Emperors' offices

The working day of the emperors took place in their offices, which existed in all residences, on all imperial yachts and trains. Empresses also had study rooms.

The royal offices were secure rooms, with a special security order. Since important documents were stored in them, no one could enter his office in the absence of the emperor. After the emperor left the residence the office was sealed until his next visit. Servants could only enter the emperor's office for cleaning purposes if accompanied by officials from the Palace Police. The interior design of the cabinets was determined by the personal choice of the monarchs.

According to an unspoken tradition, the office of the deceased emperor was turned into a memorial room, the appearance of which was preserved unchanged for posterity. It was a tribute to the royal parents. Only after a generation were changes and use of this premises for other needs allowed. The grandchildren could now begin redevelopment, preserving only the individual memorial premises of the former residential halves. Until 1917, there were two such “memorial zones” in the Winter Palace. This is the office of Nicholas I on the first floor, where he died on a camp bed in February 1855. Near the office, some rooms dating back to the Nicholas era were also preserved.

It is curious that, following this tradition, after the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917, his study in the Winter Palace was preserved as a memorial. The walls, furniture, etc. were covered with fabric. After the Winter Palace was “taken” by the Bolsheviks in October 1917, workers, soldiers and sailors destroyed all the memorial premises, outraged by the fact that the “temporaries” wanted to keep them intact.

K.A. Ukhtomsky. Small office of Emperor Nicholas I in the Winter Palace. Mid-19th century

The first owner Alexander Palace was Alexander I. All the living quarters of the royal family were on the ground floor. This tradition, despite numerous restructurings, was maintained until 1917. Cabinet of Alexander I located on the first floor right wing Alexander Palace. It was a spacious corner hall with six windows overlooking the garden 57. Under Nicholas I, this hall housed the office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. And at the end of the 19th century. The “Blue Living Room” was set up here.

Cabinet of Nicholas I was also located on the ground floor right wing Alexander Palace 58. The office windows overlooked the palace courtyard. The interiors of the office were preserved for almost 40 years, until renovation in 1896.

Alexander Palace. Lithograph based on a drawing by E. Mayer. 1840

Since the emperor lived in the palace as if he were “in the country,” ornamental plants were placed in a box in front of his desk. In 1843, the first electromagnetic telegraph apparatus in Russia was installed in the office of Nicholas I, connected to the office of the Minister of Railways.

E.P. Gau. Nicholas I's office in the Alexander Palace. 1845

Alexander III's office The Alexander Palace was located almost opposite the office of Nicholas I. Two windows of the office looked out onto the garden of the Alexander Palace 59. Descriptions of this office and its photographs have reached us, since its interior was preserved after 1917.

The office of Alexander III in the Alexander Palace. Before 1931

The office contained heavy oak furniture covered with dark blue leather. The desk was made of laminated wood with a bronze finish. Along the wall there was a giant ottoman 5 m long and 1 m 80 cm wide. The floor was decorated with a Persian carpet. In the corner by the window there was a telephone, which was used to call carriages, and children's furniture. Probably the eldest sons played in this office while their father worked. The walls of the office were decorated with paintings, mostly by the artist Bogolyubov, with marine subjects.

The office of Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Alexander Palace bore little resemblance to a working space, since it was decorated in the form of a living room.

The office of Nicholas II in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo. 1932

In 1895–1896 renovations began in the Alexander Palace, during which “half” of the young Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna were equipped. This “half” was located on the first floor left side palace During the renovation, his office 60 was made for the emperor. Two windows of the tsar’s office, like the entire half of it, looked out onto the courtyard of the Alexander Palace. After another office of the king was equipped, this room began to be simply called the “Old Office.” Like all the rooms in this half, the “Old Office” was designed in the then fashionable Art Nouveau style. It was here that Nicholas II received the morning reports of ministers and dignitaries.

Maria Feodorovna's office in the Alexander Palace

The walls are cabinet of Nicholas II were painted with dark green paint on top. The bottom of the wall was decorated with walnut panels. All the furniture in the office was also made of walnut.

Nicholas II's desk in the office of the Alexander Palace

Apparently, when decorating the office, the designers received instructions from the king. This is evidenced by the huge ottoman “like my father’s.” There was a huge Persian carpet on the floor. The office contained quite a lot of books (about 700 volumes), mainly on history, and publications dedicated to the House of Romanov.

Feather in the form of a snipe figurine. 1890s Russia

The desktop was made in the shape of the letter “G”. A lamp with a lampshade was mounted above it on a rotating rod; with the help of a special block it was raised and lowered above the table. The entire table is densely covered with family photographs and various objects. The emperor smoked a lot, so in his office there were many things related to the smoking process. Among them was a leather ashtray, which the children gave to their father in 1916. On the table were two smoking pipes - hemp and cherry. On the table near the ottoman was a lighter in the shape of an antique lamp. There was a crystal bell on the table; during intimate family dinners, servants were called with it.

The “new” office of Emperor Nicholas II. Alexander Palace

Among the tabletop portraits, it is worth mentioning the miniature portrait on bone of Alexandra Fedorovna by V. I. Zuev (1906). Also on the table was a drawing of the Empress’s elder sister, Elizaveta Feodorovna, with a portrait of Alexandra Feodorovna, dated “May 27, 1894 Nlyshskoe.” It is noteworthy that this drawing was made from memory, since in May 1894 Alexandra Feodorovna was still the Hessian Princess Alyx, living in England, but the issue of the wedding with the heir had already been decided. There was also a photograph on the king’s table with a portrait of A.A. Vyrubova.

Some time later they equipped second office Nicholas II, called the “Big”, or “New”, office 61. The office was really large - with four windows. It had a passage through the mezzanine to the half of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Dignitaries were also received in this office, and the empress, sitting on the mezzanine, could listen to these reports.

The ceiling of the office was made of mahogany. The walls are painted blue-green, and a lynx skin is thrown on the floor.

Some of the office furniture is covered with morocco, the other with fabric. In the office there was a billiard table, on which they played after a late lunch. During the war, military cards were laid out on the billiard table. There were many books and photo albums in the office. There were numerous photographs and drawings on the huge desk.

After the outbreak of World War I, secrecy in the imperial offices became much stricter. Since military maps with the operational situation marked on them were kept in this office of Nicholas II, “no one dared to enter his office: neither the empress, nor the children, nor the servants. The keys were with the Sovereign” 62.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna also had her own office in the Alexander Palace. Since its walls were covered with lilac fabric, this office was called “Lilac” 63. The furniture in the office was painted with ivory enamel paint.

“Lilac” (“Lilac”) office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. One of the corners of the office

Alexandra Fedorovna spent most of her time in this office. 5 o'clock tea was sometimes served here. The family gathered there in the evenings. The office had two windows overlooking the park. Near one of the windows, in the corner, stood a favorite family chair, depicted in many photographs. It was so conveniently turned towards the window that the light fell well on the book in his hands; a wall lamp-sconce was mounted above the chair, illuminating the chair in the evening.

Alexandra Fedorovna in her favorite chair in the “Lilac” office

It should be noted that the Empress’s “Lilac” office was divided into several cozy zones, each of which was illuminated by local electric lamps. There were two sofas in the office, one of them was a corner one. There was a shelf along the walls, completely filled with photographs dear to the empress. The white piano, which the Empress often played, fit well into the cozy interior.

L. Premazzi. Cameron Gallery and Zubovsky building. Mid-19th century

Heir Alexander Nikolaevich in the 1840s. occupied the Zubov wing of the Grand Catherine Palace. Previously, the residential half of Empress Catherine II was located there. The Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace was built according to the design of the architect Yu.M. Felten in 1779–1785. The outbuilding received its name after the favorite of Catherine II P.A. Zubov, since his apartments were located there.

The office of Alexander II in the Zubovsky wing of the Catherine Palace.

Photo from the 1930s.

Alexander II spent his honeymoon in 1841 in Tsarskoe Selo and specifically in the Zubovsky wing. By this time, two halves had been renewed there - the crown prince and the crown princess. The couple lived in these rooms until their death. Maria Alexandrovna spent her last spring season there in 1879, and Alexander II last lived in Tsarskoe Selo in 1880.

Half of Alexander II in the Zubovsky wing included 10 rooms: Front, Reception, Standard (Znamennaya), Arsenal, Pantry, Asian, Study, Toilet (restroom), Valet, Dressing room. Receptions and business meetings took place in the Office, Reception and Dressing Room 64.

A photograph of Alexander II's office taken in the 1930s has been preserved. The interior of the office of the Zubov wing was reminiscent of the interior of the tsar's office in the Winter Palace, the center of which was a massive desk.

