Medal Commemorating the Capture of Azov in 1696
Medallist: Johannes Lefken. 1740-е
- Silver. D-50.9. Total weight: 82.10 g
- Мед.А-233
In spring 1696, the Russian army, led by the military governor Alexei Shein, started the second Azov campaign. Joint actions of the army and the fleet were successful, and on July 19, 1696 the garrison of the Ottoman fortress surrendered. Capturing the fortress of Azov was the first Peter the Great’s significant victory. In 1697, while the tsar was staying in Amsterdam, he ordered a medal stating: “Conqueror by lightning and waters” from Jan Boskam, one of the medallists of the Utrecht mint. Almost all copies of the medal were distributed abroad. Subsequently, other craftsmen made multiple copies of it. During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna the medallist Johannes Lefken created his own version of the medal (based on the medal made by Fyodor Alekseyev) with an original portrait of Peter the Great.