Egyptian halls in the Pushkin Museum. Egyptian mummies from the collection of the Pushkin Museum are being studied at the Kurchatov Institute using modern technology. What awaits you

A year and a half ago, all the impressionists and works of the 20th century were removed from the Pushkin Museum. Now they live in a separate building on the left (formerly the Museum of Personal Collections, now the Gallery of European and American Art of the 19th–20th centuries). As a result, on upper floors A lot of space was freed up in the main building - they decided to update the exhibition. All the keepers had something to take out from under the covers - and, of course, everyone wanted it. Although only two collections could increase significantly - the Dutch one, due to the endless and infinitely prolific little Dutchmen (the great ones have been on display for a long time), and the Italian one, where there is something to add to each century (although names not previously presented are mostly familiar only to art historians, and Italianists at that) . As a result, both were added, but in different proportions. But first things first.

Of course, you can’t change the exposure overnight; the process is long. The halls were closed one by one, repaired and replaced, paintings were restored and taken out of storage. They carried the French upstairs and gathered Rembrandt and his school in one hall. To regular visitors of the museum this is unlikely to seem like an amazing metamorphosis - well, the walls were painted, the labels were changed, new shields were made. But if you remember how everything looked last year, it turns out that everything is the same, but not the same. On the ground floor, only the Greek and Italian courtyards remained unchanged (in the first there was a project for the reconstruction of the museum, and in the second there was a Christmas tree, but this is probably not forever). Everything else was mixed up. The left enfilade is now completely occupied by antiquities and antiquity, which have replaced Italian icons and Early Renaissance. True, the way there still lies through the Fayum portraits, and the “Treasures of Troy,” now included in the permanent exhibition, have long been in the museum under the guise of an exhibition. In the center there is now an entrance to the Italian halls, in the vestibule of which works of Byzantium are displayed. In the hall with Italian Renaissance Cranach and the early Germans are no longer shown. Then, passing the Italian courtyard and passing through the French portico, you find yourself in the northern school (the French used to be here): Cranach, brought from Italy, now has his own separate nook. Further along the enfilade follow separate Flemish and Dutch rooms with corners of Rubens and Rembrandt. Pieter de Hooch appeared in Holland, whose existence no one except the guardians had any idea about. Still on the second floor most The halls are occupied by copies and casts (they, unfortunately, were not touched). But Italians settled in the left wing - academicians, mannerists and Venetian school. A new wonderful Tiepolo, Magnasco and several Veronese (with a school) appeared. Right wing, as mentioned above, was given to the French, who enriched themselves with Le Brun and Lorrain. Overall, the exposure has increased by a third, which is nice. Now Pushkinsky gives me the feeling, like after the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, - as if the history of art consists mainly of antiquity and the mass of Italians, and everything else was just that, little things.

The most amazing thing is that all this beauty will not last long: the museum will soon be closed altogether. TO centenary anniversary(that is, by 2012) Pushkinsky must be reconstructed. The reconstruction project is being carried out by Norman Foster; according to preliminary plans, a huge underground museum quarter will appear on Volkhonka. The ending of this story is unpredictable: until the project passes all approvals, the underground museum can turn into a thirty-story one shopping mall- but we hope this will not happen with Pushkinsky. In the meantime, one unnoticeable reform has already been carried out in the museum’s halls. The fact is that in our museums the principle of inspection is compulsory - thanks to the enfilade system of halls. That is, the visitor cannot see only Rembrandt or only small Dutchmen - to get to them, willy-nilly he has to pass through many different styles, names and eras. Previously, to get into the halls of ancient Assyria, you had to go through the Italian icons, and the entrance to Italy of the 17th–18th centuries lay through the French hall. Now you can separately go to the halls of antiquity or early Italy, or Holland, or late France. Although, to be honest, the museum is so small that if you look at the entire exhibition in one sitting, even enlarged by a third, you will never get tired.

