Today, on the Knowledge Day*, we congratulate our young visitors, their parents and teachers on the school year beginning. Today, the school bell will ring for the first time for some of you. A new era is beginning in your life - you will perceive knowledge about the world and become more independent. We congratulate you on this important event and sincerely wish you success and good luck in all your endeavors.

We present the Musical automaton from the museum Collection exposition "Little schoolboy in a dunce cap", created by the French master Gustave Vichy circa 1900.

The automaton features a figurine of a little boy in school uniform sitting on wooden bench for the delinquent. This funny figure, popular in the French culture at the end of the 19th century, depicts a character from the children's book “Jean Who Grumbles and Jean Who Laughs” by the French writer of the Russian descent, Countess of Ségur (born Sofiya Feodorovna Rostopchina, 1799-1874), written in 1865.

Musical automaton "Little schoolboy in a dunce cap" by Gustave Vichy:

*Knowledge Day originated in the USSR. Officially, it was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No.373-11, dated June 15, 1984.