At Nikolay Durasov’s Palace in Lyublino, one of the Moscow State Integrated Museum-Reserve sites, one can attend a new exhibition entitled ‘Gala Receptions at the Country Summer Residence: Culture and Traditions of Table Setting’.

Over 150 rare museum exhibits, many of which are displayed for the first time, include unique objects of dinner ceremonies made of glass and porcelain as well as painting and graphics.

One of these unique objects is a wine fountain of the XVIII century, a special reservoir for various beverages that made part of Count Nikolay Sheremetev’s gala table setting. The main exhibit is a table service known as ‘cream colour’ (called as well ‘royal sets’) that includes 120 pieces. Services of this kind were typical at the times of Catherine the Great’s reign. For the first time visitors will see unique girandoles, big decorated porcelain and cut-glass candelabra that were made by Russian masters in the XVIII century and now make part of the museum stock.

Besides porcelain one can see cut-glass ‘royal’ tableware fromBohemiasuch as splendid wine sets, decanters, glasses, flutes, and other glassware as well as bottles and various gravy boats.

Gala receptions at the end of the XVIII — the beginning of the XIX centuries embraced Russian as well as European traditions. On the one hand, estate owners competed in providing meal abundance, but on the other hand, table setting turned into demonstration of complicated dishes and decorative and applied art objects. Even art masters were hired for table decorating.

The place for the ‘Gala Receptions at the Country Summer Residence: Culture and Traditions of Table Setting’ exhibition was not chosen by chance: Nikolay Durasov was a well-known Moscow rich man and gourmet and his summer residence in Lyublino was used for receptions, various amusements and luxurious dinner parties that never ceased to amaze his guests.

The exhibition is a joint project of the Moscow State Integrated Museum-Reserve and the Ostankino Moscow Museum-Estate. It immerses the visitors into the golden century of the Russian nobility and permits to feel the unique character of table setting at gala receptions in the country residence.

The exhibition runs until June 30th in the Durasov Palace at Lyublino, situated near Moscow.

© Moscow State Art and Historical Reserve. 08 May, 2013

The National Museum and Park Tsaritsyno is to host an international exhibition on the May 28, uniting history and cinema.

For the first time, the halls of Khlebny Dom in Tsaritsyno Park will simultaneously host a collection of historical objects from the 18th century and a film festival, depicting people and life of those times. This year’s exhibition focuses on the figures of the Russian Empress Catherine II and Prussian Emperor Friedrich II — and, of course, on the ‘gallant 18th century’.

Mysterious lives of these outstanding monarchs have always been of interest to historians and writers. Their images have been inspired many paintings and sculptures. In the 20th century they fascinated filmmakers. Not only in Russia and Germany, but also in Hollywood, London, even Japan and the Netherlands fil; romantic dramas and epic series about the XVIII century and its main protagonists, designing marvellous costumes and adventures. Of course, every decade new political subtexts and cultural stereotypes are being attributed to those historical events.

The main purpose of the exhibition is not to unveil the mistakes of popular cinema culture, but to show the difference and similarities between history and fiction.

The exhibition allows its guests to compare the historical and fictitious parts of 18th century. Real objects (such as furniture, costumes, kitchenware, scientific tools, books), pictures (paintings, portraits, maps), documents of those times will show the real life of the 18th century monarchs of Prussia and Russia. As for the fictional reality, the visitors will be able to see objects that were used during the filming process (screenplays, storyboards, designed costumes, wigs and makeups, cameras and light equipment, photo and video casting materials). The visitors will also be able to watch the editing process.

Informative yet spectacular exhibition will allow the visitors to fully submerge into historical cinema, during the screenings of most popular films about Catherine II, Friedrich II and their century, workshops on costume making and makeups, musical concerts. Many films will be shown in Russia for the first time.

The programme of “18th century on screen: Catherine II and Friedrich II” was prepared by the State Central Cinema Museum, German Goethe Cultural Centre (Goethe Institute) and Museum of Cinema (Potsdam) as part of the Year of Germany in Russia. Major Russian museums and artistic foundations, such as the Mosfilm Studios, will be involved in the project, along with famous artists and filmmakers from Moscow and St Petersburg.

