St. Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia. The city has opened about a thousand different museums and their branches. Today, the Shuvalovsky Palace, where the Faberge Museum is located in St. Petersburg, is a popular venue for exhibitions and various cultural events. The Shuvalovsky Palace is a private museum on the basis of which annual concert events, private meetings and exhibitions are held. From this article you will learn what the Faberge Museum (St. Petersburg) is.
About the museum
The Faberge Museum (St. Petersburg) was created with the aim of accumulating, preserving and transmitting to the descendants of Russian and world cultural heritage. A huge role for the city is played by a private museum complex - the Shuvalovsky Palace, which once belonged to the ancient noble families of the Shuvalovs and Naryshkins. This is a truly rich collection of works by the firm of Russian master Karl Gustav Faberge, who created his works of art in the 19th-20th centuries. Here are the most popular items. So, the permanent exhibition at the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg - the imperial Easter eggs - is very popular. The splendor of the decoration of the palace, the highest jewelry craftsmanship of the Faberge family company excite the imagination. The creations of Karl and his family are unique artifacts of the history of the Russian Empire in all its grandeur. Moreover, the Faberge Museum, St. Petersburg is a beautiful building in St. Petersburg, attracting hundreds of tourists every day.
History of the Shuvalovsky Palace
This year marks its fourth birthday located on the basis of one of the oldest palaces in St. Petersburg Faberge Museum. The address of the museum, founded in 2013, is familiar to everyone - it is the embankment of the Fontanka River, house 21. The exact date of the founding of the Naryshkin-Shuvalovs palace is quite difficult to establish. It is known that at the end of the eighteenth century, an architect of Italian origin Giacomo Quarenghi created a project and began the implementation of the palace. The first owners were the spouses Vorontsova, well-known throughout the Russian Empire, but already in 1799 the palace was bought by Maria Antonovna Naryshkina. Maria immediately began to actively engage in the interior decoration of the palace, making it a real museum at that time. Naryshkin bought for the palace collections of art from around the world, these were marble pedestals, and precious trinkets, and watches.
The first palace of St. Petersburg
Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Krylov, Karl Bryullov, Nikolai Karamzin and many other people of art were welcome guests of the Naryshkin palace. The whole color of the metropolitan society gathered here for balls, holiday feasts. This beautiful palace was also visited by Emperor Alexander I. It is also known that in April 1834 a solemn ball was held on the occasion of the coming of age of Emperor Alexander II. Another significant day for the Naryshkin palace was the wedding of the first heiress of the palace with a representative of the Shuvalov family. The palace on this occasion was somewhat rebuilt to the convenience of the new family of Sofya Lvovna and Pyotr Pavlovich. From now on, the entrance from the embankment of the Fontanka River is crowned by a wide front staircase. Thus, the period of the “reign” of the Naryshkins is replaced by the time of the Shuvalovs.
War period, revolution
With the beginning of the tragic World War I in 1914, the Naryshkin-Shuvalovs palace was transferred to the last heiress Elizaveta Vladimirovna in the possession of a local hospital. In the halls, infirmaries for wounded soldiers were organized, and the front room served as a chamber of officers.
After the February Revolution of 1917, the Shuvalov Palace was transferred to the central state. management, and all museum expositions were transferred to all kinds of hiding places and storerooms. Fortunately, the revolutionary period did not affect the safety of the exhibits. After the infirmary in the palace was finally liquidated, the caches in the museum were opened, and their further fate was marked until 1925 by the expositions of the new museum of noble life, opened by the interim government. Subsequently, the palace collections were transferred to the Winter Palace and the Russian Museum. Some items of the collection are still kept in the museum fund.
Soviet period, besieged Leningrad
Back in the 30s, the central House of Seals was located on the territory of the former Shuvalov Palace. The budding propaganda poet, Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky, read here in October of the twenty-seventh year his bravadoic poem "Good" on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. The further fate of the palace was obvious - the building was first transferred for engineering needs, and then for design offices. The blockade of Leningrad left a huge mark in the history of the palace: it was subjected to heavy bombing, a huge part of the building and exhibits was damaged. The entire three-story outbuilding was almost wiped off the face of the earth. Several fires that destroyed the wooden floors took with them the unique paintings of the ceiling of the palace.
Restoration and new museums
Before the Faberge Museum (St. Petersburg) appeared, the palace experienced many troubles. In 1950, the first restoration work began, but the city was sorely lacking funding, the palace still needed major repairs. In the sixties, the House of Friendship was opened here, which also existed for about thirty years without proper repair. However, already in new Russia, in 2006, the palace was transferred to the possession of a private fund, the restoration of museum exhibits and the creation of private collections were announced. 2013 was the most important year in the history of the palace. On private grounds, the palace was completely restored, museum visits were opened, a permanent exhibition of the collection of works of Carl Faberge in St. Petersburg. Salvador Dali's exhibition in the Faberge Museum is by far the most popular event in St. Petersburg, the details of which I would like to share with readers.
Salvador Dali at the Faberge Museum
Already on March 31, 2017, an exhibition of the Spanish surrealist artist started. This is perhaps the largest collection of paintings by the master in the history of the collection of this artist in St. Petersburg. Particular attention is paid to the artist’s reflection on the works of the geniuses of the Renaissance: Michelangelo - in painting, Dante - in literature. A cult artist of the XX century has a strong impact on the audience, using the most cunning elements of surrealistic artistry. Scandalous, mysterious and wise - this is how Dali is seen by today's visitors to the museum's exposition. At this exhibition you can see both the artist’s early works (the first surrealistic landscapes) and later ones.
St. Petersburg, Faberge Museum: opening hours
Buying tickets for the Salvador Dali exhibition, recommended for visitors over eighteen, is offered only on the day of the visit. You can buy tickets online or at the box office of the museum. Visiting hours (seven days a week):
- 10.00 - 14.00;
- 14.00 - 18.00;
- 18.00 - 20.45.
If you used the online purchase of tickets, you can pick them up at the ticket office of the museum, giving your last name and first name, as well as the order number. Preferential groups of the population can visit the exhibition at a price of 200 rubles, a standard entrance ticket costs 450 rubles. Also, visitors can use a comprehensive ticket, paying 700 rubles. The last option involves visiting the Dali exhibition and the main exposition of the Faberge Museum without a guide. There are also preferential categories of citizens: pensioners, schoolchildren, full-time students, licensed guides.