The residents of Simbirsk-Ulyanovsk have always been revering the memory of their great compatriot Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov with special love and respect. It was Simbirsk which solemnly celebrated the anniversary of the author's birth on a large scale in 1912.
A lot of memorials to the writer were set up in the city; the traditions of celebration in honour of I.A.Goncharov were created and have been kept, among them - the events of regional, all-Russia and international scale.
In 1982 the Museum of I.A.Goncharov was opened in Ulyanovsk, being the only one in the country.
Goncharov's library - the collection of books presented by him to the native city - is being carefully saved.
Today Ulyanovsk has become the center recognized all over the world where the active scientific research and popularization of the writer's life and works are carried on.

The reconstruction of the genealogical tree in the exposition of Goncharov Museum

Goncharov Laurenty (lived in the last third of 17 century) - I.A.Goncharov's great-great-grandfather.
Goncharov Ivan Laurentievich (died on the 20th of April in 1767) - great-grandfather of I.A.Goncharov.
Goncharov Ivan Ivanovich (1710-1790) - grandfather of I.A.Goncharov.
Goncharov Alexander Ivanovich (1754-1819) - father of I.A.Goncharov.
Goncharova Avdotia Matveevna, born Shahtorina (1785-1851) - mother of I.A.Goncharov.
Goncharov Nikolay Alexandrovich (1808-1874) - elder brother of I.A. Goncharov.
Goncharov Ivan Alexandrovich (1812-1891)
Goncharova Alexandra Alexandrovna (1815-1896), in marriage Kirmalova - elder sister of I.A. Goncharov.
Goncharova Anna Alexandrovna (1818-1898), in marriage Muzalevskaya - younger sister of I.A. Goncharov.

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The Monument to I.A.Goncharov in Ulyanovsk. Set up in 1965

There are quite a large number of sights related to the name of Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov in Ulyanovsk. The perpetuation of the memory of the writer started soon after his death.
A free public library named after I.A.Goncharov was opened in 1893 in Simbirsk.
In 1907 the Memorial Plaque appeared at the corner of the building where the author was born.
In 1912, when the city was celebrating Goncharov's centenary on a grand scale, the Memorial Summer House was erected in Vinnovskaya Roscha, and the building of Goncharov's Memorial House was began on Venets(it was finished in 1916); the central street Bolshaya Saratovskaya was renamed into Goncharov's street.In the Soviet years a bust and a monument were raised in honor of the writer.
In 2001 the Central City Library was named after Goncharov.
Not long ago, a monument to Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov and the character of his novel Ilya Oblomov, - "Oblomov's philosophical sofa"- was opened in the square at the corner of Goncharov's and Lenin's streets, just opposite the house where the author was born.

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The House of Goncharov, where Goncharov Museum is accommodated. Modern appearance

The Historical and Cultural Museum of I.A.Goncharov (the branch of Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy named after Goncharov), the only one in the country, was opened in the writer's motherland - in Ulyanovsk - on June 17, 1982, in commemoration of 170-year anniversary of Goncharov's birthday. The Museum has been accommodated on the ground floor of the house where the author was born. The exposition is organized according to the topical and chronological principle and reconstitutes the atmosphere of Goncharov's epoch as much as possible. The main stages of Goncharov's life are covered in detail in 8 halls of the museum, and the last hall - "Goncharov and the present" - relates to the present-day comprehension of Goncharov's novels and their characters.

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All-Russia Goncharov holiday

In 1987 the workers of Goncharov museum in Ulyanovsk renewed the tradition of carrying out the scientific Goncharov conferences (earlier the first and unique Goncharov conference on the native land of the writer was organized by Ulyanovsk regional museum of local lore, history and economy named after Goncharov in 1962). The conferences of 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 received the International status. Every five years the researchers of Goncharov's life and works from different Russian towns and also from the former Soviet republics and other foreign countries gather in Ulyanovsk to exchange ideas about topical problems of Goncharov's creation. The edition of the collection of its materials is the result of each conference. Thus last achievements of Goncharov study are entered into a scientific revolution.

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Simbirsk. The Volga slope. Photograph. The second half of the XIX century. Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy

"A Common Story", 1847
It was Goncharov himself, who was writing about the autobiographical character of the novel personage Alexander Aduyev, who came to Saint-Petersburg so that his dreams could come true, as the author of the novel did. Undoubtedly, the "provincial" chapters of the novel are also autobiographical. We recognize Goncharov's home in the Grachi -village, where A.Aduyev was brought up. The author's mother Avdotya Goncharova is considered to be one of the prototypes of Anna Aduyeva, the mother of the main character. There is an opinion, that Goncharov described faithful servants of Simbirsk house of the Goncharovs- Nikita and Sophia- in the figures of Aduyev's servant Yevsey and house-keeper Agraphena.

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P.Beysov (1906-1976) - the author of the book "Goncharov i Rodnoy Kray" (i.e." Goncharov and his native land")

Simbirsk - Ulyanovsk is the centre recognized all over the world, where active scientific research and propagation of life and works of the great compatriot I.A. Goncharov.
Well-known all over the world biographers of I.A. Goncharov: Michael Fedorovich Superansky and Peter Sergeevich Beysov lived and worked in Simbirsk.
M.F. Superansky (1864-1930), the outstanding historian of Simbirsk territory, became one of the first biographers of the writer. He put Goncharov "Autobiography" of 1867 into scientific use, he described "Letopisets" of Goncharov's family, for the first time many letters of I.A. Goncharov were published. M.F. Superansky found the persons close to Goncharov and under Superansky's influence they wrote memoirs which he published in thick capital magazines of 1900th.
P.S. Beysov (1906-1976), the associate professor of the chair of literature in Ulyanovsk pedagogical institute, well-known Ulyanovsk literary critic and student of local lore, is the author of the book "Goncharov i rodnoy krai" ("Goncharov and native region"), which had two editions and is known today for Goncharov critics all over the world. Two collections of articles and new materials about Goncharov's life were published edited by P. Beysov. P. Beysov did everything for founding Goncharov museum in Ulyanovsk. He is one of the initiators and organizers of the first Goncharov conference on the writer's motherland in 1962. The conference took place on the basis of the Ulyanovsk regional museum of local lore, history and economy named after I.A. Goncharov.

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The scene from "The Precipice"-play. Ulyanovsk Drama Theatre.2002

"The Precipice"
The first opening night took place on September 30, 1941

Dramatization - L.Braz
Staging - the national artist of the BSSR P.S. Molchanov
Art director - Ya.V. Glinka

Characters and performers:
Boris Pavlovich Raisky - actor M.D. Svetlov
Tatyana Markovna Berezhkova - M.S. Marusina
Vera - actress E.A. Gorskaya
Marfinka - act. L.F. Lyubimova
Mark Volokhov - act. P.I. Ivanov
Nikolay Andreevich Vikentev - act. V.I. Smolyaninov
Ivan Petrovich - act. Leondor

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Simbirsk. Photograph. The second half of the XIX century. Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy

Non-commercial organization "Cultural fund named after I.A. Goncharov" was founded in Ulyanovsk (former Simbirsk) in 2005 - it was on the brink of two significant dates for I.A. Goncharov:

• 2007 - 195 years since the birth of the world-known classical writer;
• 2012 - 200th anniversary of I.A. Goncharov, which (according to the decree signed by the president of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin) will be celebrated all over Russia and Ulyanovsk, certainly, becomes the centre of festivals.

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