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The St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music

St.Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music is located in the building of the former Imperial Theatres Management, erected in the 1st half of the 19 century by the great architect Carlo Rossi. This building remains one of the principal exhibits of the museum. The exhibit that has preserved its austere splendour and organic liaison with the theatre life of the country for more than 150 years. The facade windows of the museum overlook Alexandrinsky Theatre - the centre of the architectural ensemble, created by Rossi for the sake of theatre. The mission of our museum is to preserve and revive theatrical legends for every visitor.

In the museum and its branches (the N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov Museum, the F.I.Chaliapin Museum, the Samoilov Family Museum, the Museum of Music in the Sheremetev Palace) you can see portraits of famous theatre men of the past, theatre designs by well-known artists, posters, manuscripts, theatre props, set models - everything that will help you to imagine the legendary drama and musical productions which no longer exist. Among the most significant personalities of the museum's collection - directors Vs.Meyerhold and A.Tairov, actresses M.Savina and V.Komissarjevskaya, artists A.Benois and L.Bakst, K.Malevich and V.Tatlin, composers N.Rimsky-Korsakov and D.Shostakovich, singer F.Chaliapin, ballet masters M.Fokine and F.Lopukhov, dancers V.Nijinsky and M.Baryshnikov, A.Pavlova and G.Ulanova - to name but a few. Here there are also private belongings of great composers, singers, actors enabling to reconstruct the atmosphere, in which they lived and created. The unique collection of videotapes gives a chance to meet actors of other countries. The Museum of Music in the Sheremetev Palace preserves the memory about theatrical and musical traditions of the celebrated noble family of Sheremetev. Here one of the world's biggest collections of musical instruments is also located.

In all the buildings of the museum there are halls where concerts and performances, meetings with famous actors and singers, musicians and artists, take place. Our museum's aim is to connect the past and the present. The museum not only preserves the memory of the old art, but also is a hospitable house for the modern art and probably a cradle for the art of the future. Non-surprisingly, a considerable number of productions, subsequently famous, were first presented here, and many future celebrities made their debut here.

The Museum of Theatre and Music and its branches know all about Russian Theatre.

The Painting, Graphics and Applied Art Department possesses 40,000 items. Here there is a collection of theatrical portraits, miniatures, etchings, set and costume designs, sculptures, set models. The earliest pieces date back to mid-18th century, when outstanding Italian designers Antonio Bibbiena, Giuseppe Valeriani, Antonio Canoppi brought glory to the Russian theatre. The latest acquisitions: works by artists Eduard Kocherguin, Boris Messerer, Teimuraz Murvanidze - were made in 1997.

The pearls of the collection are the works of artists who belonged to the "World of Art" group - Boris Anisfeld, Lev Bakst, Alexander Benois, Alexander Golovin, Konstantin Korovin, Sergei Sudeikin, and masters of the early 20th century avant-garde art: Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, Natan Altman, Leonid Tchupyatov, Nikolai Akimov, Tatyana Bruni, Alexander Tyshler, Vladimir Dmitriev.

The Manuscript and Document Department (21,000 items) includes music autographs of Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dmitry Shostakovich; the director's explications of Vsevolod Meyerhold, Georgy Tovstonogov; the diaries and notebooks of Anna Pavlova, Olga Spesivtzeva; letters of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Diaghilev, Konstantin Stanislavsky. Of major importance among the Department's treasures are the personal archives of Marius Petipa, Fyodor Chaliapin, Agrippina Vaganova, Fyodor Lopukhov, Tatyana Vyacheslova.

There is a large collection of manuscripts, connected with the work of the main St.Petersburg theatres: the Alexandrinsky (former Pushkin) Drama Theatre, the Mariinsky (former Kirov) Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Musorgsky (Maly) Opera and Ballet Theatre. The dates range from 1725 to 1997.

In the Museum collection there are authographs of A.Blok, M.Gorky, V.Mayakovsky, V. Nemirovich-Danchenko, K.Stanislavsky, M. Petipa, A.Chekhov, S.Eisenstein, M.Battistini, A.Patti, J.Rossini, M.Taglioni and others.

The Memorabilia Department (8,000 exhibits) contains actors' personal belongings, decorations, orders and memorial medals, conductor's batons, articles of the 18-20th centuries theatre life, touching gifts of the audience to its idols - ballerinas Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, conductor Eduard Napravnik, singers Nikolai Figner and Ivan Yershov.

The gem of the Museum collection is a set of ballet shoes - from Maria Taglioni's to Natalia Makarova's. It allows one to trace the evolution of the female dancing technique.

