The Russian Museum opens in Antarctica

On February 7 a very distinguished event took place at Novolazarevskaya Antarctic station. An informational-educational center The Russian Museum: Virtual Branch was opened there. This is the 100th virtual branch of the famous museum.

The Russian Museum: Virtual Branch is an international project aimed at making this world’s largest collection of Russian art available to everyone. It’s being carried out in cooperation with Sistema charity fund and MTS company. Such informational-educational centers are working in numerous corners of Russia, Finland, Greece, Slovenia, China, India, Ukraine, Lithuania, Kazakhstan and other countries. From now on a virtual museum tour can be joined from the southernmost region of our planet.

The route of the Russian Museum’s expedition went through Cape Town in South Africa, where the project was presented to public. At an opening ceremony at Novolazarevskaya station director of the Russian Museum Mr. Vladimir Gousev introduced multimedia films and software covering the museum’s collection, Russia’s most prominent artists, palaces of the museum complex, styles and schools of the Russian art. All of the above will be available to scientists who work at the polar station. For the first time a virtual branch is opened for a closed community of people on a lengthy research expedition. The virtual branch will become a metaphorical thread that links the polar explorers with the rest of the world. Vladimir Gousev laso plans to present this project of the Russian Museum at Indian Antarctic station Maitri.

The opening of the virtual branch at Novolazarevskaya station followed the establishment of a “movable” exhibition onboard Akademik Fiodorov research vessel that departed from Saint Petersburg in November 2011 to join research activities of Russian Antarctic mission.

Novolazarevskaya commenced its operations on January 18, 1961. Later it was moved from an ice shelf to Queen Maud Land coast, because the ice shelf with the Lazarev station on top had been constantly moving into the ocean.

The location for both stations was carefully picked by Soviet polar explorers in the very area where the sailors of the first Russian South Pole expedition headed by Faddey Belinghausen and Mikhail Lazarev saw the Antarctic land for the first time. A painter Pavel Mikhailov (1786-1840) was also taking part in that expedition. He was the first one to put the unique Antarctic landscape on canvas. His paintings, displayed at the Russian Museum depict the Antarctic shoreline layout, icebergs and the continent’s inhabitants – penguins and seals. Just like the result of Belinghausen’s expedition, the paintings of Mikhailov became known to the public. First time they were published in 1831 in an atlas of the expedition of the polar explorer. The Russian Museum’s collection also features a sketch drawing of the discoverer of Antarctica Faddey Belinghausen.