Description of the attraction
The building of the Old Mansion is located in Arkhangelsk. It was built in 1786. The fate of this house was not easy: it was repeatedly burned, rebuilt several times, corrected, reconstructed, it was never used for its intended purpose. First, the Bank's office was located here, then the Promissory Office, the Commercial Bank and, finally, the city customs.
In 1964, the building was transferred to the Museum of Fine Arts. For several years it housed an exhibition of ancient Russian art, later - museum funds. Since the early 1980s, the Mansion has been restored. In September 1998, the museum was opened. The first exposition - "Portrait in an Old Interior" - provided an opportunity to see the transformation of artistic styles in the interior of the late 18th - early 20th centuries. The formation of the ensemble, which, in addition to portrait painting, includes furniture, mirrors, porcelain, made it possible to create a special atmosphere in which works of fine art seem to awaken when they find themselves in an environment close to them. The house has a permanent exhibition "Portrait in an Old Interior".
Since the Mansion on the Embankment has never been in the possession of a particular family, the authors of the exhibition decided not to reproduce the original interior. But on the other hand, the funds of the museum kept the furnishings and household items of the 18th - early 20th centuries. Therefore, it was decided to restore the living environment, which would organically fit the museum exhibits.
The portrait gallery of the Old Mansion contains works that come from local institutions and old houses. Among them you can see the portrait of I. K. Bazhenin (a person related to Arkhangelsk) and royal portraits: Peter the Great, Elizabeth Petrovna, Pavel Petrovich (II half of the 18th century). The portrait gallery characterized the owner's taste, was the subject of his pride and vanity.
The owner's study was one of the main rooms of the noble house and was a kind of his intellectual and economic center. The main place in the cabinet exposition is occupied by portraits of the Arkhangelsk governors of the 18th century: T. I. Tutolmina, P. P. Konovnitsyn and others. The interior decoration of the cabinet of the late 18th - early 19th centuries has been recreated.
In the living room of the Old Mansion, you can feel the atmosphere of a town house from the first quarter of the 19th century. The living room of the 19th century was a place where people read and empathized aloud, did needlework, “explained”, played music. Of course, it's hard to imagine a living room without a piano. In addition, marble sculpture and bronze products occupy the main place in the interior decoration. The heart of the living room is her portraits, which at the beginning of the 19th century serve as an indicator of the standard of living and position in society. Most often, the portraits were anonymous: not only the author was unknown, but also the people depicted on them. A group of such portraits is located above the sofa.
In the house there is a room with a women's boudoir (mid-19th century), where the hostess of the house rested from secular duties, was engaged in reading, handicrafts, and carried on obligatory correspondence, as evidenced by an elegant bureau secretary. Also here you can see a dressing table and a table for needlework. The picturesque paintings of this room convey a variety of moods, consonant with the world of a woman. Here are the romantic canvases of Aivazovsky, Sudkovsky, Bogolyubov, the sentimental idyll of a Western artist in the Rococo style, The Family Scene by the artist Charles van den Dele and, of course, portraits of children. The pearl of a woman's boudoir is the "Portrait of an Unknown", which was transferred to Arkhangelsk by the Russian Museum in 1929, and it came to the museum from the artist's studio.
The final hall of the Mansion is the dining room. Usually it was a bright, comfortable room. The main place in the interior is occupied by a sliding table "centipede", at which all family members gathered. In the dining room, it was necessary to have glazed cabinets-slides in which various items made of porcelain, glass, and faience were exhibited. A special place in the decoration was given to porcelain. At the end of the 19th century, it was not just an object of collecting and representation, but was a necessary part of the table setting. On the wall you can see "Portrait of a Woman in a White Dress" by A. I. Vakhrameev, portrait of N. D. Vidyakina, an unknown artist.
An old mansion on the Embankment lives a vibrant, active life. Thematic exhibitions and excursions are regularly organized here, arousing genuine interest among locals and tourists. In the halls of the mansion, you can hear chamber music, balls for children, social events, receptions and presentations.
