Tsarist Russia joined Europe’s museum craze a little late, developing only a few large museums by the time of the Revolution. The USSR later enthusiastically developed museums as educational and propaganda tools. Today, the cities of Eurasia contain surprising numbers of these institutions, both private and publicly funded, and on nearly every subject imaginable. Many of these museums have survived wars, revolutions, and economic and political collapse, often by innovating ways of preserving, funding, and maintaining their collections. For anyone studying history, museum science, literature, art, or nearly any other subject, these places make for fascinating travel and study abroad destinations.
Tsaritsyno is a park and museum complex in southern Moscow. One of the largest museum reserves in Moscow, the land started as an aristocratic estate. It was purchased by Catherine the Great, who commissioned a palace to be built there. However, it was not finished at the time of her death and the project was […]