State Historical Museum
The State Historical Museum is one of the largest museums in the Russian state, preserving national history: monuments of archeology, works of fine art, decorative applied arts, weapons, numismatics, etc.
The collection of the museum (which is about 5 million exhibits and more than 14 million sheets of documents) reflects the history and culture of Russia from ancient times to the present day.
History of the museum
To restore the historical greatness of Russia after the defeat in Crimean War 1853-1856, it was proposed to create a Historical Museum. Who initiated such a proposal?
In 1872, the Polytechnic Exhibition was opened in Moscow. It was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter I.
The Sevastopol department of the exhibition, dedicated to the heroic defense of Sevastopol and the exploration of ancient Chersonese, was headed by the famous Russian scientist A.S. Uvarov. It was he and his staff who initiated the creation of the Historical Museum.
About the people who stood at the origins of the museum
Alexey Sergeevich Uvarov (1825-1885)
I. Kulikov “Portrait of the archaeologist A.S. Uvarov" (1916)
Graph Alexey Sergeevich Uvarov- Russian archaeologist, corresponding member and honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. One of the founders of the Moscow Archaeological Society and the Historical Museum in Moscow.
Comes from the noble family of Uvarovs. His father, Sergei Semyonovich Uvarov, was the Minister of Public Education.
A.S. Uvarov graduated from St. Petersburg University, and then continued his education in Berlin and Heidelberg.
Widespread fame as a scientist was brought to him by the work “Investigations of the Antiquities of Southern Russia and the Black Sea Shores”, published in 1848 in Russian and French.
Participated in archaeological excavations in Russia. He led the Moscow Archaeological Society.
On February 9, 1872, the “highest permission” was received for the establishment of the Museum named after His Imperial Highness the Sovereign, the heir to Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich. This date is considered the foundation day of the future State Historical Museum.
A.S. Uvarov drew up the first museum charter. The main goal of the future museum was "to serve as a visual history of the main eras of the Russian state." Uvarov developed and scientific program museum, which determined the layout of the future exhibition. A certain historical period was assigned to each hall on the first and second floors.
Ivan Yegorovich Zabelin, the greatest connoisseur of Moscow antiquity, also stood at the origins of the museum.
Ivan Egorovich Zabelin (1820-1909)
I.E. Repin “Portrait of I.E. Zabelina" (1877)
I.E. Zabelin is a Russian archaeologist and historian, a specialist in the history of the city of Moscow. Corresponding member Imperial Academy Sciences, honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, initiator of the creation of the Historical Museum.
Graduated from the Preobrazhensky College in Moscow. He worked as an archivist in the Palace Office, served as a junior member of the Imperial Archaeological Commission, and he was entrusted with the excavation of Scythian burial mounds in the Yekaterinoslav province and on the Taman Peninsula, near Kerch, where many interesting finds were made.
He described the results of the excavations in the Antiquities of Herodotus Scythia and in the reports of the Archaeological Commission. The University of St. Vladimir awarded him the degree of Doctor of Russian History, and in 1879 he was elected chairman of the Moscow Society of History and Antiquities and then deputy chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Museum named after the Emperor Alexander III. Zabelin's research concerns mainly the epochs Kievan Rus and the formation of the Russian state.
Leading historians of Russia took part in the development of the scientific concept of the museum: S. Solovyov, N. Rumyantsev, F. Buslaev, D. Ilovaisky, V. Klyuchevsky.
Name
The Historical Museum was originally called Museum named after His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir Tsesarevich. From May 1895 to November 1917 the official name of the museum was: "Imperial Russian Historical Museum named after Emperor Alexander III".
After the October Revolution, the museum began to be called State Russian Historical Museum. From February 1921 to the present day, the name of the museum is State Historical Museum.
Museum building construction
In 1874, the territory on Red Square between the Senate and Nikolskaya towers was allocated for the construction of the museum. Nearby, between the Kremlin wall and the Resurrection Gates, there was the property of the Moscow City Duma, which is now part of the museum, as well as the mint building.
The building of the Moscow City Duma.
One of the buildings of the mint.
Since its founding, the museum has been a public institution that existed on donations and "independent funds".
The architectural image of the museum was determined in December 1873. But the project proposed by the artist-architect V.O. Sherwood and engineer A.A. Semenov, was not accepted immediately, because. the museum building had to be designed in the forms of Russian architecture of the 16th century, so that its appearance organically corresponded to the existing architectural ensemble of Red Square
For the design of the facades, the architect and engineer used motifs from the decoration of the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, the churches of the Ascension and John the Baptist in Kolomenskoye and Dyakovo, the Trinity in Ostankino, the Nativity of the Virgin in Putinki, the wooden palace in Kolomenskoye, Vologda and Yaroslavl churches. This project under the motto "Fatherland" was recommended for construction. Sherwood paid special attention to the facade facing Red Square. The building of the museum "balanced" the Pokrovsky Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral), without detracting from its compositional role.
Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral)
The construction of the museum building continued during 1875-1879. In 1879, construction was suspended for 3 years due to lack of funds and resumed only in 1881, when Moscow began to prepare for the coronation of Alexander III. The museum was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and acquired the status of a government institution. A.S. was appointed director of the museum. Uvarov, and after the death of Uvarov in 1884 he was replaced by I.E. Zabelin.
In 1878, Sherwood's place was taken by the architect A.P. Popov. He actually completed the construction of the museum, developed an engineering project for the towers of the building and projects decoration all 11 exposition halls, based on the idea of A. S. Uvarov.
Heraldic sculptures and ensigns with turning mechanisms were installed on the tents and roofs of the museum, which allowed them to withstand wind loads. The tents of the four high towers crowned with double-headed eagles, the design of which was borrowed from the coat of arms of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and from the towers of the Kremlin.
The tops of the towers.
Museum interiors
The floors of the first floor were decorated with mosaics, the floor of the front hall and the steps of the stairs were made of Carrara marble.
Museum interiors
Famous Russian artists decorated the halls of the museum: V.M. Vasnetsov wrote the Stone Age frieze, G.I. Semiradsky completed two paintings "The funeral of the Rus in Bulgar" and "Night sacrifices", the panorama of the Kerch Strait was created by I.K. Aivazovsky. Later, V.A. Serov, S.A. Korovin, I.E. Repin. Architect N.V. Nikitin decorated the Novgorod and Vladimir halls (No. 9, 10). Architect P.S. Boytsov designed the decoration of the Suzdal, Rostov and Moscow halls. Masters from Palekh by 1903 completed the decoration of the halls of the era of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov and the Time of Troubles. The halls of Western Rus' and Lithuania, Ivan III and Vasily III, and the halls of the 2nd floor could not be decorated before the revolution. These halls were sometimes used by artists as workshops - V.I. Surikov, V.M. Vasnetsov, I.E. Repin, V.A. Serov.
