Tambovskiy District is part of the larger travel destination of Tambov Oblast. To get your bearings in this wider region, you can consider its natural landscape, museum collections and historic estates as distinct highlights. When looking for a vacation rental, it helps to ask whether nature, art or history will play a greater part in your trip.

Voroninsky Nature Reserve

Voroninsky Nature Reserve was established in 1994 to protect the remaining forest-steppe ecosystems of Central Russia. Its layout follows the river landscape: two larger areas lie along the Vorona, with ten smaller ones in the valleys of its tributaries. The reserve includes more than 150 oxbow lakes. It therefore encompasses areas along the main river as well as parts of the tributary valleys.

The figures for different species highlight different aspects, too. About 900 plant species grow in the nature reserve; 42 plant species from the area are listed in the Red Data Book of Tambov Oblast. In addition, 31 bird species there are listed in Russia’s Red Data Book. The area is considered an internationally important key ornithological area in Russia. The two Red Data Books refer to different groups: the regional list of plants, on the one hand, and the Russian list of bird species, on the other.

One specific route starts at the nature reserve: the “Zapovednye Tropinki” walking tour. Its stated duration is 1.5 hours. This makes it possible to plan the time for a single trail separately from a broader visit focused on the nature reserve.

Culture and History in Tambov Oblast

The museum in Inzhavino has a collection of original 19th-century objects. They were donated by descendants of D. S. Dokhturov, a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. Their provenance connects the collection with a family history. The Karaul estate on the Vorona was also once a cultural center, with a family theater and literary and musical evenings. The former Petrovо-Solovovo estate, now partly in ruins, is also located in Voroninsky Nature Reserve.

The S. V. Rachmaninoff “Ivanovka” Museum-Reserve includes the manor house, an outbuilding, a park, a garden, flowerbeds, ponds and park structures. Every year, at the end of August, Nikolai Lugansky, a People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, gives a traditional concert there. If you would like to plan your trip around this concert, check the exact event date before you travel.

The G. V. Chicherin House Museum is housed in a former mansion belonging to the urban Chicherin family: a single-story wooden house with a mezzanine, built in the Russian Classicist style in the first half of the 19th century. Its collection comprises around 4,500 objects. These include commemorative furniture and books from Chicherin’s office at the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, as well as personal belongings of the family.

At the Ivan Michurin House Museum, furniture, photographs, books and tools have been preserved as they were during Michurin’s lifetime. The Tambov Regional Art Gallery offers a different focus: its collection includes important Italian art from the 16th to the 19th centuries, as well as Dutch and Flemish art from the 16th and 17th centuries. This places personal collections and memorabilia alongside art holdings spanning several centuries.

The V. T. Assayev Estate in Rasskazovo is an eco-museum where visitors can learn about life on a Russian provincial country estate in the early 20th century. The main house was built in 1906, probably to a design by Moscow architect L. N. Kekushev. Check current visiting arrangements before your trip.

Discover more destinations: Tambov, Inzhavinskiy District, Nikiforovskiy District, Uvarovskiy District, Muchkapskiy District, Rasskazovsky District.

For the overview of the wider region: Tambov Oblast.