“Turkish” (“Asian”) room in the Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace. 1850s

On the right wall there are many paintings depicting the king's wife and children. On the table there are two candelabra with four candles. Behind the king, on the wall, are many “military” watercolors. It is noteworthy that these watercolors are “author’s”. The fact is that Alexander II, being a good draftsman, sketched many sketches of military uniforms, some of them were apparently used when changing the uniform of the Russian army during the military reform in the 1860s. The royal desk was decorated with a bust of Emperor Nicholas I, who looked sternly at his son.

On the second floor of the Zubovsky wing there was half of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. And although the empress, when rebuilding “her” rooms, was guided primarily by the desire to create comfortable living conditions, she liked the preserved interiors of Catherine II, so the previous decoration of the halls was almost not affected.

E. Gau. “Mirror” cabinet of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Zubovsky wing of the Catherine Palace. 1860s

The personal chambers of Empress Maria Alexandrovna began from the main Chinese Hall. Her favorite room was the Mirror (or Silver) Cabinet, which had preserved its interior from the time of Catherine II.

During the reign of Alexander II, when decorating the interiors of premises, furniture in the “boule” style was often used, the fashion for which arose in Europe back in the 1840s. The furniture was decorated with horn plates and brass. Under the term "boule" in the 1860s. Apparently, this already meant not only furniture made in the traditional style and technique, invented by A.Sh. Boule, but also objects made of rosewood, inlaid with metal and having a very distant resemblance to the technique of the French court master 65. One way or another, it was this furniture that Empress Maria Alexandrovna preferred to see in her rooms. In the Winter Palace, until 1917, the interiors of the three working offices of the Russian emperors: Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II were preserved. At the end of the 1920s. they were destroyed, and to this day, with some losses, only the Gothic cabinet of Nicholas II has survived. The remaining offices turned into ordinary exhibition rooms of a huge palace. Only in the last decade, in the room in which Alexander II’s office was located, his bust appeared, installed at the site of the emperor’s death on March 1, 1881.

Boule style chest of drawers

Office of Nicholas I. Over the thirty years of his life in the Winter Palace, Nicholas I developed two work rooms. When on the third floor of the Winter Palace in 1826–1827. When they arranged the living half of Nicholas I, along with other rooms, the emperor’s study was also decorated there. After the fire of 1837, the interiors of the office were recreated in their original form.

One of Nicholas I’s long-term employees described the “upper” office, which he examined in detail during one of the meetings in 1841. Baron M. Korff wrote that the office faced “windows towards the Admiralty”, that “around the entire room there are half-cabinets on which there are books and briefcases. In the middle of it there are two huge desks, in a parallel direction; the third is across the room, with a music stand attached to one end. In general, the order is amazing: nothing is piled up, nothing is lying around; every thing seems to be in its place... In the whole room there are only two huge windows, like gates, and in the wall between them there is a large malachite clock with the same dial... All the furniture, chairs and armchairs, without exception, are Karelian birch, upholstered in green morocco; only one sofa and not a single Voltaire 66 » 67 .

The daughter of Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, in her notes describes her father’s “model” office of 1838 in a completely different way: “A bright, welcoming room with four windows, two overlooking the square, two facing the courtyard.

E.P. Gau. Large office of Nicholas I in the Winter Palace. 1860s

There were three tables in it: one for working with ministers, another for one’s own work, the third with plans and models for military studies” 68 . However, in Ukhtomsky’s watercolor, dated to the mid-19th century, this room with four windows is called the Corner Living Room of Nicholas I. By definition, there could be no windows into the courtyard in this room, since two windows overlooked the Admiralty and two windows overlooked the Spit of Vasilievsky Island. Apparently, this was Olga Nikolaevna’s mistake, since she wrote her memoirs many years later.

K.A. Ukhtomsky. Corner living room of Emperor Nicholas I. Mid-19th century.

The redevelopment of the imperial half in the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace is associated with the appearance second office Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich. This office was equipped with ground floor northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace. The “new” office was a small narrow room, devoid of decor, with a whitewashed ceiling and walls covered with dark wallpaper. Naturally, in the office there was a desk and the emperor’s famous folding camp bed. Passers-by, walking along the embankment, could well look into the emperor's office and be convinced of his asceticism 69 .

Nicholas I's office on the first floor of the Winter Palace. The camp bed on which the emperor died

True, this asceticism was somewhat demonstrative in nature. Baron M. Korf mentions that “Emperor Nicholas only in the very last years of his life moved into that small office where he died” 70 .

E.P. Gau. Office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1858

Winter Palace

After the death of Nicholas I in February 1855, his office on the first floor of the Winter Palace was preserved as a memorial. The memory of Nikolai Pavlovich was honored. In February 1865, when it was ten years since the death of Nicholas I, Alexander II and his sons visited their father’s office and prayed there for a long time. Then a funeral service took place in the Small Church of the Winter Palace 71. Alexander III also honored his grandfather. The memoirist testifies that “he treasured the memory of his grandfather very much. In his offices he always stopped and talked about him” 72.

The wife of Nicholas I, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, also had her own in the palace study. It was located in private part of her apartment on the second floor of the northwestern risalit.

N.G. Chernetsov. Office of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (Alexander II). 1837 Winter Palace

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna described the office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna as follows: “It was a beautiful corner room overlooking the Neva, covered with green damask and amaranth, always filled with flowers” ​​73 . Now this is hall number 185.

The interior of Alexandra Feodorovna's office was destroyed during the renovation of 1895–1896, when an apartment for Nicholas II was equipped on the second floor of the palace.

In the early 1840s. arranged an apartment in the Winter Palace for the eldest son of Nicholas I, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Alexander II. Among the rooms in its half there was also a mandatory study.

Half of the crown prince was on the second floor of the southwestern projection of the Winter Palace. In this “territory” at the end of the 18th century. Emperor Alexander I lived. His bedroom later turned into the office of Alexander II 74.

Watercolors from different years depicting this office have been preserved, from which one can determine how its interior has changed. In a watercolor of 1837 N.G. Chernetsov is the empty workroom of a young 15-year-old Tsarevich. It can be seen that the table is turned towards the window so that the light falls on it from the left side. There is a couch between two alcoves. In the space between the windows, on a trellis, there are figures of papier-mâché soldiers under glass covers. This “pre-fire” office is empty and has not yet been lived in.

« E.P. Gau, Cabinet of Alexander II. 1850s Winter Palace

E. Gau's watercolors depict the appearance of the office in the 1850s. In one of the watercolors we see the Tsarevich sitting at his desk with two children. The couch has retained its usual place, but the table has already been moved away from the windows. Portraits of people dear to the king appeared on the table. The number of figures under glass covers has increased. On the wall there are many paintings with battle scenes surrounding a small portrait of Alexander I. The fact that the Tsarevich really works at this table is evidenced by three massive leather briefcases lying on one of the half-chairs. There is a stack of books and piles of documents on the table. The depicted mise-en-scène itself was conceived by the artist as a brief moment of relaxation from business, when his children ran into the Tsarevich for a moment and he looked up from his studies with a smile.

E.P. Gau. Cabinet of Alexander II. Second half of the 1850s and.

Winter Palace

Next we mention a watercolor by E. Gau, dated to the second half of the 1850s. It depicts that part of the office that was located behind the emperor's back. There are portraits on the wall. The central place is occupied by portraits of the young Maria Alexandrovna and a portrait of Nicholas I. On the sides are smaller portraits - apparently of grandparents - Empress Maria Feodorovna and Paul I. The couch is in the usual place between the alcoves, and on the wall half-cabinet there is a bust of teacher V.A. Zhukovsky. There is an icon in the corner of the window. Behind the emperor’s back is a large mirror with two candelabra for two candles.

In the watercolor by E. Gau, dated 1857, we already see the office not of the crown prince, but of the emperor. There are still the same portraits on the walls. The couch was removed behind the emperor's back, and in the partition between the alcoves a half-cabinet appeared, on which were three figures of soldiers under glass covers. Five more figures are installed on the half-cabinet in the alcove. Headdresses are now also stored under glass covers. These were the Cossack shakos of Nicholas I. Later, the shakos of the eldest son of Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, who died in 1865, were added to them. On the table, framed with a rounded top, are watercolor portraits of Empresses Maria Alexandrovna and Alexandra Feodorovna by the English artist K. Robertson. On the half-chairs placed at the table are the same leather briefcases with documents. For documents, a round table on three legs appeared next to the table. The wall between the columns of the alcoves is occupied by a mirror.

