For the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty: New works "boyars Romanovs" in the State Historical Museum

On May 15, 2013 a renewed exhibition of "The Romanov Boyars" has opened at the Museum "Chambers of Romanov Boyars" that is a branch of the State Historical Museum (Moscow).

Boyars Romanovs, the ancestors of the royal dynasty, known less than Kings themselves, though, as the representatives of the nobility, often presented in the Boyar Duma, selected may honored to serve as the diplomats and governors, the others have participated in military campaigns, some were the Grand Dukes’ closest advisers of, and almost every one of them have made his own unique contribution into our history.

There are associated with the first Romanovs sites and facilities in the " Chambers of Romanov Boyars" museum: white stone basement of the end of XV century, attached to the beginning of XVI century brick basement, belonging to the 40s of XVI century backyard barbeque oven, and the foundation board of the chambers’ eastern facade.

These unique reliquiae will be enhanced with the funds from the Historical Museum, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the Russian State Library and the National Library, by adding the connected with the history of the first Romanovs pieces. Among them, the Gospel of Boyar Fyodor Koshka of 1393, and the Gospel of Boyar N. I. Romanov of 1633. Testifying to the first owner of the Zaryadie estate items will be exhibited in the white stone basement, they were belonging to Nikita Romanovich Zakharin-Uriev, which was the one who started to use the image of the griffin as an individual emblem. You will see the Livonian coins of 1573 and the reconstruction of the standard of a boyard Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, created by the State Scientific Research and Restoration Institute, basing on an extant Armory Inventory description of 1687.

The unique testimonials for the first time talk about Nikitich brothers’s plot against Boris Godunov, the investigation, the Romanovs’ exile and the details of their detention, and fate. The family correspondence between Michael Fedorovich and Patriarch Filaret and the nun Martha, in which the Сzar discusses the political issues and family relations with his parents, will be presented along with a previously unknown portrait of the nun Marfa, formally Xenia Ivanovna Romanova, Michael's mother, and a copy of the portrait of Fiodor Nikitich Romanov by the hand of Elias Repin.

The refectory walls of updated exposition now are decorated with brocade fabric, re-created by the State Science and Restoration Studio the "Vintage Fabrics" according to the samples of the XIX century, preserved in the collections of the History Museum. The fabric is made basing on an ancient technology and using the manual weaver's loom.