A carriage for us, a carriage: vintage carriages are now on Red Square

The GIM has opened an exhibition of antique carriages belonging to the imperial court and Russian nobility. For the first time they were collected together for a permanent exhibition in the museum building on Red Square. The largest objects from the GIM's storerooms turned out to be very fragile - restoration took more than 20 years, kilograms of gold, experiments in a chemical laboratory and velvet from Italy. "Izvestia" was among the first to visit the carriage yard.

Difficulties of transportation

Unique monuments of carriage business of the XVIII-XIX centuries were exhibited in the building of the State Museum of Fine Arts at the address Red Square, 1. A new exhibition space was specially created for the artifacts in the museum walls. "Extra meters" were found behind the Parade hay, under the stairs. Even knowing the size of the staircases and the height of the ceilings in the ancient building, the regulars could not imagine that the free space could accommodate three imperial carriages.

Now there is a carriage yard. The first to appear in it were the carriage of Paul I, the carriage of Alexander II's children and the ceremonial carriage of Count Matyushkin's family. After restoration works, which were carried out in different periods from 2003 to 2014, the objects were in open storage, which negatively affected their preservation.

- We started work last year, bringing the carriages into the museum building is not an easy task," said GIM director Alexei Levykin. - Not every museum has such exhibits in its collection, they are amazing in beauty and performance. It is hard to imagine how difficult it is to organize this exhibition. How complicated the process of exhibiting, moving, installing! The carriages and carriage are quite heavy. They will not be moved. They will remain in the permanent exposition of the museum.

As Alexei Levykin admitted to Izvestia, the museum would be happy to present exhibits of impressive size. Perhaps, it would even replenish its collection with other exhibits. But so far the GIM has no prospects for a new building, so it's all just dreams and hopes.

The Historical Museum has a large, diverse carriage collection. In addition to elite transport, there are means of transportation of ordinary townspeople and peasants. Now in Hall 23 visitors can see the stunning beauty of Peter the Great's sleigh, and in the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 Napoleon's carriage is exhibited. The scientific staff continues to improve the exhibiting of such artifacts. Each time it is an art, observing special storage conditions.

Basement valuables

Previously, carriages were stored in cellars going two floors underground. They were covered with cloth. It took several decades to put things in order. The current state of the exhibits shows the tremendous work of the restorers. Specialists in leather, wood, fabrics and metal worked on them.

The Berline carriage was once a widespread type of wheeled vehicle. Gold, with bouquets of wildflowers on the doors, which speaks of wealthy owners. The copy from the GIM vault belonged to Count Dmitry Mikhailovich Matyushkin and Princess Anna Alekseevna Gagarina. This is evidenced by the picturesque heraldic composition, the coat of arms of two ancient and distinguished Russian families. The carriage entered the GIM collection in 1928 from the Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo estate museum.

The carriage was made in St. Petersburg in the first half of the 1760s. The interior is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The body is four-seater, the seats are located opposite each other. Folding footrests placed at both doors were retracted inside when driving. Such carriages were considered light and comfortable and were intended for social and ceremonial outings.

An improved wheel mill and body suspension system made them safer than their predecessors. The springs cushioned jolts and jerks on coachman's seats and footmen's heels.

The upholstery of the carriage was made of finely patterned blue velvet, contrasting with its gilt body. The restaurateurs found it in a deplorable condition.

- We tried to find out what kind of fabric the carriage was upholstered in by the eight surviving pieces of cloth," said Olga Lantratova, Deputy Head of the Restoration Department at the State Institute of Fine Arts. - It is quite a complicated work. The threads were extracted, then the colors were studied on a spectrophotometer. As a result, we came to the conclusion that the fabrics were dyed with two natural dyes.
The yellow-brown one is extracted from "ink nuts", these are such growths on oak trees. And the second dye is indigo. Before the invention of chemical dyes, it was the only blue pigment used for both fabric dyeing and painting. It is impossible to restore upholstery. A fabric of similar structure and color, burled velvet, was found in Italy.

The noble beauty combined with technical perfection makes the carriage of Paul I a true work of art of carriage making of its time. It is decorated with the emperor's coat of arms. The inside of the carriage is satin and silk, cleaned from dirt. In the process of restoration all the losses and deformations on the leather hood and apron of the body have been repaired. Now the stroller is with the hood straightened due to the fragility of the dried leather.

Paul I and Maria Feodorovna in general liked to walk on horseback or in carriages. Traces of repair of the stroller testify to its frequent use by its crowned owners.
The stroller is equipped with a turning circle and the so-called "swan neck". This is a device for turning the front wheels, which improved maneuvering on the roads.

There is a children's carriage at the exhibition. It belonged to the children of Emperor Alexander II. The body is painted with blue lacquer. The goats are trimmed with natural silk, velvet and lace. Its creation was timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Grand Duchess Alexandra. The monograms of the royalty are on the carriage.

- This is a miniature exact copy of the parade carriages of coupe of the XIX century, - said the curator of the exhibition, senior researcher of the department of wood and furniture Julia Fagurel. - The rarest example, created for the game. Ponies were harnessed into the carriage and ribbons were woven into their mane. Or they could put goats with gilded horns in the carriage.

The bronze parts are covered with gold. The carriage lanterns are fully restored. Working on them, the restorers found out that inside the handle there was a spring, which fed the candle to a certain height when it burned. Thus the carriage was always illuminated. The body of the carriage looks like a blue crocodile skin. But it is not. In front of visitors are several layers of lacquer, on which the drying has resulted in a craquelure effect.

The priceless carriages appear before visitors in almost the same condition as before their first owners. You can appreciate them by visiting the GIM's permanent exhibition.