Building of the Museum of Fine Arts by architect. Museum of Fine Arts

The idea to create a museum in Moscow fine arts existed since the beginning of the 19th century. Your projects in different time Prominent Russian figures proposed: Zinaida Volkonskaya in 1831, Karl Hertz in 1858, Nikolay Isakov in 1864, but it was created only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

First of its kind

Moscow museums second half of the 19th century centuries were not like modern galleries. Firstly, most often these were private collections, limited by the budget and tastes of their owners. Secondly, they were usually located in premises that were not originally built to host exhibitions, and were not always well suited for this. And thirdly, entrance to the exhibitions was not open to everyone: the first one was fully public Art Museum in Russia it was opened only in 1885, and not in the capital St. Petersburg or Moscow, but in the provinces. It became the Radishchevsky Museum in Saratov, opened artist A.P. Bogolyubov, the writer's grandson.

Founding Fathers

The Pushkin Museum exists thanks to two people: Yuri Nechaev-Maltsov And Ivan Tsvetaev.

Ivan Tsvetaev- famous scientist-historian, archaeologist, philologist and art critic, father poetess Marina Tsvetaeva - became the main organizer and inspirer of the project of the Museum of Fine Arts. He made a speech about the need to build such a museum at a congress of Russian artists and art lovers, convened on the occasion of the donation of the Tretyakov brothers’ art gallery to Moscow. A competition was announced for the best museum project, which was won by architect R. Klein, who, in turn, used the design of the self-taught architect P. Boytsov. However, construction began only after Tsvetaev met the millionaire Yuri Nechaev.

Ivan Tsvetaev, founder of the museum. Work no later than 1913. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Karl Andreevich Fischer

Yuri Nechaev was a Russian manufacturer, diplomat, owner of the largest glass factories in Russia. And before the construction of the museum, he was known in Moscow and beyond as a generous philanthropist. For example, he subsidized the publication of the magazine “Artistic Treasures of Russia”, whose editors were Alexander Benois And Adrian Prakhov, founded in 1885 in Vladimir the Technical School named after I. S. Maltsov, one of the best in Europe in terms of technical equipment (now the Vladimir Aviation Mechanical College), during the construction of the Historical Museum in Vladimir, donated glass for the manufacture of museum display cases, built the Church of St. George in Gus-Khrustalny.

Nechaev invested two out of 2.6 million rubles - fabulous money at that time - into the construction of the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

Pushkin Museum before opening. May 31, 1912. Photo by K. A. Fisher/Commons.wikimedia.org

Columns from Norway

The first stone of the new museum was laid in 1898, and construction began, which lasted 13 years. Klein was sent on a long business trip to European countries to study the experience of creating foreign museums.

There were no such things in those days complex systems lighting that we see today in museums, and it was assumed that visitors would view works of art in daylight, and at night the museum would be closed. V. G. Shukhov created unique glass ceilings for the museum. Their design was unique, like many of Shukhov’s other projects: thanks to the use of ties, he managed to create a light and at the same time durable glass arch.

300 workers hired by Nechaev-Maltsov mined white marble of special frost resistance in the Urals. However, it soon became clear that it would not be possible to produce 10-meter columns in Russia. Then the patron ordered them from Norway, and they were delivered first by sea on a steamship, and then by barge along the rivers all the way to Moscow. Nechaev also paid for the decoration of the central main staircase with multi-colored types of Hungarian marble, the production of a twenty-meter frieze - a copy mosaic panels St. Mark's Basilica in Venice and many other rich details of the museum's interior.

Thanks to the use of ties, Vladimir Shukhov managed to create a light and at the same time durable glass arch. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Antique temple

The museum was named after emperor Alexandra III and immediately after the opening it gained enormous popularity: on weekdays it was visited by 700-800 people, and on Sundays and holidays - up to two and a half thousand - numbers unheard of at that time. Among the visitors were mostly teachers and students of gymnasiums and universities, Higher Women's Courses, and artists.

Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin. Photo: RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

Revolution, war and high art

In 1924, the museum was removed from subordination to the university and became known as the State Museum of Fine Arts. His collections were replenished with paintings from nationalized private collections, estates, museums of Leningrad, the Kremlin, the disbanded Rumyantsev Museum, the I. S. Ostroukhov Museum of Iconography and Painting, as well as from the Historical Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery. In 1937, the museum was named after A. S. Pushkin.

A huge amount of work was carried out by museum employees in 1941-1944, when most of the funds were taken to Novosibirsk and Solikamsk. The museum building was damaged during the bombing: part of the glass roof was broken, and within three years The museum was open air. The upper part of the western facade of the museum still contains potholes from German bomb fragments.

Exhibition of gifts from Stalin

The paintings that became the hallmark of Pushkinsky Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Matisse And Picasso appeared in his collection only in 1948 due to the closure of the State Museum of New Western Art. At the same time, the museum’s collection was replenished with 300 picturesque and 80 sculptural works Western European and American masters of the 2nd half of the 19th - 1st third of the 20th centuries.

From 1949 to 1953, no exhibitions were held in the museum’s halls. works of art, and housed a museum of gifts to Stalin.

In the second half of the 20th century, the museum paid special attention to scientific work. In 1951-1973, museum workers participated in regular expeditions to the Northern Black Sea region and the territory of ancient Erebuni together with the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR and State Hermitage Museum. Some of the extracted monuments of Urat art and culture joined museum collections.

