HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM

The building where the museum is located has its own unique history.

At the end of the 80s of the XVIII century, a house in the classicism style was built on Tverskaya Street by architect Matvey Kazakov. The house belonged to Ekaterina Kozitskaya, one of the richest women in Russia of the XVIII century. Later, the house as a dowry went to her youngest daughter Anna, who became the second wife of the diplomat Alexander Beloselsky-Belozersky.

At the end of 1824, Zinaida, the daughter of Beloselsky-Belozersky from her first marriage, settled in this house, which turned the house into a real temple of arts. Here she brought her father’s collection, where there were originals and copies of famous paintings. Here she also held literary salons, where famous writers of that time gathered: Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Baratynsky, Devitte and many others.

In 1898, the merchant Grigory Eliseev acquired the house. The building is being rebuilt, and the Eliseevsky store, which has existed for more than a century and closed only in April 2021, opens on the ground floor. After nationalization in 1918, the residential part of the building was used for apartments.

In 1935, the writer Nikolai Ostrovsky and his wife moved into apartment № 39.