Museums and Society: Cultural and Exhibition Centre of the State Russian Museum opened in Kogalym

On September 9, 2020, the opening of the Cultural and Exhibition Centre of the Russian Museum took place in Kogalym (Tyumen Region). It was launched in an already existing Museum and Exhibition Centre.

The Cultural and Exhibition Centre of the State Russian Museum in Kogalym became the fifth in Russia and behind the Urals. It included an exhibition space, an informational and educational centre "Russian Museum: Virtual Branch" and a Resource Centre for the creative development of children and adolescents with various social and physical opportunities.

Cooperation between the State Russian Museum and the Kogalym Museum and Exhibition Centre began with the opening of the information and educational centre "Russian Museum: Virtual Branch" in July 2013. After the opening, the specialists of the museum and exhibition centre in Kogalym will get an opportunity to include the programs of the Russian Museum in their educational and enlightening projects. The centre will be not only a place for professional exchange of experience and holding of city and regional events but also a place for the communication of art lovers.

The first exposition presented in the new centre is an exhibition of paintings from the collection of Vasily Aleksandrovich Kokorev. It features about fifty works of Russian art: paintings by K. P.Bryullov, P. V. Basin, A. G. Venetsianov and the greatest masters of his school, as well as paintings by V. A.Tropinin, the Chernetsov brothers and many other prominent Russian painters.

The exhibition of pictures from the collection of V. A.Kokorev, one of the first Russian oil industry businessmen, was not an accidental choice for the first exhibition project of the State Russian Museum in Kogalym. A son of Old Believers, Slavophile and passionate patriot, merchant of the first guild, Kokorev took an active part in the development of many industries, as well as the social and cultural life of the country. Kokorev's contribution to the history of Russian culture is significant. His services awarded him the title of an honorary member of the Academy of Arts. As a generous philanthropist and active collector, Kokorev created a collection of works of Russian painting, consisting of five hundred masterpieces of the best Russian masters, as well as several dozen sculptures.

The opening of such a significant exhibition at the Cultural and Exhibition Centre in the city of Kogalym will provide access for residents of Western Siberia, interested in Russian history and art, to the cultural values ​​of the State Russian Museum, which has the world's largest collection of national art.