The Memorial House of M.M. Potapov

The Memorial House of Mikhail Mikhailovich Potapov was established in 1992. Mikhail Mikhailovich Potapov (1904-2007), Egyptologist artist and icon painter, was invited to Solikamsk in 1981, where he lived and worked in his later years. His first personal exhibition opened there, and a series of paintings were acquired by the local ethnographic museum. In 1984, M. M. Potapov finally moved to a permanent place of residence in Solikamsk, where he wrote 12 icons for the iconostasis of the Church of St. John the Baptist and 8 icons for the Znamensky church in the village of Gorodische of the Solikamsk region. Mikhail Mikhailovich painted more than 500 icons, in which the Byzantine style of the 12th century was skillfully reproduced. Potapov participated in the design of the ancient Egyptian department of the Hermitage (Leningrad), and was an employee of the Darwin Museum in Moscow. Throughout his life, Mikhail Mikhailovich carried his love for the history of Ancient Egypt, which inspired him to create several dozen unique portraits of the pharaohs. For more than twenty years (1984-2007), Mikhail Mikhailovich Potapov lived in Solikamsk, in a modest two-room apartment on 20 Years of Victory Street. This apartment became the final refuge of his long and difficult life, as well as it was a painting workshop, and a kind of a social club. Already in the early 90s, Potapov’s apartment became a kind of intellectual and educational center of Solikamsk and began to acquire the functions of a museum. When Mikhail Mikhailovich had passed away, the successor of the heritage was his student Sergei Lapin, and the apartment finally achieved the status of one of the city museum sites. Here everything is still the same as it was under Mikhail Mikhailovich. There is the love of all his life in the living room – portraits of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, Pharaoh Tutankhamun, Queen Teia, daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, and a favorite image of Princess Meritaton. In the artist’s bedroom there are portraits of his mother and father, painted by him in different years. The bed is in the Egyptian style, and the throne made of cedar is in the Egyptian style as well. The Master loved to sit in it. The home iconostasis has images of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, St. Prince Vladimir, Stephen of Perm, and many other saints, painted with his hand. These works reflect the forty-year experience of icon-painter Protodeacon Mikhail, who painted many churches of Ukraine in the “archaeologically accurate” Byzantine style over his long life. Special attention is paid to the bathroom as the plaster painting was done by Mikhail Mikhailovich in the style of ancient Egyptian frescoes of the Amarna period. Also, Potapov’s remarkable personal belongings are in this house; his beloved, sometimes unique books, souvenirs, and gifts from different cities and countries of the world received from different people; thousands of copies of documents and letters invaluable for their historical, literary, artistic and aesthetic truth. What awaits everyone coming in this house? Touching the mysterious secret of the life of the Spirit and Human Soul. Touching the special and amazing world of the wonderful artist and writer Mikhail Mikhailovich Potapov!