State Museum of V.V. Mayakovsky
State Museum of V.V. Mayakovsky
4
This location was reported permanently closed
About
Once the apartment of the famous Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, this highly unusual museum houses a fascinating collection of the flamboyant poet's artwork, manuscripts and photographs.
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Garden Ring
How to get there
- Lubyanka • 3 min walk
- Kitay-gorod • 4 min walk
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7,390 within 3 miles
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4,125 within 6 miles
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.0
21 reviews
Excellent
11
Very good
5
Average
3
Poor
1
Terrible
1
Peter E
London, UK25 contributions
Sep 2013 • Solo
Nice to see a real communist exhibition, just a pity that there was no English translation, they didn't have a Spanish one either. One could observe the power behind the poster created by Mayakovsky and used by Stalin years later. It was also nice to walk around in Mayakovsky's house.
Written September 9, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Miriahm D
Boulder, CO1,075 contributions
Sep 2014 • Solo
You will know you've found it when you see Mayakovsky's face on the glass door and a large plaque in Russian about him; however, although everything I have read about this attraction says it's about to open, it has been closed these last few years. This is disappointing, but not uncommon in Russia, "closed for renovation", "closed for cleaning" closed with no reason at all. There is a mad chaotic used book store as part of the same building, but very little evidence of the mad chaotic poet.
Written January 20, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Niels H
Amsterdam, The Netherlands0 contributions
It's a really diverse museum with a good overview of the russian History. But take the audio tour! Everything is in russian
Written January 5, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Darya
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia30 contributions
Apr 2013 • Solo
My acquaintance with this museum didn't start well. I arrived to the museum at 5.05 (it closes at 6 and the last admission is at 5pm, of which I didn't know) and was rudely stopped by two ladies at the cloakroom/reception. There was another latish visitor (an old lady) who asked them to let us in anyway reasoning that we will be done before 6pm and won't hold anyone back. The staff went on insulting the old lady and kinda getting personal about the whole situation. I watched in disbelief as they raised their voices at her and went on telling her ll sorts of insulting nonsense.
Yet, the museum was so highly recommended to me and Mayakovsky so highly regarded, that I decided this incident wouldn't stop me and went back a couple of days later.
The museum is one of the best I've seen in terms of the number of authenticity of the exposition and the creativity of its design.
One important piece of info that I nearly missed out - at the entrance to each section/hall there is a blue file hanging on the wall. It looks like something they might use internally for administrative purposes. But it turned out to be a detailed description of what each hall is dedicated to and what are the items displayed there. Again, the staff is present in each hall but the first 3 of them didn't mention that there is info available, and I was left to my own devices. Until the staff in Hall 4 told me about the blue file and I made my way back and re-started from the first Hall. BTW the info is in Russian only.
Yet, the museum was so highly recommended to me and Mayakovsky so highly regarded, that I decided this incident wouldn't stop me and went back a couple of days later.
The museum is one of the best I've seen in terms of the number of authenticity of the exposition and the creativity of its design.
One important piece of info that I nearly missed out - at the entrance to each section/hall there is a blue file hanging on the wall. It looks like something they might use internally for administrative purposes. But it turned out to be a detailed description of what each hall is dedicated to and what are the items displayed there. Again, the staff is present in each hall but the first 3 of them didn't mention that there is info available, and I was left to my own devices. Until the staff in Hall 4 told me about the blue file and I made my way back and re-started from the first Hall. BTW the info is in Russian only.
Written April 21, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RosaBonheur
Philadelphia, PA120 contributions
Aug 2012 • Friends
Mayakovsky is a hugely important figure during the revolutionary period of Russian culture. This museum houses a fascinating collection of original artefacts but the exhibition design threatens to detract from enjoying it. I have visited this museum before its re-design, so on returning I was somewhat taken aback. I suffer from vertigo, and I was unable to climb the scary stairs to get to the beginning of the exposition. Fortunately after a period of panic, a very kind invigilator told me how to get to the start at the top of the building without walking up the stairs. Working downward was fine as it is one long ramp. While it is a weird exhibition design, nonetheless I would highly recommend a visit. There is a shop just outside the main entrance where you can buy a book about the museum.
Written December 2, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
George P
London, UK5 contributions
Sep 2012 • Solo
I recently visited this deeply odd museum. Whilst the displays are indeed wildly bizarre, you can't help feeling that they have been allowed to take over from some of the wonderful material on show. Original pieces of artwork and letters are often folded in half and sandwiched between pieces of shattered plexi, making them very hard to see. I couldn't help thinking that the museum should have been a mix of wild installation and clean gallery space where you could really see and appreciate the material on offer. I imagine a traditional museum curator would have a heart attack if they saw what had been done with some many original artworks.
The lighting is sadly all white fluorescent strip lights with many things badly lit, if lit at all. The fluorescent lighting will also have a long term detrimental effect on the papers and drawings.
There were no captions that I could see anywhere and the odd plastic folder hanging from a piece of string on the wall was all in Russian sadly.
It is as if whoever designed the displays 25 years ago was allowed to have their ego run riot at the expensive of the material to be displayed. It is also looking very dated and dusty! Still, it does offer an insight as to how things within a museum context could be shown but in this case not to good effect I felt. It now needs an injection of money and a fresh designer/curator to go in and reassess the collection and make it relevant again for the 21st century.
The lighting is sadly all white fluorescent strip lights with many things badly lit, if lit at all. The fluorescent lighting will also have a long term detrimental effect on the papers and drawings.
