An exhibit devoted to Tsar Paul I opened in Pavlovsk State Reserve Museum last week. Five museums of St. Petersburg and Moscow, two historical archives and palaces in Gatchina and Pavlovsk, where Tsar Paul’s residences had once been, participated in the exhibit’s preparation. About three hundred items are demonstrated in the restored Rossi Library building. Among these there are such rarities as the 1567 Maltese Crown provided by Moscow Oruzheinaya Palata (Arms House), a model of a 16th century Maltese ship (galera) from the Naval Museum’s collection, cyphered correspondence between Paul I and (Queen) Maria Feodorovna from Moscow State Archive, and the original handwritten diary of Semyon Poroshin (the young Tsar’s educator) from Pavlovsk State Reserve Museum’s collection. The exhibit’s organizers are attempting to change the widely accepted notion of Paul I as a tyrant. Their vision of the Tsar is that of a state leader who wished to become a father to his countrymen, but whose mission was not understood and accepted by his contemporaries. After reigning for four years and four months, the Tsar died, leaving after himself an abandoned castle and a popular myth about his violent death.

News source: Art Piter
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