Raskolnikov House

This innocuous house on the corner of Stolyarny per (called ‘S… lane’ in the book) is one of two possible locations of the attic apartment of Rodyon Raskolnikov, protagonist of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Those who claim this is the place go further, saying that Rodyon retrieved the murder weapon from a street-sweeper’s storage bin inside the tunnel leading to the courtyard. The house is marked by a sculpture of Dostoevsky. The inscription says something to the effect of ‘The tragic fate of the people of this area of St Petersburg formed the foundation of Dostoevsky’s passionate sermon of goodness for all mankind’. Other Dostoevsky connoisseurs argue that Raskolnikov’s attic apartment would more appropriately be located down the street at No 9, which is otherwise unmarked.