OPENING OF THE CULTURAL EXHIBITION CENTER OF THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM IN KAZAN

March 19, 2016 at the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, the first Russian cultural and exhibition center of the Russian Museum opens. The opening of the center is timed to the birthday of the Russian Museum. On March 19, 1898, the country’s first state museum of Russian fine art was opened. Today, the Russian Museum is not only a unique repository of art values, but also one of the largest centers of cultural and educational work, the scientific and methodological center of art museums of the Russian Federation, which oversees the work of 260 art museums in Russia.

The opening of the Cultural and Exhibition Center in Kazan is the result of many years of cooperation between the Russian Museum and the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan. In 2008, within the framework of the federal comprehensive program “Russia”, the exhibition “Arkhip Kuindzhi” from the collection of the Russian Museum was held in the halls of the Pushkin Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Information and Education Center “Russian Museum: a virtual branch” was opened. On the basis of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in 2011, the Resource Center for the creative development of children and adolescents with various social and physical capabilities was created. In 2012, the Russian Museum hosted an exhibition prepared by the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin.

In December 2014, a cooperation agreement was signed between the museums on the project "Cultural and Exhibition Center of the Russian Museum".

In 2014–2016, temporary exhibitions from the collection of the Russian Museum (“Nicholas Roerich. 1874–1947”, “Zinaida Serebryakova”, “Invitation to Dinner”), as well as educational and enlightening programs with the participation of specialists from the Russian Museum were successfully held in Kazan.

Employees of the Pushkin Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan regularly participate in meetings, courses, seminars and internships organized by the Russian Museum for the country’s art museums. On the basis of the museum in Kazan, training seminars for museum specialists of the Republic of Tatarstan were repeatedly held with the participation of specialists from the Russian Museum and international experts.

The Pushkin Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan takes an active part in inter-museum projects of the Russian Museum - virtual exhibitions, publication of collections of articles aimed at popularizing the collections of art museums in the country, etc.

Based on the experience of implementing joint exhibition and educational projects, the Russian Museum and the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan have developed a draft program of activities for the Cultural and Exhibition Center of the Russian Museum.

The exhibition and exhibition center will be located on the territory of the Main Building of the Pushkin Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan in a two-story manor type mansion built at the beginning of the 20th century as the residence of the commander of the Kazan Military District, and in the park wing. Today, the mansion is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city center, the preserved fence around it is an excellent example of Chebaksin art forging.

At the first stage, the Culture and Exhibition Center of the Russian Museum in Kazan will include an exhibition and exhibition space in the halls of the second floor of the Main Building of the complex, as well as the Russian Museum: Virtual Branch Information and Education Center and the Resource Center for the Creative Development of Children with Various Social and Physical opportunities located in the outbuilding on the estate.

In the future, the Cultural and Exhibition Center will be located in the same territory in a separate building.

On March 19, 2016, the Cultural and Exhibition Center will begin work with the opening of the Karl Bryullov exhibition from the collection of the Russian Museum. It will feature 50 works by an outstanding painter, including "Self-portrait", "Girl picking grapes in the vicinity of Naples", as well as a sketch of the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" and others - a total of 30 watercolors and 20 paintings.

In the future, it is planned to organize and conduct one or two temporary exhibitions a year at the Exhibition and Convention Center from the collection of the Russian Museum and the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan. A variety of educational and enlightenment programs will be held at the Resource Center and the Russian Museum: Virtual Branch Information and Education Center. For museum specialists will be organized lectures, seminars, consultations on various areas of activity, including online. It is also expected that the center will become a venue for events of an urban and regional scale.

The project "Cultural and Exhibition Centers of the Russian Museum" unites all areas of cooperation of the Russian Museum with regional museums in the field of exhibition, enlightenment and educational activities.

This long-term project is designed to promote the creation of a unified cultural and information space in Russia, as well as to overcome the disconnect between the museums of capitals, cities and towns, provide citizens with access to cultural values and information resources, using the scientific, methodological and organizational and creative potential of the Russian Museum - the largest treasury of domestic art.

The project was prepared in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 597 of May 7, 2012 “On measures for the implementation of state social policy” and was supported by the Board of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (Decision of the Board of the MK of the Russian Federation of 05.28.2014).

The Russian Museum, together with project participants, is developing a work program for cultural and exhibition centers (CEC), which includes exhibiting works from the collection of the Russian Museum as part of temporary exhibitions, the opening and operation of the Russian Museum: Virtual Branch Information and Education Center and the Resource Center for the Creative Development of Children and adolescents with different social and physical abilities. Cooperation involves the organization of training for specialists of the partner museum, methodological support of exhibitions from the collection of the Russian Museum, conducting classes, online lectures, and master classes.