Stories of those without whom the museum is unthinkable

The museum is a complex organism, whose activity depends on the harmonious functioning of all its departments. The result of the work of Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after I.N. Kramskoy is primarily a permanent exposition and exhibition projects, which invariably attract a large number of visitors. But what kind of people work in the museum? How do they see their work?

On the International Day of Museums, we reveal the veil of “mystery”. Employees of the museum, whose activities often do not reflect visitors or only guess, tell about themselves and their vision of work in the museum.

Elena Ivanovna Pshenitsyna, Chief Curator

“I always dreamed of working in a museum. I really love my colleagues, and without them, of course, it would be very difficult to do anything. I started my way back in the museum of local lore, and since 1991 I work in the Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after I.N. Kramskoy. I was lucky to get to the fund department right away. In my opinion, the funds are the most interesting department of the museum, where items that have been collected for a long time are stored. Our museum exists on the basis of two collections: the art department of the Provincial Museum and the Museum of Antiquities and Fine Arts of Voronezh State University. In our collection, painting, graphics, arts and crafts. Different artists, different epochs, including Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. That’s what attracts me. With each collection to work very interesting, informative and significant for the artistic life of Voronezh in general.

Olga Aleksandrovna Ryabchikova, Head of the Exposition Department

“Next year will be 30 years, as I work in the museum. Looking back, I do not imagine that there are still some professions that I would also like. The dream to work in the museum appeared when I was still in art school. And somehow it was thought that after the end of the school it will be a museum, and the museum was, but first of all local history. Then, after some time, I already worked in the Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after I.N. Kramskoy. And I remember with warmth those employees, art historians, who were lucky to work with – the then director of the museum, Ekaterina Alexandrovna Reznikova, Anatoly Timofeev, Margarita Ivanovna Luneva. Young employees fell into this circle of communication, and became part of the museum.

Natalia Bakina, Academic Secretary

“I got the brightest museum experience in early childhood, when I was five years old. My parents and I were passing through Moscow, and we went to the State Historical Museum. There was not much time, and I did not let my parents out of the exposition. It seemed to me that it was just some kind of magic: you can walk around the halls, look at amazing objects. That impression is now the brightest.

Valery Shakin, Research Fellow

“I had a dream of painting and working in a museum. Being a part-time student of KhudGraph VSPU, before I came to the museum, I worked a lot where I worked: worked as a nurse, loader, merchandiser, salesman, taught at art schools. I can not say that I found myself in the museum quite by accident, it all happened, probably, inevitably. It just could not be otherwise.

Elena Andreevna Baranova, superintendent

“My father, Andrei Petrovich Soloviev, worked for 25 years as director of the museum of local lore. The Museum of Local Lore was until 1959-1960 in the same building with an art museum. My father was a true local historian, he knew the city like his own five fingers. He was very devoted to his work, and our whole family participated in it.

P.S. Thank you for the photos of Konstantin Kiriakidi.