The Russian Museum in St Petersburg
On 19 March, thousands of St Petersburg residents and tourists flocked to the Russian Museum. On the day of its 110th jubilee, admission was free to this major national art treasure. The museum was established according to the decree of Tsar Nikolai II and is housed in the Mikhailov Palace, which belonged to the imperial family. Its collection spans a thousand years of Russian history in artistic images from the 10th century to the present day. Over 400,000 exhibits present all historical periods and trends in the development of Russian fine arts, its schools, types, and genres. On display are ancient Russian icons along with masterpieces of the 18th and 19th century classical period by Karl Bryullov, Aleksandr Ivanov and Aleksei Venetsianov. There is also the most complete collection of early-20th-century avant-garde art in Russia, including canvasses by Kazimir Malevich, Vassili Kandinsky, and Pavel Filonov.
The Russian Museum is known as a major scientific-research and restoration institute and an important centre of cultural enlightenment. In recent decades, the museum has conducted a policy of “territorial expansion”, for more historical buildings such as the Engineering Castle, the Stroganov Palace, and the Marble Palace were added to it. All in all, the museum possesses 15 buildings and structures and unique parks. Unlike many major collections, the Russian Museum is not a stagnant organism. It is not afraid of experiments assimilating new museum technologies and any museum in the world can envy its most up-to-date exhibition technology. Among the recent achievements is a new and very daring exposition which is so far closed to visitors. In the centre of the exposition area, there is a podium for sculptures. Any visitor can turn around the object he has chosen by pressing a knob, so that the sculpture could be examined from all angles.
According to Vladimir Gusev, the museum’s director, the programme prepared for the jubilee of the Russian Museum is extensive and in keeping with major trends in the museum’s activity. It includes numerous travelling exhibitions in various Russian cities and the opening of new virtual branches on the country’s territory. Mr Gusev says that virtual branches of the Russian Museum are not a tribute to fashion but an aspiration to use latest technologies for humanitarian purposes. Several generations of museum employees worked out educational, informational, and game programmes. In addition, on-line Internet users can visit the halls of the museum and listen to lectures, attend master-classes and new exhibitions in the Russian Museum, and take part in video conferences. This provides a volume of information that a person visiting the Russian Museum in real life cannot grasp. No virtual versions, however, can rival the direct communication with the art found in the halls of the Russian Museum.
22 April 2008
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26021&cid=62&p=22.04.2008 (in English)
