Vladimir Stasov (1824–1906)

The collection was created in 2024 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Stasov, an art historian and public figure from the second half of the 19th century.

The collection includes digital copies of books, magazines, archival documents, and visual materials that reflect not only the literary legacy of the critic, but also the major events of his life.

The collection is divided into three main sections. The first section, Life and Work, includes both general biographical information about Stasov as well as materials from his personal correspondence and archival documents related to his long tenure at the Imperial Public Library. One such document, The case concerning the awarding of the librarian at the Imperial Public Library, actual state councillor Stasov, with the rank of privy councillor, in recognition of his work on the publication of the collection 'Slavic and Eastern Ornaments' compiled by him, provides information about Stasov's over 20-year project involving the study of photographs of ornamental designs and capital letters from ancient manuscripts, such as Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Serbian, and Romanian texts, which were stored in libraries in St. Petersburg, Paris, and Oxford.

The experience of publishing the album of drawings Slavic and Oriental Ornament later allowed Stasov to write a critical review of A.S. Uvarov's work on the Echmiadzin Gospel (Armenian manuscripts and their ornamentation). This review is presented in the second section of the collection of Stasov's works. The magazines Russkaya Starina (Russian Antiquity) and Vestnik Evropy (Bulletin of Europe) also contain a large number of articles by V. Stasov. It includes not only his critical writings on the history of art, but also biographies of prominent figures of Russian culture, such as A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Mussorgsky, and A. Serov, whom he was associated with due to his involvement in literary and artistic circles of the second half of the 19th century, such as the Artels of Free Artists and the Association of Traveling Exhibitions.

The section Memory of Vladimir Stasov features mainly his portraits and photographs, including the works of Ilya Repin and a sketch by K. Pervukhin. Additionally, the section includes L. Shestakova's memories of musical evenings featuring V. Stasov.

The collection is based on materials from various archives and institutions, including the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Russian State Historical Archive, Moscow State University, Moscow Regional State Scientific Library, Russian State Library, State Public Historical Library (Kazan), Belgorod State Universal Library, Samara Regional Library, Cabinet of Manuscripts at the Russian Institute of Art History, Children's Postcards Museum, and the Department of Manuscripts at the Russian Museum, as well as private collections.