Club "Keeper of Antiquities": Mistress of Gorky House

In the year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of A.M. Gorky within the jubilee celebrations on June 20 at 15.00 at the Museum of A.M. Gorky and F.I. Shaliapin will host a meeting of the club "Keeper of Antiquities", dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the birth of Maria Nikolaevna Elizarova - one of the creators and director of the Museum of A.M. Gorky in Kazan.

Maria Nikolaevna Elizarova is a legendary person for the museum. She came to the Kazan Museum of A.M. Gorky Museum (now the Museum of A.M. Gorky and F.I. Shalyapin) in 1941, a year after its discovery. She was not the first director of the museum, but she enjoys a  huge role in his later history. It was M.N. Elizarova laid the foundation for the development of the museum, defined strategic tasks for many decades. As a hospitable hostess of a large literary house, she managed to unite in the walls of the museum  not  indifferent,  creative people.

M.N. Elizarova  worked as a director for about forty years and brought up more than one generation of museum workers, dedicating her life to popularizing the name of A.M. Gorky and F.I. Shaliapin. With her, the Kazan Museum became the regional center for Gorky  studies and Shalyapinology: the Gorky readings with the participation of famous researchers, writers, composers and artists received a wide response.

A lot of work was invested by M.N. Elizarova in the study of the Kazan period of  Gorky’s life. In the years of persecution of F.I. Shalyapin, she literally revived the interest in studying the heritage and perpetuating the name of the singer in our country. She was personally acquainted with E.P. Peshkova and I.F. Shaliapina, who transferred the memorial things of the great writer and great artist to the museum.

Possessing authority and an excellent ability to inspire people, Maria Nikolayevna attracted the best creative forces of the republic, talented artists, scientists, artists to the study of Gorky and Shalyapin themes. It was with her that the museum became one of the centers of attraction and concentration of the literary forces of Kazan.

In 1942, a literary association was created here (now LITO named after Mark Zaretsky is one of the oldest in Russia), in which such famous writers as Sergey Malyshev, Alena Karimova, Alexei Ostudin, Ravil Bukharaev, Boris Vainer, Mikhail Tuzov, Naila Akhunova and others. The names of Mark Zaretsky, Roman Solntsev, Gennady Paushkin, Diaz Valeyev are connected with the history of this lithogenesis.

At the initiative of M. Elizarova, the museum actively developed the theme "Gorky and Tatar Literature", which was dedicated to a separate exposition, established active links with Tatar writers and IJAL after  G. Ibragimov.

In addition to all this, M.N. Elizarova made a great contribution to the development of museum business in the republic. Thanks to her, many factual and material materials were collected, which later served as the basis for the creation of new museums, in particular: the Museum of the History of Tatar Literature with the memorial flat of Sharif Kamal, the Museum of A.M. Gorky in the village of Krasnovidovo, the Museum of G. Tukay in the village of Novy Kirlay.

June 20 on the birthday of Mary Nikolaevna in the walls of the museum will bring together colleagues who knew Maria Nikolaevna personally, as well as those who today consider themselves to be her followers.

Contact information: Museum  of  A.M. Gorky and F.I. Shaliapin: +7 (843) 238-51-49.