Banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia — the battle standard of Prince Pozharsky's army, a symbol of the liberation of Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian invaders.
Nature of the subject
The Banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia is an important historical relic, symbolizing the salvation of Russia and the restoration of the rights of its central authority through the efforts of the regions.
It was kept at the estate of Prince Pozharsky in his ancestral seat, the selo of Purekh (Chkalovsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region). In 1827 it was transported to Moscow. Some of the peasants who protested against its removal from Purekh were exiled to penal servitude.
In contemporary accounts
"It is in Moscow, in the Armory Chamber," my well-known local acquaintance replied recently. "Proper storage conditions have been created for it there; let it stay. Tsar Nicholas I once ordered that the banner remain there and commanded that two more copies be made of it.
In Moscow it represents our Region better — there are more people there, more foreigners…"
The case for placing the banner in the Nizhny Novgorod Arsenal
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We must start from the premise that what matters most on this earth is the HUMAN BEING and his life. The fact is that the militia's banner was taken by force after Pozharsky passed away.
"What belongs to Nizhny Novgorod must be returned to Nizhny Novgorod." Returning the original banner of the militia to the city is just and historically necessary. It is not the role of a provincial backwater — assigned to us by that decision — that we should bear, but the time has come to reclaim and hold our former DIGNITY. What is your opinion?… |
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Copies in the press
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During the rally, the winners of the "student militia all-around competition" were awarded prizes. A copy of the banner of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia of 1612 was presented to the competition participants by the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative to the Volga Federal District, Grigory Rapota, Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Valery Shantsev, and Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas George, while the competition winners — representatives of the Nizhny Novgorod State Agricultural Academy — received a commemorative trophy cup. |
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