E.P. Gau. Cabinet of Alexander II. 1857 Winter Palace

Photographs of Alexander II's office in the Winter Palace have been preserved. In Levitsky's photograph from the 1870s. we see Alexander II sitting at his desk. The number of watercolors and photographs on the table has increased. The portraits on the wall changed. The central place was occupied by a portrait of his father, Emperor Nicholas I, flanked by two portraits of his wife, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. A portrait of the grandmother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, is also visible. Opposite the table, on the half-cabinet, appeared a bust of the deceased eldest son, Nikolai Alexandrovich. The portrait of Alexander I is hung on the wall between the alcoves, and below it are portraits of his daughter Maria Alexandrovna and his deceased son Nicholas. Next to the table are the same half-chairs with documents and a round table.

Alexander II's study in the Winter Palace. Photos from the 1920s and.

In the photograph of the office, taken in the 1920s, the interior already has significant losses. The portrait of Nicholas I disappeared from the wall. It is replaced by a portrait of Maria Alexandrovna. Of the portraits on the wall between the alcoves, only Alexander I remains. There are a few photographs on the table. The most significant addition was the addition of another table, which was not visible in earlier photographs.

It is noteworthy that the assassination attempts on Alexander II left their mark on the interior of his office. A German correspondent, received by Alexander II in his office, drew attention to the fact that “under glass covers, next to the Cossack shakos, the late Emperor Nicholas I and Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich” is kept “a pistol, which turned out to be the same one from which Karakozov shot at the sovereign 4 April 1866. The pistol was double-barreled, and one of the barrels remained loaded” 75. It was into this study that Alexander II was brought to die, mortally wounded by a terrorist bomb on March 1, 1881.

Ink device in the form of a steam locomotive. 1871

The office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was located on the second floor of the southwestern projection of the Winter Palace. The Empress lived in the Winter Palace for almost 40 years, from 1841 to 1880. Naturally, during this time her chambers were renovated several times. At the same time, both the layout and interiors changed. One of the chamber-jungfers described these rooms as follows: “The fourth room is an office: the walls and furniture are covered with light blue damask with white patterns; the back wall is semicircular and there is a semicircular sofa along the entire wall; in front of him at one end there was a table and armchairs, at the other - chairs and stools, in the middle of the room, quite close to the sofa, there was a couch on which the Grand Duchess constantly rested. On the couch lay a cushion 3/4 arshin long, on a pink cover with cambric embroidery and a pillowcase trimmed with lace: it was placed under the back, and a small similar cushion was placed on the cushion of the couch under the head. The desk stood against the wall near the door leading to the bedroom... In the opposite wall there was a fireplace... There was no library at all. Subsequently, on the right side of the round sofa, a small door was made, hidden under the drapery, leading to the stairs to the lower floor, to the children's rooms; Along the walls of this staircase there were shelves for books; The staircase was illuminated day and night by Karsel lamps, since it was built inside the walls and was completely dark.

E.P. Gau. “Crimson” office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. 1860s

The fifth room, very large, corner, covered with red fabric with gold arabesques; a large desk with a gold writing set, there was also a grand piano and a beautiful round mosaic table... This room was called the front office.”

Office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Photo by Levitsky

Perhaps the only photograph of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, taken in her “living” office by photographer Levitsky, has survived. This is really a living office, in which the sick empress spent most of the day. On the wall are portraits of Alexander II and his deceased son. The Empress sits in a low, comfortable chair and does needlework. It is noteworthy that the office in the 1870s. lit only by candles. The empress had diseased lungs and gas lighting for her half was not recommended by doctors.

After the death of Emperor Alexander II in March 1881, the family of Alexander III finally left the Winter Palace.

Therefore, since 1884, with the permission of the Minister of the Imperial Household I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov and Chief Marshal of the Highest Court E. Naryshkin, foreign and domestic people began to be allowed to inspect the personal apartments of the late Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna tourists"(This term is mentioned in official documents. - I. 3.). Especially many tourists came from England and the USA 76. On excursions around the palace, they were necessarily accompanied by palace security officers.

In 1887–1888 emperor Alexander III on the third floor of the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace will equip its half. It included the following rooms: Entrance Hall, First Entrance, Second Entrance, Third Entrance, His Majesty's Dressing Room, Dressing Room and Bathroom, Cabinet, Corner living room, second living room, library, wardrobe, two walk-through rooms behind the wardrobe, duty room and buffet. There are 15 rooms in total 77.

It should be noted that the tsar visited these rooms very rarely, but the office was required simply by status. Count S.D. Sheremetev recalled that Alexander III “himself took me to show the details. He said that the Karelian birch furniture belonged to Emperor Nicholas, and that he collected the rest of the furniture from the Tauride Palace. A beautiful portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich caught my eye as an image unusual for the Winter Palace... and led me into a corner room with views of the Neva in both directions. He said here that this was the former room of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, her boudoir, and therefore he ordered her old furniture to be returned here (before that Alexey Alexandrovich lived there)” 78. It should be added that all the personal rooms of Alexander III in the Winter Palace were considered secret, and their layout was a state secret.

The last royal offices were decorated in the Winter Palace during the renovation of the “royal” northwestern projection in 1895–1896. Among other rooms on the second floor of the palace they equipped two royal offices: Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The study of Nicholas II on the second floor of the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace

Judging by the photographs, both of these offices are corner ones. Only the windows of Alexandra Feodorovna’s office overlooked the Palace Bridge and the Admiralty, and the windows of Nicholas II’s office overlooked the Admiralty and his own garden. These rooms were part of personal apartments, so it was, above all, cozy and convenient. Comfort took precedence over luxury. The “heart” of the office was an ordinary “L”-shaped desk, illuminated by a lamp under a fabric lampshade. Judging by the photographs, the tsar’s office was decorated with elements of the “Russian style”: the arched door was decorated with forged slotted hinges. Nicholas II worked in the office of the Winter Palace from December 1895 to the spring of 1904, i.e. seven and a half years.

Desk in Alexandra Feodorovna's office in the Winter Palace

Details of the interiors of these premises began to be taken away already in the summer of 1917, when A.F. moved into the imperial half of the Winter Palace. Kerensky. Then they urgently brought out stylish furniture and fittings specially ordered for the palace. Instead, ordinary office furniture was delivered to the royal rooms: desks, chairs from the palace reserves and the premises of the former Palace Department. The walls, upholstered in silk, along with the paintings hung on them, were covered with canvas. Only the office of Nicholas II was preserved as a “memorial” one. A.F. himself Kerensky was located on the third floor above Nicholas II's half, in the former apartments of Alexander III 79. From the Malachite Living Room along the northern and western sides of the palace, in the former chambers of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II, the offices and apparatus of the government, the office of the minister-chairman were located (in the corner room, the former office of the queen). In the library of Nicholas II, A. F. Kerensky usually held meetings with the military. The government premises ended at the Saltykov Staircase 80.

A.F. Kerensky in the “Gothic” library of Nicholas II

During the storming of the Winter Palace, the office of Nicholas II was seriously damaged. The photograph shows a broken cabinet and walls beaten down to the plaster. Since no portraits were removed from the walls in the “memorial” office, one of the portraits of Nicholas II (“Nicholas II in a jacket” by V. Serov.

Nicholas II's office in the Winter Palace after the assault

In total, the artist painted two portraits, one of which is now on display in the Benois Wing of the Russian Museum) was pierced with a bayonet 81.

V. Serov. Portrait of Nicholas II in a jacket. 1900

In the Gatchina Palace, during its existence as a country imperial residence, interior spaces were consistently formed four study rooms of Russian emperors: Paul I, Nicholas I, Alexander II and Alexander III. Nicholas II also had his own office in the palace when he was crown prince. Starting from Nicholas I, all the emperors' workrooms were located in the Arsenal Square of the Gatchina Palace.

Gatchina Palace

The appearance of these premises can be imagined from the watercolors of Premazzi, Ukhtomsky and Gau that have come down to us. Some of the interiors have survived to this day. It should be remembered that the fate of the Gatchina Palace was especially difficult. The palace suffered very seriously during the Great Patriotic War; its exhibits were transferred to other museums during the evacuation, and what was left was plundered by the Nazis. After the war, for many years the palace was occupied by various organizations, which also did not contribute to the preservation of its historical appearance.

During the era of the Tsarevich, and then Emperor Pavel Petrovich, over the long years of his life, the Gatchina Palace was formed two offices on the 1st floor of the Central building of the palace: “Oval” and “Tower”. These small rooms faced the park. On the 2nd floor (mezzanine) of the main building of the palace the office of Empress Maria Feodorovna was located. The windows of this office overlooked the parade ground in front of the palace.

Under Emperor Nicholas I, more four work rooms:“Corner” and “Big Military” offices of Nicholas I. “Oak” and “Big” – Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

"Tower" office of Paul I in the Gatchina Palace

Judging by the watercolor, the “Great Military” office of Nicholas I was the embodiment of asceticism, which the tsar demonstrated wherever he could. The office was a large empty room, the walls of which were decorated with “military” paintings. On the walls were hung watercolors by Pirate and Langla with tables of uniforms of Russian troops.