In the hall of art of Ancient Egypt, about 800 exhibits are exhibited, representing all periods of the history of the development of the country of the pharaohs, starting from the 4th millennium BC. until the 4th century BC These are wooden and stone sarcophagi, statues, reliefs, household and funerary objects, mummies of people and animals, papyri, vessels and jewelry, figurines of deities and amulets. The hall itself is decorated architectural elements, characteristic of an ancient Egyptian temple: the ceiling is painted, false beams are supported by graceful columns in the form of a bunch of papyrus. This gives the hall special atmosphere and immediately sets up the person entering to communicate with ancient Egyptian art.

The most ancient exhibits of the Egyptian collection of the Pushkin Museum are stone tools (c. VI - V millennium BC), as well as slate palettes and painted clay vessels of the Nagada I - III cultures (IV millennium BC). Along with rich and varied mass material - sacrificial gifts originating from tombs and intended for a prosperous life after death - the Pushkin Museum collection presents outstanding works ancient Egyptian art (the upper part of the statue of the king of the Middle Kingdom Amenemhat III, figurines of the priest Amenhotep and the priestess Rannai, a cosmetic spoon of the New Kingdom and others).

Most of the items presented in the hall have been on display since the opening of the Museum. fine arts in 1912 and form the core of one of the world's finest private collections of ancient Egyptian art. It's about about the Russian orientalist Vladimir Semenovich Golenishchev (1856 - 1947). His collection, numbering approx. 8 thousand items, became the first museum acquisition of originals in 1909. In 1913, the museum bought a collection of monuments from the major Moscow collector L.I. Ginzburg, including a relief block depicting mourners. Several truly precious gifts were brought to the museum by Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsov: these are excellent Fayum portraits, a golden diadem and a statue of Harpocrates. After October revolution The Egyptian collection was replenished with exhibits transferred from various museums and private collections. Presented to the Department Ancient East Egyptian monuments belonging to them and scientists whose activities were inextricably linked with the museum - B.V. Farmakovsky, T.N. Borozdina-Kozmina, A.V. Zhivago. The museum's collection was significantly enriched after the acquisition in 1940 from N.A. Prahov of the collection of his father, philologist and art critic A.V. Prahov, numbering 217 exhibits. In subsequent years, the collection was replenished through donations, archaeological excavations, periodic purchases.

The first exposition of the hall of Ancient Egypt, timed to coincide with the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts, was made by the outstanding Russian Egyptologist Boris Aleksandrovich Turaev (1868 - 1920), the second, post-war, by Professor Vsevolod Vladimirovich Pavlov (1899 - 1972). The present exhibition opened in 1969. Its inspirer and organizer was the head of the Department of Ancient Orient, Doctor of Art History Svetlana Izmailovna Khodzhash (1923 - 2008).

The monuments in the hall are located in chronological sequence, starting with the most ancient - stone tools VI - V millennium BC (?), slate pallets and painted clay vessels of the Nagada I - III culture (IV millennium BC). The various forms of ceramic products and the presence of paintings give an idea of high level development of the artistic craft of this era. A rare exhibit is a clay dish with the image of a masked hunter holding four dogs on a leash. All objects were found in burials and are evidence of ritual practices of the Predynastic period. Already at this time, the main features of ancient Egyptian art appeared: conditionality religious ideas, convention, symbolism, monumentality, which were fully developed after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt into a single state (late 4th millennium BC) - during the period Ancient kingdom(XXVIII-XXIII centuries BC).

The Ancient Kingdom is the time of the first flowering of Egyptian architecture, the final design of the pictorial canon, which Egyptian masters would adhere to for several millennia. During the same period, one of the greatest achievements art - sculptural portrait. The principles of decorating tombs with wall relief images, as well as the peculiarities of rendering the human figure and objects on a plane, are illustrated by a series of blocks from the tombs of the “chief of the royal treasury” Isi, the Egyptian Merit, the Egyptian Tepemankh (all - ca. 25th century BC), “ gardener of the pyramid of King Pepi II" Hiiu (c. 23rd century BC)

