On July 26, a unique exhibition “The Noble Family of the Yusupov Princes” opened at the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Preserve.
It is known that the Yusupovs are a Tatar lineage that dates back to Nogai Khan Biy Yusuf, father of famous Tsarina Suyumbike.
The Yusupovs are well-known art collectors and one of the richest families in the Russian Empire: four palaces in St Petersburg, three palaces in Moscow, 37 properties in various parts of Russia, in Crimea (Koreiz, Kyokkez and Balaklava), coal and iron mines, factories and plants, flour mills factories and oil fields in the Caspian Sea.
One of the last members of the family, Felix Yusupov, was a beautiful and rich prince. He married Russian princess Irina, the Tsar’s only niece. At the wedding, the bride wore a veil that belonged to Marie Antoinette. At that time nobody suspected that it was the last major wedding in the Russian Empire.
The Yusupov family remembered their Tatar roots, as shown by 450 exhibits from the collection of the Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum (Moscow Oblast), which belonged to Tatar aristocrats, on display at the Manezh Exhibition Hall of the Kazan Kremlin.
According to the exhibition organizers, the Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum together with the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve, supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, most of the exhibits are displayed for the first time. The highlight of the exhibition is a smaller replica of the monument to Queen Suyumbike, the Tsarina of the Kazan and Kasimov Khanates.
Alfiya Rakhmatullina, Honored Culture Worker of the Republic of Tatarstan and author of the idea for the exhibition, noted that the exhibition, dedicated to the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria, showed the continuous connection and the deep respect of the Tatar aristocracy of the Russian Empire for Muslim culture.
The Noble Family of the Yusupov Princes exhibition runs until 11 September 2022.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Kazan Kremlin