"Oval" office of Paul I in the Gatchina Palace

A map of the Gatchina Palace and the surrounding area was attached to a special stand. The emperor's desk was moved to the windows. There was a couch against one of the walls, next to the fireplace, and a washbasin next to it in the corner. The room is very ascetic both in decor and interior decoration. Monograms of Nicholas I are woven into the stucco ceiling. On the half-cabinet in the office, next to the bust of Nicholas I (sculptor Zaleman), there is a design for a steam engine for a steam locomotive of the Nikolaev Railway. Three office windows looked out onto the park.

The “corner” office of Nicholas I, located in the octagonal tower of the Arsenal building, was a kind of replica of the “Tower” office of Paul I.

The front offices of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - “Oak” and “Big” - are part of the front rooms of the residential half of the imperial palace. All these offices were preserved until 1917.

"Great military" office of Nicholas I in the Gatchina Palace

Alexander II and his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna had two offices in the Gatchina Palace. They were also located on the 1st floor of the Arsenal building. They did not have any special names and were simply called “offices”.

The office of Alexander II, according to the tradition that had developed under Paul I, was located in an octagonal tower, diagonally from the “Corner” office of Nicholas I. Its windows overlooked the parade ground in front of the palace. Decorated in green tones, the office contained a desk, two half-cabinets, and two cozy semicircular sofas, integrated into the geometry of the walls. Next to the sofas there was a small round table. The main decoration of the walls were small paintings depicting soldiers and officers in the uniform of various regiments of the Russian army. The office was heated by a fireplace.

“Corner” office of Nicholas I on the 3rd floor of the tower

Two windows of Maria Alexandrovna’s small office faced the current railway station. The office, decorated in greenish chintz, was decorated with portraits of the empress’s children. Luxurious bent furniture, made in the workshop of the Gumbs brothers, fit well into the interior of a small room, creating a feeling of comfort and homeliness. The empress’s desk does not give the impression of a “worker”; its shape fits so organically into the atmosphere of this “boudoir office”.

E.P. Gau. “Big” office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1876

"Oak" office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

E.P. Gau. The office of Alexander II in the Tower of the Arsenal building of the Gatchina Palace. 1862

After a sudden departure from St. Petersburg at the end of March 1881, the family of Alexander III began to settle in the Arsenal Square of the Gatchina Palace. The emperor did not “touch” the living halves of his grandfather and father. He occupied the “mezzanine” floor of the Gatchina Palace, which had previously been completely unclaimed by top officials. This decision horrified Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was accustomed to the more comfortable and truly “palace” premises of the Anichka Palace. Then she wrote to her family in Denmark: “We moved suddenly, leaving the younger children there, because the little one had a cold and could not go out. Leaving my beloved, cozy house in Anichkovo for this large, uninhabited, empty castle, in the middle of winter, cost me a lot of tears, but hidden, because poor Sasha was so happy to leave the city, which had become disgusting to him after all the horror and grief what we experienced there" 82.

Arsenal building of the Gatchina Palace. Small windows – on the “mezzanine” floor

However, Maria Fedorovna eventually came to terms with and even fell in love with “her mezzanines.” However, to “fresh” people, the royal premises with low vaulted ceilings made a strong impression with their non-royal simplicity. Russian monarchs have never lived like this before.

Over time, on the 2nd, “mezzanine” floor of the Arsenalny square, entire five offices members of the family of Alexander III: the office of Alexander III, the office of Ksenia Alexandrovna, the office of Mikhail Alexandrovich, the office of Georgy Alexandrovich and the office of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.

Alexander III placed his office, of course, in an octagonal tower, exactly above the “Corner” office of Nicholas I. And if we take into account the fact that above, on the 3rd floor in the same tower, the “Reception” office of Alexander III was located, then a twisted staircase running inside the octagonal tower connected the three working offices of the Russian emperors, located one above the other.

Office of Alexander III in the Gatchina Palace

Judging by the photograph of 1940, the study of Alexander III was primarily functional; there was no trace of palace luxury there. And in the room with very low vaulted ceilings there was no space for “luxury”. The main place in the office was occupied by the desk, turned towards the window, in the space between the windows. Above the table is a lamp with a fabric shade. In the office there was another table, a sofa and two massive armchairs. Apparently, one had to be careful moving through the crowded office. The photograph shows that a wooden stool, shaped like a barrel, has been pushed under the second table. It has been preserved. At the exhibition dedicated to Alexander III, this stool was called a “pot stool. Second half of the 19th century."

In the Gatchina Palace, on the walls of the personal chambers of Emperor Alexander III, mainly paintings of the Itinerants, whom the emperor loved so much, hung. It was no coincidence that there was a portrait of K.P. hanging in his office. Pobedonostsev brushes K.E. Makovsky. This was not only the emperor’s teacher, but also the main ideologist of his reign, who “frozen” Russia after the liberal reforms of Alexander II.

Stool-vase from the office of Alexander III in the Gatchina Palace

Contemporaries, of course, were interested in everything connected with the tsar’s private, private life. Therefore, they listened with interest to everything related to this, including information about the tsar’s manner of listening to reports in his office, and everything related to the furnishings of the tsar’s office. At the end of 1888, Alexander III received Senator A.F. in Gatchina. Kony, who reported to the king about court cases for an hour and a half. The senator was “struck by the king’s furnishings: a low office, very small, on the writing table there is blue cloth, there is a sheet of dirty papier-buvard 83, a simple inkwell, next to a white cloth for wiping the pen, which Koni paid special attention to, since the sovereign had repeatedly He took it to wipe off the pen that he didn’t write, and during the conversation he made notes with this pen. During the conversation, the king stood up and began to walk around the room. Kony also stood up, but the sovereign ordered him to sit down” 84.

Memoirists also left mentions of the nature of the receptions in this office. The fact that Alexander III sat speakers in the chair in his offices was also mentioned by those who worked with the emperor constantly. So, A.A. Polovtsev, who had in the 1880s. weekly report to the king, each time he noted in his diary that the emperor “invites me to sit opposite him at the desk” 85. Count S.D. Sheremetev mentions that during a reception in his Gatchina office, Alexander III “always pulled up a chair so that I could sit down” 86, unlike his father, Nicholas II received “one-time” speakers in his offices only standing.

Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg

Anichkov Palace was one of the St. Petersburg residences of Russian emperors, along with the Winter Palace. From 1817 to 1825 Nicholas I lived there, calling the palace “Own”. From 1825 to 1855 Nicholas I lived there periodically. From 1855 to 1866, the palace was one of the residences of Alexander II. In 1866, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich settled there with Tsarevna Maria Fedorovna. Their children were born there, they grew up there and received their education. After the Tsarevich became Emperor Alexander III on March 1, 1881, the Anichkov Palace retained its status as a “personal” imperial residence. After the death of Alexander III in 1894, the palace remained with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna until the February Revolution of 1917.

“Crimson” living room of Empress Maria Feodorovna. 1869

In this palace, an important role was given to the workrooms of Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. " Raspberry living room was considered the princess's office; judging by the lithograph of 1869, it was a luxurious secular living room. On a separate table under a glass cover was kept a rarity - a silver bouquet made by the Moscow jeweler Ovchinnikov “of roses, carnations, dahlias, lilies of the valley, carefully trimmed and mostly gilded,” received on the occasion of their betrothal in 1866.

The study of Alexander III in the Anichkov Palace was located on the 2nd floor in a corner room, two windows of which looked out onto the garden and two onto Nevsky Prospekt. This office was well known in St. Petersburg, since the emperor, when relaxing, loved to sit on the windowsill and watch the bustling life of Nevsky Prospekt. He looked at passers-by and at store signs. This was his form of relaxation. During the Anichkov balls, he invited interlocutors of interest to him to this office in order to discuss certain issues.

The office of Alexander III in the Anichkov Palace

According to the established order, no one could enter the emperor’s office in his absence. When the emperor left the residence, this room was sealed. The seal on the doors remained until the owner of the office returned. Alexander III maintained strict order in his personal belongings: “His desk was an inviolable shrine. No one dared to touch it; he removed it himself and jealously protected it from intrusion” 87.

Lower dacha of Nicholas II in Peterhof

Alexander III also had another, less well-known, office, which he built for himself on the “tower” of the 3rd floor, where he retired to study. The office had only two windows, a small table and sparse furniture 88 . The tsar valued this office because they tried not to disturb him there, because if he moved from the front office to the 3rd floor, this meant that the tsar wanted to be alone, solving strategic issues. The lower dacha became the main residence of Nicholas II in Peterhof. This was the only palace built specifically for the king’s family during the 23 years of his reign.

