Palekh, Black (Original)

Palekh is a village in the central Russia with a population of about 5.000 people. One of centres of the traditional Russian art. The original Palekh playing cards were created in 1937 by the Russian artist Pavel Bazhenov (borned in 1904, lost in 1941, specialized in theater and traditional Russian art). These original Palekh cards were created to the World Expo in Paris and were avaliable in France only (quickly sold). In 1967 these cards were reprinted by the Leningrad (St.Petersburg) factory of color printing to commemorate their 150-years anniversary with similar but simplified design. These cards were officially named as \\\'Jubilee\\\' playing cards but became well known abroad as Black Palekh playing cards. In 1982 one more simplified version of these cards was printed at the same Leningrad factory - the \\\'Souvenir\\\' playing cards. These were the White Pelekh cards.