Alexandra joined us this afternoon to give us a guided tour of The Pushkin Museum. Alexandra like many Russians values the Arts and ones education of it very highly. The Museum is a rich collection of paintings by the old masters from the Renaissance up to the 20^th century. Works are included by Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, van Gogh and Picasso.   The beautiful building housing the museum opened to the public in 1912.

 

Interesting note on Alexandra- first some history. Alexandra has handled the Moscow portion of the adoption experience for Lutheran Social Services Adopting Families for many many years. All children adopted from Russia, regardless of Region, must come through Moscow to obtain the necessary US Visa. She is over 80 years old and still remembers specific families and details of their trip from 15 years ago! So we were making our way to the ticket booth at the Museum and Alexandra says “Oh I do not need a ticket I have a special pass” Turns out Alexandra is a survivor of the “Great Siege”. When the Red Army held off the Nazi Germans from entering Moscow although they were within 50 miles of Moscow during WWII.

 

The Russian government honors the survivors by giving them lifetime admittance to all museums and free public transportation.

It was a wonderful afternoon!