Banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia — a standard that tradition associates with the campaign of the militia of Minin and Pozharsky to Moscow in 1612. It is kept in the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin under inventory number Zn-325, where it is catalogued as the banner of Dmitry Mikhaylovich Pozharsky from the early seventeenth century.[1] Until 1826 it was held at the Church of the Transfiguration in the village of Purekh — the prince's hereditary estate — from which it was removed by order of Emperor Nicholas I.[2][3]

What this banner is

The panel, measuring 135 by 187 centimetres, is sewn from crimson silk taffeta and painted with raised gold and silver, tempera, and pigments.[1] On one side is Christ Pantocrator; on the other, the Archangel Michael and Joshua kneeling before him at the walls of Jericho.[2] Three voivode's banners of the seventeenth century in the Armory are similar, but the other two depict the Mandylion (the Image Not Made by Hands), and the widespread attribution of that image to Pozharsky's banner is incorrect.[4]

Marina Golovanova, curator of the banner collection at the Armory, having examined the documents of the Russian State Historical Archive, dates the banner to the first half of the seventeenth century and notes that the tradition linking it to the campaign of 1612 is not supported by a single document: it originates with Alexander Viskovatov's 1841 work "Historical Description of the Dress and Armament of the Russian Troops" and has been repeated in the literature without verification.[4]

The banner is in a fragile state. In 1861 it was mounted onto cotton tulle; in 1962 it was sandwiched between two layers of tinted silk gauze and secured to a board behind plexiglass, since which time the front side has not been visible to viewers.[4]

From Purekh to Moscow

In Purekh, the banner — removed from its staff and placed in a framed glass case — hung above the Royal Doors of the Church of the Transfiguration, with both sides facing the worshippers; nearby was kept an icon of the Vladimir Mother of God that had accompanied the voivode on his campaigns.[4]

In the autumn of 1826, Nicholas I, through the Minister of the Imperial Court, Prince Pyotr Volkonsky, entered into negotiations with the estate's owner, Countess Maria Dmitrieva-Mamonova: the banner, in the emperor's view, more properly belonged in the Armory Chamber, alongside the banner of Dmitry Donskoy. The countess agreed and received a diamond fermoir from the emperor; in 1827, Armory Chamber executor Ivan Davydov traveled to Purekh to collect the banner.[4] The Nizhny Novgorod Metropolitanate dates the transfer to 1827, while museum texts give 1826 — these are different stages of the same operation.[2][3]

Nizhny Novgorod local historian Alexander Gatsiskiy recorded a tradition still remembered in Purekh: when the banner was taken away, the people rose up and refused to surrender it, and some twenty-five ringleaders were exiled to Siberia.[5] According to the Armory Chamber's own documents, the transfer took a different form: the volost gathered at the church for the liturgy and a prayer service, and saw its shrine off with honor.[4]

Copies

A copy of the banner already existed in 1812 — it accompanied the militia on its campaign; when it could not be located, Nicholas I ordered a new one to be made. In January 1829, Prince Nikolai Yusupov commissioned the icon painter Nikolai Pitenkov to produce an exact replica on the same type of fabric for three hundred rubles, and on 20 March 1829 the copy was presented to Countess Dmitrieva-Mamonova; it was later kept in the Arsenal of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace.[4]

Present-day copies are consecrated in the Mikhaylo-Arkhangelsky Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. On 20 September 2012, a replica made using the same techniques as the original was consecrated there.[6] On 23 January 2026, in the declared Year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia, two copies were consecrated at once, produced by the Altar of the Fatherland center whose supervisory board is chaired by Regional Legislative Assembly chairman Evgeniy Lyulin: one was presented to the Nizhny Novgorod Society in Moscow, while the second remained in the city for official ceremonies.[7]

In Purekh itself, a copy of the banner stands in a separate display case at the Dmitry Pozharsky Local History Museum, opened in 2005; another copy is kept in the Spaso-Preobrazhenskoye Church.[3]

