Art and Air Conditioning: Pushkin Museum's Cool Escape from the Moscow Heatwave

As a sweltering heatwave grips Moscow, the Pushkin Museum offers residents a refreshing retreat. With free entry to a special exhibit, visitors can escape the heat and enjoy masterpieces by Monet and van Gogh. This initiative has quickly become a hit, drawing crowds eager to cool down and admire the art.

Art lovers meander through the Pushkin Museum's exhibition halls, pausing to admire colorful works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. While delighted by the art, many visitors came for a more urgent reason: to cool off.

'When you come in here, it's just like an oasis,' stated Anna, a museum-goer. 'Such a relief.' Blistering temperatures have gripped Moscow for weeks, sending residents scurrying for air conditioners and breaking century-old heat records.

The heatwave that has swept across Europe this summer is igniting creative responses from Moscow's cultural institutions aiming to attract visitors. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, home to Moscow's largest European art collection, is offering free entry for a week this month to one of its permanent exhibits. They invite anyone looking to escape the heat to visit during the hottest hours of the day.

Despite free admission, visitors must book tickets online in advance to see works from 19th- and 20th-century European and American masters. 'Impressionists Instead of Heat' tickets sold out in half an hour on its first day, reported Marina Zhuchkova, head of visitor relations.

Now they vanish within minutes. 'Probably it speaks of the campaign's success,' she told Reuters.

Anna mentioned that she found solace in both the air conditioning and the artworks. 'You don't want to go anywhere, you just want to sit on a bench and look at these beautiful paintings,' she said.

Another visitor, Maria, felt fortunate to secure a ticket on Wednesday. 'I found out about this campaign by accident,' she said. 'I went to the website at 10 a.m. and managed to grab a ticket.'

Moscow, with a population of 13 million, prides itself on its world-class cultural venues, including the famed Bolshoi Theatre and the State Tretyakov Gallery, home to the finest Russian art. Over 16 million people visited the city's 440 museums in 2022, according to the Moscow mayor's office.

Zhuchkova from the Pushkin Museum remarked that the Impressionist campaign would likely continue as long as the heat persists, but she hopes visitors will come regardless of the weather. 'It's a cool, rare world-class collection,' she said. 'Why not come?'

(With inputs from agencies.)