The Russian Museum

The State Russian Museum is the biggest in the world collection of national fine art. The museum was founded in Saint-Petersburg, the capital of Russia, by the decree of Nicholas II in 1895. The inauguration of the first national state museum of Russian art took place on March 7 (19) 1898.

Today the collection of the Russian Museum numbers 384.676 pieces of art. The collection embraces all historical periods and tendencies in the development of Russian art, its main trends, genres and schools covering the period of 1000 years from the 10th to the 20th centuries.

The collection is comprised of the works of the artists who constitute the pride and the glory of Russian fine art - the masterpieces of such renowned artists as Andrei Rublev, Dionisius, Fedot Shubin, Dmitry Levitsky, Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ivan Martos, Karl Brullov, Fyodor Bruni, Orest Kiprensky, Alexander Ivanov, Pavel Fedotov, Alexei Venetsianov, Vasily Vereschagin, Ivan Aivazovsky, Ilya Repin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Isaak Levitan, Vasily Surikov, Ivan Shishkin, Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Markus Antokolsky, Mikhail Nesterov, Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Pavel Filonov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin...

The Russian Museum is a unique treasure-house of art. It is also one of the major cultural and educational centres and a major centre of academic research. Among the museum curators are many famous art historians, members of the Academy of Arts, many of them have philosophic degrees. Since 1989 the Russian museum has its one post-graduate course authorizing its student to defend thesis.

Since 1974 the Russian Museum has been the scientific and methodological centre of the art museums of the Russian federation having 238 museums under its authority.

In 1992 by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (558 dated 05.06.92) the State Russian Museum was acknowledged as a special object of national cultural heritage.

In 1995 the government of Russia adopted a resolution "On the Celebration of the Centenary of the State Russian Museum" (¦ 678 dated 01.07.95) on the basis of which the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation issued the order "On Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the State Russian Museum" ( 561 dated 08.08.95) and the resolution of the government of Saint-Petersburg "On the Preparation for the Celebration of the Centenary of the State Russian Museum" ( 21 dated 08.04.96).

In June 1997 the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin visited the Russian Museum. He headed the session of the President's Council on Culture and Art which took place within the walls of the museum and signed the decree "On the Centenary of the State Russian Museum" (¦ 553 dated 06.06.97).

In March 1998 public celebrations of the centenary of the Russian Museum took place in Russia and abroad.

The Russian Museum occupies 4 palaces in the historical centre of Saint-Petersburg: Mikhailovsky Palace (1819-1825, the palace of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, son of Paul I), the Marble Palace (1768-1785, the palace of the Grand Dukes the Romanovs); Stroganov Palace (1753, the palace that once belonged to the oldest Russian family of the Stroganovs) and St. Michael's (Engineers') Castle (1797-1801, the palace of Emperor Paul I). The last three palaces were given to the Russian Museum in 1989-1994. The buildings were in need of urgent repairs (the Marble Palace housed the branch of the Central Museum of Lenin, the Stroganov Palace was the office of a certain military design bureau; the Engineers' Castle had 15 institutions renting the building). At present time the already restored rooms of the palaces are now home to permanent museum exposition. At the same time further restoration work on these unique monuments of Russian architecture is currently underway.

The historical centre of Saint-Petersburg will acquire a unique museum complex in the XXI century. The largest in the world collection of Russian fine art will take the restored monuments of Russian architecture of the XVIII- XIX centuries. The Mikhailovsky Gardens will contain bronze replicas of original sculpture from the collection of the museum. Upon completion of the project the Russian Museum collections will cover the 1000 years history of the Russian state and people reflected in the works of art created by the greatest masters of Russia.