Room of the Culture and Art of the Nomadic Tribes of the Altai in the 5th to 3th century B.C.

The hall is located in the same part of the Winter Palace as the palace guardhouse. It is part of the Antiquities of Siberia exhibit, which acquaints visitors with the culture and traditions of the steppe people of Altai-Sayan and Transbaikal Regions from the Scythian Epoch to the Middle Ages. The exhibition in this hall includes artifacts found as a result of the excavation of long barrows in the Pazyryk area, used a burial areas by the nomadic tribes of Gorny Altai. Thanks to the permafrost in this mountainous area, articles fashioned from leather, fur, cloth and other generally short lived materials are were beautifully preserved. The leather horse gear, consisting of a mask fitted with the horns of a deer, which was placed on the horse’s head, a saddle, decorated with an ornamented felt cover, and a piece for covering the horse’s tail, attracts particular attention. In the neighbouring cases are wooden cups, a small table with removable legs, leather flasks and bags, as well as decorations for horse harnesses, made in the Scythian-Siberian animal-centred style. The tattoo depicting fantastic animals on the skin of the tribal chief’s arm is of particular interest.