Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nentially during the Soviet period. It was named after Mikhail Glinka in 1945, in honour of
the nationalist composer's 150th birthday.
ART MUSEUM
VASNETSOV HOUSE-MUSEUM
R250/100; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat; Sukharevskaya)
Viktor Vasnetsov was a Russian-revivalist painter, who drew inspiration from fairy tales and
village mysticism. In 1894, he designed his own house in Moscow, which is now a museum.
Fronted by a colourful gate, it is a charming home in neo-Russian style filled with the ori-
ginal wooden furniture, a tiled stove and many of the artist's paintings. The attic studio,
where he once worked, is now adorned with paintings depicting Baba Yaga and other char-
acters from Russian fairy tales.
Early on, Vasnetsov was scorned for his fantastical style, as it was such a startling con-
trast to the realism of the Peredvezhniki (Wanderers, 19th-century art movement). Even
Pavel Tretyakov, the most prominent patron of the arts at the time, refused to buy his paint-
ings. However, by the turn of the century, he found a source of support in Savva Mamontov,
whose financing drove the Russian revivalist movement.
ART MUSEUM
MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE & FOLK ART
R200/100; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon; Tsvetnoy Bulvar)
Just beyond the Garden Ring, this museum showcases centuries-old arts-and-crafts tradi-
tions from around Russia and the former Soviet republics. Of the 40,000 pieces in the col-
lection, you might see painted
khokhloma
woodwork from Nizhny Novgorod, including
wooden toys and
matryoshka
dolls; baskets and other household items made from birch
bark, a traditional Siberian technique; intricate embroidery and lacework from the north, as
well as the ubiquitous Pavlov scarves; and playful Dymkovo pottery and Gzhel porcelain.
Look also for the so-called 'propaganda porcelain' - fine china decorated with revolu-
tionary themes. The museum is known for its impressive collection of
palekh
- black lac-
quer boxes and trays painted with detailed scenes from Russian fairy tales. The collection
fills two rooms. It features, among others, pieces by Ivan Golikov and Ivan Markichev, of-
ten considered the originators of the
palekh
style.
MUSEUM
EXPERIMENTANIUM
495-789 3658;
experimentanium.ru
;
ul Butyrskaya 46/2;
9.30am-7pm Mon-Fri,
10am-8pm Sat, Sun & holidays;
Savylovskaya)
