Description of the attraction
The former estate of the Counts Sheremetevs is a unique cultural and historical monument and a rare example of a manor-type building for St. Petersburg. In 1712, Peter I granted Count B. P. Sheremetev land near the Fontanka (Nameless Erik). The stone two-storey palace, which currently exists, was erected in 1750 by the architect Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky. There is an assumption that the project used the drawings of F.-B. Rastrelli. The development of the estate continued for 2 centuries. Architects I. D. Starov, F. S. Argunov, A. N. Voronikhin, H. Meyer, D. Quarenghi, I. D. Corsini, D. Quadri, N. L. Benoit and others. Until 1917, the Sheremetev Palace belonged to 5 generations of the count's branch of the famous Russian Sheremetev family.
After the revolutionary events, the palace was turned into a museum of noble life, which existed until 1931. The basis of the museum funds was the private collection of the Sheremetevs, which was formed over 2 centuries, which was a complex complex of various layers, consisting of a picturesque picture gallery, a collection of sculpture, weapons, numismatics, a library (book and music collection, postcards, handwritten materials), objects arts and crafts (including collections of bronze, silver, porcelain, furniture), etc.
Later and until 1984, the Sheremetev Palace was a research institution. The palace interiors were destroyed, and the collections ended up in the leading museums in Moscow and Leningrad, with the exception of some interior items that remained in the building. In 1989, the Sheremetev Palace was transferred to the Museum of Theater and Musical Art for the establishment of the St. Petersburg Museum of Music and the placement of the state collection of musical instruments.
The exposition of the palace has 3 directions: the history of the famous Sheremetev family and the noble life of the 18th - 20th centuries, a unique collection of musical instruments and an exhibition of private collections. The museum has organized a permanent exhibition "The Sheremetevs and the Musical Life of St. Petersburg in the 18th - early 20th centuries", which was opened in 1995. In 4 halls of the palace, the interiors of the house of V. V. Strekalov-Obolensky, which represent a noble collection of unique works of fine and decorative art of the 17th-20th centuries, reflecting the spiritual life of the intelligentsia of our country. This collection, consisting of about 700 items, was handed over to the Sheremetev Palace by his wife A. M. Sarajeva-Bondar.
The Museum of Music displays a collection of musical instruments with over 3000 items. Here are presented Russian bells, the sound of which can be heard, copies of antique instruments. The baroque originality of the forms of European instruments of the 17th-18th centuries - ancient harps, harpsichords, viols - harmoniously fits into the style of the palace, the openwork pattern of the cast-iron fence, the molded decoration of the interiors.
In addition to temporary exhibitions, the museum has organized a permanent exhibition "The Returned Heritage", which reflects the last foreign stage of the life of the Russian composer, conductor, teacher Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov. Thanks to his adopted daughter Elena Aleksandrovna Glazunova-Gunther, the legacy was preserved and passed on to St. Petersburg. When her father was alive, she participated in concerts as a pianist, and Glazunov's music was constantly present in her repertoire. After the death of her father, she founded the Glazunov Foundation, which in 2003 returned the composer's legacy to Russia. The exposition presents the interior of the Parisian apartment where Alexander Konstantinovich spent the last years of his life. Here you can see documents of the Glazunov family, photographs, furniture, a desk, a conductor's baton, a piano, personal belongings, autographs and notes of the composer, his death mask.
The palace is a famous concert venue.
