Block Museum-Apartment (St. Petersburg, Russia) - expositions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
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The cultural life of Russia at the beginning of the last century cannot be imagined without Alexander Blok. He spent the last 9 years of his life in St. Petersburg Kolomna, the current Admiralteysky district, the center of the capital's theaters, art galleries and tenement houses with inexpensive apartments inhabited by artists, artists, writers and other, in modern terms, "creative class". It was here that the poet experienced a creative upsurge and crisis, wrote The Twelve, The Nightingale Garden and the play The Rose and the Cross, staged at the Art Theater.
A bit of history
Alexander Blok and his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna settled in apartment No. 21 of house No. 57 on Officerskaya Street in 1912. In 1920 they moved in with his widowed mother, which did not add peace and tranquility to the family. A year later, the poet died, rejected by both his colleagues and the Soviet authorities. His wife transferred personal belongings, a library and an archive to the funds of the Pushkin House. Only in 1980 was a branch of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg finally organized in Blok's apartment. In fact, it became the first museum dedicated to the culture of the Russian Silver Age.
What to watch
The Alexander Blok Museum is divided in two. On the 4th floor is his memorial apartment. The interiors of the office, dining room, bedroom and wife's room were reconstructed here. Ordinary environment, no special luxury. There is a novelty on the dining table - a samovar with a spirit lamp, which does not require firewood and a tall chimney. The round table is covered with a family green tablecloth, on it stands ceramic dishes that Lyubov Dmitrievna collected. Her portrait adorns the dining room, where the wedding icon of the Kazan Mother of God hangs in the red corner. Another image, the Savior of the Almighty, is located above Blok’s desk, opposite the reproduction of the painting “Grieving Madonna” by D. B. Salvi, acquired by him because of his resemblance to the bride.
The literary part of the museum is located two floors below. Autographs of the poet, illustrations for his works are exhibited here. The exposition is organized as a journey through the book pages, the creative world of the poet is revealed gradually and completely. Visitors note the benevolent atmosphere reigning here, created by employees and guides.
For children, a master class "Your own publisher" is held, where everyone tries on the role of an author, editor, proofreader, illustrator, and, finally, prints his own book. High school students at the creative lesson "Comprehension of the world of the poet" get acquainted with the culture of the Silver Age, try to write their first poems and read them surrounded by the unique aura of Blok's apartment.
Practical Information
Address: St. Petersburg, st. Decembrists, 57. Website.
How to get there: by metro to st. "Nevsky Prospekt", then by buses No. 22, 3, 27, minibuses No. 169, 180, 306; to st. "Sennaya Square" or "Sadovaya", then by minibus No. 1; to st. "Narvskaya", then minibuses No. 1, 169, 306.
Opening hours: from Thursday to Monday from 11:00 to 18:00, on Tuesday from 11:00 to 17:00, day off - Wednesday. Ticket price for adults - 160 RUB, for students and pensioners - 110 RUB. Prices on the page are for October 2018.
In the era of multimedia and virtual reality, exhibitions based on authentic archival documents can be a bold decision for a curator. How to tell two biographies of the same writer without mystification and allusions and present the documents as special effects? About this in an interview with the scientific curator of the exhibition "Bulgakov. Two biographies» Maria Kotova.
“For the anniversary of Bulgakov, we made a historical exposition, and it was a fundamental decision to show only genuine archival documents and museum exhibits in it. People's idea of Bulgakov is formed mainly by the novel "The Master and Margarita", his image is mythologized. It was important for us to show the real biography of the writer and the person.”
Maria Kotova - philologist, leading researcher at the State M. A. Bulgakov Museum
Maria Kotova - philologist, leading researcher at the State Museum of M. A. Bulgakov, scientific curator of the exhibition (Exhibition Hall "New Manege", 10/27/2016-01/09/2017). She acted as a scientific curator of more than a dozen exhibitions at the Bulgakov Museum, the exhibition "One-Story America: Based on Real Events" (at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, March 24 - May 22, 2016).
The exhibition is based on original archival documents, museum items, a total of 700 exhibits from 30 repositories in Moscow and St. Petersburg - state archives, libraries, museums, private collections. How to carry out this work to identify, select and, most importantly, collect all the exhibits? What needs to be understood, taken into account and what difficulties to overcome?
First, you need to understand in which collections the exhibits needed for the exhibition are located, what and where to look.
Then it is important to build communication with the institution that stores these exhibits. Curators of museums and archives can suggest what else they have on the topic, which may not be known to the curator. For direct work, it must be taken into account that each institution has its own rules, its own scientific and reference apparatus, and the conditions for providing original documents and objects. We faced the fact that almost everyone initially offered copies of documents, thinking that only their content was important to us. Archives store the document, not the exhibition item; the safety of the document is important to them.