The original has never been displayed in Nizhny Novgorod

The banner has never been brought back to the homeland of the militia — not for the 400th anniversary of the events of 1612, nor for the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod. The only Kremlin relics of the militia ever shown in the city were the sabers of Minin and Pozharsky: the exhibition "Weapons of Kuzma Minin and Prince Pozharsky" from the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums opened on 3 November 2005 at the art museum's branch on the Verkhne-Volzhskaya Embankment.[8]

At that time, the original was on display in Moscow: from November 3, 2021 to January 10, 2022, it served as the centerpiece of the exhibition "Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. History and Legend," organized by the State Historical Museum together with the Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.[2]

Requests to Return the Banner

The idea of returning the banner to Nizhny Novgorod has been raised on more than one occasion. In 2010, the head of the civic society "Arsenal 2010," Igor Karpov, collected signatures for a petition to the President of Russia: to return the banner and establish a memorial museum "Saviors of the Fatherland" in the Arsenal building of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. The text of the petition is preserved below — the article Return the Banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia is devoted to this initiative separately.

On December 17, 2013, the Nizhny Novgorod public addressed Valery Shantsev and Archbishop George with a request to establish a memorial complex "The Militia" in the Arsenal; the petitioners themselves stipulated that, pending Moscow's decision, only copies were being discussed.[9] No public response to these appeals followed, and as of 2026 the banner remains in the Armory Chamber.

In Contemporary Accounts

"It's in Moscow, in the Armory Chamber," a well-known local acquaintance of mine said recently. "The proper storage conditions have been created for it there — let it stay. Tsar Nicholas I once ordered the banner to be kept there and had two more copies made from it.

In Moscow it better represents our Region — there are more people there, more foreigners..."

The Case for Placing the Banner in the Nizhny Novgorod Arsenal

We must start from the premise that the most important thing on earth is the HUMAN BEING and his life. The fact is that the militia's banner was taken by force after Pozharsky's death. "What belongs to Nizhny must be returned to Nizhny." Returning the original militia banner to the city is both just and historically necessary. It is not the role of a provincial backwater — the fate sealed by that decision — that we should bear, but the time has come to reclaim and uphold our former DIGNITY. What is your opinion?...

Copies in the Press

During the rally, winners of the "student militia all-around" competition were honored. A copy of the banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia of 1612 was presented to the competition participants by the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in the Volga Federal District, Grigory Rapota, the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Valery Shantsev, and Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas George, while the winners of the competition — representatives of the Nizhny Novgorod State Agricultural Academy — received a commemorative Cup.

Sources

  1. collectiononline.kreml.ru — Moscow Kremlin Museums, online collections — Banner of Dmitry Mikhaylovich Pozharsky. Early 17th century. Inv. Zn-325 (archive)
  2. shm.ru — State Historical Museum — Exhibition "Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. History and Legend", 3 November 2021–10 January 2022 (archive)
  3. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis — The head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis visited cultural and historical sites in the selo of Purekh (24 July 2026) (archive)
  4. gerboved.ru — Golovanova M. P. Relics of Russian history from the collection of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin: The Banner of D. M. Pozharsky // Gerboved. 2005. No. 5 (83). P. 70 (archive)
  5. bibl.nngasu.ru — Podzhidayeva I. E., Prokofyev S. V. Purekh // Moskovskiy Zhurnal. 2011. No. 8 (248) — Testimony of A. S. Gatsiskiy on the riot during the seizure of the banner (archive)
  6. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis — A consecration ceremony was held for an exact replica of the banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia of 1612 (20 September 2012) (archive)
  7. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis — Copies of the banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia were consecrated in the Archangel Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin (23 January 2026) (archive)
  8. Vremya N — Two unique 17th-century sabers belonging to Minin and Pozharsky to be exhibited at the Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum (28 October 2005) (archive)
  9. Vremya N — Nizhny Novgorod public calls for the creation of a memorial complex in the Arsenal building (17 December 2013) (archive)