The State Hermitage has held a special programme for children aged 9-12 and their parents organized by the School Centre (Research and Instructional Methodology Department) to complement the exhibition "Tsars and Knights. Romancing with the Middle Ages".
Participants acquainted themselves with the world of castles and tournaments, brave exploits and adventures. They were offered lectures devoted to the Middle Ages, an entertaining quest around the exhibition "Tsars and Knights. Romancing with the Middle Ages " and a creative master class. Life in the age of chivalry and the training of future knights, the specifics of the heraldic language of symbols, the creation of costly books, the structure of a knightly castle and the decoration of a Gothic cathedral were topics covered in the lectures that were accompanied by reconstruction diagrams and colourful mediaeval book miniatures.
The quest around the exhibition in the Forehall and Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace enabled people not only to attentively examine a mediaeval knight's armour and admire the glow of stained glass, but also to undergo an intellectual challenge and display their powers of observation and quick thinking.
The third part of the programme was creative. The children were able to produce with their own hands something resembling mediaeval stained-glass windows. The youngsters' works - stained-glass stickers - look splendid when applied to a window or mirror.
The programme was run by educators from the State Hermitage's School Centre (headed by Irina Valeryevna Diubanova).
