My Hand in Peter the Great's
A collection of over 200 items of Peter the Great was shipped from the hermitage in St. Petersburg to the hermitage museum in Omsk. I've been wanting to explore this collection as Peter's influence is still felt today. What stands out in this collection of Peter the Great? Of course his tools. Looking closely, you can see how they were able to accurately measure for a curve, I suppose, for shipbuilding. All the instruments for guiding a boat on the open seas were there. The noise of the sea, too, sounded as you walked around. Even more than that, for me, were the portraits that sparked to life the people depicted. If you know the Romanov family, you can pick out each of the characters just like in a theater play. And on the side, there is Menchikoff, who was supposed to be a street salesman as a boy in Moscow but later became the most powerful man in Russia. You see Elizaveta, whom the troops raised on their shoulders in a snowy coup de etat in St. Petersburg. The place was later marked by a church erected in honor of that occasion. There is Peter the Great's first wife thrown off and later imprisoned in a monastery, and especially his second wife, who once worked as a maid. Her eyes show a playful good humor but not complete faithfulness, according to history. There is Anna Ivanovna, who was supposed to have grown up in a strict Moscow upbringing but later loved wild parties. Peter 2nd, who was good-natured but became a party boy, completely uninterested in ruling. Everything the Romanovs did became very well known, and almost without secrets. Their faces talk to us, and the time of centuries vanishes. Their successes and failures influence us to this very day. The collection also displays furniture, coins, jewelry made in that era, and many black-and-white prints showing the architectural style imported from Europe that was the hallmark of St. Petersburg. I myself prefer the asymetrical designs of St. Basil's cathedral and the wooden palace in Moscow. However, no one would argue of the beauty of the new capital but also the tension of trying to integrate too much of Western civilization into Russia. The stately face of Peter's father in a traditional beard and comfortable clothing was to change in St. Petersburg to the men wearing an impossible curly wig, shaved, and lace up to the chin. At any rate, the collection is superb and offers much food for thought.
A collection of over 200 items of Peter the Great was shipped from the hermitage in St. Petersburg to the hermitage museum in Omsk. I've been wanting to explore this collection as Peter's influence is still felt today. What stands out in this collection of Peter the Great? Of course his tools. Looking closely, you can see how they were able to accurately measure for a curve, I suppose, for shipbuilding. All the instruments for guiding a boat on the open seas were there. The noise of the sea, too, sounded as you walked around. Even more than that, for me, were the portraits that sparked to life the people depicted. If you know the Romanov family, you can pick out each of the characters just like in a theater play. And on the side, there is Menchikoff, who was supposed to be a street salesman as a boy in Moscow but later became the most powerful man in Russia. You see Elizaveta, whom the troops raised on their shoulders in a snowy coup de etat in St. Petersburg. The place was later marked by a church erected in honor of that occasion. There is Peter the Great's first wife thrown off and later imprisoned in a monastery, and especially his second wife, who once worked as a maid. Her eyes show a playful good humor but not complete faithfulness, according to history. There is Anna Ivanovna, who was supposed to have grown up in a strict Moscow upbringing but later loved wild parties. Peter 2nd, who was good-natured but became a party boy, completely uninterested in ruling. Everything the Romanovs did became very well known, and almost without secrets. Their faces talk to us, and the time of centuries vanishes. Their successes and failures influence us to this very day. The collection also displays furniture, coins, jewelry made in that era, and many black-and-white prints showing the architectural style imported from Europe that was the hallmark of St. Petersburg. I myself prefer the asymetrical designs of St. Basil's cathedral and the wooden palace in Moscow. However, no one would argue of the beauty of the new capital but also the tension of trying to integrate too much of Western civilization into Russia. The stately face of Peter's father in a traditional beard and comfortable clothing was to change in St. Petersburg to the men wearing an impossible curly wig, shaved, and lace up to the chin. At any rate, the collection is superb and offers much food for thought.