The most expensive helmets. Part Eight The Armory of the Moscow Kremlin in all its glory
Armory of the Moscow Kremlin
Here is the upper hall of the Armory. Photos from the site. Everything is very impressive, isn't it? But the exposition is very old and traditional. The horse figure stands so that the light falls on her from behind. All other exhibits are under glass, that is, it is almost impossible to photograph them. It is clear that professional photography is possible, but it will cost so much that no publisher will agree to make a book with such illustrations.
Alas, I know very well that it is local. I come to my regional museum of local lore. I say: "You have an interesting book ... open the window, I will re-shoot it and write a number of articles, indicating that it will be from your funds ... pay!" Answer: "So you have to open this window !!!" And so on, and in the same spirit. And the salaries of the staff just penny. They could, at least, buy office supplies for a year or something else.
Rarely, very rarely do museums respond to emails. Although it happens, they answer and even send the ordered photos. And sometimes even for free! This is generally from the realm of fantasy, but it happened. But you can never be sure. It's like Russian roulette!
Turkish helmet from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, approx. 1500 d. Usually for every item in this museum there are several photographs showing it from different angles.
Helmet of the Great Vizier, 1560 (Topkapi Museum, Istanbul). Here is another place where you must visit any lover of oriental weapons.
So the reason why I personally, for example, prefer to work with foreign museums, is easily explained. You go to the museum site - everything is clear there, even if it is written in hieroglyphs. Choose what you need. Whether you look at the public domain icon (public domain) or not. If there is, then generally excellent. If not, contact the copyright department and, as a rule, get permission to publish. Or a message about how much you pay. But only this is rare. Paying for photos is typical for us. Here is the site of the History Illustreyd magazine - 200 p. for a photo from their archive.
Another sample of the modern museum photo. Turkish helmet Shishak end of the XVII. Steel, copper, leather, velveteen and silk. (Stibbert Museum, Florence)
I'm not talking about the fact that the card of a member of the International Federation of Journalists in Russia is not valid. All over the world you go to museums for free, and in some of them you can also use public transport for free. They say that a journalist is always on duty, even when he is a tourist. And in the Louvre, and in the British Museum ... But not here! Only last summer, in the museum “English Compound”, which is located in Moscow, in the wards of a unique monument stories and architecture of the XVI-XVII centuries, I was told that, yes, we know this, you pass for free. I did not have time to check the Armory. But in the West, the rule of free visits by members of the international federation acts rigorously from the seedy fort-museum in Cyprus to the world-famous museum castle of Carcassonne in France and the chocolate museum in Barcelona. By the way, in the latter it was like this: the chocolate is the ticket there. And so we got up with the whole family, buying “tickets” and presenting our journalistic “cards”, and the director himself stood at the ticket office, as it happened. I saw that we have two cards for four and ... immediately says - “Free of charge for you all!” Well, we were delighted. And then her granddaughter says that it would be nice to use this money in her interests. We told her: “Desire!” Well, she “wished.” So in the end, the director of the museum did not stay in the loser! And I wrote an article about this museum in the magazine “Secrets of the Twentieth Century, just beautiful. To me is good - and I am good!
Another exhibit at the Stibbert Museum in Florence is the Turkish warrior in a mirror and a sisak helmet.
By the way, the Sibbert Museum publishes excellent thematic bulletins for the price of 14.50 euro. For example, this one is dedicated to the oriental weapon.
Knightly edition ...
And this is a very impressive piece of a sword with a unique handle from the collection of the State Historical Museum - the State Historical Museum in Moscow. Here is his handle cast in bronze, while the blade is iron. A very unusual weapon, isn't it? His replicas could decorate museums of various countries of the world, collectors would be in line for them, but our people simply could not figure out what could be earned with this. Apparently they have, and so "everything is."
Now we have a market and the XXI century. So, people need to be seduced by beautiful pictures on the Internet, so that they want to see it all alive, and also take a selfie: “I and a malachite vase in the Hermitage”, “I am in the knightly hall of the Hermitage”, “I and the golden carriage of the Kremlin Armory ". This is the alpha and omega of any modern business! And you can make copies of the exhibits and sell them for money to rich collectors and other museums. And, of course, use museum values for agitation and propaganda.
