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The Moscow House of Photography is the only Russian Museum, which has chosen the strategy of festivals and broad scale projects. Efficiency of this strategy has been proved by the International Months of Photography — “Photobiennale” and “Fashion and Style in Photography” Moscow International Festivals. Hundreds of exhibitions held in the house's own premises and in major museums and exhibition centers of Moscow have formed a critical mass of a significant cultural event. The festivals have not only been widely acclaimed by the general public and the media, they have restored the artistic and social value of the phenomenon of photography in the Russian social perception. The Russian and foreign public have been granted access to precious archives of the prominent Russian photographers: Alexander Grinberg, Max Penson, Yuri Yeremin, Anatoly Yegorov, Dimitri Baltermantz and of others. Consistent efforts in study and promotion of the artistic heritage of the Russian masters along with the publishing activities of the Moscow House of Photography contribute to strengthening of authority of the national photo art both in Russia and abroad. Due to the international projects of the Moscow House of Photography and demonstration of masterpieces of foreign photographers in Russia the Russian photography, after decades of isolation beyond the iron curtain, has been steadily entering the international artistic context. Starting from 1996, thanks to efforts of the Moscow House of Photography more than 200 foreign projects have been exhibited both in Moscow and the Russian regions, the projects have included exhibitions of Eugene Atget, Maurice Tabard, Horst P. Horst, Man Ray, Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier Bresson, Helmut Newton, Seidou Keita, Bettina Rheims, William Klein, Jeanloup Sieff, Jean-Paul Goude, Marline Franck, Sarah Moon, Lillian Bassman and others. Within the scope of the festivals the Moscow House of Photography conducts scientific conferences on history and theory of photography, master classes and consultations with leading masters of national and foreign photo art.

The Moscow House of Photography, apart from the festivals and individual exhibition projects, offers long-term programs:

* Classics of the Russian Photography;

* Seasons of foreign photography;

* Program “24”, the curatorial project of Yuri Awakumov.

Objects and scope of activities of the Moscow House of Photography:

* formation of the primary and scientific auxiliary museum funds;

* organization of festivals of photography;

* exhibition activities;

* organization of information center of national and foreign photography, formation of computer databases, videotheque and a website;

* creation of a photo laboratory on the basis of advanced technologies;

* conduct of scientific and practical seminars and conferences on modern photography and advanced technologies, with participation of professional and amateur photographers and students of kids' photo studios;

* production of films and tape recordings on photography and a CD-ROM series on photography;

* publication of catalogues and photography books;

* establishment of a laboratory for restoration of photography;

* teaching activities in the area of theory and practice of photography;

* conduct of contests of photography and establishment of grants in photography.

Collection of the Moscow House of Photography:

The Moscow House of Photography maintains a large collection of old and contemporary Russian photographic masterpieces. Due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, the photographic heritage of Russia is not plentiful, and therefore the Moscow House of Photography has been consistently and persistently working on finding, collecting and storing of photo materials. No thematic or chronological limits have been applied to the museum funds. The museum collection has been steadily complemented, and as of this day it has more than 70 thousand original prints and negatives. All photographic media are represented consistently, from the ancient daguerreotypes (1850s), pherrotypes, ambrotypes, to the most advanced with digital technologies. The museum collection compiles masterpieces of the classics of the Russian photo art, such as Maxim Dmitriev. Petr Pavlov, Karl and Victor Bulla. Moisei Nappelbaum. Alexander Grinberg. Max Penson. Alexander Rodchenko. Arkady Sheikhet. Boris Ignatovitch. Ivan Shaghin. Evgeny 1 lalde\ VsevolodTarasevitch, Dmitri Baltermantz and of many others. The Moscow House of Photography also actively supports the modern Russian photographers and artists, working with photography, replenishing the museum funds with works of Alexander Slyusarev. Serguey Borisov, Vladimir Kuprianov. Igor Mukhin, Olga Chernysheva, OlgaTobreluts. the AES+F Group. FENSO. Dmitri Gutov, Tatiana Lieberman, Nikolai Polisski and others. The collection also represents masterpieces of the outstanding foreign photographers: Roger Fenton. Sarah Moon, Luc Boegly, Stephane Couturier, Gerard Uferas, Keiichi Tahara, Anthony Suau.

The Moscow House of Photography hosts the first Russian library of photographic books, having special photographic publications, Russian and foreign books on history and theory of photography, photo albums, exhibition catalogues, and referential literature. Apart from those, the library avails a large videotheque, representing materials on all the major event and projects held by the Museum, as well as films monographs on creative art of the most prominent masters of photography.

1. “Thanks to the exhibitions of the Moscow House of Photography Russia learned the names of the classics of photography such as Henry Cartier-Bresson, William Klein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sarah Moon, Annie Leibovitz.” (Nikolai Molok, Feodor Romer, “Itogi” 16.05.2000)

2. “To my opinion, establishment of the Moscow House of Photography — is one of the most decent cultural projects, supported by the Mayor's Office.”(Mikhail Bode, “Kommersant” 15.11.1997)

3. “She (Olga Sviblova) has tried to pull together an international cross-section of photographers, including Americans, French and German as well as Russian. For her, that helps to prove that Russians were just as talented as their counterparts from other countries…” (Andrew Jack, “Financial Times” 22.05.2000)

4. “…none from the currently active organizations in the field of photography are engaged in such a large scale activity.” (Vladimir Levashov, “Vedomosti” 25.10.2000)

5. “Even if there were no hundreds of exhibitions in Russia and beyond its borders, no catalogues, no museum and archive only Moscow Photo Biennale, which became the world class event, could have done it.” (Tikhon Romanov, “Segodnya” 23.10.2000)

6. “The Third Moscow Photobiennale, organized by Olga Sviblova… and The Moscow House of Photography, was part of an international collaboration among 22 of the world's major photography festival in 16 countries. With Festival of Light Moscow became the only Russian city to participate in the global network.” (Tatiana Salzirn, “ARTnews” September 2000)

7. “Moscow House of Photography and its director Olga Sviblova with enormous enthusiasm put in order not only huge photo heritage, but also public's attitude to it.” (Leonid Lerner, “Anturazhe” No 5, 2000)

8. “The first festivals organized by the MDF and which had introduced to Moscow's public European classics from Cartler-Bresson to Pierre and Jill as well as Russian classics of photography from the 1910s to 1970s anticipated the appearance of well printed… journals.” (Larisa Yusipova, “Expert” 10.05.1999)

9. “…the main achievement of the Moscow House of Photography is, probably, that they went beyond setting trend to visit photo exhibitions but promoted the great potential of photography…” (Olga Kabanova, “Izvestia” 24.10.2000)

10. “The amount of attention to the theme of World War 11 and the effort undertaken by the Moscow House of Photography make the project Dedication an unprecedented event in post-war Russia and… the rest of the world.” (Lyuba Pronina, “The Russia Journal” 1319 May 2000)