Russian National Museum of Music
About museum
In 1912 the Moscow Conservatory opened the Memorial Museum named after Nikolai Rubinstein. The funds were provided by Moscow landlord and music lover Dmitry Belyaev. The museum houses more than 900 rare musical instruments, archives of composers and performers, photographs and documents, paintings, as well as Tchaikovsky's writing desk, portraits of Anton Rubinstein and Dmitry Belyaev, a collection of Central Asian instruments and an Italian lyre-guitar from 1656. In the 1930s the museum was on the verge of closure, but in 1938 Ekaterina Alexeyeva was appointed head and gradually restored the museum. In 1943 it received state status, and in 1954 it was named after the great composer Mikhail Glinka. In 1982 the museum moved to a new building on Fadeev Street. It continues to expand its collections; in particular, Sergei Rachmaninoff donated some of his personal belongings and musical recordings to it.