In the fall of 2017, the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution is celebrated, during which the Bolsheviks overthrew the last Russian autocrat, Nicholas II. The course of development of Russia and the whole world has changed. A fundamentally new system has emerged that denies capitalist foundations. Moscow has a cultural institution, the name and content of which brings the viewer back to those turbulent times. This is the Museum of the Revolution on Tverskaya-Yamskaya, 21. Since 1998 - the State Central Museum of Modern History of Russia (hereinafter, for brevity, the Museum of the Revolution).
Armored Car and Kozyavka
In the October poem āGoodā, the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: āWhich are temporary here!ā Slash! Your time has run out! ā The uninitiated think: "The Museum of the October Revolution, located in an old mansion, tells exclusively about the assault on the Winter Palace, the Aurora salvo, and Lenin's armored car." This is not entirely true. The wealth of diverse expositions, telling about the economic and socio-political development of Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the priorities of modern Russia, and continuity of generations, is striking. Visitors note the friendliness and professionalism of the guides. Guides do not gravitate to embellishing the ideas of socialism. They just tell how everything happened.
Weapons, clothes, printing presses, the restaurantās interior, which happened to be visited by grandparents, a stuffed dog Kozyavka, who flew into space, are thirty halls of an unrealistically fascinating journey into the past. There is an opinion: the period of modern history of the country that has sunk into oblivion looks significant, visible, but not rude. Children like to watch filmstrips and parents like to nostalgia. CafĆ©-museum with products that are now spoken about ānatural, not like that ...ā, sweets made according to a recipe forty years ago, is very popular.
Noteworthy building
Most visitors leave with the intention of recommending friends to visit the Museum of the Revolution. In Moscow on Tverskaya, they felt good: cognitively, no fuss and vulgarity. By the way, there is a hall that tells about the fate of the building itself. It was built in the 18th century. Pretty well preserved outside and inside. Seen different owners and visitors. The owner of the old estate was the poet, playwright Mikhail Kheraskov (earlier information was preserved), who sold it to the count, Major General Lev Razumovsky.
The main building (main house) was erected under Catherine the Great (1777-1780). Later, Adam Menelas, famous among architects of that time, added additional wings. A manor in the style characteristic of mature classicism came out. The invasion of Napoleonās army did not spare the beauty. Perestroika was entrusted to the architect Domenico Gilardi. By the way, there is another museum. On Revolution Square (Moscow), he opens the door to everyone who is interested in learning about the Patriotic War of 1812. But back to the topic. When Razumovsky died, the widow transferred the architectural heritage to her brother Nikolai Vyazemsky. Nikolai Grigoryevich reassigned the building to the Moscow English Club (1831). Until 1917, secular parties were held there by men of noble origin. At one time, randomly overgrown trading buildings covered a beautiful facade (I had to wander in search of an entrance).
New Palace Life
The history of the Museum of the Revolution began shortly after the fiery events of October. It was decided to form funds of materials on the Russian liberation movement, to comprehensively study the accumulated information. In a residual form (in small areas) the club operated in early 1918. But the past has given way to the future. New decrees, decisions flowed. The very first order issued by the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities at the People's Commissariat for Education concerned the preservation of the architectural appearance of the estate, given over to a cultural institution. Outlets, once treacherously grown in front of the palace, were demolished. The facade flashed again with greatness.
The halls of the English Club āsoundedā in a different way: the Museum of Old Moscow now worked here . The first exhibition in the institution named after the revolution opened in November 1922 and was called "Red Moscow". The capitalās life-writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky said that the opening took place at six in the evening. Lit electricity. In the halls, which stood without heating for several years, it was as if warmed. Visitors to the new sample were completely unlike the previous inhabitants: in military overcoats, leather jackets, coats, they busily walked around the recent ākingdom of idlenessā.
There is no other way for us; there is a stop in the commune
The people proudly admired the red flags and formidable weapons of rebellion hung on the ancient marble walls. The old portrait was adorned with paintings and photographs of the heroes of the āTen Days That Shook the Worldā (as American journalist John Reed described the events). Among the guests were women (which could not have been when the English Club).
Everyone was happy that a new museum had appeared. There were a lot of revolutions in display cases and thematic corners: soldiers, sailors, the birth of a new world! Many recognized each other in combat shots. Collected storage units became the basis of the exposition of the Historical and Revolutionary Museum of Moscow. In 1924, the institution became the State Museum of the Revolution. The first leader Sergey Mitskevich is a famous person. Russian revolutionary, master of the journalistic genre, historian, professor at Moscow University. Organizer of the Moscow Workers Union.
