Museums in Odessa
Literary Museum in Odessa was founded in 1977, and officially opened in 1984. The exposition is located on two floors of the building and has 20 halls. 
The building was built by the architect Ludwig Otton in the style of classicism, from shell stone, plastered. Two-storey, with a basement, a plan in the form of a trapezoid with three semi-circular ledges from the sea. The original layout has not survived; the ceilings are flat, the basement - arched and semicircular vaults. The facades are horizontally dissected by corbels, completed with a developed cornice with a high smooth attic, decorated from the sea side with Corinthian pilasters. The windows are framed with platbands, main entrance flanked by twin columns of the Tuscan order. Window openings are rectangular in the front rooms, from the sea - large semi-circular.
In the interior of the palace, rich decoration has been preserved in the entrance hall, the lobby with a double-sided marble staircase, in the main hall of the second floor and two adjoining rooms. The decor of the walls and ceilings is stucco, on the top floor - with gilding. 
Modern artistic image The museum was created by the artist Anatoly Vasilyevich Gaydamak. He is the author of the design of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve on about. Khortytsya (1977-1988), museums of N. Ostrovsky in Shepetovka (1979), M. Kotsiubinsky in Chernihiv (1982-1983), T. Shevchenko in Kiev (1984-1987), a literary museum in Odessa (1984-1985), branches Central Museum V. I. Lenin (1980-82; now - "Ukrainian House") artistic design of the interiors of the bank "Ukraine" in Kiev (1994), interiors of the administration of the cultural center "Russia" in Harbin (1997, China), the Church of the Holy Trinity (1998-99, Macedonia), decoration National Museum"Chernobyl" in Kyiv (1994-1996). He created the painting cycle "Crucifixion" (1988-1990) and others.
After the restoration, interior decorations, molding of the so-called "grape rooms", a hunting cabinet, the Golden Hall, a lobby with a main staircase, etc. became an independent exhibit. walls and decorations. The books themselves, manuscripts, newspapers are insufficiently advantageous exhibits (monotonous, flat, often black and white). Therefore, the artist deprived the halls of monotony, saturating them with old furniture, photos of different sizes, empty picture frames, personal belongings of writers (Mickiewicz's bookcase), if they were in the museum's funds. Gaydamak's artist complemented the palace's eclectic decorations with murals, mosaics, and even architectural tapestries. A kind of metaphor for literary work and museum exposition Gaydamak made the writer's desk. They are different here - from valuable examples of the Empire style to cheap ones, but of memorial value.
Odessa was founded when literature - from journalism to a novel in verse - firmly entered the common cultural life. Therefore, almost the entire history of Odessa - from the end XVIII century and to this day - is reflected in poetry and prose.
Literary Odessa
Literary Odessa- these are not only the names of writers (over 500), biographically or creatively associated with the city, but also an artistic image that has enriched world culture.
After more than two centuries since the founding of Odessa, it can be argued that the history of this city exists twice - in reality, and in literature.
A reflection of this feature of the city, a kind of mirror of Odessa is the Odessa State Literary Museum.
The phenomenon itself - the "literary museum" needs some explanation. This is indeed quite unconventional look museum. Literary museums are a phenomenon of socialist culture, a product of the USSR. In countries where life proceeded, so to speak, in a natural, "normal" way, there are two types of museums associated with literature. These are museums - the history of the book, created, as a rule, on the basis of a library that was collected by distinguished bibliophiles for decades, as well as memorial museums, usually houses or apartments where writers lived. Museums like this exist everywhere. civilized world There are many of them and each is good in its own way. But, in a way, they are all the same. Incunabula, papyri, clay tablets - if this is a book museum. Hallway, study, bedroom, pen, typewriter, slippers - if it is memorial museum. And "literary" museums are a product of the Land of Soviets, characterizing the impulsive development of this very country - first the destruction cultural heritage, then collecting his remains and remnants in order to mix them in one building, in one exposition. That is, it is at the same time a museum of the history of the book, and, in part, a memorial museum, where personal belongings of writers are presented, but at the same time a museum of the history of literature and culture of the city.
Odessa State Literary Museum, founded in 1977. and opened to visitors in 1984. - one of the largest regional literary museums in the country.