And this is being done, but again, somehow, quite stupidly. I go to the site of the Kremlin Armory. Everything is modern, not worse than the site of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Immediately I see an advertisement for their next edition: “The Moscow Kremlin after an artillery bombardment in 1917 year”. The annotation says that when full-scale hostilities unfolded in the city, which “waged the citizens of one country against each other,” the Kremlin was bombarded with artillery. The destruction caused by him is reflected in the photographs, the most objective and impartial witnesses of historical events. “Photos accompany quotes from acts, reports, and protocols for examining Kremlin buildings — documents that were created simultaneously with photography and for the same purpose — as accurately as possible to fix the damage.” Of course, such a book could only be happy, but here its price ... 1300 p. a bit discouraging. This is only acceptable for foreigners, but not for us. And which library will buy it? Penza Regional Children's and Youth Library will not buy one. She has been living for years on gifts from authors and philanthropists. But I will not buy for myself ... and so there is nowhere to go from books. But you need such a book? Yes, let the crimes of the “builders of the new society” once again show everyone that nothing needs to be built by force. You just have to live and then everything will come by itself. Therefore, from the point of view of public opinion management, propaganda and agitation, such a book should cost a maximum of 130 R., and let the difference in price be covered by the state or, say, the same Mr. Ulyukayev. Why not? Do you want to be free? Give me a lot of money for the publication of books necessary for the country and ... "pay and fly." The benefits to the country and the people will be much greater than from sitting behind bars on state-owned bread. And so far it turns out this way: we want to eat the fish and take a ride on the bones! But this usually does not happen!
King Philip II's beautiful front armor. Augsburg, near 1560. Manufactured by Anton Peffenhauser. Steel, gold, brass, forging, chasing, engraving. (Royal Armory, Madrid) Exhibit of the recently completed exhibition “Lords of the Ocean. Treasures of the Portuguese Empire of the 16th – 18th Centuries ”(08.12.2017 - 25.02.2018)
Beautiful Japanese abumi stirrups from the same show! Very worthy exhibit.
Okay! Go ahead. On the site of the Metropolitan Museum in New York in the "Public Domine" fund of some 788 photo helmets. And I somehow looked at them all !!! Work is still “that”. But she is doable! And then - how many did not look, but there are no photos of the helmets of the Armory. Nope
Bahterets Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich 1620 Konon Mikhailov. (The Kremlin Armory)
Chain mail Russia XVI - XVII centuries. Iron; forging, riveting. (The Kremlin Armory)
But there is information about exhibitions held abroad, in Shanghai in 2015, and a year earlier, the Galust Gulbenkian Foundation, the Galust Gulbenkyan Museum and the Moscow Kremlin Museums held an exhibition in Moscow devoted to the study of the role of Russia in international political and trade relations with Eastern countries in the 16th century. -VII century. And here in the information blocks about these exhibitions there are photos. There is also a press release (this is a press release), which says about the exhibition in Shanghai: “After the collapse of the Golden Horde, Russia took control of such major trade routes from the East to the West as the Volga-Caspian, linking it with a short and convenient route Asia and Europe. With the expansion of borders and the influence of Russia, its political ties with Iran and Turkey also grew. The growing importance of Russia for these states was reflected, among other things, in the precious gifts sent by the Iranian and Turkish rulers to the court of the Russian tsars or offered by the Eastern merchants.
For comparison, a photograph of the armor zirah-baktar from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Iranian helmet of a turban type, XV century (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Often, unique products of Iranian and Turkish masters were bought for the tsar by Russian envoys and diplomats in the countries of the East. Until our time, a significant part of this unique oriental collection of monuments, originating from the royal treasury, has been preserved in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. It consists of ceremonial weapons, magnificent horse decoration, articles made of gold and precious stones, and luxurious fabrics. Many of the monuments presented at the exhibition found direct application in the Russian court life.
16th century Iranian helmet (The Kremlin Armory)
The earliest objects of the eastern collection of the Kremlin Museums presented at the exhibition are related to the art of the Golden Horde. Beautiful patterns are Iranian patterned weaving of the XVI-XVII centuries. The Iranian fabrics were distinguished by the richness of color sound, the beauty of the pattern, the special rhythm of the compositional construction of floral and floral ornament. Truly, a unique group of Iranian gold items brought to Russia as ambassadorial gifts.
Monuments of Turkish art XVI-XVII centuries. Presented at the exhibition are samples of precious fabrics, weapons, parade horse decorations, jewelry, crystal and jade vessels, inlaid with gold and precious stones. Turkish fabrics were distinguished by a large pattern of floral ornament and bright colors. The earliest Turkish fabrics from the treasury of Russian autocrats belong to the middle and second half of the sixteenth century.
Iran, the beginning of the XVII century, the dagger of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. (The Kremlin Armory)
Turkish melee weapons are represented in the arms treasury of Russian sovereigns by almost all types: sabers, broadswords, horsetails, and daggers. Their handles are made, as a rule, of gold or gilded silver, decorated with carved or blacked plant ornaments. Gemstones, high castes with turquoise, and jade plates with gold inlay complement the decorative attire. Turkish horse decoration, like many other things of the Turkish masters, was often decorated with precious zapons - gold with precious stones or made of ornamental stones with gold inlay and sparkles of precious stones. Many of the monuments of the Turkish armory and the items of the stable treasury, by the magnificence of their design, can be attributed to genuine masterpieces of jewelry art.
