Pskov Museum-Reserve takes its history from the distant 1869. Vasilev I. I. put before the society of art lovers the question of the need to create a museum. The reason was the finds and gifts, which began to enter the archaeological center very actively. But the idea did not receive financial support, without which it was impossible to implement such a project.
A year later, K. G. Evlentiev, who handed over to the committee many different finds of his own: coins, banknotes and even rock samples. Konstantin Grigorievich again raised the question of a spacious and permanent building before the archaeological commission.
When choosing the premises, the members of the Archaeological Commission were very divided in opinion. Some even suggested building a completely new building.
Foundation of the museum
The Pskov Museum-Reserve was founded in 1872 precisely to preserve ancient written monuments from the abolishedold archives of the city (which, in connection with the judicial reform of Emperor Alexander II, were analyzed). They were assigned to destroy, write off or sell as if they were waste paper at a paper mill in St. Petersburg.
Organizational work
At the beginning of the 20th century, local historian Nikolai Fomich Okulich-Kazarin, who arrived in Pskov, began to systematize the museum's funds, made the first account of all the scrolls in the archaeological museum. This inventory was published in 1906 and contained 368 monuments in short descriptions. In addition, he published a companion to ancient Pskov, a guide that is still used by lovers of Pskov antiquity.
Museum location
Since 1900, the museum has found its permanent place of residence in Pogankin's chambers. Then the Pskov Archaeological Society petitioned Tsar Nicholas II to transfer this historic building to the museum.
Myths and legends
Sergei Ivanovich Pagankin, after whom the place is named, was a Pskov merchant. At first, according to the documents, he was listed as a gardener, because there were vegetable gardens on this plot of Pskov. He was also the head of customs and the mug yard, that is, drinking establishments (for this he had a good material benefit). Thanks to his name, there are a lot of various rumors around the Pagankin's chambers. There is a legend that a lot of treasures left by the merchant were buried in the territory of Pskov, which have not yet been found.
Family organizers
Individuals and family among them played a huge role in the creation of the museumVan der Fleet. Nikolai Fedorovich not only understood the need to create a museum, but also financed its creation. A few years later, his wife, widow Elizaveta Karlovna, financed the creation of a museum in Pogankin's chambers. The Van der Flits spent most of their fortune on the organization of the museum and on the construction of an art-industrial school (built in 1903, bore their name).
It was a huge step in the "conquest" of the cultural space.
Post-revolutionary years
After the 1917 revolution, there was a time that inflicted simply tremendous damage on ancient Russian art. Churches were destroyed, even what was inside was also destroyed. But the inhabitants of Pskov figured out how to save them in the 30s. They convinced the local authorities that churches that were closed should be made branches of the museum. And thus, not only were the Pskov churches not destroyed, but all the relics were preserved there: the iconostasis, desktop icons, crosses, and so on.
Then the Pskov Museum-Reserve presented all areas of stylistic art in painting - a wonderful collection of numismatics and archeology of ancient Russian painting, as well as a wonderful collection of silver attributed to the temple museum.
In the 40s of the war
The museum, as soon as the war began, requested a train echelon in order to bring out the most valuable. As a result, only one wagon was allocated, so very few valuables were taken out. To a large extent, the collection of silver items has been preserved, because according to museum instructions, first of all, silver had to be removed.
Pskov was occupied by German soldiers who began to take out all the valuables of the museum. The Germans, when they left, took out everything in a very organized manner. There was a whole division that was engaged in the systematic sending of valuables from Russia to Germany. I must say that those icons that returned to the museum from East Prussia after the war have a German cipher, and in this cipher they show the church from which they were taken. In the post-war return of things to the museum, there was a lot of confusion with the museum from Novgorod.
Books compiled in the 1920s by Alexander Sergeevich Lyapustin and August Karlovich Janson, director of the Pskov Museum, make it possible to find out the composition of the museum's pre-war collection. When these valuables were evacuated to the city of Sovetsk during the war years, they were returned to the museum without loss according to the inventories.
Museum complex today
After the Second World War, the lost things began to return, and the territory of the museum grew more and more. On April 12, 1958, the Council of Ministries of the RSFSR of the Pskov Region decided to rename the Pskov Historical and Art Museum into the Pskov State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, which bears this name to this day.
Today the Pskov Museum-Reserve consists of several large architectural objects. Mainly, these are chambers, financial storage, five branches inarea.
Churches and chapels are also included in the Pskov Art Museum-Reserve. These include the church in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the chapel in honor of St. Anastasia, the Transfiguration Cathedral at the Mirozhsky Monastery.
Cultural and historical objects of the Pskov Historical and Architectural Museum of the Reserve: the blacksmith's yard of the 17th century, the Vasilyevsky tower of the 14th century, the museum-apartment and the house-museum dedicated to V. I. Lenin. In addition, one can single out a museum-apartment in honor of the unique architect of the 20th century, Yu. P. Spegalsky.
Museum-reserves in the Pskov region constitute the main branch of the archaeological center: the memorial estate-museum in honor of the brilliant mathematician S. V. Kovalevskaya, the estate-museum in honor of the brilliant composer M. P. Mussorgsky,
The museum dedicated to the history of the Novorzhevsk Territory, the literary museum in honor of the writer M. V. Yamshchikova, whom everyone knows under the pseudonym Al. Altaev, the estate-museum in honor of the composer N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
