1. Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova was a Soviet and Russian art historian who served as a Director of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow for 52 years, from 1961 to 2013, making her the oldest and the longest serving director of a major art museum in the world.
Irina Antonova was the President of the Pushkin Museum, a ceremonial post.
Irina Antonova was born in Moscow in the family of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Antonov, a ship electrician and then director of the Institute of Experimental Glass, and Ida Mikhailovna Heifitz.
Irina Antonova studied under Boris Vipper at the Moscow University, graduating in 1945.
Irina Antonova oversaw art collections which were taken by Soviet Union from Germany after World War II.
Irina Antonova first denied that such collections exist, and when it was apparent that they exist started publicly stating that the collections were taken to the Soviet Union legally and should be exempt from restitution.
Irina Antonova witnessed the entire collection of the Dresden Gallery arriving at the museum from Germany in 1945 and its removal ten years later.
Irina Antonova opposed the return of the collection to Germany, claiming it was a just compensation for the damage inflicted on Russia's cultural heritage by the German invaders.
Irina Antonova long supported the recreation of the State Museum of New Western Art, a museum created from the collections of Shchukin and Morozov, disestablished by Stalin in 1948.
Irina Antonova was instrumental in establishing Svyatoslav Richter's December Nights, an international music festival that has been held in the museum since 1981.
Irina Antonova explained that she herself chose a successor, later specified that she had actually proposed cultural scientists as her successors, but all her candidacies were rejected by the Ministry.
Irina Antonova died on 30 November 2020, from COVID-19 and its complications.
Irina Antonova was married to Russian art historian Evsey Rotenberg, who died in 2011.
Irina Antonova died on 30 November 2020 at the age of 98.