ROSPHOTO State Museum and Exhibition Centre is the only museum of photography in Russia working at the federal level. ROSPHOTO’s mission is to promote Russian photography, to preserve photographic heritage of Russia, to discover new names in the history of Saint Petersburg photography, and to acquaint the audience with key figures and events in world photography.

In 2017, the museum celebrates its 15th anniversary. The anniversary exhibition presents the best original photographs accepted and accessioned into the collection of ROSPHOTO between 2002 and 2017. The show encompasses a great variety of authors and their work, created over a period of time from the 1850s until the 2000s.  

The exhibition presents a unique selection of masterpieces from the museum collection, which consists of more than 25 000 items. The display includes the best examples of art and commercial work by photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries — 100 photographs by more than 90 artists.

Among photographers whose work belongs to the early period of the 19th century photography are representatives of the Russian, French, American, German, and Italian schools of photography, such as

S. Levitsky, W. Carrick, S. Lobovikov, K. Bulla, Fratelli Alinari, F. Beato, O. Anschütz, J. P. Sebah and P. Joaillier. The 20th century is represented by early Soviet photography and its ‘new wave’ of the end of the century. The exhibition includes photographs by A. Rodchenko, B. Ignatovich, Ye. Khaldei, E. Evzerikhin, D. Kyndrova, S. Sveshnikov, V. Sokolaev, M. Bonet, V. Syomin, V. Ilyin, Ye. Yufit, and many others. The exhibition also offers a cross-section of contemporary photography from ROSPHOTO’s collection, including works by S. Döbelt, F. Vidal, V. Komar and A. Melamid, I. Mukhin, Y. Kippe and others.

Showing the best of photographic heritage, collected over 15 years, the museum offers visitors to make a journey through the history of photography from its emergence until the present day. However, ROSPHOTO not only offers a starting point for understanding photography step by step, but also encourages rediscovery of familiar names, displaying relatively unknown works by famous artists. Multimedia technologies enable viewers, regardless of their age, to engage in a dialogue with the museum.

All works on display are original hand-crafted prints. The exhibition as accompanied by a program of public events, including lectures, guided tours, and workshops, giving an insight into ROSPHOTO’s activities of various kinds. 

The project spans beyond museum’s exhibition halls. Following the open collection strategy, ROSPHOTO offers to see part of the collection not included into the display, by means of a mobile application. Moreover, visitors will be able to get more information on works and artists with augmented reality technology.

Admission is free