State Memorial Historical, Art and Natural Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov

State Memorial Historical, Art and Natural Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov

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The State Memorial Historical, Art and Natural Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov is one of the few federal-level museums in Russia. This is not only a cultural gem of Tula Region, but also one of the most famous memorials in the whole country.

The State Museum-Reserve of Vasily Polenov includes a number of buildings located both in and out of the estate premises. The Abbey is an artist’s workshop with a large window, the Fachwerk is a shed for carpentry work, the Admiralty is a former boat shed, and many other outbuildings are of interest to those who visit the Polenov Museum today. The Polenov reserve, known for its beauty and health-improving air, is located in the territory of two regions. The heart of the complex is undoubtedly the Big House, the Polenov Museum, filled with collections of paintings and interior items belonging to the artist himself and four generations of his family.

In 1887, Vasily Polenov was struck by the beauty of the surroundings of the village of Bekhovo. Polenov planned to make this place a museum of his works already at the stage of buying and exchanging land. In 1892, the Big House was completed, and its furnishing began immediately. It was the first popular museum in the Russian countryside.

In Soviet times, the Polenov Museum in Tula Region was taken under state protection. For almost 100 years, the Polenov Museum has been under the patronage of the descendants of the great master.

The architecture of the Big House traces the features of the Art Nouveau style fashionable in the late 19^th and early 20^th century and elements of Western provincial architecture, recreated by the artist after his trip to Europe. The exhibition includes personal belongings of the great artist and his family members. Almost every room has furniture made according to Vasily Polenov’s sketches. Countless exhibits brought by Polenov from various travels, like paintings by foreign artists of the 14^th and 15^th centuries, archaeological finds made both by the artist himself and by his father, and weapons brought from the Serbian-Turkish War. The collection is based on the works of the owner, but you can also find paintings by his fellow artists Shishkin, Vasnetsov, and Repin, in the Big House. Welcome to the Polenov Museum!

1. Answer the questions:

1. What is The State Memorial Historical, Art and Natural Museum?

2. What buildings do The State Museum?

3. What is the heart of the Polenov Museum?

4. When was the Museum furnished?

5. What things do the exhibition include?