New time

In 1985, the museum created a department of private collections: for the first time, the subject of study was not just individual works, and collections. The department's exposition opened to visitors in a restored building on Volkhonka in 1994. Since 1980, the museum has been hosting music Festival“December Evenings”, created on the initiative of Svyatoslav Richter and museum director Irina Antonova. Currently, “Pushkinsky” has 670 thousand exhibits, including sculptures, graphics, archaeological monuments, and art photographs.

In 2009, the competition for the reconstruction of the museum was won by the famous British architect Norman Foster, who proposed to combine individual buildings on Volkhonka and in adjacent alleys into one large complex with a common above-ground and underground space. The implementation of Foster's project did not begin, including due to protests from city defenders who were against the demolition of historical buildings next to the museum. In August 2013, the architect's company Foster + Partners withdrew from the project for the reconstruction of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, 2014. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

The future of Pushkinsky

On April 10, 2014, a competition was announced in Moscow for the development of the museum, which would include, in addition to exhibition space, also cinema halls, cafes, lecture halls and much more. After reconstruction, the total area of ​​the museum will increase from 49 thousand square meters. m up to 105,000 thousand sq. m.

According to the president of the museum, Irina Antonova, the reconstruction will make it possible to organize many new exhibitions from the works that were in this moment are in storage, and the idea of ​​the new museum most fully corresponds to the idea of ​​Ivan Tsvetaev.

The building was built at the beginning of the 20th century on the site of the Kolymazhny Yard specifically for the Museum of Fine Arts. Emperor Alexander III at Moscow University.

The idea of ​​​​creating an artistic, educational and publicly accessible museum belonged to the professor of Moscow University and director of the Rumyantsev Museum I.V. Tsvetaeva. The new museum was supposed to be visual material to study architecture, sculpture and other arts of Europe and the East.

In 1896, a competition was appointed for the museum building. According to the terms of the competition, the building had to be built in the style ancient temple or Renaissance houses. The order for construction was received by a young architect.

The museum was built according to the latest engineering ideas. The glass roof provided ample lighting in the halls of the second floor. The building was equipped with electricity and a ventilation system.

The internal structure of the Museum fully met the tasks assigned to it by its creators. The enfilade on the second floor demonstrated ancient Greek sculpture and the development of ancient art. The remaining rooms were given over to exhibits of Ancient Egypt, Assyria, the Italian era and Northern Renaissance. The Museum had a library, and there was an auditorium for lectures with a separate entrance from Kolymazhny Lane.

The Museum collected copies and casts made in the best workshops in Europe from famous originals, completely preserving their scale. Pearl museum collection became a collection original items ancient Egyptian art V.S. Golenishcheva.

Outstanding artists and designers of the early 20th century were involved in the construction and design of the Museum: P.V. Zhukovsky, A.Ya. Golovin, I.I. Nivinsky, K.P. Stepanov. An engineer supervised the construction.

The museum was built with personal donations from patrons. Among them are members of the royal family, the Morozovs, Yusupovs, Polyakovs, Soldatenkovs and others. The exhibits were also purchased with money from donors. However, the main donor throughout all the years of construction was the major industrialist and philanthropist Yu. Nechaev-Maltsev.

The museum was opened in 1912. I.V. became its director. Tsvetaev. From the first days of the Museum's operation, excursion and lecture programs were launched. This tradition continues today.

After October revolution 1917 The name of Emperor Alexander III was removed from the name. In 1923, it was decided to place the collections here Western painting from the Rumyantsev Museum and private collections. The museum was redesigned, preserving the internal structure of the premises and part of the permanent exhibition collected by Tsvetaev.

In 1937, the museum was named after A.S. Pushkin.

Now this is the main building of the State Museum complex fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin.

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In the halls of the museum

In the halls of the museum

Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

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In the hall "Art of Ancient Italy and Rome"

Alexander III Museum
(now the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin)
(abbreviated as the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the former “Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III at the Moscow Imperial University”) is one of the largest and most significant Russian museums European and world art. An architectural monument, located in the center of Moscow, at the address: Volkhonka Street, 12. Opened on May 31 (June 13), 1912.

Projects for the creation of the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow were repeatedly presented in print: by Princess Z. A. Volkonskaya and academician Stepan Shevyrev (1831), Professor K. K. Hertz (1858), director of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums N. V. Isakov (1864) .

The initiator of the creation of the museum in 1893 was the distinguished professor of Moscow State University, doctor of Roman literature and art historian Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev. He also became the first director of the Museum (1911-1913). The museum was created on the basis of the Cabinet of Fine Arts and Antiquities of Moscow University as an educational, auxiliary and public repository of casts and copies of classical works world art.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Museum took place on August 17, 1898. Most of the money for the construction of the museum was donated by the Russian philanthropist Yu. S. Nechaev-Maltsov. The first public design competition was won by the self-taught architect P. S. Boytsov. Without permission to carry out construction work, he could not be allowed to build at this level. As a result, the management of the construction was entrusted to the architect R.I. Klein. The Moscow State University board organized a long business trip for Klein to European museums, Egypt and Greece. Klein was assisted in the construction by engineers I. I. Rerberg, the first deputy project manager, and V. G. Shukhov, the author of the museum’s unique translucent ceilings. Dozens of young architects (G.B. Barkhin, A.D. Chichagov, M.M. Peretyatkovich, etc.), engineers, and artists went through Klein’s school during the construction of the museum. In addition to Klein himself, I. I. Nivinsky and A. Ya. Golovin worked on the interiors. The museum building uses the general urban plan and internal layout of Boytsov, but the detailed architectural design of the facades and interiors is clearly the original work of Klein and his team.

Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III. Groundbreaking of the building
The groundbreaking ceremony for the museum building took place on August 17, 1898.
It was attended by Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family, representatives of the Moscow City Duma and honored guests.
The territory of the former Kolymazhny yard near the Kremlin was provided free of charge for the construction of the building.
The name was officially approved - “Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III”.

The building was completed roughly in 1904. Exhibits (plaster casts and other copies) were ordered from the 1890s from foreign workshops using molds taken directly from the originals; in some cases, copies were made for the first time. Grand opening Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III took place on May 31 (June 13), 1912.

Pushkin Museum before opening on May 31, 1912

Grand opening of the Pushkin Museum May 31, 1921
Nicholas II with his family. To the right and below is the founder of the museum, Ivan Tsvetaev.
Behind Nikolai’s shoulder is Yuri Nechaev-Maltsev, who, in fact, paid for the construction

. "Moscow. Quick guide" 1958

State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin. Life magazine archive. 1955

Panorama from the roof of the Museum. The picture was taken between 1910-1912

State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin
In 1932, the museum was renamed the State Museum of Fine Arts. In 1937, the museum was named after A. S. Pushkin. During the Great Patriotic War a significant part of the museum collections was evacuated to Novosibirsk and Solikamsk. Since 1944, the restoration of the Pushkin Museum building, damaged during the war from bombing, and preparations for the deployment of the exhibition began. The bombing destroyed all the glass roofs of V. G. Shukhov, and for three years the museum stood in the open air. During this period, from February 1944 to 1949, the director of the museum was S. D. Merkurov. The post-war opening of the exhibition took place on October 3, 1946.

During the period 1949-1953 exhibition activities The Pushkin Museum was closed; The premises of the museum were given over to the “Exhibition of gifts to J.V. Stalin from the peoples of the USSR and foreign countries" After Stalin's death, the core activities of the Pushkin Museum were restored and expanded.

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An exhibition (event of the year) of Turner (1775-1851) is open - English artist- master of sea distances, heavenly expanses, virtuoso of light and foggy haze)

An unovergrown path...
- In 1984, we stood here in December in the bitter cold, the Dutch were brought... Art is calling!
- Len... yes, a good exhibition... if you love the sea... and Aivazovsky... and fogs... and sunrises... I would recommend it. You know what amazes me... he always has sun... or glare... even in global flood... Do you remember how Aivazovsky... the 9th wave... and still the light is ahead... he almost died... and he painted this picture from memory... I'm talking about Aivazovsky... and he studied with Turner ..
- Yes, there is a queue to the temple of art.
- yes, it’s tolerable... about 30 minutes... but on weekdays... and foreigners are always given rides..
- It won’t grow over!!!
- yessssssssssssss.....there's also Rembrandt...and..and...
- Eh, I’m not there....:)))
- yeah... You know, Antonova is great... she organizes all these exhibitions... her inexhaustible energy... and how many languages ​​she knows... she conducts negotiations in both Italian and French.. She is very energetic... even though she is a year... .

Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin. Interior. 2nd floor
In 1985, on the initiative of Doctor of Art History I. S. Zilberstein and Director of the Pushkin Museum I. A. Antonova scientific department The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts founded the Museum of Personal Collections.

Since 1980, on the initiative of Svyatoslav Richter and I. A. Antonova, the annual festival of music and painting “December Evenings” has been held in the museum’s halls.

Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin. Interior. 2nd floor

CULTURA DA RÚSSIA. Os museus russos

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Museum took place on August 17, 1898. This significant event was preceded by long years enormous and creative work. The building was built using the latest museum practices and construction technology. It was designed like an antique temple on a high podium with an Ionic colonnade along the façade. In interior decoration elements of different historical eras according to the exhibits presented.

Currently, the collection of the Pushkin Museum named after. A.S. Pushkin has over 560 thousand works of painting and sculpture, graphic works, works applied arts, archaeological and numismatic monuments, artistic photography. In 1991, the museum was included in the State Code of Especially Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation. The halls of the first floor display mainly originals: works of art of Ancient Egypt, antiquity, collection European painting VIII-XVIII centuries; two halls - the Italian and Greek courtyards - are occupied by casts. On the second floor there are rooms displaying casts of art from Ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The painting halls introduce art XIX-XX centuries.

They gave these women two days off and they went crazy. They kill time at random. Instead of resting... Last Sunday she took me to an exhibition. Some kind of vernissage... I thought it was a museum like a museum. And this is not a museum, but worse than a diner: There is no hot food, just cheese and coffee. In the Tretyakov Gallery there was at least hodgepodge, but at the vernissage there was only one mineral one. No, I don’t think you can rest here...
And Sunday passes.
While the tour was staring at the statue, I jumped out and grabbed it on the corner. As soon as he lay down, laid down the newspaper, the watchwoman latched on:
- In the Greek hall, in the Greek hall, shame on you.
The pince-nez was already hot. I object to her so quietly:
- Why are you yelling, you white mouse?.. You play the fool here every day, and I have to work tomorrow. It would be better to take out the glass... Do you see the man gurgling from the neck?
...What a herring?..Who a herring?..What herring?..Well, the herring unfolded on his shoulder...And what will happen to him? It has stood for two hundred years, it will still stand, but my day off is coming to an end, do you understand, you old goat?
...Who is Apollo?.. Am I Apollo? He is Apollo. Well, go ahead, Apollo... I hung the string bag on his hand, but where should I hang it, on his neck?
Here are the people... No culture. I barely fought her off. It’s good that the guys supported me... And it’s already three o’clock. And I’m still with groceries and not in one eye. And it's already three on the clock...

