On 23 October 2019, the latest session of the seminar “Heraldry – an ancillary historical discipline” took place.
On this occasion, it was held in St Petersburg’s Peter and Paul Fortress and was devoted to the presentation of the (Russian-language) catalogue Banners of the Craft Guilds
of Saint Petersburg in the late 18th – early 20th centuries from the
collection of the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg that was published in 2019.
The State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg possesses a unique collection, the largest in Russia, of banners belonging to craft guilds from the late 1700s to early 1900s connected with the history of the crafts in the imperial capital. It comprises 47 banners. These are heraldic objects bearing depictions of the guild emblem with attributes of that particular trade. They include banners of the potters’ and stove-makers’, smiths’, lamp-makers’, clockmakers’, bakers’, shoemakers’, barbers’ and many other Russian and non-Russian guilds registered in Saint Petersburg. The illustrated catalogue publishes and introduces into scholarly circulation for the first time the museum’s collection of guild banners and associated paraphernalia (poles, finials, cords and tassels) and imprints of guild seals.
The catalogue was presented by its author – Svetlana Kuznetsova, keeper of the banner collection in the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg.
