Anton Chekhov. His Love.

Olga Knipper was the prima in many of Chekhov’s plays. For the first time Olga Knipper visited Yalta by the invitation of Anton Chekhov in summer of 1899. They met each other in Novorossiysk and went to Yalta by sea. They spent all days together in Yalta and often visited Chekhov’s dacha in Autka (a district of Yalta) which had been under construction.

They enjoyed walks in the vicinity of Yalta: sightseeing of the waterfall Uchan-Su, Massandra, Gurzuf, Oreanda. They went to Bakhchisarai through Ai-Petri. The trip was the most dramatic impression for all Olga’s life. Chekhov showed her the beauty of the Crimea - all those places, which he would describe so perfectly in the story “The Lady with the Dog”.

Yalta was the place where their love began. Next year Olga came to Yalta with the writer’s sister, Maria, and stayed at new Chekhov's house. The actress was accommodated in the sunniest room intended for visitors with a view of the garden.  Her theatre was on the performance in Sevastopol and Yalta and when she had days off she stayed at Chekhov’s house. The days of the theatre's staying in Yalta were one of the happiest in Chekhov's life.

In spring 1901 Olga was staying at Chekhov's house. On May 25 the couple were married in Moscow’s Church and in July they came back to Yalta. This time Оlga had stayed in Yalta longer but then went back to work. When she was free from performance, she came to Yalta for a few days.

The last time she visited Yalta together with Anton Chekhov on July-September 1903. After the writer's death Olga Knipper-Chekhova came to Yalta every year for summer vacation. Chekhov’s house in Gurzuf belonged to her under the writer’s last will. In 1987 the house became a branch of Chekhov’s museum (The White Dacha).