Volume 8. The Ostrogozhsk museum of history and art of a name of I.N. Kramsky

The initiator the creation of the Ostrogozhsk art gallery named in the honour of Kramskoy was the resident, the employee of the Public Library Gleb Yakovlev (1876-1945). He gathered the collections put together in a small private museum that Yakovlev showed everyone.

In 1907 it was 70 years since the birth of the artist Kramskoy (1837-1887), born in Ostrogozhsk. Yakovlev suggested that the Board organized a small library art gallery in the memory of Kramskoy.

The formation of the gallery was helped by the family of Kramskoy, by his pupil Efim Repin and artistic community of St. Petersburg.

In the spring of 1907 Ostrogozhsk started receiving pictures, drawings and sculptures. Their work were sent by Repin, A. Kuindzhi, N. Yaroshenko, V. Polenov etc.

In June 25, 1908 the first exhibition of paintings in the building of the Public Library was opened. Then, new building was constructed for libraries and galleries.

In Soviet times, the museum added to the most valuable printed and handwritten books of XVII-XIX centuries of historical and liturgical nature, albums of prints, daguerreotypes, as well as numismatic collections and treasures.

The valuable part of the collection was the one of paintings and drawings by Russian artists of the 2 nd part of XIX century, works by Ivan Kramskoy, Ilya Repin, Vladimir Makovsky, Polenova, Ivan Aivazovsky, A. Kuindzhi, N. Yaroshenko and the iconography of XV-XIX centuries . They emphasized the collection of paired portraits of Ostrogozhsk landlords, merchants and burghers of provincial artists.

The museum had a large collection of Russian and European porcelain, beads and embroidery works, gold caps and church vestments, festive peasant clothes, numismatic materials. At the museum there was a library containing about 5000 volumes, including literature on art and encyclopedias.

The question of evacuating the museum stood in the first weeks of the fascist aggression. In November 1941, the museum staff were able to send to Siberia in Omsk only a part of a relatively small art collection.

In July 4, 1942 at 16 o'clock in the afternoon during the air raid Nazi aircraft the building and a part of the value of the museum were destroyed and burned down. The Museum ceased to exist. A few days later the city was occupied by the Nazis. Preserved in the basement of the museum exhibits were taken out by the invaders.

In January 20, 1943 Ostrogozhsk was liberated from the occupation.

The process of returning evacuated values delayed for a long time: the museum had not conditions for placing the art collection. In 1957, after the restoration of the museum building paintings were returned. The first exposition opened on November 7, 1957.

Currently Ostrogozhsk museum has 121 works from the past vast collection. The catalog, the list of lost property of Ostrogozhsk museum was fraught with considerable difficulties: the occupants took records, city archives were destroyed. Fortunately, there is still a small number of photographs of pre-war exposition and the individual works.