade of the former women's gymnasium, which is now the Akhmatova Art School. Lev Gumilev attended the dedication ceremony. On the 110th anniversary, an exhibition titled "Anna Akhmatova: Tsarskoye Selo" was held.

Tuchkov Lane is considered as one of many Akhmatova's places. There Anna Akhmatova lived with her husband Nikolai Gumilev. They rented a room on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street, as well did they on other adresses. However, the most famous of these places is the wing of House No. 34 on the Fontanka Embankment - the Sheremetev Palace or Fountain House. The atmosphere of this place is still filled with the spirit of her work.

"I do not repeat anyone's words / and I am not captivated by anyone's longing" – these lines of the 22-year-old poetess were printed in the magazine "Apollo", published in Petrograd in 1909-1917. In the Presidential Library collections the first publications of poems by 22-year-old Anna Akhmatova "The Gray-Eyed King", "In the Forest", "Over the Water", "I don't need my legs anymore" are available, all of them were published in No. 4 of the Apollo magazine for 1911.

In 1915, the literary and artistic almanac In the Rear was published in Petrograd. The inscription on the cover reads: "... the net income from the publication will go to the benefit of the victims of the war." In this way, the creative intelligentsia decided to contribute to helping the country during the difficult period of the First World War.

Among the authors of the almanac were Leonid Andreev, Valery Bryusov, Zinaida Gippius, Nikolai Gumilev, Anna Akhmatova and others. In the preface to the publication it is written: "At present, the new revaluation of values that is taking place before our eyes has not yet ended, and only one thing is obvious with undoubted clarity: the old world has died and the former Europe is gone. It is all on fire, and the flame does not spare either ancient legends or Gothic styles." It goes on to say that the poems and stories included in the almanac "profoundly convey the feelings and mood of the moment."

Having survived the First World War, the Great Patriotic War and the loss of loved ones, Anna Akhmatova maintained her strength and became a source of support for many around her. In her radio speech, Olga Bergholz said that it was Akhmatova who inspired her with "endless courage". She referred to Akhmatova as her teacher, someone she would "like to bow down to". According to Bergholz, their friendship, no matter what the circumstances were, was never interrupted "for a single day or year". A recording of this speech is available on the Presidential Library's portal.

Akhmatova was always attractive to photographers and artists, and the library's collections include portraits, drawings, and a set of postcards dedicated to her.

The Presidential Library's portal also provides abstracts of dissertation research on Anna Akhmatova's works: The artistic world of A.A. Akhmatova, Psychologism in Anna Akhmatova's love poetry of the 1910s and early 1920s: origins and features, Poetic world of Anna Akhmatova during the transition period, and others. These materials are all available in the Persons of Russia collection under the section Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966).

These materials are available for reading in the Presidential Library's electronic reading room, on its portal, and through remote access centers both in Russia and abroad.