Exhibition 'Treasures of Yaroslavl'

About exhibition

Exhibition — the most precious part of the collection of the Yaroslavl State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve. It presents the treasures of the sacristies of Yaroslavl monasteries and churches, works by the finest but anonymous masters of medieval Moscow, Novgorod and Yaroslavl, jewelers of the modern era, and gifts from tsars, local aristocrats and wealthy merchants. A separate hall is devoted to the school of Yaroslavl jewelers at the height of its development — the 17th century. At that time Yaroslavl silversmiths worked on a par with the best masters of other Russian cities, creating pieces in an unmistakable and easily recognizable style. The Yaroslavl style is lavish and ornate, extraordinarily detailed, with fantastic and intricate ornamentation. The museum-reserve's collection preserves hundreds of virtuoso examples of Yaroslavl jewelry art, the finest of which are displayed in the exhibition. In the halls you can see brilliant examples of textile art from the major centers of the Middle Ages — Italy, Iran, Turkey, France — and precious Russian fabrics of the 18th–19th centuries. The exhibition includes works of precious ecclesiastical embroidery, among them pieces from the celebrated workshops of the prominent Stroganov merchants of the mid-17th century and from lesser-known local workshops that are no less accomplished. The exhibition also features ornamental embroidery and beadwork — lavish shoulder pieces of priestly vestments, icon robes, gospel covers decorated with mother-of-pearl and pearls, precious stones and colored glass rhinestones, beads and bugle beads.