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"A temple in which there are no gods other
than books". Medieval book miniatures. A meeting with Lyudmila Kiselyeva
within the framework of the program entitled VIP-Guests of the Youth
Center On 11 March 2005, just prior to the opening of the Hermitage exhibition on The Art of Western European Manuscripts of the 5th - 16th Centuries, the Youth Center hosted a meeting with Lyudmila Ilyinichna Kiselyeva, who was one of the organizers of the show. Mme Kiselyeva holds a doctorate in history and is a staff member of the Russian National Library. Lyudmila Kiselyeva is a curator of rare books and she used the opportunity to inform students about the history of books from the very beginning to our own day; about how books were created and decorated; what content was used to fill them over the centuries; how the most valuable folios were purchased, collected and preserved for future generations. The timing of the talk was not coincidental. The fact is that 200 years ago, on 11 March 1805 (27 February in the pre-revolutionary calendar), Emperor Alexander I signed a decree creating a manuscript division in the Public Library that had been established by Catherine the Great. Following the French Revolution of 1789, many very valuable manuscripts came into circulation across Europe, including the Russian Empire. Thus, in 1800 Peter Petrovich Dubrovsky brought from France more than half of the French royal archive, including manuscripts going back to the 6th century A.D. He offered his collection to form the basis of a division in the Public Library and he subsequently became the first curator of the manuscript division. Many of these medieval books are displayed in the exhibition now opening in the State Hermitage. Among them is a Book of Hours from the 14th century that was the property of French kings and was eventually purchased by Emperor Nicholas I. According to Lyudmila Kiselyeva, this book, with its twenty magnificent miniatures, is considered the smallest manuscript of those known to exist (3õ2 ñm). During the meeting, there was much talk about this and other works by medieval masters of miniatures which amazed the students by the great detail, precision, bright colors and both the richness and the diversity of their content. In conclusion Dr. Kiselyeva told the students: "As we know, the
Middle Ages used to be considered and sometimes even today are considered
to have been a period of darkness in human history. This 'dark night'
between the twilight of Antiquity and the dawn of the Renaissance lasted
a thousand years... Nonetheless during this long night mankind created
splendid architecture and books of rare beauty containing both knowledge
and painting. Western European book miniatures were the source of painting,
hence the source of those very same canvases which you see today in the
Hermitage." |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