A.S. Uvarov found and acquired suitable collections for the new museum, and also donated some of his own: archaeological antiquities, casts and copies of decorative elements from Kyiv and Novgorod churches, a large collection of drawings and photographs.
The interiors of the Suzdal Hall of the museum were designed in the 1890s by the architect P. S. Boytsov. The equipment and decoration of the reading room of the museum were made in 1911-1912. designed by architect I.E. Bondarenko.
Museum hall
On May 27, 1883, completing the coronation celebrations, the museum was visited by the imperial family - Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna. The tsar expressed his desire that the arrangement of the museum be continued.
On June 2, 1883, the Imperial Russian Historical Museum was opened to the general public.
Museum collections
Large gifts also came to the museum from other noble families: the Golitsyns, the Bobrinskys, the Kropotkins, the Obolenskys, the Olsufievs, and the Shcherbatovs.
The collections of the museum are collected in the corresponding 18 departments: the department of precious metals, the department of ancient Russian painting, the department of ceramics and glass, the department of metal, the department of the book fund, the department of numismatics, the department of weapons, etc.
Let's go to some departments.
Department of Old Russian Painting
The museum's icon collection began to take shape in the 1880s-1890s. IN different time the museum was presented with icons by large antiquaries-collectors S.T. Bolshakov, I.L. and D.I. Silina, A.P. Bakhrushin, also included collections of Russian antiquities by P.I. Schukin and A.S. Uvarov, in which icons occupied a large place, and many other collectors. By the end of the XIX century. at the Historical Museum about 1200 icons were collected. At that time it was one of the largest state museum collections of Russian icon painting.
Icon "Old Testament Trinity" (beginning of the 16th century, Moscow). Wood, gesso, tempera. 141x111 cm. Acquired in 1941 from the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda museum. Hall number 14.
Weapons department
More than 16,000 exhibits are stored in this department. His collection was formed mainly thanks to the gifts of private collectors: P.I. Schukina, A.A. Catoire de Bioncourt, V.A. Baryatinsky, V.S. Turner. Rare specimens of weapons came to the State Historical Museum from the Military History Museum. The “pearl” of the museum is the broadsword of M.V. Skopin-Shuisky, who received it as a reward in 1610 after defeating the impostor False Dmitry II. This is one of the earliest surviving Russian broadswords.
Museum exhibit
The masterpiece of the collection of the department is the saber of Count A.I. Chernyshev. Museum rarities include the saber of Emperor Napoleon, the naval broadsword of the King of Sweden Karl Johan XIV, the baton of Marshal L.N. Davout and the dueling set of General Victor Leopold Berthier.
Here are samples of weapons with various charge ignition mechanisms: wick, wheeled, flint, primer, weapons for unitary cartridges - hairpin and with central ignition primer.
Museum exhibit
There are a lot of weapons monuments with original design solutions that allow us to trace the development of engineering in weapons business over several centuries. The collection presents the art of the German, French weapons school, products of Spanish gunsmiths, dueling and target pistols of French, English, Austrian, Czech, Belgian and Russian masters.
Here is a wonderful collection of oriental weapons, including Turkish ones: shields, sabers, daggers, scimitars, knives, pistols, guns of the 17th-19th centuries.
Historical Museum today
Building of the Historical Museum
In 2006, the Historical Museum completed work on a permanent exhibition. The history of Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century is presented on two floors in 39 halls. The beginning of the exposition on the second floor - primitive society, then Ancient Rus', fragmentation, the fight against foreign invaders, the unification of Russia, the development of Siberia. The third floor shows Russia, starting from the era of Peter I: politics, culture, economics Russian Empire.
After reconstruction, the museum restored historical interiors that were destroyed or damaged in the years after October revolution. The museum meets all the requirements of our days.
The State Historical Museum also includes:
- Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral)
- Chambers of the XVI-XVII centuries. in Zaryadye (House of the Romanovs)
- Museum Patriotic War 1812
Chambers of the XVI-XVII centuries. in Zaryadye (House of the Romanovs). The complex includes ancient chambers, a cathedral with gilded domes, churches, a crenellated fortress wall - 11 buildings of the 16th-18th centuries of various purposes and styles. This is a huge open-air museum of ancient Russian architecture.
The Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 is located in a two-story pavilion erected specifically for this purpose under the guidance of architect P.Yu. Andreev in the courtyard between the building of the Moscow City Duma and the chambers of the Old Mint.
Now the Historical Museum has 39 halls on two floors (second and third).
The huge red brick building that closes Red Square makes it really “red”. Two elongated towers are in harmony with the Kremlin and GUM, and the abundance of kokoshniks, architraves, widths, and tents give the building the appearance of a tower. Meanwhile, it is not at all as old as it seems.
In the northern part of Red Square since the 16th century. the Zemsky order was located, for which in 1699 a stone two-story building with a tower and architraves in the Naryshkin baroque style was built. Later, part of the premises came under the jurisdiction of the Main Pharmacy, and in 1755 the opening of Moscow University took place here, which moved to the building on Mokhovaya Street only in 1793. Then, in the old building of the Zemsky Prikaz, there were city administration offices. In 1874, the Moscow Duma allocated this site for the construction of the Historical Museum - such an idea was put forward in 1872 during the Polytechnic Exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter I. Its historical exposition, dedicated to the Crimean War, became the core, around which began to form a museum collection.
Initially, there were plans to preserve the Zemsky Prikaz building in the courtyard of the Historical Museum, but, alas, they were not implemented, and in 1875 it was demolished. In its place, construction began on a large museum building designed by V.O. Sherwood and engineer A.A. Semenov. Its appearance was made in pseudo-Russian style, which corresponded to the idea of the Historical Museum as reflecting the past of Russia. The facades abound with small decorative elements, the two main towers are crowned with double-headed eagles, and the small side tents are crowned with figures of lions and unicorns. The project was not completed to the end: the idea of cladding the building with polychrome tiles turned out to be expensive. “Pseudo-Russian” and interiors, but each of the halls had its own characteristics, corresponding to its exposition. G.I. Semiradsky, I.K. Aivazovsky.
May 27, 1883 grand opening"Museum named after His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir Tsesarevich". Its long-term head and the author of the first exposition was an outstanding historian, Muscovite. The collection was formed by the whole country: members of the imperial family, nobles and merchants, churches and monasteries. The museum has been recognized scientific center. During the Soviet era, its funds increased significantly due to the nationalized private collections and valuables of closed churches. There were plans to demolish the building to open a wide avenue from the north of Red Square and a passage for demonstrations, but the plans remained on paper. The interiors of the museum were changed, some of them were destroyed, but externally the building lost only weathercocks - they were restored in the 1990s. during the extensive restoration of the museum. Today it is open again and has the status largest museum Russia. It has branches: the Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square, the chambers of the Romanov boyars on Varvarka, the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 in the former building of the Moscow City Duma.
