Red Square d 1 museum. Historical Museum on Red Square
The huge red brick building that closes Red Square makes it really “red”. Two elongated towers are in harmony with the Kremlin and GUM, and the abundance of kokoshniks, architraves, widths, and tents give the building the appearance of a tower. Meanwhile, it is not at all as old as it seems.
In the northern part of Red Square since the 16th century. the Zemsky order was located, for which in 1699 a stone two-story building with a tower and architraves in the Naryshkin baroque style was built. Later, part of the premises came under the jurisdiction of the Main Pharmacy, and in 1755 the opening of Moscow University took place here, which moved to the building on Mokhovaya Street only in 1793. Then, in the old building of the Zemsky Prikaz, there were city government offices. In 1874, the Moscow Duma allocated this site for the construction of the Historical Museum - such an idea was put forward in 1872 during the Polytechnic Exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter I. Its historical exposition, dedicated to the Crimean War, became the core, around which began to form a museum collection.
Initially, there were plans to preserve the Zemsky Prikaz building in the courtyard of the Historical Museum, but, alas, they were not implemented, and in 1875 it was demolished. In its place, construction began on a large museum building designed by V.O. Sherwood and engineer A.A. Semenov. Its appearance was made in pseudo-Russian style, which corresponded to the idea of the Historical Museum as reflecting the past of Russia. The facades abound with small decorative elements, the two main towers are crowned with double-headed eagles, and the small side tents are crowned with figures of lions and unicorns. The project was not completed to the end: the idea of cladding the building with polychrome tiles turned out to be expensive. “Pseudo-Russian” and interiors, but each of the halls had its own characteristics, corresponding to its exposition. G.I. Semiradsky, I.K. Aivazovsky.
On May 27, 1883, the solemn opening of the “Museum named after His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir Tsesarevich” took place. Its long-term head and the author of the first exposition was an outstanding historian, Muscovite. The collection was formed by the whole country: members of the imperial family, nobles and merchants, churches and monasteries. The museum has become a recognized scientific center. During the Soviet era, its funds increased significantly due to the nationalized private collections and valuables of closed churches. There were plans to demolish the building to open a wide avenue from the north of Red Square and a passage for demonstrations, but the plans remained on paper. The interiors of the museum were changed, some were destroyed, but externally the building lost only weathervanes - they were restored in the 1990s. during the extensive restoration of the museum. Today it is open again and has the status of the largest museum in Russia. It has branches: the Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square, the chambers of the Romanov boyars on Varvarka, the Museum Patriotic War 1812 in the former building of the Moscow City Duma.
Guide to Architectural StylesFrom there, the museum received the first exhibits. Members of the imperial family also donated their collections of secular and religious art to the museum. Archaeologist Aleksey Uvarov and his wife expanded the exposition with finds from expeditions to different regions of Russia. And the most generous gift was presented by the merchant P.I. Shchukin: in 1905, he signed off his private museum of Russian antiquities to the city, and his collection then exceeded the entire fund of the State Historical Museum.
In 1874, the Moscow City Duma allocated land for the construction of the State Historical Museum on where the building of the Zemstvo order, the first pharmacy in Russia and Moscow University were previously located.
The building of the museum was built in the pseudo-Russian style according to the project of V.O. Sherwood and A.A. Semenov. As a result, in 1881, a fabulous tower with tents and turrets appeared on Red Square. At the same time, the red brick building organically fit into the ensemble of the square, stylistically echoing the Moscow and the Cathedral.
On October 27, 1917, near the State Historical Museum, there was a clash between Dvina soldiers (former prisoners of the Dvina prison) and the Kremlin cadets. A memorial plaque is dedicated to the dead.
After the Revolution, the museum began to be called the State Russian Historical Museum. The new authorities organized a special commission to reorganize the museum. According to the memoirs of the curators, they were repeatedly offered to throw away all the “filthy shards” and “worthless papers”, and set up a factory in the building.
In 1922, the Museum of the Noble Life of the 40s, as well as closed churches and other buildings, were attached to the State Historical Museum: “Museum-Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed”, “Museum of the former. Georgian Church", "Museum of Architectural Monuments of the Village of Kolomenskoye", "Museum of the Pafnutev-Borovsky Monastery", "Genoese Fortress" in the city of Sudak in the Crimea, "Museum of the Alexander Monastery", Chambers, "Novodevichy Convent".
