Description of the attraction
The Karelian Museum of Fine Arts is located in the historical center of the city of Petrozavodsk, on Kirov Square (earlier it was called Cathedral Square) in a 17th century building. Over the years, this building housed: Olonets men's gymnasium, a public school, a public library, a school of culture and the Palace of Pioneers. It is symbolic that it was in this building, which is so saturated with a spiritual atmosphere, that the famous Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia began its work in 1960.
The museum collection began to form back in the 30s of the 19th century. The first exposition of the museum (1838) was named "Museum" and included more than three hundred items presented by samples of products and products of artistic casting of the Alexandrovsky iron foundry.
In 1905, the first Karelian personal exhibition was opened, which is represented by landscapes of Petrozavodsk and numerous portraits of townspeople painted by A. V. Rosenbyud. Closer to 1930, the townspeople began to raise the issue of creating an art museum in Petrozavodsk more and more often. The Museum of History and Local Lore united all the collections of the city.
The museum has been constantly improving and renovating for quite a long time. But thanks to this, the work on the collection of historical monuments on the Karelian territory led to the acceleration of the resolution of the issue of creating a museum of fine arts, which began its work on October 20, 1960.
The museum presents many interesting collections. The collection of Old Russian art brought world fame to the museum. It contains works of icon painting, which number about 2500 copies. The collection represents the icon-painting fund of the 15-19th centuries, which was almost completely collected on the territory of Karelia.
The collection "Russian art of the 18th - early 20th centuries" is represented by graphic, painting, sculptural works, numbering more than six hundred exhibits. Most of the collection came from the Russian Museum, the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery in the early 1960s. The most valuable in this section are the canvases of I. Levitan, I. Shishkin, K. Korovin, A. Bogolyubov.
The collection "Art of Karelia of the 20th century" includes more than 3 thousand exhibits of graphics, painting, sculpture, arts and crafts and theatrical and decorative art. The collection reflects the historical development of the visual arts of the Karelian Republic. The Museum of Fine Arts not only collected, but also carefully processed from a scientific point of view, unique collections that give an idea of the artistic and national traditions of this region.
The "Foreign Art" collection began to form with a small group of works by masters who came from the KGKM back in 1960. Later, this collector's edition was supplemented by sculptural and painting works received from the State Russian Museum and the Hermitage. The most striking decoration of the collection was the works of artists from the Netherlands of the 16-17th centuries - Michel van Coxie and Jan van der Heyden. The collection of porcelain from the European manufactories Sevres and Meissen is of great interest.
The collection "Domestic Art of the 20th Century" contains four thousand works, which were created by the hands of skilled craftsmen from St. Petersburg, Moscow and many other cities. Interest in the works of artists of the 1920-1930s allowed the museum to collect material that reflected the entire complex course of the development of art in Russia. The collection covered little-known names as well as unique phenomena. The pride of the collection: works by Tatyana Glebova, Pavel Kondratyev, Mikhail Tsybasov - all of them were students of the largest and most famous representative of the avant-garde in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
In addition, the Museum of Fine Arts of Karelia has a considerable number of collectible editions. Tours in the museum are conducted by professional staff, which will help you to get acquainted with the permanent and new museum expositions as fully as possible, learn a lot of interesting things, immersed yourself in the world of art in more depth.
