Exhibition “Kresty Prison”, art project by D-137 Gallery and Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg.

Museum of Contemporary Art Erarta presented a new international project — “Kresty”  — dedicated to the  famous detention center #1 in St.Petersburg. The central image of the exhibition is “Kresty” — a unique architectural complex and a social phenomenon, connected with the history of St. Petersburg and Russia. The prison consists of two cross-shaped buildings (hence the name in Russian Kresty ) and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The prison has 960 cells and was originally designed for 1150 detainees

There is an interesting legend  that the architect Tomishko who rebuilt the building in the 19th century was so proud of his creation that he reported to Tsar Alexandr III: “Your Majesty, I have built the prison for you”; “No, you have built it for yourself”, supposedly answered the Tsar. The legend continues that besides the 999 official prison cells there is a secret cell number 1000 that still holds the dead body of Tomishko, while his ghost haunts the prison. The legend is almost certainly false (at least there are only 960 cells in the prison).

Works of art presented by artists from not only St. Petersburg and Moscow, but also from France, Mexico, Finland , Panama and Baltic countries.