The editorial staff of our publication once again helps readers find ways to diversify their cultural leisure and have an informative time. In today’s article we will tell you about the House-Museum of Viktor Vasnetsov, an architectural monument and a significant cultural space that contains the works of the most famous author.
The house-museum was built according to the artist’s own project: Vasnetsov’s hand not only filled and “revived” the interior, but also developed sketches of the facade, drew the layout and “set” the foundation for the future house. The result was a two-story log mansion with authentic architecture and interiors made in the native Russian style. In the future museum, the artist lived and worked fruitfully from 1894 to 1926 – it was there that Vasnetsov created his most famous works – “Heroes”, “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” and others.
After the artist’s death in 1926, family members and creative followers of Vasnetsov began to make efforts to preserve the legacy of the great master, which affected not only his works, but also personal belongings, as well as the entourage and appearance of the mansion. In 1948, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.M. Vasnetsov, the heirs made the final decision to create a memorial museum, and 5 years later its opening took place.
From the very moment of the artist’s death, the organizers of the museum space sought to preserve the house and its contents in their original form: even now, in our time, the furnishings of most rooms have remained preserved. For example, on the second floor of the mansion, where Vasnetsov once set up a workshop, almost everything remains as before: there are paintings on easels, the artist’s brushes are on the work table, icons and folk costumes from his collection are in the windows.
Now the museum’s collection includes about 26 thousand museum exhibits – paintings, iconography and graphics, objects of applied art and everyday life, and other cultural and historical artifacts that belonged to Vasnetsov and people of his creative environment. The house also has preserved furniture made according to the sketches of Viktor Vasnetsov and Elena Polenova, a creative like-minded artist and student of the artist, about whom we wrote earlier.
A significant part of the collection consists of photographs, letters, documents, books from Vasnetsov’s personal library and other things. The content of the exhibition helps not only to get acquainted with outstanding creativity, but also to travel through time, visiting a space identical to the one in which the author created more than a century ago.
The museum space regularly hosts excursions and thematic events, for example, the “Music Lounge”, which will be held at the museum on May 18, the artist’s birthday. The program will include the opening of the Wonderful Surprise exhibition, and after that a classical music concert will take place, at which Russian pianist and composer Ivan Sokolov will perform works by Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Brahms.
The museum has a day off on Monday and Tuesday. From Wednesday to Sunday, the museum welcomes visitors from 10:00 to 17:00 (ticket offices and entrance until 16:00). The last Thursday of the month is a sanitary day. Details about the cost of tickets and how to get there are on the website.
