Текст для чтения о Государственном музее им. А.С. Пушкина на английском языке
методическая разработка по английскому языку (8 класс)

The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum

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The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum was built in Greek classical style in 1898-1912 by architect R. Klein to house a fine arts collection founded by Ivan Tsvetayev, a professor in the University of Moscow and father of the famous poet Marina Tsvetayeva.

It’s a fact

From the end of the 1890s Tsvetayev travelled around Europe, Greece and Egypt to make exact copies of statues of Roman governors, fragments of Greek temples, and portals of Roman and Gothic cathedrals. In 1909 the museum benefited from the addition of the celebrated ancient Egyptian collection of Golenishev, a renowned egyptologist, and it was thanks to these rare exhibits that the museum attained an international standing.

After the revolution the museum was enriched by works of European masters from the collections of the Rumyantsev Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, and nationalised private collections, as well as certain exhibits from the Hermitage. In 1932 it became known as the State Fine Arts Museum, and in 1937 on the 100th anniversary of the death of Pushkin the poet's name was added. The museum’s collection is constantly being expanded.

The museum has one of the world’s largest collections on the ancient, oriental, classical and West-European art. It is famous for its Impressionist and Postimpressionist paintings, but also has a wide selection of European works. The picture gallery contains over 2,000 canvases which enable us to appreciate the variety of styles over the centuries. The museum has good display of ancient Egyptian exhibits. There are also rich exhibits of Babylon, Assyria and Ancient Persia.

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In recent years the museum, like the Hermitage in St Petersburg, has revealed some fabulous art hoards kept secret since they were seized by the Red Army from Germany at the end of World War ll. In 1993 the Pushkin Museum admitted that it held the gold of ancient Troy, found by the archeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 19th century. In 1995 the museum unveiled 63 works by Degas, Renoir, Goya, El Greco and Tintoretto that had been thought lost for 50 years.

It’s a fact

The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum periodically holds special exhibitions of art of various countries and of outstanding artist. For example, there were exhibitions of the Tutankhamen treasures from Egypt, Mona-Lisa (La Giokonda). The paintings of P. Picasso, M. Chagall, French Impressionists were displayed here, too.

The highlight of the Museum’s permanent display is certainly the four rooms of Impressionist and Postimpressionist paintings and sculpture. Here you can enjoy the world famous canvases of Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, Rousseau, Van Gogh and Degas.
The museum carries out extensive research into the world’s heritage of art thus maintain contacts with the biggest museums and galleries of the world.

1.Work with the vocabulary.

2.Agree or disagree with the statements.

The museum was built by Ivan Tsvetaev.

After the revolution the collection of the museum became larger.

Every year more than 50 exhibits are added into the collection.

You can find different kinds of paintings in the museum.

The gold of ancient Troy was found in 1993.

There are more than 100 Impressionists’ works in it.

The museum is in connection with world museums and galleries.

3.Complete the sentences.

1.The Pushkin Fine Arts museum was built … (when and by whom?)

2.Professor Tsvetaev travelled frequently … (where to and with what purpose?)

3.In 1909 and later the museum benefited from … (what kind of collections?)

4.In 1932 the museum got the name … (which one and why?)

5.The museum contains … (what kind of exhibits?)

6.In 1993 the museum admitted that … (what kind of exhibits did they hide?)

7.You can find different art works by … (what artists and genres?)

4.Answer the questions.

Who added to the first collection of the museum?

How was the collection enriched later?

What exhibits can people see there?

Sum up all information about the museum.