Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts

Categories / Science. Education/Museums
MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE AND APPLIED ARTS, St. Petersburg Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts of Mukhina Academy of Arts and Design (13-15 Solyanoy Lane), founded in 1878 in Baron Stieglitz Academy of Technical Drawing. The museum building was constructed in 1885-96 according to the design of its first director, architect М. Е. Messmacher in Italian Renaissance style. The lower part of the rusticated facade has arch-shaped windows; the upper part with twin windows is lavishly decorated with architectural elements and sculpture (А. G. Bauman, М. А. Chizhov). The main exhibition hall is lighted from upwards and is girdled by two-layer arcades; the interiors of other halls were designed to match the exhibited collections of Russian and foreign decorative and applied arts masterpieces - with more than 30,000 exhibits. After 1917 a considerable part of the museum collection was turned over to the Hermitage. In 1923 the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts was reorganised as a branch of the State Hermitage. In 1926-29 it was closed down. The museum reopened in 1945. The exposition features models of decorative furniture, tiled stoves, porcelain, metal, ceramics, glass, fabric, and costumes of the 16th - 20th centuries. Works of Academy graduates take up a special place in the collection.

References: Музей барона Штиглица: Прошлое и настоящее. СПб., 1994; Музеи Санкт-Петербурга и Ленинградской области: Справ. СПб., 2002. С. 28-29.

A. D. Margolis. Bauman A.G.
Chizhov Matvey Afanasievich
Messmacher Maximilian Egorovich
Mukhina Vera Ignatievna
Stieglitz Alexander Ludwigovich, Baron
Solyanoy Lane/Saint Petersburg, city, house 13
Solyanoy Lane/Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Музеи Санкт-Петербурга и Ленинградской области: Справ. СПб., 2002
Музей барона Штиглица: Прошлое и настоящее. СПб., 1994 Stieglitz Central Technical Drawing School
Hermitage