World of Art Automatic translate

The cultural landscape of St. Petersburg is dynamically replenished with bright and original art projects, including new private museums, galleries and exhibition spaces. Victoria Shamlikashvili, General Director of Individual Travel Services, tells about the new treasures of the northern capital and unusual small museums opened by private collectors.

Not only large-scale expositions, but also small museums deserve attention, Victoria Shamlikashvili is sure. For example, the St. Petersburg collector, antiquarian and businessman Evgeny Pylaev created the first fan museum in Russia. The founder of the museum, which became the third in the world after London and Paris, managed to collect more than 250 fans of various eras and countries.

The generously decorated interiors of the Museum of Fan Art on Kamennoostrovsky Avenue 73-75 are in no way inferior to the halls of the most famous Russian museums, either in terms of technical equipment or from an aesthetic point of view.

“The permanent exhibition of the museum presents more than 150 unique copies of a variety of fans, from serial samples from different eras to original fans belonging to historical figures,” continues Victoria Shamlikashvili.

Among the rarities that make up the collector’s pride is an accessory created at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries belonging to the Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikiye Luki, as well as a fan depicting King Frederick the Great of Prussia.

The St. Petersburg Perfume Museum is very unusual, where both the most famous aromas of the twentieth century and the unusual works of modern perfumers, including Russian and St. Petersburg masters, are collected. The museum was, in fact, the first osmosis in the country, namely a library of aromas, each of which can be listened to. The museum was founded by a private collector Elina Arsenyeva, who at one time launched the Internet project “Perfume Radio”. Arsenyeva set herself the first educational task. The museum holds master classes and a school of perfumers.

This year it is planned to open the Museum of Modern Fashion, curated by the famous St. Petersburg designer Leonid Alekseev. “The new exhibition project, which will open as part of the Erarta Museum of Modern Art, has taken on the mission of exploring the rich range of links between fashion and contemporary art,” said Victoria Shamlikashvili.

Recently found its own home the most complete collection of works by the famous Russian jeweler Karl Faberge. The Faberge Museum opened in the restored Shuvalovsky Palace on the Fontanka. It was created by the Cultural-Historical Foundation “Link of Times”, which was founded by Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg.

The basis of the art collection was the famous Forbes collection, which at one time belonged to the heirs of the American newspaper magnate Malcolm Forbes, who had been hunting for royal jewelry for more than half a century.

The exposition consisted of four thousand works of decorative, applied and fine art: gold and silver products, painting, porcelain and bronze. This collection is without a doubt one of the best in the world. In the grand Blue Hall in the “personal” glass cubes, there are the main masterpieces of Karl Faberge’s company - imperial Easter eggs created by the genius of Russian jewelers, stone-cutters, enamels and artists. These precious items with intricate surprises are also especially valuable because they capture important events in Russian history: the last coronation in the Russian Empire, the fifteenth anniversary of the reign of Nicholas II, the war with Germany. In addition to eggs made by order of the last Romanovs, the Fund’s collection includes Easter gifts made for representatives of the world elite.