Egyptian exposition in the Pushkin Museum. Egyptian mummies from the collection of the Pushkin Museum are being studied at the Kurchatov Institute using modern technology. About the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

May 7th, 2011

For a long time I was going to talk about my, perhaps, the most beloved Moscow museum - the Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin. We'll have to split the post into several parts, a very large and interesting museum.

Do not expect to go around the entire State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin in one visit. It's almost impossible. Is it just a run, glancing at the rich exhibits on two floors in 30 halls!
Therefore, I propose to quickly "run" through the halls of the museum with me right now, and thoroughly familiarize yourself with it for everyone independently and preferably in a few visits!
Quite a bit about the history of the museum. The laying ceremony of the Museum took place on August 17, 1898. The Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III at the Moscow Imperial University received its first visitors on May 31, 1912.


As usual in those glorious years, the museum was built with donations from benefactors. Most of the money was contributed by the great Russian philanthropist Yuri Stepanovich Nechaev-Maltsov.
Museum founder Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev (1847 - 1913) - Russian scientist-historian, archaeologist, philologist and art critic, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, professor at Moscow University (father of Marina Tsvetaeva).

So, go ahead, on the 1st floor!

Hall 1. ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT. IV-I millennium BC

The richest collection of ancient Egyptian art, presented in the exposition of this hall, acquaints with the stages of development of Egyptian culture, from the pre-dynastic period (IV millennium BC) to the time of the New Kingdom (XVII-XII centuries BC). The architecture of the hall reproduces the characteristic features of the temple architecture of the 2nd millennium BC. The ceiling paintings, made by the artist I. I. Nivinsky in 1912, represent a free variation on the theme of the decoration of the funeral temples and tombs.

Statue of Amenemhat III. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII, mid - late 19th century BC

Sarcophagus of the grandee Mahu. New kingdom, XVIII dynasty, XIV century BC.

Statue of the god Anubis. New kingdom, 2nd millennium BC

These "little notes" are more than 4000 years old !!!

Hall 2. ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS (Mesopotamia, Urartu, Iran, Cyprus, Parthia, India, America)

The exposition of this hall acquaints with the art of the ancient peoples who inhabited Asia Minor, the Mediterranean, the Indian Peninsula and Latin America. In the design of the hall, motives of the murals of the palaces of the Assyrian kings were used: the gatekeepers "demons" and reliefs from the royal palaces (casts). In the center of the hall, on a pedestal, stand the original vessels of Urartu, an ancient state (present-day territory of Armenia).

Showcases display authentic objects of ancient civilizations.
Peru. Recuai culture. 1st millennium A.D. The figure of a warrior-priest. Our Vanka-vstanka reminds .

Scythians. VII-V century BC Clay wagon (possibly a toy).

Four-armed Vishnu with attributes in his hands: a club, a wheel, a shell and a lotus.
Sandstone, IX century AD Gift of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.

Relief depicting a winged spirit in a blessing pose.
Cast. Original 9th ​​century BC is in the British Museum, London.
To work on the casts of I.V. Tsvetaev in different years attracted famous Russian scientists and outstanding artists. Plaster casts and electroplated copies were ordered in 1890-1911 from famous European workshops.

Hall 3. TREASURES OF TROY

A collection of 259 items from the treasures discovered by Heinrich Schliemann during the excavations of Troy in 1871-1890 is kept at the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin since 1945. The collection was transferred to the Soviet Union along with other art treasures by the decision of the Soviet Control Commission as partial compensation for damage caused by the Nazis.

Hall 4. ART OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (Cyprus, Ancient Greece, Etruria, Ancient Rome)

The collection of antique originals is one of the earliest in the collection of the Pushkin Museum. The first ancient Greek vases and terracotta were purchased for the Cabinet of Fine Arts of Moscow University in the 1850s and 60s. Today, the collection contains more than ten thousand originals dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. to IV century A.D. More than half of them were found by expeditions of the Pushkin Museum in the course of archaeological excavations.

In four sections of the hall - Cyprus, Ancient Greece, Etruria, Ancient Rome - are presented the monuments of the main artistic regions and centers of the ancient Mediterranean.
The central place in the section of the art of Ancient Rome is occupied by the sarcophagus with Dionysian scenes (c. 210) - one of the most famous monuments in the Museum collection.

