ABSTRACT
Khlebnikovo proved an ideal retreat for the Medtners from the bustle of Moscow. Its remoteness was a disadvantage only when a visit had to be made to the city, for the railway station was some five kilometres away, along a pitted cart track, accessible in winter only by sledge and in summer by droshky. The house itself, on the Osipov estate in the village of Trakhaneyevo, was picturesquely situated on a river bank, in one direction looking out onto open country and in the other to a water-meadow and a neglected park adjoining the forest. The wooden building was light and airy, with high ceilings and large windows, and its spaciousness allowed both Emil and Nicolas to have their own studies. On the walls hung pictures of the family gods – Goethe, Pushkin, Beethoven, Kant – as well as lithographs of religious buildings, the Acropolis and a picture by Botticelli. Emil had an extensive library which embraced not only philosophy but all the great works of fiction from Homer onwards.
