MELIKHOVO, Russia — In a country as big and brash as modern Russia, it is always something of a surprise to discover a modest jewel of the culture that many Russians value so highly.

The museum here at the former country estate of Anton Chekhov is just such a place. It is not very well marked from the nearby town of Chekhov — a typically ramshackle mix of Soviet apartments and post-Soviet garishness, founded only in 1954.

Yet once the visitor has crossed the railway tracks that once brought the Chekhovs here from Moscow, about 50 miles to the north, and onto the country road to Melikhovo, a pastoral scene unfolds.

The museum represents the toil of a few determined individuals who overcame the ravages, or simply the neglect, of Soviet power. Today it is not just a shrine to one of the world’s great writers, but also a witness to more than a century of history.