Russian museums reflect the history and modernity of our country. They do this not only with exhibits, but also with their fortune. In this sense, the Museum of Architecture located on Vozdvizhenka in Moscow is especially interesting - a surreal place for an ordinary visitor. Specialists (or just people who have something to do with the architectural "hangout") will tell you that it is one of the best in the city, since many artifacts have been collected here, there is a rich archive on Soviet and Russian architecture.
History of the Museum
This museum has existed since 1934, although at the end of the 19th century there was a need to create it. The largest specialists in the theory, practice and history of architecture worked in it (and gave him their archives). The materials of the ideological rivals of the past "rest" here - there is an archive on the architecture of Ancient Russia, collected by Pyotr Baranovsky, the great restorer, as well as sketches made by Ivan Leonidov, the famous project of the People's Commissariat on Red Square. Once domesticthe school was one of the most interesting in the whole world.
A. V. Shchusev
A. V. Shchusev, whose name the museum of architecture bears, is a titan in this field of art. He created the mausoleum of Lenin, as well as a dozen iconic buildings of the USSR. Shchusev initiated the opening of a specialized museum in 1934, located at the Academy of Architecture. Alexey Viktorovich, when in 1946, with his active support, the museum on Vozdvizhenka appeared, he also became its first director (in the period from 1946 to 1949). The Museum of Architecture already under Shchusev became the only center of urban planning and architecture with the status of a research center at that time.
Building funds
The formation of funds began in 1934. The following exhibits and areas of the Anti-Religious Museum of Art were transferred under them (in the period from 1929 to 1934): the buildings and territory of the Donskoy Monastery, various collections of iconostases, church utensils, church vestments, royal doors.
Funds in the 1930s and 40s increased significantly. Fragments of historical and architectural monuments were collected. The 1930s was a period of destruction and ruin of historical buildings. In addition, various interior items of ancient buildings were donated to the museum.
In 1946, the old buildings of the estate (end of the 18th century) of the Talyzins-Ustinovs were transferred to the property. Their location on Vozdvizhenka, close to the Kremlin, speaks of the generosity of the former owners. The "feeding chamber" also entered the manor complex -a rare monument of architecture of the 17th century, which is a refectory of the Aptekarsky yard. At the beginning of the 20th century, a stone building built in 1676 was built on the second floor.
A person close to museum circles will note that this historical museum, whose architecture is very curious, has been experiencing great difficulties for about the past 20 years, since once its collection was located on the territory of the Donskoy Monastery transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991. All these years it remained just an exhibition space, as almost all the collections were kept in storerooms.
Opening of the permanent exhibition
The symbolic event happened quite recently, on June 19, 2012. -This is the discovery of a permanent exhibition in this museum. In order to see the unique object presented in it, citizens from all over the city reached out to the exhibition building. This is where surrealism begins for the average visitor.
The Museum of Architecture is located in the very center of the city, in the large Talyzin Palace, a building dating back to the 18th century. It also includes a manor wing called "Ruin", and a building of the 17th century, where the Pharmaceutical Order was located. Between these three buildings is a small courtyard, also adapted for the exhibition.
Museum Description
The first thing you'll see when you get here is a lone cash desk and an empty central lobby. A very curious sight is sometimes presented by Russian museums. The visitor, hoping for interesting architectural revelations, rises sharplyto the second floor along the palace stairs - and enters the Looking Glass. A whole suite of empty halls disappears into infinity, as if reflected in a giant mirror.
It's no exaggeration to say that these empty halls that house the State Museum of Architecture: there really is nothing here, except for exhibits hung exquisitely on the walls, for example, photographs of imaginary Roman theaters. According to an ordinary visitor, this is how a fashionable art gallery may look today, of which there are already a huge number in Moscow, but by no means the main research center and architectural museum in the country. With interest, however, one can look at the sculptural medallions, the painting of the plafonds on the ceiling, the stucco cornices, high reliefs, and the walls made of artificial marble. But the museum received these palace interiors together with the building. They were restored in the middle of the 20th century and are not supposed to be exhibits.
Unique exhibit
Two large halls were given to the permanent exhibition on June 19, 2012. It is intended to symbolize the revival of this museum. We are now talking about one amazing exhibit - this is a model (wooden) of the Grand Kremlin Palace, which is by far the largest model in the world. It was created in the early 1770s by order of Catherine II by Vasily Bazhenov. The length of the layout is 17 meters. It is so huge that, ideally, it requires a separate pavilion: in the two above-mentioned museum halls areonly fragments of it, although quite impressive.
Criticism
Today, disputes around the current state of the museum do not subside in specialized communities, but its shares, lectures and exhibitions in a professional environment are still valued. We will not express the opinion of an ordinary, non-professional visitor that he lacks employees, space and funds. These problems are clear to everyone, they cause only sincere sympathy. But an attentive visitor will be able to notice a few inexplicable, from a "financial" point of view, unpleasant details.
For example, it is forbidden to photograph Bazhenov's layout. The ban is categorical - for no fee, even on the phone. Employees cannot explain why, they say that this is the way it is. Although any photo posted on the blog can bring several visitors here, and paying for it can add some money to the museum's poor cash desk.
It is impossible to explain by economic difficulties why the “canteen of architects” was set up in the building of the old Aptekarsky order, which is, in fact, a sushi restaurant; why air conditioners "decorate" the facade of the building, and in front of the ancient sculptures depicting lions, there is a parking lot on the courtyard. The bas-reliefs piled on its territory rather randomly are evidence of a lack of funding, space.
D. S. Khmelnitsky, a researcher of architecture, criticizes this museum for the lack of any systematized information about funds and collections (in1991, his last thematic catalog was published), as well as a very complicated procedure for researchers and historians to access archives. The Melnikov Museum is a branch of the MUAR. In the summer of 2014, the situation with the penetration of his employees there in the absence of Melnikov's heiress, who lives there, caused a great resonance.
Museum Fund
The museum specialized at first only in Russian architecture. But employees collected materials on modern projects and history, photographed, made measurements, analyzed the transformation and development of urban policy. As a result, this museum of architecture in Moscow has collected a huge fund, which today presents almost everything: from modern photographs to the plinth of St. Sophia of Kyiv, from design documents of various typical buildings to masterpieces of construction equipment.
Replenishment of the fund
The museum fund in the mid-1980s was replenished with a priceless collection. It is an archive of Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky, an outstanding restorer and architect of the Soviet era. Since 1984, this archive has hardly been studied - there is not enough time and specialists for this. Museum collections represent a little-known world that will be studied by many more generations of scientists.
At the beginning of the 1990s, a troubled time came, which is still going through this museum of architecture in Moscow. Today the main task is to solve the pressing problem of exposure. So far, the visitor can only guess about the greatness that the museum's collection conceals, leafing throughbooklets telling his story.
Museum of Architecture and Life
Culture experience is very exciting. If you are interested in architecture, we can also advise you to visit the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, located in the village of Ozertso in Belarus. His exposition is very interesting. The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life will introduce you to residential and commercial buildings, places of worship, and public buildings. He recreates the peasant life of the late 19th - early 20th century.
