EMPEROR ALEXANDER III – THE PEACEKEEPER

14.10.2020 – 01.03.2021

State Historical Museum

Moscow

The Moscow Kremlin Museums take part in the exhibition project dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of the State Historical Museum and the 175th Birth Anniversary of Emperor Alexander III. It is for the first time that unique exhibits from the Kremlin's collection - a Charter of Queen Victoria, Statues and the insignia of the oldest knightly Order of the Garter are displayed outside the museum's walls. Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted Emperor Alexander III insignias of the knighthood two weeks after the assassination of his father, Emperor Alexander II, thus supporting the new Russian monarch and expressing hopes for close Anglo-Russian cooperation. Among the exhibits, one can see a lapis-lazuli seal in the form of weights, decorated with the monogram of Grand Prince Alexander Alexandrovich, and a cigarette case made of rhodonite in a gold mount, with an imperial monogram on its lid. One of the evidence of Emperor's strong interest in collecting and museum display of Russian art objects is a silver salt cellar created by a Moscow craftsman in the first half of the 18th century, which the sovereign donated to the Armory Chamber in 1883.