Come and see. May 18th is World Museum Day.
This year marks the 46th International Museum Day. It has been celebrated worldwide since 1977, when the 11th General Conference ICOM (International Council of Museums) was held in Moscow and Leningrad. Then, the museum community decided to create a special event, which became International Museum Day. Typically, a couple of days before or the following weekend, the "Night of Museums" festival begins, featuring numerous tours, workshops, and lectures. Admission to state museums is often free.
Every year, Museum Day became more and more popular: for example, in 2007, the number of festive events participated 70 countries, and in 2015, more than 35 museums from 145 countries. It's not entirely clear with whom in the international community we'll celebrate this day, but for now, Russia has plenty of its own museums—not just airplane parts. And their number is growing, thanks to the initiatives of creative people who care about their history. You can read about these "people's" museums at your leisure in the "Not Moscow" section.A provincial museum is not boring!", and for now, here's a selection of 7 unusual museums from the regions.
Tanais Museum-Reserve. Rostov Regionь
Tanais — an ancient city (first quarter of the 3rd century BC – mid-5th century AD), located on the right bank of the Dead Donets River, the longest branch of the Don Delta. Founded by Greeks from the Bosporan Kingdom.
Excavations here began in the mid-19th century, and the museum-reserve was created another century later, in 1958.
Excavated sections of the ancient city form an open-air exhibition. The unique "Hall of Amphora Standards" contains numerous amphoras from Tanais and the surrounding area.
"At the mouth of the Don stands Tanais, where cheerful people live: a painter, a poet, and an artist have found refuge here. They breathe the mysteries of bygone centuries, and weave wreaths of flowers for themselves. Archaeologist Valery Chesnok sheltered them under a Greek roof."
These are lines from a song Alexander Gorodnitsky, who visited the "Tanaites" in the 1980s and 1990s, when a vibrant bohemian community gathered around "Tanais." Plays from classical antiquity were staged here at the ancient settlement, and costumed celebrations were held.
With the change of management in the early 2000s, Tanais lost much of its originality, but remains a local landmark. Valery Chesnok, who for many years was the center of the museum's cultural life, passed away quite recently, on May 2.
People's Museum of the Soviet Past. Penza Oblast
For three years now, residents the city of Zarechny, which is located 20 kilometers from Penza, themselves add to the local museum's collection. They bring items from Soviet times: children's toys, string bags filled with empty kefir bottles, old televisions and radios, washing machines, and sewing machines.
The creator of the unusual exhibition was a historian from Zarechye Victor KladovHe wanted to compile an unofficial history of his city that would tell about everyday life and everyday life.
In creating the exhibition, the museum sought to move away as much as possible from the traditional "warehouse of things" format. All exhibits are accessible for touch and handling. Visitors are also invited to fill out special forms—the so-called object passport—in which they can record their memories associated with the object.
For example, one visitor "recognized" a filmstrip. He recalled that this item was used by his mother, brother, sister, and neighbors in the late 80s; it was very fashionable, prestigious, and in short supply. Filmstrips were viewed in the children's room, and a sheet, preferably new, was carefully selected for the wall.
Visitors' memories are stored in folders, where they can be read and expanded upon. The exhibition's creators intend this to spark a dialogue between generations, to reflect on and understand the Soviet past.
The museum's exhibition is still in its infancy. In a few years, it will become an independent project, created by the city's residents themselves.
Sergei Yesenin Museum-Reserve in Konstantinovo, Ryazan Oblast
Every year, the museum-reserve in Konstantinovo (the village is located 40 km from Ryazan towards Moscow) is visited by up to 450 thousand tourists From all over the country, and until recently, foreign guests also frequented it. They are drawn to the residential buildings, other structures, and natural landscapes—just as they were during the life of the poet, "hooligan," and "mischievous reveler." Sergei Yesenin (1895 – 1925).
In the center of the village stands the Yesenin house, containing household items used by the family, even the famous shushun (a wooden hut) in which the poet's mother would go out to meet him. Nearby are outbuildings: an icehouse, a barn, and a summerhouse. Being here feels like you've been teleported back in time 100 years.