The work of the State Historical Museum was reoriented to communist propaganda. Therefore, in 1935, double-headed eagles and heraldic figures of lions and unicorns disappeared from the towers of the building. And in 1936-1937, in connection with the opening of a new exposition in honor of the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution, many murals and details of the interiors of the halls were destroyed.
During the Great Patriotic War, the museum continued to work. Only once the bombing forced it to close for 8 days. But all the same, the most valuable exhibits were evacuated first to the Volga region, and then to Kazakhstan. But from the beginning of the war, employees held exhibitions "in hot pursuit", collecting materials at the front.
In 1986, the museum was closed for repairs to restore its historical appearance. The final appearance of the State Historical Museum was restored in December 2003, when lions and unicorns returned to the towers (double-headed eagles returned in 1997).
How to Read Facades: A Cheat Sheet on Architectural ElementsEach of the halls of the State Historical Museum corresponds to a specific historical era, and the paintings in them repeat the famous church and palace frescoes. Even at the design stage of the building, the main idea of the exposition was developed. Therefore, each hall was designed taking into account the exhibits that will be located in it.
For example, in the "Neolith" hall you can see copies of rock paintings from the banks of the Angara, Lake Onega and the White Sea. The architecture of the “Eastern Europe and the Ancient World” hall reproduces the stepped vault of the crypt from the Kul-Oba royal burial mound, excavated in the Crimea in the 19th century. The walls of the Eastern Europe and Asia Hall are decorated with copies of slate slabs from ancient Kiev temples of the 11th-12th centuries. In the design of the Old Russian State hall, elements of ancient Russian architecture were used - vaulted ceilings, three-part windows, arched completions of doorways. And in the decor of the platbands and the mosaic of the marble floors, one can guess the ornaments of picturesque headpieces from the oldest Russian books - the Ostromir Gospel of 1056 and Svyatoslav's Izbornik of 1073.
In the design of the Old Russian City hall, copies of the frescoes of the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa, built in 1199, were used. The value of these copies increased especially after the destruction of the church itself in 1942 during the occupation of the city by fascist troops. The source of the rich decoration of the hall "Internal and foreign policy of the state (mid-12th - first half of the 13th centuries)" was architectural monuments ancient Vladimir - painting of the XII century, white-stone carving of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral. The basis for the design of the hall "Culture Ancient Russia XI-the first half of the XIII centuries" laid down the white-stone carving of the walls of St. George's Cathedral, built in 1234 in Yuryev Polsky. And the vault of the hall "The Sovereign's Court and the State Administration of Russia in the 16th-17th Centuries" adorned herbal ornament like the murals of the galleries of the Intercession Cathedral.
The collection of the State Historical Museum grew rapidly with gifts from monasteries, libraries, institutes, universities and publishing houses.
famous noble families also donated their collections to the museum. And now the museum's funds already have 5 million items. Here are the most interesting exhibits:
- A copy of the burial from the Sungir site in the Vladimir region. Its age is more than 25,000 years. The buried turned out to be teenagers, and the reason for their simultaneous death and burial in the same grave is unknown. The dead were laid in a line, head to head, in clothes embroidered with thousands of mammoth tusk beads.
- Authentic mammoth tusks. At the end of the 19th century, the Irkutsk merchant I. Gromov found them on the banks of the Yenisei in the permafrost layer and donated them to the museum.
- A boat 7.5 meters long, discovered on the banks of the Don, near Voronezh, in 1954. The boat is hollowed out of a whole oak trunk with stone axes. From the inside of the sides you can see paired holes - places for attaching seats for rowers.
- Masks of the funeral cult of the Tashtyks. Their main feature is portraiture, thanks to which one can imagine what the people who inhabited Southern Siberia in ancient times looked like.
- Taman sarcophagus, one of the monuments of ancient culture of the 4th century BC. It comes from the territory of the Bosporan kingdom, an ancient Greek state that occupied the Taman and Kerch peninsulas. Most likely it was brought from Greece by order of a noble Bosporan nobleman. For its manufacture, marble was used, mined in the mountains of Asia Minor.
- A copy of a ritual silver ladle found in Western Siberia. It depicts a common plot - the martial arts of heroes. This ancient ritual of the transfer of supreme power was common among many Turkic peoples: the ruler in hand-to-hand combat had to either win or give up the throne to a more successful rival.
- The collection of the 15th century, which included Russkaya Pravda, is the oldest set of laws written under Yaroslav the Wise and his sons.
- "Izbornik", compiled by order of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich in 1073. On one of the first pages you can see a portrait of the prince himself with his wife and sons.
