The museum’s exhibition features two portraits of Alexander Herzen created by the artist and architect Alexander Vitberg. The writer met him during his exile in Vyatka. In one of these portraits, Alexander Herzen is depicted with his son. Alexander Jr. was born on June 13, 1839, in Vladimir. In a letter to his friend and artist Alexander Vitberg, the writer reported, “Yesterday at noon, Alexander Herzen II was born.” The portrait was painted the following year, in 1840.

Again and again, Alexander Herzen wrote about the great mission that he had entrusted to his first child,

Being oppressed by the despotism of his own father, the writer tried his best to be a friend to his children, to inspire love and respect. When Alexander Jr. lost his mother in 1851, the writer took him to London to continue his education. Later, Alexander Jr. went to Switzerland, where he graduated from the University of Bern with a degree in medicine in 1861. The following year, he published his first scientific paper, “Comparative Anatomy of Lower Animals.” Eventually, Alexander Herzen Jr. became a prominent physiologist.

Alexander Herzen Jr. intended to visit Russia and applied for an entry visa repeatedly but was met with a refusal every time because of the reputation of his father as a revolutionary. Alexander Herzen Jr. settled in Florence, where in 1877, he took the position of Professor of Physiology. In 1881, he became a Professor at the University of Lausanne. He married the Italian Teresina Felice. They had nine children. One of their sons, Pyotr, moved to Russia. He founded a major school of surgery and became one of the pioneers of cancer research in the Soviet Union.