National Art Museum of the Rubublic of Belarus

history

National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus (State Art Gallery from 1939 till 1957, State Art Museum from 1957 till 1993) - the largest collection of the Belarusian and foreign art in the country is located in the centre of Minsk, on Lenin street, 20. More than twenty seven thousand works, which form twenty various collections and two main museum collections can be found at the exhibition, branches and storages of funds: collection of the national art and collection of monuments of art of the countries and peoples of the world.

The official history of the museum begins on January, 24, 1939 - according to the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the BSSR it was created the State Art Gallery in Minsk. It was situated in fifteen halls of the building of the Highest Communist Agricultural School. Except of the division of painting, sculpture and graphic art. By special resolution it was organized the department of art industry in the Gallery .

The pre-war period of work of the Gallery was under the direction of Nikolay Mikholap (1886-1979) well-known Belarusian ceramics artist- time of the intensive shaping of the art collection. Strangely, that for such short period of time they have managed to do so much for gathering collection exhibits: most valuable works of the cult art were delivered and taken on account in Orthodox and Roman catholic churches. Great funds of painting, graphic and decorative-applied arts were collected .

The basis of picture collection of the Gallery became works from fine arts departments and history museums of Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev and Gomel. Several works from their own funds were presented by the Tretiyakov Gallery and Russian museum, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and State Hermitage. Works of the well-known Russian Soviet artists were included in the collection of the new gallery as well. After reuniting at September of 1939 west-Belarusian lands with the BSSR the Picture Galley got works from the nationalized homesteads and castles of the Western Belarus, including part of the collection from the palace of the Radziwill princes in Nesvizh. Thereby, the collection was renewed by rich gathering of Slutsk belts, French tapestry of the 18th c., portrait painting of the 16-19th cc.

At the beginning of 1941 the BSSR State Art Gallery funds acounted already 2711 works, out of them 400 were at the exhibition. Long work on description and study of each monument, creation of the museum collection catalogue lay ahead .

However, such rich collection of the art gallery in Minsk had a short life. At the first days of the war the fate of the whole collection went tragically. For a short period of time it will disappear without leaving a trace. The collection was prepared for evacuation, but they was not able to rescue it - it was not evacuated. In full composition and in full safety the art collection in Minsk appeared before the conquerors.

It is known that in the eve of large-scale war hostilities in Europe the Nazi government has formed the special program on confiscation of the cultural and art valuables in the occupied countries. In accordance with this program different societies and organizations were created, and by their order high ranking specialists went to differnt countries as tourists and researchers for sheduling lists of the most valuable collections and subjects, subjecting to confiscation. The account of valuables on the eastern territories was a task of the general mediation "Orient", it realized the prescriptions about forfeitures.

The events that occurred in Minsk in 1941 in the Art Gallery, showed that this collection interested Germans and it was ranked as great and valuable.

The first German units only mildly robbed the gallery. Then, two very important persons appeared in Minsk- G. Posse and K. Mulman. Posse - Director of Drezden Gallery and special representative on creation of Hitler's personal museum on his native land, in Lints. K. Mulman - special representative on account of the cultural and art valuables on the eastern territories. There were in the city also representatives of the "Heritage"society, with Himler at its head. The persons interested to assign the Minsk collections was too numerous, and strong rivalry existed between them. The best subjects of the applied art and pictures, about what the documents witnessed, were impounded by Posse, valuable collections were sent in Reich and in Kenigsberg. To September 1941, the art gallery collection was practically diffused. In this time гауляйтер of Weissrutenia (so was identified Belarus) W. Cube complains to A. Rozenberg that Minsk lost millions of valuables, as "valuable canvases, furniture of the 18-19th cc., vases, works from marble, watches and etc. SS gave for robbery to вермахт". Many works was evacuated in an unknown direction, something remained in the German organizations in Minsk.

The collection of the art gallery ceased to exist, and its loss it is possible to name as irreparable. The Fate of the pre-war State Art Gallery collection is hitherto unknown. Its searching is labored by absence of the stock - directory of the pre-war museum exhibits. "List of the museum valuables, taken away by Hitler's assistants to Germany and to the countries- accomplices and destructed as a result of bandit actions" of 1944, formed by the museum employees on memories, lists 223 works of Russian painting, 32 - West-European, furniture from the "Blue bedroom" of Alexander II in Winter palace, 60 icons of the 16-18th centuries, 89 sculptures, 48 Slutsk belts, 480 subjects of the Russian porcelain, 800 - West-European, 30 subjects of old-time уречского glass, 200 handmade "постилок" of the Belarusian weavers, hundreds of works of the Belarusian artists of late 19 - early 20 centuries.

After war it was returned only a small part of works, found on the eve of war at the exhibitions in Russia (for instance, bust of prince P. RUMYANTSEV-Zadunaysky made by F. Shubin), or found by the Soviet soldiers at the end of war in cities of East Prussia (portrait collection from Nesvizh) and in the ravaged Minsk ("Miner with a Light Bulb" by N. Kasatkin, "Autumn" by I. Levitan, "Morning of Spring" by V. Kudrevich, which turned out to be thrown away by fascists in an unfinished building of CC of the CPB).

All was necessary to begin anew. The second stage in the history of the museum is connected with 33 years of self-sacrificing activity of the Honoured Figure of Art of the BSSR, Director of the Gallery from 1944 Elena Aladova (1907 - 1986), who managed before the war by the department of Russian and Belarusian art. After liberation of Minsk the Gallery was given four rooms of the building of Trade unions on the Liberty square. Due to energy and enthusiasm of small group of the first employees, who worked enthusiastically, often till deep night, the museum literally "has rebelled from ash". In spite of postwar ruins, the government of the Republic allocated considerable means for buying works of art for the Gallery. Already at August of 1945 canvases of B. Kustodiev, V. Polenov, K. Bryullov and I. Levitan were obtained. Museums of Russia helped again: Pushkin State Museum sent several pictures of the West-European masters, State Russian Museum - three landscapes of A. Kuindzhi, landscape of A. Bogolyubov and the parade portrait of the empress Katerina II. On the former Arhiereysk courtyard in Minsk, where Belarusian State Museum was located before the war, miraculously survivor icons were found - including masterpieces by the Belarusian icon painting "Nativity of the Virgin" by Pyotr Evseyevich from Golynets 1649, "Paraskeva" and "Ascension" of the 16th century.

In 1946 our funds had already 317 works of art. At November of the following year it was opened constant exhibition, located in five halls of the first floor of the Building of Trade union. In spite of the given additional area, the Gallery sharply needed extension of space.

In the city, still remaining in ruins, E. Aladova obtained the permit on construction of the special building for the Gallery. Designing of the new building was entrusted to the young architect, veteran of the war Mikhail Baklanov (1914-1990).

It is possible to judge about initial idea of the architect by the watercolor 1949 outline. Baklanov solved the idea of the project in tradition Russian ампира - typical trend of the"triumphal" architecture of the late 1940 - early 1950s. The two-story mansion with a number of semi-circular windows and a portico with the light colonnade was expected to place on eminence at the corner of Lenin and Kirov streets with facade on Uliyanov street. The broad stairway went to it through step-like terrazzoes of green lawns. The future museum, by the idea of the architect, should have a solemn festive type.

However, the place of the museum construction was removed on small area, on Lenin str., with already formed buildings. It was decided to refuse the idea "palace - temple of art" in favour of more strict and monumental decision with a massive facade, decorated by sculptural relief and allegories of "Painting" (author P. Belousov) and "Sculpture" (author S. Adashkevich). Pediment crowns "Glory" sculpture by A. Bembel. Behind severe representative facade the solemn colonnade of the parade hall is opened .

It happened to to wait whole eight years for housewarming. Construction of ART GALLERY with ten ample halls, located on two floors, and a spacious gallery was terminated in 1957. The Baklanov's building became one of the first museum constructions in the history of the Soviet architecture.

