Why a Booktrail?
1812, 1818: A true classic that is a trail across and through Russian history
War and Peace
What you need to know before your trail
A long book yes, but a classic and definitely worth a read to experience a side of Russia you might not have seen before.
It describes the French Invasion of Russian and the impact of the Napoleonic era. But the list of characters events and intrigue lends for an epic of a novel and an epic event in world literature.
The novel could be said to be about love – love for ones family, love for ones country and motherland and of course a mothers love for her children and family. It is also very much a war novel and an insight into the Russian military and the gap between rich and poor.
Travel Guide
There are various locations in this classic novel which take you throughout Russia and eastern Europe, including St. Petersburg, Moscow, Austria, Prussia, the Russian eastern frontier, and Smolensk
Saint Petersburg and Moscow
The “Rostov House” is apparently based on the mansion in Povarskaya Street.
The “Bolkonsky House” is supposedly modelled on the mansion at 9 Vozdvizhenka Street, which in real life belonged to the author’s grandfather, Nikolai Volkonsky.
(Moscow guidebooks mention it by its literary name, the “Bolkonsky House)
The English Club, where many of novel’s characters used to go, was housed in the Gagarin mansion at 15/29 Strastnoi Boulevard
5 Chisty Pereulok – home of Maria Dmitriyevna Akhrosimova’s real-life inspiration Anastasia Dmitriyevna Ofrosimova – Count Rostov with Natasha and Sonya come to stay at this house at one point, and Pierre Bezukhov arrives later on. It is also from this mansion that Natasha and Anatole Kuraghin plan to elope.
14 Bolshaya Lubyanka – Count Rostopchin’s house is a stunning mansion. Pierre Bezukhov visits this house in the book
Borodino Panorama museum – a good example of a peasants log hut or ‘izba’
It would be an epic booktrail to go on for real but we just focus on the main Russian ones here to give you a taste.
Where Next?
