A large-scale restoration of two paintings by Henry Semiradsky will take place in the halls of the Historical Museum.

In September 2025, work will begin in the halls of the Historical Museum to clean and remove impurities from two large-scale paintings by Henry Semiradsky "The Funeral of Rus in Bulgaria" (1882-1883) and "The Funeral of Svyatoslav's warriors after the battle of Dorostol" (1883-1884). Grandiose five-meter canvases on subjects of national history of the 10th century are especially significant for the Historical Museum..

They were commissioned for its opening in 1881 by the museum's organizer, Count A.S. Uvarov. Since the second half of the 1880s, paintings have been decorating the museum's exposition. Only once in the 1930s, during the creation of the new Soviet exposition, the canvases were restored and changed their position in the halls. As a result of internal technological processes and pollution, the paintings have darkened. The task of future restoration work, which will be carried out directly in the halls of the museum, is to remove these contaminants and thereby restore the intensity of the colorful surface.

G.I. Semiradsky, a painter, master of historical painting and one of the most expensive artists of his time, was appreciated by both Emperor Alexander III and professional historians. The works, unique in their plot and grandiose in their implementation, are based on the texts of an Arab traveler and a Byzantine chronicler about the funeral rites of the Slavs.