What is Armory Chamber (Secret Chamber)?
The Armory Chamber (Oruzheinaya Palata) of the Moscow Kremlin is the oldest Russian museum and treasure-house in the country. Here, masterpieces of decorative and applied art dating from the 4th to the early 20th centuries are kept.
In the nine spacious halls of the museum, over three thousand items are on display. (This is but a fraction of the museum's vast collection.) Created by skilled artisans in Russia and abroad, the exhibits include ancient arms and armor, vessels of gold and silver, jewelry, precious fabrics and tapestries, ambassadorial gifts from Western Europe and the Orient, ceremonial tack and harness, royal carriages, and imperial regalia.
The entire history of the Armory Chamber is closely tied to that of the Russian state and the Kremlin in particular.
The Armory Chamber is first mentioned in extant records in reference to the year 1508, however, the Kremlin's treasure-house was established long before that. From days of yore, the Russian princes collected articles which were connected with some historical or memorable event or which were interesting in and of themselves. These articles were carefully preserved and passed down from generation to generation. The Last Will and Testaments of Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita and his successors, for example, already included a list of valuables to be passed down to their heirs. Among these items were icons, arms, armor, vessels, and garments.
In the 15th century, under Ivan III, the period when a centralized Russian state was being created, the accumulation of riches increased. So these valuables could be stored safely in the Kremlin, in 1485, a special stone Treasury was erected between the cathedrals of the Archangel Michael and the Annunciation. Some articles from abroad, chiefly gifts to the Russian Imperial family, found their way into this collection, but it was enlarged mainly by the addition of objects produced at the various workshops operating on the Kremlin ground: the gunsmiths' (the Armory), the silversmiths' (the Silver Chamber), the goldsmiths' (the Gold Chamber), the Bed-Chamber workshop, the Sovereign's and Tsarina's workshops, and the Royal Harness- and Carriage-Makers.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Armory Chamber was not simply a storehouse for the rarest and most precious valuables of the Russian Empire; it was also a major center for the production of lavishly decorated fine arms and armor to be used on ceremonial occasions and of more humble arms for battle as well. Since it was the leading workshop at the Moscow Kremlin and moreover, the largest by far, the treasure-house for valuables and future museum came to bear the name of the Armory Chamber of old.
From the beginning of the 18th century, production at the celebrated Kremlin workshops was gradually curtailed. In 1711, by order of Peter the Great, the majority of artisans were tnansferred to the new capital at St. Petersburg. All the objects of historic or artistic value remaining in the various Kremlin workshops were stored in a single place, which came to be known as the Workshops and Armory Chamber. At the beginning of the 19th century, this treasure-house was reorganized into the first Moscow museum. In 1810, architect I. V. Yegotov erected a special building for the museum.
The present Armory Chamber building was constructed in 1851 by architect Konstantin Thon.
After the October Revolution, the museum reserves were expanded considerably as nationalized valuables from the palaces of the nobility and from the sacristies of Russian Orthodox churches and monasteries as well as from private collections were brought to the museum.
One of the most comprehensive and significant collections housed in the museum is that of gold and silver objects dating from the 12th to the early 20th centuries. This opulent collection allows us to trace the development of an original school of art in Russia over the course of several centuries and to acquaint ourselves with the multitude of forms and decorative techniques employed. Additionally, it provides us with some idea of the esthetic tastes of every epoch represented. The majority of exhibits on display here were executed from the 16th to the 17th centuries at the Kremlin workshops-the Gold and Silver chambers.
The finest traditions in ancient Russian art were continued by the land's master craftsmen from the 13th to the early 20th centuries. The changes in Russian life connected with the reforms of Peter the Great were reflected in the new shapes and designs of many objects-vases, candelabras, elaborate sets of tableware, and snuff-boxes executed in the rococo and classical styles.
The pride of the museum is the collection of Russian fine arms and armor, a large part of which was made at the Armory Chamber by celebrated Russian gunsmiths. The articles made at this workshop were noted for their superb technical qualities, since the smiths had long mastered the most complex techniques of metal-working. Another invariable feature is the unbounded imagination employed in their ornamentation.
The wares of the Armory Chamber were much sought-after far beyond the borders of Russia.
The collection of costly fabrics and tapestries at the Armory Chamber is quite extensive, covering the historical period from the 14th to the early 20th centuries. It includes the finest examples of hand-weaving and tapestry-making from Russia, Byzantium, Iran, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and France. Using exquisite imported fabrics, skilled Russian embroideresses created marvelous royal and ecclesiastical robes, adorning them with gold thread and river pearls, with buttons of wondrous shapes, with all manner of embroidered designs and precious stones.
Among the ceremonial articles used at court, a special place is occupied by the insignia of Imperial power, the state regalia, including crowns, orbs, scepters, and thrones. Used during coronations and audiences with foreign ambassadors, these attributes symbolized the might and power of the
Russian state. These remarkable objects of infinite historical value were wrought by the finest artisans of the time and serve as ineffable measures of the material culture of those distant centuries.
The Armory Chamber is also fortunate to possess a truly outstanding collection, in terms both of size and rarity of articles, of ceremonial harness made by Russian and foreign masters. These include saddles, stirrups, horse-cloths, bridles with tassels, and martingales-all the tack with which horses were adorned on ceremonial occasions.
The museum is most proud of a unique collection of seventeen ceremonial carriages which give the viewer a good idea of the state of carriage-making in Russia and Western Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Each carriage is a work of art in and of itself, for all were created by groups of artisans including carriage-makers proper, sculptors, painters, architects, and specialists in the use of ornamental bronze.
The Armory Chamber's collection of West European silver has no equal anywhere in the world. The pieces on display are primarily the gifts of foreign monarchs. A large part of the exhibit-more than one thousand articles-are the work of German silversmiths from the cities of Hamburg, Augsburg, and Nurnberg. The section of old English silver is the only such collection in the world. Of especial interest are objects made of unusual materials which appeared in Europe as a result of major geographical discoveries. They include goblets and jewelry of ivory, amber, coconut, rock crystal, ostrich eggs, and mother-of-pearl.
This remarkable museum filled with priceless works of decorative and applied art never fails to evoke a sense of wonder in the visitor-wonder and awe in the face of the talent which created so many marvelous articles the true significance of which is often connected as much to the history of the Russian state as to art proper.
