Decorative Folk Art Museum | Russia Travel

All Russian Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Art

If you enjoy looking at the many creative aspects of a culture, the All Russian Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Art would be a must-see attraction for you. This great museum features more than 125 000 different examples of decorative-applied and folk art from both the past and present. It is the only museum of its kind in Russia and it is currently located in Moscow. Like most museums in the country, it is a non-profit federal facility which showcases the artistic side of the country’s history. However, the art forms in this museum are not really ‘fine art’, but rather a variety of crafts and folk arts which have long been employed by the people of Russia.

The All Russian Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Art was opened on 21 July 1981 and has, since its inception, been dedicated to the study and development of these various cultural art forms. The museum currently enjoys a large collection of traditional Russian toys as well as furniture, porcelain, glassware and hand-painted lacquered boxes which are maintained and exhibited by a staff of 116 curators. The museums sees roughly 280 000 visitors every year who not only make use of the excellent exhibits, but of the shop, lecture hall and public library also be found here. As you tour the museum you will find beautiful and unique examples of wood carvings, paintings on wood, painted lacquer work, weaving, embroidery, lace, pottery and weaving. Some have been produced by the modern handcraft industry, while others are traditional examples of these art forms. The museum covers hand-crafts and folk-arts from the seventeenth century to the present day, so visitors can truly get a feel for these art forms.

In 1999, the Russian Federation decided to expand the museums collections by contributing the library and archive of the Kustarni (Handicraft) Museum. This has boosted the contents of the All Russian Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Art and has led to improved exhibitions and attendance. Perhaps it is museums such as these which have helped to keep traditional folk crafts very much alive today – even though other aspects of Russian culture are fast disappearing. So why not visit this excellent museum and learn more about traditional Russian folk crafts? Perhaps the tour will spur your imagination and creative spirit in ways that you never thought possible…

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