The exhibition “The Kremlin Legends: Russian Romanticism and the Armoury Chamber” will be held in the Moscow Kremlin Museums
On 13 October 2023, the exhibition halls of the Patriarch’s Palace and the Assumption Belfry will welcome the opening of the exhibition, dedicated to the Armoury Chamber in the period of the comprehension of national history in the 19th century. The project demonstrates how fiction and reality intertwine within the history of unique art objects from the Kremlin collection.
Legends surrounded the items from the royal treasury for hundreds of years: the myth about the gifts that were allegedly sent by the Byzantine emperor to the Russian Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh turned out to be the most longevous. It was in the early 19th century when the amateurs of antiquities start reconsidering the pre-existing myths and, following a creative urge, inventing new ones. The Armoury Chamber, founded by Emperor Alexander I as a museum in 1806, was laying the ground for fundamental studies of museology. Along with this, many objects acquired false attributions that were to underline their link to prominent Russian rulers and other outstanding personalities.
Thanks to the works of the Armoury Chamber researchers and authors of the guides of the 18th-19th centuries, in the museum collection “appeared” the staffs of Grand Princes Andrey Bogolubsky and Ivan Kalita, the helmet of Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, child’s armour of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, chain armour of Martha the Mayoress, the mace of Marina Mniszech, though all these items had practically nothing to do with the mentioned figures of Russian history since they had been created in the 16th-17th centuries. For the 19th century, some authors disproved the others and in the meanwhile suggested equally brave versions of items’ origin.
Such a famous exhibit of the Armoury Chamber as the Ivory and Walrus Throne was considered in the 19th century to be the gift presented by the Greek ambassador to Grand Prince Ivan III Vasilievich due to his marriage to Sophia Paleolog. Later, it acquires a new possessor – Tsar Ivan the Terrible, obviously owing to the famous sculpture of M. M. Antokolsky (1843-1902), who had depicted Ivan IV sitting on this throne. Created in 1682, the Monomakh’s Cap of the Second Set acquires a fantastic biography – it becomes “the crown of Grand Princess Olga”, who had taken it from Tsargrad, and the crown, which was used by Ivan the Terrible during less solemn processions.
The display presents more than 130 items from the Moscow Kremlin Museums and other leading museums of the country, such as the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Historical Museum, the State Museum of A. S. Pushkin, the State Museum Reserve “Peterhof”, the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the State Museum of the History of Religion, the State Russian Museum, the Zlatoust City Museum of Regional Ethnography, and the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.
The visitors will learn about the patriotic rise of the early 19th century, caused by the Napoleonic Wars, about the increasing interest in the Middle Ages, especially revealed during the epoch of Nicholas I, and about the reasons why historical myths appear. They will also find out which masterpieces have double attribution – real and legendary, and why some myths of the Armoury Chamber are still alive.
Duration of the exhibition: 13 October 2023 – 14 January 2024
Exhibition Hall of the Assumption Belfry, Exhibition Hall of the Patriarch’s Palace.
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