Exhibitions of the Research Museum at the Russian Academy of Arts

About exhibition

The permanent exhibitions of the Academy of Arts Museum are displayed across three floors of the 'circus' — the inner concentric wing of the Academy building. The galleries form a unique exhibition space. The first floor houses the casts department, which presents masterpieces of ancient sculpture as well as models of ancient architectural monuments made in the 18th century from cork in the workshop of the Roman architect A. Kiki. The collection is unparalleled in its completeness and artistic value: many of the casts gathered here were taken directly from originals in the 18th century. The permanent exhibition on the second floor, called the 'Academic Museum', displays paintings from the museum's historical collection — works by the famous artists whose canvases served as models for study and copying by many generations of the Academy's students. The third-floor exhibition, 'Architecture of Petersburg in the 18th–19th Centuries in Models, Drawings and Plans', introduces visitors to the works of outstanding architects of the past. Of exceptional interest are the unique design models of famous architectural monuments of Petersburg: the Smolny Monastery, Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the Mikhailovsky Castle, the Stock Exchange and others. The ceremonial halls regularly host exhibitions of works by domestic and foreign masters of fine art.