Museum of Art Nouveau, Samara: address, exhibition, reviews. Sights of Samara

Looking around the sights of the city of Samara, it is impossible to pass the building located at the intersection of Frunze and Krasnoarmeyskaya Streets. Even a cursory glance is enough to distinguish it among the surrounding buildings. In the people it is known as the mansion Kurlina, in which the Museum of Art Nouveau is now located.

Gift of a famous merchant

Talking about his history, you should return to the beginning of the XX century, or more precisely, in 1903, when the famous Samara merchant Alexander G. Kurlin built for his wife Alexandra Pavlovna a luxurious mansion in the then fashionable modernist style, preserved to this day and still wearing it name.

The creation of the project of future construction was entrusted to A.U. Zelenkov, a young, but managed to create a name for himself an architect. He is known to have received education in Moscow and spent several years in Vienna, where, listening to lectures in one of the most prestigious educational institutions - the Higher Polytechnic School, he became interested in the modern style of the time. Returning to his homeland, he embodied the knowledge gained in the construction, the order for which was received from the merchant of the first guild, A.G. Kurlin.

A happy but short marriage

The thirty-one-year-old heir to one of the merchants' dynasties, which was the richest in the Volga, and who was also a public representative of the city duma and founder of many commercial and charitable organizations, could afford to give such a gift to his beloved woman.

Their union was sealed by the mystery of the wedding in 1893 under the arches of the Assumption Church. Marriage was happy, but short. Already in five years, Alexander Georgievich was struck by a serious mental illness, as a result of which he had to leave all commercial affairs and hand them over to his wife, who has since become his guardian.

He died in November 1914. After the revolution, the mansion belonging to his widow was nationalized, and his former possessor, having left Samara for good, settled in Moscow, where he paid a living in an ordinary communal apartment, having passed away in the middle of the seventies.

On the thorny roads of the twentieth century

During the Civil War, Samara was occupied by the Czechoslovak corps, which opposed the Bolsheviks, and the building where the Museum of Art Nouveau (Samara) is now located, was occupied by its counterintelligence. During the Great Patriotic War, when the diplomatic corps was evacuated from Moscow to Kuibyshev, the building of the mansion was placed at the disposal of the Swedish embassy, which occupied it from 1941 to 1943. In the seventies he was transferred to the regional museum of local lore, and in 1995, at the personal order of President BN. Yeltsin was added to the list of historical and cultural monuments of federal significance.

The new life of the mansion

Before the Samara Museum of Art Nouveau was created in the former merchant's mansion, the building itself underwent a significant reconstruction, the purpose of which was to recreate its former appearance. The fact is that for a hundred years that have passed since the day of construction, it was repeatedly rebuilt in accordance with the needs of a particular period, and this was done without taking into account its original architectural identity.

The initiative in this matter was shown by the regional ministry of culture, and with his assistance the necessary funds were received for the work. It was necessary to begin with the reinforcement of the foundation, after which the specialists began to restore the building itself, literally from the walls and up to the roof. And after the completion of this stage, they began to recreate the interior of the interior.

Concluding works and the opening of the museum

It is known that at the beginning of the 20th century the mansion was not a single building, but a complex that included a number of courtyard buildings. To restore them in their original form, a great deal of work was done with archival documents, which made it possible to establish their historical appearance.

For the period of restoration works, the museum, located in the mansion, was closed to visit, and all its exhibits were transferred to the regional museum of local lore and used to create various thematic exhibitions. Repair and restoration work lasted until the end of December 2012, after which the only Russian Museum of Modern Art (Samara) was opened in the renovated estate. Frunze, 159/15.

Mansion that received a second life

Attractions of the city of Samara were replenished with the restored Kurlina mansion, which has twenty-two rooms, each of which has its own unique decoration and decoration. A unique work of blacksmith art is a forged staircase leading to the second floor of the building. Consonant with it are also other decorative elements, made in the art of forging techniques. This and stylized grids, made in the form of butterflies. They seem weightless, despite the mass of metal contained in them. This includes the openwork of the gate, and forged dragonfly, crowning the roof.

The undoubted design find is the decoration of the facade of the building with a blue ceramic tile, successfully harmonizing with the matte base and the green of inserts of textured tiles. The pediment is decorated with a stucco portrait of the hostess of the building of Alexandra Pavlovna and the images of plants placed in the same technique above the corner windows. Her image in the form of a flying nymph adorns the ceiling of the boudoir.

