History of Russia: “Cities of Peter the Great” exhibition kicks off in Petrozavodsk

On October 6 2011 the Karelia State Local Lore Museum in Petrozavodsk mounted “Cities of Peter the Great” exhibition, which has been co-organized by D. S. Likhachev Foundation and St. Petersburg Culture Committee as a part of “Path of Peter the Great” program.

Over 50 large cities and towns, such as St. Petersburg, Omsk, Petrozavodsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Tagil, Perm, Taganrog, Novaya Ladoga and others were founded during the epoch of Peter the Great. Many old cities of Russia – Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Vladimir, Novgorod, Pskov, Nizhniy Novgorod turned out to be historically related to activities of Peter the Great. All in all Russia numbers over 120 populated localities, which may be by right called after Peter I, as their self-identification is connected with the personality of Peter I and his associates.

The photo exhibition portrays Peter the Great’s cities of Russia in all their diversity. On display are old and modern photographs of cities, images of the cultural heritage properties of the epoch of Peter the Great – civil, industrial and church architecture, fortification and engineering buildings, historic necropolises and garden and park ensembles, monuments to Peter the Great and his associates, and memorial plaques.

30 stands which are divided into 17 subject-based sections, show 270 annotated photographs, which tell about 80 cities of Peter the Great, 75 monuments of civil and church architecture, 30 examples of engineering and fortification art, and 60 monuments dedicated to Peter I.

This exposition enables visitors to assess the scale of Peter the Great’s personality, it gives an idea of the scope and diversity of his reforming activity. Photo materials go hand in hand with brief explanatory texts, chronological and cartographic materials.

In 2010 the exhibition was widely displayed in Voronezh, Smolensk, Saratov, towns of Leningrad Region – Vyborg and Priozersk.

Multimedia application based on materials of the photo exhibition has been created.