On November 22, the birthday of V. I. Dahl, our country celebrates the Day of Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. The scholar worked for 53 years on compiling the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language," which we still consult today to learn the meaning of a given word.
As for encyclopedias, in pre-revolutionary Russia the dictionary by F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron enjoyed great popularity. In the USSR it was replaced by the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
And the very first encyclopedia of the Russian state can be considered the Illustrated Chronicle Compilation created by order of Ivan the Terrible. The ten surviving volumes of the most magnificent monument of 16th-century Russian book culture cover events "from the Creation of the World" up to 1567, the time of Ivan IV the Terrible's rule. Despite losses of some parts over time, the compilation, in the words of Academician B. M. Kloss, is the largest chronicle-chronographic work of medieval Rus'. The historian believes that it "was created during 1568–1576 in the tsar's scriptorium located in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda at the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin."
The compilation comprises about 10,000 sheets, decorated with more than 16,000 miniatures. To visualize such a number, consider the quote from the work of historian and archivist V. V. Morozov: "At a width of 15.5 cm, only 250 miniatures are enough to place them tightly along the perimeter of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (up to the altar). At an average height of 18 cm, four rows (1,000 miniatures) will rise to 70 cm, and all 16,000 — above 12 meters! Thus, the total area of the miniatures of the Illustrated Chronicle is comparable to the frescoes of a large cathedral."
The chief artist of the Alexandrovskaya Sloboda museum-reserve, N. G. Alyushkina, says: The miniaturists mainly used four colors: red, yellow, green, and blue. The latter is associated with depictions of the divine. Red is the symbol of royal power. Green was used to emphasize characters of secondary importance. Yellow served to color objects related to gold — crowns, scepters, etc. The paints were practically not mixed.
In 2017 M. K. Rybakova, Deputy Director for Research of the Alexandrovskaya Sloboda museum-reserve, presented a paper titled "Alexandrovskaya Sloboda during the time of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible (1530–1584) in the Illustrated Chronicle" at the international scientific-practical conference "Zubov Readings." She found that "Alexandrovskaya Sloboda" is mentioned in 14 verbal narratives, nine of which are supported by pictorial sequences.
After reading Marina Konstantinovna's work, the artist E. K. Komarova became so inspired by the subject that she created a cycle of paintings related to Ivan the Terrible's stay in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda in the style of the miniatures of the Illustrated Chronicle. Exactly in line with the prediction of Academician A. A. Amosov, made 25 years ago: "The Illustrated Chronicle as an object of source studies and historical research offers virtually limitless possibilities for penetrating into the past in practically all conceivable and possible directions."
Andrey Shuisky,
Alexandrovskaya Sloboda museum-reserve