There were no captions that I could see anywhere and the odd plastic folder hanging from a piece of string on the wall was all in Russian sadly.
It is as if whoever designed the displays 25 years ago was allowed to have their ego run riot at the expensive of the material to be displayed. It is also looking very dated and dusty! Still, it does offer an insight as to how things within a museum context could be shown but in this case not to good effect I felt. It now needs an injection of money and a fresh designer/curator to go in and reassess the collection and make it relevant again for the 21st century.
Written September 8, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
permia
Ireland64,715 contributions
Jun 2012 • Couples
We had read about Mayakovsky and had seen the wonderful metro station named in his honour, one of the most beautiful in the system. So we keenly anticipated visiting this museum. It was absolutely the most imaginatively creative house-museum we encountered. From our first views of the artistic installation at the entrance we knew it was going to be special.
It is totally unlike any other museum we have seen with absolutely no linear sequence of a life laid out in attractive display cabinets.
The surrealist displays include caged imprisoned writings, pamphlets & posters, contorted chairs, abundance of red, broken beds, lots of metal, gramophones. The seemingly chaotic nature of these symbolises the turmoil within the artist himself and in the wider society at the time. Mayakovsky was an enthusiastic supporter of the revolution but gradual disillusionment with the repressive regime coupled with other personal problems toll their toll.
The exhibits lead up a spiral ramp over a few floors. The finale is the tiny room where Mayakovsky took his own life at only 37. There is a picture of Lenin over the writing desk.
It is totally unlike any other museum we have seen with absolutely no linear sequence of a life laid out in attractive display cabinets.
The surrealist displays include caged imprisoned writings, pamphlets & posters, contorted chairs, abundance of red, broken beds, lots of metal, gramophones. The seemingly chaotic nature of these symbolises the turmoil within the artist himself and in the wider society at the time. Mayakovsky was an enthusiastic supporter of the revolution but gradual disillusionment with the repressive regime coupled with other personal problems toll their toll.
The exhibits lead up a spiral ramp over a few floors. The finale is the tiny room where Mayakovsky took his own life at only 37. There is a picture of Lenin over the writing desk.
Written July 10, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Oleg Y
Belgrade, Serbia2,702 contributions
Jun 2015 • Couples
Here, just behind the Lubyansky Proezd (Lubyansky Passage) is located this imaginative and exciting museum dedicated to the life and work of Vladimir Mayakovsky. He was such original person and colorful figure in the time of Revolution, that even now among the left - wing artists throughout the world, he represents an inimitable inspiration. The inspiration for those who combine the artistic dexterity integrity and passion with political engagement.
Since Vladimir Mayakovsky himself was like that, one very modern artist for the times, in which he lived, devoted totally to the matters of Revolution and also one of the Russia's greatest 20th century poet.
This museum was opened in 1974, in the house where Mayakovsky lived and committed suicide in 1931.
Here in Museum we saw what was like this Constructivist art of his contemporaries, viewed from his part and exposed through the collection of his visually powerful manuscripts and agitprop posters.
Beside that, he was the follower of Futurism in the art and avant-garde generally in the pre-revolutionary times, although at the outbreak of the Revolution, he embraced the Bolshevik seizure of power.
Through all museum, there are a lot of posters, unusually put, the things as furniture in the show rooms, the ladders,the stairs, the flags, the red stars, the pictures of some revolutionary men ( Lenin and others), the busts of men, like that one of himself in the niche, on the front side of museum.
And of course here are his bedroom, living room.
Recommend for all who want to get acquainted with this fascinating world of 1920s Soviet art.
Since Vladimir Mayakovsky himself was like that, one very modern artist for the times, in which he lived, devoted totally to the matters of Revolution and also one of the Russia's greatest 20th century poet.
This museum was opened in 1974, in the house where Mayakovsky lived and committed suicide in 1931.
Here in Museum we saw what was like this Constructivist art of his contemporaries, viewed from his part and exposed through the collection of his visually powerful manuscripts and agitprop posters.
Beside that, he was the follower of Futurism in the art and avant-garde generally in the pre-revolutionary times, although at the outbreak of the Revolution, he embraced the Bolshevik seizure of power.
Through all museum, there are a lot of posters, unusually put, the things as furniture in the show rooms, the ladders,the stairs, the flags, the red stars, the pictures of some revolutionary men ( Lenin and others), the busts of men, like that one of himself in the niche, on the front side of museum.
And of course here are his bedroom, living room.
Recommend for all who want to get acquainted with this fascinating world of 1920s Soviet art.
Written May 17, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mrbaker1917
North Saanich, Canada75 contributions
Jan 2012
The Mayakovsky museum is well worth the 100 rubles entrance fee! They also do not charge to take photos, though you are not supposed to use a flash or photograph the icons. It is very difficult to describe the museum, but probably its structure and the unusual nature of the displays are most fascinating. It is not huge in size, though it feels pretty big inside. It is more the nature of exhibits: they are grandiose gestures, a place of steel pipe, a giant bed with giant springs, a printing press so large it is hard to recognize. The museum can prompt one to wonder why traditional museums are organized as they are: all straight lines, rectangular rooms, level ceilings, paintings in the middle of walls. Mayakovsky was a leading member of Russian futurism, an early-20th century art movement. By the way, kids will love it, because it does in part resemble a "funhouse". When I was there, kids were running around, laughing and also looking at the displays. The last room, besides the giant bed, includes two death masks and articles from leading newspapers about his suicide in April 1930. The museum is at once hopeful and tragic. Why not give it a try?
Written January 29, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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