Smolensk State Museum-Preserve

Smolensk State Museum-Preserve was established in 1888 and our days it is one of the biggest union of museums in Russia. The museum includes 12 expositions in Smolensk and 4 branches in Smolensk region. There are more then 450 000 store units in the museum funds. The most interesting and unique things among them are from collections of the museum founders: princess Maria Tenisheva, historians Semen Pisarev and Vasiliy Grachev, nature scientists Grigoriy Grave and Yakov Alekseev. The museum expositions have reflected the special pages of Russian history and culture that connected with Smolensk. It is an ancient history of the town the first mention of which was in 863. It is heroism of the distressful defender of the western boundaries of Russia. These are old traditions and skills of flax cultivation. It is the native land of the composer and the ancestor of Russian classical music Michael Glinka, the oustanding sculpture Sergey Konenkov, the traveller and researcher Nikolay Przhevalskiy, the poet AlexanderTvardovskiy. It is Talashkino - the famous art center in the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries where Russian applied art traditions have been studied and revived. See also: Trial project: Inventory of Russian regional collections (Project)