The State Historical Museum is the largest historical museum in Russia and one of the largest in Europe, its funds number several million items. My story will be about one single object - about the museum building itself, whose majestic view adorns the ensemble of Red Square and where each hall is a small architectural masterpiece and a work of arts and crafts
Foundation of the Historical Museum
The Historical Museum owes its appearance to the All-Russian Polytechnic Exhibition of 1872. The historical finds exhibited on it required further storage, which helped to finalize the ideas about the repository that had been floating around for many years. historical values. On February 9, 1872, the highest permission was received for the establishment of the Historical Museum and this date is considered the day of the foundation of the future State Historical Museum
Photo of the Historical Museum of the early twentieth century
Initially, the territory on Red Square, approximately on the site of the current Mausoleum, was allocated for the construction of the museum. Then the Moscow City Duma transferred its plot nearby for the construction of the future museum. On this site, old buildings were demolished, which previously housed the Main Pharmacy, and then Moscow University
View of the northern facade of the Historical Museum. The Resurrection Gate is visible on the left.
It was supposed to make the museum public and exist on "independent funds". Before the start of construction, the capital was only 154 thousand rubles, because of which it was necessary to take out a loan of 1.26 million rubles. It was repaid only after 28 years. To ensure financial independence, it was assumed that the basements and basement floors of the museum would be rented out for shops, offices and warehouses
West facade of the Historical Museum
The laying of the building took place on August 20, 1875. Due to lack of funding, construction was suspended for 3 years and resumed in 1881 for the coronation of Alexander III. The museum building became one of the first civil structures in Moscow, where new materials and technologies were used: cement mortar masonry; arrangement of channels for ventilation, heating, plumbing and drains; metal floors and rafters. During construction, the quality of materials and work was strictly controlled by one of the authors of the project, A. Semenov, a military engineer by training.
View of the Historical Museum from the Moskva Hotel
In plan, the museum building has an irregular rectangular shape, 112 meters long and 52 meters wide. The work on the decorative decoration of the outer walls and hipped towers was especially time-consuming. In 1876-1877. 260 master masons and several hundred auxiliary workers worked simultaneously on the masonry. Only on the main facade there are 15 types of kokoshniks, 10 types of widths (this is a type of recess in the plane of the wall), arched belts (i.e. belts made of false arches), kiots, drawn cornices
Decor of the southern facade of the Historical Museum
The Imperial Russian Historical Museum opened to the public on June 2, 1883. Before the revolution, the halls of the second floor and several halls of the first floor could not be decorated, but these well-lit, high and spacious rooms were used for various exhibitions and meetings. Sometimes these halls served as workshops famous artists– V.I. Surikov, V.M. Vasnetsov, I.E. Repin, V.A. Serov worked here
In Soviet times, the museum's exposition was rethought in accordance with new ideological tasks. In 1937, the Historical Museum was declared the main national museum countries. By the early 1980s, the museum building was badly dilapidated, and in 1986 a large-scale restoration and reconstruction began, which, due to financial and organizational difficulties, were completed only in 2002. In addition to the restoration of the interiors, which I will talk about below, in the list of works it is worth noting the overlapping of the large courtyard of the museum and the creation of the so-called Polovtsian courtyard in the basement and the New Exhibition Hall above it on the first floor. Here in this photo from a bird's eye view you can see the tall buildings in the courtyard of the museum, which we cannot see from the ground
Since the spring of 2007, for the first time in the history of the State Historical Museum, all 40 halls have been opened to the public.
Building of the Historical Museum
The authors of the Historical Museum project are architect Vladimir Osipovich Shervud and engineer Anatoly Alexandrovich Semenov. Their project under the motto "Fatherland" won the building design competition. The authors themselves in the explanations indicated that for the design of the facades they used motifs of the decorative decoration of the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, the churches of the Ascension and John the Baptist in Kolomenskoye and Dyakovo, the Trinity in Ostankino, the Nativity of the Virgin in Putinki, the wooden palace in Kolomenskoye, the churches of Vologda and Yaroslavl.
South facade of the Historical Museum
Sherwood made the first sketches of the facades in 1873, until the competition in 1875, the project was being finalized, but even after its approval, the facades were redrawn four times. As a result, the building of the Historical Museum is an excellent example of the pseudo-Russian style that was popular in Russia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The building is compositionally successfully inscribed in the ensemble of Red Square, it balances St. Basil's Cathedral, as if rhyming and echoing with it
It is as part of the ensemble of Red Square that the building of the Historical Museum is included in the list of objects world heritage UNESCO
Even before the end of construction, the organizers had disagreements with V. Sherwood and in 1879 the architect was removed from construction, the subsequent design was transferred to A. Semenov. For clearance interior decoration The Historical Museum was invited by the architect A.P. Popov. He began by developing standard drawings of oak frames for several hundred museum windows. The varied pattern of the window sashes is reminiscent of the patterned Old Russian “mica windows”
According to Popov's sketches, gilded metal sculptures were made to decorate the roof of the building. The tents of the four high towers of the museum are crowned with double-headed eagles, the design of which was borrowed from the coat of arms of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the Kremlin towers. Now we see copies restored in 1997, the originals were taken in 1935 and melted down. Figures are installed at a height of 57-62 meters (the difference in height is because the building stands on a hillside). These sculptures have an unusual design - they turn to the wind with a wide front side, and not sideways, like an ordinary weather vane, because otherwise they would most often be an edge to the main viewpoints - Red and Manezhnaya Squares
Below, on small tents, heraldic symbols are placed - a fighting lion and a unicorn under the imperial crown, the image of which is copied from the ancient seal of the Moscow Printing House
Sculptures are installed at the level of 27-32 meters, have a height of 166 cm, weight about 500 kg. They are firmly fixed on the structures of the towers. The sculptures were also removed in 1935 and returned to the towers in December 2003.
On the roofs of the western and eastern facades, i.e. on the facades to the Kremlin and to the Ascension Gates, single sculptures of two lions and a unicorn are placed. After the removal in 1935, the museum staff managed to hide the figures of a lion and a unicorn, which, during the restoration at the end of the 20th century, served as models for recreating the hipped roofs.
According to the intention of the authors, the main entrance to the Historical Museum is located from the side of Red Square. The tents above the main entrance are decorated with flags (they are called ensigns) with the dates of the foundation of the building and the opening of the museum - 1875 and 1883
Nowadays, the main entrance is not used, but on June 1, 2017, in honor of the celebration of the 145th anniversary of the museum, it was opened for the first time in 30 years
Now the main entrance to the State Historical Museum is arranged from the side of Voskresensky passage on the site of a closed small courtyard. This was done for the sake of preserving the unique interiors of the Front Hall, in order to avoid passing through the hall directly from the street.