Its exposition has twenty rooms. Each hall is an artistic image of the decade to which it is dedicated.
The exposition of the museum - a system of symbols and signs in which real documents of the time are inscribed: books, manuscripts, newspapers, magazines, photographs, personal belongings of writers, objects of the era - creates a kind of "time labyrinth" that has no analogues in the whole world.
The museum offers visitors not only factual material, but also the opportunity to fully experience the atmosphere of the city, the continuity historical process. The design of the museum combines bright artistic decision with clear literary and historical content. The image of each hall conveys the atmosphere of city life in a certain period of time. From the quill pen to the computer, from the poems of A.S. Pushkin to the miniatures of M.M. Zhvanetsky reveals the Odessa Literary Museum secrets, legends and reality of the "pearl by the sea".
The main creator of the design of the museum was the largest Ukrainian designer, winner of the T. Shevchenko award, artist Anatoly Gaidamaka. The founder and first director of the museum is Nikita Brygin.
The museum presents more than three hundred writers' names - from Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Alexander Pushkin, Adam Mickiewicz to Heinrich Böll, Konstantin Simonov, Boris Pasternak. Both the arrivals of the authors to Odessa and the appearance of the Odessa community itself are reflected. literary school. Along with the great creators of literature - Gogol, Tolstoy, Kotsyubinsky, Lesya Ukrainka, Sholom Aleichem, Chekhov, Bunin, Franko, Akhmatova, Babel, Ilf, Petrov, Kataev, M. Kulish, there are numerous authors of the so-called "second row", who played quite a few important role in the development of national culture.
The building in which the museum is located was built in mid-nineteenth century. The palace belonged to a representative of the highest circles of the Russian aristocracy, one of the first citizens of Odessa, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Gagarin, and his wife, Sofya Petrovna. In the second half of the century, the Gagarin family gave the palace to the city.
The architect Ludwig Otton, the author of the project, placed the building over a steep ravine, turning its facade to the East, to the sea: a powerful basement, arched windows, three bay windows resembling towers, give this facade a resemblance to a castle.
The interiors of the palace amaze with an unexpected combination of styles - classicism, baroque, empire - characteristic of the South Russian Empire the middle of the last century, and called "free southern eclecticism".
The ceremonial Golden Hall combines elements of Empire and Baroque. It is lit by a bay window with five arched windows that create a sense of excess. sunlight and air. Historians claim that a great concert was given here Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt.
The golden hall is the only one memorial hall museum. The rest embody the course of literary history.
The history of the palace is directly related to cultural life Odessa. From 1899 to 1903, meetings and evenings of the Literary and Artistic Society were held here, which united writers, artists, musicians, and actors.
Here I read for the first time my translation of the "Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Longfellow laureate Nobel Prize Ivan Bunin. Here he read his poems.
Here the great Ukrainian actress Maria Zankovetskaya and such luminaries of the Ukrainian theater as Staritsky, Saksagansky, Tobelevich, Karpenko-Kary.
Here, the fiery Altalena, Vladimir Zhabotinsky, the future ideologist of the creation of the State of Israel, made a great impression on the public with his speeches and articles.
The gate to the courtyard of the Literary MuseumToday, the Odessa Literary Museum is the "visiting card" of the city. Every year, the Literary Museum and the Sculpture Garden are visited by 90,000 to 100,000 people. Excursion programs of the museum are very popular among residents of Odessa, and the concept of "literary Odessa" is a brand known, without exaggeration, all over the world, and attracts domestic and foreign tourists.
Odessa Literary Museum is the largest research and cultural center. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum regularly hosts exhibitions, anniversaries writers, as well literary evenings, concerts of classical and jazz music, book presentations, conferences.
The main Golden Hall of the museum, with its brilliant interior, is the venue for the most prestigious city events.
Sometimes you can’t even believe that the history of the legendary city of Odessa has only two superfluous century, so often there is a vivid mention of the city itself and its witty inhabitants in literature. Sometimes it even seems that the city has unique feature live two stories at once: one real, and the other literary. This feeling is especially strong when you visit the Odessa Literary Museum.
