History of Russia: "The Soldier’s Alphabet" Exhibition in St. Petersburg

"The Soldier's Alphabet" exhibition will be presented on October 31, 2014, in the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps (St. Petersburg).

The day before the autumn school holidays Artillery Museum opens the exhibition, with an objective to tell about what surrounded soldier in his private life. The exhibition introduces an average objects used by the soldiers in the service and with their daily routine.

The museum’s visitors will find out how a defender of Russian land looked in times of Peter the Great or in the period of the Napoleonic Wars, how our grandfathers fought in the Great Patriotic War, what kind of uniforms and weapons did they have, how the army was bringing out to completion, what were the terms of service at different times, what kinds of the encouragement and punishment systems were before.

The exhibits reveal the characteristics and peculiarities of daily military occurrence from the XVIII century to the middle of the XX century.

The exhibition presents about 300 items - the weapons, uniforms, equipment, the Phaleristics pieces, musical instruments, paintings, drawings and much more.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is given to the subjects that reveal the most important concepts that unite Russian soldiers at all times - a duty and a homeland.

Revialed archival documents allow a better understanding of existed in Russia in XVIII century recruiting system, while 1715th year’s Military Code reveals the essence of perpetual (lifetime) service. Here you can see that was considered a soldier’s crime in Peter's the First time and what kind of punishments was specified for each.

The beginning to show by the end of XVIII - early XIX century some improvement in the soldiers’ lives is reflected in the appearance of the concept of "service time". Despite the fact that it was still 25 years long, the billeting system and soldier's diet had been changed.

The exhibition is accompanied with a number of fine art pieces, including the works of famous battle painters A. Gebens, B. Villevalde, N. Samokish and others. These paintings and drawings show the soldiers’ daily duties, training routine, guards, parades, household and all other kinds of work.

"The Soldier's Alphabet" exhibition will be opened in the Small Exhibition Hall of the museum until the end of January.