|
The rest of the manuscript collection was formed in the 20-s of the XX century thanks to the collecting activity of the staff of the Armoury Chamber.
Three exhibits are connected with the imperial family and belong to the last years of Nicholas II’s reigning. These are adresses to Emperor Nicholas II and the heir to the throne Tsesarevich on celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Romanov House, on beginning of the I World War and to the 1916 Easter Day. They came from the imperial property in the early 1920-s.
Ten charters of 1673-1718, conferred upon individuals for their services of the country. Gala and generously ornamented charters with slouching red-wax seals, partly encased in silver sheaths, they fixed ethel and immunity rights of their owners. They belonged to L.S. Shishkov, Gerasim Kondrat’ev and sons, Anton Tansky, S.L. Vasilchikov, I.L. and G.S. Rimsky-Korsakov. The charters must have been confiscated by Gokhran (Russian State Treasury) in the 1920-s together with collections of artworks. The staff of the Armoury Chamber managed to get them from Gokhran in 1926.
The collection of charters and manuscripts from the Solovetsky Monastery form the largest section of the manuscript fund (more than 1500 items). They were brought to the Armoury Chamber in 1923 from the monastery destroyed by fire and transferred to the Solovetsky death camp.
For several centuries, the Solovetsky Monastery possessed the right of governance and jurisdiction, collecting custom duties as well as some other immunities on the vast territory. All these were conferred by Russian Rulers and issued in special letters patents. In the collection of the Vestry there are hundreds of letters patents and several manuscript books sent by Russian Rulers and Church hierarchs during the late XV-XIX.
The collection of manuscripts of Moscow Kremlin Museums is of great scientific value.
|