Saint Aleksandr Nevskii, from War: Mystical Images of War

<p>The last of fourteen plates represents the thirteenth century hero Alexander Nevsky, who as Prince of Novgorod defeated the Swedes on the Neva river and so became known as Nevsky. later, in 1242, he won a stillmore-resounding victory over the German Knights of the Teutonic Order on the ice of Lake Peipus. His last achievement was a diplomatic mission to the Tatars, and he died on his return journey in 1263. When Peter the Great built his new capital, St. Petersburg, he had a great monastery erected there to enshrine the body of the saint, who became the protector of the city. In 1750 the Empress Elizabeth had a splendid sarcophagus, surrounded by trophies, made for the shrine from the first silver quarried from the mines at Kolyvan. Although this was moved to the Hermitage Museum after the Revolution, Alexander Nevsky is still honored as a national hero, and was the subject of a famous film of 1938 by Sergei Eisenstein.</p>