Round Table “Heraldry as a Means of Communication. The Concept of a State Hermitage Museum of Heraldry in the Building of the Exchange”

The Concept of a State Hermitage Museum of Heraldry in the Building of the Exchange”. The moderators were Georgy Vadimovich Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research Work and State Herald Master, and Michel Popoff, President of the International Academy of Heraldry.

“Heraldry is a traditional field for the Hermitage. People studied heraldry here in the 19th century and in the 20th. The museum’s exhibition activities also have connections with heraldry,” Georgy Vilinbakhov said, opening the discussion. He stressed that the State Hermitage is “a centre of heraldic science”. Over the course of two centuries, the Hermitage has been a major centre of heraldic studies. In the mid-19th century, Bernhard Karl von Köhne, the author of Russia's heraldic reform of 1857, worked here. Sergei Nikolayevich Troinitsky (Director of the Hermitage 1918–27) was the publisher of the periodical Gerboved (Scholar of Arms) and on the commission for the state coat-of-arms and flag under the Provisional Government.

For over 30 years, the State Hermitage has hosted sessions of the heraldic seminar, an annual scholarly conference “Heraldry in Russia" and many other events. In recent years the Hermitage has held a whole number of exhibitions devoted to heraldry.

Georgy Vilinbakhov stressed that the actual idea of creating a unique museum complex – a Museum of Heraldry and Decorations – in the Exchange building is well founded: the Hermitage can present the history of the evolution of heraldic symbols across a very broad historical and geographical range. The display will include paintings, works of graphic art, porcelain, silver, numismatic items, books, banners, flags and uniforms – all the things that can illustrate heraldry in operation.

Ilya Yermolayev, a researcher with the State Hermitage’s “Arsenal” Department, acquainted the participants in the round table with the draft concept for the Museum of Heraldry and Decorations in the Exchange building in greater detail.

It is proposed to devote the first floor of the building to Russian heraldry. The southern suite of rooms on the second floor will be entirely devoted to the museum of decorations – the history of the development of the Russian system of state awards. The northern suite on the second floor will take the form of an excursus into the history of the development of heraldry worldwide. The northern suite on the third floor will be set aside for temporary exhibitions. The third floor will also contain a conference hall and library. The main space of the central hall will not be occupied by the display and this will provide one further unique possibility – to make use of it as a setting for ceremonies marking the Day of the Guards, the Day of the State Flag and Russia Day, for the formal presentation of state awards, and also for conferences, symposia, concerts and showings of films.

Participants in the discussion that arose in the course of the meeting were leading Russian specialists on heraldry as well as their colleagues from France, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and Belgium. They stressed the particular significance and importance of creating a museum of heraldry.