The history of the acquisition of the art collection by the museum of Nalchik

The author considers the initial stages of the formation of the art collection of the museum in Nalchik. Its original source was expropriated private collections, which were transferred to the museum from the State Museum Fund. In the years 1925-1927 the Nalchik Museum of Regional Studies received more than two hundred works of painting, sculpture, decorative and applied art belonging to Russian and foreign art schools. The former owners of works of art were philanthropists and enlighteners, who after the October Revolution were forced to leave Russia. There are excerpts from the paperwork correspondence that accompanied the transfer of art collections. In 1960, they became part of the funds of the newly formed Kabardino-Balkarian Museum of Fine Arts. The author emphasizes that currently the art collection needs scientific attribution, qualified expertise, a general analysis of the physical condition and state of knowledge of the works. A full-scale study of the collection was largely hampered by the absence of a specialist in art history in Nalchik.