- A list of The Tale of Bygone Years, the oldest Russian chronicle of the early 12th century, written and illustrated with miniatures of the 15th century.
- The very first birch bark found in Novgorod in 1951. It dates back to the 14th century and is a report of the manager of a large boyar estate on the collection of dues.
- A copy of the gates of the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral, made especially for the museum in the 19th century. The gate, created in the 12th century in the German city of Magdeburg, is decorated with cast bronze plates with reliefs on the themes of the Old and New Testaments. Later, the gates came to Novgorod, where they were remounted in the 14th century. In the lower tier of the left alignment, you can see the figures of craftsmen with blacksmith tools in their hands. Two figures on the edges depict the German masters of the 12th century, who cast these gates. The central figure is a self-portrait of the Novgorod master Abraham, who managed to repair the gate.
- Birch bark letters of the boy Onfim, who lived at the beginning of the 13th century. Judging by the nature of the drawings, he was 5-7 years old, and he was learning to read and write. On one piece of birch bark, he learns to write letters, on the other he depicted a horned monster and wrote "az to the beast." Another charter of the 13th century with a proposal to marry is addressed to a woman, therefore, not only men were literate.
- Icon depicting Basil III. This icon comes from Moscow - it was located near the tomb of the Grand Duke. At the end of the 19th century, the icon was transferred to the museum for storage. During the restoration process, it turned out that the image was painted at the beginning of the 16th century, and Saints Basil the Great and Paphnutius the Great are depicted on it. In the 1670s, the face of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III appeared in place of the face of Pafnuty.
- Gersa is the oldest fortress lattice that has survived to this day. With the help of a gate and chains, Gersu was raised or lowered at the gate of the travel tower, controlling the passage inside the fortress. The unique monument comes from the Novodvinsk fortress on the shores of the White Sea and dates back to the beginning of the 18th century.
- Wooden carved gates of the iconostasis of the church in the village of Monastyrshchina, where, according to legend, the participants of the Battle of Kulikovo were buried. The fine carving is covered with gold foil.
- A copy of the "Royal Place" of Ivan IV, made in 1551 for the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. The copy was made especially for the museum at the end of the 19th century and is interesting because it is a reconstruction of the monument in its original form with the restoration of the details of decor, gilding and polychrome painting lost by the original. The “Royal Place” played the role of a symbol of the autocratic power of Russian sovereigns. In the documents of the 16th-17th centuries, it is even called the "throne", the throne. On its door wings there is a text of the legend, how in the XII century the great Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh received state regalia and Monomakh's hat.
- Penitential prayer clothes of Tsar Ivan IV, sackcloth. This thing entered the museum's collection from Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, which for 10 years was the center of the formation of the oprichnina army.
- A complex of equipment for a salt pan and tools for a salt pan. They were brought to the museum from the Vologda region in the 1930s.
- One of the earliest European maps depicting Russian state. It was compiled by the English merchant and traveler Antonin Jenkins in 1552. In search of a land route to India, an Englishman visited Russia. As a result, the Muscovite state concluded a trade agreement with England. The main export item from England was tin and pewter utensils.
- "The Apostle" of 1564 by Ivan Fedorov, the first dated Russian printed book without a single misprint or blot. "Apostle" is still an unsurpassed example of printed art.
- A copper globe, set in a frame of carved wood, made in Holland in the early 1690s by the firm of the heirs of the cartographer Willem Blaeu, commissioned by the Swedish king Charles XI. His heir, Charles XII, refused to buy the globe, and in 1697, being with the Great Embassy in Europe, Peter I acquired it. In 1733, the globe was placed in the Sukharev Tower, where the Moscow Mathematical and Navigational School was located. There he served as a teaching aid until 1752. Then he was transferred to St. Petersburg. Soon the globe returned to Moscow to the Rumyantsev Museum, from where it ended up in the State Historical Museum in 1912.
- A saber and broadsword in a jeweled scabbard. The weapon belonged to the heroes of the struggle of the Russian people against foreign intervention - the princes D.M. Pozharsky and M.V. Skopin-Shuisky. Commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky did not allow the interventionists to seize the North-Western lands from the Russian state. Prince Dmitry Pozharsky led the people's militia in 1612, stormed Moscow, where the Poles settled, and liberated the city from the invaders. According to legend, grateful Muscovites presented this saber to the prince. It is considered the most ancient Russian award weapon.