Front entrance
The internal premises of the museum are built on the principle of an annular enfilade, the logical center of which is the Front Hall and the Byzantine Hall. This is the view that opens when entering the Front Hall through the main entrance, as it was intended by the architects
All the colorful decoration of the Front Hall, which we see now, was densely whitewashed with lime in 1936 as ideologically unsustainable and was not available for viewing until the restoration of 1986-1990. The main vault is adorned with the "Family Tree of the Russian Sovereigns". Painting with an area of 220 sq. meters includes 68 portraits of princes and kings. At the base of the tree are depicted the Baptist of Rus', Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga.
As shown by the restoration oval portraits- these are separate canvases pasted on the vault. Some of them were lost and reconstructed, but mostly now we see the originals. Peter I is depicted in knightly armor and a red mantle lined with ermine (in the center of the picture). The tree is crowned by Alexander III and his wife Maria Fedorovna - the reigning persons at the time of the opening of the museum
About all the interiors of the Historical Museum, we can say that they are decorated according to primordially Russian motifs, and even in the Front Hall, literally every detail is an architectural quotation of the main Russian monuments. The prototype for creating a family tree was the murals of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow. The pillars, walls and arches of the galleries are adorned with lush floral ornament, repeating the painting of the prayer place of Ivan the Terrible in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
The floor of the Front Hall and the staircase are made of Carrara marble. The railings of the side galleries repeat the pattern of the royal prayer place of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin (roses in square recesses in the upper part of the picture below). On the sides of the stairs there are figures of lions on the model of those that stand on the Red Porch of the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin. In their paws, the lions hold heraldic shields with the monograms of Emperors Alexander II and Alexander III
On the vaults of the side galleries of the Front Hall there are images of the coats of arms of the lands that were part of the Russian Empire
The vestibule of the main entrance is decorated with a carved wooden portal
In the arched vault above the tambour, heraldic images of a lion and a unicorn under the imperial crown are written, and then - the coat of arms of Moscow, approved in the year the museum was opened - in 1883
It is impossible not to pay attention to the colorful portal of the doors leading from the Front Hall to the Byzantine Hall. On its arch is the date of the opening of the museum according to Old Slavic calendar– 7391 years from the creation of the world
The portals of the Church of Nikita the Martyr beyond the Yauza and the Cathedral of the Vasilyevsky Monastery in Suzdal (XVI-XVII centuries) served as a model for it.
Oak double doors, upholstered on the outside with metal plates with carvings through which colored foil shines through, are made on the model of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the city of Gorokhovets (the most early 18th century). Through them we pass into the hall, which is now called the lettered hall "A" and in Lately used for temporary exhibitions. One of these exhibitions, dedicated to gold, was a great success and probably therefore became a permanent
Halls of the Historical Museum
According to the idea of the founders of the Historical Museum, the design of each hall was to continue the exposition architecturally, for which quotations and repetitions of decorative elements characteristic of the represented era were used. So, hall "A", the historical name of which is Byzantine, was supposed to acquaint visitors with the heritage of the early Christian and Byzantine art. The hall is a reduced copy of the central part of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, built in the 500s. The dome of the hall is decorated with copies of frescoes from the Roman catacombs, in which the first Christians performed secret religious rites. On the vault of the dome - a picturesque image of Orpheus with a harp in his hands
Above the entrance to the hall there is a picturesque copy of the mosaic from the mausoleum in Ravenna "The Good Shepherd". Ornamental painting on a dark blue background, covering various planes of the walls of the hall, was also created based on the mosaics of Ravenna
When leaving the Byzantine Hall - a picturesque copy of the mosaic from Hagia Sophia in Constantinople "Christ on the throne and the Byzantine emperor Leo falling at his feet"
Polychrome mosaic floor natural stone- a copy of the floor of the catacomb of St. Helena in Rome
In the center of a complex mosaic composition is a dove with an olive branch.
Next, we pass into the lettering hall "B", where now the continuation of the golden exposition, and when the museum was created, it was intended to demonstrate the monuments of the Greek settlements of South Russia on the Black Sea coast. The design of the mosaic floors is copied from the mosaics of the temples of Ravenna of the 5th century.
The hall is decorated with four two-column porticos. Columns of dark red color made of artificial marble support a gypsum architrave (crossbar), modeled on the temples of the ancient Greek city of Panticapaeum, located on the site of modern Kerch
Above the entrance to the next room there is a panel by I.K. Aivazovsky “The Kerch Strait”, depicting the area where the city of Panticapaeum used to be. historical name of this lettered hall "B" - "Monuments of the Crimea and the Caucasus until the XI century." Here you should definitely pay attention to the magnificent painted ceiling, which imitates wooden ceilings with open beams. The ornamental paintings of several Roman basilicas of the 4th-7th centuries served as a prototype for its design.
The drawing of the mosaic floor repeats the ornament of the floor of the Church of the Savior in Constantinople of the 11th century
Now let's look at museum halls with a permanent exhibition. They are located around the lettering halls, the entrance to them is from the porch of the Front Hall. The first hall is dedicated to the monuments of the Stone Age, it is twilight here and little of the interior decor can be seen, so I will start the story from the second hall, which continues the display of the Stone Age. It occupies the round southeast tower. The mosaic of the floor, as in the first hall, repeats the comb ornament of the monuments of the Volosovo site.
The main decoration of the hall is the picturesque frieze "Stone Age", made by V.M.Vasnetsov by order of the Historical Museum. This work of the artist was highly appreciated by colleagues in the workshop: M. Nesterov, for example, considered it the best work of the painter
The frieze is framed by a plaster frame decorated with a comb-pit pattern borrowed from pottery from the Neolithic sites in the village of Volosovo and the Plekhanov Bor tract (Vladimir region). The frames of the doorways are made based on the ornament of pottery found in the caves of the Kielce province of the Kingdom of Poland.
The doorway leads us to the next room number 3, originally dedicated to the Bronze Age. In today's exposition, the theme of the halls is somewhat shifted compared to the idea of the museum's creators, and here, for example, it still continues primitive community. Further in my story, I will give the number of the hall today, but the purpose of the hall is the original one, so that the intention of the designers is clear. So, in order to show the widest distribution of bronze in the design of the hall, the most characteristic images and decor were used. archaeological sites Western Europe, Siberia, India and the Caucasus. For example, in the floor mosaic we see circles, towns, rhombuses, typical for cultures bronze age
Ornamental motifs typical of that era are present in the molded cornice tinted in bronze.
The next room number 4 - "The End of the Bronze Age". Over time, metal processing is improved and instead of simple geometric patterns, products are decorated with more complex ornaments, which include images of birds, animals and humans. Here is a drawing of high arched openings to the next hall, repeating the drawings from the silver frame of the turi horns from the barrow in Chernigov, and the eagles at the top of the arch were taken from decorations from the barrows of the Suzdal district
The decor of the wide cornices along the top of the walls and the mosaic of the floor use motifs from daggers found in Siberia and bronze items from the Meryan and Murom burial mounds.
