Showcase 29. Russian arms of the XVIIIth - early XIXth century. Orders of the XVIIth - XXth centuries

The showcase contains articles executed by Russian armourers of the XVIIIth-early XIXth centuries and a collection of Russian military insignia. Also display presents Swedish arms and ammunition, trophies from the Battle of Poltava of 1799, i.e. drums, kettledrums, sidearms, firearms and personal possessions of Charles XII.

 

In the late XVIIth and early XVIIIth century the manufacture of high-quality army, ceremonial and hunting rifles was organized in Olonetsk, Sestroretsk and Tula, the leading center of arms production. The Tula skilled armourers passed on their experience from generation to generation.Their works represent a certain stage in evolution of rifle engineering and level of the Russian weapon production, at the same time reflecting the interest of Russian nobility to European technical innovations. Tula arms are distinguished by beauty of form and refinement of ornamentation. The barrels an butt-stocks are decorated with silvering and gilding, engraving, chasing, inlay and carving.

In the XVIIIth century Russian sidearms and firearms were manufactured in Tula, Saint-Petersburg and Zlatoust. A fine specimen of the Zlatoust armourers of the early XIXth century is the sabre fashioned in 1829 by the famous craftsmen Ivan Bushuyev. The blade is burnished and gilded with scenes of the capture of the Varna fortress during the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829, the scabbard is decorated with ivory.

 

The collection of orders and decorations, assembled of items from the palace property and the chapter of Russian orders, includes all basic military and civil orders and decorations of Russia in the XVIIIth to XIXth centuries. Tradition of awarding decorations for military services was practised as far back as the XIth century in Kievan Russia. In the XV-XVIth centuries all the participants of a military campaign were rewarded with silver or gold tableware, precious fabrics and furs. The first order in Russia, that of St Andrew the First-Called, was instituted by Peter the Great in 1698 and contained a star with a motto, gold chain made up of the state emblems and crosses, and a blue ribbon of watered silk. In succeeding years decorations were executed of precious metals in form of a pendant shaped as a star or a cross and decorated with enamels, stones, engravings.