Indepth Arts News:
"For the Faith and Loyalty.
To Commemorate the 300-Anniversary of the Russian Imperial Guards"
2000-12-12 until 2001-02-25
State Hermitage Museum
St. Petersburg, ,
RU Russian Federation
On December 13, 2000 a large exhibition For the Faith and Loyalty. Three centuries of the Russian Guards
is opening in the Nicholas Hall of the State Hermitage Museum. The day is chosen deliberately because the
13th of December is the day of St. Andrew the First Called who was saint patron of the Russian Guards. The
St. Andrew's star with the order device For the Faith and Loyalty served as a symbol of the Russian
Guards since the early 19th century.
The Russian Imperial Guards were founded by Peter the Great and for the first time received their baptism of
fire in the hearth of the Northern War with Sweden.For the first three decades of their existence the Guards
consisted of only two infantry regiments - the former poteshny regiments (toy regiments of boy-soldiers
under Peter the Great). These two regiments, Preobrazhensky and Semionovsky, preserved the name of the
Peter’s Brigade forever. To the order of Empress Anna Ioannovna they were joined by Izmailovsky
regiment and also by newly established Mounted Guards. Though the guards regiments took part in the battles
of the 18th century more than once they never lost its function of the household troops till the end of the
century. They also played the key role in the coups d’etat in 1725, 1730, 1741, 1762 and 1801.
However in the stormy years of Napoleonic wars the Imperial Guards restored their dignity as the elite of the
Russian armed forces. In the reign of Alexander I the Guards consisted of an infantry, mounted, artillery,
engineering corps and a naval unit. The Russian Guards lived through an intricate evolution: in 1761 the
ill-famed Life-guards Preobrazhensky Company, that brought to power Elisabeth, was disbanded; in 1820 the
Guards were involved in the well-known Semionovsky affai; on December 14, 1825 the guardsmen
participated in the events of the Revolt on both sides - of the government and of the rebels. Still in the
memories of the descendants the image of a guardsman is in the first place associated with the honour, valour
and ability to stand firm that were shown by the guards regiments on the battlefields of different wars - from
the Northern to the World War I.
The exhibition will feature uniforms and arms, standards and regiments regalia, paintings, drawings and applied
art articles, numismatic items and documents reflecting the brilliant and still dramatic history of the Russian
Imperial Guards.
The exhibition was prepared by the State Hermitage Museum in collaboration with the Military Historical
Museum of Artillery, the Central Naval Museum, The State Museum in Memory of Alexander Suvorov, the
State Museums-Reserve Tsarskoe Selo, Peterho, Pavlovsk.
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