France and Russia: Ten Centuries Together

With more than 200 artworks, objects and archival documents, this display at the Moscow Kremlin Museums (16 September–9 January 2022) explores the close cultural and diplomatic ties that have existed between the nations of Russia and France from the 11th century to the present. Important medieval documents include a charter celebrating the marriage of Princess Anna Yaroslavna, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, to Henry I of France in 1051, and the Reims Gospel, a Cyrillic manuscript once believed to have been used in the coronation ceremonies of the French kings. Magnificent weapons, textiles and jewellery commissioned from France attest to the great passion for French decorative arts of successive Russian emperors in the 17th century, while a display of portraits introduces a host of key political and cultural figures from both countries. Find out more from the Kremlin’s website.

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Portrait of Antoinette Élisabeth d’Aguesseau, Countess de Ségur (1785), Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon

Sugar bowl, with cover from the Olympic Service (1804–07), Sèvres porcelain factory. Moscow Kremlin Museums

The Meeting of Peter I and Louis XV in Paris on 11 May 1717 (1717), J. Demarets. Moscow Kremlin Museums