Museum of Glass and Crystal in Nikolsk

Museum of Glass and Crystal in Nikolsk

The Museum of Glass and Crystal in Nikolsk was founded in 1789. Initially, it was a factory model at the glass factory of Alexei Ivanovich Bakhmetev (Nikolsko-Bakhmetev factory), but since 1914 it has been referred to in all documents as a museum.

Three generations of the Bakhmetevs and the last private owner of the plant, Prince. HELL. Obolensky reasonably and methodically collected samples of the products of his plant, and also from the beginning of the 19th century and for 100 years brought samples of foreign glass (mainly Bohemian and French). After the nationalization and renaming of the plant into "Red Giant" in 1923, the museum collection continued to grow. Therefore, the museum currently stores more than 13,500 exhibits. Initially, the museum was located in the building of the plant administration, access to it was limited. Since 1964, the museum has become public, while remaining a structural unit of the plant. In 1990 he moved to a new building specially built by the plant. On September 1, 2005, the Museum of Glass and Crystal in Nikolsk became a branch of the Penza Regional Picture Gallery named after K.A. Savitsky, entering the structure of the state museums of the Russian Federation.

The exposition of the Museum of Glass and Crystal, which is about a third of the collection, is located on two floors in chronological order. The items for display are selected so that visitors have an idea of the collection as a whole. The products of the Nikolsko-Bakhmetevsky plant of the 18th-19th centuries are fully presented. and optionally - subsequent periods. The exhibition includes a small part of the collection of Western European glass, as well as items received by the museum as a gift from various persons.

From the masters of the XVIII-XIX centuries. only one is known to us for specific products - the famous Alexander Petrovich Vershinin (the last third of the 18th century - the first third of the 19th century), who had the right to sign his works. At the beginning of the twentieth century. the names of the authors or performers of some works become known, and the entire subsequent exposition of the XX-early. XXI centuries almost entirely based on the works of authorship by masters and artists of the Nikolsko-Bakhmetevsky plant - "Red Giant". Exposition of products of the first half of the twentieth century. decorate the works of masters, whose names are included in all monographs and albums on glassmaking in Russia. These are such values. like Nikanor Protasov, Ivan and Mikhail Vertuzaevs, Vasily Rogov, Vasily and Sergei Kurtzaevs, Alexander Porokhov, Boris Eremin and others.

The pride of the museum is the work of professional artists - authors of unique works of art. These are Adele Yakobson and Vera Mukhina, Ekaterina Yanovskaya, Anna Lipskaya, Nikolai Voinov, Voldemar Soyver, Alexander Ivanov, Viktor Yezhov, Elena Dubskaya, Nikolai Prilepkin, Alexander Fokin and others, whose work has become bright pages in the history of domestic art glassmaking.

In 2006 and 2009. Nikolsk hosted the I and II All-Russian symposia on blown glass, in which artists from different cities of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Tver and others took part. They came as the oldest leading artists of the Russian Federation - L. Savelyeva, F. Ibragimov, B Fedorov, G. Ivanova, and artistic youth. Each of them managed, with the help of the Nikolsk craftsmen, to realize their creative ideas. The symposia resulted in festive exhibitions at the Museum of Glass and Crystal, at the end of which more than 250 works were donated to the museum.

The museum funds provide ample opportunity for organizing exhibitions on a variety of topics, allowing visitors to acquaint visitors with the inexhaustible wealth of our collection.

The museum also hosts exhibitions of the House of Children's Art, the Children's School of Arts, exhibitions based on private collections of residents and guests of the city, various events: concerts of sacred music, performances of the leading creative groups of the city, solo concerts.

In general, the Museum of Glass and Crystal in the city of Nikolsk is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with local history, with the history of world and domestic glassmaking, with all technological methods and artistic achievements in glass. This is a unique piggy bank of history, culture, traditions, an irreplaceable school of craftsmanship and spiritual and moral education.