The architectural and artistic design of the next hall, No. 5, "Monuments of the Iron Age", reflected the theme of the animal style, characteristic of the entire metal period, bronze and iron. The entrance archways are framed with images of winged skates with snake tails and topped with medallions with griffins. The ceiling cornice is supplemented with reliefs in the form of heads of animals and birds, repeating images from objects from the mounds of the Yekaterinoslav province
The relief composition above another arched passage - a fantastic bird holding a wild goat in its claws - repeats the pattern of a gold ornament from the collection of Siberian antiquities of the Hermitage, and the images of lions on the sides of the bird are copied from objects from Scythian burials
The window platbands are decorated with ornaments from bronze buckles from the mounds of Vladimir and Yaroslavl provinces, and the pattern of the floor mosaic is taken from pottery from the same mounds.
The ledge vault of the next hall, No. 6, “Helleno-Scythian Monuments”, repeats the shape of the ceiling of the crypt of the Kul-Oba barrow near Kerch, 4th century BC. The painting of the vault and walls imitates the masonry of an ancient tomb, and the frieze above the entrance is a copy of the composition "Taming the Horse" from a vase of the 4th century BC. from a large Scythian mound in the south of Ukraine, now kept in the Hermitage
The picturesque friezes on the side walls copy the drawings from the stone crypts of Panticapaeum (near Kerch), dating back to the period from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD
Copies of the paintings were made shortly after the discovery of the crypts in 1872 and 1877. At the beginning of the twentieth century, these monuments were lost, which gives special value hall paintings
The floor mosaic ornament was also created on the basis of the murals of one of the crypts of Panticapaeum.
The design of the next room No. 7, dedicated to the monuments of Kyiv until 1054, shows us the details of the decoration of the Hagia Sophia in Kyiv. So, the floor mosaic repeats the complex ornament of the bishop's place in the large altar of the cathedral.
The next hall, No. 8, originally told about the history of ancient Kyiv from 1054 to 1125. Two groups of triple windows with semicircular endings repeat the windows of the central nave of the Kyiv Hagia Sophia
All the halls we have previously viewed have more or less retained their original design, made in late XIX century to the opening of the museum. But starting from this hall, for ideological reasons, in Soviet times, the appearance of a number of halls was changed: most often the painting was whitewashed, repeating the frescoes of temples. During the restoration of the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, the closed painting was restored. In the same hall, No. 8, in 1930, some of the mosaics were removed, door portals were redesigned, huge paintings by G.I. . The original design of the mosaic floor contains ornaments copied from ancient monuments. book art XI century - "Ostromir Gospel" and "Izbornik Svyatoslav"
The design of the next hall No. 9 (Novgorod Hall) copies the elements of the outstanding monuments of Veliky Novgorod. Thus, the frescoes in semicircular lunettes (semicircular sections of the wall encircled by a vault) repeat the paintings late XII century from the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa - a masterpiece monumental painting early medieval
In this temple, the frescoes covered the walls and the dome with a continuous carpet from the floor to the vaults. The saddest thing is that the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa perished during the Nazi invasion. Now we can see the murals of the lost temple only in these copies, made during the creation of the Historical Museum. Here is the composition "Ascension" in the center of the vault. On the far vault, behind the ceiling lamp, you can see the plan of the Sofia side of Veliky Novgorod, copied from icons XVII century
The decor of the door portals repeats the design of the entrances of one of the oldest temples in Russia - Sophia Cathedral created in Veliky Novgorod in 1045-1050
The ornament of the mosaic floor repeats the frescoes of the XII century from the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga
The round corner tower houses the Vladimir Hall (No. 10), the design of which is inspired by the ancient monuments of Vladimir. All the reliefs in the hall are casts from the white stone carvings of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral, and the painting repeats the frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral. The magnificent door portals attract attention. Above one of them is the composition "King David on the Throne"
Above the second portal is the relief "Ascension of Alexander the Great"
The inter-window and inter-door piers are decorated in a circle with an arched belt (arcuts are decorative false arches), created on the basis of a frieze on the facade of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral. Here you can see images of saints, birds, mythical creatures, trees
The domed vault of the hall is decorated with a rich floral pattern. It was painted in 1890 by masters from Palekh on the basis of colored cripples-copies taken in the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir
Assumption Cathedral is also quoted by the floor mosaic
The painting of the arch of the next room No. 11, called Suzdal, also copies the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir
From there, the ornament of the mosaic floor
In general, the appearance of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Podolsky (XIII century) served as the basis for the decorative decoration of the Suzdal Hall. This cathedral is unique in that its facades are filled with many (over 400!) carved white stone reliefs. It was from these reliefs that casts were made in 1890, covering the walls of the Suzdal Hall with a continuous carpet.
Reliefs depict saints, warriors, animals, birds, various mythical creatures - dragons, griffins
I must admit that these two halls - Vladimir and Suzdal - are my favorite. In the sun-drenched halls, the bright, juicy colors of the murals, the white lace of the embossed carving fill the soul with jubilant delight, tear one away from everyday hustle and bustle and take it away to the magical world of children's fairy tales and fantasies. And the most incredible images are embodied here
See how interesting and unusual the semi-column is designed: voluminous high-relief heads support the capital in a circle, and the capital itself is decorated with faces, in which you can see the hairstyle: parting in the hair and braids on the sides of the head
An entire wall is devoted to reproducing almost life-size of the southern portal of St. George's Church
The next room No. 12 was originally dedicated to the monuments of Rostov the Great and Yaroslavl, so the entrance openings here were framed by copies of the portals of the Assumption Cathedral in Rostov and a copy of the ceramic frieze from the palace of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich was placed. All this was removed during the reconstructions of 1937 and 1950. Only the painting of the cylindrical vault remains, repeating the ornaments of the 17th century from the house church of the Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl in Rostov
In the middle of the 20th century, door portals and cornices along the top of the walls were decorated according to Islamic motifs for the exposition about the Golden Horde.
Hall No. 13 told about the monuments of Moscow before the reign of Ivan III. Here, the cross vault and window slopes are decorated with sparkling gold painting, which was based on the ornamental motifs of the Monomakh's hat - an important regalia of Russian grand dukes and tsars, a symbol of autocracy
Portals of doorways, thin high semi-columns and a carved belt in the middle of the wall repeat individual design elements of the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in Zvenigorod and the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
Even a small metal door to the service staircase is modeled after one of the doors of the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.
Floor Mosaic Quotes floral ornament silver cross of the founder of one of the Novgorod monasteries
The following halls from 14 to 16 were not completed before the revolution, although there were projects for their decoration. In hall No. 14, dedicated to the monuments of Western Rus' and Lithuania, they managed to complete the mosaic floor
During the last restoration at the end of the 20th century, the original intention architects: door and window frames were made according to the ornaments of ancient Russian handwritten books of the XIV-XV centuries, and the walls were decorated with casts from the white stone carving of the Nativity Cathedral of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod
Also in hall No. 15 (“Reign of Grand Duke Ivan III”), before the revolution, they managed to make a mosaic floor. This pattern of colored hexagons is based on the patterns of floors in Byzantine temples.