It should also be noted that Kurlina's house was a collection of all the technical achievements used at that time in construction. It was supplied with water from the city water supply network, and there was a sewage system. In winter, the house was heated using a radiator system, the remains of which can still be seen within its walls. It was electricity, and the windows are equipped with blinds and are equipped with decorative grilles.

Interesting facts from the past

It is curious that the house where the Museum of Art Nouveau (Samara) is now located was known to writer Alexei Tolstoy and is mentioned in the novel "Walking by the Flours" as "absurdly luxurious". Of course, the classic of Soviet literature understood the sense of luxury, since he lived in it even in the most difficult years for the country.

One of the mysteries of the house is the room, located in the basement. Its walls are riddled with traces of bullets, between which there are inscriptions left by the Red Army men arrested during the Civil War by the Czechoslovak counterintelligence. It is believed that the room was used as a firing room. However, there is another opinion, according to which in the period when the building was seized by anarchists, they arranged a shooting gallery in it.

New in the art of the turn of the XIX and XX centuries

However, let us return to the artistic direction, which became the main theme of museum expositions. The style of modernism, which conquered Europe in the last quarter of the XIX century, is not accidentally allocated a significant place in art history. At the turn of the century, it has acquired so many fans that for a long time it has become the way of self-expression of many of the best Russian and foreign artists in various fields of art.

Having replaced eclecticism, citing and repeating previous artistic styles, he spoke with a new, original and unknown language until then. Creatively reprocessing the legacy of the underlying art of Japan, which by that time was accessible to Europeans, and which had a considerable influence on the aesthetics of Ancient Egypt, the European masters developed a peculiar style, which to some extent has not lost its significance to our days.

Among the artists who worked in this direction, soon appeared masters, whose names have forever entered the history of art. This is the Englishman William Morris, who became the ancestor of a new trend in creating interiors, and his compatriot Arthur McMurdo, who used new principles in book graphics, and many other artists of that era, whose work is fully covered by the Museum of Modern Art (Samara).

Exposition in the halls of the former merchant's mansion

It should be noted that among the variety of city museums it is one of the most popular and visited. Carrying out a comprehensive work aimed at studying and popularizing this trend in art, the museum collects items of that era and information about their creators.

Collected exhibits formed the basis of the exposition, which in 2013 created the Museum of Art Nouveau. The exhibition occupied three halls of the first front floor of the building, which once housed the dining room, cabinet and boudoir of the former landlady of the house. They are the most vivid examples of paintings, furniture, clothing and accessories, made by Russian and foreign masters of the early XX century.

A wide range of museum activities

It is important to note that the Museum of Art Nouveau (Samara) in addition to its main excursion activities is the organizer of a large number of events aimed at people of various ages, from schoolchildren to pensioners. Along with lectures, concerts and walking tours through the streets of the city, the administration organizes various festivals and art exhibitions, to some extent related to modernity. In summer, the garden and the courtyard of the museum are often the place of their holding.

The Museum of Modern (Samara), whose director - Mikhail Savchenko - made great efforts to establish close cooperation with leading contemporary figures in various fields of culture and art, became one of the most famous Russian and foreign exhibition complexes. He rightly deserved the reputation of a prominent creative, cultural and educational center.

Reviews of those who visited the museum

As mentioned above, among the most visited exhibition centers of the city one of the first places is occupied by the Museum of Art Nouveau (Samara). The feedback of his numerous visitors, left in the guest book and on the Internet pages, testify to the great interest with which they got acquainted with the presented expositions.

Special mention is made of the high professionalism of tour guides, vividly and brightly telling about the exhibits of the museum, and the thoughtfulness with which excursions are built. Even with a relatively small amount of museum funds, his visit, according to the tourists, is very informative and broadens the general horizons.

Excursions in the Museum of Art Nouveau in Samara can be ordered both in travel agencies specializing in acquaintance of the city's guests with its sights, and directly at its tour desk.

Other sights waiting for guests of the city

Guests of the city will be interested to get acquainted with other sights of Samara. In addition to the Museum of Art Nouveau, which was discussed in the article, the historical and regional museum named after P.V. Albina, the art gallery "Babylon", the exhibition hall "Art Portal", the Art Museum, as well as a number of other museums and galleries.

Fans of dramatic art will certainly enjoy visiting such city theaters as dramatic to them. M. Gorky, "Samara Square", "Monday" and many others, including the well-known throughout the country Samara Opera and Ballet Theater.

It will also be interesting to see monumental works adorning the streets and squares of the city, among which two monuments of the work of the Samara sculptor M. Manizer, V. Kuibyshev and Chapaev, are of greatest interest.