The Tretyakov Gallery

The introduction
The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow is a major world-famous collection of Russian graphic arts. The quiet Lavrushinsky Pereulok, a by-street across the Moscow River from the Kremlin, with the familiar building of the Tretyakov Gallery behind a wrought-iron fence, is frequented by both Muscovites and visitors to the capital. The Tretyakov Gallery firmly imbeds itself in the Russian’s intellectual life from their very early teens. Here, exposed to canvases by Russia’s foremost painters, people first awakened to an appreciation of art, to its message and emotional impact. The Tretyakov Gallery has become what can be described as a “popular” museum, with long lines of people queuing to get in. Russians are ardent devotees of art, and Russian museums attract the world’s largest crowds. The distinction of the Tretyakov Gallery is well known outside the Russia – foreign visitors from many countries of the world make it a point to include the Tretyakov Gallery into their Moscow schedule.