The idea to create the Museum of Furniture (the Museum, for short) came up long ago, when the Smirwald restoration company still huddled in the Porokhovshchikov House in Arbat Street. People used to bring things there that could not be repaired. Nobody dared to just throw away these "ruined" objects. The only way out left was to work long and hard...
Gradually, the objects were "waking up from the dead" into their new "life". And in parallel the employees of the company were acquiring the most valuable quality, which is experience. There was a great desire to demonstrate this revived beauty to everybody.
In 1920s, the first museum of furniture existed in Moscow. Its holdings included rare items: one part was a collection of the famous businessman and art patron Vladimir Girshman, while another part consisted of furniture from nationalized mansions, estates, palaces, confiscated Moscow collections. Unfortunately, the first museum of furniture did not last long. In 1926, it was abolished, and its invaluable holdings went to different offices.
Thereby, there has been no museum of furniture in Moscow for 80 years. Now many previously destroyed things are being gradually reconstructed by intelligent, kind, and skilled hands. For example, an estate had been reconstructed; this estate later became the Museum.
On 17th July 2000, a museum of furniture, the Museum, was opened for the public again.
The history of the estate that now hosts the museum is amazing and interesting and may be traced back to the 17th century. The estate was owned by Zemskov brothers, successful merchants, G. Ipatyev, a Ryazan industrialist, and N. Arshenevsky, a nobleman famous during the reigns of Empress Catherine the Great and Emperor Paul I, and others. The estate was many times burned by fire, but then redesigned or reconstructed to continue its life. The estate was also not lucky with its last owner, the Voskhod printing house, which led the estate to ruins. However, thanks to the joint efforts of the Moscow government, the Main Directorate of Monument Protection and the Smirwald restoration company, the estate building was completely restored.
The administration of the Museum is seeking to create a unified cultural and educational furniture centre. A useful model has been already designed and registered: the Training Furniture Centre. It will consist of the Museum itself, a restoration workshop, a school of mahogany restoration, a woodman's workshop and a computer database on all the furniture styles.
Art restorers that possess the secrets of the trade not only restore old antic furniture and other objects of fine and applied arts, but also reconstruct these objects.
Currently, the Museum displays interiors of 18th, 19th, and 20th century estate furniture as well as modern auteur works.
Employees of the Museum answer any questions related to the furniture or other objects of the interior such as chandeliers, wall lamps, curtains, etc.
At the Museum, one may purchase books on furniture styles and the history of the Russian furniture art.
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