In the museum. Pushkin (c) Dmitry Zverev
I managed to take a few pictures before they forced me to put the device away :(

Art of the Aegean World and Ancient Greece. Casts

In the museum. Pushkin (c) Dmitry Zverev
in the Greek hall, in the Greek hall...

in the Greek Hall, in the Greek Hall...

In the museum. Pushkin (c) Dmitry Zverev
in the Greek hall, in the Greek hall...

“In the Greek Hall, in the Greek Hall...” on Yandex.Photos

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Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

Art of Ancient Rome. Casts

Greek art of the late classics and Hellenism. Casts

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We measure the proportions..
Polykleitos.. Spearman.. (the crown of the search in the sphere of balance of figures. The head is a seventh of the height of the body)

Great!!! Teenagers' reaction - cool... :))
- Yes.... A good excursion for teenagers!!!
- yes.. the guide is so funny... the boys cringed.. and she kept making me measure the proportions.. even that was awkward for me...
- Frank emotions! :))

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at the Pushkin Museum named after A.S. Pushkin in the Michelangelo Hall.
Favorite performer - organist Alexey Parshin

“In the A.S. Pushkin Museum” on Yandex.Photos
Rehearsal before the concert

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Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). Medici Chapel. Tomb Giuliano Medici. Cast

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Lamentation of Christ. 1447-1500

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. "Saint Sebastian". late XV century ~ Antonello de Saliba. "Portrait of a man". ca. 1495
Pushkin museum, Moscow

Bartolome Murillo. "Fruit Seller" 1655-1660 ~ El Greco. "Portrait des Don Rodrigo Vasquez". um 1600-1610
Puschkin-Museum der bildenden Künste

Giovanni Paolo Pannini. "Interior of the San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome". 18th century
Pushkin Museum

François Boucher. "Heracles and Omphale". 1735 ~ François Boucher. "Jupiter und Kallisto". 1744
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia

Them. Pushkin in Moscow? If you have never been there before, it’s a shame, because... this is one of the most interesting places capital Cities! Today, the exhibitions of the Pushkin Museum are on a par with the collections of such titans of world cultural heritage as the Louvre or the Hermitage.

A little history

And it all began in 1898, on August 17. Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin was founded on that distant summer day. It was intended primarily to disseminate and popularize knowledge in the field of art among broad sections of the Russian public, as well as for students studying sculpture. It must be said that the most people worked on the museum project educated people that time. The money for construction (most of it) was donated by the famous Russian philanthropist Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev. The design of the building itself was developed by the talented architect R.I. Klein. Before starting a responsible task, Klein long time studied museums in Egypt and Greece, as well as European experience.

When the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts was being built, engineers Vladimir Shukhov and Ivan Rerberg helped Klein. The first was the author of the original translucent ceilings of the main museum building, and the second was the deputy project manager. For the construction of the complex, Klein was awarded the high title of academician of architecture.

Amazing architectural style

Take a close look at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the photo of which is presented below, and you may notice that it looks very much like an ancient temple (Greek) from antiquity, rising among dense trees. Like ancient religious buildings, the building stands on a high stone podium and is surrounded by majestic Ionic columns.

Reproduces the exact proportions of the columns of the portico on the Greek Acropolis. However, according to the architectural style of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin is close to classicism. But that's only on the outside. Once inside, visitors find themselves in spacious rooms filled with light, access to which is provided by a glass dome. Such an unusual ceiling already indicates neoclassicism. By the way, when the museum was built, electric lighting was not included in the project at all. It was believed that sculptural compositions are best viewed in natural light.

Collections

An interesting fact is that the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, before the October Revolution that struck Russia in 1917, was exclusively a sculpture museum. Skillfully made copies of ancient mosaics and statues were exhibited here. At that time, the originals were represented only by exhibits from the collections of the Egyptologist Golenishchev.

But after the October Revolution, museum exhibitions were replenished with paintings confiscated from the private collections of the Russian aristocracy and nationalized by the Bolsheviks. So, for example, the famous ones (Picasso Pablo) and (Dutch Van Gogh) came to the Pushkin Museum from the collections of the merchant Morozov.

Today, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts proudly presents its visitors with a rich collection of French impressionism and post-impressionism. Here we can enjoy the paintings of Camille Pizarro, Arnie Matisse, Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Sisley, Edgar Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, as well as the unique Van Gogh and other great painters.

also in Pushkin Museum You can look at Italian paintings of the 18th-20th centuries, Japanese and British engravings, copies of masterpieces of ancient art, including the huge sculpture of Michelangelo's David, and much more. Total Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin Museum stores 700 thousand exhibits, and almost one and a half million people visit it every year.

Events and activities held within the walls of the museum

On Thursdays in the evening and on Fridays during the day, the museum hosts interesting classes called “Conversations about Art” for everyone. Lectures are devoted to all the main sections of the exhibition, as well as various seasonal exhibitions regularly held in this cultural center.

Since 2012, the Pushkin Museum annually takes part in the all-Russian cultural event “Night of Museums”. The exquisite musical “Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter” have also become a tradition - international festival music, held under the arches of the Pushkin Museum every year in December.

