VGUES Museum-Exhibit Complex/Музейно-Выставочный Комплекс ВГУЕСа
Ул. Гоголя, д. 41
Hours: 10 am – 4 pm, Mon-Fri
Free and open to the public
For my first cultural review, I decided to feature something that has been right under my nose this whole month, but which I did not discover until a few weeks ago – VGUES has its own museum! Man, this place really is a mini-city!
The ВГУЕС Музейно-Выставочный Комплекс (as it is officially called) is essentially a very new, very state-of-the-art exhibition space dedicated to telling the history of the university, and through this lens, also a bit of the history of Vladivostok in general, in order to give the visitor an idea of the world into which the university was born. The tour, which you can do yourself by just browsing around or which can be led by the curator/staff, begins with an introduction to Vladivostok at the turn of the 20th century, and is equipped with touch-screen history monitors and informational displays under glass. There is even a full-scale room, recreated to show what a typical Russian living room looked like in the late 1960s when VGUES first opened its doors. I found this part of the tour quite interesting as it also focused on the influence of the neighboring Asian cultures, especially of Korea and Japan, on the shaping of Vladivostok as a city.
The other two halls of the museum are dedicated to the school in general, and feature things such as blown-up pictures of all the rectors of the university, pictures and biographies of successful graduates, past designs created by students from the fashion department and artwork from students in the design department. All of the space was quite well-arranged and very well-lit, if somewhat lacking in substance as compared to the first hall of the museum.
Last, but not least, if one exits the museum proper from the back door, there are three complete replica classic cars on display. For what reason they are displayed is anyone’s guess, although it most likely has something to do with the fact they were in production around the time of VGUES’s rise. I can say, however, that they are pretty sweet!
The museum-display complex is located right to the left if you come into the main entrance of VGUES (41 Gogolya Street). Its hours of operation are from 10 am – 4 pm, Monday through Friday, and entrance is free and open to the public!
