Less than two hundred kilometers from St. Petersburg lies the ancient village of Ilzho, attracting thousands of tourists each year. The main interest is the pre-revolutionary wooden estate, built in the 19th century, which is a rare example of wooden architecture. Very few such estates have survived to this day.

The most significant period in the history of Ilzho began after the estate was acquired by Maria Alexandrovna Snarskaya, a renowned patron of the arts. In the early 1870s, artists Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky, and Ivan Kramskoy rented rooms here. Shishkin, according to friends, created two to three sketches a day and for one of them, "Forest Silence," he received the title of professor. The next owner, Yakov Yakovlevich van der Flit, established a model dairy farm at the estate, known in St. Petersburg and its surroundings. Currently, the house and park are in a deplorable state, although they still retain traces of former grandeur. Some buildings, such as the hunting lodge and dairy, have survived almost in their original form.