The Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible (russian: Лицевой летописный свод, Litsevoy letopisny svod) is the largest compilation of historical information ever assembled in medieval

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It covers the period from the creation of the world to the year 1567. It is also informally known as the Tsar Book (Царь-книга), in an analogy with

Tsar Bell The Tsar Bell (russian: Царь–колокол; ), also known as the Tsarsky Kolokol, Tsar Kolokol III, or Royal Bell, is a , bell on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. The bell was commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna, niece o ...

and

Tsar Cannon The Tsar Cannon (russian: Царь-пушка, ''Tsar'-pushka'') is a large early modern period artillery piece (known as a ''bombarda'' in Russian) on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting ar ...

.Исторический музей представил Царь-Книгу - Лицевой летописный свод
(retrieved May 10, 2015) The set of manuscripts was commissioned by

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

specifically for his royal library. The literal meaning of the Russian title is "face chronicle," alluding to the numerous hand-painted miniatures. The compilation consists of 10 volumes, containing about 10 thousand sheets of

rag paper Rag, rags, RAG or The Rag may refer to: Common uses * Rag, a piece of old cloth * Rags, tattered clothes * Rag (newspaper), a publication engaging in tabloid journalism * Rag paper, or cotton paper Arts and entertainment Film * ''Rags'' (1915 ...

. It is illustrated with more than 16 thousand miniatures.

Volumes

The volumes are grouped in a relatively chronological order and include four major areas: Biblical History, History of Rome, History of Byzantium and Russian history. The titles and contents of the 10 volumes are: # Museum Miscellany (Музейский сборник,

State Historical Museum The State Historical Museum ( Russian: Государственный исторический музей, ''Gosudarstvenny istoricheskiy muzyey'') of Russia is a museum of Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of ...

) – 1,031 pages, 1,677 miniatures. Sacred Hebrew and Greek history, from the creation of the world to the destruction of Troy in the 13th century BC. # Chronograph Miscellany (Хронографический сборник,

Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Библиотека Российской академии наук (БАН)) is a large state-owned Russian library based in Saint Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island and open to employees o ...

) – 1,469 pages, 2,549 miniatures. History of the ancient East, the

Hellenistic world In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

, and

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

from the 11th century BC to the 70s in the 1st century AD. # Face Chronograph (Лицевой хронограф,

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

) – 1,217 pages, 2,191 miniature. History of the ancient Roman Empire from the 70s in the 1st century to 337 AD, and

Byzantine history This history of the Byzantine Empire covers the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the transitional period during which the Rom ...

to the 10th century. #

Galitzine The House of Golitsyn or Galitzine was one of the largest princely of the noble houses in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire. Among them were boyars, warlords, diplomats, generals (the Mikhailovichs), stewards, chamberlains, the richest m ...

Volume (Голицынский том, RNL) – 1,035 pages, 1,964 miniatures. Russian history from 1114–1247 and 1425-1472. # Laptev Volume (Лаптевский том, RNL) – 1,005 pages, 1,951 miniatures. Russian history from 1116-1252. # Osterman Volume I (Остермановский первый том, LRAS) – 802 pages, 1,552 miniatures. Russian history from 1254-1378. # Osterman Volume II (Остермановский второй том, LRAS) – 887 pages, 1,581 miniature. Russian history from 1378-1424. # Shumilov Volume (Шумиловский том, RNL) – 986 pages, 1,893 miniatures. Russian history in 1425, and 1478-1533. # Synod Volume (Синодальный том, SHM) – 626 pages, 1,125 miniatures. Russian history from 1533–1542, and 1553-1567. # Regal Book (Царственная книга, SHM) – 687 pages, 1,291 miniature. Russian history from 1533-1553.

History

The manuscript is thought to have been created between 1568 and 1576. The work seems to have been started as early as the 1540s.Article "Personal Chronicle" in the TSB
It was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible for the royal library for the purposes of educating his children. The tsar's confidant Aleksey Adashev was involved in the creation of the work. File:Facial Chronicle pages2.jpeg, Facial Chronicle. Two-page opening with description of

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

Theophany Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifest ...

() File:Facial Chronicle - b.20, p. 288-289 - Coronation Ivan IV.jpg, Regal book File:Tzar-s-textbook2-big.jpg, Page from the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible File:Facial Chronicle - b.06, p.085 - Battle of the Ice.jpg,

Battle on the Ice The Battle on the Ice (german: Schlacht auf dem Eise; russian: Ледовое побоище, ''Ledovoye poboishche''; et, Jäälahing), alternatively known as the Battle of Lake Peipus (german: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee), took place on 5 Apr ...

References

External links

The Chronicles of Ivan the Terrible

Gift to Glasgow University marks 100 years of special relationship with Russia

Personal Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible

Russian Embassy presents the Illustrated Chronicles of Ivan the Terrible

Illustrated Chronicle Of Ivan The Terrible Pictures and Images
{{Muscovite Constitution __NOTOC__ East Slavic chronicles Ivan the Terrible Medieval Russia Illuminated histories