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).

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Details

Founded: 1895
Category: Museums in Russia

Rating

4.8/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Ahmet İhsan Kaya (2 years ago)
The museum hosts paintings, sculptures and other artifacts mostly from 19. century. This is the place where you can see the traditional Russian art and paintings. Pity to see that Russian art reached its peak in the 19th century and halted as soon as the Soviet revolution took place. At least they preserved their finest collections and present in this museum.
Lee Yan (2 years ago)
Museum filled with impressive and versatile arts. You start with super cool classics like Semiradsky, Vasnetsov, Shishkin and Aivazovsky, continue through statues and portraits, go through some more modern and weird things, and end up with royal furniture and old Russian utensils. Sometimes some of the key items are out of there, so maybe need to check up beforehand (I visited the place twice and never saw the Ninth Wave painting, as it was in Japan and Spain along with other paintings). A lot of information can be obtained with your smartphone, the personnel is polite. This is definitely one of Saint Pete’s must sees.
Eshcho Odin (2 years ago)
The complex of several different remoted objects. The main part - Museum of Russian art in this Mikhailovsky palace - is second to Hermitage as a main museum attraction and second to none as an art museum. I do recommend for every classical art fan!
Brenda Giudice (2 years 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 (3 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.
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