Among Lermontov memorabilia on display at the Pushkin House Museum there is an artifact associated with the tragic duel on July 15 (27), 1841. This is a pencil of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov which was taken out of the pocket of the murdered poet by his friend and second Mikhail Glebov. Glebov gave it to Lermontov’s friend and witness to the tragic events of July 1841, Emilia Klingenberg, who later married Akim Pavlovich Shan-Giray, Lermontov’s second cousin. Thus, the pencil was kept in the family along with other keepsakes connected with Lermontov’s life.

In 1916, their daughter Yevgenia Akimovna Shan-Giray donated the pencil to the Lermontov Museum at the Nicholas Cavalry College in Petrograd. The unique exhibit, which is a pencil lead in a reed tube, was placed in a glass container fixed in a special case. Presently, it is still on display in this form. Among other Lermontov memorabilia received by the museum from Yevgenia Shan-Giray are the Psalter and an icon of St. John the Warrior in a gold case, which was blessed by Lermontov’s grandmother Yelizaveta Arsenyeva. These exhibits, along with many others, entered the collection of the Pushkin House in 1917, when the Nicholas Cavalry College was closed.

According to Glebov’s memoirs, while on his way to the duel, Lermontov shared with him plans for his future literary works, in particular, he wanted to write a novel about the Decembrists: he met some of them in the Caucasus. With this pencil, Lermontov made the last notes in his notebook, which is also kept in the manuscript department of the Pushkin House.

A disagreement that occurred on July 13, 1841, at the residence of General Verzilin resulted in a confrontation between Lermontov and Major Nikolai Martynov. Lermontov made derogatory remarks towards Martynov in front of a lady he was interested in, causing the major to become angry and challenge him. According to the commonly accepted version of events, Lermontov fired into the air and Martynov shot his opponent directly in the chest.

“Martynov fired so accurately that Lermontov fell,” recalled Prince Vasilchikov, who was present at the duel, “as if he was mowed down on the spot, without making a move, either backwards or forwards. The bullet pierced his heart and lungs. The storm rumbled and howled mournfully, thunder was deafening, and lightning flashed dazzlingly.”