Sightseeing

THE MUSEUM OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS The Imperial Academy of Arts, actually a government department regulating art life in the country, distributing orders and awarding ranks to the artists, used to allocated in Shuvalov's house at Sadovaya Street until 1764 and it was originally conceived as an academic museum for the preservation of works by the Academy's students, especially those who had received awards or other honours. In the course of the time, the collection grew and Empress Catherine the Great, who shrugged off Baroque style as vulgar, wished a new building for the academy to be accomplished in Classicism style, marked for the imitation of Antiquity with its solemn austerity. According to the Empress’ wish, Count Ivan Shuvalov, who had invited Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe from France to teach architecture at the emergent Academy of Arts, commissioned this talented architect to fulfill the task. But Vallin de la Mothe was unlike other architects – he designed a house, made sketches and ceded constructions to his colleagues. Thus, Alexander F. Kokorinov, the first rector of the Academy, supervised the creation of its new edifice, while Konstantin Thon was responsible for the sumptuous decoration of the interiors; he also designed a quayside in front of the edifice and adorned it with 3000-year-old sphinxes and griffins, which had to be brought from Egypt. Opened by Count Ivan Shuvalov under the name of Academy of Three Noblest Arts in 1757, the academy, considered to be indispensable for development of basic professional skills, was renamed several times: in 1933 it was called Russian Academy of Arts, in 1947 - the Academy of Arts of the USSR, and back the Russian Academy of Arts in 1991, but whatever name it was wearing, the Academy has always played a significant role in the history of Russian art. The actual Academy was moved to Moscow in 1947 and since then this building has housed the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture and an exposition of works by past and present members such as paintings by Anton Losenko, Ivan Prokofiev, Fedor Gordeyev, Theodosius Shchedrin, Karl Briullov, Gavriil Skorodumov, Alexander Ivanov, Ilya Repin, Vasily Polenov, Vasily Mathe, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Open daily 11.00 - 18.00. Closed on Monday and Tuesday. Address: Universitetskaya embankment, 17 Phone: 323-64-96 Metro: Vasileostrovskaya

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