© Russian Cultural Heritage. 04 May, 2013

A new exhibition, being held in the Assumption Belfry, incorporates outstanding artworks from the Moscow Kremlin Museums’ collection, that have passed through the hands of restorers over the last ten - fifteen years. The exposition serves as a representation of the profound research and scientific work, being carrying out in the museum but still staying a veiled mystery to our visitors.

Ninety five XIVth-XXth century masterpieces, made from various materials and finished with various techniques, are exposed at the exhibition. The museums’ specialists, having mastered to perfection the art of restoration, successfully employ current technologies and innovations in the restoration industry and show an exquisite workmanship in renovating artworks and historical artifacts. Their diligence and proficiency gave us an opportunity to admire the beauty and splendour of the restored items therefore to learn more about our past.

The exhibition runs until August 11th, 2013 in the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin.

© Moscow Kremlin Museum. 11 April, 2013

An exhibition dedicated to one of the most well-known dancers of the 19th century - the prominent Russian ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska (1872-1971) – has opened in St. Petersburg. 

Specially for opening of the exposition the organizers have prepared a movie, in which an actress playing the ballerina  communicate with visitors to the museum.  She tells about the house and about Kschessinska's private life. Her mansion recognized as a unique monument of the modernist style period, was often visited by Feodor Chaliapin, Sergei Diaghilev, Carl Faberge and several Romanov grand dukes.  The museum display cases are full of documents and photographs, which remained in Kschessinska’s house after her emigration to Paris. 

A special place among them belongs to her love correspondence with the Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (the future Emperor Nicholas II).  However, it is very difficult to read what the ballerina wrote in these letters, because her handwriting was microscopic.  Mathilde’s ballet dress and her home interior decorations recreate the atmosphere of that epoch.

The exhibition takes place in the State Museum of Political History of Russia (the former mansion of Mathilde Kschessinska), located at Ulitsa 2-4 Kuibisheva, St. Petersburg. The exhitibion runs until December 31st, 2013.

© tvkultura.ru and Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 06 April, 2013

For the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Romanovs’ House a unique cultural object dedicated to the imperial dynasty has been opened in the Sverdlovsk Region. 

The Romanovs’ (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Princes Ioann, Konstantin and Igor Konstantinovich, along with Prince Vladimir Paley) were imprisoned at Alapaevsk in May-July, 1918, shortly before their murders. The Sverdlovsk government developed a plan of events timed to the 400th anniversary since restoration of the Russian statehood and historical heritage of the Romanovs’s House in the Urals.

© Russia Info-Center. 04 April, 2013

The M.A. Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts in Omsk, Siberia is hosting a new exhibition, Unknown Treasures of the Romanovs.

More than 300 items fill five halls of the museum and include many personal items of members of the Russian Imperial family dating from the 17th to the early 20th century.

Much of the museum's Romanov collection dates back to the 1920s, when the Bolsheviks began the distribution of personal items of the Imperial family to museums across the country.

The core of the museums unique Romanov collection are from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas I), Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas II), Grand Dukes Konstantin Konstantinovich, Mikhail Nikolaevich, Nikolai Mikhailovich, and George Mikhailovich.

Works of art and sculpture, furniture and porcelain that once graced the rooms and halls of the Winter Palace, the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace and Marble Palace at St. Petersburg, as well as the country palaces at Ropsha and Strelna have been hidden away in the storage rooms of the Omsk Regional Arts Museum for nearly a century.

Some of the more unique items include Faberge items and a throne chair, a gift from the Kalmyks to the last Russian Empress; paintings from the collection of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas I); a toilet set from Ropsha, part of the dowry of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna (daughter of Nicholas I).

The exhibition is complimented with an exquisite full-colour catalogue (pictured left).