Historical buildings have also been preserved in the village: the zemstvo school, the house of the priest John Smirnov, the Kazan Church, where Yesenin was baptized, the manor house of Lydia Kashina - the prototype of the heroine of the poem "Anna Snegina", and the houses of neighbors.
The first exhibition in memory of the poet was organized almost immediately after his death, in 1926. A memorial house-museum opened in 1965, and in 1984, the decision was made to establish a State Museum-Reserve. During these years, until approximately 2007, the village itself and its surroundings offered the very natural landscapes that inspired the poet's work. The late 2000s brought its own changes: cottages began to appear on the high banks of the Oka River, and the poet himself could no longer stroll there due to the abundance of barriers.
So began "modern" history The museum-reserve has acquired its own heroes. These include prominent Ryazan and Moscow officials and entrepreneurs. Sabina Tsvetkova, head of the Social Projects Center of the "Officers of Russia" organization, became the Yesenin House Museum's closest neighbor in 2016. The current owner of the property is unknown.
In 2018 year Community activists have secured the approval of the boundaries of the Yesenin Rus landmark, within which construction is prohibited without specific permits. Due to legislative imbalances, local residents are sufferingThey can't build an extension to their house, build on land allocated to large families, or re-roof with modern materials. The history of the museum-reserve—not always clear, sometimes illegal, riotous, and fascinating—continues.
Novosibirsk Museum of Railway Equipment named after N. A. Akulinin
The museum has opened in 2000 year on the initiative of a hereditary railway worker Nikolai Arkhipovich Akulinin, who became its first director. Akulinin retired but decided to continue doing what he loved. He personally participated in selecting exhibits for the railway equipment museum. At the time of its opening, the exhibition included 63 pieces, ranging from locomotives to track equipment. Currently, the museum's collection comprises more than 100 exhibits and is updated with new ones every year. A separate area displays a fleet of vintage cars.
Visitors can not only examine the railway equipment from the outside, but also peer into a WWII-era operating car or sit in an imperial compartment. However, this requires booking a separate tour for 350 rubles. A standard ticket for 110 rubles only allows access to the locomotive's driver's cabin.
The museum is located near the Seyatel station on the Novosibirsk-Berdsk railway line. It can be reached by car from the city center via the Berdskoye Highway, which connects Novosibirsk with Akademgorodok. The museum entrance is on the highway, and there is a designated parking lot. You can also get there by bus or commuter train.
Tomsk Memorial Museum of the History of Political Repressions "NKVD Investigative Prison"
Located in the basement of the building in which in 1923-1944 The internal prison of the Tomsk city department of the OGPU-NKVD was located here. Before the revolution, a church and teacher's school was located here.
After years 1944 The building was renovated and converted into residential housing. It housed primarily NKVD officers and members of the party nomenklatura. Later, apartments were also provided to employees of Tomsk State University. The area adjacent to the building served as the prison's courtyard, where the Memorial Square now stands. A Stone of Sorrow for all victims of political repression, as well as memorials to repressed Kalmyks, Poles, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, are also located there.
Senior researcher at the museum Vasily Khanevich This is how he recalls the history of the museum’s creation in 1989. "We had a proposal to create a museum to the director of the local history museum, Nadezhda Yakovlevna Sergeeva, but she kept saying there wasn't enough space. But then, in the building next to the museum, a basement became available. It was a happy coincidence. At the time, it housed a children's technical arts club where they did karting, photography, and aircraft modeling. They were moving to another location. The administration didn't even know what was in that basement, but we already knew, because former prisoners from Tomsk were coming to us. In 1996, we held our first exhibition in one of the rooms—art in the Gulag. These were drawings by a prisoner." Euphrosyne of KersnovskayaOn June 1, 2002, the museum opened to visitors, and I was appointed director.