Nicholas II's office. Lower dacha. Peterhof. Alexandria. Photo 1927–1932

Naturally, there was a study room there for Nikolai Alexandrovich. In accordance with established traditions, the office was furnished with heavy carved furniture covered with green morocco. The cabinet walls in the lower part were trimmed with walnut panels. The upper part of the walls is covered with embossed leather. Opposite the king's desk was a chair with a high back for speakers. The Tsar’s own chair at his desk was the same as on the Shtandart: swiveling, with a semicircular back. The lighting in the office was mixed; along with electric lamps, there were candelabra with candles on the table.

V. Serov. Emperor Alexander III in the uniform of the Danish Royal Life Guards Regiment. 1899

On the wall of the office hung a portrait of Alexander III in a Danish uniform by V. Serov. This portrait was in the office of Nicholas II until the early 1930s.

E.P. Gau. “Naval” office of Nicholas I in the Cottage. Alexandria. Peterhof. 1855

The Cottage, built at the turn of 1820–1830, was equipped with the “Marine” office of Nicholas I. Three windows of the office overlooked the Gulf of Finland and resembled the aft cabin of a warship. Actually, that’s why it got the name “Morskoye”. The office furniture was oak and, as Nikolai Pavlovich liked, covered in green morocco. Along the walls there were half-cabinets on which stood busts of people dear to the emperor: his daughters and wife. The walls were decorated with paintings of naval battle scenes. The “heart” of the office is a long table covered with green cloth.

The office of Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Cottage. Photo before 1941

After the death of Nicholas I, this office was preserved as a memorial, since Alexander II preferred to live and work in the neighboring Farmer's Palace during the summer months.

E.P. Gau. "Big" office of Alexander II in the Farmers' Palace. 1860 State Museum "Peterhof"

Later, Alexander III worked in the Cottage, using the office of his grandfather, Nikolai Pavlovich. Naturally, works of art accumulated in the study rooms. For example, “a forged silver dish in the shape of a leaf of a marsh jug; in the middle is the flower itself, forged in flat relief with overlays of colored gold; At the bottom of the sheet, a honeycomb pattern is visible. On the reverse side there are 5 legs, in the form of snails emerging from shells.” This is the work of American goldsmith Tiffany. In this office there were several more things “from Tiffany”: “A spirit lamp forged from silver in the Japanese style, decorated with herbs, leaves and symbolic signs of Taikun, partly covered with dark green paint, partly superimposed on golden metal... An ashtray forged from silver, triangular shape. At the bottom there is a relief image of a mouse" 89 .

Imperial yacht "Polar Star"

Since breaks in the work of the Russian emperors were not provided for, all means of transport were also required to be equipped with work rooms.

In the last third of the 19th century. Three large yachts were built for the Russian emperors. The first experience of such construction was unsuccessful. The yacht “Livadia” was laid down on a slipway in England in 1880. The royal order was fulfilled very quickly, and three months later the yacht was launched. In September 1880 she left England. The imperial yacht was luxuriously decorated. The design features of the yacht (the “Popovka” project) made it possible to equip large cabins and salons for the royal family and Suite. The total area of ​​premises allocated for these purposes was 3950 m2. The height of the ceilings of the reception room and the emperor's office was four meters. There was even a working fountain built on the yacht, surrounded by a flower bed. This was the first electrified imperial yacht, illuminated by “Yablochkov candles” 90. However, despite all the luxury, the design of the vessel turned out to be extremely unsuccessful and the vessel was removed from the list of imperial yachts.

The new imperial yacht “Polar Star” was laid down in 1888 and launched in 1890. Naturally, the yacht was beautifully decorated, the unique interior interiors were not inferior in luxury to those of the palace. The yacht had high seaworthiness.

A significant part of the stern part of the ship was allocated for imperial premises. The imperial aft deckhouse was divided by a bulkhead into two parts: a vestibule and a smoking room. From the lobby, a gangway led to the first deck into the vast imperial dining room with 14 windows. Along the starboard side of the "Polar Star" there were: the empress's office with two windows, the empress's bedroom, the emperor's bedroom and the office of Emperor Alexander III 91.

At the end of the reign of Alexander III, the third ocean-going yacht “Standard” was laid down in Denmark. It was launched into the water already under Emperor Nicholas II. Since the yacht was built by the Danes, the interior decoration of the yacht was done by the Danish artist L. Monberg. To decorate it, many things were transported from old yachts: furniture and silverware from the yachts “Derzhava” and “Livadia”. By special order of Nicholas II, gilding was not used for interior decoration.

Imperial yacht "Standart"

On the yacht "Standard", so beloved by the imperial family, the imperial half was designed as a single block. It included premises for Nicholas II (living room, bedroom, study, bathroom) and two empresses - Alexandra Feodorovna and Maria Feodorovna. The tsar’s office on the yacht was not much different from his “land” offices. The same heavy furniture covered in morocco, the same electric lamps and sconces on the walls, the same many photographs. Among the “marine” details, we can mention the wall barometer. Another barometer stood on the king's desk. A rare interior detail was a large electric fan standing on a trellis. The emperor's desk was installed in a partition between two windows, “facing” them. It is noteworthy that along with electric lighting in the interior of the office there were also the usual candles in candelabra. The royal office has four windows. Exactly the usual windows, not portholes.

Nicholas II, while on a yacht, preferred to work with documents on deck in good weather. A wicker chair with a table was placed for him, on which he laid out his papers. Next to him, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was doing needlework.

Nicholas II's office at the Shtandart

Thus, over the decades, the Russian emperors developed a rather intense daily routine, which was literally passed on from generation to generation: a morning walk, morning reports before breakfast, breakfast, a short walk and again work until five o’clock tea, then a short rest and work until lunch . The evening was dedicated to social events. However, if there were still cases, then, according to an unwritten tradition, they were completed at night. The emperors clearly understood that the unfinished business today would be followed by an equally large pile of business tomorrow. Therefore, in their letters and remarks there was often a comparison of their work with indefinite penal servitude or service. When in Livadia, Emperor Nicholas II, checking new soldiers’ uniforms, made a forced march with full equipment, then at the end of it he was asked to fill out a soldier’s book, in which he personally indicated the period of his “service” - “until the grave.”

Nicholas II in soldier's uniform. Livadia

Accordingly, all imperial residences were equipped with “workplaces.” The state machine could not stop for a minute, and the “Highest Decisions” were one of the main impulses for its work.

Closely connected with the fate of the royal family. Therefore, we could not help but visit the Governor’s House, where the Romanovs lived during their Tobolsk exile.

The Governor's House now houses the administration of the Tobolsk region. Unfortunately, not the whole house is a museum, but only one of its rooms – the office of Nicholas II. It was restored from photographs taken in those distant troubled times. And I must admit, almost one to one. I would like to note that this is the only surviving building in Russia that is associated with the Romanov family’s stay in exile.

The Governor's House is located in Podgora. After visiting the Tobolsk Kremlin, we moved to the lower part of the city with the goal of trying our luck and getting into the office of Nicholas II.

It was a day off. The administration does not work on weekends, therefore the Governor's House with the office of Nicholas II is also closed. But we're lucky! The guide, a very, very nice woman who happened to be at her workplace, agreed to give us a tour. Her story was so poignant, filled with tragic emotions, that it touched us to the core.

At the beginning of August 1917, the family of the Russian emperor who abdicated the throne was sent to Tobolsk. Upon arrival, they were accommodated in the house of the former governor. It was from here that the royal family was taken to Yekaterinburg to die.

Tobolsk was close to Nicholas II and his family three times. This was not an accidental city in the history of the last emperor's family.

Nicholas II's first visit to Tobolsk occurred in July 1891, long before the revolution. Then Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov was the heir to the throne. In Tobolsk, he visited the Kremlin, the provincial museum and rang the Uglichesky bell.

A friend of the royal family, Grigory Rasputin, came from the Tobolsk province. And the third episode - with the direct participation of the Romanovs, Metropolitan John of Tobolsk was canonized in 1916.

In August 1917, the family of Nicholas II arrived in Tobolsk by ship. The governor's house, which had been allocated for the family's residence, was not ready to receive them, so the family lived on the ship for another whole week. 45 people arrived with the royal family. These were physician Botkin, the Tsarevich’s tutor, close associates and servants. The family of Nicholas II lived on the second floor, and all the servants lived on the first floor.

Tobolsk was a quiet, calm town, not engulfed in revolution, so the life of the Romanovs at first was also quite quiet and calm. However, they were forbidden to appear in the city.

