The State Historical Museum ( Russian: Государственный исторический музей, ''Gosudarstvenny istoricheskiy muzyey'') of Russia is a museum of

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start-date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' state in the north in 862, ruled by Varangians. Staraya Ladoga and Novgorod became ...

located between

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

and Manege Square in Moscow. The museum's exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that lived in the territory of present-day Russia, to priceless artworks acquired by members of the

Romanov dynasty The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to ...

. The total number of objects in the museum's collection numbers in the millions.

Description

The place where the museum now stands was formerly occupied by the Principal Medicine Store, built by order of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

in the

Moscow baroque Naryshkin Baroque, also referred to as Moscow Baroque or Muscovite Baroque, is a particular style of Baroque architecture and decoration that was fashionable in Moscow from the late 17th century into the early 18th century. In the late 17th century ...

style. The museum was founded in 1872 by

Ivan Zabelin Ivan Yegorovich Zabelin (Иван Егорович Забелин; 29 September 1820 – 13 January 1909) was a Russian historian and archaeologist with a Slavophile bent who helped establish the National History Museum on Red Square and presi ...

Aleksey Uvarov Count Aleksey Sergeyevich Uvarov (Russian: Алексей Сергеевич Уваров; 28 February 1825 – 29 December 1884) was a Russian archaeologist often considered to be the founder of the study of the prehistory of Russia. Biography ...

and several other

Slavophiles Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...

interested in promoting Russian history and national self-awareness. The board of trustees, composed of Sergey Solovyov,

Vasily Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky (russian: Василий Осипович Ключевский; in Voskresnskoye Village, Penza Governorate, Russia – , Moscow) was a leading Russian Imperial historian of the late imperial period. Also, he addres ...

, Uvarov, and other leading historians, presided over the construction of the museum building. After a prolonged competition, the project was handed over to Vladimir Osipovich Shervud (or Sherwood, 1833–97). The present structure was built based on Sherwood's neo-Russian design between 1875 and 1881. The first 11 exhibit halls officially opened in 1883 during a visit from the Tsar and his wife. Then in 1894 Tsar Alexander III became the honorary president of the museum and the following year, 1895, the museum was renamed the Tsar Alexander III Imperial Russian History Museum. Its interiors were intricately decorated in the

Russian Revival The Russian Revival style (historiographical names are: ''Russian style'', russian: русский стиль, ''Pseudo-Russian style'', russian: псевдорусский стиль, ''Neo-Russian style'', russian: нео-русский стил ...

style by such artists as

Viktor Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (russian: Ви́ктор Миха́йлович Васнецо́в; May 15 ( N.S.), 1848 – July 23, 1926) was a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered the co-founde ...

Henryk Siemiradzki Henryk Hektor Siemiradzki (24 October 1843 – 23 August 1902) was a Russian-born Polish painter based in Rome, best remembered for his monumental academic art. He was particularly known for his depictions of scenes from the ancient Greek-Roman w ...

, and

Ivan Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (russian: link=no, Иван Константинович Айвазовский; 29 July 18172 May 1900) was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized a ...

. During the Soviet period, the murals were proclaimed gaudy and were plastered over.

Current activities

Since spring 2007, for the first time in the history of The State Historical Museum, all 40 halls have been open to the public. The museum covers the period from ancient times to the early 20th century and over 1.2 million people visit its exhibitions. The museum is also a major centre for research, science and education. The department's host lectures and seminars, internships, and awards in research and restoration activities. Since the end of 2016, it has been possible to view the exhibition through a virtual tour, which is accessible on the museum's official website. About 30-40 exhibition projects are held annually based on exhibits from the museum's collection throughout Russia. For the 500th anniversary of the Novodevichy Convent, the museum plans to open an exhibition dedicated to the Russian Orthodox Church. For 2018-2023, a series of exhibitions of the project "National Museums of the World to the Historical Museum" is planned, in which European museums will take part. From March to July 2020, the museum was closed to the public due to quarantine amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gallery

File:Вид на Исторический музей в сторону Красной площади.jpg, Night View File:Moscow July 2011-13a.jpg, View from the northwest File:Государственный исторический музей 2018 01.jpg File:2014 Moscow State Historical Lenin Museum.JPG File:Moscow SHM asv2019-06 img11.jpg, One of the exposition halls File:Военный парад на Красной площади 9 мая 2016 г. (29).jpg, A

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

being displayed on the museum.

References

External links

* * WorldWalk.info:
Virtual tour of the State Historical Museum
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* {{Authority control Museums established in 1872 Cultural infrastructure completed in 1881 Museums in Moscow

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

History museums in Russia Red Square Russian Revival architecture 1872 establishments in the Russian Empire Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow