State Historical Museum

The official founding date of the State Historical Museum is considered to be February 9, 1872. The museum was built by order of Emperor Alexander II, who dreamed of creating a museum of Russian history that would bring together the relics, monuments, and documents of the Russian state in a single space. The city authorities spent a long time choosing a site for the future museum and decided to build it on the site of the Zemsky Prikaz building.

The author of the architectural design of the Historical Museum was the Russian architect, sculptor, and painter Vladimir Sherwood. The museum building was meant to conform to the canons of ancient Russian architecture, so Sherwood designed the building in the Neo-Russian style. The structures, construction, and supply of materials were handled by military engineer Anatoly Semyonov. Construction of the museum was complicated by a high groundwater level due to the proximity of the backfilled bed of the Neglinnaya River and unstable soil. For some time after the official opening, the building continued to be completed. Over one and a half centuries of existence, the Historical Museum has become an integral part of the Red Square ensemble.

The painter Viktor Vasnetsov took part in the interior decoration — he created the mural "Stone Age" that encircles the walls of the second hall. Academician Heinrich Semiradsky, specially for the museum's opening, painted the works "The Burial of a Noble Rus'" and "The Funeral Rites of Sviatoslav's Warriors at Dorostolon." To create historically accurate canvases, the painter coordinated every stage of his work with the museum's Academic Council.

Fragment of Viktor Vasnetsov's painted mural

The museum tells the thousand-year history of the state and covers a vast time span from the Stone Age to the era of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II. The basis of the exhibition was the personal collection of the Minister of National Enlightenment, president and honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences — Count Uvarov. The permanent exhibition houses artifacts from ancient times, religious relics, and personal belongings of statesmen and rulers. In the museum one can see a reconstruction of Ivan the Terrible's royal prayer place, the mask and handprint of Peter I, the saber of Alexander II—on the hilt of which traces of fragments of the bomb that killed the emperor remain—and other objects that have preserved living traces of history.

Ivan the Terrible's prayer place. A replica created for the museum in 1895–1909

The museum's permanent exhibition occupies forty halls. In addition, the Historical Museum complex includes the Romanov Chambers, the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812, and St. Basil's Cathedral. The museum also oversees exhibition halls on Revolution Square, storage facilities, and restoration workshops in Izmailovo. Throughout the year, more than forty exhibition projects based on items from the museum's collections are held across Russia.