Pushkin Fine Art museum



1
 One of the richest world collections of fine arts from the time immemorial to nowadays is treasured in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts that is favorably situated in the very center of Moscow, close to the Kremlin and Red Square. Nowadays it is the second, after the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, largest museum of foreign art in Russia.

2  The Museum originates from the Cabinet of Fine Arts and Antiquities, established in the 1840s on the initiative of professors and scientists of the Moscow University. Wonderful collections of the Cabinet formed the basis of the exposition of the new Museum of Fine Arts. For the construction of the museum's building the territory of the former Carriage (Kolymazni) court that is in the very center of the city not far from the Kremlin was given by Moscow Duma to the University. The winner of the architectural contest and the author of the project was Roman Ivanovich Klein. He designed the building that reminds greatly of an ancient classical temple on the high podium with the Ionic colonnade along the facade. Its splendid interiors were decorated according to the styles of certain historical periods that were to be represented there.
 The solemn opening of the Museum that at first was officially called the Museum of Fine Arts named after Alexander III took place on May 31, 1912.






Cruises