Every day the children did their homework, and Nicholas II worked in his office. I was struck by the fact that Nicholas himself personally taught some subjects to Tsarevich Alexei. Can you imagine how broad his knowledge of science was, because even now not every teacher can teach geography and history at the same time.

During the day they walked and did work in the yard - Nicholas II, for example, very often sawed wood. Now in the courtyard of the Provincial House they have recreated the place where firewood was prepared.

In the evening, the Romanovs and their entourage gathered for tea and talked. A month after their arrival in Tobolsk, the royal family received the opportunity to visit the Annunciation Church. Now this church cannot be found on the map of Tobolsk - it was demolished.

When winter came, the evenings were spent doing needlework, games and amateur performances.

After the October Revolution, the life of the Romanovs became more stressful. In February 1918, the Romanovs were transferred to soldiers' rations, since the new government declared that it did not have the means to support the family of the former tsar.

Residents of Tobolsk treated the royal family with great respect. When the family went out for service, people gathered around the fence, not to look at the king out of curiosity, but to express their respect to him.

When the guide told us about how the royal family lived in Tobolsk in recent months, a lump appeared in my throat and tears welled up in my eyes.

At the end of March 1918, all persons who were under the tsar, not excluding the servants, were arrested. Then Tsarevich Alexei fell ill. At the same time, Commissioner Yakovlev arrives with a mandate signed by Sverdlov to transport the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg. Since Alexey could not travel due to illness, he and his sisters were left in Tobolsk.

On April 13, 1918, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fedorovna, Princess Maria and their entourage left for Yekaterinburg. A week later, the remaining members of the royal family left Tobolsk, setting off on their last journey. And on the night of July 16-17, 1918, the royal family was shot without trial or investigation in the mansion of engineer Ipatiev here in Yekaterinburg.

How to get there:

We take the train Sverdlovsk-Nizhnevartovsk No. 342. Departure time is 19.45 local time. We arrive in Tobolsk at 05.35, also local time. The ticket price is a little more than 500 rubles one way.

We get from the station to the city by bus or taxi. Buses run every 15 minutes. The fare is 10 rubles. Taxi fare is 50 rubles per person.

If you are traveling in the summer, you can go to the city immediately after the train arrives, because... it will be light enough, and you can take pictures of the Kremlin on a quiet, deserted morning.

If you are traveling in winter, I suggest sitting at the station for a while so that you don’t freeze later when exploring the Kremlin. We warmed ourselves in the Governor's Palace. The first time was after a walk, the second time was when we went there on an excursion.

The museum office is open daily from 9.00 to 17.00, except Saturday and Sunday. If you want to come on the weekend, you need to call and arrange your visit in advance by calling 6-27-76.

Photos of the royal family and Tsar Nicholas II were taken from the Siberian Orthodox Newspaper website,

I wish you small and big discoveries that decorate our lives!

The personal rooms of Nicholas II are separated from Alexandra Feodorovna’s half by a corridor, in which there were guards after ten o’clock in the evening. The Romanovs did not go out in the evenings; for communication between the rooms of Nikolai and Alexandra there was only a passage through the mezzanine, above the corridor.

The palace was carefully guarded. In the basements of the Alexander Palace, under the Romanovs’ bedroom, connected to it by an electric bell, there was an officer’s duty room. At the first alarm, the officers had to rush to the queen's half.

In the corridor there are many paintings for which there was no place in the private rooms; among them are works by Surikov, Ryabushkin, Roerich and two works by Repin: “The Dungeon” and a portrait of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, from whom Nicholas II descended. One of the walls is hung with wooden carved dishes presented with “bread and salt” to Nicholas II during his travels around Rossini during the solemn celebration of the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty.

The first room of half of Nicholas II -. Previously it served as a dining room. In the diary of Nicholas II, similar entries are often found: “On May 24 (1915 - L. B). Sunday... We had lunch in my reception room, just like in the good old days. In the evening, with Marie’s help, we pasted photographs of our latest trips into an album.”

The walls were decorated with a tall oak panel ending in a wide shelf on which were vases, small plastic items and wooden dishes. On the shelf were several valuable glasses of artistic work, made in memory of the entry of Russian troops into Paris (March 19, 1814), and three glasses of the 18th century. Here is a turium horn in a silver frame.

Above the panels, the walls were covered with a preserved French runner with a stencil pattern (this fabric was purchased at the request of Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna).

Came down from the ceiling chandelier forged bronze in Russian style. (installed in the palace by F. Meltzer in 1899). The floor was covered with Persian carpet

Furniture made of oak, covered with green leather. The room always contained a large table with a handmade tablecloth and oak furniture covered with green English leather.

The walls of the reception area occupied paintings by the personal choice of the king. Let us note “Harvest in Little Russia” by the artist Pimonenko and “Evening in the Field” by Krachkovsky and the painting by I. Vladimirov: “Russian troops are pursuing German artillery,” painted in 1915... On the opposite wall hung a portrait of Alexandra Fedorovna, by Müller-Norden. Painting, standing on the easel is a watercolor by Kosyakov: “Nicholas’s Journey along the Dnieper and Desna.” Paintings acquired or ordered by Nicholas II are currently in the collection of the State Museum-Reserve “Pavlovsk”.

In the counter, near the window, there was a copper stand with banners“His Majesty’s own military units. In the reception room, ministers and statesmen were waiting to meet the Tsar.

In this room you can see ceremonial dresses and uniforms, belonging to members of the imperial family, ceremonial portraits of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna depicting the Empress in the interior of the Alexander Palace, as well as other items located in the palace halls, rooms and storerooms.

Walls The study cabinet is painted with dark red oil paint and lined with walnut paneling. Carpet Russian work.

Furniture nutty. It catches your eye.

The same size stood in the office of Alexander III. In front of the ottoman were two tables and a child’s chair for the Tsar’s son, Alexei. Opposite the ottoman is a specially shaped desk, in the shape of the letter G. On the shelves, whatnots and, in general, wherever possible, there are a huge number of photographs, framed and unframed, amateur and professional. There is a lot of porcelain, mainly Danish and Russian production. The room is filled with all sorts of trinkets and small items.

In the back is a round table covered with an Indian scarf. In the middle of the table there is a lamp brought by Nikolai from Japan, where he went, as an heir, at the behest of his father, for educational purposes.

The work table in this interior was completely covered with family photographs and various writing utensils; there was a miniature seal in the form of Monomakh's cap, souvenir boxes with long matches for the fireplace, blue and red pencils with which the emperor wrote resolutions, as well as ashtrays, pipes, dominoes, pen cleaners, and notepads.

There's a lot in the room paintings. There are about forty of them, not counting miniatures. Among them - in the back of the room: R. Mainello - “Mirage in the Desert” and “Caravan in the Desert”, above the ottoman - K.E. Makovsky - Grandmother's Tales **, E. Detaille - “Napoleon watching through a spyglass progress of the battle." On the opposite side of the room: O. Connel - “Alexander III”, Alma Tadema - “Preparations for the holiday”, E. Poynter “Penelope” and - L. Caravaque “portrait of Peter I”, “Napoleon on the battlefield”, works by Detaille .

In bookcases - personal library Nicholas II, numbering about 700 volumes. Books on state issues concern mainly Finland: reports of Finnish governors-general and individual essays on the Sejm, the Russian language in Finnish schools, etc. Finland's desire for independence, apparently, seriously worried the autocrat. Among the textbooks on general disciplines, we note a course of lectures on national economy and political economy, given by Mr. Witte to Nicholas II's brother Mikhail Alexandrovich in 1900-1902. There are many works on military disciplines: all kinds of regulations, anniversary memos and brochures for distribution among soldiers. Research works on military affairs are represented mainly by essays on the study of the experience of the Russian-Japanese War. Historical literature consists almost entirely of books published to celebrate the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty. There are few works of art, and their selection is random. There are a lot of humorous writers, books from the “Cheap Humorous Library of Satyricon” and separate publications by Arkady Averchenko, Teffi, Bukhov and others.

Here, shortly before the February Revolution, Nicholas II announced to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Golitsyn his consent to the introduction of a responsible ministry, but in the evening of the same day he changed his mind and left for Headquarters.

The Workroom or Old Office was located on the site of today's Memorial Hall, the penultimate room of the modern exhibition.

According to the restoration plan of the Alexander Palace (2010/2011), in the Reception Room of Nicholas II it is necessary to restore the upholstery fabrics and the emperor’s monogram on the fireplace frieze.

Immediately after the office there is a swimming pool.

Sources:

• Bardovskaya L.V., Bertels V. Alexander Palace. Pages of history. Alfa-Color., St. Petersburg, 2008. 34 p.
• Fomin N. Detskoe Selo. Alexander Palace Museum. L., 1935
• Fomin N. Detskoe Selo. Palaces and parks. L., 1936.