All photos provided by the Museum of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov
It should be taken into account that the rules for issuing original documents and objects are different for state archives, museums and private collectors. Of course, there are necessary basic requirements: insurance, transportation by specialized vehicles, climate control and site safety. Our project was organized and supervised by the M. Bulgakov Museum, but the exhibition site that accepted the exhibits for safekeeping was the Exhibition Hall "New Manege". Some archives and museums agreed to transfer the exhibits to us, the Bulgakov Museum, and some insisted on transferring only to the curator of the exhibition hall. That is, there were bilateral agreements, and there were also tripartite ones. In working with private collectors, there are fewer formal procedures, but personal agreement and trust are important, you need to be carried away by the concept and scale of the project. It is important for them to show their collection in large, bright projects. As for the conditions, some of the private collectors insisted on specialized transport and special security measures, some did not. For example, one of the most striking exhibits of the exhibition - a portrait of Mikhail Bulgakov by Nikolai Radlov - hung in the hall in the same way as the collector's, that is, without glass, but throughout the exhibition, a caretaker always sat next to this exhibit.
Sketches of scenery and costumes for performances staged based on Bulgakov's works, taken from theater museums, had to be enriched before export, in the museums themselves, only in frames under glass we already delivered them to the exhibition hall. Some exhibits were enriched by the museums themselves or their trusted companies.
The curators also hand over the exhibits to us under different conditions. For example, the curators of the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library not only handed over documents according to the acts, but also personally attended the site during the installation period, monitored the conditions for exposing documents from their collection throughout the entire period of the exhibition. This was their condition. Of course, professional custodians of the host country, i.e. a museum or an exhibition site, are also needed. We had a huge number of exhibits, so another curator from another museum was invited, she helped to monitor the safety of the exhibits during their installation in the windows.
The exhibition area must have a separate equipped room for the temporary storage of all original exhibits. The room must be equipped with climate control, special lighting, have safes, burglar alarms. When there are 700 exhibits on the site, and the construction and installation of showcases occur simultaneously with the delivery of exhibits, such a room is necessary.
For the export of authentic exhibits from various storage facilities, you need a reliable, professional transport company that specializes in packing and transporting cultural property, museum items, archival documents. And you need to build and approve a schedule for the delivery of exhibits with the transport company and the exhibition site, synchronize it with the schedule for the construction of the exhibition hall and the installation of shop windows.
Competent legal support is important for drawing up contracts, taking into account museum and archival legislation, rules and regulations. And we must be prepared for the fact that one universal agreement is not enough, the agreement is adapted or developed for each case. You need a reliable and experienced contractor. Either one contractor who takes care of everything from construction to label printing, or different contractors. We had a problem with the labels in the project, the contractor printed the labels at the last moment and delivered them a few hours before the opening, some labels were not printed, and we printed them and laid them out after the opening. Such situations, of course, should not be.
There was an abundance of original documents in the exhibition, but documents are not special effects, not an entertaining action, in order to get the impression, the visitor must do the work. What techniques did you use to ensure that the viewer did not have a wandering look, but a desire for thoughtful reading, immersion?
The entire exposition space was divided into thematic sections (compartments), it was not a single zone overloaded with documents. For example, in the first hall, dedicated to Bulgakov's literary five-year period of 1921-1926, each showcase contained a complete plot, documents were laid out inside so that there was an outset, a climax and a denouement. In the theater hall, compartments-sections were devoted to Bulgakov's plays - "Days of the Turbins", "Zoyka's Apartment", "Crimson Island", etc. It turned out some story told with the help of exhibits.
Collectively, these stories formed a biography. Based on the series. You can watch one episode, or you can watch to the end. A trained viewer may have been interested in individual stories, he could watch the exposition in separate blocks. Separate showcases were made for iconic exhibits, on which it was important to focus. So, for example, a separate showcase was made for the very first exhibit of the exhibition - the rarest (probably the only surviving) issue of the Grozny newspaper dated November 13, 1919 with Bulgakov's first publication - the feuilleton "Future Prospects".
Also, heterogeneous documents should be placed in the showcase. No matter how important the documents are, they cannot be laid out in a row in one showcase, they will not be read. If one of the exhibits in the showcase is an important document in terms of content, which is a typewritten sheet, then there should be a photo, a drawing, some object nearby. It should be interesting for the viewer to look at and understand what plot the exhibits in this showcase add up to.
