History and culture: “Collection forgotten for a century” features in Moscow unique monuments of numismatics

August 17, 2015, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow) opens a unique exhibition of numismatics, which was last available to the general public 100 years ago. The exhibition features about 300 exhibits. In addition to the coins of different countries and eras, medals and awards, these are miniatures, documents and photographs.

All these curiosities are associated with the history of the charity brotherhood of the Holy Prince Vladimir at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. It was created in 1890 by Archpriest Alexey Maltsev for the needy Russian nationals. The brotherhood had a Museum, a collection of which numbered more than two thousand pieces, including paintings, prints and icons. The fate of most of the collection is unknown. Miraculously, only the numismatics survived, which is now offered to visitors of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

The core of the exhibition is represented by the subjects related to the history of the Holy Prince Vladimir brotherhood and the personality of its founder. Among the numismatics, of greatest interest are the medals on religious subjects of a Bohemian master Nickel Milic and of the famous German medallist Sebastian Dadler. Some awards are also quite rare: a decoration of the military order of St. George for the Prussian allies - veterans of the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815), German and Dutch medals.