| Duration: | 6 Hour(s) - 0 Minute(s) |
| Tour Category: | Half Day Tour |
The National Art Museum is a cultural center of Belarus. Its holdings are considered one of the biggest in Eastern Europe. Today it is not only a museum/art gallery but also a modern scientific and educational center and an art platform.
The diverse collections of the National Art Museum include over 30,000 items of Belarusian and foreign art: 20 miscellaneous collections and two main representative ones dedicated to national and world art that feature works by artists from the countries of Western Europe and Asia of the 15th and 20th centuries.
The unique collection of Belarusian art includes works of ancient icon painting, sculpture, woodcarving, textiles, paintings from the 19th century, works of decorative and applied arts, and works of art from the 20th century.
The National Art Museum has several branch museums in Belarus.
The State Art Gallery opened in Minsk in 1939. The collection featured works of art taken from the history museums of Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Gomel, and paintings donated by the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the State Hermitage Museum.
Later new exhibits were added to the collection. Those were unique items brought from castles and mansions of Western Belarus, including from the Nesvizh Castle of the Radziwill family. Among them were Slutsk belts, French tapestry (18th century), and portraits (16th-19th centuries).
This extensive collection (over 2,700 items) was taken from Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. The whereabouts of many of them are still unknown.
When the war was over, the museum tried to build up its collection anew. It purchased paintings by famous Russian artists Boris Kustodiev, Vasily Polenov, Karl Briullov, and Isaac Levitan. Some exhibits were provided by the museums of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In 1957 the State Art Museum of the BSSR moved into a new magnificent building designed by Mikhail Baklanov.
Over the years the museum acquired new valuable assets from private collectors. Masterpieces of Belarusian painting and graphics, icons were exhibited in many countries and aroused tremendous interest.
In the 1970s-1990s the museum turned into a huge complex incorporating five branches, including the famous castles in Mir and Golshany.
By the end of the 20th century, the museum required new space for its holdings so it passed through a large-scale renovation in 2007 and now it has the concept of "the city under one roof".
The new halls display masterpieces of art from ancient and modern Belarus, Western Europe, the East, and Russia.
The museum does not only host exhibitions by Belarusian and foreign artists but also organizes lectures and interactive tours. Today the museum is also an art platform that hosts meetings with artists and art critics, literary and music evenings, presentations of books, and painting workshops.
Every year the National Art Museum participates in the international campaign Night of Museums. The National Art Museum maintains cooperation ties with many museums. It often organizes joint exhibition projects with the leading museums and galleries of the world in Belarus and abroad.
Address: 20 Lenina Street. Minsk, Belarus
