Кунсткамера рассказ на английском

The Kunstkamera (Russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for «Culture Room» (literally) or «Art Chamber», typically used for a «cabinet of curiosities») is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Petersburg, facing the Winter Palace. Its collection was first opened to the public at the Summer Palace by Peter the Great in 1714, making it Russia’s first museum. Enlarged by purchases from the Dutch collectors Albertus Seba and Frederik Ruysch, the museum was moved to its present location in 1727. Having expanded to nearly 2,000,000 items, it is formally organized as the Russian Academy of Science’s Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Russian: Музей антропологии и этнографии имени Петра Великого Российской академии наук, Muzey antropologii i etnografii imeni Petra Velikogo Rossiyskoy akademii nauk), abbreviated in Russian as the МАЭ or МАЭ РАН.

History[edit]

As part of Peter the Great’s establishment of St Petersburg as the new Russian capital, he established an imperial cabinet of curiosities dedicated to preserving «natural and human curiosities and rarities» in the manner of some of the other European courts since the 16th century. Such cabinets allowed rulers and the elite to acquire a fuller knowledge of the world and to demonstrate their control over it. Peter’s personal collection was first exhibited to the public at the Summer Palace in 1714, which is used by the present museum as its founding date. Peter’s main interest was in natural things (naturalia) rather than manmade ones (artificialia). A major component of the original collection was a large assortment of human and animal fetuses with various birth defects, many of which Peter had acquired in 1697 from Frederick Ruysch and Levinus Vincent. Peter encouraged research into deformities, particularly in order to debunk superstitious fear of monsters. In particular, he issued an ukase ordering malformed stillborn infants to be sent from anywhere in Russia to the imperial collection. He subsequently had them put on show in the Kunstkamera as examples of accidents of nature.^[1] In 1716, he established a mineral cabinet for the Kunstkamera from a collection of 1195 samples which he had bought from the Danzig doctor Gottwald. He then expanded it with other curious or representative minerals from around Russia. (This collection was later separated to create what became the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, now in Moscow.)

The present Kunstkamera is a turreted Petrine Baroque building designed by Prussian architect Georg Johann Mattarnovy. Its foundation stone was laid in 1719 and it was fully completed in 1727. A separate building had become necessary after the purchase of large collections from the Dutch pharmacologist Albertus Seba in 1716 and the Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch in 1717. Examination and organization of these collections also spurred the creation of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A third acquisition came from Jacob de Wilde, a collector of gems and scientific instruments. These purchases were largely organized by Robert Erskine, Peter’s chief physician, and his secretary Johann Daniel Schumacher.^[2]

Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography[edit]

In the 1830s, the Kunstkamera collections were dispersed to newly established imperial museums, the most important being the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, established in 1879. It has a collection approaching 2,000,000 items and has been known as the Peter the Great Museum since 1903 in order to distinguish it from the Russian Museum of Ethnography.

Originally, there were separate museums for anthropology and ethnography, but on 5 December 1878 it was decided to merge them into a single museum with Leopold Schrenk being appointed on 10 November 1879. It was not until 1887 that the museum was finally provided with its own exhibition premises attached to Kunstkamera in Tamozhennyi pereulok. On 23 September 1889, the first exhibition of the unified Museum was opened.

One of the most gruesome exhibits is the head of Willem Mons, brother of Anna Mons. In 1747 some objects were lost in a fire. The museum houses 78 watercolours by the Peruvian artist Pancho Fierro, the largest collection outside Peru. These were brought back by Schrenk following his visit there in 1854.

