Musée The Russian Museum of Ethnography

The Ethnographical department of the Russian museum was founded on April 13th 1895 by the His Majesty’s Supreme Decree Nikolas II in memory of his father Emperor Alexander III.

In the late 19th cen. the purpose and the perspective plan of the development of the Russian museum named after Alexander III was defined. The museum included three departments: of Fine Arts (Mikhailovsky palace), of ethnography and the department devoted to the memory of Emperor Alexander III.

Development of the project of the Ethnographical and Memorial departments was charged with young and talented architect V.F. Svinin, whose project of the reconstruction of the Mikhailovsky palace was chosen by the Empress Maria Feodorovna, and who conduct all works on this complex.

According to the architect’s plan, the building of the Ethnographical department was to be erected exclusively by national means and exclusively from domestic materials with use of advanced technologies and new equipment. As such, for the halls decoration V. Svinin chose Olonets marble, which was mining not far from St-Petersburg.

At the Grand Prince George Mikhailovich request, the first Manager of the Russian museum, in 1910 the cornice of the museum with the sculpture “Athena – the Patroness of Arts and Trades” created by M.Ya. Kharlamov was decorated.

The crystal slabs of the ceiling of the Memorial Department with pictures of two-headed eagles were produced by Moscow goldsmiths from the “I.P. Khlebnikov, sons and Ko” company.

The building was to become an integral part of the Mikhailovskaya Square ensemble created by Carlo Rossi in the first half of the 19th cen. The design by the architect V. Svinin proved to meet successfully all above requirements.