All other artistic decoration was designed and executed after 1937. Gypsum ceiling imitates wooden beams typical of Italian architecture
Arched portals copy the elements of decoration of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, for the construction of which Italian masters. References to Italian culture in the decor of this hall are not accidental: under Ivan III, Italian architects, engineers, masters of applied arts, and even Ivan III himself married Sophia Paleolog, the niece of the latter Byzantine emperor who lived before marriage in Rome
In room No. 16, dedicated to the reign of Grand Duke Vasily III, the mosaic floor, made before the revolution, repeats the pattern of the previous room - colored hexagons. The rest of the design was designed and completed after 1937 and was based on the decoration of the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin. So, the complex floral ornament of the door portals repeats the carved framing of the entrances to the royal chambers of the Terem Palace.
The hall has a complex arch - a cross-domed one with five strippings (that is, vaulted insets into the main arch). The edges of the formwork are ornamented with stucco decoration in the form of scales, and the bases of the edges are decorated with decorative shields with reliefs of various animals - lions, eagles, doves. These shields were copied from carved cartouches from the prayer chamber of the Terem Palace.
And for another reason, remember this hall: it has amazing acoustics. It is necessary to stand in the center of the hall under the chandelier and lightly stamp your foot - the echo will begin to break up, multiplying the sound many times over. Even when you approach the center of the hall, the echo already begins to accompany every step
When creating the Historical Museum, the next three halls - from 17 to 19 - were conceived as a single complex for the exposition of the era of Ivan the Terrible. In accordance with the old Russian tradition, the large room (hall No. 18) is adjoined on both sides by small rooms - halls 17 and 19. When designing all three halls, St. Basil's Cathedral, a monument to the victories of Rus' over the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms, was taken as the basis for copying. The ceiling of hall No. 17 repeats the flat ceiling of the western gallery of the cathedral: the division into recessed squares, painted “like a brick”. The upper part of the walls along the perimeter is decorated with a cornice imitating the tiles of the 16th century.
The main decoration of this small, dimly lit hall is a colored perspective portal, repeating the southern entrance of the central church of the cathedral - Intercession Holy Mother of God. The inner part of the arch is not only painted, but also molded to look like scales, and closer to the outer border there is a carved pattern of large beads.
The central hall dedicated to the era of Ivan the Terrible (No. 18) is decorated exceptionally richly. The box vault (i.e., the vault with a lying oval in cross section) is decorated with a thin floral ornament on a gold background and resembles the filigree of Russian jewelry
On the wall opposite the windows, the lunettes depict a flowering fig tree, a biblical tree symbolizing peace and prosperity. The molded cornice under the lunettes repeats the pattern of the cornice of one of the domes of St. Basil's Cathedral
The design of the entrance openings is truly magnificent here: the arches have rectangular frames with elements resembling beads, and fine paintings of different colors and patterns. They were created based on the portals of the southwestern part of the Intercession Cathedral. Double-headed eagles above the entrance are made according to the drawing of the Small State Seal of Ivan the Terrible
On the sides of the entrances, the fabulous bird-virgins Alkonost and Sirin are depicted in painting, sitting on the branches of the tree of paradise. These characters were often used in Russian folk pictures and for decorating objects of applied art
Almost all of this beauty, which we see now in halls 17 to 19, was destroyed in 1936 during the reconstruction - the stucco molding was knocked down, the painting was whitewashed. During the restoration at the end of the 20th century, the lost decoration was restored literally bit by bit: according to old drawings, photographs, descriptions and reports, according to the results of studying the monuments that served as models for decorating the hall. The floors made in the 1890s have been preserved authentic.
One of the interesting exhibits The State Historical Museum is a copy of the royal prayer place, made at the end of the 19th century especially for the museum. This is the so-called Monomakh Throne, installed in 1551 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin by decree of Ivan the Terrible, who almost daily attended church services in this cathedral.
Hall No. 19, which completes the story about the era of Ivan the Terrible, is covered with a cross vault with ornamental painting
As in Hall No. 17, which is symmetrical to it, the main decoration here is a colored perspective portal, but it repeats not the southern, but the northern entrance of the central church of the cathedral - the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. The decor here is different - with petals, shells, a simple twisted garland
Hall No. 20 was originally reserved for an exposition dedicated to the reign of Boris Godunov. The cross vault is decorated with bright decorative painting, created based on the ornament of imported oriental and Italian fabrics. The drawing on each of the four sides of the vault is the same and contains stylized images of flowers and pineapple fruits. The cornice along the perimeter of the hall is modeled on the frieze of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin, which was built on by Boris Godunov
During the "reconstruction" of 1937, this hall also lost its paintings and stucco, but the latest restoration returned it to its original appearance. There are two types of door portals in the hall. One is modeled on the entrance to the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra: a large floral ornament on a green background of a recessed arched casing. Near the walls of this cathedral is the tomb of Boris Godunov and members of his family.
Another entrance opening doubles, as it were, due to the blind arch next to it.
The ornaments of these arches are copied from the Tsar Cannon, the idea to create which belonged to Boris Godunov
The mosaic floor in both this room and the next room No. 21 is conceived and executed in the same way: a clear geometric red and white pattern, bordered around the perimeter with a black stripe
Hall No. 21 was assigned to the era of the Time of Troubles. The ceiling lamps of the hall are made according to the model of the chandelier from the temple in the village of Purekh, the patrimony of Prince D.M. Pozharsky. The vault of the ceiling here is cylindrical, but semicircular vaults are cut into it, and the prominent ribbons of the ornament visually complicate the geometry of the vault even more.
The surface of the vault is covered with a golden floral ornament, reminiscent of oriental brocade and Italian velvets. As in hall No. 20, the cornice in the upper part of the wall repeats the pattern of the cornice of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower
This room has very different and very beautiful door frames. Here, for example, the relief drawing of this rectangular frame is copied from a carved wooden candlestick of 1604 from the Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir
This portal with an arch painted with herbs-flowers and resting on pillars with "barrels" repeats the northern entrance to the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
And even a forged iron door from the village of Purekh, exhibited here as an exhibit, is framed by a small casing
On the walls of the hall there are five paintings from the beginning of the 17th century, telling about the Time of Troubles: portraits of False Dmitry and Marina Mnishek, scenes of wedding and coronation. They were donated to the Historical Museum by the future Emperor Alexander III, and when decorating the hall, niches were specially made for them. In 1936, the canvases were removed, the portals and cornices were knocked down, the murals were whitewashed, but the last restoration returned the hall to its original appearance.
