Belarusian National Art Museum contains one of the largest collections of art works. The museum is actively developing and has become a real art space of the Republic of Belarus.
National Art Museum: History
The history of this museum dates back to 1939. When the state art gallery was opened in the building of the communist agricultural school (the former building of the women's gymnasium). The gallery occupied 15 halls, in which there were departments of graphics, sculpture, painting.
Museum workers actively collected works of art from the museums of the cities of Belarus. Several works were donated by Moscow museums and galleries. By 1941, the gallery's fund consisted of more than 2,500 works. Paintings, art industry, antique furniture and tapestries, Meissen and Chinese porcelain, various mantel clocks were collected.
In 1941, on June 28, German troops entered Minsk. The gallery was looted and most of the valuable exhibits were taken to Germany. Describe all collected exhibits inThey didn’t make it to the Minsk Gallery, so a huge part of them never returned.
After the war, only a small part of the works that were at exhibitions in Russia at that time returned. Since 1944, the gallery has been housed in the House of Trade Unions. Two years later, the gallery had about 300 works, including K. Bryullov, V. Polenov, I. Levitan, B. Kustodiev. Later, they began to design a new building for her.
On November 5, 1957, a new building of the State Art Museum of the BSSR was opened. In 1993, the museum became known as the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus with an emphasis on the national art of the country.
Museum Building
Initially, the museum building was planned to be located at the corner of Kirov and Lenin streets. The main entrance was supposed to be from the side of Ulyanovsk street. Project author M. I. Baklanov planned to create a building in the Empire style with columns and semicircular windows.
The design ideas for the building had to be revised when another piece of land with adjacent developments was allocated for it. Baklanov changed the project so that the new building would match the surrounding houses.
The National Art Museum has significantly expanded its fund, and later extensions were added to the building. In 2007 the museum was reconstructed. The idea of the new architect of the building, Vitaly Belyakin, was to create a kind of museum city, where the past and the present meet. The modern museum is decorated with decorative stucco, arches and columns, and the dome of the building is made ofglass.
In the future, it is planned to create a museum quarter in Minsk, in the center of which there will be a national art museum. The quarter will house new pavilions for works of art, souvenir shops and art cafes will open, and a sculpture park will be located in the courtyard.
Museum exhibits
The museum has about 27,000 works. The exhibits in the museum are divided into collections, which represent collections of both national and world art. World art is mainly represented by the works of masters of the East and Western Europe.
The ancient Belarusian collection is represented by arts and crafts dating back to the 10th-12th centuries, as well as medieval archaeological finds. Here you can see ancient glassware, chess figurines, carved stone icons, wooden plastic items, religious jewelry items (chalices, liturgical kelikhs).
The paintings of the National Art Museum are represented by a collection of Russian art of the 18th-20th centuries. Sculptures, objects of arts and crafts and graphic arts number about three thousand exhibits. The collection includes works by Fyodor Bruni, Maxim Vorobyov, Dmitry Levitsky, Vasily Troponin and others.
In addition to the above, the museum also houses collections of Belarusian art of the 19th-20th centuries, European art of the 16th-20th centuries and oriental art of the 14th-20th centuries.
Oriental art is represented by ceramics and porcelain, painted enamels, wood and bone carvings, paintings, miniatures, sculptures and textiles.
Events
In addition to exhibitions, the museum hosts a lot of interesting events. For children, a children's art workshop is open here. The museum hosts meetings with artists, master classes and musical evenings.
For all the years of its existence, the museum has established itself in research activities. Workers of the National Art Museum carry out the restoration of works of art and maintain an electronic catalog. Albums and books about art are published. The latest book published by the museum is dedicated to Belarusian artists of the 19th-20th centuries.
Visitors can attend lectures and interactive tours dedicated to national and world art. In the museum art cafe, everyone can watch themed films.
National Museum of Art: opening hours, address
Exhibitions are open from 11.00 to 19.00, visitors are admitted until 18.30.
Tuesday is a day off.
The price of excursions ranges from 50 to 165 thousand Belarusian rubles.
The National Art Museum is located in the city of Minsk, on Lenina Street, 20. It is located near Independence Avenue, near the Oktyabrskaya and Kulapovskaya metro stations.
Currently director of the National Art Museum Vladimir Ivanovich Prokoptsov.
Conclusion
The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus is interesting with a huge number of exhibits. The museum's collections represent national Belarusian art from ancient times to the present, as well as European and Oriental art. Various entertainment and educational activities are held on its territory.
