Washington Museum of Russian Poetry and Music turns 15!

Facts about the Museum:

1. Museum was founded in 1997.

2. First visiting group, of 7 people, came to the museum on October 20th 1997, after the 2^nd Washington Tsvetaeva Bonfire, where the opening was was announced.

3. 213 tour groups visited the museum, altogether 600 to 700 people, from 21 states of America (32 cities) and from 14 other countries, including:

- Russia (18 cities)

- Europe (England, Germany, Bulgaria, Latvia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Montenegro)

- Asia (India, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Kazakhstan)

- Israel, Republic of Georgia

4. Several thousand people were present at the museum’s excursions, of which there were about 200 (America, Russia, Canada, Israel).

5. Museum has hosted 10 literary-musical programs on Russian TV America, and dozens of performances on radio in New York, Boston, Voice of America, etc.

6. Museum featured more than 200 publications in USA, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and received more than 2000 donations from these countries.

7. Museum initiated:

- Creation in Washington, DC in 2003 of an “Alley of Russian Poets,” which also included Russian composers and artists;

- First international Tsvetaeva Bonfire in 2002;

- All-American Festival of songs to the poems of Marina Tsvetaeva (15 participants, 9 nights, 35 poems of Tsvetaeva were sung);

- Russian section in the new Public Library of Rockville in greater Washington;

- Creation of a project “American museum of Russian Culture” for the American public.

Washington Museum of Russian Poetry and Music was dedicated to Russian culture, however, the greatest space in it, besides Pushkin, is occupied by Russian Poets of Silver Age of Russian Culture, namely Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Gumilev.

October 7, 2012 (first Sunday of the month – Tarusa tradition) the Museum conducts in Washington the 17^th Tsvetayeva bonfire: 120^th anniversary of Marina Tsvetayeva, 100^th anniversary of Ariadna Efron, 15^th anniversary of the Washington Museum.

Museum has a web site: www.museum.zislin.com

Russian language blog: http://museumprojectsru.blogspot.com

and a collection of videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/zislinmuseum/videos?view=0