Title
1980s USSR Moscow Kremlin Terem Palace Teremnoy Dvorets Russian Tsars Postcard
Front Description
A colour photographic postcard printed in glossy chrome finish on white card stock, horizontal format with a narrow white border.
The image is an elevated view of the Terem Palace (Teremnoy Dvorets) within the Moscow Kremlin, the seventeenth-century residence of the Russian tsars, photographed in bright sunlight against a clear pale blue sky.
The palace presents one of the most richly decorated facades in Russian architecture. The building is rendered in vivid orange-red with crisp white dressings throughout. The upper storey — the terem proper — carries a striking high hipped roof covered in a bold diamond-lattice pattern of alternating orange-red, white and pale grey-green tiles, giving a chequered harlequin effect. Along the ridge runs an elaborate openwork cresting of gilded and coloured metalwork in a repeating scrollwork pattern, terminating at each end in gilded finials, with a small pennant weathervane rising above.
Beneath the roof, the upper chamber storey is articulated by a row of five window bays, each framed by carved white stone surrounds with slender colonnettes, richly ornamented pilasters and triangular pediments, each pediment centred on a sculpted mask or head in relief. The windows themselves are recessed dark openings divided by turned white balusters. Flanking pilasters of white stone divide the bays.
Below runs a continuous parapet or balustrade formed of square recessed panels, each filled with a different carved relief motif in white against a red ground — a varied sequence of foliate, geometric and figurative designs. Beneath this, a horizontal band of glazed polychrome tilework in green, blue and white runs the width of the facade in a repeating meander pattern.
The lower storey shows a further range of windows, again set in ornately carved white surrounds with colonnettes, pierced pediments and dense foliate relief, spaced across broad expanses of plain orange-red walling divided by white pilaster strips.
At the right of the palace rises a cylindrical corner tower in orange-red, capped with a conical roof in the same red-and-white diamond tiling, with arched windows below. Tall red-and-white banded chimney stacks project from the roof.
At the left of the frame stand adjoining Kremlin structures: a tall steep pyramidal spire covered in green glazed tiles with gilded ribbing and a gilded finial, above a gabled structure in pale yellow and white with arched windows, decorative carved surrounds and diamond-leaded glazing; behind it a smaller green cupola on a white drum. In the foreground below, the green-tiled and metal roofs of lower ranges of the Kremlin palace complex extend across the bottom of the image, with chimney stacks and roof lanterns.
The card shows light wear consistent with age, with minor corner and edge handling and a small crease at the lower left.
Back Description
Postcard reverse printed in red-brown ink on white stock, given over entirely to publisher advertising rather than a conventional divided address panel.
Main text block, in five paragraphs:
“Vsesojuznoje Objedinenije “Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga” is a leading Soviet foreign trade organization maintaining stable business ties with more than 1,000 book-selling, publishing, musical and philatelic firms, and picture galleries in 140 countries.”
“V/O “Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga” exports Soviet books, newspapers and magazines in Russian and other languages of the USSR, as well as in English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Swahili and many other languages of the world.”
“V/O “Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga” exports at foreign firms’ requests works by Soviet painters, graphic artists and sculptors, printed reproductions, sheet music, geographical maps and atlases, gramophone records, tape recordings of classical and Soviet music, postage stamps for collections, film strips and slides.”
“V/O “Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga” imports books, periodicals, gramophone records and postage stamps.”
“Please send your orders to firms maintaining business relations with V/O “Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga” or directly to V/O “Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga”: Moscow, 121200, USSR”
Beneath a full-width horizontal rule, at bottom left: a small logo device showing the monogram MK with a stylised open book, followed by “V/O MEZHDUNARODNAYA KNIGA” in bold capitals and, on a second line, “MOSCOW 121200 USSR”.
At bottom right, the caption identifying the view, followed by a solid triangular pointer: “The Terem Palace ▶”
No message, address, stamp or postmark is present — the card is unused and postally unwritten. The paper shows light cream toning with faint diagonal show-through texture and scattered pale yellow specks, and light wear to the corners and edges.
Estimated Era
Circa 1980–1989.
The dating rests on several converging lines of evidence. The publisher is V/O Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga (Международная книга — “International Book”), the Soviet state foreign trade organisation responsible for exporting books, philatelic material and printed matter, which produced English-language view cards of this kind for the export and tourist market. The USSR designation and the Moscow 121200 postal index in this form are consistent with the 1980s, and the card belongs to the same Kremlin set as companion issues bearing identical reverse text.
The Terem Palace itself was built between 1635 and 1636 for Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, the first Romanov, by the architects Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trefil Sharutin and Larion Ushakov, and served as the private residence of the tsars until the court moved to St Petersburg. Its polychrome decoration was extensively restored in the nineteenth century, so the dating rests on the card’s production characteristics rather than the subject.
Further supporting evidence includes the glossy chrome-era colour photographic printing with fine halftone screen, the continental card format, and the advertising-only reverse without a divided address panel — a layout used by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga for promotional export sets during the later Soviet period.
Note: Coins & Banknotes Grading
- Please
closely inspect the photos to understand the condition of the coins or
banknotes before proceeding with your purchase, as grading can be
subjective and varies from person to person. - Please do not place too much hope on grading companies to grade the notes accurately, as they can be notoriously inconsistent.
- Different graders have different opinions, eye factors, and knowledge that influence the final grading.
- Even grading companies do not guarantee that you will get the outcome of your desired grading.
- If
you have any questions or require additional information, I am more
than happy to assist. Please feel free to contact me anytime.
Shipping Information
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are estimates and depend on the operational efficiencies of the shipping
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Please note that international shipping via Australia Post is not
cheap. We strive to keep the shipping costs as low as possible,
sometimes even absorbing a portion of the costs. All orders are sent
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