The early 16th-century Archangel Cathedral, which currently functions as a royal crypt housing the remains of Muscovite leaders from the early 1300s until the end of the 1600s, will also be renovated. The project will more than double the museums exhibition space, museum officials said. Kremlin Museum officials would not disclose the exact cost of the project but said it would be a substantial sum.
Most funds are expected to come from the federal government, with contributions from the museums own revenue and private sponsorship. The Kremlin Museum already receives sponsorship from Deutsche Bank and Russias largest oil company, Lukoil, to sponsor its exhibitions. But the cost of a new building just outside the Kremlin walls could easily reach($37million), said museum officials, and no private sponsor has yet come forward. While that amount is staggering for a Russian museum, President Putin has perfected the art of corporate fundraising. In 2001-02 he swiftly collected $250 million from private companies to renovate the Konstantin Palace in St Petersburg. With Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former ceo of Yukos Oil, currently facing trial for tax evasion and fraud, few companies want to risk the wrath of President Putin by rejecting his direct appeals for funding. The Kremlin Museum is a large complex of Russian Orthodox churches and palaces. Italian architects built most of the Kremlin walls and cathedrals in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, but one of the main gems is the mid-19th century Armoury, which houses national regalia, such as the Cap of Monomakh, Ivan the Terribles throne, the Diamond Throne of Czar Alexei, and nine Faberge Imperial Eggs.
In Soviet times, the Kremlin Museums proximity to the centre of political power made it the countrys de facto top museum. During the financial difficulties of the 1990s, it slipped in stature, and the scope of its exhibition programme was eventually surpassed by that of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. In 2001, President Putin appointed Yelena Gagarina, whose father, the astronaut Yuri Gagarin, was the first man to travel in space, as Kremlin Museum director. Since then, she has improved management, increased its global visibility, fired unnecessary personnel, attracted private sponsors, increased the number of exhibitions both in Moscow and on tour to other Russian cities, and lobbied President Putin to support the current reconstruction and expansion project. Ms Gagarina told The Art Newspaper that her main goal is to make the museum more accessible to the public in both Russia and abroad. Her top priority has been a radical shake up of the institutions management, and she now has a young energetic team whose age averages just above 40. The Kremlin Museum needs to find a way of reaching contemporary audiences, said Ms Gagarina. Todays visitors are very different from the ones who came to the museum in Soviet times.
