World History and Culture: Exhibition "Paintings of ancient Russian life of the XVII century. By Adam Olearius's book "Travel to Muscovy descriptions…" opened in Fedoskino

September 30, 2016 the Moscow State Integrated Museum-Reserve opened the exhibition "Paintings of ancient Russian life of the XVII century. By Adam Olearius's book "Travel to Muscovy descriptions…" in the exhibition hall of the Moscow Regional Museum of folk arts and crafts in the village Fedoskino, which will last till December 11, 2016. 

Traveling exhibition is organized in the framework of the exhibition exchange program with the regional museums of the Russian Federation. The main exhibit of the exhibition is the book of Adam Olearius "Travel descriptions in Muscovy, Tartary and Persia…" and prints, which it richly illustrated.

Adam Olearius (1599-1671) - German traveler, physicist, mathematician, astronomer, biologist, historian, writer, artist, poet and translator. The first trip to Russia and Persia Adam Olearius as secretary and interpreter took in 1633, during the reign of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, as part of the Schleswig-Holstein embassy Duke Frederick III. The purpose of the embassy - to establish trade relations with these countries. The second embassy, ​​where A. Olearius was already as an adviser, held in 1636-1638 respectively. The path of travel was full of surprises and adventure, sometimes tragic. Day after day, detailing their experiences, Olearius accompanied his notes with numerous sketches of what he saw.   

In 1647 was released the first edition of Adam Olearius, which contained a large number of prints and detailed descriptions of life in Russia, the manners and customs of its inhabitants. The book was reprinted several times, becoming the most important source of history and everyday life of Russia of the XVII century. The exhibition shows a rare edition of A. Olearius of 1727.

Presented at the fair 45 engravings reflect the entire route of the Embassy of the Russian territory. They can see how Russian towns looked like - Veliky Novgorod, Tver, Torzhok, Moscow, Samara, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan and others encountered on the way the embassy. The engravings are accompanied by relevant quotes from the book by A. Olearius.

An important part of the exhibition was a section of the original objects of the XVII century, as well as items made in the XIX century, but reproduced the style of the XVII century. These witnesses of the past will allow visitors to get closer to the subject of the environment surrounding of Adam Olearius during his travels in Muscovy.