Unique items with images of Rurikids’ sign to be showed at exhibition in Gomel
The exhibition is unusual. There are pendants and ancient seals — historical evidence of the active participation of nobles in the life of various regions of the Ancient Rus. The territory of the Gomel Region was, at that time, part of Chernigov’s and Turov-Pinsk’s Principalities and repeatedly the scene of military engagements and political infighting of various princely families. Interesting findings on the territory of the region are evidence of those life-changing events.
“Princely seals of the middle of the 10th century were introduced in Rus in imitation of Byzantium,” Oksana Toropova, Director of Gomel’s Palace and Park Ensemble Museum explains, giving an insight into the area’s history. “There are so called pendent seals-bulls — round metal items with depictions on both sides. They fastened the ends of a silk thread that had been run through an aperture at the corner of documents. Applied seals appeared much later. Firstly, the Old Russian pendent seals supplied evidence of the authenticity of the document and secondly, they were the credentials for people who had such credentials with a princely seal. We know they had golden, silver and lead bulls.”
In total, seven pendent lead princely seals have been found in the territory of the Gomel Region.
