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The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the Russian Foreign Ministry from its creation by Emperor Alexander I to 1917. At first the Ministry was accommodated in the former mansion of Prince Kurakin on the Neva Embankment. Its home from 1828 to 1917 was the left wing of the General Staff building. The exhibition is opened in the restored historical rooms, the so-called Official Gallery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It includes 65 exhibits from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, paintings, drawings, photographs and other memorabilia. Among the things which are exhibited for the first time is the pen with which the Russian representative signed the Paris Treaty of 1856 which substantially curtailed the Russian influence in the Balkans and Middle East. The watercolor of V. V. Polyakov, Reception of the Russian Embassy by the Ethiopian Negus Menelik II in 1898, is also showed for the first time. Russian Embassy was sent to Ethiopia in 1898, after the end of the Italo-Ethiopian War. The artist who was among the Embassy members depicted the Russian Ambassador giving the Emperor Menelik his credentials. Of special interest are the diplomatic gifts which the Russian Imperial Court received from sovereigns of Europe and Middle and Far East such as the ancient sacrificial vessel with a lid made from bronze which was for the Chinese a symbol of richness, prosperity and longevity. This gift was received by Nicholas II in 1896 on the occasion of his coronation from the embassy of the Chinese Emperor Kuang-hsu. The exhibition also includes the medal made in 1902 by Felix Razumny at the Paris Mint to mark the centenary of the Foreign Ministry. The Hermitage Publishing House published a full-color booklet. The exhibition's curators are Sergey Plotnikov and Dmitry Lyubin of the Russian Culture Department, State Hermitage Museum. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
