On 19 November 202, the long-awaited exhibition “Tsars & Knights. The Romanovs’ Love Affair with the Middle Ages” opened at the Hermitage–Amsterdam exhibition centre.
The large-scale display presents some splendid works of mediaeval art from the collection of the State Hermitage and tells about the interest that 18th- and 19th-century Russian rulers took in the world of the Middle Ages.
In online format Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, and Paul Mosterd, Acting Director of the Hermitage–Amsterdam Exhibition Centre, conveyed their congratulations on the opening to the guests of the exhibition centre, colleagues from Saint Petersburg and Amsterdam, and all art-lovers.
Mikhail Piotrovsky:
“Dear Friends! I am greeting you at a new exhibition in the Hermitage–Amsterdam Centre. We have managed to use the interval between two waves of the pandemic and change the exhibitions in the Hermitage–Amsterdam Centre. That is our great shared victory… Art is a means of fighting against the pandemic and one move in that fight is today’s exhibition. It is splendid in all senses of the word. It’s an exhibition about the Middle Ages and about various views of the Middle Ages. It’s about collecting and about a love for the Middle Ages. It’s an exhibition about the culture of the Russian imperial court and the Dutch royal court, and about the ties that existed between them. I’m very grateful to our colleagues at the Hermitage–Amsterdam Centre, together with whom we have created this exhibition…
“The existence of the Hermitage–Amsterdam Foundation, of the Hermitage–Amsterdam Centre and the existence of the Friends of the Hermitage organization in Amsterdam is a very important thing, not only in the development of ties between the Netherlands and Russia that were established by Peter I in his time. It is a highly significant thing in the consolidation of culture as one of the most important factors in the life of humanity. I am grateful to you that, not fearing anything, you have come here for this exhibition. This is an exhibition about knights – about people who do not fear anything.”
Paul Mosterd:
“Dear friends, guests, art-lovers! We have worked for a long time and our new exhibition “Tsars & Knights. The Romanovs’ Love Affair with the Middle Ages” has turned out splendidly. It is an exhibition about kings, knights, knightly tournaments and elevated love. A display about the beautiful art of the Middle Ages from the stocks of one of the most celebrated museums in the world – the State Hermitage. We are calling the fact that the exhibition was able to come to Amsterdam a miracle in a time of pandemic, and the story of how we put it together is worthy of a documentary film in its own right. We are very proud to have succeeded. And in this difficult period, this in itself is an assertion that we are alive, that culture is alive, and we are telling you a new story, presenting a new exhibition. Our heartfelt thanks go to Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky and his colleagues. We have managed to produce a splendid exhibition, and that means that cultural collaboration is continuing. It is something that cities like Amsterdam and Saint Petersburg need.”
On display in the centre’s halls are paintings and works of graphic art, knightly armour and Western European weaponry, pieces of mediaeval applied art, manuscripts, stained glass, and also items of furniture, pottery and glassware, porcelain, tapestries and fabrics – more than 300 exhibits from the stocks of the State Hermitage. They tell about the Middle Ages, combining images of the era itself with conceptions of it that prevailed in the late 18th century and on through the 19th.
The objects in the exhibition create an altogether exceptional world of Gothic cathedrals, monasteries and castles, tournaments and single combat that is attractive in its romantic mysteriousness. A special installation devoted to knightly tourneys has been organized in the central hall of the exhibition centre and serves to further enhance the atmosphere of mediaeval times.
The authors of the exhibition concept are, from the State Hermitage, Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research, and the museum researchers Nadezhda Biskup, Ivan Garmanov, Tatiana Kosourova, Yekaterina Nekrasova and Nikolai Zykov, and, from the Hermitage–Amsterdam, Pieter Eckhardt, the curator of the exhibition centre.
The curator of the exhibition “Tsars & Knights. The Romanovs’ Love Affair with the Middle Ages” is Yury Georgiyevich Yefimov, head of the Weapons Sector in the State Hermitage’s “Arsenal” Department.
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue in Dutch and English published by the Hermitage-Amsterdam exhibition centre.
The catalogue has forewords by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage (entitled “Two Middle Ages”), and Paul Mosterd, Acting Director of the Hermitage-Amsterdam exhibition centre.
The texts in the catalogue are written by Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research – “Paul I and the Maltese Order”; Yury Yefimov, head of the Weapons Sector in the State Hermitage’s “Arsenal” Department – “Mediaeval Western European Arms”; Madina Zaichenko, Chief Curator of the “Arsenal” Department – “Nicholas I and His Collection of Arms and Armour”; Andrei Bogdanov, keeper of the collection of defensive equipment in the “Arsenal” Department – “The Traditions of European Knightly Tournaments. From the Origins of Knighthood to the 19th Century”; Yekaterina Nekrasova. researcher in the Department of Western European Applied Art – “Craftsmanship in the Middle Ages” and “Alexander Vazilevsky’s Collection”; Yelena Solomakha, deputy head of the State Hermitage’s Department of Manuscripts and Documents – “The Romance of the Rose” and the Dutch author Thera Coppens “William II’s Gothic Style. The Dutch King Passionately in Love with the Middle Ages”.
