An atmospheric and spacious museum. The number of sculptures is off the scale, and the scale of some is amazing. There are many busts of Stalin, Lenin, Khrushchev and other symbols, among which you can find cultural figures: K. Krapiva, Ya. Kolos, M. Bogdanovich, etc. The museum is interesting, but there is not enough information about Azgur himself, there are his works, but practically no word about the creator
We visited the Azgur Museum in May 2024. I was attracted by the museum's website, where the biography of the master is competently described and it is written that about 2,000 works will be waiting for us in the collection: sculpture and sketches. Also, the photos from the exposition looked very interesting, the concept of a monographic exhibition-workshop is very attractive. I wanted to learn about the life and work of the master, as a guest of the capital, but unfortunately it turned out to be done only thanks to the museum's website.
When we arrived at the museum, we were greeted by a not very hospitable elderly woman (the caretaker), who seemed surprised that we wanted to visit the museum. To punch the tickets, we waited for the cashier for about 5 minutes. There was no one in the museum except three people: a guard, a caretaker and a cashier. After we bought the tickets, the caretaker briefly said that the exposition begins with the hall where we are located. That is, there were already sculptors' works at the wardrobe hangers. Then she led us into the second hall, which was made as a workshop and just stood and looked at us like an overseer, waiting for us to finish inspecting the hall. If we asked any questions, she answered very briefly and coldly and sometimes even with mockery in a rude way. After that, we went to the third hall, where the same situation was repeated. In total, we spent no more than half an hour in the museum, because it was very uncomfortable under such close attention and from the rudeness of the employee. I do not understand how you can handle the legacy of a master who is the property of your state and city. Because if you want to attract more people to visit the museum, then you need to be at least hospitable to visitors and offer to visit some additional excursions. It is a pity that there are no properly made explications in the museum, there are no additional materials for studying, at least in the form of printouts in each hall. In general, the trip disappointed me very much and the mood was spoiled for the whole day, because I expected something completely different from the museum. And I would really like to convey to the museum staff that this is not the way to treat your artistic heritage. I say this as a person with an education in art history and a person with experience working in a museum.
In general, the talking headline from the site "Treasury of Greatness and Art" turned out to be deceptive.
I definitely recommend you to visit. Great work with great detail. The size of some of the autumn sculptures is impressive. The place will especially appeal to fans of Soviet culture and aesthetics