Russian art through the centuries-Tretyakov Art Gallery and Museon Art Park

The State Tretyakov Gallery

Founded in the middle of the 19th century nowadays the museum displays one of the largest, most significant and broadest collections of Russian fine art and icons in the world. Pavel Tretyakov, the founder of the museum opened his private gallery to the public in 1881 and the entrance was free of charge. As the collection grew bigger the architects rebuilt the house several times in order to accommodate all the paintings. The official opening of new museum took place on August 15th, 1893.

In 1918 the Tretyakov gallery was nationalized and became the property of the Russian Federative Soviet Republic and received the name of "The State Tretyakov Gallery". The Soviet government gave many paintings and collections, nationalized during the revolution, to the museum.

The gallery has 62 rooms and 100,000 works charting the development of Russian painting from the 10th to the end of the 19th Century.

 

Museon Art Park

This fascinating park is the final resting place for the many Soviet statues evicted from Russia’s parks and squares following the collapse of Communism. Founded in 1992, the park has been accumulating monuments for over 20 years, and today its collection comprises more than 700 sculptures, including some notable pieces by Vera Mukhina, Ivan Shadr, Yevgeny Vuchetich, Yevgeny Chubarov and a number of other contemporary sculptors.

Highlights include the huge steel sculpture of the Soviet world, innumerable giant pedestal-less Lenins, monuments to the Red Army, and a de-nosed Stalin. In 2013 the Krymskaya embankment became a pedestrian zone and part of the Muzeon park. Comfortable benches, a fountain, bicycle-hire and a cafe have transformed this place into a year-round hangout for young and old.