A czar's gift comes home

More than a century after it was presented to Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Nicholas II and Russia's last czar, during his visit to Wuhan, an exquisite gilded silver plate has returned to the city where its journey began.

In 1891, Nikolai Alexandrovich, then the Russian crown prince, traveled by steamship along the Yangtze River to Hankou, now part of Wuhan, Hubei province, where he toured local banks and tea factories and received a diplomatic gift decorated with reliefs depicting a coronation ceremony in Russia.

The plate is among 129 sets of artifacts from the Moscow Kremlin Museums featured in the exhibition Treasures of the Kremlin: From Peter the Great to Catherine the Great, currently on display at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.

Together, the exhibits trace more than 170 years of Russian history, from the founding of the Romanov Dynasty in the early 17th century, through the reforms of Peter the Great and the era of palace coups, to the age of Catherine the Great, one of the most prominent and influential rulers in Russian history, renowned for her efforts to modernize and expand the Russian Empire.

The exhibition brings together crowns, scepters, orders, imperial robes, weapons, and silverware, offering a comprehensive portrait of Russian social transformation in the 17th and 18th centuries, alongside the splendor of imperial court life.

Several objects from the Kremlin collection are being shown abroad for the first time. Among them is a washing set made by 17th-century Turkish craftsmen. Its gilded body is covered in carved patterns and decorated with colorful enamel flowers and natural gemstones. After years of oxidation and corrosion, Russian experts spent a full year restoring the piece to its original form and decoration.

Another is a Gospel book Catherine the Great donated to a monastery. Its cover is richly set with precious stones and finished with intricate, brilliant inlay work, representing the highest level of craft in the Russian imperial court.

By late August, the exhibition — with tickets priced at 80 yuan ($11.9) — had drawn more than 150,000 visitors, with queues forming on weekends.

"We are delighted to present Chinese audiences with an outstanding and glorious chapter in Russian history," says Elena Gagarina, general director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums.

The exhibition includes numerous personal belongings, costumes, jewelry, diplomatic gifts and war trophies of the Russian czars, guiding visitors "back to the 17th and 18th centuries, an age of brilliant achievements, dramatic transformation and dazzling court life", Gagarina says.

She says it is the first cooperation project between the Moscow Kremlin Museums and the Hubei Provincial Museum. She hopes that the exhibition will add fresh momentum to cultural exchange between China and Russia and strengthen friendship between the two peoples.

Zhang Xiaoyun, director of the Hubei Provincial Museum, says the exhibition marks an important milestone in cooperation between the museum communities of China and Russia.

"The imperial treasures, separated by time and space, not only allow audiences to experience the charm of Russian culture, but also help deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two nations," says Zhang.

According to Chen Fei, director of Hubei provincial cultural heritage bureau, Hubei and Russia's museum communities have deep roots and a long history of exchange. Over the years, cultural relics have served as a link for stable and long-term cooperation.

In 2014, the Hubei Provincial Museum brought bronzes dating back more than 2,000 years to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, opening a window onto ancient Chinese culture for Russian audiences. Two years later, the Russian Museum of Ethnography brought the exhibition The Silk Road and Russian Ethnic Cultural Heritage to the Hubei Provincial Museum.

In 2017, the Hubei Provincial Museum took precious artifacts from the tomb of Prince Liangzhuang to St. Petersburg, presenting Russian audiences with the artistic treasures of a 15th-century Chinese prince.

Chen says that in recent years, exchanges between Chinese and Russian museums have continued to deepen, including academic cooperation in musical archaeology and the study of ritual music civilizations. Based on these sustained exchanges, the Hubei Provincial Museum and the Moscow Kremlin Museums reached an agreement to stage the exhibition.

"Through exhibitions like this, people of the two countries can gain a deeper understanding of each other's history, culture and values, and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship," Zhang says.