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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: H-50Last update of repository: 17 March 2020Gosudarstvennyi muzei Vostoka (GMV)Previous names
The museum was formed in 1918 under the name “Ars Asiatica,” mainly from the extensive private collections of P.I. Shchukin, K.F. Nekrasov, the Soviet diplomat and collector, V.G. Tardov, among others. At the end of 1924 the museum was made a branch of the Museum of Fine Arts (H–47), but in 1925 it became independent and was renamed the State Museum of Oriental Cultures. In 1962 it was renamed again—the State Museum of the Art of Peoples of the Orient (GMINV), but since 1991 has been known by its present name. In the early 1980s the museum was given the classic Moscow building which had been the home of the Decembrist M.S. Lunin, and which had been designed by the architect Domenico Gilardi (D.I. Zhiliardi) in 1818–1823. Before it reopened there (1984), the museum was plagued by numerous disasters, particularly fires, the worst of which occurred in 1976. At present part of the holdings are still housed in the old building (ul. Vorontsovo pole [formerly ul. Obukha], 16), the reconstructed Church of Elijah the Prophet (tserkov' Il'i Proroka). In December 1991 the museum was added to the federal register of the most valuable monuments of the cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation. The Archive of the museum was established in 1977. The museum has two branches: (1) Roerich Museum at VDHKh (Muzei Rerikhov na VDNKh; website: http://roerichsmuseum.ru/) (2) North Caucasus branch (385000, Republic of Adygea, Maikop, ul. Pervomaiskaia, 221; tel. +7 877-2 52-10-99; website: http://orientmuseum-filial.ru/). |