The Coronation Album of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. 1744
The exhibition takes place in the Room 251 (near the Great Throne Room).
“A comprehensive description of ceremonial procedures of the safe entry into the imperial city of Moscow and the most holy coronation of Her August Imperial Majesty, the Most Illustrious and Sovereign Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the Sovereign of All Russias, who entered the city on 28 February and was crowned on 25 April 1742.”
The tradition of creating coronation albums – publications with detailed illustrated descriptions of the coronation ceremony and other ceremonial events accompanying it – appeared in Russia in the 18th century with Peter the Great’s reforms, which affected various spheres of life, including the ceremony of accession of Russian monarchs to the throne. The Coronation Album of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna is the most sumptuous and significant publication of all Russian coronation editions. Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter the Great’s daughter, ascended to the throne at the end of 1741. The coronation of the new Empress took place on 25 May 1742 and was famed for its unprecedented luxury. Grandiose processions of the imperial cortége, accompanied by the guard, court nobility and state dignitaries; ceremonial receptions and audiences; banquets, balls, masquerades, opera performances; street festivities and public entertainments; fireworks and illuminations – all these events of the ceremonial rite were perpetuated in the Coronation Album for contemporaries and generations to come.
The book contains a text describing the coronation procedure and an illustrated section. The album features scenes of all ceremonial events and their participants – with their names, ranks and titles – as well as the objects of the coronation ritual (a throne, a crown, a sceptre, an orb, a mantle, etc.).
The grandiose work of creating an album depicting the coronation was entrusted to the Engraving Chamber of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg. The best masters of the time Ivan Sokolov, Grigory Kachalov, Johann Stenglin and Christian Albert Wortmann contributed to the publication. The album was published in an edition of about 600 copies in Russian and German. The current exhibition features three albums from the collection of the Russian Museum. The touchscreen enables visitors to get a better idea of the edition by “turning over” the album pages with explanatory notes.
The exhibition runs from 3 January 2024.
Line. Stroke. Spot. 20th-Century Drawings from the Collection of the Russian Museum
4 October—8 December 2024
The exhibition of drawings Line. Stroke. Spot in the Russian Museum refers to the classic pages of history and the works that make the pride of the museum’s collection. The show features the best works of graphic art by the leading Russian masters of the 20th century from the collection of the Russian Museum.
A Talent with Tragic Fate. 200th Anniversary of Grigory Soroka’s Birth
9 August—14 October 2024
The exhibition features more than 50 paintings and works of graphic art from the collections of the State Russian Museum, the Hermitage Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the ROSPHOTO State Museum and Exhibition Centre, and the Tver Regional Art Gallery. In addition to Soroka’s works, the public will see paintings by his contemporaries from the Venetsianov circle.
- 30 September—28 October 2024 > Mikhailovsky Palace Teachers’ Day
- 15 September—2 December 2024 > Marble Palace Russia and Belarus: Crossed Destinies
The collection of masterpieces, chosen by the Russian Museum will allow you to make a first impression of the collection of the Russian Museum.
Russian Museum - one of the world's largest museums and is perhaps the only country where such a full treasure of national culture are presented.
Virtual tour of the museum complex. 2009 (Rus., Eng., Ger., Fin.)
In the online shop of the Russian Museum presented a huge range of souvenirs, illustrated editions and multimedia disks.
