A.V. Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture

About museum

The idea of creating a museum of architecture emerged in Russia at the end of the 19th century and was prompted by a growing interest in the national heritage. To consolidate the material accumulated by various museums and institutions, a decision was made to establish a higher-level scientific and educational center — a museum of architecture. It was founded on January 1, 1934, and was a subdivision of the Academy of Architecture of the USSR. The museum incorporated the territory and buildings of the Donskoy Monastery, as well as materials on the history and theory of architecture preserved from ancient times up to the 19th century. The museum displayed artistic fragments of destroyed monuments that became part of the collection. Exhibits covered Russian architecture as well as European, Byzantine and Middle Eastern architecture, and even included model samples of New Zealand huts and Indochinese stilt houses. The main exhibits were the Donskoy Monastery structures themselves and the 18th–19th century necropolis.