The torso of a naked Dionysus with a sword and a vine of grapes. First half of the 2nd century, marble.

Hall 5. ART OF THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA

The exposition is based on materials found by expeditions of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin in the south of Russia and in the Crimea.

A portrait statue of a ruler from Gorgippia. Marble, 80s II century
Found in 1939-1940. in Anapa (antique Gorgippia).

Hall 6. COPTIC AND HELINISTIC ART

In the first centuries of our era, the Christian religion began to spread in Egypt. Egyptian Christians were called Copts.
The hall presents the art and culture of Egypt after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, when Egyptian art absorbs the features of the art of the Greeks ("Hellenes"). Most of the exhibits are associated with a funeral cult - sarcophagi, burial sheets and masks. In the center of the hall is a showcase with Egyptian sarcophagi and mummies of the 6th-1st centuries BC.

Of particular interest is the collection of 16 Fayum portraits made in the most complex technique of wax paints.
Portrait of a woman, second half of the 2nd century

Mummy masks, 2nd century.

Hall 7. BYZANTIC ART OF THE XIV-XVI CENTURIES. ITALIAN ART VIII-XVI centuries

Byzantine painting is represented mainly by monuments of the XIV century. Among the world-class masterpieces is the icon "Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles", which is exceptional in terms of subtlety of execution.

The collection of Italian art is one of the best in the collection of the Pushkin Museum.

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. Portrait of a young man in the image of St. Sebastian. End of the 1490s.

Giulio Pippi. The lady behind the toilet. Early 1520s.

Room 8. THE ART OF GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS OF THE XV-XVI CENTURIES

The art of the Northern Renaissance is presented for the first time in a separate room. These are six boards by Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Flagellation of Christ by the greatest Münster master Johann Körbecke, The Annunciation by the Master from Hoogstraten, and others.
The collection of German art of the 15th century of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is the best in Russia in terms of the number and quality of works.
Also here is a section of the art of the Netherlands.

Room 9. Flemish Art of the 17th century.

The Flanders Painting Hall provides a holistic view of the Flemish school. Along with the most prominent names such as Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Snyders, the number of exhibited paintings of which has increased, primarily due to large-format canvases, in the hall you can now see the works of their students and contemporaries (about two dozen new canvases).

Room 10. Rembrandt and the masters of his school.

For the first time, six paintings by Rembrandt, as well as the works of his students and followers, are shown as an independent section.

Room 11. Dutch painting of the 17th century.

Pictures of the Dutch school of the 17th century constitute one of the most numerous and attractive sections of the Pushkin Museum's exposition. In the face of heavy dependence on market competition, Dutch artists focused on one or more genres in which they felt most confident. Some preferred to paint pictures on religious and mythological subjects (works by Hendrik Goltzius, Gerrit van Honthorst, Nicholas Berchem), others - landscapes, and still others - genre scenes and still lifes.

Hall 14. GREEK YARD. Art of Ancient Greece. 2nd half of 5th - early 4th century BC Casts.

One of the most beautiful halls of the museum. The complex organization of movement on three levels of the floor made it possible to convey with amazing accuracy the free picturesqueness of the Athenian Acropolis ensemble.

Hall 15. ITALIAN YARD. Art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Casts.

The Italian courtyard is built as a reduced repetition of the courtyard of Palazzo Bargelo: a corner staircase leading to the second floor, small columns with vegetable capitals supporting the balcony, a light arcade, a well in the center. The accuracy of the choice of the architectural prototype made it possible to combine in the exhibition hall samples of classical art of the German Middle Ages with the works of renowned Italian sculptors of the Renaissance.

State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin or, as it is more often called, the Pushkin Museum is one of the most significant museums in Moscow, which has gathered within its walls a large collection of works of foreign art from the ancient world to the present day.