Parade mace Alexei Mikhailovich. Turkey, the middle of the XVII century. Gold, jade, enamel, precious stones. (The Kremlin Armory)
Products of Iranian and Turkish masters not only organically joined the official and everyday life of the Moscow court, but also had a significant impact on the activities of the Kremlin production workshops, becoming role models ”.
Dagger. Handle India XVII century. Blade and garda Turkey or Iran. (The Kremlin Armory)
As you can see, everything that was collected at this exhibition was very interesting and ... photos from this exhibition on the site were posted. True, their status was incomprehensible, that is, whether they can be used freely. I had to call the press center, where his leader kindly explained everything to me. I regret that I did not realize to speak with this lady in English, presenting myself as some journalist from England. And then ask about the same in Russian for the presence of a difference. Because in our museums it happens to take place. But one thing is a telephone conversation. After all, what is the word, if not air, as I-Pun used to say - the seller of secrets from the Jack London story "The Heart of Three." Therefore, I wrote a letter to the secretariat of the Armory Chamber requesting permission to publish photos from these exhibitions in an article on the Military Review website. And what a response came to me.
Hello, Vyacheslav Olegovich!
Your letter to the Moscow Kremlin Museums received an answer - an agreement, payment. The price for the right to publish a single image of a museum item on the site is 6500 rubles. If you are satisfied with the cost, then I will draw up a contract (I will need additional information from you).
I'm waiting for your decision.
Best regards,
Sarafanova Irina Veniaminovna
As you can see, the “museum workers” from the Armory Chamber are not a trifle with us - 6500 rubles per photo and publish them for your health. That is, 10 photos will cost 65 000 rubles - the amount that no fee on any of the Russian and Western sites will ever pay back! No such fees! Nope !!! Now it is clear why there are captions under the photos in italics, but the photos themselves are missing? I can not insert them! But then you can see them on the website of the Moscow Kremlin Armory.
And there are also people at the military school who ask me a question, and even reproach them even: why don’t you write about our history, about our museums, fortresses ... And how can you write about them if you are asked for 6500 p. for one photo? People would be glad that they are being given free advertising, that an article about them will be copied by a good ten or so bloggers and will be distributed throughout the Internet. It is to them that I need to pay extra, that I have given myself the work to write about everything about it. But no, how can ... Is it really not clear that even 200 rubles for a photo in modern conditions of Russia is a lot, but at least it is still tolerable. Whereas, the above sum speaks of a complete, so to speak, lack of understanding of the realities of our life.
Shield Alexei Mikhailovich, XVII century. Turkey. Rods, satin silver, jade, pearls, turquoise, gilding, chasing, inlay. (The Kremlin Armory)
Saber of the Big Outfit. Presented to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by Constantinople merchant I. Bulgakov in 1656 (Kremlin Armory)
The Turkish saber of Tsar Ivan, brother of Peter, the second half of the seventeenth century. (The Kremlin Armory)
Scimitar. Turkey. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Quiver and nalud c belts. Russia, Moscow, XVII century. (The Kremlin Armory)
Helmet. Turkey, the end of the XVI - 30-s. XVII century. Brought from Istanbul by Ambassador Athanasius Pronchishchev. (The Kremlin Armory)
Pistols First quarter of the 17th century Master Pervusha Isaev. (The Kremlin Armory)
By the way, the exhibition, which was held in the Shanghai Museum from July 4 to October 10 2015, was visited by 642 948 people.
Pischal Peter the Great, 1692 g. (Kremlin Armory)
And the question is, why on the site of such an impressive museum as the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin, photos of only those exhibits that were exhibited abroad “hang”? And where, for example, prince Shuisky's chain mail, all the above-named and not named, but interesting helmets, from her collection, Western European knightly armor, and much, much more. With quality at the level of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Chicago Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Leeds Royal Arsenal, the National Museum in Tokyo, and so on. Why can “there” provide all this to users on the basis of “public domain”, while we don’t have it ?! We have not grown to this? And if you can not download them (well, it is clear that I want to “raise the dough”), then at least let me just look at it all. In order of advertising. But no!
P.S. Now my turn is on a book about armor and weapons of the East and the West, and this beautiful, “gift” edition will be. And there will be photos from different museums of the West and the East. And, it seems that the right to publish photos of their exhibits, they will not refuse me. Yes, and there are many museums. One will refuse - two others will agree. And at the end of the book there will be a complimentary text for them with gratitude, and maybe the publisher will also send this book to them. And there will be people there to look and think: “Here, the Russians, it turns out, are also people, are interested in old weapons and armor and did everything decently. They are the same, in general, as we are! In vain our politicians scold them. ” This is how good PR is done for the country. Only here from the Russian museums of photos in this book will not be.
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