Museums: State Historical Museum prepares major projects devoted to Russian history

The State Historical Museum in Moscow is preparing an exhibition in celebration of 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, the museum’s Deputy Director for International and Exhibition Activities - Tamara Igumnova - announced.

According to her, this historical event has been portrayed in lots of monuments of culture, including Russian porcelain and glass wares. They will go on display within “Golden Age of Russian Porcelain and Glass” show, which will run from May to September 2012 at the museum on the Red Square.

The exhibition will unveil unique memorial monuments with portraits of heroes of anti-Napoleonic wars and the Patriotic War of 1812, scene images and memorable dates.

The museum has planned other large projects as well.

This is, first and foremost, an exhibition called “The Russians and the Germans – One Thousand Years of History, Art and Culture”, which is opening the Cultural Exchange Year for Russia and Germany. It will be staged in June in a new exhibition complex of the Historical Museum, the former City Duma building, former museum of Vladimir Lenin.

Over 1100 rare exhibits of this show will present the long-lived common history of our countries, starting from 10th century. “The exposition will feature written monuments, rare documents, unique manuscripts with miniatures, household items, paintings”, Tamara Igumnova said. “We wanted to show the interaction between Russian and German people in different aspects: politics, science, economics, trade and culture, - she added. – As for culture, we focused our attention on art, theatrical, architectural and musical ties between our countries”.

More than that, visitors of the exposition will discover films and musical works of famous Russian and German composers and musicians, directors and actors. “About 40 museums, archives, libraries have teamed up within this project in Russia, almost the same number as in Germany”, Tamara Igumnova informed. After the display in Moscow it will travel to Berlin.

Another important project of the exhibition season will become “The Triumph in the Balkans. Pages of Heroic History of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878”.

The exposition will showcase unique prints from the collection of a well-known statesman and diplomat Alexander Avdeev. These rarities are primarily devoted to major battles of Russia’s liberation war in the Balkans.

“The exhibits feature about a hundred prints based on this subject, - Tamara Igumnova explained. – They depict different scenes: the life of soldiers of that time, battles, heroic feats of Russian soldiers, officers and generals. We have broadened the scope of the exhibition by having added our exhibits: uniforms, firearms and cold weapons, and maps”.