The Historical Museum began the restoration of the building of the former Moscow City Duma on Revolution Square

In preparation for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Historical Museum, work begins on the restoration of the facades and repair of the roof of the object of cultural heritage of federal significance “Building of the City Duma, 1890-1892. "(Revolution Square, 2/3).

Muscovites and guests of the city know this building for the fact that in Soviet times it housed the V.I.Lenin Museum - the main museum of the USSR, and now the building is part of the State Historical Museum.

“We planned to carry out these works last year, but for obvious reasons they had to be postponed. The restoration of the facades of the museum building will not entail the closure of temporary exhibitions and the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812. On the contrary, already in March we will open two major exhibitions - "Court costume from the collection of the State Hermitage" and "Masterpieces of engraving by Albrecht Durer from the collection of Italian museums," notes Alexey Levykin, director of the State Historical Museum.

As part of the planned work, the restoration of the building facades will be carried out, parts of the lost facade from the side of the recently opened pedestrian crossing from Nikolskaya Street, restoration of the front porch and repair of the hipped roof parts, which were damaged after the hurricane in 2017, will be restored.

The restoration work is carried out at the expense of a targeted subsidy from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

According to the work plan, the restoration of the building should be completed in September 2021. For visitors, the museum will continue to work as usual, minimizing all possible inconveniences.

Historical reference:

The building for the Moscow City Duma was designed by the architect Dmitry Nikolaevich Chichagov in 1890-1892. In November 1935, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR made a decision to establish the Central Lenin Museum in the former Moscow City Duma. The reconstruction of the building was carried out in 70 days - from November 10, 1935 to January 21, 1936. As the newspaper "Pravda" wrote at the time, Soviet builders rebuilt the old bulky building, "spoiled at the time by ’merchant’ architects." In 1993, the exposition of the V.I.Lenin Museum was closed, and its funds were transferred to the Historical Museum.

In 2006, the building of the former City Duma was included in the complex of the State Historical Museum. Today, this building houses the entrance to the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Exhibition Complex of the Historical Museum and storage facilities. Contrary to popular belief, the exposition of the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 was located not in the building of the former City Duma, but in the space of the courtyard behind the southern facade of this building. To organize the museum, the courtyard was blocked off and divided into two exhibition floors, with a frame made of metal racks that took on the entire burden of the new structure. For almost ten years, the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 has been open to visitors.