The visual arts of the ancient Egyptians were inextricably linked with religious beliefs and the requirements of the funeral cult. In particular, the portrait resemblance of the image to the person being portrayed was due to the belief that every person has a “double”, or “Ka” - a certain vital essence, which, being immortal, must have a permanent home in some image of the deceased. The idea that all monuments were intended for eternity and should not contain anything accidental, fleeting, determined the features of the conventional artistic language Egyptian plastic art: closed and undifferentiated volume, static, lack of excessive detail. Reliefs and statues of the V-VI dynasty (showcase No. 6) and a free-standing sculptural group the official Uja-dzher and his wife are clear examples of the embodiment of the canonical rules of depicting a person in sculptural images.

Showcase 6 contains individual objects that were placed in the tomb, and a unique exhibit - the mask of Pepi II (XXII century BC, VI dynasty), brought by V.S. Golenishchev from excavations at the site of the pyramid of this king.

The Middle Kingdom (XXII-XVIII centuries BC) is represented by such masterpieces as the portrait of King Amenemhet III (XIX centuries BC) and the stele of the “great steward” Khenenu (XXI-XX centuries BC .) from pinkish limestone.

The upper part of the statue of Amenemhat III brilliantly illustrates best features sculptural portrait of the Middle Kingdom during its heyday - interest in the individual and age characteristics of a person. The viewer can also see small examples of sculptural works (window No. 9), including a portrait of King Senusret II.

Two showcases display objects from the tombs of the Middle Kingdom that were necessary for the deceased in the afterlife - wooden models of funeral barges and figurines of servants (display case No. 10), as well as “magic wands”, magical female figurines, palettes in the shape of animals, small vessels made of stone (showcase no. 9).

The art of the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC) bears the imprint of triumph Egyptian state after the expulsion of the Hyksos from the country.

The art of this extended period is characterized, on the one hand, by the strengthening of realistic tendencies, interest in depicting nature, the desire to convey movement, and on the other hand, by an increase in decorativeness, refinement and at the same time the formalization of artistic language. These qualities are clearly visible in monuments from the reigns of pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (XIV century BC): in faience vessels and inlays on walls and furniture from Amarna, cosmetic spoons, playing chips, small figurines, as well as in a portrait of a young man from limestone. One of the masterpieces of the collection is distinguished by its exquisite beauty - a cosmetic spoon in the shape of a pink lotus flower, with a handle in the shape of a swimming girl. An excellent quality wooden spoon in the shape of a girl among thickets of papyrus, a wooden oval box with a retractable lid inlaid with earthenware inserts - wonderful examples of the art of ancient Egyptian woodcarving masters.

The undisputed masterpiece of the Egyptian collection of the Pushkin Museum is the paired sculptural group of the priest Amenhotep and his wife priestess Rannai, dating back to the reign of Hatshepsut. The figurines are made of rare ebony, imported to Egypt from southern regions Africa, the eyes of the spouses are inlaid with glassy paste. Slender figures, thin limbs, the presence of exquisite details - gilded jewelry and a luxurious women's wig - bring to us all the unique and recognizable beauty best works ancient Egyptian art.

Showcase No. 14 displays a relief from a private tomb late XVIII din. in Saqqara depicting mourning for the deceased. The dynamic composition and the depiction of human figures from complex angles give this fragment of the funeral procession drama and expressiveness.

The funeral rite, which played a huge role in the religion of the Egyptians, gave rise to a variety of objects directly related to the funeral cult and ideas about the fate of the deceased after death. These are sarcophagi, canopic jars (vessels for storing the embalmed entrails of the deceased), funeral masks, ushabti figurines and boxes for their storage, figurines of gods. In one of the display cases there is a swaddled mummy of the priest Khor-kha, covered with a net of faience beads, and the head of a woman’s mummy, as well as mummies of sacred animals - a cat and a falcon. Nearby, on the podium, is a set of canopic jars with lids in the form of the heads of the sons of the god Horus. The sarcophagi that are exhibited in the hall belong to different eras, starting from the 3rd millennium BC. (a simple clay box with a relief image of a boy in a fetal position on the lid). The brightest sarcophagi, completely covered with paintings, date back to the New Kingdom and are exhibited in the central part of the hall. Two stone sarcophagi date back to the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

