The Burganov House is located in the quiet historic center of Moscow, on Bolshoy Afanasyevsky Lane. The museum was established in 2001 on the basis of sculptor Alexander Burganov's workshop. The site was chosen for the studio for a reason. In the 17th century a church of Saint Luke — the patron of artists — stood here. And in the 1920s, after the revolution and the mass departure of the intelligentsia, the building temporarily housed doctors, scientists and engineers who came from the regions to help rebuild the country. To honor the memory and contribution of these people, Alexander Burganov decorated the windows of their former rooms with a "living bas-relief."
The front of the building is adorned with a monument dedicated to the greatest people of Russia. This gallery is called 'People-Legends.' In the arched openings are busts of outstanding figures of Russian culture: Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan Bunin, Joseph Brodsky and Rudolf Nureyev. The entrance hall is outdoors. There you can see various bas-reliefs and surreal sculptures. There is also a building in the courtyard known as the 'Small Louvre,' which hosts temporary exhibitions. The museum's main hall is designed so that the sculptor's works can be viewed from different angles and sides. This is very important for three-dimensional art.
You can walk through the museum freely and without a set route. The halls inside the house are built on the principle of the Minotaur's labyrinth and consist of intricate rooms, each of which has a main exhibit — the 'king of the room,' as the master himself calls them. Alexander Burganov is not called a Russian surrealist by accident. His sculptures are dynamic, symbolic and metaphorical. His work is infused with historical and antique motifs, and the protagonists of his works are often mythological creatures: the winged Pegasus, the muses and the sphinxes.
Burganov's works are very original, so many of them decorate urban spaces and are included in museum collections around the world. His sculptures can be seen in Moscow, Kaluga, Oryol, Izhevsk, Mongolia, Voronezh, Washington, Vancouver, Aachen, Liège, Leuven and Brussels. Perhaps the most beloved sculptural compositions among Muscovites are "Alexander Pushkin and Natalie" and the "Princess Turandot" fountain on the Old Arbat. The master donated many collections to the city, including works of monumental and easel art, sculptures, paintings, graphic works, historical autographs and rare books.
