GOLDEN FRAGMENTS OF THE PAST

Yelena Ostozhyeva

Hegel maintained that despite the fact that any work of art relates to a specific time, people and environment, if it is a genuine work of art it will remain accessible and bring pleasure to all times and peoples. No words could better reflect the essence of the current exhibition "The Treasury of the Golden Horde" at the Hermitage.

The view of the "Golden Horde" as a destructive empire, populated by dark nomads, is firmly entrenched in the consciousness of the majority of Russians (and probably of many Europeans too). However, this is a myth that could not be further from reality - a myth that is well and truly exploded by the Hermitage exhibition. It features over 1000 amazing examples of the art of jewellery: gold and silver belt cups and goblets, earrings and necklaces, belts and items from horses' harnesses, all made between the 13th and 15th centuries. They came into being during the great medieval Eurasian political formation, called "Juchi's Republic", "The Great Republic" or, in Russian sources, "The Golden Horde".

Not long before his death, Genghis Khan divided his domains among his sons and apportioned the lands to the West "as far as the setting sun" to his eldest son Juchi; he also gave him troops and ordered him to conquer these lands. Juchi died before he could carry out his father's wishes, and the campaign to the West was led by his son Batu. It started in 1235, eight years after Juchi's death; the Mongol cavalry swept through Eastern Europe like a hurricane, subduing a great many tribes and creating a state that stretched from the Irtysh to the Danube.

The Golden Horde era was a period of unprecedented urban civilisation, encompassing all the peoples living in Eastern Europe and Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and the area around the Urals. The culture of the Horde was international and combined features of both a nomadic and a settled mentality. It is a blend of all the achievements of the Mongols, Persians, Polovtsians, Volga Bulgars and Slavs. The country's principal cities had wide streets, a water supply carried in ceramic pipes and a sewage system. The citizens got their drinking water from fountains. All the settlements had public baths. Horde towns were not walled. The state took on the responsibilities of protecting the lives of its citizens, dispensing justice and organising the country's social, cultural and economic life. From 75,000 to 150,000 people lived in each of the three main cities - the two Sarais and Solkhate, and in the remaining 110 towns (those that have been uncovered by archaeologists) - something of the order of a million. In the heyday of The Golden Horde the standard and quality of life was among the highest in Europe at that time.

The Golden Horde's capital Sarai, built in a very short time on the left bank of the River Akhtuba by the command of Batu, was without exaggeration the most important city in the whole of medieval Europe. Archaeological research has enabled us to reconstruct the outline of an incredibly beautiful city with a wealth of magnificent palaces. The sumptuous decoration of their formal rooms astonished contemporaries: the walls were adorned with decorative majolica panels, whose tiles were covered with Susal gold. The well-known Arab traveller Ibn-Battutah described it as follows: "The city of Sarai is one of the most beautiful cities, which reaches an extraordinary size on level ground; it is teeming with people, with beautiful bazaars and wide streets...We once walked the whole breadth of the city, there and back in half a day, and it was row upon row of houses, with no empty spaces..."

The exhibits in the "Treasury of the Golden Horde" tell of the above and a great deal more. The first object that greets visitors is the "Genghis Stone", which has not aged at all; it is said that it was touched by Genghis Khan himself. The stone was discovered in the 19th century in what is now the Chita Region and today is kept in the Hermitage. The Genghis Stone bears the oldest Mongolian text yet found, carved in granite in 1225 to immortalise the outstanding achievements in archery of Genghis Khan's nephew Isunke. The highly cultured writing and perfection of the language on the stone give the lie to the legend that the Mongolians had only learned to write a few years before. Next to the Genghis Stone are incredibly expressive stone dragon gargoyles (in the 12th century they served as supports for the terrace of the palace at Transbaikalia). Further on are glass showcases containing a great many items that are witness to the developed craftsmanship in the Juchi Republic. Khans' paydzes, cups, ladles and belts with delicate engraving decorated with figures of dragons, horses, rams, sea monsters, sun symbols and florid Islamic ornaments... Contrary to the historical stereotypes of the barbarity of the Golden Horde, the exhibition clearly demonstrates their highly developed and original artistic metalwork - not even Khan's gold, but objects of popular culture. A separate theme of the display is the art of delicate filigree - a new style of this art was established in the nomadic centres of the Golden Horde in the mid-13th century. Thanks to the trading links of the Sarai capitals, the spiral filigree that was rapidly becoming fashionable spread through the Crimea and the sea section of the revived "Silk Road" in the 14th century, as far as the upper reaches of the Nile and Damascus.

This is the first time that such a large-scale exhibition has been held, giving an impression of the contribution made by the Turkic, Mongol and other tribes of the steppes and forest-steppes of Eurasia to the common treasury of world artistic culture. It is open until 24 June.