The St. Petersburg Puppet Museum is located on Vasilyevsky Island at the address: Kamskaya St., 8. In appearance, the building is not very similar to the museum. In fact, we are used to the fact that a museum is something official, refined, one might say, grandiose. No, the building of this museum is rather modest, not claiming uniqueness. However, it is precisely behind this inconspicuous facade that one can see what helps to once again believe in the ability of dolls to come to life.
Artemon meets you
Remember Artemon from the fairy tale "The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Pinocchio"? Clever dog, assistant Malvina. Probably, many in childhood wanted to have the same four-legged friend. Now imagine that you had a Dream. Yes, yes, with a capital letter. This Dream was so strong and bright that no arguments of adults about its unrealizability could force you to refuse it. But then, over time, for some reason you yourself believed that the Dream is just an air castle that you built under the impression of what you read. And then one day, going into one of the many museums in the big city, you see that your Dream is standing in front of you and is waving your tail in greeting. Just for the sake of it it is worth visiting this amazing museum!
"Village street"
The atmosphere of the gallery captures and immerses in the world of village life. Everything becomes very personal, the feeling that you see it for the first time disappears: everything is familiar, you just need to remember. Here’s neighbor Vanya playing the harmonica. Dance. He plays so fervently that it’s hard to stand still! A little at a distance in full swing is the celebration of Ivan's Day (aka Ivan Kupala). Young boys and girls dance and have fun jumping over a bonfire. Someone went to the side of the forest to try their luck in search of a fern (they say that on the night of Ivan Kupala, it blooms, and luck will find him who finds him for the whole year). And they will definitely find him!
"Gone Russia"
Closely interwoven with the theme of this gallery and the theme of the hall "Gone Rus." We can say that this room is a mini-version of the beloved Ethnographic Museum. Here are collected all the fundamental Slavic worldviews: “The Tree of Life”, pagan gods, amulets. Yes, this room is not fun and entertaining. But here it is not necessary. Well, where else can you plunge into the world of primordially Slavic culture? Where can we modern people see the world through the eyes of our ancestors? And to understand, by the way, a simple thing: in spite of the temporary abyss and the difference in the rhythms of life, we are not much different from them - we also think about life, we also care about death, like them, we want to protect our home and our loved ones from misfortune. Regardless of time, era, we all want to believe and hope for something very very good ...
Fairytale Hall
This room is the dream of all children on the planet! Here all (well, or almost all) fairy-tale heroes are collected: mermaids, the Serpent Gorynych, Baba Yaga (how could it be without her!), Characters from the fairy tales of the Grimm brothers, beauties from Arabian tales, and many others. There is even an Indian beauty. True, she is a beauty, rather, from the point of view of the Indians themselves. But this is good: you can once again make sure that beauty is not only a subjective concept, but also depends on the cultural characteristics of a particular nation. The heroes of the hall are simple and familiar to us from childhood, which is why everyone will like this gallery.
"Forest kingdom"
The Forest Kingdom hall at first even scares you a little with its realism. That's where the heroes really come to life and peep from different corners of the hall! Incredible birds, unprecedented animals and fairy-tale characters - whom you just will not see in the branches of large, no less amazing, trees. This is a very unusual room. The dolls themselves are surprised. At first, they seem too unusual and incomprehensible. However, after a closer look, it becomes clear that behind the unusual appearance of these unusual characters are hiding very kind, naive and friendly creatures, ready to give us a holiday!
Petersburg Perspective
Residents and guests of St. Petersburg, of course, will be interested to look into the gallery "Petersburg Perspective". This gallery not only displays the milestones of the history of our city (the Empress alone is worth it - she is simply amazing). Here very bright personalities are collected: from famous politicians and artists whose names are associated with St. Petersburg, ending with simple, but very recognizable types. This is a very satirical hall of the museum: the characters are so vivid and accurate that it is extremely difficult to make mistakes in reading those features of their character that the masters (authors of the dolls) wanted to show. From this it is ridiculous and sad: both the advantages of the inhabitants of the city and their shortcomings are visible. Well, maybe this particular gallery will help the residents of the northern capital to be better and proudly bear the name "Petersburger", and the city guests better understand its inhabitants ..?
Theater Hall
The theater hall contains theater puppets of all kinds: puppets, cane, finger and others, the existence of which, perhaps, before anyone had no idea. These dolls, as befits real theater actors, have bright personalities: each has its own character, its own story, its own role. I must say that this hall is very creative: at the sight of these exhibits magic fairy tales and beautiful stories suddenly come up, and I want to pick up the dolls myself and show an unusual performance full of miracles, kindness and warmth.
Interior Doll Hall
Very sophisticated hall interior dolls. These dolls are special: children do not play in them, they do not participate in performances. We can say that in the puppet world this is a real elite. They are created to decorate interiors, to be presented on the occasion of significant events, to decorate the decor. Not a bad destination, it should be noted: creating beauty around himself, a person makes his soul more beautiful too. They say that it is not a place that paints a person, but a person a place. However, can he find in his heart something unique and beautiful if he is surrounded by bad taste, untidiness and dirt? This room helps to find the answer to this question: beautiful, aesthetic, elegant dolls unwittingly spur you on, and now you are straightening your disheveled hair and stray scarf ...
"Pride and glory of our Fatherland"
Hall "Pride and Glory of our Fatherland". Very serious room. And this is not only because the puppets of the exhibition are military men from different eras. It's just that the topic is very serious. But this is not about the topic of war (it is always very difficult to discuss, even if you haven’t touched you personally), but about the topic of memory of your history. As you know, history does not know the subjunctive mood. This means that we can have a different attitude to the events that took place in the life of our country, but we are no longer able to change what we had. And this must be accepted with understanding and respect for the memory of those who were directly involved in those events. And now try to do everything possible to prevent mistakes of the past, so that people in military uniform remain only in the form of museum dolls.
Hall of frivolous dolls
The room of frivolous dolls is a very piquant place: the dolls here "live" different, from harmless playful to frankly erotic. Of course, not every parent will bring their child here. But from a certain age, children are even useful to come here. In adolescence, this sensitive topic causes such an increased interest, partly precisely because in many families it is too taboo. And, as you know, the forbidden fruit is sweet: you always want to try what is impossible. There are no prohibitions in the same room. In addition, there are less explicit dolls: for example, a very cute girl, putting lips for a kiss - she absolutely can not be called vulgar or depraved. Thus, the room of frivolous dolls shows that eroticism can have different forms, and it depends only on us which one we choose for ourselves.
Total. What is a puppet museum?
Contrary to the assurances of adults, dolls come to life. And not at night in children's rooms and not even in fairy tales: they come to life in our thoughts and feelings. If we are ready to open up to dolls, then they open up to us, learn to understand the world around us and ourselves more finely and deeper and help to find answers to a variety of questions.