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 02 April, 2013

An exhibition dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty has opened in the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

More than 250 relics from museums all over the world tell stories about the history of Russia from the so-called Time of Troubles. That's from when the Rurik dynasty ended at the end of the 16th century, to what's called the Peter Period, which is when Peter the Great came to power.

Olga Teslenko, Curator: "We have tried to highlight the most iconic artifacts that present the first Romanovs as people and as statesmen."

The evidence of the Time of Troubles was imported from abroad. At that time the Russians were not the only ones fighting for the throne. Poland and Sweden also tried to seize Russia by force.

The Polish king Sigismund III supported another claimant to the throne and even started a war against Russia, but was ultimately defeated. One of king Sigismund's banners was lent out to the exhibition by the Army Museum in Stockholm. On the famous 45-foot rollout, the king is riding to see his bride.

And Russian relics, such as icons from Kostroma, are no less unique. All the items here - the tools, furniture, weapons - everything a story. This is the helmet of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - the cap is forged of Damascus steel and it's called Jericho.

Alexey Levykin, Director of the State Historical Museum: "If you talk about the significance of the helmet, it's the object that defined the Russian tsar as a warrior, as the leader of the Russian army. In the system of the sovereign's treasury, it had an honorable fourth place. In fact, it was the fourth battle crown of the Russian tsar."

The helmets of king Alexis and king Michael were also part of the exhibition, borrowed from the Kremlin Armory.

Peter the Great's ascendence to the throne is widely credited by historians are having brought Russia out of the Middle Ages and ushered in the Renaissance.

© NTD Television. 01 April, 2013

A new exhibition, Russian Empresses: Fashion and Style, Late 18th - Early 20th Centuries will open on April 3, 2013 in the Moscow Exhibition Hall of the Federal State Archives, situated at Ulitsa Bolshoya Pirogovskaya, 17. 

The exhibition has been organized by the Federal Archival Agency, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the State Hermitage Museum with the participation of the State Historical Museum, the Gatchina State Museum, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the Russian State Historical Archive, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, and will include items from a private collection in Denmark.

The exhibition coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, and reveals two fascinating topics: fashion and style of the Russian empresses.

The exhibition focuses on the fashion and style of seven Russian empresses dating from the late 18th - early 19th centuries.

The Russian Empresses were known throughout Europe for their tastes in style and fashion, quite often becoming trend setters themselves. Their outfits, accessories, jewelry, striking in elegance and luxury was part of the image of the Russian state.

The seven empresses represented in the exhibition were all very different in style, fashion, and personality: Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828), Elizabeth Alexeievna (1779-1826), Alexandra Feodorovna (1798-1860), Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880), Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928), and the last empress - Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) .

The exhibition presents a decree of Emperor Peter I on February 28, 1702 "On the wearing of ceremonial dress on festive and ceremonial days."  

The State Archive of the Russian Federation will present drawings, several albums, notebooks, ornate appliques and watercolor paintings, wreaths of dried plants, and a storage box for notebooks. 

Of particular note is a sketch of "The Portrait of Alexandra Feodorovna," by G.G.  Chernetsova painted from life in 1835 is exhibited for the first time. 

With the support of the Royal Danish Embassy in Moscow, Russian visitors will see personal items that belonged to Empress Maria Feoodorovna and her husband Emperor Alexander III, which are now stored in a private collection in Denmark. Included are two unique documents: the list of personal items of the Empress Maria Feodorovna from Gatchina Palace and the inventory of her jewelry and other items belonging to Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1917. Included on the inventory are four pendants in the shape of eggs of jasper, amethyst, jade and rhodonite with ornaments of gold and silver, silver stack of Emperor Alexander III, photos, and also unopened envelope containing the last letter of Maria Feodorovna's son, George at Abbas-Tuman. The letter after his death, and was "returned to sender."

The dresses and gowns on display will be from the collections of the State Hermitage Museum and the Gatchina State Museum, and include  paintings, prints, porcelain and jewelry, diaries, letters, drawings, photographs and books.

The opening of the exhibition will be marked with the publication of a beautifully illustrated catalog in Russian.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 27 March, 2013