There is also an extremely rare Collection of Theatrical Costumes, 2,000 in number. It reflects the artistic versatility of the different theatrical epochs. Here there are costumes of the legendary first night performance of M.Petipa's "Sleeping Beauty" (1890); the costumes of Fokin's ballets, designed by Benois, Bakst, Anisfeld, Golovin, Roerich; as well as the costumes for the experimental ballets of the 1920's- '30's of the choreographic innovator Fyodor Lopukhov.

Photographs and Negatives Collection (240,000 items) is the largest of its kind in Russia. There are portraits of actors in life and on the stage, the unique photographs of Diaghilev's "Russian Ballets" rehearsals, the mise en scenes of opera, ballet and drama performances, photographs from the family albums of the Stravinsky, Komissarjevskaya, Kshesinskaya.

The Collection of Playbills and Programmes (56,000 items) recreates the chronicle of theatrical events, from late 18th century and up to our days. Here we may learn about the Petersburg-Leningrad tours of the Moscow Art Theatre of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, the Moscow Chamber Theatre headed by A.Tairov; about the Russian tours of the European celebrities Maria Taglioni, Enrico Caruso, Titto Ruffo, Sarah Bernhardt, Anna Magnani, Jean-Louis Barrault, Peter Brook.

6 Pl.Ostrovskogo
(812) 571-21-95
Metro: Gostiny Dvor, Nevsky Prospect.

Sunday-Saturday 11:00-18:00, Wednesday 13:00-19:00. Closed Tuesday and last Friday of every month.

For foreigners 25-50R.

Guided tours for foreign visitors:

under 10 people - 100 rubles
from 11 to 20 people - 200 rubles
from 21 to 30 people - 300 rubles
Guided tours, video-lectures, concerts, and recitals are arranged in the museum.

Topics of guided tours:

The Birth and Develpment of the Russian Theatre
Theatre in the Epoch of Peter the Great
Fonvisin
Theatre at the Time of Pushkin
The Stage History of The Woe from Wit
The Stage History of Government Inspector
Ostrovsky and Theatre
Chekhov and Theatre
Gorky and Theatre.
Theatre in late 19 - early 20 cc.
The Plays of Mikhail Bulgakov
Mayakovsky and Theatre
Puhskin. Little Tragedies
and many others

Address: Naberezhnaya Fontanki, 34, St.Petersburg, 191104, Russia.

Opening hours: Sunday-Saturday 12 am - 6 pm, closed - Monday, Tuesday, last Friday of every month.

Transport: metro stations Mayakovskaya, Gostiny Dvor, Ploschad Vosstania. buses 3, 7, 22, 10, troll. 1, 5, 7, 10, 22.

Contacts: (812) 272-38-98; (812) 272-21-23.

Admission fee for foreign visitors:

adults - 80 rubles
students - 25 rubles

Guided tours for foreign visitors:

under 10 people - 100 rubles
from 11 to 20 people - 200 rubles
from 21 to 30 people - 300 rubles

Tours:

The Counts Sheremetev
The Fountain House. The Palace and Mansion
The Evolution of Keyboard Instruments
Wind Instruments
Folk and Professional
String Bow Instruments: Searches, Experiments, Anecdotes
Celebrated Names Presented at the Collection of Musical Instruments
St.Petersburg Collection of Musical Instruments
Lectures and concerts:

The Musical History of the Fountain House
Memorable Musical Dates
The Pages of Vocal Lyrics
The Sheremetev Choir
The Masterpieces of St.Petersburg Collection of Musical Instruments
Following the Tradition of the Sheremetev Musical Parties
Shtakelberg Musical Fridays
Chamber Saturdays of the Musical Society

Branch of St.Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Address: 28, Zagorodny Prospekt, St.Petersburg, 196002, Russia

Opening hours: Sunday-Saturday 11 am - 6 pm, closed - Monday, Tuesday, last Friday of every month.

Transport: Metro stations Vladimirskaya, Pushkinskaya

Contacts:information 113-32-08; tours 315-39-75, fax 113-32-08.

Admission fee:

adults - 50 rubles
students - 25 rubles

Guided tours:

under 10 people - 200 rubles
from 11 to 20 people - 400 rubles
from 21 to 30 people - 600 rubles

Additional:

Photo shooting - 50 rubles
Video shooting - 100 rubles

Guided tours:

An overall tour of the composer's apartment
Fairy-tales in the creative work of Rimsky-Korsakov
Rimsky-Korsakov and the Mighty Cluster group
Rimsky-Korsakov in St.Petersburg
Musical St.Petersburg (in English)
Duration: 40 min

Meetings at the house on Zagorodny
Children's Musical Club at the house of Rimsky-Korsakov
Musical journeys
Musical youth of St.Petersburg

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