For the first time, the Pushkin Museum opened its doors on May 31, 1912. Professor of Moscow University Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev became the inspiration and the first director. The original collection was formed from copies of antique sculptures and mosaics of the University Cabinet of Fine Arts and genuine antiquities purchased from the famous scientist-Egyptologist V.S. Golenishchev. Later, the halls were replenished with paintings transferred from other museums and works of art from private collections donated or confiscated after the revolution. Today, the collection of the Pushkin Museum contains more than 670,000 exhibits, of which only 1.5% are available for inspection.

Run by the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin is a whole museum town located in the historical center of Moscow near the Kropotkinskaya metro station. It includes several buildings, including:

• Main building
• Art gallery of the countries of Europe and America of the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Private Collections Department
• Museum-apartment of Svyatoslav Richter
• Center for aesthetic education "Museion"
• Educational Art Museum. I. V. Tsvetaeva
• House of Graphics

The main building is an architectural monument with a powerful colonnade and a glass roof, built 100 years ago especially for the museum.

The exposition is located here on two floors. The first one contains genuine rarities of Ancient Egypt, ancient times, the golden treasures of Ancient Troy from the excavations of the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, paintings by European masters of the 8-18 centuries, there are Greek and Italian courtyards - large spaces with sculptures-casts. On the second floor, many rooms are devoted to copies of art objects from Ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In addition, the originals of paintings by European artists are exhibited here.

The Egyptian Hall is one of the world's best collections of authentic items from the times of Ancient Egypt: mummies, sarcophagi, masks, figurines, jewelry and vessels.

Wooden sarcophagus of the noble Mahu, the holder of the plot of land of the temple of Amun:

Amenhotep and Rannai - priest and priestess of the god Amun:

Sarcophagus and mummy Hor-Ha. In the foreground is a cat's mummy:

The next room is dedicated to the art of the Ancient Near East.

Statuette of an adorant from Northern Mesopotamia. An adherent is a figurine made of stone or clay, which was placed in the temple so that she would pray for the person who installed it.

Halls of antique art with a collection of Greek vases and amphorae, mosaics, sculptures and reliefs of Ancient Italy, Cyprus and Rome.

Antefix - ceramic tiles with a Medusa Gorgon mask:

Items from the excavations of Panticapaeum - the capital of the Cimerian Bosporus:

The theme of antiquity continues in the Greek courtyard, a large hall filled with casts of famous ancient Greek statues, reliefs and architectural fragments.

Sleeping Ariadne. The marble original is kept in the Vatican.

Another courtyard is Italian, with casts of Renaissance masterpieces.

The equestrian statue is a copy of the bronze monument to Commander-in-Chief Bartolomeo Colleoni from Venice.

The famous David Michelangelo. The height of the sculpture is 5.5 meters.

One of the main gems of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin - a collection of works by Rembrandt and the artists of his school is located in hall 10.

Rembrandt "Portrait of an Old Woman" and "Portrait of an Old Woman".

Exhibition of paintings by Flemish painters of the 17th century - Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck, Bruegel.

Anthony Van Dyck "Portrait of Adrian Stevens". Flemish master of the early 17th century "Portrait of a Lady with a Fan".

Skating by Hendrik Averkamp from the 17th century Dutch Art Hall.

Also on the ground floor, the permanent exhibition presents the art of Byzantium, Italy of the 13-16th centuries, Germany and the Netherlands of the 15-16th centuries.

Let's go up to the second floor.

The hall, named "Olympic", with casts of classical ancient Greek sculptures.

Copy of the sculpture "Lamentation of Christ" from the hall of Michelangelo Buonarotti. "Great fame and glory", according to the testimony of his contemporary, the great master gained for himself with this work.

15th century Italian sculpture. The hall is decorated with decorative elements in the style of the Early Renaissance.

Magnificent Tombstone of the Cardinal of the Portuguese by Rossellino Antonio. The original is in Florence in the church of San Miniato al Monte.

European art of the Middle Ages.

The cultural heritage of Ancient Italy and Ancient Rome in casts. The masterpieces of this room are the Capitoline she-wolf, the bust of Marcus Aurelius, the sculpture "Victoria".

Greek Art of the Late Classics and Hellenism. The colossal group "Farnese Bull" - the original is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Winged Nike of Samothrace and Aphrodite of Cnidus by the famous sculptor Praxiteles.

