Marking the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great: The exhibition “Image of Peter I in A. S. Pushkin’s works” opened in Moscow

On September 30, 2022 the exhibition Image of Peter I in A. S. Pushkin’s works. Marking the 350th anniversary since the birth of Peter the Great opened in the Pushkin State Museum (Moscow, the “Mezzanine” exhibition halls).

The theme of Peter has been at the centre of almost all Russian literature of the XVIII century. Poets of the future generations have touched upon the character of the tsar-educator multiple times, and Pushkin was not an exception. Starting with Stances of 1826, the image of Peter I has been firmly embedded in his poetry. Later in the poems Poltava and The Bronze Horseman, novel The Moor of Peter the Great and a number of other works, Pushkin has created an unforgettable image of Peter I as “the eternal worker on the throne”, a man who “opened the window to Europe” and brought the European education to Russia. In the last years of his life, the poet worked on The History of Peter which remained unfinished.

The first section of the exposition is dedicated to the narrative poem Poltava. When Pushkin started working on it, he studied the printed sources of the time associated with the reign of Peter I. In Poltava, Pushkin provides his own historical conception of that era, his own understanding of the characters of Peter I, Charles XII, Mazepa and Kochubey, significance of their work for the future of the “northern power”. In the eyes of the poet, Peter I was the epitome of a progressive beginning, the creator of the new, reborn Russia – enlightened, powerful and united country. Of special importance for the poet was Peter’s victory in the Battle of Poltava, which provided an opportunity to create the strong Russian statehood.

The second section of the exposition features materials associated with the novel The Moor of Peter the Great. Pushkin worked on it in Mikhailovskoye in 1827. Even before the creation of Poltava, the poet had an idea to showcase the Petrine era through a “family” historical novel about his famous ancestor. The main character Ibrahim was based on the poet’s grandfather Abram Petrovich Gannibal, one of the companions of Peter I, whose incredibly complicated biography has intrigued Pushkin since childhood.

The final section of the exposition spotlights the “Petersburg tale” The Bronze Horseman, written in October 1833 in Boldino. Pushkin gave the manuscript to Nicholas I, who in 1826 volunteered to be the poet’s censor. It was returned to him with numerous notes and remarks. Officially, the poem has not been prohibited, but the poet was firmly against rewriting and appropriating it for the print. The introduction to The Bronze Horseman titled Petersburg. Fragment of the poem was first published in 1834 in Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya (The Reader’s Library). However, it went unnoticed and did not cause any responses, remaining the only fragment of the “Petersburg tale”, published during Pushkin’s lifetime. The entirety of The Bronze Horseman has been issued after the poet’s death in the fifth volume of Sovremennik (The Contemporary) and was enthusiastically received by readers, simultaneously causing various interpretations.

The theme of Peter has been one of the leading themes in Pushkin’s works. Over the years, it filled with more and more complex ideological and philosophical content. The issue of relations between the state and the individual, the autocratic power and the “little man”, reflections on the ways of Russian historical development, on the fates of the country, nation, people were at the centre of the poem Poltava, the novel The Moor of Peter the Great and the “Petersburg tale” The Bronze Horseman.

The exhibition showcases rare book publications of the XIX century – the first prints of A. S. Pushkin’s works, dedicated to Peter I, picturesque and graphic portraits of the tsar-reformer and his contemporaries – supporters and political opponents, images of grandiose battles of the era, illustrations by artists of the XX century, items of decorative arts and handwritten materials.

The exhibition will run until November 27, 2022.