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We all walk around the Winter Palace, looking at paintings, lampshades, vases, tapestries, parquet flooring, gilding in general, all sorts of works of art, but there wasn’t always a museum here, people lived here, and not just any, but the rulers of a great state, so I want see in what chambers their lives passed. Therefore, we will visit the living quarters of the Winter Palace. Currently, only part of the magnificent series of residential apartments that once occupied a significant place in the huge building has been preserved in the Winter Palace.

On April 16, 1841, the marriage of the heir to Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Emperor Alexander II, and the Princess General of State, who received the title of Grand Duchess Tsarevna, took place. Maria Alexandrovna, the future empress, settled in the rooms assigned to her on the second floor of the northwestern part of the palace. She lived in these chambers until her death in 1880. Maria Alexandrovna's apartment consisted of eight rooms, some of which have retained their decoration to this day.

Large office of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, watercolor by E. P. Gau

The boudoir, or Small Study, was one of Maria Alexandrovna’s favorite places. Its decoration was made in the mid-nineteenth century by the architect Harold Bosse in the style of the second Rococo, fashionable at that time.

It’s as if the atmosphere of a fairy tale has been created here, the patterns twist whimsically, the shine of gilding sets off the slender figures of the snow-white caryatids. A magnificent bronze chandelier is reflected in mirrors of various shapes. In her cozy boudoir, Maria Alexandrovna spent a lot of free time, reading, writing letters to her family, and drinking tea with her husband. From here there was an exit to the stairs, along which one could go down to the first floor, to the children's rooms.

Raspberry cabinet

Receptions of the empress's personal guests and meetings with relatives of the royal family took place in the Big or Raspberry Office. The office was also a kind of music salon. In the fabric designs covering the walls, you can see numerous images of musical instruments and notes. The frame of the huge fireplace mirror is crowned with cupids holding a shield in their hands, on which is depicted the monogram of Maria Alexandrovna.

Golden living room

With its shining abundance of gilding, the Golden Living Room is reminiscent of the chambers of the Moscow Kremlin with their vaulted ceilings and richly decorated walls. True, the owner of the apartment herself compared her living room with the throne room of the Bavarian kings.

Daily routine and work rooms of Russian monarchs

The daily routine of the Russian crown bearers was strictly regulated and scheduled minute by minute. This was the only way to successfully manage a huge empire, which at all times was burdened by internal and external problems. If there were “calm” years in the lives of monarchs and servants, then after them, years of severe upheavals and revolutionary storms came into their lives or the lives of their successors.

At the same time, the attitude of the heads of a huge empire to their duties was not the same throughout the 19th century. Russian autocrats were people of different intellect and temperament, and their attitude towards the “profession” was somewhat different. If Nicholas I quite rightly called himself a “convict of the Winter Palace,” then his son, Alexander II, could afford to periodically fall into depression, entrusting the decision of the most important issues to his entourage. Alexander III, who did not shine with special government talents, in many ways resembled his grandfather in his attitude to the “family business.” He conscientiously shouldered the burden of responsibility when making the most important decisions. The brilliantly educated Nicholas II was extremely punctual and conscientious in fulfilling his royal duties, but many of the issues he resolved left the tsar completely indifferent, and indifference to the “family matter” sometimes led to tragic results.

The severe need to daily “sort out” an endless variety of affairs, perform countless representative duties, and congratulate many people on their anniversaries is also characteristic of today’s people in power. “Monomakh's Cap” has never been easy. And many of his contemporaries, observing this endless “running in a circle,” wrote with a great deal of sympathy about the Russian monarchs: “They never have the opportunity to enthusiastically immerse themselves in reading, conversation or reflection. The clock strikes - they need to be at the parade, in the council, on a walk, in the theater, at a reception and wind the puppet spring of the given hour, regardless of what is on their mind or heart" 1 .

Thus, we can state that exactly personal attitude to the matter, awareness of one's personal responsibility before Russia, ancestors and descendants actually determined the density and efficiency of the work schedule of the Russian crowned crowned people.

Many memoirs have been preserved about the daily routine of Nicholas I. If we briefly characterize his work schedule, we can say that Nicholas I “worked hard” for decades literally like a “convict.” This “hard labor” in work is largely due to the peculiarities of his character. The emperor was distinguished by his mistrust, and he had good reasons for this. Therefore, he turned control of the empire over to himself personally, tirelessly checking and monitoring the implementation of the decisions he made. This power-administrative scheme was highly controversial, as it gave a powerful impetus to the development of the ineffective Russian bureaucracy. And the cases that Nikolai Pavlovich sometimes personally (and with pleasure) solved often turned out to be completely “not of the royal level.”

Like all people, in the working “schedule” of the Russian emperors there were “winter”, “summer” and “age” shifts. One schedule is in winter, when the family lived in St. Petersburg, and the other is when in the summer they moved “to the dacha” in Tsarskoe Selo or Peterhof.

After he had put himself in order after sleep, Nikolai Pavlovich “had tea” and at about 8 o’clock in the morning he was already receiving the first reports 3 . By the way, it was before tea that the palace doctors carried out daily monitoring of the emperor’s health. In the summer, reports could begin earlier. The earliest recorded receptions of the emperor began at 7 o'clock in the morning.

After two or three hours of work with the ministers, a walk along the Palace Embankment or the Summer Garden followed. Nicholas I walked from 9 to 10 am alone and without security. In a simple overcoat, the emperor bowed quite democratically to his acquaintances.

A.I. Gebens. Emperor Nicholas I in the uniform of the Life Guards Uhlan Regiment. 1852

Then he returned to the “work schedule” until lunch. At this time, the king mainly worked “with documents.” All notes made by Nicholas I in pencil were carefully preserved. To do this, they were varnished so that they would not wear off 4. Russian emperors worked with documents mainly with a pencil in their hands. Speaking about the nature of “working with documents,” we can cite the words of the tsar addressed to one of his dignitaries: “You seem to have forgotten that I am used to reading, and not looking through, the papers sent” 5 .

Before lunch, from about half past two to half past three, the walk was repeated again, lasting from 50 minutes to an hour and a half. The walk, as a rule, was combined with various “inspections”. The tsar went to the city in the summer in a carriage or convertible, in the winter in a sleigh, vigilantly looking around and noting the slightest disorder. The emperor's daily inspection walks kept the city authorities on their toes, since the slightest disorder noticed by the emperor could become the basis for serious career organizational conclusions.

The walk was followed by lunch, which under Nicholas I was served at 4 p.m. After lunch, Nicholas I again worked in his office for two or three hours. At approximately 19 o'clock the emperor finished his working day. At 19.30 he had tea with his family. After which the “social life” began.

M. Zichy. Nicholas I at construction work. 1853

Nicholas I could go for a walk or to the theater, attend a masquerade, visit or attend a ball with dignitaries. The duration of social events was not limited. The family could return home from the theater around 11 pm, and sometimes court balls and masquerades ended around 1 am.

Work for the king did not stop even during secular entertainment. Only the surroundings changed. The “volume” of this work is evidenced by the French painter O. Berne; in one of his letters he mentioned that “at yesterday’s ball I talked with the emperor for more than two hours.” The emperor and the painter discussed not only the subjects of the paintings that the artist was to paint, but also the places for them he had to find in the Winter Palace “together with His Majesty” 6. In another letter, the artist again writes that at the “imperial ball” he had “a long conversation with the sovereign about St. Isaac’s Church” 7 .

Since it was believed that the tsar was resting at this time, after secular “rest” Nicholas I made it a rule for himself to work another 1–3 hours at night; it could last until two or even three o’clock in the morning. According to contemporaries, Nicholas I sometimes fell asleep in front of the icon case from overwork while praying.

In this context, the descriptions of the working day of Nicholas I made by himself are especially interesting. In one of the letters to his eldest son, Nicholas I wrote: “After working with Chernyshev 8 and Benckendorff 9, I got dressed and went with M.P. 10 exerhaus watched the departing teams of the Model Cavalry Regiment on foot and found them in exemplary order, especially the hussars, who are excellent... I walked on a beautiful morning, worked alone before; then with Nesselrod 11, Volkonsky and Villamov 12, then I had General Gotman 13, who brought me a plan for the Moscow part, together we settled the park project, to the left before reaching the gate; it seems that it will be very good... I worked until 1 o’clock and went with Zakharzhevsky 14 to inspect the work; a lot is being done, but there is still a lot left to do” 15.

