A mini-exhibition of the same name opened at the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve. It acquaints visitors with the activities of the manuscript workshop in the Oprichnina capital and with the old traditions of book decoration.
It is known that under Ivan the Terrible the Sloboda for almost 17 years was the informal center where all the important services of the tsar's court were located, including the scriptorium (from Latin scriptor — "writer, copyist"). By the way, this is rather a unique case, since at that time book-copying workshops were mainly established at well-known monasteries.
About 10 people worked in the local tsar's scriptorium. Here they copied texts from service Menaia and the famous Great Menaia Readings. They were created in 1526–1542 at the initiative of Metropolitan Macarius and constituted a set of 12 books (one per month), in which were collected all the hagiographies known at the time, the Holy Scriptures, and church and historical texts for each month of the year. Such literature was used for home reading, as opposed to liturgical Menaia intended only for liturgies.
The latter were originally bulky, written in an elegant semi-uncial hand in two columns. The cumbersome (leaf size 49 x 27 cm) luxurious copies were recopied into a smaller format for ease of reading in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. One of these copies is presented in the exhibition.
"But the most grandiose publication produced in both 'capitals' — Moscow and the Sloboda — was the Illustrated Chronicle Compilation (Litsovoy Letopisny Svod, LLS) — a universal chronicle of world and Russian history. This 'project' was conceived and carried out by Ivan the Terrible himself. He took as his basis the idea of the Menaion Readings and, using the known Russian chronicles, presented his own vision of history. The exhibition has an electronic kiosk loaded with content of miniatures from the LLS illustrating events that took place in the new tsarist town. Thanks to it visitors will become acquainted with the texts of the chroniclers that accompanied the 'ancient pictures' (for convenience all descriptions have translations from Old Russian)," shares Anastasia Lakiza, a research associate of the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda museum-reserve.
In another display case a Prologue is presented illustrating the skill of the scribes of the 'Makaryev school'. Texts were written to the full page size, often in two columns, with decorated initial letters of paragraphs. The material used was paper delivered to the capital from Western Europe. Iron-gall inks of a brownish shade were used, and 'pens' were goose quills. The finished manuscript was sewn and 'clothed' by binders. The cover was made from boards covered with stamped leather or expensive fabric. Often bindings were decorated with metal corner fittings for ornament and preservation. Clasps were essential so that the book would not lose its shape.
This exhibition precedes a new large-scale project of the Ivan the Terrible Museum. For the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture a tsar's printing house, or, as it was then called, a "shtanba", will open on the territory of the former Tsar's court. It is known that it was organized here by the sovereign's order when the Moscow 'printing house' perished in a fire. And Andronik Timofeev Nevezha was appointed to 'command' it. By the way, during the ceremonial opening he will 'personally' step out of the shtanba to greet the guests of the celebration to the ringing of bells. Organizing such an exposition will become another important stroke in recreating the historically 'correct', authentic Sloboda capital center of politics and culture.