Hall No. 21 is the final one in the suite of halls on the first floor of the museum. In the halls of the second floor, it was originally planned to present the history of Russia during the reign of the Romanov dynasty; interior designs were developed for some of the halls, but none of them was implemented. Only by 1937, especially for the All-Union Pushkin Exhibition, held within the walls of the Historical Museum, the halls of the second floor were decorated in the style of Pushkin's time - late classicism. This arrangement has survived to this day. Basically, the decoration of the halls of the second floor is expressed in door portals and cornices in the upper part of the walls. Here, for example, is the design of a doorway in one of the halls
Or here is such a stucco cornice above the entrance
Since 1957, a permanent exhibition has been located in the halls of the second floor. Today it covers the period of Russian history from the era of Peter the Great to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Pilasters in hall No. 29 on the second floor of the Historical Museum
Also on the second floor, in a spacious room above the Front Hall, there was originally a library with three mezzanine floors. In 1914, the library was transferred to the so-called transverse building, and the hall began to be used as an exhibition hall (No. 36). The library to this day occupies a room designed for it in a neoclassical style: columns lined with artificial marble; barrel vault painted in grisaille technique
How to visit the Historical Museum
The State Historical Museum has a very beautiful address: Red Square, building 1. It is located in the northern part of Red Square. From the metro stations Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Teatralnaya and Okhotny Ryad You need to go out following the signs "To the Historical Museum". Please note: the entrance to the museum for visitors is from the side of Voskresensky passage and, if you are coming from the side of Manezhnaya Square (that is, from the Teatralnaya and Okhotny Ryad metro stations), then you need to go through the Voskresensky Gates.
The museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm, but in the summer, from June to August, it is open until 9 pm. Also in the summer there is no day off on Tuesdays. The museum's work schedule may change due to any events on Red Square (parades, processions, etc.).
Tickets cost: 400 rubles without benefits and 150 rubles - preferential. There are tickets for family visits (600 rubles for 2 adults and 1-2 children), there is the possibility of free admission for students and pupils on certain days, as well as for some categories of sightseers - for details, I address you to the official website of the museum. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Historical Museum belongs to federal institutions, so the principle of free admission on every third Sunday of the month does not apply to it.
The museum's funds grew rapidly due to gifts from monasteries and libraries, various institutes, universities and publishing houses. Members of famous noble families also acted as patrons, donating their most valuable collections to the Historical Museum. The museum is justifiably proud of the Golitsyn library with more than 9,000 volumes on the history of Russia, the Chertkov collection, which contains more than 300 ancient manuscripts, in particular, the famous correspondence between Ivan the Terrible and Andrei Kurbsky. In addition, the Chertkov family donated to the museum one of the best collections of Russian coins in the country. Other representatives of the nobility also made valuable contributions: the Bobrinskys, Obolenskys, Kropotkins, Uvarovs, Masalskys donated their collections of items related to Russian history to the museum.
It is impossible not to mention the precious contributions of the merchants. The Bakhrushins, Burylins, Sapozhnikovs, Postnikovs donated more than 300,000 various exhibits to the State Historical Museum. Among them were Russian icons, ancient manuscripts, fabrics and furniture, as well as objects of arts and crafts.
One of the most valuable contributions was the collection of the famous merchant, collector and philanthropist Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin. He was the founder of the private museum "Russian Antiquities". Over time, the collection has grown so much that it became cramped even in a building specially built for it. In 1905, Shchukin donated it to the Historical Museum. Until the end of his life, he was the keeper of his own museum, which was called the “Department of the Imperial Russian Historical Museum named after Emperor Alexander III - Museum of P.I. Schukin.
Alexander Andreevich Catoire de Bioncourt, marshal of the nobility Nizhny Novgorod, donated his collection of hunting weapons and pistols, merchant Vakhrameev - books and manuscripts, representative famous family Dashkovs - works of art. In short, people from all walks of life Russian society considered replenishing the museum's collection as their duty.
Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya, the writer's widow, being an honorary member of the Historical Museum since 1906, donated the archive of her late husband, books and photographs, letters, and some other things. The museum recreated the writer's room, called the "Museum in memory of F.M. Dostoevsky".
After the revolution, the funds were replenished at the expense of the disbanded museums, such as the Rumyantsev Museum, the Military History Museum, Old Moscow, as well as from the State Museum Fund, which accumulated items from private collections. A collection of manuscripts from the Moscow diocesan library, a collection of church utensils and fabrics from the Olovyashnikov store were transferred for storage.
The exposition dedicated to ancient times, from the Stone Age to the Russian Middle Ages, was also replenished. Soviet archaeologists and paleontologists who carried out excavations on the territory of the country handed over the found material to the museum.
After it was liquidated in 1993 central museum Lenin, his exposition also took a place in the Historical Museum.
The State Historical Museum conducts important scientific and research activities. Its exposition and funds are an invaluable source for artists, historians, restorers, scientists, culturologists, costume and furniture researchers.
Museum building
A large and representative exposition of the museum needed a special building. For its construction, the Moscow City Duma donated a site on Red Square as a gift to the city.
The laying of the building took place in 1875.
As a result of the competition, the project of the architect V.O. Sherwood and engineer A.A. Semenov. The red brick building fits perfectly into the ensemble of Red Square, stylistically echoing the ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral.
I must say that even at the design stage, the main idea of the exposition was developed - this is the merit of historians and museum leaders Uvarov and Zabelin. Each hall was designed taking into account the exhibits that will be located in it. The great Russian artists Aivazovsky and Vasnetsov, Serov and Korovin participated in the decoration of the interior decoration, murals and the creation of decorative elements.
In 1936, it was decided to destroy the halls dedicated to the pre-revolutionary period. The murals were painted over, the stucco molding was chipped off, the gilding was removed. For more than 15 years, since 1986, the museum has been undergoing a comprehensive restoration, and now its interiors have been recreated in their original form.
The building of the museum resembles an old Russian tower towering on Red Square. The museum complex also includes the mint and the building of the Moscow Duma, located nearby. At the wall of the building overlooking Manezhnaya Square, visitors are greeted by a monument to Marshal Zhukov. The famous commander is depicted on horseback, and the hooves of the horse trample on banners with a fascist swastika.
The building of the historical museum
It is interesting that the museum building is fully designed in the style of the old Russian architecture of the 16th century, although it was built much later - from 1874 to 1881. This requirement was the main one in the competition, which was held by the Moscow Duma on the orders of the monarch Alexander II.
According to the voting results, the project of the architect Sherwood and engineer Semenov was recognized as the undoubted winner of the architectural competition. The building successfully blended into the ancient architectural ensemble of the square and became a real "home" for almost 4.5 million unique exhibits.
A little over 10 years ago, the museum staff completed the design of permanent exhibitions. Now the exhibits dedicated to the history of the state from ancient times to the beginning of this century are located in 39 halls of a two-story building. Museum tours start from the second floor. Here visitors can get acquainted with various household items and historical artifacts related to primitive era, the heyday of Kievan Rus and princely fragmentation, the struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the unification of territories under the control of the Romanov dynasty, the development of Siberia. Special interest present exhibits related to the culture of the pre-Petrine era.
