Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

The State Russian Museum (formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III) is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg. The museum was established in 1895, upon enthronement of Nicholas II to commemorate his father, Alexander III. Its original collection was composed of artworks taken from the Hermitage Museum, Alexander Palace, and the Imperial Academy of Arts. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, many private collections were nationalized and relocated to the Russian Museum. These included Kazimir Malevich's Black Square.

The main building of the museum is the Mikhailovsky Palace, a splendid Neoclassical residence of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, erected in 1819-25 to a design by Carlo Rossi on Square of Arts in St Petersburg. Upon the death of the Grand Duke the residence was named after his wife as the Palace of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, and became famous for its many theatrical presentations and balls.

Some of the halls of the palace retain the Italianate opulent interiors of the former imperial residence. Other buildings assigned to the Russian museum include the Summer Palace of Peter I (1710–14), the Marble Palace of Count Orlov (1768–85), St Michael's Castle of Emperor Paul (1797–1801), and the Rastrelliesque Stroganov Palace on the Nevsky Prospekt (1752–54).

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Brenda Giudice (19 months ago)
The museum itself is a treasure, but the visit was totally ruined by one of the rude tour guides, who told us that: "We allow children into the museum, but you should not enter any room with a guide working, as the stroller is squeaky". I was like are you kidding me? The stuff is clearly ignorant. Especially with the world cup this summer, this is really upsetting. On top of that, you should know that the museum is not wheelchair accessible, as there are no elevators or even over the stairs things, and the stairs are long.

Larry Norton (2 years ago)
Don't miss it on a visit to Saint Petersburg. A gem. Great alternative to the Hermitage. Discover Russian painters generally unknown in the West.

Дмитрий Якимович (2 years ago)
Very interesting exhibition of Gift to Russian museum - from rather plain work to the very good and wellknown paintings.

Adil Rasool (2 years ago)
One of best place to visit in Saint-Petersburg,

Vadim Popoff (2 years ago)
I love Perov and Aivazovsky!

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