The Presidential Library provides a historical journey around Moscow

This year, Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation and a global metropolis, celebrates its 875th anniversary. The first mention of Moscow is available in the annals of the XII century. Based on this, the date of its foundation was fixed - 1147. According to the established tradition, City Day is celebrated on the second weekend of the first autumn month, which falls on September 10-11 this year.

On the eve of the anniversary date the Presidential Library provides an opportunity to learn about a unique digitized document - Panorama of Moscow based on the drawings of the artist Dmitry Indeytsev in 1848. The panorama can not only be closely examined as its display is accompanied by a fascinating story about the historical past of Moscow. The audio guide Panorama of Moscow is available on the institution’s portal on the page Video tours and exhibitions in the section Audiovisual materials.

The publication consists of 10 lithographed sheets, folded into an accordion, printed and colored by hand in the Lemercier Parisian printing house. 10 sheets make up an image of four and a half meters by 40 cm and give a picture of the area with a viewing angle of 270 degrees. The sheets are signed in Russian and French.

The beginning of the 19th century is the time when images of the Russian past were visualized. This is not about paintings on historical themes, but about an attempt to create a kind of pictorial reporting, fixing reality in photographically accurate paintings. In order to fully cover this or that event, the surrounding environment, there was a special genre of panorama, that is, a circular image. It was created from separate paintings, which were combined into a pictorial ribbon. One has an opportunity to move along it as if moving from place to place in reality.

Thanks to the Panorama of Moscow based on the drawings of Indeitsev one can travel into the past and learn about the unique monuments of Moscow from different eras.

The panorama "opens" (if you move from left to right) with the image of the famous "Miracle" - the Great Lavra, Chudov Monastery. Following are the buildings of the Small Nikolaevsky Palace in Moscow, the Kremlin Convent - Ascension, the Church of St. Catherine, the Kremlin Wall overlooking Red Square in the area of ​​St. Basil's Cathedral, Spasskaya and Tsarskaya Towers, St. Basil's Cathedral, one of the three ancient Moscow streets - Varvarka, views and sights of Zamoskvorechye.

An important object of the panorama is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the construction of which was completed only by 1860. Indeitsev depicted the temple already built. On his panorama there are several objects that were also “finished” in advance. Thus, the artist extended the life of his work as he did not take it as a snapshot from nature, but created a picture “in eternity”.

The panorama ends with an image of the ancient Kremlin Cathedral Square, the Assumption, Archangel, Annunciation Cathedrals and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in the late 15th - early 16th centuries. The Tsar Bell stands in front of the bell tower, and the Faceted Chamber is visible between the Archangel and Assumption Cathedrals.

The panorama available on the Presidential Library’s portal combining the image of Moscow as a symbol of Russian history and statehood with documentary images is considered one of the most beautiful and rare visual publications about the main city of Russia.

The portal features the collection Moscow: Pages of History. It contains studies, essays, notes and memoirs, statistical, topographical and legal materials that spotlight certain aspects of the life of Moscow from ancient times to the beginning of the last century. In addition, the collection provides an opportunity to learn about digital copies of photochromic postcards of the late 19th century with famous Moscow views.