Spasskoye-Lutovinovo is a national memorial and natural reserve museum, a unique cultural landmark, the ancestral estate of the mother of great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev in the Mtsensk District of the Oryol Province. It is here that the author wrote many of his literary works, such as Rudin, A Nest of the Gentry, Faust, Fathers and Sons, On the Eve, Ghosts, Virgin Soil, The Song of Triumphant Love, and poems in prose.
For some time, the homestead and the surrounding lands were rented out. The empty house was neither repaired nor heated, and the outbuildings were falling into decay. Turgenev's manuscripts and documents, family portraits, and family heirlooms scattered among the heirs. Many things disappeared irretrievably. In January of 1906, the Turgenev house was destroyed by fire. Only thanks to the prudence of the new owners, the Galakhovs, the library and furniture were taken out in time and mostly saved. In 1918, by the Resolution of the Oryol Province Executive Committee, the Spasskaya estate was declared national property and was transferred to the jurisdiction and management of the provincial land department. In the same year, the I. Turgenev Museum was opened in Oryol.
October 26, 1922, is considered the foundation date of the I. Turgenev‘s Reserve Museum. A. Lunacharsky and V. Bryusov stood at the origins of the museum. At various times, A. Gorky, K. Fedin, and I. Novikov took part in the formation of the memorial estate. The first Museum curator was famous literature scholar M. Portugalov. In 1937, the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo Memorial Estate became a branch of the Oryol State Ivan Turgenev Literary Museum. During the war, the buildings of the church, the Lutovinovs family vault, the carriage house, and the stables were badly damaged. However, already on June 16, 1944, the Turgenev Museum Reserve reopened for visitors.
In 1953, the first stationary literary exhibition Turgenev and Homeland opened in the exile's outhouse. In the summer of 1976, the restoration of Ivan Turgenev's house was completed.
Every year, nearly 120 thousand guests visit the Museum Reserve. Under the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No 275 of April 2, 1997, the Ivan Turgenev’s National Memorial and Natural Reserve Museum Spasskoye-Lutovinovo was listed as an especially valuable object of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
The postage block provides an image of the building of the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo I. Turgenev’s Memorial Estate; the margins feature a quote from the writer’s complete set of works.
In addition to the issue of the postal block, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Spasskoye-Lutovinovo of the Oryol Region.
Design Artist: O. Savina.
Face value: 150 rubles.
Block size: 107×82 mm, stamp size in the block: 65×32.5 mm.
Quantity: 25 thousand blocks.
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