On November 5 the State Art Museum of the BSSR (so it became to be identified the former ART GALLERY since July 10, 1957) was solemnly opened by presentation of the new exhibition and All-Belarusian exhibition. The collection of the museum of that years has already reached the pre-war amount and counted around three thousand works of the Russian, Soviet and Belarusian art.

The "soul" of the museum was E. Aladova. She perceived reconstructing of the collection as a life business and gave all her efforts to reconstruction of the lost collection.

Large part of the Russian painting funds proceeds from private collections. Using advices of I. Grabar, A. Fedorov-Davydov, the well-known artists A. and P. Korin, V. Favorsky, P. Konchalovsky, E. Aladova managed to gain works from the Russian high-class private art collections of the singer Lidia Ruslanova, ballerina of Catherine Geltser, actor Ivan Moskvin, many well-known collectors of Moscow and Leningrad. Collection of the Russian art (more than 5 thousand exhibits) can contend with many Russian museums by fullness and wholeness .

1970s - early 1980s - peak of exhibition activity of the museum. The collection of the Belarusian modern painting and graphic art from the funds of the museum travels arounfthe countries of socialist commonwealth. Minsk citizens, in their turn, got acquainted with world masterpiece at the exhibitions of West-European art from meeting the collection of A. Hammera (1973), from the museums of Poland (1974), treasures of Drezden Gallery, works of N. Rerikh (1975), American painting from the museums of the USA (1976) and from Metropolitan Museum (1978), Polish portrait of the 16-18th centuries from the Polish collections, exhibition of the self-portraits in Russian and Soviet art, West-European painting from the National Gallery of Prague (1979), lyonnaise fabrics from the museums of France (1981).

The graphic artist Yu.Karachun was at the head museum since 1977. As a Chairman of the Belarusian division of the International Assotiation of the Museums ICOM, he has made much efforts in guarding monuments of the ancient Belarus, planned restorations of Mir Castle and its status of the branch museum.

In the following twenty years the museum became large museum complex. Several branches of the museum were opened: district art gallery in Guriny near Mozyr (1978), Museum of public art in Raubichi (1979), Museum V.K. BYALYNICKy-Birulya in Mogilev (1982), Architectral complex of the 16-18th centuries in Golshany (1989), Palace and park complex of the 15-20th centuries in Mir(1992).

In 1980s all collections are actively renewed - it is already not enough room for them in old Baklanov's building . Exhibition halls of the first floor we had to adapt for storehouses, sacrificing the exhibition modern Belarusian art. Because of lack of the exhibition areas the museum had to show only small part of its collection.

Since 1985 it was started designing, and in 1993 the construction of the new building of the museum began - annexes to the main building (architect V. Belyankin). In 1989 the museum got the building on Kirov street, 25, where lecture room, divisions and services of the museum took seats .

Proclamation of independence of Belarus after disintegration of the USSR have changed the status of the museum and its cultural politics: since 1993 the museum is referred to as the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

In 1990s the museum is a large scientific, cultural and educational centre of Belarus. Since 1994 it has its own archive, since 1989 - restoration workshops with big staff of restorers - specialists in different spheres. Library funds of the museum are constantly renewed by the latest special literature.

In 1999 problems of the exhibition areas of the museum was solved : By Decree of the President of the Republic the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus received neighbour 5-story building on Lenin str., 22.

In 2000 Minsk saw opening for the spectators of one more branch - Museum "The Wankowiczes' House. Culture and Art of the first half of the 19th century".

But museum is not only pictures, it is also people. It is by their effort the new objects of cultureare created, exhibitions are organized, books and directories are published, works of arts are kept, restored and propagandized. Recently, the staff of the museum has more than two hundred persons.

As any living organism, our museum is continuously growing, renewing their own funds. The collectin of the prerevolutionary Russian and Belarusian, West-European, countries of the Orient, Soviet Belarusian art has presently more than 30 thousand works .

21th century our museum has met with the prospects of further development and conversion into the largest exhibition complex in the Republic with a significant exploratory potential and restoration basis.