Empire on the Way to Modernization. Russia in the 19th – Early 20th Centuries

·   the history of modernisation in Imperial Russia;

·   internal and external impulses that induced transformations;

·   traditional values and challenges of the time;

·   reformists, hardline traditionalists and revolutionaries;

·   Russian people in the time of great reforms and turmoil.

The exposition showcases the history of major political and economic reforms of 19th- early 20th centuries in Russia. What was the influence of serfdom abolition, the birth of Russia's Parliamentarism on the development of labour and revolutionary movements? What was the outcome of Witte’s and Stolypin’s transformations? What made revolutionary terrorism a common method during that period?

Rare archival documents, photos, posters, magazines and newsreels will show the inner and outer factors that urged the authorities to implement reforms. You will see the weapons of the period of the first Russian Revolution, the shackles worn by Chernyshevsky [N. G, Chernyshevsky (1828 – 1889) - a revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic], the children’s toy cubes, used to deliver the banned Iskra newspaper to Russia and other unique exhibits.

The 19th century saw Rus

seeking social truth,

face with the Empire, seeking power and might.

N. Berdyaev

The exposition features the achievements and problems of the country’s modernization, the reforms and other significant events in the history of our country in 19th and early 20th centuries. The exposition presents the key areas and results of the public policy. It also highlights the development of the public movement, the emergence of new social groups, the formation of political parties in the settings of acute confrontation among the new ideological currents.

Audioguides in Russian and English