- Executed by an unknown Polish artist at the beginning of the 17th century, paintings of the betrothal of Marina Mnishek in Krakow, her solemn entry into Moscow and the wedding in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin in May 1606. But of particular interest are the ceremonial portraits of Marina Mnishek and False Dmitry I. Marina and False Dmitry are depicted in attire appropriate to the moment, in solemn poses. The portraits are accompanied by explanatory inscriptions, in which both are called "Emperors of Moscow", and it is emphasized that Dmitry is the son-in-law of the Sandomierz governor Yuri Mnishk, which reflects the dependent position of the Pretender. In fact, the enthronement of False Dmitry was organized with the money of the Polish nobility and the king himself. There are no other modern portraits of participants in the events of the early 17th century.
- The Russian "mummy" is the mummified remains of a 25-year-old woman, whose age is comparable to the famous Egyptian mummies.
Few people know that there were ideas to demolish the building of the State Historical Museum.
For example, in 1940 N.A. Milyukov presented a project for the construction of an overpass connecting Red Square with Gorky Street). But the project was not accepted.
They say that......to write the frieze " Stone Age» In 1885, philanthropist Savva Mamontov built a workshop for Viktor Vasnetsov in his estate Abramtsevo, and local peasants and guests of the Mamontovs posed for the artist. Vasnetsov drew on the basis of the data provided to him by scientists late XIX century, so today many elements of the frieze are considered obsolete and erroneous.
Photos of the State Historical Museum and its exposition of different years:
Historical Museum in Moscow (Moscow, Russia) - expositions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
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Working mode:
The main building of the museum, the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Exhibition Complex: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday - from 10:00 - 18:00, Friday, Saturday - from 10:00 - 21:00. Day off - Tuesday.
New showroom: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday - from 10:00 - 19:00, Friday, Saturday - from 10:00 - 21:00. Day off - Tuesday.
Cost: 400 RUB, students and pensioners 150 RUB, family ticket (for two adults and two children under 18) 600 RUB. Children under 16 have the right to visit the museum for free.
Branches of the Historical Museum
- Pokrovsky Cathedral (is an integral part of St. Basil's Cathedral) - the Central Church of the Cathedral is not available for inspection due to restoration work. Cost: 500 RUB, students, pensioners - 150 RUB
- Chambers of the Romanov boyars; Address: st. Varvarka, 10; Opening hours: Daily - from 10:00 - 18:00, Wednesday from 11:00 - 19:00, day off - Tuesday. Cost: 400 RUB, students, pensioners - 150 RUB, children under 16 years old - free of charge
- Exhibition complex; address: Revolution Square, 2/3; prices vary depending on the exhibition
- Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812; address: pl. Revolution, 2/3; entrance fee: 350 RUB, discounted 150 RUB
Prices on the page are for October 2018.
The State Historical Museum in Moscow, a cultural heritage of federal significance, came into being relatively recently. The majestic red brick building, which complemented the ensemble of the main square of the country, solemnly opened its doors to visitors in 1883. V Soviet era its funds were repeatedly replenished with nationalized private collections and treasures from the walls of closed churches and disbanded museums. Now here are the country's largest collections of coins, unique old manuscripts and books, archeological monuments important for history, weapons and priceless works of art.
Ticket prices in 2019
The cost of visiting the main exposition for adult citizens of the Russian Federation and the EAEU countries is 400 rubles. The ticket price for citizens of other states is 500 rubles. The reduced ticket price of 150 rubles applies to the following categories of visitors:
- students of Russian universities, colleges and technical schools studying full-time;
- persons aged 16 to 18;
- holders of international ISIC and IYTC cards;
- pensioners of the Russian Federation and EAEU countries;
- other preferential categories of citizens of the Russian Federation and the EAEU countries (a full list can be found on the museum website).
For a family visit (two parents with one or two minor children), the ticket price for citizens of the Russian Federation and the EAEU countries is 600 rubles. Children aged 16 to 18 must purchase an additional ticket for 150 rubles.
The price of a complex ticket, including an audio guide "Sightseeing tour" in Russian, is 800 rubles, in a foreign language 900 rubles. Entrance fees to lectures thematic exhibitions and other events are paid separately, and their cost is indicated on the official website of the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
Main entrance to the Historical Museum of Moscow — panorama Yandex Maps
Opening hours
The opening hours of the museum are set depending on the season.
In the period from September 1 to May 31, the complex is open from 10.00 to 18.00 on all days except Friday and Saturday. These days it works from 10.00 to 21.00. The day off is Tuesday.
Ticket office hours end 1 hour before the GIM closes.
