The Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible (; 1560-1570s) is the largest compilation of historical information ever assembled in medieval

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is also informally known as the Tsar Book (Царь-книга), in an analogy with the

Tsar Bell The Tsar Bell (; ), 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 of Peter the Great. It has never be ...

and

Tsar Cannon The Tsar Cannon (, ''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 art, cast in bronze in 1586 i ...

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

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

and was made by group of anonymous manuscript illuminators in the Tsar's palace in

Alexandrovskaya Sloboda Alexandrov ( rus, Александров, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandrəf) is a town and the administrative center of Alexandrovsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia. It is located northeast of Moscow and has a population of It was previously known as ...

and Moscow. It covers the period from the Creation of the world (including the Trojan war, Ancient Rome and Byzantium) to the year 1567. 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 * Wash rag, a small cloth used for bathing * Rag (newspaper), a publication engaging in tabloid journalism * Rag paper, or cotton paper Ar ...

, 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 () of Russia is a museum of History of Russia, Russian history located between Red Square and Manezhnaya Square, Moscow, Manege Square in Moscow. The museum's exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that li ...

) – 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 () is a large state-owned Russian library based in Saint Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island and open to employees of institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences and scholars with higher education ...

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

Hellenistic world In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...

, and

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

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, , ''РНБ''), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked among the world's major libraries. It has the second biggest libr ...

) – 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 The Byzantine Empire's history is generally periodised from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. From the 3rd to 6th centuries, the Greek East and Latin West of the Roman Empire gradually diverged, marked by Diocletian's (r. ...

to the 10th century. # ''Galitzine Volume (Голицынский том,'' RNL) – 1,035 pages, 1,964 miniatures. Russian history from 1114 to 1247 and 1425–1472. # ''Laptev Volume (Лаптевский том'', RNL, F.IV.233) – 1,005 pages, 1,951 miniatures. Russian history from 1116 to 1252. # ''Osterman Volume I (Остермановский первый том,'' LRAS) – 802 pages, 1,552 miniatures. Russian history from 1254 to 1378. # ''Osterman Volume II (Остермановский второй том'', LRAS) – 887 pages, 1,581 miniature. Russian history from 1378 to 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 to 1542, and 1553–1567. # ''Regal Book (Царственная книга,'' SHM) – 687 pages, 1,291 miniature. Russian history from 1533 to 1553.

Examples

File:Facial Chronicle - b.15, p. 155.gif, Solar eclipses in 1470 File:Facial Chronicle - b.23, p. 463.jpg, Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow File:Facial Chronicle - b.11, p.242 - Timur.gif, Timur File:Facial Chronicle - b.15, p. 147.gif, Battle with Tatars at Volga-river

References

{{reflist * __NOTOC__ Old East Slavic chronicles Ivan the Terrible Medieval history of Russia Illuminated histories