Of course, it is difficult to show all the halls and works - there are a lot of them, you can spend more than one hour visiting the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

You can take pictures for free, but there are several rules: you cannot use a tripod or a flash, and it is forbidden to take pictures at temporary exhibitions.

On the days of especially significant exhibitions, when masterpieces from the collections of the best museums in the world are brought in, queues line up at the box office.

On Tuesday and Friday afternoons and Thursday nights, the Main Building, the Gallery and the Private Collections Section host Art Talks on 29 topics.

Since 1980, in the museum. Pushkin hosts the annual music festival "December Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter"; concerts are held in the halls throughout the year.

Sightseeing and thematic excursions are conducted around the permanent exhibition, you can take an audio guide, its cost is 250 rubles.

For more information, see the official website of the Pushkin Museum: arts-museum.ru

How to get to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

By public transport: metro Kropotkinskaya, then 2 minutes on foot.

Address: Volkhonka Street, 12.

Opening hours

• Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday - from 11-00 to 20-00
• Thursday, Friday - from 11-00 to 21-00

Monday - day off

Main building ticket prices

• Adults - 400 rubles
• Preferential categories - 200 rubles
• Children under 16 years old - free

I invite you to an educational walk for children and adults through the halls of Ancient Egypt. During the excursion, the children will get acquainted with Egyptian art and unravel the secrets of the mysterious ancient civilization: they will find out who invented the mummy, why the pyramids were built, what the bizarre hieroglyphs mean and what function the priests performed. And at the end, the participants will have a creative task that will allow them to consolidate the material in a playful way and better remember new interesting facts!

What awaits you

Immersion in the culture of Ancient Egypt

In the halls of the museum, children will get acquainted with one of the world's best collections of objects of the ancient Egyptian civilization. They will consider an ancient mummy and sarcophagi, a real sphinx, a sculptural portrait of the pharaoh, Egyptian papyri and reliefs inscribed with hieroglyphs, as well as masterpieces of the collection - a pair sculpture of the priests of Amenhotep and Rannai and a cosmetic spoon made of ivory, in which paints and incense were kept. Each item in the collection will tell children about the art of Ancient Egypt, religious cults and everyday life of the Egyptians, their way of life and writing.

Mysteries of Egyptian Civilization

The Egyptians left us a lot of mysteries and symbols that you will have to solve during the excursion! You will learn how and why the Egyptians made mummies, why the pyramids were built, what is the peculiarity of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, who the sphinxes are and why the Egyptian gods have animal heads. And at the end of the excursion, to consolidate the material, the children will receive a “papyrus” with empty windows, which they will fill with stickers with images of Egyptian masterpieces, and will answer the question of why the Egyptians created these works of art.

Who is the excursion for?

The excursion is designed for children 10-12 years old; the program can also be adapted for an adult audience.

Organizational details

• Depending on the composition of the group participants (children or adults), the cost of the program may vary.
• Tickets for schoolchildren in the museum must be purchased separately. Tickets are free but must be obtained at the box office
• Adults accompanying children buy entrance tickets at the museum's ticket office. The cost of a full ticket is 300 rubles. To receive benefits, you must present a document.
• The day of the excursion must be agreed at least 7 days before the required date.

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is preparing to celebrate its centenary. On this occasion, the exposition is renewed and something that the public has never seen before is taken from the storerooms. "Vash Dosug" walked through the halls of the museum and found out why go to the building with columns on Volkhonka and why the permanent exhibition of the Pushkin Museum is not permanent.

Next to each other - a mummy of a cat, a mummy of a bird and a mummy of a woman's head. We are in the very first and perhaps the most important hall of the museum. So at least it seems to children. It is here - in the Egyptian Hall - that they usually come running first of all, gazing intently at the mummies and sarcophagi and completely ignoring the masterpieces of Rubens and Rembrandt exhibited nearby. However, for the fifth month now, a child has not set foot here. Halls No. 1 (art of ancient Egypt) and No. 2 (art of ancient civilizations) have been closed since October for repairs and reconstruction. The doors are guarded by a formidable policeman. For greater persuasiveness, the caretaker looks sternly from a nearby chair. There is also a sign informing about the reconstruction. Triple protection before the gates to the afterlife. It is really better for children not to enter here yet. Outside the door, learned minds are arguing - so hotly that the basalt figurines of the pharaohs are about to turn red. The curator and the designer discuss the correct placement of the exhibits. There were considerably more of them in the Egyptian Hall. Numerous vessels for incense, cosmetic spoons, dishes and household items were taken from the storerooms. “Now we will see how and how the Egyptians lived,” says Alexandra Stepina, curator and deputy department of the museum's aesthetic education.

