Easter Sunday

2013-04-25 - 2013-06-17

More than 300 Easter cards from the 19th and 20th centuries from the collection of the St Petersburg State History Museum. The cards, which depict traditional aspects of the holiday, allow visitors to take a look at how Easter is celebrated in Russia, and peek into the lives of the cards’ original senders.

As well as the bunnies and chicks that Western European visitors would associate with the celebration, we see more traditional Russian themes of decorated eggs, kulich (a bready cake prepared at Easter), churches and spring landscapes, depicted in both painting and photography. The tumultuous events of the big wide world also found their reflection in these greeting cards: soldiers and nurses begin to appear on Easter cards from the time of the First World War, whilst a 1917 card uses a red Easter egg as a symbol of the Revolution.

The lack of Russian cards from the following years tells the story of the new regime and the removal of Orthodox Easter from the state calendar. The slow trickle of religion’s return to general Russian society is seen in the increasing number of cards produced through the Soviet years and the following decades. As well as the greeting card collection there’s all sorts of different Easter paraphernalia, concerts and the chance for children to make their very own Easter card.

Admission 600 - 100Rbl.

Address:

Museum of Printing, nab. reky Moiky 32