Description of the attraction
The Roerich family left a huge cultural and historical heritage. Their contribution to national and world culture is difficult to assess. The names of all members of the Roerich family are worthy of being entered on the tablet of world history. Nikolai Konstantinovich is a thinker, consummate artist, teacher, public figure, archaeologist. Elena Ivanovna is a famous Russian writer and educator. Yuri Nikolaevich - Russian ethnographer, orientalist, linguist, specialist in the culture of Tibet. Svyatoslav Nikolaevich - Russian and Indian artist, collector, public figure. The family's great creative and spiritual heritage is worthy of careful study.
The Museum-Institute of the Roerich family was established in 2001, but its history began much earlier, back in 1960, Yuri Nikolaevich Roerich, the son of Nicholas Roerich, obtained permission to create a museum of N. K. Roerich. His work on organizing the museum was supported by public organizations, but the sudden death of Yu. N. Roerich stopped preparations for the opening.
The younger Roerich, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, in the seventies continued work on the creation of the museum, most of the items from the family collections were preserved. People who were not indifferent to the heritage of the Roerich family helped a lot in this.
The museum was opened only on the centenary of the marriage of Nicholas and Helena Roerichs. The museum was founded by Lyudmila Stepanovna Mitusova. Her family had close friendly and family ties with the Roerichs. Father L. S. Mitusova was a cousin of Roerich's wife - Stepan Mitusov. During the Great Patriotic War, only the sisters Tatiana and Lyudmila from the large Mitusov family survived. Ludmila Mitusova collected many things that belonged to the Roerichs. Collection of L. S. Mitusova became the basis of the museum exposition.
At the moment, the museum's funds contain more than fifteen thousand different items. These are archaeological finds, paintings, antiques, manuscripts, personal belongings, letters and much more.
At the request of V. I. Matvienko, who was the governor of St. Petersburg, and with the support of the creative intelligentsia, the museum was given a building in 2003, in which the famous Russian artist and collector Mikhail Petrovich Botkin lived before the 1917 revolution. The mansion project was developed by the architect Zh. B. Leblon, supervised the construction in the 20s of the 18th century by D. Trezzini. After the purchase of M. P. Botkin in 1883 the house was reconstructed: the attic was completed, the facade and interiors were redone.
This house remembers many famous figures of Russian culture. N. K. Roerich, who worked together with M. P. Botkin has been with the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts for almost nineteen years. Even then, contemporaries called the mansion a house-museum because of the unique collections that were kept there. For these collections, M. P. Botkin bought art objects in Italy, Germany, France, as well as in his hometown. The collections were set against the backdrop of exquisitely decorated interiors (the style of a Renaissance palazzo), with grotesque carvings adding a special charm to it. All collections at that time were available to the general public for viewing.
At this time, the Museum-Institute of the Roerich family is becoming not just a museum, but a real scientific laboratory for the study of the huge cultural and spiritual heritage of the Roerich family. In the State Museum-Institute, various excursions (thematic and sightseeing) are offered to the attention of citizens and guests of the city. There are permanent expositions dedicated to all members of the Roerich family, exhibitions of works by artists are held, publications are published: educational and scientific.
