Museums of Russia: The Renovated Museum of Collectors opened in Peterhof

The expanded exposition of the Museum of Collectors began working in the restored building of one of the Cavalry Houses of the Peterhof Museum Reserve. The exhibition tells about the history and traditions of Russian gathering. Originating at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries, it passed from the fashionable "sovereign's fun" to planned activity based on a scientific approach.

In seven rooms there are collections of the West European and Russian engraved portrait, works of painting of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, graphics and arts and crafts. The exposition includes not only famous paintings, but also rare works of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Nikolai Roerich, Zinaida Serebryakova, Boris Kustodiev, Mikhail Nesterov, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Alexander Benois and Eugene Lansere.

The Museum of Collectors houses a memorial hall of the famous filocartist Nikolai Schmitt-Fogelevich, who devoted his life to the study of postal illustrated postcards. In his collection there were about 100 000 cards. The exhibition also presents historical documents from the collection of Boris Vasilyev, dedicated to the life and work of Fyodor Berenshtam - an architect and artist, an active member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, the first curator of the palace museums of Peterhof in 1918-1924.

The Museum of Collectors was established in 2002, thanks to the many years of cooperation between Peterhof and Leningrad and Moscow collectors, whose art collections were donated to museum funds or by wills of owners.