Russian museum of ethnography.
Located in a neo-classical building, constructed in early 20th century. It houses a collection of about 500 000 items, relating to the ethnography or cultural anthropology of peoples of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The museum was set up in 1902 as the ethnography department of the Russian museum. It is housed in a purpose built neo-classical building erected between 1902 and 1916 to Vasiliy Svinyin’s design in the proximity of the Michael’s castle in place of the eastern service wing, the stables and the laundry of the palace.
Василий Свиньин was a court architect, the author of the project and supervisor of the construction. He was appointed in charge of the project after winning anonymous competition. Unfortunately his project has never been fully implemented and storages, laboratories and memorial hall has never been constructed.
The building is symmetrical inside, it’s one of the few buildings, that were originally designed for the purpose. On each floor of the left and right wings there are 12 exhibition halls with the Entrance hall and the Grand marble hall in the centre. Special exhibition furniture and disinfection chamber were commissioned specially for this institution from Germany.
The Marble hall was designed as a memorial hall of Alex I in a style of Grecian courtyards. The plafond made of crystal plates, adorned with double-headed eagles and oak leaves. The hall is 935 m2 large, faced with Russian pink marble, mint in the Олонец region in the North of Russia. The gallery consists of 28 columns, 24 tons each, made of monolith marble slaps.
The original intention was to adorn the hall with a sculpture of Alex III and bronze bas-relief, depicting life of various peoples of Russia, but because of WW1 and the Revolution 1971 the monument has never been installed and the bronze bas-relief has never been produced. What we see today is plaster, painted in imitation of bronze. The bas-relief freeze by artists Богатырев и Харламов 1902 – is a unique chronicle of different peoples of Russia. Information for this bas-relief was collected during research expeditions around the country – and is very in keeping with the idea of Memorial Hall.
The museum’s first exhibits were gifts received by the Russian tsars from peoples of imperial Russia. These were supplemented by regular exhibitions to various parts of the Russian Empire, which began in 1901. Further exhibits were purchased by Nicolas II and other members of his family as state-financing was not enough to purchase this exhibits.
The collection of Buddhist religion objects was acquired to the museum by prince Эспер Ухтовский – nobleman, collector, friend of Nic II. Prince Тинищев – a wealthy industrialist, donated to the museum the archives of his private ethnographic bureau, which has been documented the life of Russian peasants since the 19th century. The collection was not officially opened to public until 1923. The museum was detached from the Russian in 1934.
When the museum of the peoples of the USSR was in Moscow would shut down in 1948, its collections were transferred to our EM.
Земледелие – agriculture скотоводство – cattle breeding рыболовство – angler ремесло – trade, craft ткачество – weaving пчеловодство – beekeeping гончарное дело – pottery blacksmith – кузнец капкан – trap sweep net – невод (fishing rod) соколиная охота – falconry пасека – apiary плуг, соха – plough борона – harrow серп – sickle коса – scythe вилы – pitchfork грабли – rake веялка – winnowing machine сеять – saw удобрять – fertilize навоз – manure жать – mow урожай – harvest, crop зерновые культуры – cereals зерно – grain пшеница – whet рожь - rye лен – flax конопля – hemp просо – millet солома – straw сено – hay сенокос – haymaking сорняк – weed прополка – weeding молотить – thresh гречиха – buckwheat ячмень – barley
Сарафан – sarafan, tunic, pinafore платок – shawl, scarf пояс – belt, кушак – sash лапти – bast shoes заправлять – tuck, навыпуск – untucked кафтан – caftan (long coat) зипун – homespun coat (coat, won by peasants in the winter time) шуба – fur coat (sheep skin, sables, fox, arctic fox, squirrel, ermine) парча – brocade бархат – velvet онучи – lager-wrappers подковки – taps женская нижняя рубашка – chemise венец – head band кика - head dress of a married woman кокошник – cocoshnic (female head dress, won by both married and single women)