Story
The decree on the creation of the state educational museum-center was signed on February 9, 1872 by Emperor Alexander II. The museum collection is based on the exposition about the Crimean War of 1853-1856 from the Sevastopol department of the grandiose All-Russian Polytechnic Exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great.
The first stone in the foundation of the State Historical Museum in Moscow was laid by Alexander II himself. the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh in August 1875, but the emperor was not destined to live to see the opening. On May 27, 1883, his successor Alexander III and his wife Maria Fedorovna visited the ceremony that gave the world a new cultural monument.
Museum collections were quickly replenished by the hands of benefactors, among whom were a representative of the Nizhny Novgorod nobility A. A. Catoire de Bioncourt, Dostoevsky's widow, the Chertkov, Burylin, Obolensky, Sapozhnikov families and many others.
P. I. Shchukin, who deservedly remained in the history of the country as the Great Patron of Russia, in 1905 donated to the museum his unique collection of a connoisseur-collector. Shchukin exhibits form the basis of the State Historical Museum expositions - their share is approximately 15% of all modern museum funds. Thanks to him and similar benefactors, who selflessly donated their priceless collections for the good of the country, State Museum turned into what it is now - one of the largest and most famous historical museums in the world.
In its history, as well as in the life of the Russian people, for the glory of which it was created, there were both joyful and tragic moments. The museum has witnessed changes in the system and power, a silent participant in the revolutions and an involuntary spectator of military parades in 1941 and 1945. In Soviet times, they even considered demolishing it in order to open a wide avenue from the northern part of Red Square and have more space for parades, but, fortunately, these plans were never realized. From 1986 to 2002, large-scale restoration work was carried out in the building. Today it is working again, has the status of the largest museum in Russia and several branches - the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Boyar Chambers in Zaryadye and the Intercession Cathedral.
The building of the Historical Museum in Moscow
In the 15th-16th centuries, there was a postal yard, then the Sytny otdatochny yard, and then the Zemsky order - the central authority. In 1699, a separate building was erected for him - a beautiful two-story mansion in the Naryshkin baroque style, flaunting a turret and architraves. Part of its premises was subsequently given to the Main Pharmacy. From 1755 to 1793, Moscow University was located here, and after that - the offices of city authorities. In 1874, this area was allocated for the construction of the building of the Historical Museum.
According to the original plans, the old Zemsky order was to be kept in the courtyard of the new complex, but in 1875 the house was demolished. The GIM building, built according to the architectural design of A. A. Semenov and V. O. Sherwood, is made in the pseudo-Russian style in the appearance and likeness of the tower - it reflects the historical past great Russia. The two main towers are crowned with two-headed imperial eagles, the smaller side tents are decorated with lions and unicorns, and the facades amaze with an abundance of skillful small decorations - kokoshniks, widths, arches, weights, kiots, drawn cornices and architraves. Unfortunately, the full implementation of the project was never carried out: the lining of the huge building turned out to be too costly. Pseudo-Russian motifs are also present inside the building, but each of the numerous halls has its own “highlights”. The most famous of the masters were involved in their design - V. M. Vasnetsov, I. K. Aivazovsky, G. I. Semiradsky.
In 1889, the museum building was expanded with a transverse building installed between the small and large courtyards and designed for 500 seats. In 1914, an archive, a library and a department of manuscripts were created on the site of the dismantled lecture hall. The project was led by I. E. Bondarenko.
The building of the State Historical Museum is under the protection of UNESCO as an integral part of the Red Square ensemble.
Exposition of the Historical Museum in Moscow
The exhibition area of the museum is 4,000 sq.m., it is located on two floors and is divided into 39 exhibition halls. The collections available to the public include over 22,000 exhibits covering all stages of Russia's development.
This allows visitors to learn more about the life, culture and history of the country in different periods her existence. The museum funds store more than 15 million rare written sources from the history of Russia in the 16th-20th centuries. The most significant of them are considered to be one of the oldest handwritten books of Ancient Russia - Svyatoslav's Izbornik, the Moscow Code II and the Khludov Psalter - one of the three psalters of the 9th century that have survived in the world.
The principle of forming expositions is the same as at the time of the opening of the museum in 1873. In order to "serve as a visual history", it is necessary to collect in strict chronological order "all the monuments of significant events" from the history of the Russian state. According to museum curators, the GIM mentality is different from museums Western Europe. Its purpose is enlightenment, not surprise, and its method is not fun, but serious study, designed to give a foothold in the past and create a right future.