In 2022 year The Memory Foundation, in collaboration with the Gulag History Museum and the M.B. Shatilov Tomsk Regional Museum of Local History, carried out a large-scale renovation. The museum now has a public space where documentaries can be viewed and discussed, and seminars, expert meetings, and master classes can be held. Anyone can visit the museum to learn about their repressed relatives.
The museum is located in the center of Tomsk at the address: Lenin Avenue, 44.
Makharbek Tuganov Art Museum, Vladikavkaz
It is located in the historical center of Vladikavkaz - on Mira Avenue (former Aleksandrovsky Prospect) in one of the most beautiful mansions of the 20th century - a shopping Oganov's houseThis is a cultural heritage site of Russia.
The museum is unique not only for its exhibits, but also for the museum itself. building from 1903 buildings with stained-glass windows, painted ceilings, and a real winter garden. Its interiors are the only ones in Vladikavkaz that have retained their layout, paintings, and stucco work almost unchanged.
The mansion was built by order of one of the richest people in Vladikavkaz at the beginning of the 20th century - merchant Bogdan Oganov, which was engaged in manufacturing and supplied the entire city with fabrics and ready-made clothing. The ground floor was intended for retail space, and the upper floor housed residential quarters.
The mansion has become a unique monument to Russian Art Nouveau. The museum's interiors are an eclectic space, in which the architect skillfully blended various historical styles: Empire, Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau. The staircases are decorated with Greek and Egyptian ornaments. The museum's crown jewel is the Moorish-style winter garden. After several months of restoration, the pre-revolutionary fountain, made of rock crystal, shells, coral, and imported tuff, once again flows.
At various times, the ground floor housed various workshops and shops, even the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ossetian ASSR. In 1956, the art museum moved in. In 1971, it was named after the founder of modern Ossetian fine art, the painter and teacher. Maharbek TuganovThe museum displays pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and Ossetian fine art, as well as antique books. The exhibits come from all over Russia: from the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery, and private collections. Works by Ossetian sculptors are also on display.
And, according to caretakers and regulars, you can even see a real ghost here! At least, they like to tell a legend about a six-year-old girl who, seeing a woman in period attire in the museum, wanted to get a closer look, reached out her hand, and… her hand passed right through her. Rumor has it that other ancient houses in the neighborhood are also haunted by guests from the past. Don't believe me? You can always check.
Mishkin House Toy Museum, Kazan
This place is called magical; it's a home where toys don't just sit or stand on shelves. They live there, and the warmth of that life fills the air.
It all began over 40 years ago, when a little boy would burst into tears if his parents threw away a legless or earless stuffed animal. For the boy, these weren't toys that had served their purpose, but friends. How could you throw away a friend? So, all the "crippled" ones were kept at home. This was the beginning of a teddy bear collection.
The museum opened in 2015 on the grounds of the Tugan Avylym (Native Village) entertainment complex in central Kazan. Its exhibition centered on two collections of soft toys: director Evgeny Aladinsky and architect Oksana KhoroshkovaNow it's a three-level home for hundreds of bears, from tiny to enormous. There's a magic wardrobe, a den where you can make a wish, an attic full of mysteries and wonders. And there are passionate caretakers who know everything there is to know about bears.
Each toy tells its own story: one bear goes fishing, another flies in a hot air balloon, a third drinks tea with honey. And yet another simply enjoys life, lying in a hammock.
Almost all the bears here are unique and handcrafted. The oldest exhibit 80+ years oldThere are toys from the collection. Vladimir Zeldin, Natalia Oreiro and other famous people. Visitors leave enthusiastic reviews of the museum. "Close your eyes and it feels like you're somewhere at your grandma's in the countryside, sleeping under a down comforter." "This place was the brightest and kindest of the entire trip; it brought smiles to our faces for the entire evening and the following days!"And, of course, guests recommend visiting the museum with children.
The text uses photos from the following sources: the online magazine "Inde," the Sergei Yesenin Museum-Reserve group on VK, the Tanais Museum website, the Zarechny Exhibition Center website, and MIXYFOTOS.RU., Denis Lebedev, Sergey Kraev
