Moscow Animation Museum

The Moscow Animation Museum (Russian: Моско́вский Музе́й Анима́ции) is a museum in Moscow dedicated to animation.

The museum was established in 2006 by employees of the animation studio Soyuzmultfilm and the «Soyuzmultfilm V.G.V.» film company.^[1] The museum's founder, Leonid Shvartsman, also serves as honorary director. The museum's general director is Larisa Evgenievna Vyborgova,^[2] and Kirill Vladimirovich Polikarpov serves as creative director.

The museum's collection of exhibits is related to the history of animation in Russia and abroad. Currently, the main exposition is located on the territory of the Izmailovsky Kremlin.^[1]

The museum is especially recommended by students and members of Moscow's younger generations.^[3]

The first creative and anniversary programs of the «Soyuzmultfilm V.G.V.» film company, which included current employees of the «Soyuzmultfilm» studio, were held in 2004. Guests received informative excursion programs, and the employees and veterans of the studio celebrated anniversary holidays in the Cinema House. The historical edition of the «Soyuzmultfilm» film studio on Dolgorukovskaya Street was in need of housekeepers at that moment, and the staff of Soyuzmultfilm V.G.V on its own initiative invested personal financial resources in cosmetic repairs. Veterans of «Soyuzmultfilm» and «Soyuzmultfilm V.G.V.» disagreed with the studio management in positions on financial and economic issues, and in early 2006 parted ways. However, the initiative of children's, creative programs and preservation of spiritual and cultural heritage legends of the «Soyuzmultfilm» studio convinced Larisa Vyborgova and Kirill Polikarpov to keep. Thus, personally Leonid Shvartsman, Anna Atamanova, Svetozar Rusakov, Boris Akulinichev, Galina Zebrova, Vladimir Zuikov, Natalia Abramova, Nadezhda Kirichenko, Galina Shakitskaya, Marina Kurchevskaya, Kabul Rasulov, Galina and Vitaly Kositsyns and many others signed a written appeal to the management of «Soyuzmultfilm V. G. V.»^[4]

The Moscow Museum of Animation was established in 2006 by veterans of Russian animation with the informational support of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation and personally the Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov.^[5] On September 15, 2006, the museum opened. In the small foyer of the Natalia Sats Theatre on Vernadsky Avenue, Leonid Shvartsman and Larisa Vyborgova solemnly cut the red ribbon. At the same time, the first exposition dedicated to the history of 20th century animation was opened.^[6] Most of this exhibition related to the activities of «Soyuzmultfilm» from the 1960s to the 1980s. The audience was presented with puppets, shooting equipment, sets, sketches, personal belongings of famous animators of Russia and the USSR, documents related to famous cartoons.^[7]

On September 15, 2010, the children's TV channel Nickelodeon invited the Moscow Animation Museum to become a partner.^[8] As part of the partnership, the museum opened the Hall of Foreign Animation, which holds a permanent exhibition on Nickelodeon's animated series. Nickelodeon produced a unique 25-minute documentary film for the museum with subtitles in Russian, and made an exclusive collection of dolls of popular TV series in a single copy.^[9]

Has certificate 38490 dated September 15 2016 of making an entry in the «International Catalog of Celestial Bodies» for naming a 15th magnitude star in the Virgo constellation named «Moscow Animation Museum.^[10]

On September 7 and 8, 2019, the Moscow Animation Museum exhibited «Private Museums of Russia. Nuggets of Russia» in Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center.^[11] The exhibition was opened by Vladimir Medinsky, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation.^[12]

He noted that the true nuggets of Russia are those who invest their labor, time, talent, knowledge and financial resources to leave a memory to the next generations of those priceless riches that Russia has. The image of the character Naruto from the world-famous anime drawn by its creator Masashi Kishimoto still attracts fans of all ages to the museum.^[13]

On February 8, 2021, at the personal invitation of fashion historian Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev, who visited the museum's exposition, in the issue «The Case of ‘Auntie Echo and Grandpa Cartoonist 30 Years Later’» Moscow Museum of Animation presented viewers with a traveling exhibition consisting of an original sketch of the character «Crocodile Gena» by Leonid Shvartsman and a puppet from the animated puppet films «Teremok» and «The Gift». At the “fashion court” represented by Alexander Vasilyev, Nadezhda Babkina and Evelina Khromchenko, the “Museum” was represented by general director Larisa Evgenievna Vyborgova, artistic director Kirill Vladimirovich Polikarpov and “personal assistant to the general director” Yorkshire terrier «Nyusha».

Since its opening, the staff of the museum have conducted educational master classes and creative meetings, made military-patriotic films, and held charity events.

