The F.M. Dostoevsky Literary and Memorial Museum in Semey was opened in our city based on the Resolution No. 261 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 7, 1971.

It is the only Dostoevsky museum located in Kazakhstan, outside of Russia.

The museum is based in a two-story wooden house built in 1838, which is listed as No. 6 in the State Register of Historical and Cultural Heritage. The Dostoevsky Literary and Memorial Museum house was previously rented by the postman Lepukhin, where F.M. Dostoevsky lived from 1857 to 1859.

In the 1970s, a two-story structure was added to the house, and a bronze sculpture composition titled "Sh. Ualikhanov and F. Dostoevsky" by sculptor D. Elbakidze was installed.

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was sent to Semey after spending 4 years in prison in Omsk, where he was to serve as a simple soldier in the 7th Siberian Line Battalion.

He spent more than five years in our city: from March 1854 to July 1859.

During this time, he rose from a private soldier to an officer, and in our city, he met his first wife. In February 1857, he married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva in the city of Kuznetsk. Immediately after the wedding, they returned to Semey, where they lived for another two and a half years in the house of postman Lepukhin on Krepostnaya Street.

The history of the F.M. Dostoevsky Museum in Semey begins from this one-and-a-half-story house.

The museum was opened in 1971, during the widespread celebration of the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth. May 7, 1971. By the time of its opening, the museum had collected over five thousand valuable literary works, more than 100 publications with signatures, and dozens of Dostoevsky's books in various languages of the world. The current two-story building is constructed in the shape of an open book. It houses a literary exhibition, a storage department, a cinema hall, and a scientific library. A glazed vestibule connects the modern construction with the memorial house as a link between the times. Next to the museum, bronze sculptures of "F.M. Dostoevsky and Sh. Sh. Ualikhanov" by sculptor D. Elbakidze have been installed, representing the fateful connection of the glorious sons of the Russian and Kazakh peoples.

Throughout its history, the museum has amassed an impressive collection of 25,000 storage units.

The museum's collection includes a unique document signed by F.M. Dostoevsky, rare publications, the writer's works, and a large collection of book signatures from his contemporaries, extensive memoir literature, pre-revolutionary literary studies, and more.

The museum receives 15,000 visitors annually and conducts an average of 1,000 excursions. The public department engages in various forms of activities: thematic excursions, classes, lectures, literary-musical evenings, literary games for children, literary competitions among students of city schools, and new stationary exhibitions are opened every two months.

The museum staff conducts extensive scientific research work, which includes scientific methodologies, publications, and reports. For many years, the museum has been a significant scientific and reference center. However, its main goal is to preserve the memories of the great genius of world literature in the land of Kazakhstan.