Monuments of book culture: The exhibition “By a Single Word…” to the 30th anniversary of the exposition “Song of Igor’s Campaign” in the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve

On the year of the 150th anniversary Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve celebrates a series of other anniversaries, less grandiose in the number of lived years, but no less significant in nature. One such event is the 30th anniversary of the exposition "Song of Igor’s Campaign". In this honor is prepared the exhibition "By a Single Word…" - 30 years of the exposition "Song of Igor’s Campaign".

The Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve has Russia's only exhibition devoted to the pearl of Old Russian literature - the poem "Song of Igor’s Campaign". The fate forever united "Song…" with the history of the Yaroslavl Holy Transfiguration Monastery, which stored in the library the only handwritten list of the poem. The honor to open the "Song…" belongs to the brilliant grandee of Catherine's time Aleksei Musin-Pushkin (1744-1817), who was able to appreciate the significance of the work found in Russian literature and culture in general, and in 1800 published "Song of Igor’s Campaign". And in twelve years the manuscript, kept in the house of Musin-Pushkin, disappeared in a fire that engulfed Moscow during the retreat of Napoleon's army. In Yaroslavl "Song" is back for the second time in the last third of the XX century. In 1979, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation decided to build a museum "Song of Igor’s Campaign" in Yaroslavl. Since that time began the manning of the collection and translation of a great poem. Today, the collection consists of several hundred volumes, there are books autographed by famous poets, scholars and artists. The museum has a rare bibliophilic, books autographed by foreign translators and researchers of "Song". The foundation of the museum's collection became the library of the Lithuanian journalist V. D. Vorobiev, passionate about "Song" and handed over his book collection to the museum "Song of Igor’s Campaign" in Yaroslavl. In 1985, the Yaroslavl Museum-Preserve opened only Russian exhibition "Song of Igor’s Campaign" - an outstanding monument of ancient culture", created with the active participation and support of academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev.   

The anniversary exhibition is separate episodes of collection and familiarizes visitors with the most rare editions of "Song…". Of great interest is also the last entry in the collection - the book published by "Rare book" from St. Petersburg with the author's well-known graphic illustrations by Yuri Lukshin. Engravings are made in the technique of etching with aquatint, richly illuminated with watercolors. This unique book was published just in 30 copies, the first of which is stored in the Hermitage. In Yaroslavl collection there is a copy of the book at number 13.

The exhibition also features works of graphic and arts and crafts, stamps and coins made of precious metals, dedicated to "Song…". The great interest of the audience presents a retrospective of previous anniversaries in the "biography" of the exposition - they are shown with the help of photo and video materials, as well as newspaper articles over the years.