Note to tourists

If you are planning to visit the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts for the first time in your life, do not confuse it with another Moscow museum named after the great Russian poet, which is located on Prechistenka. The main building of the Pushkin Museum is located on Volkhonka at number 12.

Tourists need to know that in the Pushkin Museum it is not allowed to smoke, use cellular communications (this is bad manners), or touch museum exhibits, take pictures with flash, bring flowers into the halls, eat outside the cafe area. Bags and large umbrellas should be left in the storage room.

(1961–2013)

I.V. Tsvetaev and Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev (1912)

Prehistory.

Cabinet of Fine Arts of Moscow University

(First University Museum antique sculpture in plaster casts was founded in 1820 in Bonn by prof. F. Welker)

Moscow University received its first collection of several thousand gold, silver, tin, copper and lead coins as a gift from industrialist P.G. Demidov in 1806 G.

IN 1831 in published by N.I. Nadezhdin's magazine "Telescope" (No. 11) published a project "On the establishment of the Aesthetic Museum at Moscow University", the authors of which were Princess Z.A. Volkonskaya and Moscow University professor S.P. Shevyrev. According to the founders' plans, the museum "should contain full meeting plaster casts, and, if possible, marble copies, from the best and the most wonderful works sculptures of ancient, and middle and new, copies from excellent paintings different schools classical painting and, finally, models from all the main monuments of architecture, bequeathed to posterity by antiquity and the Middle Ages,” “so that a walk through the gallery of statues vividly personifies for us the history of sculptures from the beginning to our times.” The museum was supposed to have a library in which there would be best guides to the study of art history and antiquities.

BEHIND. Volkonskaya wrote: “Wanting to share impressions with my compatriots beautiful homeland art, I accept the responsibility of supervising the preparation of these casts and models. Being familiar with famous European artists, ... with the best connoisseurs of art, with Russian artists, with their general guidance, I hope that the copies will be distinguished by the desired accuracy, and the casts will vividly represent the originals. My acquaintances in Rome give me the opportunity to have everything for a price that is taken only from the artists themselves, and not from private individuals.”

Assuming that Moscow University does not have the opportunity to set aside a separate building for this purpose, the princess suggests “relying on the generosity of nobles known for their love of art.” .

Unfortunately, the Moscow University Council gave a decisive refusal to introduce the princess. The project was not implemented.

IN 1848 the university returned to this idea, but there were not enough funds. The project was not implemented.

But through the efforts of university professors, thanks to private donations, the collections were replenished. The museum was initially modeled on German university museums, collecting only works of Greek and Roman art.

IN 1850s. prof. P.M. Leontyev acquired several busts and statues in plaster casts from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, bringing to Moscow University the most famous sculptures of Apollo Belvedere, Venus de Milo, Diana of Versailles, Apollo Musagete, Venus of Tauride and a number of busts of famous people of Greece and Rome.

At the end of the next decade, a monetary assignment was received from the famous literary critic V.P. for the further organization of this collection. Botkin, and 1882 prof. K.K. With these funds, Hertz bought more than 20 statues and some reliefs based on ancient models abroad. But his main hobby was Greek painted vases, which he collected on small funds university.

Thus, by the arrival of I.V. Tsvetaev's University Cabinet of Fine Arts has accumulated several dozen plaster casts from sculpture monuments of Greek and Roman production, a significant collection of coins and a small number of Greek painted vases and small antiquities. The collections have been located since 1826 in two rooms of the old hospital building on Bolshaya Nikitskaya.

And this is the office of I.V. Tsvetaev decided to turn into a real museum, having built a separate building for it using public funds. He appealed to the Council of the Faculty of History and Philology to appoint “a commission to implement a plan for systematic replenishment” of this office.

IN 1893 he wrote: “The museum is proposed to be composed of:

I Department of Architecture;

II Department of Sculpture;

III Department of Painting;

IV Numismatic Cabinet and Department of Ancient Vases and Small Antiquities;

V Libraries in all branches of art;

VI Auditorium for lectures on the history of art."

This matter has taken a completely new direction in 1895 when a certain V.A. Alekseeva, allocated 150 thousand rubles in her will for the improvement of the museum, and expressed a desire to give it “the august name of the deceased Emperor Alexander III a month before.” At a meeting with Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, it was decided to expand the museum’s program, on the one hand, by introducing works of Ancient Egypt and Chaldeo-Assyria and, on the other, Christian art, at least initially in the department of sculpture alone.

Accordingly, the plan for the new museum building had to be reworked. Instead of the Museum of Ancient Art, they decided to equip General Museum fine arts, not limiting itself only to Hellas and Rome. Thus, new halls appeared in the Museum plan, incl. halls for the early days of Christianity, for the Middle Ages and for the Renaissance of sciences and arts in Western Europe.

« In my opinion, an institution that calls itself the Museum of Fine Arts cannot exclude any branch of art: neither painting nor architecture. I would prepare several spare rooms, where later the works of art that you are now in vain pushing away from yourself can find a place for themselves.”

(Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich)

“On the opening day of the Museum of Fine Arts, 22 large halls, 2 offices and 2 courtyards were occupied by monuments of oriental sculpture, the classical and Christian worlds - a number hitherto unprecedented in Russia.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

Pro et Contra

“Our Museum owes Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov half of the sculptures purchased in Rome. In 1893, I asked for help for our enterprise, and then, in a simple, sweet form, without breaking or moralizing, he made this gift, saying that he could not give much, having moral obligations to other artistic institutions.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“I received a letter from G.A.’s son. Zakharyin, he and his mother will willingly fulfill the request to donate all the Parthenon sculptures to the museum. This gift will cost 6,000 rubles and will fill the whole hall. Mother and eldest daughter A.G. Podgoretskaya began to be asked to accept the cost of Renaissance sculptures with Michelangelo in the center. With these funds, copies of Luca and Andrea della Robia, Donatello, and Michelangelo were purchased.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

Installation of the exhibit ("Farnese Bull")

“To get an entire corner of the Parthenon, the porch of the Erechtheion temple and the monument to Lysicrates from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, in addition to money, we needed the diplomatic mediation of our ambassador to France, the recently deceased A.I. Nelidov, who, being himself a keen archaeologist-collector, reacted with the keenest interest to the committee’s intention to acquire these monuments, which until then had not had paired copies anywhere, and immediately began official correspondence. The kingdom of heaven to him for this sincerely shown love for our cause!”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“We have dedicated a special, vast hall, the so-called Parthenon Hall (VI), to the most famous of the sculptors of the whole world, Phidias and his school. This room, which with its size, archaeological decoration and the monuments displayed here has loudly expressed approval also from foreign scientists who have visited our work, is especially dear to us because it was built at the expense of their Imperial Highnesses, Grand Dukes Sergei Alexandrovich and Pavel Alexandrovich. Filling it with monuments collected in England, France and Germany belongs to the untimely deceased son of the late professor G.A. Zakharyin, Sergei Grigorievich, and the long-term, exceptionally generous supporter of our museum, Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev" .

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“After a short transition (XV) we enter an age of brilliant and cheerful Italian Renaissance XV century with his luminaries in sculptural art Jacoppo della Queocia Ghiberti, Donatello, Luca and Andrei della Robbia, Benedetto da Maiano, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole, Rossellino. This hall turned out to be especially rich in the number and quality of art monuments of this era. Funds delivered to the committee by its full member A.G. Podgoretskaya, born Zakharyina, and a long stay in Florence and Tuscany gave us the opportunity to obtain for the museum a long series of sculptures, the acquisition of which for university museums in Western Europe was only a dream until recently. We ask you not to see any exaggeration in these words.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“The effect of the extensive Ravenna mosaics on museum visitors began before our museum was completed and opened for public use. I am now pleased to testify that last month one bearer of the name of an ancient Moscow princely family, a man not only richly gifted with artistic feeling, but also an artist of the palette himself, could not tear himself away from our mosaic paintings of Ravenna until he received promises from the Museum administration to help him purchase Ravenna are the same copies of two famous paintings“The ceremonial entry into the church of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora” to decorate his home. I decided to note this fact as the beginning of the beneficial influence of the new Museum on Moscow and the Moscow community. educated society. This happened in the field of mosaics. As for sculpture, which mainly fills the new Museum, this influence on Moscow began much earlier. So, one of our visitors needed copies of the statue of Athena, attributed to Phidias himself, and famous bust Nero of the Louvre Museum. Another visitor was captivated by St. Caecilius by Donatello, the third was fascinated by the colored faience of Luca and Andrea Della-Robbia. Already, even now, rare and casual visitors express a desire that a workshop of experienced sculptors be established at the new Museum for the production of busts, relief paintings and statues, which can and should be in special demand in our secondary educational institutions of all categories. Thus, they find it desirable to distribute, through our collections, through schools of portrait busts of state life, or from the spheres of science, literature and art.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“In terms of finding funds for the Museum, many disappointments awaited us... Maria Fedorovna Morozova refused,... citing that she and her late husband Timofey Savvich are only rich men and therefore there is no need for them to organize some kind of museum. Vasily Alekseevich Khludov, a man of enormous wealth and a graduate of Moscow University, refused. Savva and Sergei Timofeevich Morozov refused. The Morozov-Vikulovichs refused; Some of them also passed Moscow University. Varvara Alekseevna Morozova and her rich sons Arseny and Ivan Abramovich Morozov refused.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“These and other failures, however, did not discourage me... with any refusal, I remembered the advice given to me by the late Anatoly Petrovich Bogdanov, creator of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow... never lose heart when faced with refusals, indifference and even opposition: “They don’t give it, go to neighbor."

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“The people need bread and bast shoes, not your museums.”

(S.Yu. Witte, Minister of Finance Russian Empire in 1892–1903, which gave, however, 200 thousand rubles)

“Some refuse because of coarse taste, others because of stinginess, and others because they have other areas of charity. It would be strange to complain about Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, about Semyon Vasilievich Lepeshkin, a very rich man, but who created a student dormitory, on the Bakhrushins, Boevs, Yu.I. Bazanova, the nurturer of students and the donor of an entire clinic, is still being denied support for the Museum for political reasons. Museum of Fine Arts and politics? K.T. Soldatenkov has deprived our museum of his sympathetic attitude since, at the request of the executors of V.A. Alekseeva, it was given the name of Alexander III, a non-liberal sovereign... and since Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich came close to the museum’s business, with whom he, as well as other members of the council of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, developed more principled disagreement."

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“Highly appreciating your quest and tireless concerns about replenishing and expanding the museum you are creating, I cannot help but sympathize with the establishment of a special department for samples of French sculptures XIX V. But, despite all my sympathy for your cause, I cannot come to your aid with my material resources, since I myself am busy with the idea of ​​​​creating a gallery of works of a new French painting, which should become the property of Moscow.”

