The Russian Museum of Ethnography,

5f Petersburg
Susan Foulkes, Durham and Online Guilds

In May 2014 I visited St Petersburg and Moscow. I had always

wanted to visit the Hermitage and also the Russian Museum,
which is on the tourist map because of its amazing collection of
Matisse, Picasso and other iconic paintings. I had carefully
researched what I wanted to see in the limited time I had in the
city, but I found something else - a museum of textiles that has a
stunning selection of items.
The Russian Ethnographic Museum is next door to the
Russian Museum in Inzhenernaya Street. It was constructed
between 1903 and 1915, although the large-scale collection of
items was begun much earlier. It is the systematic nature of this
collection process which makes this museum's coilections so
respected. The acquisition of artefacts was backed up by a
photographic record which, of course, is now invaluable. Its
principal aim was to examine the folk traditions of neighbouring
countries which had cultural ties to Russia, as well as the vast
range of different peoples in Russia itself. The very first
donations were from the Imperial family, and Nichoias the
Second financed many of the initial collections. The Royal
family donated many gifts that had been presented to them by
delegations from their Empire. These traditional gifts of
embroidered towels and ceremonial dishes, festive costumes
and local high quality handicrafts such as carpets, represented
the best that the region could provide. This encouraged many
other members of the nobility and rich merchant ciass to donate
items, or in some cases, whole collections, to the museum.
This collection programme also enlisted anyone who could help
Above: one of the by producing guidelines on how to collect and preserve objects.
ground floor wings
These guidelines were sent to students, clergy, doctors,
of the Russian
Ethnographic merchants, the military, teachers, government officers - in fact
Museum anyone who was interested, including political exiles. All were
Photos: Susan Foulkes,
with permission from the encouraged to contribute items. The museum finally opened
Museum af Ethnogftphy,
its doors to the public in 1923.It now has over half a miilion
St Petersburg
exhibits and covers the everyday life and culture of more than
150 peopies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
What I liked about the displays was the many tableaux
showing costumes and artefacts in a domestic setting. This
Left: Everyday wear helped to place the texliies in context. Most of the costumes on
display were the festive dress worn on Sundays or special
occasions, but there were also exampies of everyday wear
(a patched and poorly woven skirt with a scrap of a belt showed
the normal outfit). The displays were enhanced by enlargements
of some of the vast collection of photographs taken at the time
of collecting the items. Photographed in their everyday wear
of rough garments and bast shoes, made of plaited plant fibre,
it was fascinating to see the conditions in which peasants lived.
\{hen looking into the galleries there is an overwhelming
presence of red. Red is noticeable and in a bleak northern
landscape adds warmth. In Russian, the word for red and the
word for beautiful are similar but it has many symbolic
meanings: power, authority, prohibition, passion, fire and the
blood of 1ife.
One interior of a peasant house intrigued me. Up in the top
corner of the room was a shelf with an icon alongside other
important objects such as a Gospel, incense, holy water and
palms from Palm Sunday. In Orthodox homes this was known
as the red corner.In this context red signified bright-shining

30 lournal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 259, Autumn 201 6

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or beautiful corner. This holy place, usually facing east, was

draped with ritual textiles which played an important role in
the religious life of the family. This tableau shows the typical
costumes from the people of the area.
There were many examples of woven be1ts. In the photograph
above you can see the range of artefacts from children's dolls to
carved spoons and musical instruments, but it was the belt which
caught my eye. For me, this was blingl As part of a Lithuanian
costume, the belt stood out from its surroundings. The close-up
photograph shows embroidery on the linen shirt which matches
the pattern on the belt. This is typical in folk costumes, but it is
rare that a whole ensemble is preserved. I loved this display so
much I had to weave a copy when I got home.

lournal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 259, Autumn 201 6 31

Another belt in blue and white has an elegant pattern of
florvers. The original in the museum also has l,vriting on
it but unfortunately no translation. Both belts have 23
pattern threads and are made from woo1. The fiinges are
typical of the woven belts from the Baltic region and are
Above, left: Detail of Susan
made by weaving a bundle of wool strands as rveft. The
Foulkes'waven Lithuanian Above: two more belt
red belt is 7cm and the blue belt is 1Ocm in width. belt showing front and back desiqns, in pink and navy

32 lournal for Weavers, Spinrers and Dyers 259, Autumn 2A16

 The large rigid heddle for
weaving rush mats

In one of the rooms upstairs there was the largest rigid heddle
I had ever seen. It was used to weave rush mats and was raised
and lowered by pulleys. The display could not be set up
accurately because of the size of the heddle and the fragility of
the rushes, but it showed how these simple mats were made.
There is an extensive Srimi collection from Norway, Sweden,
Finland and the Koia peninsula. The museum has so many love1y
items that I can only give an overview of what is there: ikat silks
from central Asia; embroideries from Tajik and Uzbek traditions
as well as the Slav peoples; shaman costumes and artefacts from
Siberia and the Far East; patterned knitted gloves; bone carving;
painted wooden boxes; birch bark items and pottery. There is also
a Tieasure room - so many lovely things and for me so little time
to appreciate them. If you get the chance to visit St Petersburg,
remember to leave time to visit this glorious museum.
You can get a flavour of the museum by visiting their website
at: http://eng.ethnomuseum.ru/
About the author
Susan is interestedin historical weatting techniques and patterned band
weaving. She has travelled around the Bahic region to study patterned
bands. Her blog is at: http:/ /durhamweatter64.blogspot.co.uk/
Acknowledgement:
With grateful thanks to the staff of the Museum for all their help.

Jaurnal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 25g, Autumn 2016 33

www.th ejo u r n o lfo rws d . o r g. u k