History of Russia: The exhibition "Business of merchants" in Saint-Petersburg

In the exhibition hall of the "Raznochinniy Petersburg" Memorial Museum in Podolsk Street in Saint-Petersburg, until September 10, 2017, the exhibition "Cases of Merchants" was opened.

When they talk about the merchant class in Russia, they first of all recall Moscow. The Moscow merchant class represented a noticeable urban stratum with distinctive external features. Here there were strong merchant dynasties that valued their social status. In Petersburg, the merchant class was not so noticeable. Trade and entrepreneurship by the end of the XIX century did not disdain well-known noble family names, and to distinguish a merchant in a characteristic external appearance during this period is already a difficult task. Achieving success, the Petersburg merchants sought to move to a new social stage, having obtained honorary citizenship or facilitating the acquisition of their children by the nobility.

In literature and on the stage, the Russian merchant was usually presented as an uncouth nouveau riche. The reality was much more complicated than the templates. Many merchant families are founded by trading peasants and petty bourgeois. The activity of merchants both in Petersburg and Moscow was not limited exclusively to trade. Representatives of merchant families opened theaters and galleries, built new public buildings and parks, and actively engaged in charity.

The purpose of the exhibition is not to present the merchant class as a social layer, but to pay attention to the variety of activities of the Petersburg and Moscow merchants.

The Moscow part of the exhibition is provided for exhibiting by the public organization "Russian Merchant Assembly" with the assistance of the International Fund of Slavic Culture and Writing. The mobile exposition was created by descendants of Moscow merchants.