(S.I. Shchukin)

Many Orthodox Christians saw the statues as a pagan threat, considered them akin to something devilish, and called the sculptures “graven images.” Suspect the son, grandson, great-grandson of the priests from whose family I.V. came from. Tsvetaev, it would seem impossible. And, however, there is written evidence on this score full of indignation.

The actual history of the Museum of Fine Arts

We owe much of the information about the history of the creation of the Museum of Fine Arts to the diary of I.V. Tsvetaev, which he led in 1898–1900. Activities to establish a museum developed intensively in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the rocks of Finland and in the Ural mountains, in London and Athens, in Berlin and Rome, in Florence and Ravenna.

IN 1894 The First Congress of Russian Artists and Art Lovers took place in Moscow, convened in connection with the gift of P.M. to the city. Tretyakov art gallery. Professor I.V. also spoke at the congress. Tsvetaev with a speech “Establishment of the Museum of Ancient Art at Moscow University.” Through his efforts, a competition was announced for the best museum project, which, at the request of the university, was held by the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. 19 architects from different cities of Russia took part in it. One of the most famous architects of that time was F.O. Shekhtel, but due to the workload of orders, he did not have time to complete the work on time. However, he remained a permanent consultant to I.V. Tsvetaeva in controversial issues of architectural design of the building and an active supporter of the entire enterprise.

The projects were considered by the Council of the Faculty of History and Philology, the Board of Moscow University, the Ministry of Public Education, and the Academy of Arts. Of the 15 projects, seven were awarded. The board of Moscow University chose the project of R.I. Klein.

December 1894- the future museum was named after Alexander III according to the will of the first major donor Varvara Andreevna Alekseeva (150 thousand rubles).

April 28, 1898- a committee was created to organize the Museum of Fine Arts under Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the Moscow Governor-General and the Tsar’s uncle. He also became the chairman of the committee. Rector N.A. was invited from the university. Zverev, Dean of the Faculty of History and Philology M.M. Troitsky and professor V.F. Miller. The founding members included representatives of the university, its prominent students, artists, capitalists and experts in museum practice in Moscow. Among the ladies - Countess P.S. Uvarova, Princess Z.N. Yusupova, A.G. Podgoretskaya, daughter of professor of the Faculty of Medicine G.A. Zakharyin. (It is interesting that in 1919 the latter was arrested and exiled to the Ryazan province, but at the collective request of the peasants of the village of Kurkino, where there was a hospital created by her father, supervised by A.G. Podgoretskaya, she was allowed to return to Moscow). At the invitation of the trustee of the Moscow educational district N.P. Bogolepova and prof. I.V. Tsvetaev Yu.S. became a member of the committee. Nechaev-Maltsev and became deputy chairman. I.V. himself Tsvetaev served as the permanent secretary of the committee.

The committee coordinated the interaction of the management of Moscow University and representatives of city authorities with private individuals who brought funds for the organization of the museum, donated exhibits and provided assistance. important help in the work of the committee.

“A particular difficulty was presented by the question of the extent of participation of the Faculty of History and Philology in the activities of the newly created Committee. As an institution serving the benefit of the university, the Committee should have as its members all the professors of our faculty... but practical benefit This entry of 17–20 people, only by virtue of their official, official position, could not bring anything to the cause of the creation of the museum... the larger the number of the board, the more inert, lazy, inactive it is... therefore, I decided to limit myself to introducing into it only those who are absolutely useful, such as the professor V.F. Miller, expert on the East and professor P.G. Vinogradov, who proves his sympathy for the museum with his efforts in the Duma about land for the building.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

July 3, 1898 G. - City Duma decided to give Moscow University the entire area of ​​Kolymazhny Yard for a museum without any restrictions. Kolymazhny Yard is a wasteland in the center of Moscow, where once there were stables, sheds for royal carriages, then a parade ground for horse riding, and then a transit prison - the predecessor of Butyrskaya.

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

July 31, 1898 G.- project R.I. Klein was approved by the construction department of the Moscow provincial administration.

August 17, 1898 G.- in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and members of the reigning family, the ceremonial laying of the building of the Museum of Fine Arts took place.

Construction was carried out mainly with private funds. The names of donors were assigned to those halls whose creation they financed. The main donation for the construction of the museum was made by Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev.

1904 G. - a fire in the museum destroyed a number of valuable exhibits.

1905–1906 gg.- the threat of mothballing the construction of the museum due to lack of money and transferring it to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Education. The situation is saved by Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev.

10 May 19​09 G.- the museum was granted the rights of a state institution. A staff was appointed from the state treasury (50 thousand rubles plus 2,500 rubles of annual allowance for renting apartments for ministers). An amount of 10 thousand rubles has been established for the annual purchase of scientific and artistic objects: this article of the law constitutes a great advantage, which, for example, the Rumyantsev Museum did not have during the entire half-century and undoubtedly useful activity in Moscow. The sum of 10 thousand rubles for new acquisitions has until now been assigned, as only a temporary measure, to the imperial Historical Museum in Moscow. For the implementation of this permanent budget item, the museum expresses deep gratitude to former ministers of public education to professors G.E. Zenger and A.N. Schwartz, General V.G. Glazov. With their participation, the state itself has successfully carried out such items at which all annual balances from government appropriations for personnel are turned into special museum funds for the purchase of books and art objects. Cash balances from business items go, with the permission of the Minister of Public Education, to furniture and other economic needs of the museum, and are not taken back to the treasury, as would usually be done. From these funds, the Committee paid for a number of scientifically valuable acquisitions in Western Europe and, in addition, opened its own workshop in the museum to make the furniture it needed.

