The Russian Collection at the Danish Arsenal Museum
An online lecture by Dr. Jakob Seerup
In this lecture, curator Dr. Jakob Seerup presents the amazing collection of Russian uniforms and militaria at the Royal Danish Arsenal Museum and tells its fascinating background history. This story involves the Russian Imperial Family and the Danish Royal Family and takes us from Saint Petersburg via Manchuria to the French Riviera and then to London, Greece and finally Copenhagen.
The original collector was the Russian General Paul Goudime-Levkowitch, who was an alumni of the prestigious Corps des Pages and had been a personal page to Tsar Alexander III. When the young Goudime-Levkowitch was wounded in the Russo-Japanese War he went to a luxurious Russian hospital in Cannes, France. Here, he got acquainted with the Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailowitch and his sister Anastasia. Through them he met Evelyn Green, a member of the British Spencer Churchill family, whom he married. He went on to a fine career as a military attaché to Greece, and did not see fighting service during World War One.
After the 1917 Revolution he and his family went to live in the South of France like so many other Russian emigrés. His house in the village La Napoule became a focus point of the local diaspora, and there he collected the many uniforms from his compatriots. To save the collection from the ravages of war during World War Two,Goudime-Levkowitch in 1943 sent his collection to Copenhagen where he knew Grand Duchess Anastasia’s daughter, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark. In his book The Russian General – A Life for the Zar, Jakob has given a biography of this little known Russian General and his fascinating life. Recently, Jakob and Russian specialists have published an extensive catalogue of the Russian Collection at the Danish War Museum. A copy of this catalogue may be purchased online.
About the Speaker
Dr Jakob Seerup, born 1975, is a curator at the Museum of Bornholm in Denmark. For many years he has researched naval and military history and curated a number of exhibitions at the Royal Danish Naval Museum and Royal Danish Arsenal Museum (today The Danish War Museum). Although originally an expert in Danish naval history in the age of sail, Jakob has been drawn by a fascination of Russian history to expand his field of research.
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This program will be recorded.
The Second Saturday lecture series is supported in part with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to the New York State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).