Being a kind of mirror of the city, the Odessa Literary Museum was founded in 1977. The museum received its first visitors in 1984, located in architectural monument 19th century. The building of the museum is nothing more than the palace of a representative of the highest circles of the aristocracy of Russia, one of the first citizens of Odessa, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Gagarin and his wife Sofia Petrovna. Nal the architect Ludwig Othon worked on the creation of the palace. An unexpected mixture of styles can be seen in the interiors of the palace, classicism here coexists perfectly with the Empire and Baroque. However, such architectural delights were not uncommon for the South of the Russian Empire of that period, and even got their own name - “free southern eclecticism”.
The work on the design of the museum's expositions, so as not to disturb the historical interiors of the palace, was entrusted to the largest Ukrainian designer, laureate of the prize. T.G. Shevchenko, artist A.V. Gaydamak. The exposition is represented only by documents and written characters, perhaps, would be, if not boring for visitors, then certainly ordinary. Therefore, the Odessa Literary Museum, along with real documents different eras(books, manuscripts, newspapers and magazines) presents in the exhibition to the attention of visitors also the personal belongings of writers, and photographs, and various objects illustrating a particular segment of history. It can be said that the design of the museum quite successfully combines a clear literary and historical content with a bright artistic solution.
The exposition of the museum reflects more than three hundred names of writers connected by fate or creativity (and more often both) with Odessa, starting with Kotlyarevsky, Pushkin, Mickiewicz and ending with Pasternak and Simenon. In addition to the great creators of literature - Gogol, Tolstoy, Kotsyubinsky, Lesya Ukrainka, Sholom Aleichem, Chekhov, Bunin, Franko, Akhmatova, Babel, Ilf and Petrov, Kataev, Kulish, the exposition of the Odessa Literary Museum presents a number of numerous authors, the so-called " the second plan”, which, nevertheless, also happened to play an important role in the development of national culture.
The exposition of the museum is ordered chronologically and is located in twenty halls of the palace, located in the form of an enfilade on two floors of the building. The halls and expositions themselves, which tell about the history of literary Odessa, are decorated in an appropriate way, allowing to convey the atmosphere of the city's life in a certain era, revealing secrets, legends and were “pearls by the sea”.
Today, the Odessa Literary Museum can be called without exaggeration one of the business cards city, in addition, it is the largest research, publishing and cultural center. In addition to permanent exhibitions, the museum offers guests and residents of the city to visit literary and art exhibitions, concerts classical music, presentations of books, conferences, cultural events. The main Golden Hall of the museum is famous not only for its brilliant interior, but also for its excellent acoustics, which makes it the best chamber concert hall Odessa.
The Odessa Literary Museum has its own zest, also in a purely Odessa style - a small Italian courtyard, which is a worthy successor to the long tradition of Odessa courtyards, famous for their comfort and originality. The picturesque courtyard is decorated with flower beds and a fountain, but it is notable for others - original sculptures. Starting from 1995, more and more new sculptures began to periodically appear in the courtyard, so soon this impromptu exhibition was under open sky became known as the Sculpture Garden.
In the sculpture garden, there are now thirteen sculptural compositions made by modern sculptors in a humorous way (this is Odessa after all!), which are dedicated not only to writers, but also to literary heroes and famous characters of urban folklore. Here, visitors to the Odessa Literary Museum can see with their own eyes the hero of Odessa jokes, Rabinovich, famous character Kuprin's story "Gambrinus" - Sasha the musician. But there is a monument to the famous native of Odessa Mikhail Zhvanetsky, with speaking name- "Odessa Misha".
Slender, young and full of enthusiasm, the fisherman Kostya and the fisherwoman Sonya from a song known throughout the country froze on the pedestal.
Year after year, for 15 years now, it is in the Sculpture Garden of the Odessa Literary Museum that the traditional April Fool's Humorina begins. Usually the solemn ceremony is accompanied by the opening of a new sculptural composition. Polovtsian and Scythian women “settled” here recently, a number of monuments of the Northern Black Sea region were donated to the museum by colleagues from the Odessa Archaeological Museum.
You can buy tickets to museums on the website, there are also many others interesting events including free ones.
Odessa Literary Museum galmara wrote in February 19th, 2010
Odessa Literary Museum was founded in 1977 and opened in the summer of 1984.
