On 13 September, a new exhibition “People and Things. Towards VSU Centenary” opened at the Kramskoy Voronezh regional art museum. The exhibition is dedicated to both the 85th anniversary of the Kramskoy museum and the 100th anniversary of Voronezh State University.
Any classical university usually serves as a cultural centre, and Derpt (Yuriev) University was no exception in the XIX century. It housed a museum of antiques and arts, and in 1918, when the university was evacuated, the collection of the museum was also brought to Voronezh. Some of the items later returned to Estonia, while the rest became a part of the collection of the regional art museum. This time the museum staff tried to reproduce the exhibition the visitors of the Museum of Antiques and Arts could see back in the XIX century. The exhibition also tells us about the people who collected and stored the items that we can now observe at the museum. At the opening ceremony, head of the Exhibition Department of the Kramskoi museum Olga Ryabchikova told the guests about the history of the exhibition and its items.
The exhibition also includes parts of the collections of the 11 university museums. Some of the most interesting items are exhibited on the first floor of the museum.
The opening ceremony also included a performance by the mixed choir of the Voronezh College of Music who sang the famous student anthem Gaudeamus. Head of the Art and Artistic Education Office of the Department of Culture of the Voronezh region, Alena Sergeeva, and Head of the Department of Culture of Voronezh Government, Andrey Kharitonov, also addressed the guests of the ceremony.
“In 2018 Voronezh will hold quite a number of anniversaries, including the 100th anniversary of Voronezh State University. On behalf of the Department of Culture of Voronezh Government, I would like to congratulate you on the opening of the exhibition. I am sure that it will give everyone a chance to experience the spiritual side of Voronezh State University!”
“This is a large artistic event for the university, the museum, and the whole Black Earth Region. In 1918, Voronezh, a small town back then, housed a European university with its old traditions and a corresponding education level. Thus, Voronezh became a university city. It's impossible now to underestimate the role VSU played in the development of the city and the region”, said VSU Rector Dmitry Endovitsky.
