Kunstkamera logo Kunstkamera's Samurai collection represents a fascinating depiction, not only of the museum's own art history, but also Russian history and Russian-Japanese relations during the past few centuries. Kunstkamera's collection includes 550 Samurai exhibits: swords, sword fittings, pole weapons, fire arms (bows, quivers, rifles and pistols), dolls, paintings and gravures. Kunstkamera's collection of Japanese firearms was established during the reign of Peter the Great when Russian explorers brought artefacts from the Kamtsatka peninsula and the Kuril islands at the beginning of the 18th century. Many of Kunstkamera's objects are connected to historical figures. One of the oldest acquisitions is a collection of exotic artefacts presented by the Swedish physician Erik Stutzer to Catherine the Great in 1795. At the end of the 18th century, Stutzer worked for the Dutch East Indian Trading Company, the only foreign company that had established itself in Japan. J. F. Overmeer Fisher, an orientalist employed by the same company a little later, donated his extensive collection of Japanese artefacts and art to Tsar Nicholas 1st. Tsar Nicholas II was also presented with valuable objects during his trip to Japan in 1891. Part of the collection is the result of conflicts between Russia and Japan. After the Russian revolution, the "counter-revolutionary and anti-sabotage special commission" confiscated the private collections of the aristocracy.
 
 
14. History
 

 

 
     
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