List of directors[edit]

• Leopold Schrenk (1879–94)
• Vasily Radlov (1894–1918)
• Vasily Bartold (1918–21)
• Yefim Karskiy (1921–30)
• Nikolay Matorin (1930–33)
• Ivan Meshchaninov (1934–37)
• Nikolai Kislyakov (1945–48)
• Nikolai Girenko (1991–92)
• Alexander Myl’nikov (1992–97)
• Chuner Taksami (1997–2001)
• Yuri Chistov (2001–present)^[3]

See also[edit]

• List of museums in Saint Petersburg
• Globe of Gottorf (one of the museum’s main artistic pieces)
• Pushkin House (occupied the rooms in the Kunstkamera building in 1905–27)

Notes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Vladimir Romanovich Arsenyev. 1999. Le musée d’Anthropologie et d’Ethnographie Pierre-le-Grand à Saint-Pétersbourg. Cahiers d’Études africaines 39, no. 155/156: 681–699.

External links[edit]

• Official website of the Kunstkamera (in English)
• Kunstkamera, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Saint Petersburg)
• Photo (1024 × 768)
• Peter’s collection lives on: Russia’s oldest museum marks 300th birthday

Coordinates: 59°56′30″N 30°18′16″E / 59.94167°N 30.30444°E

The first museum built in Russia turns 300 this year. RIR reviews the history of the St Petersburg museum’s unique collection, which includes Peter the Great’s notorious “freaks.”

St.
Petersburg’s Kunstkamera museum, famous for its colorful display of human and
animal “freaks” collected by Peter the Great, is marking its 300^th
anniversary this year.

Although
the museum opened in 1714, the Kunstkamera’s history is considered to have
originally begun with Peter’s long trip abroad known as the Grand Embassy (1697-98),
when the tsar went to Europe to study shipbuilding. During his travels he gathered
many impressions about European life and culture. In particular, he was
fascinated by the kunstkameras that were appearing on the continent and,
inspired by what he had seen, he decided to create his own cabinet of
curiosities.

Kunstkameras began to appear in the 16th and 17th centuries as
collections of rarities in the palaces of the educated European nobility. The
word kunstkamera means a chamber with unusual creations, those created
by man and those created by nature. Along with stuffed exotic animals and rare
mineral and seashell samples, the chambers also contained works of art.

Peter decreed that anything he found amazing was to be brought to the
Russian Kunstkamera. The collection was supposed to show the diversity of the
world and the mystery of nature. In 1706 the French Journal de Trévoux
wrote that the muses and science were moving north, «where the current
Tsar Peter Alexeyevich is intent on enlightening his country.»

The foundation date of Russia’s first museum is usually considered to be
1714, when, according to Peter’s decree, all the articles he collected during
his travels abroad were moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg. In the beginning,
in order to attract visitors, the Kunstkamera offered treats and gifts. But the
museum quickly became famous and soon visitors had to buy tickets.

Peter’s collection moves to a house

The main
difference between the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera and its European counterparts
was the reason for its opening. The museum had been created not as a private
collection, but as an educational institute. «I want people to look and
learn!» said Peter about the Kunstkamera, according to tradition.

Source: Lori/Legion Media

In the
18th century the museum moved to a building on the eastern tip of Vasilievsky
Island. According to legend, Peter had chosen the location himself after seeing
a pine tree of an unusual form. The Petrine Baroque building that was
constructed on the spot later is still considered one of the symbols of the
city. The majestic structure on the banks of the Neva is crowned by a tower
with an armillary sphere, symbolizing the Solar System.

The museum collection

In the
first years of its existence, the Kunstkamera collection, along with rare
books, devices, instruments, weapons and natural rarities, also contained
«live» exhibits. These were children born with physical defects who
lived in the Kunstkamera and received a high annual income.

As years
passed the Kunstkamera transformed from a collection of curiosities and
oddities into a real scientific collection. When, in 1724, Peter founded the
Russian Academy of Sciences, the Kunstkamera became its first institution.
Having become academic, the museum subsequently concentrated on collecting
ethnographic rarities: clothes and household items from various peoples. Ever since
then the museum’s permanent exhibition has been dedicated to the native
cultures of North America, Asia and Africa.