Several display cases display numerous gods of the Egyptian pantheon. They are made of bronze, stone (statues of Osiris in showcases No. 24 and No. 26), small figurines of gods made of carnelian and rock crystal (display case No. 12). The figurine of the god of vegetation Nefertum is cast from silver (display case No. 18), and the sacred ibis of the god Thoth (display case No. 12) is made of white stone, with a bronze head and paws. All figurines are distinguished by high quality casting and fine detail work.

A significant part of the monuments consists of alabaster vessels, faience bowls, painted clay jugs, bronze situlas (ritual vessels) and mirrors, bronze weapons, jewelry made of semi-precious stones and Egyptian faience.

TO Late period(1st millennium BC) include statues and sculptural portraits (display case No. 26). Among them, a granite statue of the queen stands out, whose face has pronounced portrait features (first half of the 7th century BC). Made of solid stone, portraits from the period of the Sais dynasty (second half of the 7th-6th centuries BC) imitate ancient examples and reveal the craftsmen’s desire for perfection of form and ideal processing of the stone surface. The Sais period was a time of new flowering of artistic craft.

The so-called “sculptor's corner” allows you to get an idea of ​​the process of creating reliefs and sculptural works by Egyptian masters: here you can see unfinished reliefs or copies made by students, as well as drawings on pieces of limestone (ostraca).

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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 more late era. And the first hall on this path was the Egyptian Hall of the Museum. Hall number one. The rest were to follow him in a “strict system, in order of historical sequence” (from the note of I.V. Tsvetaev “University Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow”)

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

To attract donors, I.V. Tsvetaev came up with a “bait that would help raise funds for the construction of the Museum.” The Regulations on the Committee stated that persons who allocated money for the construction of a particular hall “received the right to apply for the assignment of any name to this hall.” The Egyptian Hall is located on special situation. At a meeting of the Committee for the Organization 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 name the Egyptian Hall of the Museum, built on general funds Committee. However, already in a letter dated November 5, 1898, Tsvetaev writes to Nechaev-Maltsov: “Before we thought about the Doric character of the decoration of the lobby, but now we are thinking about the Egyptian: let it open the history of art and lead to your hall.” Perhaps this was facilitated by the fact that it was Nechaev-Maltsov’s sending from Cairo that was the first contribution made to Egyptian collection museum.

Finishing Egyptian hall R. Klein and Nivinsky were engaged, but Ivan Vladimirovich could not leave a single corner of his museum unattended.

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

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

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

and with a unique collection in the cabinets

Before the creation of the Museum, Tsvetaev had not been to Egypt. For the first time, this thought probably came to him while looking at the papyri that Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev sent from Cairo. But already in December 1908, Tsvetaev wrote: “Before I die, I want to visit the country of the pyramids.” Just at this time he was sent an invitation to the II International Archaeological Congress in Cairo. He rejoices like a child. He writes humorous letters to N.I. Romanov in Athens: “... all of Egypt, they say, fell into mourning when the news spread across it that I had not arrived at the congress. But the very next day they almost broke down the congress building 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 around the world, scheduled my conference for a quarter of an hour after my arrival.” Tsvetaev is happy with such attention and modestly describes his rhetorical successes: “Demosthenes’s techniques of delivering a speech accompanied by splashing came in handy here.” sea ​​waves, which I indulged in at my leisure in the cabin of the ship, sitting on the bunk by the hatch. I thus adapted the speech to my clumsy, Vladimir seminarian lingua - and the whole thing was such a triumph that the windows almost burst and the ceiling of the hall collapsed from the applause.”

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

Of course, we will not cover everything at once, standing in the middle of the Egyptian Hall of the Museum. We need to return to museums; they don’t 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 about much more when we return to the most mysterious hall of the Museum of Fine Arts.

