The Happy Knight suit of armour from the Arsenal of Tsarskoe Selo is on display in The Kremlin Legends: Russian Romanticism and the Armoury Chamber exhibition at the Moscow Kremlin Museums until 14 January 2024.
Made in St Petersburg in 1826, the Happy Knight suit was used by allegorical participants of the funeral procession of Emperor Alexander I. The other allegorical participant was the Mournful Knight, whose suit of armour for the funeral procession of Emperor Nicholas I from the Kremlin Armoury collection is on display next to the suit from Tsarskoe Selo.
The allegorical participants in the golden and black armours—the Happy and Mournful Knights—symbolised life and death. The ritual was borrowed from Western Europe during the reign of Peter the Great and became traditional for Russian imperial funeral ceremonies until Alexander III.
The ceremonial suits of armour were stored in a special room at the Arsenal (Armoury) of St Petersburg. Then the Happy Knight was moved to the Court Stable Museum and ended up in our collection in 1927.
