Karelian Fine Arts Museum is located in the historic center of Petrozavodsk, on Kirov Square (formerly known as Cathedral Square) in the 17th century. Over the years, this building housed: Olonetsk men's gymnasium, public school, public library, the School of Culture and the Palace of Pioneers. Symbolic is the fact that it was in this building, which is so imbued with the spiritual atmosphere, began its work in 1960, the famous Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia.

The museum's collection began to take shape as early as the 30s of the 19th century. The first exposition of the museum (in 1838) was called "Muzeum" and included more than three hundred items, presented samples of products and articles of artistic casting of cast iron Alexandrovsky factory.

In 1905 he opened the first personal exhibition of the Karelian, which is represented by landscapes and numerous portraits of Petrozavodsk citizens written AV Rozenbyudom. Closer to 1930 citizens have become increasingly raise the question of the creation of an art museum in Petrozavodsk. Historical museum combines all the collections of the city.

The museum is constantly improved and updated for quite a long time. But because of this, work on the collection of historical monuments on the territory of Karelia has accelerated solution to the question about the creation of the Museum of Fine Arts, began its work October 20, 1960.

The museum features a lot of interesting collections. A collection of ancient Russian art museum has brought worldwide fame. It contains works of iconography, which has about 2,500 copies. The collection represents the foundation of icons 15-19 centuries, which was almost entirely assembled in the territory of Karelia.

The collection "Russian Art 18th - early 20th centuries" is a graphical, pictorial, sculptural works, there are more than six hundred exhibits. The largest part of the collection came from the Russian Museum, the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery in the early 1960s. The most valuable in this section are the canvases of Levitan, Shishkin, K. Korovin, A. Bogolyubov.

The collection "Art of Karelia 20th Century" includes more than 3 million pieces of drawing, painting, sculpture, arts and crafts and theatrical decorative art. The collection reflects the historical development of the fine arts of the Karelian Republic. The Museum of Fine Arts is not only collected, but also carefully processed scientifically unique collections, which give an idea of ​​the art and traditions of the region.

Collection "International art" began to take shape with a small group of works of masters who came from KGCF in 1960. Later this collector's edition complemented sculptures and paintings that came from the State Russian Museum and the Hermitage. The most striking decoration of the collection are works by artists from the Netherlands ages 16-17 - Michiel van coke, as well as Jan van der Heyden. Considerable interest is the collection of European porcelain manufactories of Sevres and Meissen.

Collection "The domestic art of the 20th century" four thousand works, which were created by the hands of skilled craftsmen of St. Petersburg, Moscow and many other cities. Interest in the work of artists of 1920-1930 allowed the museum to collect material that reflected the complex whole course of art in Russia. The collection covered the little-known names as well as a unique phenomenon. The pride of the collection: works by Tatiana Glebova, Pavel Kondratiev, Michael Tsybasova - they were pupils of the largest and well-known representative of the Russian avant-garde in the early 20th century.

In addition, the Museum of Fine Arts of Karelia has a considerable number of collector editions. Excursions are held in the museum's professional staff that will help maximize the familiar and the new permanent museum expositions, learn a lot of interesting, more deeply immersed in the world of art.