The exposition of the Museum of Local Lore, dedicated to the events of 1812 in the Polotschina, presented several awards in honor of the victories of the Russian army in the battles with the French. One of them is the medal “In Memory of the Patriotic War of 1812” of dark bronze, which unlike the silver “battle” medal, was awarded to representatives of the nobility and merchants who contributed to the victory of the Russian troops. The award was established in August 1814, eight months after the issuance of silver medals, which in turn were intended for all participants in the battles from a simple soldier to a general.
On the obverse of the medal there is an image of the "all-seeing eye", below - the inscription "1812 year." The reverse side of the award contains an inscription in four lines “NOT TO US // NOT TO US // BUT TO YOUR NAME”, which is an abbreviation of the quotation from the Psalms and literally means “Do not give us, do not give us glory to Your name, but by your grace, by your truth and give all to yourself.”
Medal with a diameter of 21 mm (small bronze medal), was attached to the Vladimir ribbon. Total circulation - 7 606 thousand copies. Initially it was planned to release it with a profile portrait of Emperor Alexander I. However, for unknown reasons, the medal was minted with a radiant “all-seeing eye”. The soldiers spoke about it with some irony, as if it was the “eye” of M.I. Kutuzov: "He, fathers, has one eye, but he sees them more than the other with two."
Among the participants of the war of 1812, the medal was very popular and was revered in all segments of Russian society, becoming a kind of "certificate" of participation in the liberation war, which was perceived by the people as a nationwide feat.