The Moscow Animation Museum is a private collection of deposited collections. Veterans of “Soyuzmultfilm” donated their collections to the Museum. Honorary director of the Museum Leonid Aronovich Shvartsman donated 49 works of authorship to the Museum; Boris Akimovich Akulinichev, the production designer and co-author of Inessa Alekseevna Kovalevskaya, donated sketches for the cartoon “How the Lion and the Tortoise Sang a Song”, director Lev Konstantinovich Atamanov's daughter Anna handed over the first gold painted poster of The Golden Antelope.^[1]

The museum's exhibits cover the process of creating cartoons, and present real phases and models from cartoons, sketches, puppets and scenery. The museum's holdings include over 15,000 items, 2,500 of which are on display in the exhibition halls. The Tretyakov Gallery does not have enough space to show everything.

The museum complex includes an international museum exposition, a cartoon filming site, a cinema hall and a studio for the production of commercial, author's and experimental animation, which has realized over 500 different projects produced in all possible animation technologies: classical drawn, puppet, documentary, mixed, Flash, Moho, 2D, 3D Stereo, 4D Stereo.

The centerpiece and true pride of the museum is the Hall of Russian animation, represented by puppets of Cheburashka, Crocodile Gena, and Old Lady Shapoklyak, deposited with the museum after the death of Leonid Aronovich Shvartsman. There is also a personal desk of the artist Svetozar Kuzmich Rusakov, the creator of the images of the Hare and the Wolf in Well, Just You Wait!^[14] and the exhibition The Bremen Town Musicians with original sketches, types and artistic developments for cartoons by Inessa Kovalevskaya.^[15]

The Animation History Hall is dedicated to the inventions of New Age scientists related to the “animation” of images. Praxinoscope, zoetrope, stereoscopes and “magic lanterns” were used to project images in the 18th - 20th centuries. It also broadcasts footage of the world's first cartoon Pauvre Pierrot, made in 1892 by French inventor Emile Reynaud. For fans of interactivity, there is the world's only Zoopro 001 attraction, where anyone can draw a microcartoon.

The Modern History Corridor contains information about contemporary Russian animation studios. The hall was founded with the support of the Animakkord studio (creators of the animated series Bear); the stands display collections of the Char Studio School, Christmas Films, Stayer, the studios of Garry Bardin, Yuri Norshtein and others

The Hall of World Animation holds exhibits related to the development of foreign animation: these include collections from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Warner Bros., Studio Ghibli, Lucasfilm Limited, Nickelodeon Animation, Toei Animation, Mushi Production, Apple Films, and Kitty Films. The central booth is dedicated to the exposition of Nickelodeon channel: exhibits related to the cartoons Dasha the Traveler, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Avatar: The Last Airbender are presented.^[16]

In Soviet times in Moscow, a collection of cartoons could be seen at the Barrikady cinema, and the museum has revived this tradition: the Boohunker screening room broadcasts cartoons made by children with the museum staff in the best traditions and technologies of the Soviet past. Some of them are prize-winners and Grand Prix winners of various children's film festivals.^[1]

The museum holds educational programs that consist of a video tour and a master show. Master-show is a structured and scenographic action, where guests under the guidance of experienced animators who understand the process of animation, by the method of total immersion in one hour of classes master all the stages of creating a short film in the technique of transposition, on the author's programs create full-fledged cartoons that participate in children's film festivals.

The museum has held over 70 traveling exhibitions, visiting the Ryazan Kremlin, Kazan Kremlin, Dmitrov Kremlin, Suzdal-Vladimir Kremlin, Kirzhach, Samara, Pereslavl. Every year “Animation Museum” becomes a special guest of entertainment for special programs, forums and exhibitions, and everywhere the main event is the shooting of the author's cartoon.

From December 23, 2023 to March 3, 2024, the Underground Museum of Zaryadye Park hosted an exhibition dedicated to Leonid Shvartsman, entitled "Leonid Shvartsman's Multiverse: How famous heroes were created". The exhibition included items from the family's personal archives and the Moscow Animation Museum, including an original figure of crocodile Gena, awards, including a special prize named after Alexei German national cinematographic award “Nika” (2021), the award of the Audrey Hepburn Foundation “Hollywood to Children” (1997), “Cartoon Concert” for the 100th anniversary of Russian animation (2012) and personal belongings of the author: glasses, telephone, pencils and a table where the images of cartoon characters were born.^[17]

From December 6, 2024 to February 23, 2025, the Underground Museum of Zaryadye Park hosted the exhibition "Alice and Other Guests from the Future. To the 90th anniversary of the birth of Kir Bulychev," with the support of Soyuzmultfilm, Moscow Museum of Animation, Gorky Film Studio, State Central Museum of Cinema and «Vodorod» film company.^[18] The exhibition included personal belongings and paintings of the writer, original sketches and celluloid phases from the animated film The Mystery of the Third Planet, props for the movies The Guest from the Future and One Hundred Years Ago, including the famous myelophone.^[19][20][21]

• Московский музей анимации