Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 and lived for
about 60 years, located 12 kilometers southwest of Tula, Russia.Immediately after Tolstoy's death, the estate was designated his memorial museum. At first it was run by Alexandra Tolstaya, the writer's daughter. The current director of the museum is also one of Tolstoy's descendants. The museum contains Tolstoy's personal effects and movables, as well as his library of 22,000 volumes. It was there that Tolstoy wrote his celebrated novels War an Peace and Anna Karenina.
The museum contains the writer's mansion, the school which he founded for peasant children, and a park with Tolstoy's grave. During World War 2 the estate was occupied by the Germans and desecrated, but the most precious items had been evacuated by the Soviet government since that. Following the war the estate and mansion have been restored exactly how they were when Tolstoy lived there, and Yasnaya Polyana has remained a one of the most popular tourist attraction within Russia.
