Memorable Dates of Russia: Exhibition project "Peoples Attracted by Peter". Multicultural Peterhof", marking the 350th anniversary of Peter I, opened in Crimea

On July 23, 2021, the Vorontsov Palace of the Alupka Palace and Park Museum-Reserve (Republic of Crimea) hosted the opening of the exhibition project "Peoples Came to Peter". Multicultural Peterhof". The exposition's organizer is the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve. It is a part of the educational events program devoted to the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great. In future, the exposition will attend the southern cities of Russia associated with the name of the emperor.

The exhibition spotlights Peter the Great, a man of the New Age, a curious traveller. He strove to make the country one of the world's geopolitical and educational powers by improving culture and science. The project refers to the time of the founding of Peterhof - a symbol of a new empire in the Baltic area. Peterhof is the representation of Peter's ideas of different world cultures, a reflection of his concepts and character. He created the residence on the shores of the North Sea according to the best Western models. It was equipped with the latest trends and comprised wonders of the east and the south.

The exhibition's name - "Peoples Attracted by Peter..." - quotes lines from the "Verses Composed in Peterhof on Peter's Day" by Mikhail Lomonosov, written in 1759. These words emphasize the magnetic attraction of Peter the Great's personality, his openness to the global world and his great activity. Four thematic exhibition blocks - North, South, West and East - reveal cultural ideas embodied in the parks and interiors of Peterhof.

The exhibition project comprises items from the collections of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve. There are portraits of Peter the Great, views of Peterhof palaces and parks, private belongings of the emperor, including a complex of memorial items from the time of Peter the Great, art and antiquities. The project creators implemented archival documents, memoirs of contemporaries, records of the emperor.