There must be drama in the content of the exhibits. It is necessary to connect conflicting documents.
The exhibition is also a cultural and leisure event. How to combine a documented scientific component and an entertaining, exciting component in one project.
At first we had an idea to make a really working buffet in the center of the exposition. But this was impossible according to safety rules and from an architectural and artistic point of view. Then we divided the exposition space into two blocks. One hall is scientific: showcases with documents, photographs, pictorial row, the second hall is just entertaining. This is a reconstruction of Bulgakov's last apartment. A photograph of this apartment hung in the hall and the apartment itself was recreated, through which one could walk. Quotations from Bulgakov's manuscripts shone in neon lines. It was a popular effect: the audience was photographed against the background of these neon lines - Bulgakov's quotes.
In addition, there was audiovisual accompaniment - the voice of Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova (wife), reading his works, video recordings of performances based on Bulgakov's works.
How to design an exhibition and take into account categories of visitors of different ages?
Of course, our exhibition is for the prepared visitor, the spectator. For schoolchildren, we made bright spots in each section. Designer dresses were exhibited in the theater compartment, a fashion studio was recreated, as in Zoya's apartment.
Also in the theater hall was exhibited Nozdrev's dressing gown from the collection of the Moscow Art Theater Museum. In the block of emigration of Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, we placed a suitcase of that time as a symbol of emigration. Maybe a schoolboy will not study these plots from documents, but he will remember these bright accents, and he will get an impression.
What is the difference between a scientific curator and just an exhibition curator, an art curator?
The scientific curator does not need to conduct prior research. He knows the subject in detail, deeply, holistically. He knows where he can take exhibits and which ones. Sources have already been worked out. The scientific curator already has lists, developments. He also knows what collections can be interchangeable. For example, we were not given the necessary sketches of Maximilian Voloshin from the manuscript department of the Pushkin House in St. Petersburg, and I knew where I could still request such documents. As a result, we took Voloshin's sketches at the Marina Tsvetaeva Museum in Moscow.
Possessing a large amount of information on the subject of the exhibition, knowing the whole history, the scientific curator can highlight the key plots, designate turns, and build exhibits for them. Of course, one scientific curator cannot do large projects, but he knows how to form a scientific group. The scientific curator understands who he needs to work on each thematic block, and knows what tasks should be set. In our project, I understood who to involve, for example, to work out a theatrical theme.
In order to implement a scientific concept in the format of an exhibition, what specialists are needed, in addition to the technical team of developers? Who does a scientific curator need to implement his concept?
We need a team to work with archives and museums already at the stage of review. I alone physically could not work repeatedly in 30 archives and museums. I set tasks, say what and where to watch, and the team looks at it on the spot. These employees must be able to work in archives, understand the scientific reference apparatus, know the rules and regulations for providing documents for study, competently compile lists of selected exhibits, and speak the same language with museum and archive employees.
It is important for the scientific curator to work closely with the architect at the initial stage of selecting exhibits and forming lists. The architect will immediately tell you how many showcases the hall can hold, how many exhibits each showcase can hold, what should be the distance between the exhibits in the showcase, and will determine the possible volumes. The architect sees the finished project in all details and calculates it in the drawings. I can't keep in mind the size of the exhibits, the distance between them, the bilingual labels next to each item. Therefore, it is impossible to separately engage only in scientific and creative work, so that later you do not have to change the entire structure. It is important to be in contact with the artist, less than with the architect, but also to immerse the artist in a timely manner in order to develop a visual embodiment of them. For example, I built the plot of Bulgakov's theatrical activity. The plot is dramatic: at first, Bulgakov is staged in the main theater of the country - the Moscow Art Theater, then he is banned, he writes a libretto for the ballet, and in the end he leaves the theater altogether and only writes The Master and Margarita. Having understood the dramaturgy, the artist found a color solution and completed this section in black. They also artistically reflected Bulgakov's dream of being an actor. Few people know that he dreamed of being an actor. The artist made an open stage with red curtains, as is usually the case in stage dreams.
We tell a lot about the unknown side of Bulgakov's life and work, about the undercurrents in his biography, when I explained that this is a little-known part of the writer's biography, the artist designed the hall as a journey to the backstage.
The original spelling and punctuation has been preserved.
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The address may surprise you: in essence, Blok and Gumilyov were antagonists. In the first post-revolutionary years, they even directly competed in the elections to the leadership of the Petrograd Union of Poets. Nevertheless, the exhibition "Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev. On the occasion of his 130th birthday" (part of the large project "Blok and Its Surroundings") is located here very organically.
