"You will be in St. Petersburg, be sure to visit the Kunstkamera!" - almost every tourist, a guest of the northern capital receives such parting words. What is a Kunstkamera? For many, this word is associated with something unusual, rare and spectacular. From it blows antiquity, something distant ...
The article details what the Kunstkamera is, the history of its creation and the current situation.
The concept
There is a legend that Peter I, during a walk along Vasilievsky Island, saw two amazing pines: a branch of one, in some incomprehensible way, grew through the trunk of the other. Such an unusual picture was remembered by the impressionable sovereign. He remembered the wonder after a few years when visiting with a diplomatic mission in 1697-1698. England and Holland. Then he got acquainted with the so-called "cabinets of rarities" among noble nobles, in which they kept all sorts of divas: alcoholic organs, stuffed animals, and collections of rare insects. These were the very first Kunstkamera. The word translated from German means "room of art."
History of creation in Russia
Peter liked the marvelous rooms so much that after returning home, he first set about arranging such an office in his palace. In Holland, he learned an embalming recipe; for 30 thousand Dutch guilders he acquired the whole "Ruysch cabinet". In the future, without stint, the sovereign bought rare books, devices, various tools, unique artifacts and natural wonders abroad. After he issued a decree according to which everyone who found some unusual or rare item had to transfer it to the created “cabinet of rarities”. From all corners of the immense Russian Empire, amazing objects began to flock to the office. Soon there were so many of them that they did not fit in the palace. Much had to be stored in special cellars, which greatly upset Peter, who wanted to put the wonders on display.
After moving the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg and moving to a new residence, Peter I moved his rarities to a new place. He temporarily placed them in the palace of the disgraced boyar Kikin, who was expelled from the capital with the confiscation of property for participating in a conspiracy against the sovereign. The king ordered the Kikina Chambers to be called the “Kunstkamera” in a foreign manner. This happened in 1714. This year the first Russian Kunstkamera was born, the photo of which today adorns every guide to Peter.
Building construction
Peter's collection grew rapidly. In 1717, again, in Holland, the entire Seb cabinet was acquired for 15 thousand Dutch guilders. Soon, all the values could not fit the "Kikina Chambers". To place their wonders with the possibility of showing them to everyone, the sovereign ordered the construction of a special building. For him, an elite place was allocated on the arrow of Vasilievsky Island near the royal chambers and important state institutions.
The project was developed by architect Mattarnovi. The first stone of the future famous museum was laid in July 1718. Later on, such famous masters as Gerbel, Zemtsov and Chiaveri worked on the building.
The grand opening of the Kunstkamera took place in November 1728, although the finishing work was completed only in 1734.
The difference between the Russian Kunstkamera and the European
The first "cabinets of rarities" arose in Europe during the Renaissance in the 15-16 centuries. What is a Kunstkamera belonging to a wealthy prince whose purpose was to impress the guests? This is just a haphazard collection of rare or unusual things, demonstrating the "learning" of their owner.
The Petrovsky Kunstkamera, the description of which is given above, was originally conceived not as a collection of treasures, but as a collection of entertaining exhibits that can serve educational and scientific purposes. The storage and systematization of values was entrusted to enlightened people. At different times, the directors or employees of the Peter's cabinet were Bayburin, Bartold, Gumilyov, Lomonosov, Struve, Sternberg, Pallas, Severgin and other scientists. They collected a wide variety of material - not only freaks or entertaining wonders, but household items of great ethnographic and historical significance, scientifically valuable collections of insects, stuffed birds, reptiles, fish and animals, and created anatomical and mineralogical departments.
After the creation of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1724, the main sources of replenishment of the Kunstkamera were objects brought from scientific expeditions of Miller, Krasheninnikov, Messershmit, Lisyansky, Miklukho-Maklaya, Bellingshausen, Kruzenshtern.
What is the Russian Kunstkamera? This is a museum, one of the oldest and richest in the world, the cradle of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Curious facts
From the first day of the Kunstkamera, the photo of which is presented below, by order of Peter I was open to everyone. Entrance and viewing of exhibits was free.
Peter I created a completely unusual department in the museum, the exhibits of which were animals and people with birth defects - cyclopia, multifariousness, siren syndrome and other anomalies. Moreover, there were not only embalmed organs and creatures, but also living dwarfs, freaks and monsters living in the museum at the expense of the state treasury.
The sovereign knew every subject of his collection "in person" and was an excellent guide, gladly telling his guests about them.
Today the museum has 1.2 million exhibits!