From Peter the Great to Elizaveta Petrovna

Crown of Empress Catherine I
Russia, Saint Petersburg, 1723
Master Samson Larionov
Silver; casting, carving, gilding, chasing
Portrait of Tsarevna Ekaterina Ioannovna, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Germany (?), first quarter of the 18th c. (?)
Artist Antoine Pesne (?) (Workshop)
Oil on canvas
Chalice
Russia, Saint Petersburg (?), 1739
Gold; chasing, casting, painted enamel
Donated by Empress Anna Ioannovna to the Khutyn Monastery
Caftan from a hunting suit of Emperor Peter II
Russia, 1727-1730
Broadcloth, silk, canvas, galloon, silver-gilt threads, cannetille; weaving, braiding, appliqué
Caftan of Emperor Peter II
France, 1727-1730
Broadcloth, silk, silver threads, cannetille; weaving, sewing
Tankard
Russia, Moscow, 1730s
Silver; chasing, casting, gilding
Plate
Russia, Moscow, 1733
Silver; engraving, gilding
Executed for the Ascension Convent in the Moscow Kremlin
Flintlock pistols with the monogram of Empress Anna Ioannovna
Russia, Saint Petersburg, second half of the 18th century
Gunsmith Illing Johan
Steel, iron, copper, wood, horn; forging, carving, engraving, casting, chasing, flat chasing, gilding
Flintlock pistols with the monogram of Empress Anna Ioannovna
France, Paris, 1732-1738
Gunsmith Laurent de la Chaise
Silver, steel, wood; forging, engraving, gilding, casting, carving, damascening, blueing, flat chasing

31 May–23 September 2024

Mikhailovsky Palace, Saint Petersburg

Organized by

the State Russian Museum

Participants:: the State Russian Museum, Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Communications Forces, State Tretyakov Gallery, State Palace and Park Museum and Heritage Site "Ostankino and Kuskovo", State Historical Museum, State Museum and Heritage Site "Arkhangelskoye", State Museum and Heritage Site "Zaraysk Kremlin", State Museum and Heritage Site "Pavlovsk", State Museum and Heritage Site "Peterhof", State Museum and Heritage Site "Tsarskoye Selo", the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, State Historical Museum of Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Moscow Kremlin Museums, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian State Naval Archive, Russian State Archive of Ancient Laws, Samara Regional Art Museum, Saint Petersburg State Historical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum and Heritage Site, Yaroslavl Art Museum, private collections

The Moscow Kremlin Museums are one of the participants in the large-scale project "From Peter the Great to Elizaveta Petrovna" at the State Russian Museum.

The display at the Mikhailovsky Palace in Saint Petersburg features around four hundred items, including some from the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums. They include a unique portrait of Tsarevna Ekaterina Ioannovna, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, caftans and waistcoats belonging to Peter II, arms of Empress Anna Ioannovna, church silver, and objects depicting coronations.

One of the most precious exhibits is the oldest Imperial crown, which Emperor Peter the Great set on his wife Catherine I’s head at her coronation. Today, only the frame remains, as the precious stones that adorned the crown (around two thousand diamonds) were removed after the coronation.

The aim of the exhibition is to show the turbulent period of the palace revolutions as a time of the growth and development of the Russian Empire, its struggle for national interests on the international scene, the flourishing of science, culture and art. The authors of the project try to change the existing stereotypes and present a new vision of the post-Petrine epoch as one of the most vivid and significant pages of Russian history.