On May 20, 2017 in the AVEC gallery within the international campaign “Night of Museums” opens the unique exhibition “History on Blade” at which 15 samples of ancient edged weapons from Oleksandr Feldman’s collection will be presented. All of them belonged to the prominent figures \u2014 governors and princes, aristocrats and military leaders who have left their mark on the history.<\/p>\n
The Polish arming sword of the end of the XIVth century directly related to the history of Ukraine has a recogniszed position in the exhibition. A lot of things indicate that it belonged to Spytk Melshtinsky, the Podolsk Principality lord who has died in the summer of 1399 in fight of the joint Polish-Lithuanian-Russian army against Golden Horde forces on the Vorskla River. Medieval Polish historians considered Spytk the real hero of this grandiose battle. The sword is found in the territory of the Sumy region, directly in those places where one of the largest fights of the XIVth century in Eastern Europe took place. On its bayonet handle the Polish Leliwa coat of arms to which the noble family of Melshtinsky belonged is represented. The historical context and personification of the owner put this sword in one row with the most significant weapon relics in museum collections of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
It is difficult to estimate the historical importance of a remarkable Austrian hunting sword \u2014 one of the few escaped personal belongings of Rudolf von Habsburg (1858-1889), the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire . His sudden and mysterious death in 1889 has struck all Europe and still intrigues not only historians, but also cinematographers, writers, poets, playwrights and even composers. The involvement in an impenetrable mystery promoted the fact that the Rudolf’s sword began to be construed in romantic, almost mystical aura. The fans of living history will be definitely interested in the outstanding samples of the French donative weapons which are also presented in the expositions \u2014 a saber of the Napoleon’s favourite – the marshal Louis Alexander Berthier (1753-1815), the sabers of generals Pierre Shaber (1770-1839) and Maurice Camille Bailloud (1847-1921) and also a sword of Earl Ludovic de Tanle (1809-1864). All these objects are valuable sources of information on the former owners and such donative weapon, exclusive on its rarity and completeness of information maintenance, such as Ludovic de Tanle’s sword, is presented in single copies even in the largest world’s museum collections.
\nThe east ceremonial weapon in the majority belonging to crowned heads infatuates and strikes with richness of decorative design. The magnificent Turkish saber which the sultan Abdul-Hamid II (1842-1918) presented to the Emperor Nicholas II (1868-1918) at the time of the next strain of relations between Ottoman and Russian Empires at the end of the XIXth century has very interesting history. A sword of Shah Alam II (1728-1806)\u2014 the padshah fromGreat Mogul dynasty , a sword of Sawai Ram Singh II (1834-1880)\u2014 the maharaja of the Jaipur Principality, a dagger of Rao Ram Singh (1811 – 1889) \u2014 the maharaja of the Bundi Principality, a dagger of Mir Shir Muhammad Khan Talpur (1810-1874) \u2014 the governor of the Mirpur Principality, a hunting knife of Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpur (1814-1894)\u2014 the governor of Khairpur Principality, a sword of Linga Rajendra II \u2014 the governor of the Kodagu Kingdom (apprx. 1760 \u2014 1820) demonstrate enormous wealth and refined taste of the Indian seigniors. A sword of the crowned prince of Burma \u2014 Kanaun Minta (1820-1866) and a sword of Kakrakhadimingrat II (apprx. 1650 \u2014 1707), the last governor of the Javanese Radzhalengkh Principality can tell much interesting about the former owners.<\/p>\n
Such exhibition is held in our country for the first time. It is an extension of the cultural and educational project of the Oleksandr Feldman’s International Charitable Foundation, aimed to acquaint wide Ukrainian audience with historical monuments of world’s different cultures from the Feldman Family Museum collection. Each of the represented exhibits is not only the outstanding Arms and Decorative Arts work, but also a historical relic, some kind of document which imprinted real events of this or that era. And each of them has “biography” which can interest both lovers of the antique and professional historians.<\/p>\n
The exhibition’s opening will take place on May 20 at 19:00 in the AVEC Gallery at the following address: Kharkiv, Sumska St., 70.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"