16 October 2024 – 02 February 2025

Chelyabinsk, State Historical Museum of the Southern Urals

Organized by

The Moscow Kremlin Museums, State Historical Museum of the Southern Urals

Participants

The Moscow Kremlin Museums

 

The Moscow Kremlin Museums and the State Historical Museum of the Southern Urals present the seventh joint exhibition project – this time it is dedicated to tea: the history of its appearance and spread in Russia, caravan trade with China in the 17th-19th centuries, Russian and European tea traditions. 

Pieces from the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums will tell how it happened that during four centuries the strange "Chinese herbs", which were brought to Mikhail Fyodorovich as a gift in 1638, became a nationwide favorite drink. The tradition of drawing around the table was widespread, became ingrained in the everyday life of all the peoples of Russia and gave rise to many cultural peculiarities and traditions. 

Along with tea-drinking, specific vessels had appeared, such as teapots, samovars, teakettles, cups and saucers, caddies and sugar bowls, glasses and glass holders, etc., which we still use today. Many of the copper, silver and porcelain objects on display are superb examples of the decorative and applied arts of Russia, China and Eastern Europe, and are being shown to the public for the first time. Visitors will be able to appreciate the variety of objects for different purposes related to the tea-drinking experience and discover its evolution. Some of the items in the Moscow Kremlin Museum's collection belonged to members of the royal family, including a miniature tea and coffee service from toy sets gifted by Empress Catherine the Great to her grandchildren, and pieces from the famous Kremlin Service, which was made for gala dinners in the new Imperial Palace in the Kremlin on the orders of Emperor Nicholas I.

The tea trade had a huge impact on the country's economy in general, stimulating the construction of roads, new industries and the appearance of cities. International politics also felt its influence. The tea business played a particularly important role in the development of political and economic relations between Russia and China, which is evidenced by diplomatic gifts from Chinese emperors to Russian rulers, presented at the exhibition.

Along with the tea caravans, geographers, cartographers, travelling scientists went to the uninhabited lands of Transbaikal, Siberia and the Urals, exploring vast expanses of Russia and opening the mysterious Middle Kingdom to the world. Old geographical maps show how perceptions of the areas crossed by the Great Tea Trail have changed.

Moscow has played a key role in the history of the tea trade and the spread of the tea drinking tradition. It was in the Kremlin that the tsar's court first tasted tea in the 17th century, and Moscow remained the tea capital of Russia for two centuries. Views of the city in the 17th-19th centuries, watercolours depicting the interiors of the Kremlin palaces, as well as magnificent samples of tea-things made by Moscow silversmiths have their rightful place in the exposition.

The display is rounded off with a section covering the history of tea-drinking in modern times. The mass consumption of tea in the USSR enabled the development of both the tea industry and porcelain manufacturing. There were a large number of factories producing quality home tableware, while tea sets were released in a wide range: from the production for everyday use to unique works of high artistic value, which will certainly attract the attention of visitors.