Хронологическая база «Museums by Year»

We created the chronological database Museums by Year, in which we collected the opening dates of all Russian museums. Our main task was to search for and gather information about museum buildings and the actual dating of museum sites. In the course of the research we used open sources of information and contacted museum administrations to clarify the data. The count starts from the opening date of Russia’s very first museum — the Kunstkamera, opened in 1714.

Using the “years diagram” and the map you can find out exactly where, in which years and in what numbers museums were opened, and analyze trends associated with major milestones in the country’s history. In recent decades the development of Russia’s state museum network has shown a positive trend. According to our statistics, in 2024 there are about five thousand museums of all types of departmental affiliation and categories in Russia, including branches.

One of the most difficult issues we encountered while compiling the database is the problem of collecting up-to-date information about museums’ opening dates. Some museums during their existence have opened and closed several times, changed names and relocated. The question arose: which opening date can be considered correct in such cases — the date of construction of the museum building, the date of the museum’s opening, or its subsequent reopenings? To determine the current date we contacted museum staff directly. In cases where it was not possible to reach museum staff, we chose the most recent opening date.

In modern historiography there are both generally accepted opening dates for many museum sites and discrepancies in determining the time of origin of the same museum. At the same time, some generally accepted dates need clarification. As an example, consider the Yusupov Palace on the Moika. It is believed that construction of the present palace building began in the 1770s to a design by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe for Count Andrey Petrovich Shuvalov. But is it correct to consider that date the “opening” date of the museum? After contacting the museum director, we received two more relevant dates: 1919 — the year the museum was nationalized, and 1925 — its transfer to the trade union for education workers. The decision was made to choose 1919 as the opening date.

A question for museum staff: by which method do you determine the opening date in such cases? We would be grateful if you share your opinion under this article or inform us of any dating errors in the chronological database.