Print Museum in St. Petersburg: address, photo and reviews

With something, and the number of museums and exhibition sites, St. Petersburg boasts like no other city. But all the same, the Press Museum stands apart. It details the whole history of Russian book printing in the city on the Neva since the first newspaper Vedomosti appeared in Russia in 1703 and up to the present day.

History of the museum

The Museum of the Press in the Northern Capital is located in the very center of the city - next to Dvortsovaya Square. Despite the fact that many unusual and original cultural institutions, for example, dedicated to bread or even Russian vodka, have appeared in the city in recent years, classical museums also find their visitors.

The building, which today houses the Museum of Press in St. Petersburg, appeared in the late XIX - early XX centuries. In 1905, during a period of large-scale changes in the country, when as a result of the first Russian revolution demand for a printed word grew dramatically, an outbuilding was added to the building, in which the printing house was located.

For several years, the newspaper "Rus" was printed in these walls, adhering to Slavophile positions. And during the Great October Revolution, it was in this printing house that the famous "Pravda" was published, the issue of which was directed by Vladimir Lenin himself.

And although the building was of great importance from the point of view of communist ideology, the Museum of Press appeared in it relatively recently. In the year of 1984. During perestroika, it became part of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. Let's make it a virtual walk.

What is special about the printing museum?

All the year round the Museum of Press can please visitors with three permanent exhibitions. And two of them are directly related to the printing business. But the third one is the "Music Salon". At this exhibition the standard furnishings and decoration of the house of the classical St. Petersburg music lover of the late XIX - early XX centuries are demonstrated.

Moreover, every Sunday the employees of the cultural institution arrange an unusual and rich excursion for the visitors. They go on foot on the adjacent historical districts of the northern capital. The tour ends with an inspection of the composition in the museum itself.

History of the printed matter

But the exhibition "The history of the printed matter" is directly related to the development of domestic book production. It details the work of printing houses and publishing houses in the city on the Neva in the XVIII century.

The exhibits are located in special halls, interiors that more closely resemble the decor of the ancient Russian reading room. Visitors can see personally the newspapers, magazines and documents of those times, printed in the first printing houses of St. Petersburg. Imagine how the first printing presses on which the Vedomosti newspaper was published were operating. It is worth remembering that the work of the printer at that time was personally mastered by Peter I.

Printing houses in the XX century

The second permanent exposition, which can be accessed by visiting the printing and printing museum, is "Publishing house and printing house of the beginning of the XX century". Here are presented all kinds of things that were used at that time by book publishers and typographers.

This furniture, office supplies of those times, newspapers and books, printed on the machines of the early 20th century.

The exposition is located in the former printing house. Its interior has not undergone any changes since the 1900s. Here you can see unique printing equipment. Cash registers, printing equipment, real machines and presses. All that was necessary for the printing house at that time.

Music Salon

Another permanent exhibition is the "Music Salon". It is located immediately in two museum halls. Here you can see firsthand what kind of profitable houses were at that time, at the beginning of the 20th century. The Museum of Press (St. Petersburg) provides a unique opportunity to touch the real elements of the interior of the beginning of the last century, the musical instruments of the St. Petersburg music lover.

At that time the best apartments of the apartment house were located in the mezzanine. They could afford to rent exceptionally wealthy residents of St. Petersburg. The apartment in which the music saloon is located, is preserved historical planning. It's the same as it was a hundred and odd years ago. Rooms of the same size, things are in the same places.

In two rooms there are two apartments - a living room and an office. Such a living space at that time treated most of the Petersburgers, whom we would now attribute to the middle class.

Where is the museum?

Do you want to visit the Museum of Press in St. Petersburg? The address of this institution is the embankment of Moika, 32. By public transport it is easiest to get to the metro station "Admiralteyskaya".

The entrance ticket is quite inexpensive - only 150 rubles. Discounts are provided for students, schoolchildren and pensioners. They will pay only 100 rubles for the entrance. Weekly Sunday walking tour, which ends with a visit to the exposition, is completely free. You only need to get a ticket at the ticket office.

The Press Museum (St. Petersburg, Moika, 32) is open six days a week. The output is only on Wednesday. The exhibition halls open at 11 am. You can view the collection until 18:30.

Reviews of the Museum of Printing

However, it is worth acknowledging that not all visitors leave positive feedback about the museum. So, one can meet the opinion that the big drawback of the exposition is the inability to get close to the old typographic machines. Many visitors complain that they can not even be properly considered. The only thing that attracted them in this exhibition is an authentic creaking parquet and the very opportunity to visit a real residential building on the Moika Embankment.

Other visitors, on the contrary, leave only rave reviews. Many succeed in being imbued with the spirit of the printing house of the past, especially the unusual windows of unusual shape, as well as the cabinet with musical instruments. Special feelings for some cause the office, which once worked Vladimir Lenin. It was in this house that he personally edited the first issues of the newspaper Pravda. In fact, in this small room at that time the destiny of a huge country was being decided.

Also, tourists note that the museum itself is small. But in order to learn all the stories about his artifacts, it is better to buy not an ordinary entrance ticket, but to book a tour with a specialist who will tell in detail about all the puzzles of typography. Also you can get acquainted with the life of the apartment houses, with a collection of music lovers of that time.

Sightseeing walking tour

Separately it is necessary to stop on the panoramic walking tour, which every Sunday attracts a large number of visitors.

It is called "Behind the threshold of the old apartment." Within a few hours tourists and residents of the Northern Capital get acquainted with the classic profitable house of the Moika embankment, as well as one of its apartments.

But the tour begins with a tour of the old quarter, in which at the beginning of the XX century there were a lot of similar establishments. Visitors to experienced guides will tell you how this ancient district of the city developed on the Neva, how the embankment was built-in a word, the whole history of these places since the XVIII century to our days.

The interiors of an ordinary apartment of a city dweller of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries seem to take us back to that time. In the exposition you can see pieces of furniture, ordinary knick-knacks, which for someone many years ago were of great importance.

This fascinating excursion ends with a narrative about the history of the printed matter, which in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries developed most rapidly in St. Petersburg. You will have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the work of the editorial staff in pre-revolutionary Russia, learn how its life was arranged and how the work process proceeded.