For the Museum of Architecture, also known as the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, this exhibition is institutional, “namesake”, and very important. Perhaps, even pivotal? A couple of years ago, Elizaveta Likhacheva told me that the preparation for the Shchusev exhibition could hail the beginning of a permanent exhibition because the absence of a permanent exhibition has long been one of the main “pains” of the museum, especially since the relocation of half of the collection from the Donskoy Monastery to Vozdvizhenka. Thus, it comes as no surprise that a lot of time and effort has been invested in the exhibition; “the entire museum worked on it for a year and a half” (although some have mentioned all four years). Three published books and one forthcoming (the one about the “Moscow” hotel), a film, and around 700 exhibits from 18 collections – yes, it was truly a monumental effort. Add to it the design by Sergey Tchoban to get a complete picture. In short, the museum is now rightfully at the center of the professional community’s attention.

First things first, however. The exhibition has several peculiarities: first, it is a research-based exhibition, and in our time when most people focus on entertaining the venerable public for money, and the prefix “scientific research institute” is often hastily dropped as something embarrassing, the museum fully justifies its prefix. I can’t say it happened suddenly – I’ve been observing the museum for over 20 years. I saw it go through all stages from denial to acceptance, being a very dull scientific institute, then a trendy hangout with vodka and pickles in the icy Ruin – yes, the place has been through a lot of things. Throughout this time, however, it nevertheless faithfully served as an architectural archive for researchers. Here, a compliment is due to Elizaveta Likhacheva: under Irina Korobina’s leadership, they restored the Ruin and opened a temporary version of a permanent exhibition. However, it was under Likhacheva that significant museum exhibitions once again became fundamental, one after another, with originals, research, and hot exhibition design.