In Radischevskaya Museum hosts exhibition of nearly 200 gold and silver objects, monuments of culture Sauromates Sarmatian tribes (VI c. BC - IV century AD.) From the collection of Astrakhan Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve

Radischev Museum , November 22, 2013 - February 23, 2014
Saratov, ul. Radyshcheva , 39

unique exhibition of the Astrakhan State United Historical-Architectural Museum -Reserve covers historical epoch habitats in the Northern Caspian steppes Sauromates Sarmatian tribes (VI c. BC. e . - IV century AD. ) . The exhibition includes 189 museum objects , 176 of them - from gold and silver . These remarkable examples of ancient art come from graves discovered in the North Caspian . Most of them not only valuable, but fine jewelry , is the pride of the museum collection . Among them - women's and men's jewelry (earrings , bracelets, rings , buckles , pendants, plaques) , magnificent examples of vessels with exquisite images of animals in the form of pens , watches , and other horse harness . Works of art tell us about the little-known episode in the history of ancient nomadic tribes , known collectively as the Sarmatians .

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huge empire warlike nomads for two millennia stretched from the Far East to the Danube . Father of history Herodotus (V century BC) left a description of the tribes who lived in the Lower Volga region : " Across the river Tanais ( Don ) is not Scythian land, first of there the land belonged Sauromates ." Sauromats Sarmatian predecessors . Information about them came to us thanks to the descriptions of ancient Greek historians , but the main source of study of nomadic culture are archaeological sites - mounds, ancient tombs , long-term study that would create a massive collection of gold ornaments of great artistic and historical value .

Scythian gold , gold of the Incas , gold Sarmatians are of great interest not only of high value , but also for its mesmerizing beauty. Gold has always attracted people . Since ancient times, it was considered a manifestation of divine solar energy. Patronage of the gods and the nature of man perceived through signs and images embodied in this metal . Central subjects of the exhibition is a collection of gold objects , ritual vessels and ornaments of harness . Special artistic qualities have Sarmatian burial items from the leader. It is a magnificent golden pectoral or IV in hryvnia . BC - A symbol of power with scenes of " torment " made ​​in "animal style" ; gold plaque in the form of a sheep's head , is considered a symbol of heavenly grace . Their leader was decorated outfit .

Sauromates and Sarmatians worshiped horse, sometimes the behavior which their lives depended . Harness horse decorated with magical amulets . Special ceremonial decoration of harness were phalerae - gold or silver plates . They depict various zoomorphic ornaments . Are unique silver phalerae with the effigy of a galloping horseman .

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general items of religious purpose , weapons , horse-trappings , decorations were often performed in the so-called "animal style" . A distinctive feature of "animal style" was the depiction of animals - deer , panthers , horses, sheep , birds, griffins. Leading sign of the animal style was a way of modeling the surface of the object . Multifaceted stylized composition of interlacing parts of their bodies turned into a complex dynamic fancy images . The maximum density of surface coverage led to the fact that the circuit is one of the beast fit the contour of another and a third . Solve such images is difficult , but interesting. Decorative objects became amulets , protects people from the vicissitudes of fate. For example , gold bracelets - cuffs were not only an ornament , but also protected the warrior from enemy arrows .

This art is rooted in totemism - representation of a person on the origin of its kind from a particular animal and deification of the founder and his kind of patron. So , is the ancestral totem golden chest ornament in the form of the Asiatic wild ass ( steppe horse ) VI - V in . BC from the burial of a noble priestess. Awesome use of a variety of techniques Sarmatians jewelry creativity: embossing, stamping, soldering , granulation , filigree . Delights and the result : a highly artistic display nomadic lifestyle and living conditions of civilization antiquity .

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Culture Sarmatians lasted until about the second half of the IV century AD - The era that has become a turning point of the Northern Caspian steppes . Great Migration dissolved the Sarmatian tribes in powerful new waves of nomadic Huns. Part of Sarmatian tribes joined the Union and Hun was in Western Europe , even going to Italy and Spain. Part went to the North Caucasus and settled on the territory of modern Ossetia. To this day some of the customs Ossetians bear the features of the culture of the Sarmatians .

« Animal style " influenced the subsequent development of the ornamentation of the Romanesque period in the art of the peoples of Western Europe and the Vladimir-Suzdal white stone carvings in ancient Russia .

Exhibition of gold products , showing a high level of antique jewelery - an example of creative constructive activity , perpetuating the name of any nation .

In 2005 archaeological collection , the gold, silver and bronze products Sarmatian time exhibited at the " Treasures of the Astrakhan steppes " in Rome, where he enjoyed great success .

Source : radmuseumart.ru