MOSCOW, April 5 (RIA Novosti) - The first memorial museum of the great Russian singer Fyodor Shalyapin was opened in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) thirty years ago, on April 11, 1975. From April 13 to May 11 the museum's concert hall will host an exhibition from the private collection of Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya. The famous couple will present the portraits of Fyodor Shalyapin painted by Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov, a draft of sets of Boris Godunov opera by Alexander Golovin, rare photographs with the singer's autographs, his letters to relatives and friends and even personal effects, reports the Web site www.museum.ru.

The department of the Russian opera theater of the Leningrad state museum of theater and musical art was the original title of the Shalyapin museum. It contained the exposition dedicated to the history of the Russian opera, great composers, conductors, singers and outstanding performances.

February 1998 saw the second birth of the museum when the memorial rooms, the dining room, the drawing rooms and the bedroom were opened after long repairs. This event was dedicated to the singer's 125th birth anniversary.

The collection of old weaponry, which was given to the singer by Maxim Gorky, Shalyapin's collection of paintings, his drawings and cartoons, the singer's portraits by Boris Kustodiyev, Alexander Benois, and Alexander Golovin, as well as his stage costumes are exhibited in the museum.

The museum also recreated a corner of Shalyapin's make-up room in the Mariinsky Theater.

Fyodor Shalyapin (1873-1938) lived in this apartment in 1914-1922.