On February 10, 2023, the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve celebrated 100 years since its foundation. The museum was created on the initiative of the architect Pyotr Baranovsky. On February 10, 1923, by a decree of the Glavnauka of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, he was given a mandate “to manage the architectural monuments of the village of Kolomenskoye-Dyakovo.” In 1924, Kolomenskoye was transformed into a branch of the Pokrovsky Cathedral Museum. In 1928, it was attached to the State Historical Museum in the status of a branch. At this time, work was carried out on the study and scientific restoration of architectural monuments located on the territory, the first expositions were created, and most importantly, the foundations of the collection were laid – a unique collection of Russian icon painting, old books and decorative and applied art.
In 1971, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, the organization was given the independent status of a museum-reserve. In subsequent years, the institution actively developed. The first specialized depository building among Moscow museums was built in Kolomenskoye In 1983 to accommodate and store museum collections, equipped in accordance with international standards. In 2010, the wooden Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was recreated, which in the 17th century was called the “eighth wonder of the world.”
Expositions of the Kolomenskoye Museum
The icons “John the Baptist – the Angel of the Desert” of the 16th century and “Christ before Anna” of the 17th century, which are part of the treasury of national art, deserve special mention. Of great historical importance is the ceremonial coverlet of the 18th century, which, presumably, was used to decorate the table with the regalia of royal power, as well as the unique hanging shroud for the icon of the Sovereign Mother of God, found in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in 1917.
Of particular interest are objects from the collection of small architectural forms, which the founder and first director of the museum in Kolomenskoye, architect Pyotr Baranovsky, began to collect. At the exhibition, you can see a 17th century mica window and samples of original house carvings, among which wooden carved boards of the 18th century from the Nizhny Novgorod province should be highlighted.
Through these and other items from the museum’s collection, as if through the prism of time, the pages of the museum’s history are revealed, the achievements of restorers are demonstrated, as well as new acquisitions that have replenished the collection in recent years.
