The discovery of the Undersea Research Centre of the Russian Geographical Society has attracted attention of the Hermitage visitors. A caftan that has been lying in the depths of the sea for three hundred years is being exhibited in the famous Museum. Divers have uplifted this thing from sunken ship "Archangel Raphael".
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The German commercial ship "Raphael the Archangel" sank in 1724 in the Gulf of Finland. The ice crushed the ship, the crew escaped. In 2005 the ship was included to the list of the 100 most valuable underwater monuments of the Baltic sea. The expedition has uplifted from the depths of the sea casks with grain and a fat, bag of wool, utensils, and some clothes, including the caftan.
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Now caftan is presented at the exhibition "The Hermitage collection of textile" in the section "Restoration". Caftan is well preserved in the water because it was impregnated with tar. Specialists of the Laboratory for scientific restoration of textile cleared kaftan and sewed up the hole. After purification it became clear that kaftan has got original color of mustard. Besides, the owner of the suit was carefull – holes on the sleeves was sewn with linen thread. Now the kaftan looks like new!
Look at the result of the work of archaeologists, divers and restorers from the 29th of July to the 15th of October.