Fine arts are a type of art that developed for the art and the art only. This type of art includes painting, sculpting, music, applied art, and many more. Moscow hadn’t had any particular museum dedicated to fine art until the beginning of the 20th century when professor Tsvetaev decided to establish the Moscow Fine Arts Museum.
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts locates the opposite of the Christ the Savior’s Cathedral, in Volkhonka Street. The museum’s name can be confusing since there are no artworks from Alexander Pushkin in this museum. Tsvetaev decided to establish this museum in 1898, but the museum began to work in 1912. Following the October 1917 Revolution, the museum’s name changed to the Moscow University Art Museum, and after a few changes, finally, on the 100th anniversary of his tragic death, the museum changed its name to Alexander Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Since there are no artworks regarding this celebrated poet in the collections, the museum’s name can trick the visitants.
Professor Tsvetaev was the father of the famous Soviet poet, Marina Tsvetaeva. As we said, he first decided to establish the museum with the help of the rich and humanitarian Yuriy Stepanovich in 1896. In that year, the University of art organized a competition to design the museum building; twenty architects from various cities in Russia sent their designs, and the jury picked Roman Klein as the winner of the competition. Klein with the help of Vladimir Shukhov began the construction in 1898 and completed it in 1912. The museum built with the latest technology to host and exhibit the artworks from various periods in history. Today, the museum includes over thirty halls and exhibition rooms in the main building.
The Alexander Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum contains over 700000 artworks such as paintings, sculptures, reliefs, archaeological, drawings, applied arts, mosaic arts, photographs, and many other sorts of artworks. Besides the collections, the museum has several studios and research facilities, since it’s not only a museum but an educational center too.
The museum has several buildings in Moscow which each of them has its specific assignment. Besides the main building which contains most of the collections, there’s the gallery, educational center, Richter Memorial Apartment, Steinberg's workshop, and some more.
The main building includes around thirty halls in which the magnificent collections of the museum set up to be displayed such as Ancient Egypt, Near East, Greece, Rome, and Dutch artworks.
For example, the first hall on the ground floor is dedicated to Ancient Egypt's artworks. The collection includes the artworks from the 4000 BC to the 400 BC such as wooden and stone coffins, sculptures, reliefs, jewelry, and other art elements from that era.
Hall number eleven is dedicated to the golden age of Dutch paintings and drawings. This collection contains the paintings from the Dutch masters in the 17th century such as Golzius, Lastman, Van Der Vilt, Jansz Van Ostade, and others.
The art from the first and second half of the 18th century of France split up to two halls on the first floor, since the method changed mid-century, and each of these artworks from that era is priceless. You can find the paintings and sculpture works of the French 18th-century artists such as Antoine, Lemoyne, Jean Baptist Nattier, Lancret, Simeon Chardin, Hubert Robert, and many more.
The hall number twenty-nine on the first floor is particularly devoted to the famous Italian artist in the 16th century, Michelangelo Buonarroti. In this extraordinary collection, one can find the sculptures by this master such as Battle of the Centaurs, Pieta, Bacchus, and some other masterpieces by him and Benvenuto Cellini.
Besides the exhibitions, the museum holds some workshops and educational programs for the students and lovers throughout the year. There are also some music festivals and performances held in the museum’s facilities such as the Richter's December nights international music festival which has been held there since 1981.
The main building which contains all these amazing arts locates at the heart of Moscow, near the Kremlin and on the opposite side of the Cathedral of the Christ the Savior. This museum is one of the top tourist's destinations of Moscow, though, Muscovites are interested in the museum too.
We recommend that if you have some time during your Russia tour program, and if you would like to see some treasures by some great artists of all time, visit this museum in your travel to Russia.
