The Location History

Our unique museum is located in an amazing and landmark Moscow location. It is erected not far from the Kremlin and surrounded by China-city ancient quarters, every small street is shrouded in legends and mysteries of the past.

Solyanka Street – is one of the oldest Moscow streets. It originated from the ancient trade route from Ryazan, Vladimir and Suzdal. Dmitry Donskoy with his soldiers passed through this road making his way to Kulikovo field in 1380. Old Russian chronicles narrate that in the times of Ivan III and Ivan the Terrible the west side of the street was occupied by meadows, the people called it Vasilevskiy’s meadows. Around the middle of the 17th century, the meadows were developed and built up with houses and estates of Moscow nobility. The palaces belonging to Volkonsky, Shakhovskoy, Pozharsky, Buturlin, and Naryshkin were located here. In the 17th century, the street was called Yauzskaya, as it led down to the bridge across the Yauza River. And from the 18th century, it was named Solyanka, since the barns of the Imperial Salt yard (rus. “Solyanoy dvor”) were located here in the 17-19th centuries.

The 18th century was the time of active development of the street. It was the time when the architectural appearance and the character of the street were formed. The building of the Orphanage house, constructed in 1765-72 upon the project of the architect K. Blanc with M. Kazakov's participation, the group of the Board of Trustees’ buildings, created in 1823-28 by architects A. Grigoriev and D. Zhilyardi - were among the landmarks that were preserved in Solyanka street. The magnificent building of The Board of Trustees represented one of the major creations of the Russian empire style, and its monumental composition became the determining factor for the subsequent street building-up. The Medical Sciences Academy is located in this building nowadays.

While constructing the building of our museum we were extremely conscious of the neighborhood and our major task was the harmonious integration of the building in the existing specific street landscape. The project was continually reviewed and improved. The leading architects, art critics and specialists in urban culture history were involved in it. The verdict of experts upon termination of the construction was unanimous: the building of the Museum Collection was executed taking into account historical styles, fitted logically in the architectural ensemble of the street, praised for its excellent completion and a new point of attraction for citizens and guests of the capital.