Immured masterpieces

Secrets of Pushkin. Source: Secrets Pushkin.

In the hall of ancient civilizations, an Assyrian relief was removed from the wall, which had been walled up in it for almost half a century. In 1969, Indira Gandhi donated a unique exhibition of ancient Indian sculpture to Moscow. No free walls were found in the museum, but you need to place the exhibits, whether you like it or not. In a couple of days, plywood walls were erected, where the previous exhibits were walled up. And outside they placed a gift from the then Prime Minister of India. However, now visitors will see everything at once, and in addition, dozens of new exhibits. But first, they still need to be placed correctly. Here again the controversy. But the last word will still be for Irina Antonova. The permanent director of the museum inspects each room herself. And makes adjustments. As she says - so be it. However, it is not surprising. No one knows the museum better than her. After all, half of the museum's 100-year history is run by her. She also initiates all changes in the seemingly unchanging permanent exhibition.

The benefits of copies

In recent years, the museum has significantly changed and expanded. Several years ago, all the impressionists and works of the 20th century were taken out of the main building of Pushkin. Now Manet, Monet, Degas, Chagall and Renoir "live" in a separate building on the left - the Gallery of 19th-20th century European and American art. Personal collections live on the right side of the main building - in a yellow mansion at 10 Volkhonka Street. A little further away is the Museion Center, where the younger generation is taught.

As a result of all these rearrangements, a lot of free space appeared on the floors of the main building. On this occasion, it was decided to renew the exposition. The collection of prolific little Dutchmen and equally prolific Italians has grown significantly. The arrangement has also changed - before it was rather chaotic, it became clear and understandable. The exhibits distributed throughout the halls were brought together, combining, for example, in one hall Rembrandt and his school and arranging the inspection strictly in chronology. We pass the right wing of the second floor, for the most part filled with copies and casts of various sculptures, starting with antique ones.

Secrets of Pushkin. Source: Secrets Pushkin.

- It only seems that the copy is worse than the original. Over time, the copy becomes valuable, - explains Alexandra Stepina. “Do you see a copy of Saint Gertrude's reliquary? So, the original is gone for a long time. People come to us from all over the world to look at it. There are other copies that only we have left, and the originals died in World War II.

- That is, wars, tsunamis, revolutions work for the benefit of museums?

- It sounds cynical, but it is. If the originals disappear from other collections, our copies will become invaluable.

How the bishop was healed

The curator of the museum has been taking a photographer and me through the halls for the second hour. Talking about the museum as you need to talk about it - with interest and details. Tour guides can tell a lot that is not written on the information boards.

For example, that the boring Dutchman Jan Van Der Heyden from the 11th hall is not just an artist, but also the inventor of the fire hose (which, you see, gives him charm). And the brooch from Troy exhibited in the 3rd room is, though valuable, but not as valuable as the lens that is pointed at it - after all, it is 4000 years old. Only from the guides can you learn that the weighty pedestal in the center of the Italian courtyard, on which a Christmas tree is erected on New Year's Eve, is the shaft of the old ventilation system. Or that unpainted parts of the walls were deliberately left in order to restore the historical (still Tsvetaevsky) color during the next reconstruction. We go into one of the halls with European painting. Alexandra brings us to the picture.

The Museum of Fine Arts was conceived as a guide to the study of history, so the transition from hall to hall was like a transition to a later era. And the first hall on this path was the Egyptian Museum Hall. Hall number one. The rest had to follow him in a "strict system, in the order of historical sequence" (from the note by IV Tsvetaev "University Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow")

The Egyptian Hall of the Museum was located and is now located on the first floor to the left of the vertibule and communicates with one of the entrances to the museum. This wing is, as it were, excluded from the central axis of the Museum: the vestibule, the staircase, the Central Hall, and therefore is not connected stylistically with them.

