Doll Nadenka - the main exhibit of the Babkina Puppet Museum

The grand opening of the Russian Penny Museum Puppet Museum took place in Moscow. A large collection of dolls by Nadezhda Babkina was replenished with unique exhibits from the Cathedral Mosque, Russian Post, as well as from the People’s Artist of Russia and Tatarstan Renat Ibragimov and the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Larisa Kartavtseva.

In the center of Moscow, on Sadovaya-Chernogryazskaya Street, in the foyer of the Musical Theater of Folklore "Russian Song" an unusual museum has opened, the main exhibits of which are handmade dolls. For forty years they were collected and stored by the art director of the theater Nadezhda Babkina. Several hundred artless puppet eyes look from everywhere, visitors feel like guests, not excursions.

The exhibits were brought by Nadezhda Babkina from various parts of Russia and other countries. At the moment, the museum’s collection consists of 100 dolls. The materials from which they are made are diverse - these are junk materials, clay, wood, and straw, there are dolls made of birch bark, bast, textile and porcelain. Almost every doll represents one or another nationality, one or another region of our multinational country.

“There are foreign dolls from Japan, China, and Mongolia,” says Nadezhda Babkina. - And some came from neighboring countries - from Georgia, the Baltic states and Belarus. Any exhibit, like a person, has its own destiny, which everyone here can tell. ”

The opening of a new unusual object of the capital’s culture took place in a special atmosphere of warmth and comfort, although it could not be otherwise - the small stage of the theater on the Garden Ring is intended for those who love the chamber of the home theater.

Famous doll masters, designers, collectors, as well as famous friends of Nadezhda Babkina came to congratulate Nadezhda Georgievna and give gifts to the museum.

For example, Renat Ibragimov, People’s Artist of Russia and Tatarstan, artistic director of the Vagapov Festival, expressed gratitude for the preservation of traditions and customs and replenished the museum’s collection with a Tatar doll. A deputy of the Moscow City Duma Larisa Kartavtseva presented a gymnast doll. The Council of Muftis of Russia and the Tatar Autonomy of Moscow also contributed to the museum: one of the exhibits was the Tatar musical doll "Camilla". Russian Post presented the museum with a collection of porcelain figurine of the Russian postman, painted in the Gzhel style.

On this day, the museum’s collection was replenished with works from famous Russian craftswomen. So, the master of rag dolls Elena Tikhonova presented the Kursk column, the work of another famous craftswoman, Irina Shikova, became a new exhibit of the museum.

A special exhibit - a unique Nadenka doll - turned out to be in the spotlight. She can perform songs from the repertoire of Nadezhda Babkina, and it was developed by Alexander and Lyudmila Saprykiny, who for 30 years have been designing and creating hardware and software systems in the city of Sergiev-Posad. A gray linen dress with embroidery and a kokoshnik decorated with white beads were sewn by craftsmen from the city of Mytishchi near Moscow. The design of this doll was worked by artists and inventors. The result is a wonderful symbol of Russian folk song.

Nadezhda Babkina has been keeping, studying and popularizing the culture and traditions of the peoples of our country for many years, which is also confirmed by the collection of dolls, which gives an idea of the national costumes of different countries and nationalities.

In addition to the main exhibition, the museum plans to hold exhibitions of dolls by Russian masters. So, in September, visitors will be able to see a collection of dolls by the famous master from Tomsk Svetlana Lipovka. The current exhibition is complemented by the works of the masters of the group “Inspiration, ideas, dolls” and Alevtina Kuptsova.

The solemn opening ceremony of the Museum ended with the folk program “Autumn, Autumn, we invite you to visit!” From the “Year Round” cycle. Songs, chants, dances, proverbs and sayings, traditional for this time of year, for the guests were performed by the artists of the ensemble “Russians”.