🖼 Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

ул. Волхонка, 12

A classical columned building of 1912 housing European art from the ancient world to modern times.

The museum was created on the initiative of Professor Ivan Tsvetaev, the father of Marina Tsvetaeva.
The main sponsor of the construction was the industrialist Yuri Nechaev-Maltsov.
The building, in the form of an ancient temple, was designed by Roman Klein, with Ivan Rerberg as chief engineer.
The museum opened on 31 May 1912 in the presence of Nicholas II as the Alexander III Museum of Fine Arts; it has borne Pushkin's name since 1937.
It was conceived as a teaching museum of plaster casts: under Tsvetaev, about two thousand copies were made to his order.
The Egyptian collection was bought in 1909–1911 from the orientalist Vladimir Golenishchev.
According to legend, the first visitor to the still-closed museum was the stoker Alexei, who worked for Tsvetaev.
In 1981 the Moscow – Paris exhibition was held here, with works by Kandinsky, Malevich and Tatlin.