A large-scale restoration project was presented in the Moscow Kremlin Museums in the Crown Hall of the Armoury Chamber on 5 December 2024. The coronation dress of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, spouse of Emperor Nicholas I, returned to the exposition after 10 years. The attire is made of light silver silk brocade and decorated with a silver-thread stumpwork and spangles in rose and lily wreaths.
General Director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums Elena Gagarina, Head of the Fabrics Department Svetlana Amelekhina, master-level artist-restorer Alexandra Ryabtseva and Head of the Section of Fabrics Restoration Elena Mukher were participating in the event.
“Here you can see a remarkable sample of the court dress that is a modification of the Russian dress which was introduced to the Russian court yet by Catherine II, starting from the 1770s. Naturally, the dress was sewn following the fashion of the 1820s, not the fashion of the 18th century. As for the restoration, the dress reached our time in a quite poor state. The last time it was on display in 2013-2014 at the exhibition devoted to the coronations in the Moscow Kremlin,“ noted Elena Gagarina.
The exquisite embroidery of this dress is absolutely unique, at least among the preserved dresses in Russia. When it came to the restoration, we finally understood that those fragments which remained from the embroidery must be completed. The work took us ten years – so complicated it was. The dress is embellished with wreaths of roses, lilies and ivy. These symbols were chosen not by accident: ivy symbolizes domestic harmony and love; roses – youth and beauty; lilies – purity,” said Svetlana Amelekhina.
Elena Mukher and Alexandra Ryabtseva answered the questions of media, talked about the peculiarities and difficulties they met during the restoration process, noting that this project is an example of a complicated restoration which demands a creative approach and individual techniques of fixing and conservation.
The guests of the Armoury Chamber can find the dress in hall 6. “Precious vestments, pictorial and ornamental embroidery of the 14th to 18th centuries. Russian secular dress of the 16th to early 20th centuries”.