The NEP was the New Economic Policy introduced by the Soviet Government in 1921 – 1929 to prevent the Russian economy fr om collapsing. The NEP allowed small businesses to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control large industries, banks and foreign trade.
The display in the Rumyantsev Mansion tells about the recovery of the city economy, the financial reform, the work of large factories and artisan workshops, the education and public health reforms, the cultural life and leisure-time activities of the citizens. Photographs, paintings and pieces of graphic art, stills from documentary films and household items of the 1920s evoke the atmosphere of the city life during that complicated and interesting period of its history. The exhibition features interactive communal kitchen, living-room, restaurant, artisans’ workshop, Nevsky Prospect and fashion salon.
Among the exhibits are books, advertising bills and periodicals, wh ere dates of religious and revolutionary holidays peacefully get along together. Cultural life of the city is reflected in the sketches of decorations, movie posters, photographs and books by the writers, who lived and worked at that time: Mikhail Zoshchenko, Alexey Tolstoy, Anna Akhmatova, Olga Forsh, On display are paintings by artists of Pavel Filonov’s school and works by famous graphic artists.
