04 November 2021 – 09 January 2022

Moscow, State Historical Museum

Organized by:

The Moscow Kremlin Museums

Participants:

The Moscow Kremlin Museums, State Historical Museum

Dmitry Pozharsky’s Banner

The exhibition of artefacts, associated with Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, a national hero of the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century, is arranged by the Moscow Kremlin Museums and the State Historical Museum for one of the youngest state holidays of modern Russia – the Day of National Unity.

The Time of Troubles is one of the most tragic and heroic periods in Russian history when the statehood itself was under threat of destruction, which the country managed to defend at the cost of colossal efforts and sacrifices. Among the outstanding political and military figures of the troubled times, the personality of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky holds a special place: the descendant of Rurik, the valiant voivoda (military leader) and commander of the Second Patriotic Movement, which liberated Moscow from the invaders, forever remains in the national memory as a true hero and liberator of the Fatherland, a true example of selflessness and patriotism.

Russia experienced a tremendous rise of public interest towards the history of the country in the 19th century. A characteristic feature of the cultural process of that time was an active search for material evidence of the most significant pages of the homeland's glorious past. Moscow Armory Chamber became a place for collecting precious relics of Russian history. The items transferred to the museum include pieces connected with Dmitry Pozharsky's personality and those attributed to the prince only based on oral legends.

The key piece of the exhibition is the banner of Dmitry Pozharsky, which was kept in the Church of the Transfiguration in the village of Purekh – Nizhny Novgorod province, one of the prince's estates – before it became a part of the museum collection. A banner with the image of the Pantocrator on one side and the Archangel Michael and Joshua on the other was handed to the Armory Chamber by order of Emperor Nicholas I in 1826.

Holy-water bowlSaddle of  Dmitry PozharskyStirrup

Sabre and scabbard with the belt of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky

A saddle with carved stirrups, a sabre with the wootz steel blade and a scabbard with silver decorations were transferred to the Armory Chamber on 26 March 1830 from the Trinity Sergius Lavra with a legend stating that they had previously belonged to Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

By royal command, in 1861, the Armory Chamber received a silver holy-water bowl from the collection of antiquities of Prince Peter Saltykov. The holy-water bowl bears the image of the Epiphany on the bottom and the inscription about its contribution by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and his sons Peter, Fyodor and Ivan, to the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Svirsky Monastery in 1628/1629.

Relics connected with Dmitry Pozharsky's name have enriched the collection of the State Historical Museum since the end of the 19th century. Among them stands out the prince’s ceremonial sabre, donated to the Solovetsky monastery after his death and traditionally mentioned within his rarities. The museum acquired it in 1924. On display, you can also see one of the treasures of the State Historical Museum - the Gospel with the inscription of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

All these monuments, preserved within the walls of the Kremlin Treasury Museum and the Historical Museum, are evidence of the grateful memory of the descendants toward the great son of the Fatherland, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

 
up