The authorities supported the idea

The Liteiny Dvor complex of the Russian Academy of Arts (4th line of Vasilievsky Island, 1-3) will house a new state museum of academic and contemporary art. The initiative to open the museum and exhibition complex came from the President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Zurab Tsereteli. The authorities of St. Petersburg supported her. It is noteworthy that this is the fourth museum project of the city authorities over the past year. Experts point out that the construction of museums and cultural institutions is not at all attractive to investors, and therefore, most likely, the costs will fall on the shoulders of the budget.

According to the press service of the St. Petersburg administration, the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Vasily Kichedzhi, during a meeting recently held on the construction of a new museum with the participation of Zurab Tsereteli, rector of the State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after Repin Semyon Mikhailovsky and other officials, instructed begin the process of transferring the Liteiny Dvor buildings from federal property to city property.

The Academy of Arts is ready to give up the entire Liteiny Dvor complex in favor of the city. However, as the vice-governor's press service explained, all the buildings will probably be demolished (they are not monuments). “At the moment, the project is at the stage of transferring ownership and studying objects, so it is too early to say what the museum will be like and when it will be open to guests,” the press service said.

“The curator of the project is Zurab Tsereteli, and he may also attract sponsors to participate in this project,” the press service continues the story.

The museum's exhibition will be based on about 100 thousand masterpieces stored in the storerooms of the Academy's Research Museum, located in the main building of the Repin Institute. An important task is to create a large department of contemporary art and spaces for temporary exhibitions.

“This is not the first initiative of the city authorities to create new museums in St. Petersburg. It’s a good thing, another question is whether it is necessary to create another museum in the city center, already overloaded with both museums and transport. It would be much more logical to build new museums in new city areas, for example, in projects for the integrated development of territories, thus unloading the center and creating “centers of culture” in new places,” says Andrei Tetysh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ARIN.

Andrey Rozov, head of the Jones Lang LaSalle branch in St. Petersburg, does not agree with this point of view: “From our point of view, the location on Vasilievsky Island looks reasonable, since quite a large number of museums are located in this area: the Kunstkamera, the Menshikov Palace and others. Of course, such an event as the opening of the Museum of Academic and Contemporary Art will certainly improve the quality of cultural leisure for St. Petersburg residents, as well as increase the attractiveness and image of our city as a cultural capital. As successful examples of creating museums of contemporary art, we can recall the Museum d'Orsay in Paris. which is a must-see for many Parisians and visitors to the city."

Several months ago, city authorities intended to allocate territory for a museum of modern art in the Frunzensky district.

Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said that the city needs a state museum of contemporary art during a February conversation with the director of the Manege central exhibition hall, Kirill Kuzmin. The latter complained that Manezh had nowhere to store 3,000 exhibits collected over the past 20 years. Smolny then reported that the museum would probably be located in the Frunzensky district. There is no more detailed information about the project yet.

Yesterday the press service of the Frunzensky district was unable to comment on the stage of this project.

Today there are two museums of contemporary art in St. Petersburg - the Erarta Museum on the 29th line and the New Museum on the 6th line of Vasilievsky Island. The “New Museum” belongs to Aslan Chekhoev, Deputy General Director for Investments of IDGC of the North-West JSC; the area of the museum is 500 sq. m. m, and investments in the project are estimated at $1 million.

The Erarta Museum belongs to Marina Varvarina, the widow of the owner of the Orimi concern, Dmitry Varvarin, who was killed 12 years ago. Today it is the largest private museum in Russia, it includes about 2,000 works by 140 artists. According to analysts, about $30 million was spent on the creation of Erarta.

Yulia Vlasova, Roman Rusakov

Tsereteli wooed a museum to the city