Here is Gumilyov's first collection of poems, "The Way of the Conquistadors" (1905). Published in just a print run of 300 copies at the expense of parents and then zealously destroyed by the author, "The Way ..." survived miraculously. The second collection "Romantic Flowers" (1908) can be considered the same miracle, on which there is a dedication to "Anna Andreevna Gorenko" - then not yet the poet's wife and not even the bride. Rarities highlight the paradoxical fate and glory of the most courageous poet of the Silver Age. Born frail, sickly, he made himself a hero who knew how to achieve everything he wanted. Fulfillment of dreams (remember his travels to Africa). Beloved woman (received refusals from Akhmatova, but still married her). The reputation of a fearless warrior (St. George's crosses from the First World War).
The poet, extremely popular during his lifetime, the master, who brought up a whole galaxy of "humilites", was not published in Soviet times until 1986. Gumilyov's handwritten poems were in the lists. Clear evidence of this is the blue notebook, written in the neat handwriting of the famous literary critic Vladimir Orlov: this is a handwritten collection of poems dedicated to Elena Dyubushe "To the Blue Star". Orlov copied them from the pre-revolutionary edition... The main exhibit of the exhibition is, of course, the collection Pillar of Fire. It was being prepared for publication when Gumilyov was already in the inner prison cell of the St. Petersburg GubChK. A convinced monarchist who did not hide his convictions, Gumilyov could not protect himself from the Bolshevik bullet. On the wall of the cell, he left an inscription: "Lord, forgive my sins, I'm going on my last journey." To some, apparently, such a "last word" seemed too restrained.
The exhibition also has a wonderful copy of the supposedly "last poem" attributed to Gumilyov. A reader from Sweden sent this leaflet to Orlov at one time: she assured that a certain "cellmate" of Gumilyov allegedly remembered and wrote down these lines. "Most likely a legend," remarks Marina Kovaleva, curator of the exhibition. But caravels, sunsets, swords and Petersburg sinking into oblivion completely rhymed with the life of the poet...
By the way
On the eve of his 130th birthday, you can also get acquainted with a curious fragment of the biography of Nikolai Gumilyov at the Double Double @ online film festival that started yesterday. The first competitive picture - "Elysium" by Andrei Eshpay, tells the story of the loudest hoax of the Silver Age - the poetess Cherubina de Gabriak, which was invented by Maximilian Voloshin and Elizaveta Dmitrieva. According to legend, Gumilyov fell in love with a phantom poetess, and this love became the reason for his duel with Voloshin. The film is available on the website d2.rf.ru today.
Museum-apartment of A.A. Blok is located on Dekabristov Street in St. Petersburg. The museum was opened on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the poet, in November 1980, in the house where Alexander Alexandrovich lived from July 1912 until his death in August 1921. During this period, Blok was a recognized poet; cycles of poems "What the Wind Sings About", "Carmen", the poem "The Twelve" and others were created here. The poet was visited by his famous contemporaries: A.A. Akhmatova, S.A. Yesenin, V.V. Mayakovsky, K.S. Stanislavsky, V.E. Meyerhold.
The house was built in 1874-1876 according to the plan of the architect M.F. Peterson. The building belonged to the merchant of the 1st guild M.E. Petrovsky. In 1911, engineer A.I. Fantalov organized the restructuring of office premises and erected a stable and a laundry. In 1914, according to the idea of the architect B.N. The Basina wing overlooking the Pryazhka embankment was expanded, and a 5-storey wing was also built in the yard. One of the first people who lived in this house was the future poet I.F. Annensky, who studied at St. Petersburg University.
After the death of A.A. Blok, his library, archive and collection of personal items were preserved by Lyubov Dmitrievna (his wife). After her death in 1939, they were transferred to the Institute of Russian Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, where they were partially exhibited in the 60-70s of the XX century.
The museum consists of 2 parts: a memorial apartment on the 4th floor, created from unique authentic items of decoration and furnishings that belonged to Blok, and a literary exposition on the 2nd floor, which tells about his life and creative activity. The memorial exposition is located in apartment No. 21, where Alexander Alexandrovich lived with his wife. According to the memoirs of contemporaries and on the basis of other sources, the dining room, the poet's study, the bedroom and the room of his wife were recreated.
In the dining room there are bouillottes, a serving table, dishes that belonged to the Blocks, ceramic objects from the collection of L.D. Block. Also here you can see memorial things: a lamp, a portable stove, a wardrobe, a damask tablecloth woven in Shakhmatovo in the serf workshop of great-grandfather Alexander Alexandrovich.
