World history: Exhibition “Russian-Japanese: the war over the horizon. 1904-1905” in Yaroslavl

The Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve hosts the exhibition “Russian-Japanese: the war over the horizon. 1904-1905” in Yaroslavl.

The exhibition is dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the beginning of the Russian-Japanese war. In the organization of the exhibition together with the Yaroslavl Museum-Preserve also participated the Office of Archives Administration of the Yaroslavl region and the Nekrasov Yaroslavl Regional Universal Scientific Library. Their materials were are also provided by the Rybinsk State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, the Yaroslavl Art Museum and private collectors Sergei Nikonov and Andrei Shumikhin. This is the first large-scale exhibition in the Yaroslavl Museum-Preserve dedicated to the Russian-Japanese war. Before, the war was represented only fragmentarily in the old historic part of the exposition.

The exhibition is designed to pay attention to an important milestone in the Russian history of the XX century, what the Russian-Japanese war looked like, “the last war in the XIX century”, according to researchers. The authors of the exhibition propose a new for the national museology interpretation of the theme. The main emphasis is in the disclosure of the orientalism of the foreign policy of Nicholas II in 1894-1905 and the participation of the Russian Empire in the great geopolitical game in the East Asia, the consequence of which was the Russian-Japanese war.

The exhibition features Chinese and Japanese household items, unique memorabilia of participants of the Battle of Tsushima. Due to the complex of weapons you can learn about the equipment of the Russian Army. Awards for the exploits during the Russian-Japanese war are also exhibited. 

The Russian-Japanese war is reflected in the national culture of the XX century – literature, music, theatre, mass culture. The official Russian military propaganda is shown through a series of posters from the collection of the museum, which is exhibited for the first time. Much attention is paid to the cartographic and illustrative materials from the albums, issued in the early XX century.  The documents on the war from the State Archive of the Yaroslavl region are demonstrated for the first time.