April 24, 2014 at 12:00 in the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts will open the 147th information and educational center (IPC) "Russian Museum:
a virtual branch"

The Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (KIIII) is one of the most significant cultural and educational centers of the Kaluga Region. It was formed in April 2014 by the merger of the Kaluga Regional Art Museum, created in 1918, and the Regional Image Gallery "Image", opened in 1994.

The KIII collection contains about 12 thousand works of painting, graphic art, sculpture and decorative and applied art created by Russian and Western European masters of the 16th-20th centuries. The main exposition of the KIIA is located in the main house of the Bilibin-Chistokletovs estate - an architectural monument of the beginning of the 19th century (Lenin St., 104). The Ignatiev House (Lenin St., 103), built at the beginning of the 20th century, houses the Information, Education and Exhibition Center, where the Russian Museum: Virtual Branch, the first in the Kaluga region, will open.

The activity of the KIIA has always been aimed at preserving the historical and cultural heritage, introducing citizens to the best examples of domestic and world art culture. In recent years, the museum has become known in the region for its successful exhibition projects and vibrant cultural events. Art-aesthetic education is a priority of the KIIA and includes educational programs (cycles of excursions, lectures, contests, creative classes, concerts, etc.) for various age categories, in particular, for a school audience. The Magic Rainbow children’s art and aesthetic studio created at the museum operates on the basis of the Hello and Museum! Museum and educational program of the Russian Center for Museum Pedagogy and Children’s Creativity of the State Russian Museum.

The virtual branch of the Russian Museum opening on the basis of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts will become a fundamentally new resource and educational platform in the region. Thanks to the latest computer technologies, free access to electronic-digital resources created on the basis of scientific developments of specialists of the Russian Museum, visitors will be able to take virtual trips to the world of great Russian culture, get acquainted with the work of famous Russian artists, with masterpieces of national painting, “visit” museum expositions and even “enter” the world of individual paintings!

On the basis of the IEC “Russian Museum: Virtual Branch”, the Museum Lecture Hall on Russian and Foreign Art will continue to operate. In a multimedia cinema with 50 seats, there will be screenings of videos, presentations, broadcast of lectures from the Russian Museum on-line, concerts, opening of exhibitions, meetings with interesting people will take place. The multimedia programs of the branch will become part of the educational process in the disciplines of the humanitarian and artistic and aesthetic cycles in educational institutions of the city and region. In the computer classroom, visitors will also be able to independently familiarize themselves with the materials of the library: films, presentations, interactive programs. The educational potential of the center is addressed to schoolchildren, students, teachers and all lovers of fine art.

The opening of the branch invited officials - the governor of the Kaluga region, the Mayor of the city of Kaluga, representatives of regional ministries and city departments of culture and education, heads of city institutions, as well as teachers, pupils and students.

Presentation of the project “Russian Museum: virtual branch” will be conducted by specialists of the development department of the project “Russian Museum: virtual branch” of the State Russian Museum.

“RUSSIAN MUSEUM: VIRTUAL BRANCH” is a unique international project embodying the idea of accessibility of the country’s largest collection of national art. The Russian Museum of St. Petersburg has been implementing this project since 2003, opening virtual branches in museums, universities, cultural centers, institutions of further education in Russia and abroad. Thanks to computer technology, thousands of residents of Russia, near and far abroad have access to the richest collection of Russian fine art, to the values of Russian culture, the historical and artistic past of Russia.

The widespread use of the latest computer technology allows you to realize the task through the creation of information and educational centers. The complex of the Russian Museum and its collections provide excellent opportunities for this: the museum has the largest collection of national fine art in the world, created over a thousand years. Using electronic technologies, the wealth accumulated by the museum and the results of scientific research on the history of Russian art are made available to every visitor to the Russian Museum: Virtual Branch information and educational centers.

As part of this international educational project, 146 Russian Museum: Virtual Branch centers have already been opened in Russia, abroad and even in Antarctica. Cultural and educational institutions, multimedia and resource centers for children and adults today use in their work about 300 computer programs and digitized videos transmitted by the Russian Museum to information and educational centers.

The content of the center is Media Library - a single database of multimedia programs and videos of the Russian Museum. Computer technologies - three-dimensional modeling, panoramic photography - allow you to get acquainted with the collections of the Russian Museum, take virtual tours of the museum rooms, recreate the lost palace interiors and even take a virtual journey into the space of the picture, which turns into a fascinating tour.

The Internet portal “Russian Museum: Virtual Branch” (www.virtualrm.spb.ru) covers the activities of the centers and unites all project participants into a single information space. Performing representative and communicative functions, the portal allows you to quickly receive information about events in the life of the Russian Museum and virtual branches, share work experience, gain access to new multimedia programs, “visit” the opening days of the Russian Museum, study Russian art using electronic textbooks, and take “walks” with virtual branches ”for the cities participating in the project and much more.

The general sponsors of the project to create information and educational centers "Russian Museum: a virtual branch" are the joint-stock financial corporation "SYSTEM" and the company "Mobile TeleSystems".

The grand opening of the 147th information and educational center "Russian Museum: a virtual branch" will be held April 24, 2014 at 12.00 at the address: Kaluga, Lenin Street, 103.

Kaluga, st. Lenin, 104. Tel. 8 (4842) 56-28-30. artmuseum.kaluga.ru