This museum is perhaps the most interesting and informative of all that I have seen in Odessa and Kyiv.
1.Lanzheronovskaya st., on the right is the museum building
Unfortunately, practically without our photos of the museum, we were immediately warned not to take pictures. But it was worse to find out at the exit that it was officially allowed to take pictures. And why they didn’t specifically allow us - it remains unclear. Perhaps they didn’t allow others, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me.
But I still took three spy shots in the lobby of the museum, when the museum caretakers were a little distracted by the newly arrived visitors. Unfortunately the picture quality is poor. And I found on the Internet pictures of the halls and expositions of the museum, with which I will illustrate my short story.
But first, a quote: “The very phenomenon of a “literary museum” needs some explanation. This is indeed a rather unconventional type of museum. Literary museums are a phenomenon of socialist culture, a product of the USSR.
In countries where life proceeded, so to speak, in a natural, "normal" way, there are two types of museums associated with literature.
These are museums - the history of the book, created, as a rule, on the basis of a library that was collected by distinguished bibliophiles for decades, as well as memorial museums, usually houses or apartments where writers lived. Such museums exist throughout the civilized world, there are many of them and each is good in its own way. But, in a way, they are all the same.
Incunabula, papyri, clay tablets - if this is a book museum.
Entrance hall, office, bedroom, pen, typewriter, slippers - if this is a memorial museum.
And "literary" museums are a product of the Land of the Soviets, characterizing the impulsive development of this very country - first the destruction of cultural heritage, then the collection of its remains and remnants in order to mix them in one building, in one exposition.
That is, it is at the same time a museum of the history of the book, and, in part, a memorial museum, where personal belongings of writers are presented, but at the same time a museum of the history of literature and culture of the city.
This is, in fact, the Literary Museum of Odessa. :)
The museum is located in a rather old building and gives the impression of not being renovated for a long time. High ceilings, large enfilade rooms, narrow high windows, creaky parquet. And a huge number of pages of literary and historical documents, posters, photographs, paintings (there are few of them, not Art Museum yet).
I have visited such museums and usually after reading three or four pages of text it becomes unbearably boring and there is a desire to finish acquaintance with the museum. But here it happened exactly the opposite. Each page read prompted the reading of the next one, and so, without missing almost a single document, we very slowly moved from one room to another.
I didn't time it, I don't even know how long I was there. But I was so interested in reading these papers that I would have stayed longer.
The caretakers of the museum watched us very carefully and, despite the daylight, turned on the lighting of stands and halls. All caretakers are pretty old women with interesting people And smart eyes. Not half-asleep grannies, as is usually the case in many museums.
In general, I liked the atmosphere of the museum. There was such an impression that since the opening of the museum in deep Soviet years absolutely nothing has changed. As if time had stopped there. But this is precisely the special attraction of this museum. Together with well-chosen materials, the museum has a calm and leisurely acquaintance with it, with a complete sense of immersion in the Soviet years. It seemed to me that at any moment a group of pioneers, Komsomol members or production leaders could come on an excursion .... :)
Of course, I can no longer remember everything that I read there. Biographies of famous and not so famous writers, poets, moreover, you could learn some about the majority little known facts their works, excerpts from works, memoirs... Very interesting photographs, real old ones, telling so much by the mere fact of their existence. Various documents showing in what difficult times those who compose now lived and worked literary fame Russia and Ukraine.
I could not resist, wrote out a few quotes for myself.
"Odessa is a European city, which is why there are no Russian books here."
A.S. Pushkin.
"Glorious are the tambourines beyond the mountains, or my journey is somewhere" (book title) I. Dolgoruky. 1810.
"If you like - let them read me, it's disgusting - let them throw them into the fire, I'm not looking for laudable pipes" . from the book Being of My Heart. I. Dolgoruky
"Strongly fasten the air gear, strengthen the Soviet power." Society of Aviation and Aeronautics of Ukraine.
If there was an opportunity to take pictures, there would be more such quotes.
And these are my photos, I apologize for the quality, my hands were shaking with excitement - it's not every day that you have to take spy photos. :)))
Handmade wartime posters.
The museum has a very good website with a detailed story about the history of the museum and the building in which it is located.