In the corner on the wall is the Blok's wedding icon of the Kazan Mother of God. Also on the walls you can see the portrait of Blok's wife, painted by her mother Anna Ivanovna Mendeleeva, the drawing “Fish Puppy”, made by T.N. Gippius and donated by the artist L.D. Blok, sketch of the "Castle Yard" scenery, created by M.V. Dobuzhinsky, to the drama "The Rose and the Cross", staged at the Moscow Art Theater.
There is a desk in the office, which passed to the poet from his grandmother E.G. Beketova. Above the table in the corner is the icon of the Savior Almighty, which has always been located here. The sofa and office chair were inherited from grandfather A.N. Beketova. The closet was purchased by Blok's wife. On the wall is a reproduction of the painting "Grieving Madonna" by D.B. Salvi, acquired by the poet in 1902, because Madonna resembled his fiancee Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva. Nearby is an image of the German resort of Ban Nauheim, which was donated by the mother in memory of the trip of 1897, watercolor "Zhukovsky on the shores of Lake Geneva" by E.G. Reitern.
The literary exposition is located on the second floor in apartment No. 23. It tells about the life and creative path of the poet. The exposition is built like a journey through a book, the pages of which are presented by the walls of the museum. The creative activity of the poet is considered in the voluminous context of the artistic and literary life of St. Petersburg-Petrograd in the 10-20s of the XX century. Here you can see Blok's manuscripts, books, his unique autographs and personal items.
(Musée des arts décoratifs de Paris) opened in 1905. In 2006, a large-scale renovation was carried out here: the interiors were restored and new spaces were opened. There are about 6 thousand works of art in the permanent exhibition (and in total there are about 150 thousand exhibits in the museum's storerooms!), among which there is an extensive collection of furniture. Rooms with recreated interiors and furnishings from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 20th centuries deserve special attention. In the photo: the interior of the bedroom of Jeanne Lanvin, created by the decorator (Armand Albert Rateau), 1924-1925. http://madparis.fr
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London
London - the world's largest museum of decorative arts, which has been collecting furniture for over 150 years. The museum's collection includes objects from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, as well as more than 14 thousand exhibits from Western Europe. Works (Charles and Ray Eames) coexist here with antique armchairs created especially for Marie Antoinette. www.vam.ac.uk
The large bed from Ware is one of the most famous items in the furniture collection of the V&A Museum, dating from 1590. She became famous for her size and references to Shakespeare.Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Brooklyn Museum, New York
On the fourth floor, visitors will have a tour of 23 rooms decorated in the style of different historical eras of America. Here you can find out how people lived in South Carolina in the 17th century and visit the apartment of an average American at the end of the 20th century. www.brooklynmuseum.org
Interior 1928 - 1930.
Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein
A private museum founded in 1989 by then-president Rolf Fehlbaum, an avid furniture collector of iconic 20th-century designers. Initially, the museum was conceived to store this collection, but very quickly the project went far beyond just an exhibition space for design icons. Today it is one of the leading contemporary design research centers with lecture halls, a library and an extensive archive. In addition to the main building of the museum, built by the architect (for him, this project was the first implemented in Europe), exhibitions are also held in a new building according to the project. www.design-museum.de
Liang Yi Museum, Hong Kong
The museum in Hong Kong was opened in 2014 and is located on Hollywood Road, a place well known to all antiques and antique art hunters. This is the largest private museum in Hong Kong with an area of more than 20,000 square meters, which contains the world's largest collection of antique Chinese furniture, starting from the Ming and Qing dynasties. www.liangyimuseum.com
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The fourth most visited museum in the world. It is famous, first of all, for its collections of European paintings, but there are also objects of arts and crafts and household items. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a rich collection of American colonial furniture and antique European furniture from the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century. In the photo: fragment of the bedroom of Louis XIV, ca. 1700, France. www.metmuseum.org
The Museum of MODERN Art, New York
The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan is one of New York's top attractions. It was founded in 1928 with the financial assistance of the Rockefeller family. From the collection of the museum you can study the history of modern design: there are works of virtually all famous masters - from Charles and Ray Eames and (Alvar Aalto) to (Philippe Starck), (Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec) and (Marсel Wanders). And the collection is constantly and promptly replenished with new exhibits. www.moma.org
Designmuseo, Helsinki
The Design Museum in Helsinki is 145 years old. It was founded in 1873 and has a rich collection of photographs, furniture and graphics. It is dedicated to the history and development of Scandinavian design and has about 75 thousand design objects in its collection, among which you will find all the iconic objects of Finnish masters - from Alvar Aalto and
