Nowadays the Chicherin estate in Pokrovskoe is located in the Petrovsky district of the Tambov region, in the village of Pokrovo-Chicherino. The central structure of the building has been preserved. There used to be a beautiful well-kept park near the main house of the estate. Rectangular in shape, it was crossed by alleys, which were formed by trees and shrubs of various varieties - lilacs, poplars, jasmine, oaks, elms, chestnuts and lindens. The manor and the park are historical and natural monuments of municipal importance.
The Chicherins’ estate in Pokrovskoe was a true family home. Vasily Chicherin settled there with his wife Zhorzhina and two children: son Nikolay and daughter Sophia. There he actively worked in a regional council (zemstvo), opened a village school, a medical assistant’s center to improve the living conditions of peasants. For 11 years, Vasily Chicherin was engaged in charitable activities in Tambov, rendered great help to students, was an honorary member of the ‘Society for Benefits to Needy Gymnasium Students’. From time to time his family and he stayed with his older brother in Karaul, where in 1872 Georgy Chicherin was born.
The eldest son, Nikolay Chicherin, became the owner of the Pokrovskoe estate. In 1903, he married Natalia Govorova. She was born in the family of a priest in the village of Olshanka, the Tambov province. She graduated from the Kozlovsky boarding house and from 1895 worked as a teacher at the Pokrovskoe school with her future husband. Natalya Chicherina was a real companion-in-arms of her husband and his sister in public education and musical enlightenment. She gave birth to three children: Sophia, Vasily and Dmitry.
In 1918, the estate was nationalized. Nikolay Chicherin, along with his wife and children, was expelled from Pokrovskoe by order of the Sergievsky Volost Council. Natalya Chicherina tried to explain to the district authorities the obvious injustice of such an attitude towards her family: ‘I have been chosen as a teacher by the Pokrovskoe Society… I work for the people, I don’t go against the Soviets and people’s commissars.’
She was supported by the Pokrovskoe peasants and the Kozlovsky Commissariat for Public Education, but all appeals were in vain. Former landowners Chicherins left for Kozlov, their property was expropriated.
In her work, Natalya Chicherina captured the interior of one of the rooms of the Pokrovskoe estate. For many years the painting was kept by her daughter, Sophia Chicherina, a Soviet composer, and then by Sophia’s son, Georgy Nikolaev. The latter donated it to the museum.
The Chicherins’ estate in Pokrovskoe was a true family home. Vasily Chicherin settled there with his wife Zhorzhina and two children: son Nikolay and daughter Sophia. There he actively worked in a regional council (zemstvo), opened a village school, a medical assistant’s center to improve the living conditions of peasants. For 11 years, Vasily Chicherin was engaged in charitable activities in Tambov, rendered great help to students, was an honorary member of the ‘Society for Benefits to Needy Gymnasium Students’. From time to time his family and he stayed with his older brother in Karaul, where in 1872 Georgy Chicherin was born.
The eldest son, Nikolay Chicherin, became the owner of the Pokrovskoe estate. In 1903, he married Natalia Govorova. She was born in the family of a priest in the village of Olshanka, the Tambov province. She graduated from the Kozlovsky boarding house and from 1895 worked as a teacher at the Pokrovskoe school with her future husband. Natalya Chicherina was a real companion-in-arms of her husband and his sister in public education and musical enlightenment. She gave birth to three children: Sophia, Vasily and Dmitry.
In 1918, the estate was nationalized. Nikolay Chicherin, along with his wife and children, was expelled from Pokrovskoe by order of the Sergievsky Volost Council. Natalya Chicherina tried to explain to the district authorities the obvious injustice of such an attitude towards her family: ‘I have been chosen as a teacher by the Pokrovskoe Society… I work for the people, I don’t go against the Soviets and people’s commissars.’
She was supported by the Pokrovskoe peasants and the Kozlovsky Commissariat for Public Education, but all appeals were in vain. Former landowners Chicherins left for Kozlov, their property was expropriated.
In her work, Natalya Chicherina captured the interior of one of the rooms of the Pokrovskoe estate. For many years the painting was kept by her daughter, Sophia Chicherina, a Soviet composer, and then by Sophia’s son, Georgy Nikolaev. The latter donated it to the museum.
