The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Нацыянальны мастацкі музей Рэспублікі Беларусь) is the largest art

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in Belarus and is located in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the adm ...

. The museum comprises more than thirty thousands works of art which make up twenty various collections and constitutes two main ones: the one of national art and the other of art monuments of various countries of the world.

History

The State Art Gallery was created on January 24, 1939 under the Resolution of the

Council of People's Commissars of Belarus The Council of People's Commissars of Belarus was established part of the governing apparatus of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). It was formed by the All-Byelorussian Congress of Soviets and functioned alongside the Central Exe ...

. The gallery took 15 halls of Graduate Agricultural School, former Minsk Girls Gymnasium. Besides divisions of painting, sculpture, and graphics, a separate division of art industry was created by a special order. At this time, the gallery was led by a famous Belarusian painter-ceramist Mikalai Mikhalap. At the beginning of 1941, the State Art Gallery’s funds and stocks had numbered nearly 2711 art works out of which four hundred were on display. The fate of the whole collection was unfavorable during the first days of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

. In a short time it would disappear without a trace. After the War, a small part of the works of art was returned, mainly those which had been at the exhibitions in Russia before the War. In spite of the postwar devastation, when Minsk lay in ruins, the Government of Belarus allocated sums of money for purchasing works of art for the Gallery. In August 1945, the canvases by

Boris Kustodiev Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (russian: Бори́с Миха́йлович Кусто́диев; – 28 May 1927) was a Russian and Soviet painter and stage designer. Early life Boris Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan into the family of a profes ...

Vasily Polenov Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (Russian: Васи́лий Дми́триевич Поле́нов; 1 June 1844 – 18 July 1927) was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. His contemporaries would ca ...

Karl Briullov Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (russian: Карл Па́влович Брюлло́в; 12 December 1799 – 11 June 1852), original name Charles Bruleau, also transliterated Briullov and Briuloff, and referred to by his friends as "Karl the Great", was a ...

and

Isaak Levitan Isaac Ilyich Levitan (russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н; – ) was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape". Life and work Youth Isaac Levitan was born in a shtetl of Kibart ...

were obtained. In 1993 the museum was renamed the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

Former directors

* Nikolay Mikholap (? - 1944?) * Alena Aladava (1944 - 1977) * Yury Karachun (1977 - ?)

Gallery

Image:1668. Ілья.jpg, ''The Prophet Elijah''. 1668. Tempera on panel. Image:Thomas Heeremans. Summer.JPG,

Thomas Heeremans Thomas Heeremans (1641–1694) was a Dutch painter and art dealer. He is known for his landscapes of winter scenes, cityscapes, harbor scenes, beach views, river views and village scenes.Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...

, Portrait of Minister of the Interior

Vyacheslav von Plehve Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve ( rus, Вячесла́в (Wenzel (Славик)) из Плевны Константи́нович фон Пле́ве, p=vʲɪtɕɪˈslaf fɐn ˈplʲevʲɪ; – ) served as a director of Imperial Russ ...

. 1902. Oil on canvas. Image:Ля касцёла.jpg, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, ''Near church''. 1899. Image:1921. На Купалле.jpg, Mikhail Filippovich. ''Midsummer night''. 1921-1922. Oil on cardboard. Image:V. Beklemishev. Village love.JPG, Vladimir Beklemishev. ''Village love''. 1896. Bronze. Image:Horses of Peter Clodt.JPG,

Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg Peter Jakob Freiherr Clodt von Jürgensburg, known in Russian as Pyotr Karlovich Klodt (russian: Пётр Карлович Клодт; 5 June 1805, Saint Petersburg – 25 November 1867, Klevenoye, Vyborg Governorate), was a favourite sculpto ...

. A mare with a colt, 1854.

External links

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