The exhibitions on the third floor of the museum tell about the political, cultural and economic features of life in Russia, starting from the reign of Peter I. The expositions in the neighboring building of the City Duma are dedicated to the historical upheavals of the 20th century.
The museum building has recently undergone a major renovation. At the same time, all the original interiors have been preserved, but modern amenities have been added to them: for example, an elevator for the disabled, as well as information stands and interactive monitors on which exhibits are displayed.
It is worth allocating a lot of time to visit the museum: after all, to get around all its halls, you will need at least 4000 steps (about 3 km). If you examine each exhibit for about a minute, it will take approximately 360 hours to study the entire collection.
The museum constantly hosts interactive lectures for school students, theatrical shows, and also organizes the work of historical, archaeological and drama circles.
The exposition of the historical museum and its halls
The museum has several large departments, each of which is dedicated to a specific historical era or art form and allows you to get an exhaustive idea about them. On the website shm.ru you can get acquainted with their history in a little more detail. The collection of this cultural institution consists of:
Hall of Archaeological Monuments
Considered the oldest in the museum. More than 1.5 million exhibits are stored here, illustrating the development of crafts and culture in Russia from the early Iron Age to the Middle Ages. The department's collection includes a wide range of hunting tools and implements, jewelry and other works of art. Of particular interest are the money and clothing treasures, many of which were kept in the ground for several centuries.
The real "highlights" of the exhibition are the Borodino treasure, the treasure of the Church of the Tithes, as well as rhytons, a gold bracelet, a bronze dagger, a kanfar and a hryvnia dating back to the 2nd century BC. BC e. - V c. n. e. Such exhibits are practically not found in other museums.
Hall of wood and furniture
In it you can get an idea of how furniture looked like in Russian estates of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries, as well as see the products of the leading furniture factories of the Russian empire XIX- the first half of the twentieth century. Among the exhibits there are interior items made according to the sketches of leading architects and painters. The collection includes wooden utensils, carved boards, spinning wheels, mica windows, chests with images of secular themes of the 16th - 20th centuries. Works of domestic church art XIII - XX centuries (altar gates, chandeliers, portable crosses, carved icons, etc.) and masquerade sleighs that belonged to Russian emperor. Fans of the unusual will be pleased with the largest deck in the country playing cards and a unique collection of lacquer miniatures.
Hall of Precious Metals
Its exposition presents Jewelry European masters (manufactured by Poland, Italy, Sweden, France, Great Britain, etc.), as well as the work of Russian masters of the "Silver Age". A special place among them is occupied by exhibits created by employees of the world-famous firms Faberge, Ovchinnikov, Bolin and others. On separate stands there are silver utensils of the 17th - 18th centuries, church vessels, medieval icons and liturgical literature in precious frames.
Hall of ancient Russian painting
Most of his collection consists of works of Old Russian icon painting XIV- XVII centuries, as well as icons in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine style, dated XVIII - early XX century. Their authors are artists who lived and worked in such famous centers of religious painting as Novgorod, Pskov, "Russian North", Moscow.
Visual Materials Hall
It stores about 600 thousand exhibits. Among them are not only canvases outstanding painters of Russian origin from the Middle Ages to the present day, but also miniatures, photographs, sculptural compositions, graphic sketches.
Cartography Hall
There are no analogues of this collection in any museum in Russia. Here are collected cartographic materials that allow you to get a complete picture of the change in the borders of the state during the 16th - 20th centuries. These are medieval Western European maps of Muscovy, and Russian printed and handwritten maps, and modern atlases.
Hall of Ceramics and Glass
Collections of Russian porcelain, rough ceramics, majolica and semi-faience of the 18th-20th centuries are considered to be its decoration. The exhibition presents jugs, figured vases, dishes, kvass, etc. Also in the collection are wonderful examples of facing ceramics: fireplaces, stove tiles, icons of the Savior Not Made by Hands and the Crucifixion.
book fund
At the exhibitions of the museum, visitors will be able to see rare editions printed in Russia in the 15th - 20th centuries. Among more than 200 thousand exhibits there are books on religious studies, philosophy, history and art of Russia and other countries, linguistics, ethnography, archeology and many other disciplines. A special place in the fund is occupied by manuscripts and early printed books, some of which were created as early as the 1st millennium AD. e. The most famous of them are the annals of Ivan the Terrible, the Izbornik of Prince Svyatoslav, the Khludov Psalter, the scandalous case of Patriarch Nikon, the Mstislavovo, Andronikov and Yuryev Gospels.
Hall of metal and numismatics
The halls with this collection contain agricultural and industrial tools, household items, decorative elements, lamps, cult utensils and other items. All of them are made of black or non-ferrous metal, horn plates, amber, mother-of-pearl, modern alloys. The numismatic department stores more than 1.5 million domestic and foreign banknotes and coins, which makes it possible to trace their evolution.
The museum also has halls dedicated to the history of the Russian national costume and weapons business, and a special department of documentary sources on the history of the country.
Visit to the historical museum and ticket price
How much does a ticket to the Historical Museum on Red Square cost? It depends on which category of visitors you belong to. The current ticket price is:
- 400 RUB for an adult (regardless of citizenship);
- 150 RUB for students, persons aged 16-18, pensioners with Russian or CIS citizenship, holders of international IYTC and ISIC cards;
- 700 RUB joint ticket for families consisting of both parents and 1-2 children under the age of 16.
Opening hours of the Historical Museum:
From September to May, its collections of exhibits are available for inspection on Friday and Saturday - from 10.00 to 21.00, and on other days - from 10.00 to 18.00 (Museum closed on Tuesday). Opening hours during summer remain the same, however it is open seven days a week (First Tuesday of each month is a sanitary day).
The ticket office closes 60 minutes before the museum closes.
Museum tours
Museum visitors can book one of the following excursions accompanied by a qualified guide:
- "Treasures of Antiquity and the Middle Ages";
- "Story Russia XVIII- XIX centuries";
- "Treasures of Lost Civilizations";
- "Masterpieces of the Historical Museum";
- "Masterpieces of the Golden Pantry";
- "Walking around unique interiors museum."
All of them last an average of 1.5 hours and cost 3000 RUB - 4500 RUB (for a group of 15 people).
If you prefer to walk through the halls on your own, there is also an economical option: for only 300 RUB you will be given an audio guide, which contains interesting facts about the most significant exhibits.
How to get to the museum
Getting to the Historical Museum is very easy. To do this, you need to get off at one of the three metro stations - Okhotny Ryad, Teatralnaya or Ploshchad Revolutsii - towards Red Square.
The Historical Museum is a great opportunity to spend your leisure time with benefit, learning a lot of fascinating facts about the distant past of Russia.