Source: PhotoXPress

But it is
the Kunstkamera’s collection of «freaks» that has always been most
popular among visitors. This is an array of anatomical rarities and anomalies
embalmed in alcohol. Peter had bought most of the articles from a Dutch anatomy
professor, Frederik Ruysch. Ruysch had collected and treated the
«freaks» for several decades and agreed to sell the collection to the
Russian tsar, hoping that Peter would leave it for posterity. The embalmed
embryos with their inborn anomalies shocked the 18th century public, and
continue to do the same to today’s visitors.

The Kunstkamera today

The
modern Kunstkamera is one of the biggest ethnographic museums in the world, and
actively carries out scientific research. The museum contains more than one
million exhibits and is constantly enlarged thanks to expeditions and new
acquisitions.

Every
year the Kunstkamera organizes about 50 scientific expeditions to various
regions of Russia, as well as to Asia and Africa. Each expedition enriches the
museum with new exhibits. Museum Director Yury Chistov says that the
Kunstkamera no longer «fits» in its historical building. The
administration is currently in talks with the city authorities about the
possibility of creating a separate storehouse for the collection.

Source: PhotoXPress

The
museum is broadly known for its educational programs and thematic guided tours on
various subject matters: from the history of costumes to anthropology.
Currently, only general orientations are available in foreign languages, but
the Kunstkamera management promises to add more programs for foreign tourists.

«Our
collections are interesting for the foreign visitor because they were collected
long before those that today are exhibited in Europe,» says Chistov.
«All our ethnographic exhibits are unique because they were not influenced
by European culture.»

During the press conference dedicated to the Kunstkamera’s
300th anniversary, President of the Russian Museum Union Mikhail Piotrovsky paid
tribute to the museum: «Along with the Kunstkamera’s anniversary we are
celebrating 300 years of Russian museology. This is the first and the oldest
museum in our country and it is also a very important landmark in the
development of museums in Europe.»

All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

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If you ask locals from Saint Petersburg, what comes them to mind with the Kunstkamera, they will usually tell you: “Embryos, malformations, deformity of animals” as associations. But the Kunstkamera in Saint Petersburg is more than a collection of malformed beings. Moreover it is one of the world’s largest collection of anthropological and ethnographical exhibits.

Peter the Great and his interest in sciences

Peter I. was the tsar in Russia at the end of the 17th and at the beginning of the 18th century. He didn’t receive his title “the Great” just because of his actually body height but rather for his reforms in military, economy and sciences. As an intellectual monarch and lover of sciences he aspired to familiarize his citizen with modern insights of the knowledge of European academics.
Following his idea, he initiated the construction of the building, in which you can find the today’s Kunstkamera. It is located in the opposite direction of the Neva, standing at the Hermitage and it was the first massive stone building at that time created for public.
The tsar disposed in this splendid building a library, a museum, an anatomic theatre and an observatory. Since Peter the Great thought that every person who is willing to educate himself should be honoured, he didn’t ask for an entry fee. Instead, he offered every visitor a coffee and a sweetmeat. Too bad that nowadays it is not the case anymore.

Exhibitions of malformations

In former Russia people thought that malformations were the result of unnatural forces. Corresponding to the common opinion, they occur because of sorcery and as work of the devil. Peter I. try to prove and show the opposite. That is why he was looking for abnormal embryos and acquired the collections of the European scholars Frederik Ruysch und Albert Seba. In addition to the collections of malformations, “living exhibits”, actually residents, enriched the Kunstkamera at that time.
The exhibitions today contain for example Embryos with cyclop’s eyes, three extremities or two heads. All are conserved in alcohol to maintain their state for hundreds of years.

Anthropological exhibitions

In huge contrast to the scary figures many historical objects tell about the life of different cultures. The first part of the museum is dedicated to Eskimos and Indians. You can see for instance an Pueblo Indian having a snake in his mouth as part of a ritual during the rainy season. An other Indian wears the skin of a deer as camouflage, showing the established method of hunting. By means of coat, Indians tried to approach wildlife unremarkable. They thought that wild animals will consider them as like-minded animals and therefore will stay calm and not run away.
In addition to Eskimos and Indians, the museum is devoted to China, Early Japan, Mongolia, Korea, India, Indonesia, Indochina and Middle East.

