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 Rodion Raskolnikov, protagonist of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Those who claim this is the place go further, saying that Rodion retrieved the murder weapon from a street-sweeper’s storage bin inside the tunnel leading to the courtyard. The building is not open to the public.
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 it would be more appropriate if Raskolnikov’s attic apartment was located further down the street at No 9, which is otherwise unmarked.
