The Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts was opened on September 30, 1944. Although its original collection consisted of only 74 exhibits, it included paintings by outstanding artists donated by the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the State Hermitage Museum, and the State Procurement Commission. Nowadays, the museum’s collection features over 10,000 paintings, drawings, statues, items of decorative and applied arts, and works of contemporary art.
The collection is based around the Russian art of the 16th–20thcenturies. Visitors can get acquainted with authentic works by not only famous Russian artists but also those who are little-known or even forgotten but who nevertheless are essential to understanding the complete history of Russian fine art.
The gem of the Nizhny Tagil
Museum of Fine Arts is the “The Holy Family” painted in 1509 and attributed to
Raphael based on the painter’s signature in Italian. The painting was
discovered in an old wealthy house in Nizhny Tagil in 1924. For the past half a
century, it has served as a kind of a cultural symbol of the city.
