Tis Potemkin himself!’ On the 280th Anniversary of the Birth of Prince Grigory Potemkin of Taurida.
The year 2019 saw the 280th anniversary of the birth of one of the most significant statemen in 18th-century Russian history - the Serene Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin of Taurida. To mark this occasion, the State Hermitage has prepared a large-scale exhibition to be held in the state rooms of the Winter Palace.
The title of the exhibition references a passage in Nikolai Gogol’s short story The Night Before Christmas that very neatly captures the significance of Potemkin as a personality, his special place in the history of Catherine the Great’s reign: “ ‘Is that the Tsar?’ the smith asked one of the Cossacks. ‘Tsar be blowed! ’Tis Potemkin himself!’ the man replied.”
More than a thousand museum items are presented in the exhibition - works of fine and applied art, books and documents. They paint a vivid, multifaceted picture of Potemkin, telling about his personal life and his main accomplishments in domestic and foreign policy and in the realm of warfare. A considerable number of the exhibits, many of which are on public show for the first time, are memorial items that come from the personal collections of Potemkin and Catherine II.
The exhibition has been organized by the State Hermitage with the participation of the museum of the Saint Petersburg Mining University, the State Memorial Museum of Alexander Suvorov, the Pavlovsk and Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Preserves, the State Russian Museum, the State Russian Museum and private collectors.
A video film about Prince Potemkin has been produced to accompany the exhibition.
Director: Manas Sirakanyan.
On Camera Natalia Bakhareva, senior researcher in the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture.
Music:
Grétry: La caravane du Caire (RIC 345)
Outhere - www.outhere-music.com
Guiseppe Sarti: Complete Chamber Music & Keyboard Works (TC.721950)
Tactus - www.tactus.it
Guiseppi Sarti: Russian Oratorio (AMS91)
André Charlin Discs - www.charlin.fr