Academy of Science and the Globe of Gottdorf

The third floor presents the work of the polymath Lomonssow, contemporary scientist and their instruments. The fourth floor harbours the first Russian academic observatory.
Another highlight of the museum is the huge Globe of Gottdorf. In order to visit it, you have to book separately a guided tour. The globe has a diameter of three meters. Almost three hundred years ago the Globe was being transported four years to get from from his original place, the Gottdorf castle, to its destination Saint Petersburg.
The museum, spread on five floors and having a cafe and a snack-bar as well, is very spaciously. For an attentive, intensive walk through the Kunstkamera in Saint Petersburg, I recommend to start the visit during noon or in the early afternoon in order to avoid being in a hurry at the end.
Take your time and enjoy your visit!

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The strange for the Russian ear word «Kunstkamera» that in German means «a room of rarities», was used by Peter I, the founder of St. Petersburg, to name his collection of rarities. Peter’s idea to open such a «room» at home was brought in Europe, where he had found not only the abundance of such displays but also discovered for himself a new science — anatomy. At he same time Peter bought everything that surprised him: books, tools, abnormalities samples etc. On the basis of the all the stuff brought Peter founded his own personal collection of rarities. To replenish it he used the materials brought after domestic expeditions, foreign purchases, and donations from private individuals. Famous travelers from all over the world gave Peter curious things, which they brought from different countries they visited. Updating collections required more space, so in 1714 the personal collection of Peter I as well as the rarities collection belonging to Health Ministry were moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg and placed in the Summer Palace. In 1719 the collection of «Kunstkamera» was transported to «Kikin’s Home» near Smolny courtyard. From that time on Kunstkamera went public; by the order of Peter I it was open to everyone.

Such grandiose collection of rarities from around the world deserved to have its own building, so in 1718 the building for unusual items, superbly preserved to this day, was built on Vasylyevsky Island Spit. The contemporary building of «Kunstkamera» was laid in 1718. It became the model of the so-called «Peter’s Baroque» architecture. The building consists of two parts adorned with frontals connected by a multi-tier tower. The eastern part is a library, the western hosts the collections. The tower and the central space were used as the first observatory and anatomical theater. The decoration of the facade is represented by round shallow recesses under the windows, two-color walls, and stucco decoration of the vaults; for the interiors allegorical sculptural groups, busts and medallions of scientists were used.

In 1728 “Kunstkamera” was officially opened to attract crowds of gapers. In 1747 “Kunstkamera” was damaged by the fire.

Today «Kunstkamera» hosts the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after Peter the Great. It is one of the most complete and interesting in the world. The museum is the repository of a large number of ancient artifacts, but the most popular of his collection are anatomical anomalies.

For over a hundred years the exhibits of “Kunstkamera” served researchers in the field of archeology, anatomy and medicine. By special decree of Peter I all the identified evidence of anatomical deformities were supposed to be taken to “Kunstkamera”. One of the most famous exhibits of the museum is a unique Gottorf Globe-Planetarium made in the 17th century in Germany. It was presented to Peter I during the Northern War. The diameter of the globe is 3.1 meters. On its outer surface all countries, seas and rivers known at that time were shown, and inside the globe was the world’s first planetarium. The three upper floors of “Kunstkamera” are occupied by Mikhail Lomonosov Museum where the personal belongings of the scientist, various scientific tools, maps, astronomical devices, and mosaics are kept. The great Russian scientist had spent almost a quarter of a century in the building.

On the basis of «Kunstkamera» collection seven museums were founded: the Botanical, Zoological, Asian, Egyptian, Mineralogical, and Ethnographic. Zoological Museum is one of the largest museums in the world. The current museum collection has more than 30 thousand items, and millions more are kept in stock. The Ethnographic Museum has more than one million artifacts and reflects the diversity of cultures and nations of the Old and New Worlds.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia