How many unusual museums exist in the world and in St. Petersburg including? These can be not only art galleries or exhibits in famous ancient buildings, but also interesting original monuments of Russian culture in ordinary buildings.
Stieglitz Museum, St. Petersburg
In the center of the city, where the academy graduating artists is located, there is a museum, which contains a unique collection of things relating to different times and styles. More than thirty thousand exhibits from antiquity to the present day can be seen in the museum: porcelain, ceramics, metal, furniture, Russian tiled stoves, as well as student works over the past half century.
The building itself is also a historical heritage and a unique monument. It was created by the architect Maximilian Mesmacher, it resembles Italian buildings of the Renaissance. It was built not only for beauty, but also for students to clearly see an example and be able to join the world of art. Pupils also took an active part in the design of the halls in order to put into practice their knowledge gained in classrooms.
History of the Stieglitz Museum of Applied Art
In 1876, the famous baron, as well as the financier, industrialist and philanthropist Alexander Stieglitz, wanted to create a technical drawing school. Two years later, in 1878, a museum appeared in one of the buildings of the school. The statesman Alexander Polovtsev, architect Maximilian Mesmakher took an active part in the development. It was he who, in 1885, began the construction of the building in which the museum was supposed to be located, at the same time, antiques and objects of applied art were bought at various Russian and international auctions.
The Stieglitz Academy of Applied Art Museum's collection includes high-quality exhibits that belonged to the eras of antiquity, the Renaissance, the Middle Ages, and to the Oriental and Russian art of the 17th and 18th centuries.
After 11 years, in 1896, the official opening took place, where Nicholas II was present with his family, as well as noble people of St. Petersburg.
In specially made display cases, samples of gold, copper, porcelain, jewelry, fabrics were placed.
Since then, the Stieglitz museum collection has been constantly replenished, international exhibitions have been held. In 1898 the exhibition "World of Art" was held, in 1904 - "Historical Exhibition of Art Objects", in 1915 - "Exhibition of Church Antiquities".
Museum funds
More than thirty-five thousand objects in 14 halls and galleries from antiquity to the present day are located in the Stieglitz Museum. All funds can be divided into types of art, such as the ceramic and porcelain fund. The main exhibits presented here were collected after the war and obtained from the collections of the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and the USSR Academy of Arts. Presented are products created at the imperial china factory, items from China and Japan, made during the reign of the Qing Dynasty.
The art glass fund has more than 350 exhibits from different eras, and some belong to the VI-V centuries. BC e.: glasses, beads, amulets, vessels. Separately, it can be noted objects related to the Venetian glass making, and the collection of Russian glass, which is represented by single samples.
Another interesting collection presented at the Stieglitz Museum is the fabric, which has more than 7 thousand samples, showing various methods of decoration: weaving, printing, embroidery with silk and gold threads. A significant part is made up of robes that were donated from the Museum of the History of Religion: clothes of priests, servants of a Buddhist temple, Catholic ornates, and others.
In addition to these funds, the museum also has a collection of fine art, bone art, furniture and wood carvings.
