Penza Region

Penza region belongs to the Volga Region, but has no access to the Volga River. The largest river here is Sura, on which in the 1970s a huge Y-shaped Sura (or Penza) water reservoir was built. One of the most famous attractions of Penza Region is the Tarkhany museum-reserve, the estate of poet Mikhail Lermontov’s grandmother. This is a unique example of how a noble estate survived Soviet times and was preserved almost as it was seen by the young poet.

In Penza, you should never miss the world’s only ‘One Painting Museum’. In this small building, only one painting is always on display, accompanied by a detailed film about the work and the artist. The exhibition changes once every two or three years. However, if you can’t get enough of art, the local Savitsky Art Gallery has treasures of Russian painting - Fyodor Rokotov, Ivan Aivazovsky, Ivan Shishkin, Aristarkh Lentulov… (and also the 17th century Dutch masters).