Exhibition “Christmas trees of our childhood”

Every adult is sometimes nostalgic for a distant, such a wonderful childhood, when ice cream was tastier and the grass was greener … And what a beautiful and elegant the long-awaited Christmas tree was in childhood! Toys carefully stored in a cherished box, paper garlands, cotton snowmen. Do you want to return to childhood? On the eve of New Year’s miracles, this is absolutely real. You just need to come to the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve, where on November 15, 2022, the sweetest and kindest exhibition “Christmas Trees of Our Childhood” opened, which reflects the traditions of the winter holiday of different eras – from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 2000s.

The exposition in the Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich brings together more than 800 items from museum and private collections, which tell about the history of the main winter holiday.
“With its New Year projects, for more than ten years, the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve has been trying as accurately as possible to show the events of different years with the help of archival documents and museum exhibits and touch on topics little studied or uncovered due to the lack of visual material. For this exhibition, we managed to collect not only interesting facts and unusual exhibits, but also amazing stories. The unique photo and video materials from the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents became a feature and basis of the exposition, which formed the basis of eight plots – from pre-revolutionary to modern author’s Christmas trees, ”said Natalya Polonnikova, historian, curator of the exhibition.

The project participants were: the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve, the Novgorod Museum-Reserve, the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda Museum-Reserve, the Gorki Leninskiye Museum-Reserve, the Dmitrovsky Kremlin Museum-Reserve, the Museum of Toys named after. N. D. Bartram, Yelets City Museum of Local Lore, RGAKFD, GA RF, manufactory “Fragrant Joys” and private collections.

The exhibition covers the following topics: “Pre-revolutionary Christmas tree. The end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century”, “Yolka Ilyich. 1918–1924”, “Fighting Christmas Trees?! 1925 – early 1930s”, “New Year’s Moscow. 1935–1936”, “New Year holidays during the Great Patriotic War. 1941–1945”, “Kremlin traditions. 1950–1960s”, “New Year’s streets and shops. 1970s – 1980s” and “Author’s Trees. Late 1990s – early 2000s.

The holiday, accompanied by merry festivities and a magnificent feast, was introduced by the reformer tsar Peter I. Before the calendar reform set out in the decree, the chronology was from the Creation of the world, and the day of the “New Year” fell on September 1 and was celebrated in Rus’ primarily as a church holiday. The decree of December 20, 1699, written by the emperor himself, moved the celebration of the New Year to January 1 and, following Western European traditions, demanded “decoration of the home from pine, spruce and juniper trees and branches” and lush festivities.

The tradition of putting up a Christmas tree decorated with toys in houses for Christmas conquered Russia gradually. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the royal family – Emperor Nicholas I and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She had seen decorated Christmas trees in Prussia since childhood and began to introduce this custom at the Russian court. According to some historians, it was in the Moscow Kremlin in 1817 that the Christmas tree was first arranged in the home chambers of the grand-ducal family in the Small Kremlin Palace. In the 1820s and 1830s, Christmas trees were set up annually in the imperial family, and this tradition gradually won the hearts of the entire population. By the end of the 19th century, the Christmas tree decorated for the holiday had already firmly entered the everyday life of the inhabitants of Russia. Evidence of this can be found in the memoirs and memoirs of many famous people of that time – writers, artists, poets and public figures.

Despite the fact that festive Christmas decorations began to be made in Russia in the second half of the 19th century, not very many decorations from this period have survived. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see not only toys made of cotton wool, cardboard and glass, but also real rarities, some of which will be shown publicly for the first time. The exposition presents Christmas decorations that belonged to the family of V. I. Lenin, from the collection of the Gorki Leninskiye Museum-Reserve, and a number of items from private collections, associated with the process of glorification of the Christmas tree decoration, which took place in the 1930s-1940s. In the next showcase, familiar to everyone, Soviet-made New Year decor of the 70s, Christmas tree decorations from the GDR and Czechoslovakia. For the first time, the theme of baby Christmas trees with miniature toys is touched upon. Many remember a miniature Christmas tree decorated with tiny glass toys. This set was created at the Moscow factory “Glass Christmas tree decorations”, participated in various exhibitions, including international ones. And those who have not encountered it in life, probably saw a baby tree in the films of the Soviet era. Modernity is represented by copies of Christmas tree decorations from the Soviet and pre-revolutionary period, Christmas balls from Zhostovo and Gorodets, majolica toys from Gzhel and Yaroslavl, cute Santa Clauses from Bogorodsky, and many other beautiful products.

The “highlight” of the exhibition for visitors will be the unique archival film “Preparing for Christmas” (1927) from the RGAKFD, which shows beautifully decorated shop windows in Okhotny Ryad, and on Arbatskaya Square a real Christmas tree market in the midst of anti-Christmas and anti-Christmas campaigns. In the film “Life as it is” (1929), the celebration of the New Year is shown at home: he is met with guests at a laid table, with a decorated Christmas tree, then they choose goods in the store, go skiing and ice skating. In the exposition solution, you can see the outlines of the pavilion for holding New Year’s celebrations, which was built in 1936 on Manezhnaya Square. Wartime is reflected in the paintings of Yakov Protazanov “Christmas in the Trenches” (1914) and Rafail Gikov “To Protect the Native Moscow No. 6” (1941). prisoners of war. In the chronicles of the 1930s, new heroes begin to take part in the New Year celebrations: ice captains, order bearers, pilots and members of the CPSU (b). Later, with the advent of television, such events grew into the adored Blue Lights. Visitors will also be able to get acquainted with the history of the legendary Kremlin Christmas trees, learn about the history of thematic performances and their subsequent transformation.

The exhibition at the Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich will last until January 15, 2023. Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00.

Mikhail Kovalyov.

Author’s photo