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Russian Studies Research Guide

Contemporary and Time-Spanning Resources

ArchNet.org - Primarily Islamic architecture from across the world, but also Soviet-era, including photographs and plans from the Russian FederationUkraineKazakhstanKyrgyzstanTajikistanTurkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Beyond the Pale: the History of Jews in Russia.

Churches of Moscow - Extensive list with contemporary and historical photographs.

Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore (in Russian) - English version also available at: http://feb-web.ru/indexen.htm

Moscow Art Theater - Offers photographic documentation of past performances as well as a tour of the theater.

Moscow Metro - Includes select archives and station photographs.

Moscow Museum of Modern Art - Search select works from its collection.

Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation - offers an abbreviated History of Riga exhibit, covering stages of Russian and Soviet occupation. 

Museum of Jewish History in Russia - features exhibits spanning the 18th-20th centuries.

Museums of Russia - Lists over 2000 museums in English.

Museum of Russian Icons videos - learn about icon-making and saints.

Moscow Kremlin State Historical Preserve virtual exhibits.

Reflections: Russian Photographs 1992-2002 - a Library of Congress Exhibition

Russia Engages the World: 1453 - 1825.  Exhibit of the New York Public Library.

Russia! - Chronological highlights from the 2005-2006 Guggenheim Museum exhibition of more than 250 pieces, many of which had never been seen outside of Russian/Former USSR area.

Russian Cultural Heritage Portal - Sponsored by the Russian Federation's Ministry of Culture, this site includes virtual tours of over twenty museums.

The Russian Museum of Ethnography - a museum of the "more than 150 peoples speaking various languages" within the Russian Federation. 

Russians and Germans: 1000 Years of Art, History and Culture - video from the 2012 - 2013 Neues Museum exhibit.

Science Under Sail: Russia's Great Voyages to America 1728 - 1867 - short exhibition from the California Academy of Sciences.  Use the navigation bar at the top of the page to move through the exhibit.

The Shchusev State Museum of Architecture features panoramic access to select exhibits.

Ukrainian Museum Online Exhibits.

The State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia - a number of exhibits devoted to modern Russian and Soviet History.

Virtual Jewish History Tour of Russia and the Former USSR from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.

Soviet-Era Resources

Communal Living in Russia: a Virtual Museum of Soviet Everyday Life - an "online ethnographic museum" of Soviet communal apartments.

Early 20th-Century Russian Drama

Icons and Images of Cultures: Plate Books from the Russian Empire, Early Soviet Russia, and Eastern Europe, 1730 - 1935 - New York Public Library Exhibit.

Mosfilm - Watch Soviet-era films for free.

Pobediteli - A tribute to Soviets' Contribution to the Great Patriotic War (WW2)

Postage Stamps: Messengers of the Soviet Future - a Museum of Russian Art exhibit featuring over 300 stamps.

Russia and Eastern Europe in Rare Photographs, 1860 - 1945 - New York Public Library exhibit.

Russia's Great War and Revolution

Soviet Architecture

Space Race - a virtual exhibit from the Air and Space Museum.

18th, 19th and Early 20th-Century Resources

The 20th-Century Ballet Revolution - online tutorial from the Victoria and Albert museum. "20th century ballet was born in St Petersburg, from a group of artists who were disenchanted with the arts scene in Russia." 

A Catalogue of Russian Icons in the British Museum

Celebrating St. Petersburg - Online highlights from a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of the city's founding.

Early 20th-Century Russian Drama

The Empire that was Russia - The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record - Library of Congress exhibition: "The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world—the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population."

Hermitage Museum's Exhibition Archives - Includes over a decade of many Russia-focused exhibits.

A Homespun Life: Textiles of Old Russia - from the Museum of Russian Art. "This original exhibition presents over one hundred artifacts revealing the rich peasant culture of northern and central Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Icons and Images of Cultures: Plate Books from the Russian Empire, Early Soviet Russia, and Eastern Europe, 1730 - 1935 - New York Public Library Exhibit.

Meeting of Frontiers, "a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest."

Men's court dress: Russia 1720s-1917 - online tutorial from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Photographer to the Tsar: Revealing the Silk Road - Curated tour of Prokudin-Gorskii's color photographs of trips to Central Asia in 1906-7 and 1911, courtesy of the Museum of Russian Art.

Russia and Eastern Europe in Rare Photographs, 1860 - 1945 - New York Public Library Exhibit.

The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures - Library of Congress exhibit.

The Russian Museum's Virtual Exhibit of the painting, stained glass, and graphic art of Wladimir von Swertschkoff.

Russia's Great War and Revolution

Russo-Japanese War in Japanese Post Cards - an Interactive Tour from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Search on the page for "Russo."

Tango with Cows: Book Art of the Russian Avant-Garde, 1900-1917 - J. Paul Getty Museum Exhibit with downloadable books and audio features.

Transcendental Art: Icons from Yaroslavl, Russia - Exhibit of 54 Icons from the 17th and 18th Centuries with lots of interactive and supplemental features from the Museum of Russian Art.

Rus and Muscovite Resources

A Catalogue of Russian Icons in the British Museum

Holy Russia: Russian Art from the Beginnings to Peter the Great - online Louvre exhibit.

Novgorod Resources

Transcendental Art: Icons from Yaroslavl, Russia - Exhibit of 54 Icons from the 17th and 18th Centuries with lots of interactive and supplemental features from the Museum of Russian Art.

Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars - "reveals the majesty of the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I to Ivan the Terrible and the early Romanovs in a major exhibition celebrating 500 years of exchange between Britain and Russia." This companion site to the exhibit features digitized items as well as informative videos.

Vikings - The Rus - Varangians - Historical/Architectural/Archaeological pamphlet downloadable through Facebook.

Online Exhibitions and Collections

Museums and state-sponsored institutions created or compiled most of the exhibitions or collections listed to the left and below. Gain new perspectives on your coursework by travelling to Russia and the former U.S.S.R virtually or examining artifacts housed in Minneapolis, New York or London.  

There are also free online resources listed in the left-hand columns on the Primary Sources pages.