Coliving. Museum of Soviet life

The Rumyantsev Mansion is located on the Neva River embankment, and the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg is located in this building. Count Nikolai Rumyantsev began collecting antiquities for the museum collection in the early 19th century. His younger brother Sergey Rumyantsev undertook an interior remodelling of the mansion so that the interiors would be suitable for displaying the collections. Special furniture was made for several rooms. The museum was opened in May 1831.

The following decades can be described as a history of the ups and downs of both the museum's collections and the mansion. There were not enough funds to maintain the museum, and various trustees were appointed. The mansion changed hands, someone received the mansion as a dowry, someone sold it, someone tried to make the most of the acquisition. The ideas of museum management and preservation of historical monuments were alien to the new owners. The Trade Association bought the mansion at the beginning of the 20th century and a major reconstruction was planned, but it was never implemented. At the same time the service part of the building was occupied by flats.

Various institutions were housed in the state rooms after the revolution, while the rest of the building remained residential. The Historical Museum needed a new building, and the Rumyantsev Mansion was chosen as the ideal building for conversion into a museum in the 1930s. During the Soviet period the museum was called the State Museum of the History of Leningrad; now it is one of the branches of the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg (the main site of the museum is the Peter and Paul Fortress).

The institutions that occupied the front rooms were evicted quickly, an administrative decision was all that was required. But the resettlement of the residential part of the building and the conversion of these areas into museum halls took a long time. The occupants of the last residential flat were only moved to new buildings in the 1990s. It was the old flat on the back stairs of the building; before the revolution, these rooms had been intended for servants. The museum staff decided to keep the ambience of the Soviet-era communal flat in this flat.

The city's history museum is one of its most popular museums. I visited this museum many times as a child and a young person. I've been to exhibitions, lectures and concerts. The fact that one of the flats would remain residential never even occurred to me, it seemed impossible. So the opening of the new museum halls came as an unexpected surprise.

I happened to come to the museum on a day when a historical film was being filmed in the front rooms. Had I intended to visit the state rooms, I would have been disappointed. But my goal was to see a painting exhibition and visit the halls of communal history, so nothing interfered with my plans. On the contrary, I got a discounted ticket because some of the halls were not accessible that day. Normally the ticket costs 350 rubles ($4,5), but the discounted ticket cost 200 rubles ($2,5).

The entrance to the museum is at the front of the building. I climbed the front stairs to the first floor in semi-darkness - the lights were off so as not to disturb the filming. I entered the service side of the building through the side wings. I walked a few corridors, passed another grand staircase, and finally found myself at an old simple staircase leading to the entrance to the flat. The flat had a "corridor-type" layout. There is a long corridor running along the length of the flat which leads to the rooms.

The interiors of the typical inhabitants of such a flat have been recreated in the rooms. We move from room to room, moving not only in space, but also in time. While the first room might have looked like this in the 1930s, the last room corresponds more to the 1980s.

The first room belonged to people who lived in the flat before the revolution. It can be assumed that their well-being was quite high. In their room one can see everyday items from the old times.

The second room was occupied by newcomers. Industrialisation demanded new workers and many peasants began to come to the cities to work. They brought their usual village customs and usual things - homespun mats, wooden toys etc.

The third room is an artist's room, apparently an unrecognised artist. The guitar adds some dissonance to the interior. The guitar came here from a group of hikers, and it would have gone better with large backpacks and other camping equipment. The fourth room is a popular music lover's room. The main interior object in this room is a vinyl record player. The posters on the walls were an obligatory part of the interior.

Along the blind wall of the corridor there are several museum windows with old household items. Old telephones, plates, illustrations... At the end of the corridor, a winter sled and a bicycle hang opposite each other on the walls. A door leads directly to the bathroom. The door is ajar, but the room is empty. The museum staff did not dare to keep the years-old layers of paint and old tiles, instead there is a large photograph on the far wall.

The last door on the left is the kitchen door. The kitchen is a mix of eras, with kitchen utensils and kitchen appliances taking up every available surface. The purpose of some is unknown to me. I don't think I could make sense of it without a guide.

I finish my inspection of the flat and return the same way. A narrow old staircase, a corridor, a light-coloured staircase, another corridor... At the end I find myself in the front staircase of the mansion. There's a break in the filming and the extras are resting before shooting the next scene.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

This is my entry for the #marketfriday challenge by @dswigle.