Marking the Battle of Chesme 250th Anniversary on 7th July, Tsarskoe Selo and St Petersburg’s museum and exhibition centre “Russia, My History” offer the online educational project Remembering a Great Battle which will run through July 2021.

The project tells about the Battle of Chesme, its heroes and significance for Russia and how the Museum honours this page of military history. 

The information is illustrated with the pictures of 14 artefacts from our collection and the Chesme Rostral Column on the Great Pond in the Catherine Park, annotated by the Museum’s research staff.

The artefacts include a pair of Prussian porcelain vases of 1772-73 with Count Alexey Orlov’s portrait and a sea battle near the island of Mytilene (Lesbos), and architect Ilya Neyelov’s 1779 design project of the Column.

Another remarkable artefact is the carpet “Allegory of Russia’s Victory over Turkey” (a.k.a. the Chesme Carpet) produced by the Petersburg Tapestry Manufactory in 1790-91 to commemorate the Battle of Chesme 20th Anniversary. The costly carpet of more than 40 sq m was moved from St Petersburg’s Chesme Palace to the Winter Palace in 1830, then to the Marble Palace in 1917 and finally to the Catherine Palace in 1922. It is part of the Arabesque Hall furnishings.