Some of the most-renowned museums in the world are found in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Moscow the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum houses treasures of western European art, while the Tretyakov Gallery has a strong collection of Russian art. Moscow’s Kremlin, the former seat of communist power and the home of the Russian president, also contains a series of museums that include notable cathedrals and features the stunning architecture of the Kremlin building. The Tolstoy Museum Estate in Moscow features an excellent literary collection. In St. Petersburg the Hermitage is one of the great art museums of the world, the Russian Museum displays the world’s largest collection of Russian art, and the Russian Museum of Ethnography details Russian culture and daily life throughout history. St. Petersburg is also home to the country’s oldest museum, the Kunstkammer (formally Peter the Great’s Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography), which is now under the direction of the history department of the prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences. Moreover, in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, the former tsarist palaces at Pavlovsk, Pushkin, and Peterhof have been restored as museums. They are popular destinations for both Russians and foreign tourists suryaqq.
Elsewhere, there also are various notable museums, many of which specialize in regional art, ethnography, and historical collections. For example, the Archangelsk State Museum, founded in 1737, houses collections that focus on the history of Russia’s north coast, and the State United Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan has a wide array of decorative art and historical, archaeological, and ethnographic resources from Tatarstan. In addition, the Yaroslavl State Historical, Architectural, and Art Museum-Preserve offers an extensive collection focusing on Russian history and culture. Russian private philanthropy in the post-Soviet era resulted in the establishment of a number of important foundations to support the arts and education, including the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, the Open Russia Foundation, and the Dynasty Foundation suryaqq.
