An Exhibition for the 14th Colloquium of the International Academy of Heraldry. The Heraldic Book in the Hermitage

On 5 September 2005 an exhibition opened in the foyer of the Hermitage Theatre which has been timed to coincide with the opening of the 14th International Colloquium on Heraldry. The exhibition presents more than 70 books dating from the 16th - 20th centuries dealing with Russian and Western European heraldry.

At present the Hermitage is closely linked to the activity of the newly reborn heraldic service of Russia which was reorganized in the Heraldry Council under the President of the Russian Federation. In 1997 the State Hermitage, together with other museums, was entrusted by the Russian President with the task of organizing a grandiose exhibition devoted to the 500th anniversary of the Russian State Coat of Arms. In 2004 the Hermitage opened a new division, the Museum of Heraldry, in the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna.

The Research Library of the State Hermitage contains an important collection of books on heraldry. The most interesting and significant works, as well as rare editions are displayed in the exhibition.

Works on heraldry from Italy, Sweden, France, Poland, England and Spain published in the 16th - 20th centuries are collected in the section on European countries. The German books on heraldry (Wappenbuch) present a separate group of handbooks on the way coats of arms were created. The uniqueness of the publications from the 16th and 17th centuries is heightened by the fact that many of the coats of arms they present have been painted by hand.

The collection of books on Russian heraldry is represented by rare and classical examples of publications from the 18th - 20th centuries. At the start of the 20th century there worked in the Hermitage one of the best known heraldry experts of the day, S.N. Troinitsky. He was the first post-revolutionary director of the Hermitage and his name is linked with numerous works on heraldry which are displayed in the exhibition.

There is an illustrated catalogue of the exhibition entitled The Heraldic Book in the Hermitage, published by Slavia. The curators of the exhibition are G.V. Vilinbakhov, deputy director of the State Hermitage for scholarly work and Chairman of the Heraldry Council under the RF President; and G.V. Dorofeeva and E.V. Platonov, curators of the Cabinet of Rare Books in the Research Library of the State Hermitage.

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At the Foyer of the Hermitage Theater

At the exhibition

The exhibition catalogue