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The Exhibition “The Art of War. The Blade’s Silver Face”

The exhibition “The Art of War. The Blade’s Silver Face” from the collection of the Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts and the private collection of E.S.Shelobod was opened on December, 12, in the Excursion-Exhibition Centre “People’s House” of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov.

For the first time the Museum and a Rostov collector E.S.Shelobod joined their collections to illustrate one of the most interesting pages in the history of mankind “The Art of War” through authentic weapons and the works of the well-known artists.

The works “Tale of Igor” by the famous Russian painter V.Serov, paintings of the Don artists I.Rebrov, A.Isakov, A.Fyodorov, B.Sporykin, M.Sokolenko complement the exhibition with a special mood and give it a patriotic air.

The collection of Evgheny Shelobod, who became interested in collecting bladed weapons more than 15 years ago, comprises now over 1000 items; its diversity is amazing. The exhibition displays 83 items of bladed weapons of the IX – the first half XX centuries. Each blade having its own history is a witness of its epoch. The visitors will see different types and kinds of bladed weapons – from the officer’s sabres of different branches of service to the unique in their artistic value trophy blades (“bebut”, “kama”), from “hirshfanger” (a hunting hatchet) to camisole epee, a magnificent weapon of Janissaries, the elite of the Ottoman army terrorizing Europe at the time, sabres made by the famous Caucasian masters (“Osman”, “Guzinov”), and Don Cossack weapons.

Cossacks were fond of weapons; with them they decorated the walls of their houses. For them the weapon was the key to freemen, social stability and a symbol of power. In the early period of the Cossack history mostly trophy arms were used: Turkish, Persian, Polish blades, sabres of Russian manufacture and Caucasian swords.

The exhibition shows items of firearms of the VI–XIX centuries (ornamented flintlock pistols of the “rat tail” Albanian type and of coat travel type), silver frames, belts and powder flasks.

The exhibition will run until February, 25, 2015.

You are welcome to the unique collection.

Irina Panchenko