To attract donors, IV Tsvetaev came up with a "bait to help raise funds for the construction of the Museum." The Statute on the Committee stated that the persons who allocated money for the construction of this or that hall "received the right to apply for the assignment of any name to this hall." The Egyptian Hall is in a special position. At the meeting of the Committee for the Arrangement of the Museum on March 16, 1899, Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsov was honored on the occasion of his 65th birthday. At this meeting, the Committee decided to assign the name of Nechaev-Maltsov to the Egyptian Hall of the Museum, built with the general funds of the Committee. However, already in a letter dated November 5, 1898, Tsvetaev wrote to Nechaev-Maltsov: "Before we thought about the Doric character of the lobby decoration, but now we are thinking about Egyptian: let it open up the history of art and lead to your hall." Perhaps this was facilitated by the fact that it was the package of Nechaev-Maltsov from Cairo that was the first contribution made to the Egyptian collection of the museum.

R. Klein and Nivinsky were engaged in the decoration of the Egyptian hall, but Ivan Vladimirovich could not ignore any corner of his museum.

"How good it would be to imitate an ancient Egyptian pylon at the entrance to ... the hall, by laying it out of bricks or even decorative painting. Just as the pylons served as facades of Egyptian temples, so this pictorial or plaster pylon would lead into the first hall of the Museum. What a joy it would be to decorate. this hall is a couple of different types of Egyptian columns. " - he wrote to Nechaev-Maltsov.

And in 1909 he wrote to R. I. Klein: “The Egyptologist Golenishchev pointed out to me the just-published English edition of a grave with a ceiling in colors from Korshuns, personifying the sun. It will be effective and true. We will put them on beams, and between them we will dot the squares only with stars, signs of the zodiac, but not pictures of an everyday nature, which do not go to the ceiling (“sky”). "

with papyrus columns, with kites on the ceiling ...

and with a unique collection in wardrobes

Before the foundation of the Museum, Tsvetaev was not in Egypt. For the first time, probably, this thought came to him while looking at the papyri, which were sent from Cairo by Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev. But already in December 1908 Tsvetaev wrote: "I would like to visit the land of pyramids before my death." Just at this time, he was sent an invitation to the II International Archaeological Congress in Cairo. He is as happy as a child. He writes humorous letters to NI Romanov in Athens: “... the whole of Egypt, they say, clothed itself in mourning when the news spread through it that I had not arrived at the congress. But on the very next day, the building of the Congress was almost destroyed when the population of Cairo learned about my appearance under the Egyptian sky. " and also "Mospero, in order to calm the Arab crowds and satisfy the curiosity of delegates from all over the world, has appointed my conference in a quarter of an hour after my arrival." Tsvetaev is happy with such attention and modestly describes his rhetorical successes: “The Demosthenes techniques of making a speech to the lapping of the sea waves came in handy here, which I indulged in at my leisure in the cabin of the steamer, sitting at the hatch on the berth. This way I adapted my speech to my clumsy, Vladimir seminary lingua - and the matter went away with such a triumph that the windows almost burst and the ceiling of the hall did not collapse from applause. "

The hall was ready by December 1911, and Tsvetaev wrote a letter to Professor BA Turaev: "I respectfully ask you, if you find it possible, to take over the duties of the head of the Egyptian hall on January 2 next year." BA Turaev agrees and soon Tsvetaev receives a letter from MV Nikolsky: “I am heartily glad that you managed to attract my highly respected friend, Professor BA Turaev, to manage the collection of VS Golenishchev, into the Museum. This is truly happiness sent down by fate. "

Of course, we will not cover everything at once, standing in the middle of the Egyptian Museum Hall. It is necessary to return to museums, they do not like fuss, but they respond to attention and patience. Therefore, we will learn about V.S. Golenishchev and his collection, about B.A. Turaev, and much more when we return to the most mysterious hall of the Museum of Fine Arts.