The Governor's Mansion (), also known as Kuklin House () is a building in

Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It was the home of the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of Siberia prior to the

February Revolution of 1917 The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917. The main ...

. The house, which is located on 10, Mira Street () in the area of Tobolsk below the Kremlin (''Podgora''), is protected by Russian Federal government as a historical monument.

History

The house was built by merchant Ivan Kuklin in the 1790s, after the disastrous fire of 1788 which destroyed a major part of Podgora. Kuklin went bankrupt in 1817 and the house was confiscated by the authorities. Since 1817, it was the seat of the governor of

Tobolsk Governorate Tobolsk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, Russian Republic and Russian SFSR located in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. It existed from 1796 to 1920; its seat was in the city of Tobolsk, ...

. In its function as a governor's mansion, the house has seen a number of notable visitors. In 1800, the playwright

August von Kotzebue August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (, ; – ) was a German playwright, who had also worked as a Russian diplomat. In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Sand, a ...

, who was required to report to the Governor's Mansion while exiled to Siberia , noted that it still "appeared partly in ruins" on account of the fire. The

decembrists The Decembrist revolt () was a failed coup d'état led by liberal military and political dissidents against the Russian Empire. It took place in Saint Petersburg on , following the death of Emperor Alexander I. Alexander's brother and heir ...

who were sentenced to exile in Tobolsk had to visit the house. On , the former

Russian Emperor The emperor and autocrat of all Russia (, ), also translated as emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, was the official title of the Russian monarch from 1721 to 1917. The title originated in connection with Russia's victory in the Great Nor ...

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

, who lost power when he abdicated in response to the February Revolution of 1917, and his wife, five children and forty-five retainers, including Pierre Gilliard,

Alexandra Tegleva Alexandra Alexandrovna Tegleva (; 2 May 1884–21 March 1955), also known as Shura Tegleva and Sasha Tegleva, was a Russian noblewoman who served as a nursemaid in the Russian Imperial Household. As nursemaid to the children of Emperor Nicholas ...

Elizaveta Ersberg Elizaveta Nikolaevna "Liza" Ersberg (18 September 1882 – 12 March 1942) was a German-Russian parlormaid who served in the Russian Imperial Household. The daughter of a stoker employed by Emperor Alexander III, she was hired by Empress Maria ...

, Ilya Tatischev, Vasily Dolgorukov,

Sydney Gibbes Charles Sydney Gibbes (19 January 1876 – 24 March 1963) was a British academic who from 1908 to 1917 served as the English tutor to the children of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia. When Nicholas abdicated the throne in March 1917 Gibbes vol ...

Anastasia Hendrikova Countess Anastasia Vasilyevna Hendrikova (23 June 1887 – 4 September 1918), was a Lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia, lady in waiting at the court of Nicholas II of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse), ...

, Catherine Schneider,

Sophie Buxhoeveden Sophie Freiin von Buxhoeveden (; – November 26, 1956), also known as Baroness Sophie Buxdoeveden, was a Russian lady-in-waiting of Baltic German descent in service to Empress Alexandra of Russia. She was the author of three memoirs about the ...

, Ivan Sednev, and Leonid Sednev, were imprisoned in the mansion. They remained there until April 1918 when they were transferred to the

Ipatiev House Ipatiev House () was a merchant's house in Yekaterinburg (city in 1924 renamed Sverdlovsk, in 1991 renamed back to Yekaterinburg) where the abdicated Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918, reigned 1894–1917), all his immediate family, and ...

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

and eventually

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

. Following the Revolution the house was renamed the 'House of Freedom'. The mansion is built in the style of

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

and is highly regarded as an architectural monument. It was also one of the first stone buildings in Tobolsk Podgora. Currently, the mansion belongs to the

Tobolsky District Tobolsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-two in Tyumen Oblast, Russia.Law #53 Within the framework of municipal divisions, it is incorporated as Tobolsky Municipal District.Law #263 It is located in the north ...

administration. In 1996, the Emperor's study was opened as a museum. Following a complete restoration of the building, which included demolition of an art deco portico and its replacement by one in the original design, it was reopened in 2018 to house The Museum of the Family of Emperor Nicholas II.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Tyumen Oblast Nicholas II of Russia Museums in Tyumen Oblast Houses in Russia Biographical museums in Russia Cultural heritage monuments in Tyumen Oblast