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

The Pushkin Museum opened its doors for the first time on May 31, 1912. The inspirer and first director was Moscow University professor Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev. The initial collection was formed from copies of ancient sculptures and mosaics of the university Cabinet of Fine Arts and genuine antiquities purchased from the famous Egyptologist V.S. Golenishcheva. 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 Pushkin Museum’s collection includes more than 670,000 exhibits, of which only 1.5% are available for inspection.

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

• Main building
• Gallery of art from Europe and America of the 19th-20th centuries.
• Department of Personal Collections
• Museum-apartment of Svyatoslav Richter
• Center aesthetic education"Museion"
• Training Art Museum them. 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 specifically for the museum.

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

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

Wooden sarcophagus of the nobleman Mahu, holder of a plot of land of the Temple of Amun:

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

Sarcophagus and mummy of Khor-Kha. On foreground– cat mummy:

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

Figurine of an adorant from Northern Mesopotamia. Adorant is a figurine made of stone or clay that was placed in a temple so that it would pray for the person who placed it.

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

Antefix – ceramic tile with the Gorgon Medusa mask:

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

The theme of antiquity continues in the Greek courtyard - big 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.

Equestrian statue – copy bronze monument to the commander-in-chief Bartolomeo Colleoni of Venice.

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

One of the main pearls of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin - a collection of works by Rembrandt and artists of his school is located in room No. 10.

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

Exhibition of paintings Flemish painters 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".

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

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

Let's go up to the second floor.

The hall, called "Olympic", with casts from classical ancient Greek sculptures.

A copy of the sculpture “Lamentation of Christ” from the hall of Michelangelo Buonarotti. " Greater fame and fame,” according to his contemporary, the great master acquired himself with this work.

Italian sculpture from the 15th century. The decoration of the hall uses decorative elements in the style of the Early Renaissance.

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

European art of the Middle Ages.

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, and the sculpture “Victoria”.

Greek art late classic and Hellenism. The colossal group “Farnese Bull” - the original is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Winged Nike of Samothrace and Aphrodite of Knidos 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 exploring the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

Photography is free, but there are a few rules: you cannot use a tripod or flash, and you are prohibited from taking photographs at temporary exhibitions.

On days of particularly significant exhibitions, when masterpieces from collections are brought best museums world, queues are forming at the cash register.

Art Talks on 29 topics are held on Tuesday and Friday afternoons and Thursday evenings in the Main Building, Gallery and Personal Collections Department.

Since 1980 in the museum. Pushkin passes annual festival music “December Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter”, concerts are held in the halls throughout the year.

There are sightseeing and thematic tours of the permanent exhibition; you can take an audio guide, its cost is 250 rubles.

More detailed information see on the official website of the Pushkin Museum: arts-museum.ru

How to get to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

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

Address: Volkhonka street, building 12.

Opening hours

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

Monday - closed

Ticket prices for the Main Building

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

What are some gods with the heads of animals worth?! It’s quite easy to touch this ancient and mysterious culture in a modern metropolis; we have rooms with the laconic names “The Art of Ancient Egypt” and “Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, Coptic Art”, numbers 1 and 6, respectively. In order to keep your perception fresh, we recommend taking a map of the museum or asking the local attendants for directions; believe me, it’s worth it.

Here even the room itself is stylized as Ancient Egypt: “reed” columns, paintings on the ceiling, patterned floor. Among the exhibits are originals from 4 thousand BC, such antiquity will take your breath away! In the halls of the museum you can see statues, reliefs, mummies of people and animals, household items, amulets, vessels and jewelry. In addition to figurines and sarcophagi, an impressive model of a funeral boat and a cosmetic spoon in the form of a swimming girl, and of course papyri (for example, an excerpt from the “Book of the Dead”). On the more “modern” side are magnificent Coptic fabrics and masks, all of the finest workmanship and worthy of admiration. Meanwhile, imbued with exoticism, we continue our walk!