Viktor Vasnetsov Museum

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov was an outstanding Russian painter, graphic artist, book illustrator and theatrical artist-decorator, known for his religious painting and architectural projects in the Neo-Russian style. He had this house - dubbed the 'palace' ('teremok') for its splendour - built in Moscow in 1894, and its every detail, from the facade to the interior decor, was designed by Vasnetsov himself. For over thirty years, until the artist's death, it was the family home: the bedrooms, dining room and drawing room occupied the ground floor, but the first floor was given over to the Vasnetsov's studio. Here he completed his most famous painting, "The Heroes" (Bogatyrs).

The studio is still displayed much as it was over a hundred years ago: there are easels, work tables, and parts of Vasnetsov's own art collection, including antique chests, samples of folk costumes, and icons. However, it is dominated by the paintings Vasnetsov created over the last thirty years of his career; his cycle "Poem of Seven Fairy Tales", which he worked on continually until his death, was organised for this space. The portrait of Vasnetsov's friend Mikhail Nesterov (1926), the artist's last unfinished work, is still standing on the easel. The house as a whole retains the atmosphere of warmth and comfort that characterised it at the end of the nineteenth century - it is as if the owners had just stepped out for a walk.