it contains the most important collection of theater memorabilia in Russia including such things as set designs, costumes, programs and advertisements. There are more than 1.5 million items in the collection, and only a small portion is on display here and at six other sites around town. The basement level is devoted to the opera bass Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin (1873 1938) who died in exile in Paris. There are exhibits about early Russian theater (the Petrovsky theater model), 19th century theater and ballet (Nijinsky's ballet shoes) and early 20th century avant-garde theater (Stanislavsky and Meyerhold stage models).