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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: H-33

Last update of repository: 16 March 2020

Gosudarstvennyi istoriko-kul'turnyi muzei-zapovednik “Moskovskii Kreml'”


Otdel rukopisnykh, pechatnykh i graficheskikh fondov
[Division of Manuscript, Printed, and Graphic Art Fonds]

Telephone: +7 495 697-08-78

Opening hours: TuWF 10:00–17:00

Head: Elena Viktorovna Isaeva (tel. +7 495 697-08-78); e-mail [email protected]


Holdings

The division comprises the Sector of Manuscript and Documentary Fonds (Sektor rukopisnykh i dokumental'nykh fondov), Fond of Graphic Arts (Fond grafiki), and the Book Fonds (Sektor knizhnogo fonda).
        The Sector of Manuscript and Documentary Fonds comprises the earliest, rarest, and most valuable manuscript books and manuscripts held by the division, most of which came from the monasteries and cathedrals of the Kremlin. There are also charters (1491–1707) and manuscript books (16th–18th cc.) from the Sacristy Collection of the Solovetskii Monastery.
        There is a thirteenth-century Greek Gospel on parchment, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Church Slavonic Gospels, and a number of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscript books, like the “Spiritual Healing” (Lekarstvo dushevnoe), the Godunov Illuminated Psalter (Godunovskaia litsevaia Psaltir'), and the Primer (Bukvar') of Karion Istomin. All are richly illustrated with miniatures, illuminations, initials, and enclosed in rich binding cases. Also here is a unique example of late seventeenth-century book art—the “Book on the Election of the Tsar” (Kniga ob izbranii na tsarstvo, 1672–1673).
        The sector holds anumber of archival fonds from the Voznesenskii (Ascension) and Chudov (Miracles) Monasteries; from the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel (Arkhangel'skii), the Cathedral of the Annunciation (Blagoveshchenskii), the Nikolo-Gostunskii Cathedral, and the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles in the Kremlin; and from a number of churches, including the Church of Ioann Lestvichnik, the Church of the Annunciation in the Granary (tserkov' Blagoveshcheniia na Zhitnom dvore), and the Church of the Deposition of the Virgin’s Robe (tserkov' Rizopolozheniia). These fonds contain eighteenth- and nineteenth-century property inventories, decrees of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Consistory, income and expenditure books, parish registers, and correspondence relating to repair, restoration, and administrative matters.
        Records of the Armory (1812–1959), the Moscow Palace Administration, and the Commission for Restoration of the Cathedral of the Dormition (Uspenskii) are found in separate fonds, with documentation relating to property and economic matters, inventories, and income and expenditure books. These reflect the formation of the museum collections, including decorative and applied art and icons and the restoration and repair of Kremlin monuments. The fond of the Moscow Palace Administration also contains property inventories from the Great Kremlin Palace, and a schedule of inscriptions for St. George’s Hall (19th c.).
        There is a separate fond with records of the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin (1960–1991). There is also documentation from several museums that formed part of the Armory Museum and subsequently became independent, such as the Porcelain Museum (1918–1932) and the Toy Museum.
        The sector holds the personal papers of a number of prominent figures in the world of culture, who were on the staff or served as consultants to the museum, such as the historian and ethnographer D.I. Uspenskii, the art experts F.Ia. Mishukov, T.N. Nikolaeva, V.K. Klein, M.N. Levinson-Nechaeva, T.N. Gol'dberg, N.N. Zakharov, and N.V. Gordeev.
        The sector continually collects unpublished scholarly work on matters relating to the Armory and the cathedrals together with documents from contemporary jewelers, whose work is exhibited in the museum fonds.
        The Fond of Graphic Arts contains architectural and pictorial graphic materials that are thematically connected to the monuments and antiquities in the Moscow Kremlin.
        The vast range of material in the sector is largely made up of scientific-technical documentation, including technical drawings in the basic and auxiliary fonds. There are plans of the Moscow Kremlin, facades,plans and sectional views of the Kremlin buildings and of the walls and towers of the Kremlin, and projects for restoration work from the 1640s to the twentieth century. Many of the technical drawings are the work of famous architects like V.I. Bazhenov, P.A. Gerasimov, F.F. Rikhter, V.P. Stasov, D.V. Ukhtomskii, and K.A. Ton (Thon), among others.
        The scientific auxiliary fond of the sector contains architectural measurements, field sketches, and technical drawings (1940s–1960s) made of the Kremlin monuments.
        There are engravings, drawings, and watercolors by Russian nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artists of the monuments in the Moscow Kremlin and the interiors of the Kremlin buildings, as well as drawings of the exhibits in the Kremlin museums done by Academician F.G. Solntsev and other artists.
        The descriptions of the division collections are available electronically on the museum website:
        Manuscript and early printed books collection— http://www.kreml.ru/about-museums/mus...;
        Manuscript collection—http://www.kreml.ru/about-museums/mus...;
        Graphic Collection—http://www.kreml.ru/about-museums/mus....

N.B. A large part of the archival records, including documents from the Armory Archive prior to 1813, is held in the Russian State Archive of Early Acts (RGADA—B-2), while another part is held in the State Historical Museum (GIM—H-1).


Working conditions:
There is a small reading room located next to the storage area, and all documents are delivered immediately after request. Inventories (opisi) are kept in the reading room.

Reference facilities:
The Sector of Manuscript and Documentary Fonds has inventory opisi and card catalogues for the museum collection. Opisi are available for all of the documentary fonds, together with subject, thematic, and personal-name card catalogues. The Fond of Graphic Art has inventory opisi, subject, author, and registration card catalogues, and inventories of the collections of albums and congratulatory addresses. Online collections are available on the website: http://collectiononline.kreml.ru/iss2.

Copy facilities:
Photofraphic copies can be made by special order in another museum division.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted