The State Russian Museum, together with the Russian House in Brussels, continues a series of online meetings dedicated to introducing foreign audiences to the history, collection and expositions of the State Russian Museum. The meetings in 2023 are dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Russian Museum for visitors.

On March 22 the first online tour dedicated to the history of the creation of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III took place, which was conducted by the leading specialist of the «Virtual Russian Museum» department, Maria Rudenskaya. Video recordings of the online tour in French:

In March 1898, 125 year ago “The Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III” opened its doors to the public in St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. It became the first state museum of national art in Russia.

Emperor Alexander III took a lively interest in art. He considered that the spreading of art is the matter of state significance. The foundation of the Russian Museum became the great educational project of the Emperor that was realised by his son, Emperor Nicholas II.

During the online tour, viewers learned about the preparations for the museum’s opening, about the alterations for the museum’s purposes that were done in the Mikhailovsky Palace, the former Grand Ducal residence where nowadays the main exposition of the Russian Museum is located, about the ceremony of the official opening of the museum. The audience saw the old photographs and documents and was able to take the virtual tour round the museum and compare the present exposition with the museum’s rooms that the public saw 125 years ago.