Лекция: Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (architect R. L Klein).
It was built in 1898-1912.
This is a museum of the history of world art from ancient times (4th millennium, B.C.) to our day. It is one of the largest collections of paintings, graphic art, sculpture and applied art in Russia, being second only to the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The Museum contains originals or excellent copies of works by outstanding artists of ancient Babylon, Egypt, Rome, Greece and Western Europe.
The exhibits there include Egyptian mummies and statues of Pharaohs; the pillar with the laws of King Hammurabi of Babylon inscribed on it (2000 B. C.); copies of Hellenic statues by Phidias and Praxiteles; Etruscan vases which are over 2000 years old. Also on display are originals by famous German, French painters and European sculptors of the 17th-18th centuries.
The Monument of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky
This is the first civil monument in Moscow. The monument was erected with money raised by public subscription. It was set up in 1818 by Ivan Martos. Up until 1930 it stood in the centre of Red Square.
A Bit of History: after the death of the first False Dmitry, the Polish invaders on September 21, 1610 entered Moscow and settled in the Kremlin. The foreign rule was oppressive and led to a broad liberation movement.
In September, 1611, Kuzma Minin, a merchant, appealed to the residents of Nizhny Novgorod, a large trading centre on the Volga, to come to the aid of the Moscow state. He urged them to give all they had in order to save the homeland from foreign enslavement. A lot of people joined him and helped him with the money, and many enrolled in the volunteer army led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, who was known for his courage. In August 1612, the main forces of the volunteer army reached Moscow and began an offensive against the foreign invaders. On October 26, the Kremlin, the last stronghold of the Poles, was liberated.