For the 200th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin’s creation of the first drama in Russian history, one of the author’s most beloved works, the Russian State Art Library (RSAL) is holding the exhibition “A.S. Pushkin’s Boris Godunov. The First Production of the Tragedy.”

The exhibition features copies of pages from the illustrated book Boris Godunov. Set Designs for A.S. Pushkin’s Tragedy, Compiled for the Russian Stage of the Imperial St Petersburg Theatres and Painted on Stone by Set Designer and Academician M.A. Shishkov. Scenes Designed and Painted by Professor A.I. Charlemagne. Published in St Petersburg in 1870, it almost immediately became a bibliographic rarity.

Mikhail Shishkov was among the artists who, in the 1860s and 1870s, fought for the establishment of realistic historical stage sets in the theatre. Prior to this, random set details unrelated to a specific performance had been used on stage.

In his book, Shishkov included sketches of the sets and mise-en-scènes for all 16 scenes shown in the first production of the tragedy. According to the critic Vladimir Stasov, “The most remarkable aspect of this production was the staging of the play: luxurious, meticulous, incredibly scientifically accurate, and at the same time attractive.”

The exhibition features rare materials with which, according to contemporaries, the artist worked. Among them are copies of sheets from the multi-volume edition of Antiquities of the Russian State in 6 Sections with drawings by Academician Feodor Solntsev (1849–1853) and historical works by Nikolay Karamzin, Nikolai Kostomarov, and Varvara Prokhorova.

The exhibition will transport visitors back to 1870, when Alexander Pushkin’s cherished dream came true on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, when the tragedy Boris Godunov was first performed.

The exhibition is open from 23 October to 18 November 2025.

Nikoloyamskaya St, Building 1 (4th floor foyer)

Free admission

For information: 8 (495) 692-04-67