Ivan IV Vasilievich, nicknamed G rozny, became the first of the great princes of Moscow who received the title of Tsar of All Russia. In 1547 he was married to the kingdom with a new title for Russia.
This happened in the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral. As befits a tsar, a ceremonial throne was made for him by Moscow craftsmen. There is a legend according to which this throne was brought to Russia from Byzantium. Allegedly, he was among the things that belonged to the second wife of Ivan III - Sophia Fominichna Paleologue. She presented it as a gift for the wedding of the parents of Ivan IV - Elena Glinskaya and Vasily III. But historians still believe that this is a legend, not confirmed by either the inventories of the royal property or other documents.
The throne, now kept in the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin, has a wooden base lined with thin ivory plates. It is a tall wooden chair with a foot. Bone plates were made in Europe, but where exactly - here the opinions of historians differ. Someone thinks that skillfully carved bone plates are the creation of Italian craftsmen, others - that this is a product of German carvers. Some scholars believe that this is the work of Byzantine craftsmen. The plates depict plot compositions based on the ancient Greek myth about the magic singer and composer Orpheus. On them, the hero of the myth attracts animals with his voice and sounds of the lyre, enchants the gods, amuses the people listening to him.
However, not all plates serve as an illustration of the Orpheus myth. The fact is that the throne was repeatedly restored, and therefore some of the bone plates were lost over time or became unusable, and the missing ones had to be replaced with others.
The newly made plates are very similar in technique and decoration to the original ones, but differ greatly in the content of the storyline. On them you can see scenes from the Bible, battle plots (battles, siege of a city, a parade of cavalry, a knight's duel, etc.), hunting scenes. There are also images of Leda and Zeus in the form of a swan, the god Saturn (who devours his children), various mythological monsters. The small plates, which are located between the large ones, have nothing to do with the subject compositions at all, and a variety of floral ornament is carved on them.
The back of the throne is decorated with a double-headed eagle in an octagon. There are images of two-headed eagles - symbols of Russia - and on round plates on the armrests of the throne.
The ivory-carved throne of Tsar Ivan the Terrible is the first documented symbol of tsarist power in Russia. Before that, the rulers sat on thrones of wood, upholstered in gold and adorned with precious stones. All of them have not survived to this day, and how they looked can be judged from the drawings in the annals.
In pre-Petrine times, the bone throne was kept in the Kazenny Dvor, a palace institution in the Russian state, which managed the production and storage of valuables from the tsarist treasury, trade operations for tsarist needs, and financing of important state projects. Then the throne was transferred to the Armory, from where it was withdrawn for solemn royal prayers in the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin.
Promotional video:
Igor MISHI