It is Russia's first state museum that specializes in art of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. Founded in 1999 the Moscow Museum of Modern Art is presently an extensive complex of five branches.
Main Building of the MMOMA in 25, Petrovka Street
It is housed in an estate of the late 18th century. The museum traces the main stages of the origin and further development of avant-garde art. The biggest part of the collection consists of Russian art works, though a considerable section is given to works by foreign artists.
MMOMA in 17, Yermolayevsky Lane
Here is one of the most popular exhibition venues of Moscow. The museum building represents a typical example of Neoclassicism of the early 20th century. For a long time the building housed the Moscow Regional Union of Artists and Sculptors. The building is a culture monument of federal importance.
MMOMA in 9, Tverskoy Boulevard
The mansion designed by architect Ivan Kondratenko was built as a guest house in 1906. From the late 1960s it housed an art studio of Zurab Tsereteli, nowadays the president of the Art Academy. The famous sculptor was frequented by the creme de la creme of the Russian intelligentsia. Today the construction is a cultural heritage site protected by the government.
MMOMA in 10, Gogolevsky Boulevard
The building was constructed by architect Matvei Kazakov for princess Varvara Naryshkina. In different years the house was visited by Ivan Pushchin, Kondraty Ryleyev, Ilya Repin, Ivan Turgenev, and Afanasy Fet. In the Soviet period the building was assigned to the to board of the Artists' Union of the USSR. Nowadays large-scale international exhibition projects, scientific and practical conferences, and symposiums take place there.
MMOMA in 15, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street
The historical mansion used to be a guest house and became famous for the fact that artist Vasily Vereshchagin stayed there in 1895. In the 2000s the building was transformed into a modern art exhibition hall. Its eclectic image got a modern extension with colourful clowns on its facade that gave fantastic look to the mansion. A platform in front of the building is an open-air museum presents monumental works by Zurab Tsereteli and a collection of his sculptures.
The museum displays more than 250 paintings and graphic art works, indoor sculptures and enamels.
Author: Vera Ivanova