Archangel Fine Arts Museum is one of the biggest art museums in Russia. The permanent collection of the museum comprises over 30 thousand works of Russian art, dating from the 14th century up to the present day.

    The museum was founded in 1960 on the basis of the art collection of the Archangel Local History Museum. The collection of the art museum at that time contained about one thousand and a half works of art and held mostly works by artists from the area. It also included few works of Ancient Russian art and about thirty paintings by Russian artists, donated to Archangel by the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1916 and by the Russian State Museum of St Petersburg in 1930. There are also artworks from the History and Art Museum in Solvychegodsk which were transferred to the Archangel Local History Museum by the State Museum Fund in 1921.

    In contrast to the most famous Russian museums whose origins lie in gifts and bequests from a variety of donors and patrons, the Archangel Museum of Fine Arts developed its collections by means of an active acquisitions policy based on numerous expeditions to outlying parts of the region mostly in 1960-s - 1980-s. As a result of this policy the Museum has a unique collection of Ancient North Russian art (medieval icons and wooden sculptures) and also rich holdings of North Russian folk art, including peasant festive and every-day costumes, embroideries and weaves, wooden carved and painted objects, artistic metalwork and ceramics.

    Works of Russian prerevolutionary and contemporary art have been acquired for the Museum from private collections of Moscow and St Petersburg and in artists' studios. The rooms devoted to Russian art from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century include works by almost all the best-known Russian artists, such as F.Rokotov, K.Brullov, I.Aivasovsky, I.Repin, I.Shishkin and many others.

    The Museum has a remarkable collection of the North Russian bone-carvings. This art is the brilliant and original phenomenon in the Russian folk culture which is well-known in the North from the 17th century.

    Exhibitions from our museum are shown in famous museums in Russia and abroad: England, Germany, Belgium, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Poland, Japan and others.

    Museum buildings now include:

    -Museum of Fine Arts with permanent exhibitions of Ancient Russian art, North Russian folk art, Russian art of the 18th-early 20th century, Contemporary Art (Lenin Sq.2, tel. 8182 65 35 34; 8182 20 94 82),

    -Town Mansion of the 18th century (Northern Dvina Embankment, 79, tel. 8182 20 73 63),

    -Merchant House of Ekatherina Plotnikova (Pomorskaya St.1, tel 8182 20 05 85 ),

    -Museum of Artistic Development of the Arctic (Pomorskaya St.3, tel. 8182 20 56 47),

    -Museum of Stepan Pisakhov (Pomorskaya St.10, tel. 8182 20 58 79).

    General information:

    Hours: open 10 am - 5 pm daily except for Tuesday

    Tours: guided tours of permanent collection and special exhibitions

    may be arranged through the Educational Department.

    Please call in advance 8182 65 35 34

    Information Desk is on the ground floor. We are ready to give friendly assistance to our visitors. If you have any questions or problems, or should you need directional information, please go to the Museum Information Desk.

    Cameras: Photography is permitted only with hand-held camera in permanent collection galleries for a fee; no flash or tripods are allowed.

    Museum Shop is on the ground floor. Take home a present for yourself or a friend!