1909 G.- the Egyptian collection of V.S. was transferred to the museum. Golenishcheva.

“This collection, containing over 6,000 items, has acquired honorable fame among European and American museums, as the only private collection of this kind, created with special knowledge of the matter, with the expenditure of large material resources by a rich man - through his 30-year search on the inexhaustible soil of Ancient Egypt, where the Russian Egyptologist Golenishchev had long gained fame as one of the authoritative experts in oriental languages ​​and antiquities, the history of Egyptian writings and monuments of Egyptian art and life. And the museum, being intended at first only for a modest purpose, for collecting and storing only as much as possible exact copies European art, now, with the arrival of the Golenishchev collection, it is gaining fame among European museums with these numerous, interesting and important originals.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

31 May 1912 G.- opening of the Museum of Fine Arts. Emperor Alexander III" in the presence of Nicholas II and members of the imperial family. The event is timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and the 100th anniversary of the War of 1812. The next day, major newspapers in Moscow (“Moskovskie Vedomosti”, “Voice of Moscow”, “Birzhevye Vedomosti”, “Bell”) repeated: “The museum’s garden was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers. There is a beautifully decorated arch in front of the museum. The entire surroundings of the museum are draped with flags and greenery. Opposite the museum was a united choir of students from Moscow educational institutions under the leadership of Ippolitov-Ivanov.”

Decades later, this day was recreated in Marina Tsvetaeva’s essay “The Museum of Alexander III.”

During the summer months, the museum was open 4 times a week for group visits by students from educational institutions, various professional organizations, and groups of 20 people from the general public. On September 1, the museum opened its doors to the general public. Until December 1, 59 thousand 549 people visited it. Students of Moscow University, students of the Higher Women's Courses and the Archaeological Institute acted as guides. Since autumn, its director I.V. has been in the halls of the museum. Tsvetaev and senior curator prof. VC. Malmberg gave lectures to university students and course participants, and practical classes were conducted here.

31 May 1923 G.- at a meeting of the presidium of the board of the museum department of the Glavnauka, a draft agreement was approved on the transfer of the Museum of Fine Arts by the 1st State Moscow University to the jurisdiction of the museum department of the Glavnauka NKP.

The draft agreement states: “For the purpose of establishing in the Museum of Fine Arts the collections of Western art and combining them with the existing departments of the museum, as well as for replenishing the latter with corresponding original monuments from the general state fund, The Museum of Fine Arts is transferred to the jurisdiction of the museum department of the NKP for the organization of an autonomous Museum of Fine Arts, operating within the limits of the Regulations developed for it. The specified Regulations are developed by the museum department together with the 1st Moscow State University and approved by the NCP.”

The transfer of the museum took place against the general background of the nationalization of major private collections. In 1918–1919 The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a number of decrees and resolutions on the nationalization of museum and artistic values ​​stored in former royal palaces, as well as the transfer of the largest private collections into state ownership.

November 3–16, 1923 G.- meeting of the commission on the transfer of the Museum of Fine Arts by Moscow University to the jurisdiction of the museum department of the Main Science of the NKP. The order of transfer has been determined: November 5 - transfer of the building, November 8–10 - reception of collections. Representatives of Moscow State University were assistant rector, professor A.V. Kubitsky and V.G. Hyacinths. The museum at this time included departments of the Classical East, Antique (Greco-Roman) and Christian. The collections totaled 9938 items (including 7910 originals and 2028 copies), not counting the numismatic collection (9355 coins).

The commission approved the transfer act on November 16, 1923. From that moment on, the Museum of Fine Arts became part of the museum department of the Main Science of the People's Communist Party.

About the Museum of Fine Arts of Moscow University

"Colossal Big Brother"

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“Our collection will be very significant in the variety and number of items... How happy high school boys and girls will be to see fishing gear and writing instruments of the Romans in our museum, and medical students will be surprised to find a set of medical and surgical instruments in our museum. The military will be occupied by samples of ancient weapons, tea lovers will meet the prototype of the Tula samovar in the Herculaneum copy...”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“Only the selection of monuments of paramount importance was the greatest reward for these journeys in disgusting Italian 3rd class carriages, for seeking shelter in completely classless hotels, with their cold and damp rooms without stoves or any means of heating, for these arrogant views of my fellow American museum director, when he boarded the same train in 1st class and the next day walked side by side with me through the same churches, monasteries, museums and made a selection of monuments only in a much larger number and with complete freedom, and for these hitherto unknown rheumatisms that I acquired under such conditions.”

(I.V. Tsvetaev)

“This museum, unusually densely visited, as its current “reports” say, and is directly educational institution in art - is going to become the same favorite of Moscow and Russia as the Tretyakov Gallery. And even those passing through Moscow invariably inspect: 1) the Tsar Bell, 2) the Tsar Cannon, 3) the Church of the Savior, 4) the Tretyakov Gallery, 5) the Museum of Fine Arts.”

(V.V. Rozanov. 1913 )

“I think that the museum will be not only a closed scientific institute, but a living educator, accessible to the widest range of visitors. I am convinced that ordinary people will find something to learn here, the museum will prove that art is not a luxury, but a great cultural and historical factor. I sincerely and sincerely wish that this vital spirit inherent in its father never dies in the museum - your brainchild.”

(N.I. Romanov)

E.V. Ilchenko, O.I. Grigorieva, IN AND.Ilchenko