Kuban is known not only for its natural diversity, but also for its wealth of cultural institutions, among which regional and local museums of various orientations occupy an important place. Among the most famous is the Kovalenko Art Museum, which was named after A.V. Lunacharsky in Soviet times.
History of the foundation of the Kovalenko Museum
The founder of the museum is considered the merchant Fedor Akimovich Kovalenko. In addition to trade, he was engaged in collecting paintings and philanthropic activities.
In 1904, he donated to the city a collection of works of art he had collected, which for the most part included paintings by famous Russian artists. It formed the basis of the permanent exhibition of the new museum, which opened in the house of Batyrbek Shardanov, a famous engineer in Yekaterinodar.
In Soviet times, the museum was given a gift of painting by many famous Russian artists. Such large museums as the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery and others took part in the action. And to the 100th anniversary of the museum, a complete restoration of the historic building was carried out.
Main exposition
The exposition of the Kovalenko Museum now consists of several groups of exhibits that can be divided by type of art: painting, decorative art, icon painting. The composition of the collection includes works not only of Russian, but also of famous Western European artists.
In the halls of the Kovalenko Museum there are ceremonial portraits of the 18th century, paintings of the Renaissance, paintings painted in the spirit of artistic realism and postmodernism, works of the Wanderers and the beginning of the 20th century. And ancient Russian icon painting is represented by the works of Novgorod, Moscow and northern masters. There are paintings by representatives of avant-garde cult art.
Now the museum’s collection contains about 12 thousand exhibits. And the institution itself is included in the list of ten best Russian art museums.
Modern life of the Kovalenko Museum
Modern museums very vividly respond to new cultural trends in society. Most of them are actively involved in interactive and educational activities. Thus, the museum not only has a permanent exhibition and organizes temporary thematic exhibitions. The Kovalenko Museum annually hosts a Bibliochnik in April.
This year, the "Biblical Night" was held here on April 24 from 20.00 to 00.00. The event included exhibitions from the private collection of the artist Alexander Novichenko "Russian Etude", an exhibition of children's drawings "By Nature I breathe and live," workshops on the traditional toy "Each rattle has its own rattles" and "The Art of Repetition", as well as an interactive media lecture "Artists of the Kuban about native nature." All the events of the “Library Night” were dedicated to the beginning of the Year of Ecology in Russia and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Krasnodar Territory. Everyone could attend the events proposed by the organizers for free.
In addition, on the second floor of the museum there is a computer class and a multimedia cinema, where classes for children and adults are held according to the latest techniques developed at the Russian Center for Museum Pedagogy and Children's Creativity. Visitors are introduced to the State Russian Museum: its history, exposition and exhibitions held within its walls and the walls of its branches.
The Kovalenko Art Museum is located in Krasnodar at the address: Krasnaya Street, 13-15.
Engineer House - the main building of the museum
Railway engineer of Yekaterinodar Batyrbek Shardanov built a mansion on Krasnaya Street, which has become a valuable monument of local architecture of the XIX century. Shardanov himself became the author of the project, since the amount of 60 thousand rubles that he had allocated for construction, at that time accessible only to wealthy aristocrats, ensured not only the status of the structure, but also its comfort for residents, one of whom was Batyrbek himself. He knew his preferences like no other.
The house was built of the best brick in the city on a specially purchased plot, on the site of a demolished dilapidated building. The identical buildings of the building were symmetrically decorated with risalits, richly decorated with stucco molding, bay windows, pediments and attics, as well as Gothic elements - pinnacles, openwork balustrades, helmet-shaped dome and weather vane. Among the motifs of the stucco decoration, one can note winged lions, the image of a star and a crescent made in the form of a medallion, vases. The roof of the building has a coating resembling fish scales.
The construction is eclectic and looks very elegant against the background of the surrounding city landscape.
The building of the Ekaterinodar Bank Office is an architectural monument
The place on the main street of the city for this institution was not randomly determined. The street was specially built up so that it could be built on this site in a decent frame. The author of the project, implemented in 1902-1903, was I.K. Malgerb. The two-story building, built in the neoclassical style, seems to take a step back from the red line.
The light blue facade is decorated with a modest snow-white decor in the form of a rustication of the first floor, an attic and an entrance portal with a triangular pediment. Simple platbands of rectangular windows are crowned with castle stones. And the center of the second and third floors combines an element in the form of an antique order, only pilasters support the entablature instead of columns. The bottom row of windows resembles an openwork arcade. A rectangular attic crowns the structure from above. The end facades at the level of the third floor are decorated with blind windows and a central narrow risalit, the second and third floor of which are cut through by a narrow arched-shaped window.