On Emperor’s Duty. Russian Emperor’s Guard from Peter the Great to the October Revolution

8 October, 2010 the exhibition On Emperor’s Duty. Russian Emperor’s Guard from Peter the Great to the October Revolution, which was become one of the major events of The Year of Russia in France, opened in the Musée de l’Armee, Paris.

The theme of the Russian Emperor’s Guard is especially close to the State Hermitage. The Guard played an extremely significant role in the historic events of our motherland the center of which was the Winter Palace, which was the residence of Russian tsars for one and half centuries.

At the present time, when the memory of undeservingly forgotten events and scenes of Russian history is being revived, the Hermitage created a permanent exposition The Museum of Russian Emperor’s Guard.

The exhibition in the Musée de l’Armee in Paris represents about 250 first-quality works of art, graphics, decorative and applied art and arms.

Among the exhibit items there are portraits of Russian Emperors, uniforms of guard regiments, and banners; artistic and graphic works with the scenes of battles and parades, guard mounting and maneuvers, everyday scenes with the participation of the guard ranks. The special interest presents Poltava Set of Peter the Great, the equestrian portrait of Catherine II and her uniform dresses; the great-coat Emperor Alexander II wore during an assassination attempt on him on Palace Square and the uniform he wore on 1 March, 1881; the uniform and great-coat of Crown Prince of Russian Empire Alexei.

The exhibition is constructed not according to strictly chronological principal but as interchanging pictures-images, each of which is built around the personality or event, embodied in monuments.

Under the agreement on the exhibition it is participated by the Musée de l’Armee and the Museum of Life Guards Cossack Regiment (Paris).

The Army Museum building in Paris

At the entrance to the exhibition

Grand reception for opening of the exhibition

At the exhibition. "Palace Coup d'Etats" Section

In the display window – guard cavalry outfit