Royal carriages

The small collection of the rarest ancient carriages of Russian rulers is one of the main Moscow Kremlin Museums’ collections. It numbers about 24 items and embraces wide chronological frames from XVI to XVIII century.

Both Russian and foreign art critics consider the Kremlin’s collection of carriages, so unique and entire, to be world famous and to posses one of the leading places among the world’s most eminent identifical collections. Like few other collections, it contains heavy and unwieldy carriages and closed sleighs of XVI-XVII centuries which are the oldest carriages survived till nowadays. Almost all the collection’s items are masterpieces of the world art and have no analogies. In contradistinction to the major part of other countries’ collections it is typologically multivarious and presents the use of innovative achievements in carriage construction. It posesses nearly all the kinds and constructions of Russian and European carriages of XVI-XVIII centuries, such as heavy and unwieldy carriages, closed sleighs, so called “coupe” carriages,

Berlin carriages, sedans, and carriages with a very large body. Such stylistic streams as late Renaissance, Baroque, Regency, Rococo and Classicism reflected in the artworks. The carriages were created in the largest European artistic centers - Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin. This way, the Armoury collection allows us to trace the development of European carriage-making with its specific technique and bright artistic system. Great authors of these brilliant creations were I.Bezmin, J.Hoppenhaupt, J.Buckendal, A.Drillerosse, Ph. Caffieri, S. Boutler, J. Linelle, N. Pineau, J. Michelle, F. Boucher, who played an essential role in the development of carriage-making. Their names have gained immortality in the world history.

Being not only artistic but also historical monuments, the carriages of the Armoury Chamber seem to tell the past of Russia: about contacts with other countries and the ways Russia won international prestige. These carriages were used in official court everyday life. They were an essential part of royal precessions, receptions of foreign ambassadors, royal hunting and other official state ceremonies, the organization of which was linked to the state politics, ideology and diplomacy.

A sizeable part of carriages are sort of memoria connected with names of famous Russian and foreign political figures, who left appreciable traces in history. The collection was formed not at once. Its forming, so tightly linked to the Moscow Kremlin, lasted several centuries.