Peter the Great House Museum

This was the first museum in the Vologda region. The small 17th-century stone house is a surviving part of the estate of the Dutch merchant family Gutman. Once, they helped the Russian Emperor Peter the Great by lending him money during his trip abroad. For this, they received from the grateful sovereign a charter granting them special privileges. In Vologda, the merchants rented land for just half a barrel of wine and built a stone house, where they warmly welcomed their distinguished patron. In 1885, this place became a museum. Today it houses about a hundred exhibits from the Petrine era: the owners’ chairs with the coat of arms of the Dutch queen, a portrait of Peter — the emperor’s gift to the Vologda archbishop, Prince Menshikov’s goblet, and even a campaign flask with the instructive inscription: “Drink anise wine, but do not lose your wits.”