In museum exhibitions, real treasures are sometimes found: for example, the monumental wrought-iron lattice from the gates of the Novodvinsk fortress of the Petrine era, Ivan the Terrible's sackcloth, the masquerade sleigh of the Russian Empress, decorated with carved gilded eagles, and the mysterious Galich treasure - a unique find full of mysterious cult objects. The collections continue to grow. The main part of the museum replenishment is the results of the work of archaeologists, the smaller part is special purchases and gifts from patrons.
Exhibitions and excursions
Even if you have been to the State Historical Museum of Moscow more than once, something new will be waiting for you every time you visit. In addition to the permanent main exhibition, thematic exhibitions dedicated to the history of the royal family, traditional Russian crafts, photography, painting or the creation of icons are regularly opened here. For a live immersion in the past, museum staff organize "Historical Saturdays" that open unknown pages of Russian history, "Moscow Secrets" that tell about the detective mysteries of the capital, conduct informative lectures, arrange film screenings and festive performances. For the most inquisitive, the museum hosts theatrical tours and unusual quests. The exact schedule of exhibitions and events can be found on the official website of the Historical Museum in Moscow.
AND Historical Museum. It is these four buildings that surround the main street of Russia. And the museum can be considered the main entrance to Red Square. It is no coincidence that it is from his side that foot troops and heavy equipment come out during the annual Parade on May 9th.
The Historical Museum is rightfully considered the owner of the richest collection of exhibits not only in Russia. Just think - 4 thousand square meters, more than 20 thousand permanent exhibits and 5 million items in museum funds. It is not surprising that the Historical Museum, even for those who go to it regularly, each time opens from a new, previously unknown side.
And by the way, not only interiors and exhibition halls look attractive. The building itself is a work of architectural art. It is no coincidence that it is included in the list of monuments of the World cultural heritage UNESCO.
The history of the creation of the museum
The idea of founding the Historical Museum was born in 1872. And the initiator of its construction was the Emperor Alexander II himself. The first exhibits were military trophies accumulated after the Crimean War. The sovereign, thus, wanted to perpetuate the memory of the glorious past. It was decided to build near Red Square. Prior to that, the Zemsky Prikaz was located here - in a modern manner it can be called the Ministry of Regional Development).
A competition among architects was announced. The main condition was that the building had to be maintained in the general style that had already developed around Red Square by that time. The winners were V. Sherwood and A. Semenov, however, the former subsequently refused to complete the project. And at the final stage, the construction of the museum was led by Alexander Popov. The construction of the building lasted almost 6 years - from 1875 to 1881. And it took another two years to finish the interior and fill the exhibition with exhibits. And thus, the date when the Historical Museum of Moscow first opened its doors to visitors was May 27, 1883.
After the Revolution, there was a serious danger of looting of the exhibits of the Historical Museum. But among the Bolsheviks there were connoisseurs high art and antiques. The exhibits were taken under the protection of the People's Commissariat, and even plans arose to further expand the collection. So, in the period 1922-1934, items that were previously in St. Basil's Cathedral, and a number of churches and small storage facilities were added to the exposition.
True, the communist era did not pass without a trace. Firstly, as propaganda, some decorative trim was painted over or destroyed, as it symbolized the monarchy. For example, the Bolsheviks dismantled beautiful sculptures of lions, unicorns and, of course, double-headed eagles that adorned the facade of the building.
The modern history of the Museum is associated primarily with a large-scale reconstruction, due to which visitors could not see the collection for 11 years (1986-1997). But as a reward for patience, now you can see the building as it was conceived at the very beginning. So, the spiers of the towers are again crowned with gilded sculptures of lions and eagles. Of course, these are not the same ones that "disappeared" in the Soviet era, but their exact copies.
And inside the Historical Museum now looks like a real royal palace. Suffice it to mention that the main entrance is a huge “Family Tree of Russian Sovereigns”, on which portraits of 68 tsars, emperors and grand dukes are presented in gilded frames. As for the rest of the collection, for better perception it is divided into 39 rooms, and each tells about a specific era of the country's development. And among the most valuable exhibits, it is worth highlighting an 8-meter boat made with stone axes back in the prehistoric era, knightly armor from the time of Alexander Nevsky, the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, the globe of Peter the Great and his ceremonial camisole.
In 2017, the State Historical Museum celebrates the 145th anniversary of its foundation. On February 9, 1872, Emperor Alexander II decided to create a museum in Moscow national history Russia. For this memorable date, an official video was prepared for the Historical Museum, which was filmed by creative Group company "Media 1" from St. Petersburg.