The farther into socialism
The Museum of the Revolution in Moscow widely covered the theme of mass protests of peasants against the noble-landlord state (notably: their leaders Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev were born in the village of Zimoveyskaya-on-Don with a difference of one hundred years). It was possible to expand personal knowledge of the Decembrist movement, the people's volunteers, to understand the "wilds" of the events of the Russian revolutions, the civil war. These were the oldest expositions at the disposal of the Museum of the Revolution.
Moscow understood: the gradually accumulating experience of building socialism must be systematized, actively popularized. Since 1927, the thematic framework has been expanded. For decades, the world of developing (and then developed) socialism has attracted not only citizens of the Soviet Union, but also foreign guests.
Repin's Gift
Individual statesmen, large delegations from capitalist, socialist, developing countries, writers, artists, sculptors, theater workers, and āproletarians of all countriesā considered it their duty to visit the Museum of the Revolution. Some guests did not come empty-handed. So the exposition was replenished with the rebellion-saturated paintings "January 9", "Red Funeral" and others. They were presented by the famous painter Ilya Repin.
Loving citizens of the USSR and friendly countries carried gifts to the leader of the state, Joseph Stalin. Many of them were distinguished by a touch of ideology: a telephone in the form of the globe, a telephone receiver, a hammer, a watch decorated with a small T-34 gold tank. The gift exhibition has been operating since the 39th about the 55th years of the 20th century. An unusual assortment is popular with viewers today. In 1941, the museum was already listed among the undisputed leaders among similar institutions. Funds totaled one million items. Branches opened.
Share the best practices
The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) made drastic adjustments to the scientific and educational activities conducted by the museum. The revolution did not happen, just the lion's share of the funds went deep to the rear. The number of employees was reduced by almost three times. But the work did not stop. In July of the 41st, an exhibition was presented to the attention of visitors, telling about the struggle of the Soviet people against Nazi invaders. Both the head center and the branches met and escorted sightseers throughout the war years.
The enemy was eager for Moscow. Museum workers confronted him in an accessible way: telling people about the heroism of Soviet soldiers. The statistics of visits says: the number of visitors for 1942 is 423.5 thousand people.
There was an open-air exposition (guns, mortars and other equipment of the Red Army and enemy trophies). The work returned to its usual rhythm in 1944. Partial re-profiling took place: materials displaying the features of the revolutionary liberation movement were dispersed. Some "left" in GAU (Main Archival Administration), others - in the State Historical Museum, popularly known as the Museum of the Revolution on Red Square, others - were gratefully accepted by the Library of Foreign Literature. The sender himself focused on the study of the ideological movement, known as the Russian Social Democratic. It was also necessary to understand the intricacies of development inherent in a society of justice, freedom and equality.
Approached objectivity
It is known that once a part of the names worthy of memory was in disgrace: the exaggeration of the significance of the contribution of Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin) to the country's achievements flourished. In 1959, after the famous XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the crowned person was debunked. Excursion texts have become bolder, more objective. Who visited the institution in the very beginning of the 1960s remembers: a huge number of exhibits were exhibited, telling about the development of health care and education. Visitors learned how to protect the environment in the context of industry growth, what is happening in the ācultureā industry, and how many times the well-being of Soviet citizens increased.
In 1968, another renaming took place: the inscription āCentral Museum of the Revolution of the USSRā appeared on the sign. The following year he was granted the right to conduct research. The instituteās custodian of the heritage of centuries was awarded the high status of research institutes for the first time. A solid level of activity was evaluated by state level awards. A museum of museum studies was opened (1984), which began research on the history of museum work in the Soviet Union.
Is there life outside ideology?
The socio-political processes of the country of the mid-1980s model interrupted the "continuity of generations." A new interpretation of the past, a deviation from the planned path to communism, and other modern trends have led to the rejection of ideologization and propaganda. Special repositories were open to the public.
In 1998, the Museum of the Revolution radically rebuilt the exhibition. The Center has become a major scientific and methodological center, hosting delegates of thematic meetings, conducting scientific and practical classes. To expand the experience here come museum workers from all over the country. All interested individuals and legal entities can count on receiving methodological recommendations, passing professional training.