K.K. Pirate. Nikolai among the horse guards. 1847

The Tsar’s work schedule given is not a dogma. This is evidenced by the mention of a very authoritative biographer of Nicholas I that the tsar could go to bed “at 10 o’clock in the evening” 16. Of course, the emperor was an ordinary person, despite quite successful attempts to create the image of an “iron emperor” among his contemporaries.

A. Ladurner. Nicholas I, receiving the report of Adjutant General Prince A.Ya. Lobanov-Rostovsky

The Tsar’s daughter Olga Nikolaevna cites in her notes the “summer schedule” of Nicholas I, dating back to 1831: “Dad got up at seven o’clock in the morning in the summer and, while getting dressed, drank his glass of Marienbad water, then went for a walk with his faithful poodle... to Monplaisir to drink my second glass of mineral water there. After that, he got into the carriage and, with Erder, his favorite gardener, inspected the work in the park. At precisely nine o'clock he was already in the Peterhof Palace for the ministerial report. This lasted until lunch: then inspection of the guards, parades, or presentation of officials followed for up to two hours.” 17 Social duties and summer family fun followed. Thus, under Nicholas I, a tradition developed that persisted until Nicholas II: all morning hours were reserved for personal reports of ministers.

How did the emperor feel about his work? He understood perfectly well that he would have to work “like a copper pot,” without any shift, literally until his death. Psychologists have a definition related to professional activity - “burnout.” Of course, Nicholas I kept all his difficult thoughts to himself, but sometimes even this “iron” emperor had a breakthrough. It broke through when it became literally unbearable.

In December 1832, Nikolai Pavlovich wrote to I.F. To Paskevich: “All these days they tortured me with papers, and I got off by force.

It’s as if everyone is deliberately trying to get the blame off their shoulders on me” 18 . These remarks have appeared in the tsar’s letters for decades. In February 1844, in a letter to I.F. Nikolai Pavlovich said to Paskevich: “I’m tired of this hectic life” 19. One of the empress’s former ladies-in-waiting mentions a remarkable conversation she had with Nicholas I in 1845: “The Emperor said to me: “It will soon be twenty years since I have been sitting in this wonderful place. Often there are such days that I, looking at the sky, say: why am I not there? I'm so tired…". I wanted to continue the conversation, but he turned to old jokes. Let it not be my pen that conveys them: I love him too much." 20

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna also had her own work schedule. Of course, it was not overloaded and included mainly representative duties and supervision of the activities of educational and charitable institutions. Alexandra Feodorovna regularly received those who “introduced themselves,” but the empress’s interests did not go beyond the narrow world of imperial residences, which was for her a visible, but very conditional personification of boundless Russia.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna mentions that “the distribution of the day for Mama was not regular due to her many responsibilities and the various visits that she had to receive. On Sundays, after mass, men, in the evenings, ladies... there were from 40 to 50 of them. These were tedious duties. Mom was released from them only after her health failed” 21.

K. Reichel. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

One of the empress’s main “work” tasks was to “look brilliant.” Every woman, of course, has this desire, especially those with “opportunities.” However, Nicholas I also considered this “to look brilliant” an important part of the family “profession” and mercilessly intervened if it seemed to him that something in his wife’s toilet did not correspond to the situation. The daughter wrote about her father that he “loved to see her smartly dressed and took care even of the smallest details of her toilet. There were times that, despite all her charms, she had to change her outfit because he didn’t like it. This, however, caused tears, but never turned into a scene, because Mom immediately agreed with him” 22.

It bore fruit. Most of the population of the Russian Empire truly adored the monarch and his family, and it must be admitted that Nikolai Pavlovich systematically worked to maintain the high “rating” of the imperial family in the eyes of his subjects. Only a small group of confronting intelligentsia, no less systematically, tried to resist this popularity, and they managed to achieve a lot, but only after the death of Nicholas I and the onset of other, liberal times during the reign of Alexander II.

Nicholas I's son, Emperor Alexander II, largely preserved his father's work schedule, but worked without his father's fanaticism. He was a weak king and a weak worker, although, of course, one cannot deny him intelligence and a vision of a strategic perspective. However, he lacked commanding charisma and inner conviction in the rightness of his cause.

Alexander Nikolaevich, who was brilliantly educated and had been preparing for government activities for years by his father, was noticeably inferior to his father, who had serious gaps in his education. School and education, of course, are very important, but in the profession of a “top manager” of the Russian Empire, charisma, strength of personality, political will are no less important, and only then come intelligence and level of education. It should be recognized that Alexander II adequately responded to the challenges of the time by carrying out his famous reforms, which gave new impetus to the development of Russia. Carrying out reforms that, by definition, were drowned in a mass of controversial, sometimes mutually exclusive opinions, Alexander II set strict deadlines for the preparation of “final” documents, maintaining a high pace of transformation. Often on the table of the Tsar in the early 1860s. voluminous packages of documents were laid down that systematically changed the structure of power. For example, this was the case during the preparation and adoption of the famous judicial reform.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Emperor Alexander II. GMZ "Peterhof"

The young emperor’s business qualities did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. His father, Emperor Nicholas I, began to gradually involve Alexander Nikolaevich in the work after he came of age. It was then, in 1835, that the staff of the “Court of His Imperial Highness, Sovereign Heir Tsarevich, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich” was formed, which included 35 people 23 . When the emperor left St. Petersburg, going on his numerous business trips, he left his growing son in the capital “on the farm.” Of course, surrounded and under the supervision of experienced colleagues.

In general, the daily routine of Alexander II reproduced the work schedule of his father. However, the king's morning reports began no earlier than 10 a.m. These reports were not interrupted even on holidays. So, on January 1, 1874, Minister of War D.A. Milyutin wrote in his diary: “As a matter of routine, going at 10 a.m. to report to the Winter Palace, I took with me a whole suitcase with a detailed report on the War Ministry for 1872 and with plans for fortresses” 24. Let us note that January 1 was an ordinary working day for the emperor, with a somewhat larger range of representative duties.

The emperor also worked while traveling around the country. This work was superimposed on mandatory entertainment events, which took a lot of effort and time. The same D.A. Milyutin, a key minister in the government of Alexander II, testifies: “The Emperor stayed in Warsaw for five days, during which there was literally not a single hour of rest. From morning to evening there are reviews, troop training, receptions, visits, visits to various local institutions, ceremonial dinners, and in the evenings there is theater and work until late at night with papers brought daily by couriers from St. Petersburg” 25. The emperor also worked while on vacation in Livadia, where couriers brought mail from St. Petersburg three times a week 26 . Even younger colleagues found it difficult to maintain such a work schedule.

YES. Milyutin

Speaking about the manner of work of Alexander II, it should be noted his iron calm in acute political situations. He, of course, especially in the 1870s, tried to maneuver between different political camps, but it would be wrong to imagine him as a completely weak person and politician. Although in ordinary, everyday situations he often demonstrated weakness and inertia. So, his faithful ally D.A. Milyutin, recalling the years that he “worked” with the tsar, emphasized that “recalling now that era, I must admit that dark thoughts came to me more than once about the outcome of the then political complications that awaited us; but in general we can say that we survived this critical moment with a cheerful spirit and some kind of fantastic hope in the “Russian God.” In particular, the Emperor himself expressed remarkable calm; he maintained his usual way of life without the slightest deviation..." 27. These are our ineradicable “maybe” and “I suppose.” Maybe it will work out... It didn’t work out?.. I guess we’ll survive.

However, something has changed in the daily routine. For example, lunch times were moved to later hours. Under Alexander II, dinner began at 6 pm. It was precisely this time that the Narodnaya Volya member Stepan Khalturin was counting on when he set fire to the fuse leading to a 50-kilogram landmine in the Winter Palace on February 5, 1880.

Measuring the growth of those entering military service in the Winter Palace

It is characteristic that Alexander II became the first Russian emperor to clearly divide his day into “working time” and private hours. Of course, this did not always work out, but if in the living room of Nicholas I it was the norm “in his free time” to continue discussing “working issues”, then under Alexander II “the state, having ceased to be a subject of conversation in the living room, isolated itself only in his office and in conversations with ministers and government officials" 28.

Despite his rather busy work schedule, Alexander II allowed himself to engage in the traditional Romanov pastime - distributing recruits among guard regiments, and this was a “difficult” matter, since the recruits were distributed “by suit.” The tallest ones were assigned to the Preobrazhensky Regiment, the small and snub-nosed ones to the Pavlovsky Regiment, the same as their tallest chief, Paul I, and the Semyonovsky Regiment to the big-faced blonds. Minister of War D.A. Milyutin, who was well aware of the volume and level of everyday problems facing the emperor, was perplexed about such, in his opinion, a meaningless pastime. In March 1874, he wrote in his diary: “In one of the halls of the Winter Palace, the sovereign was distributing recruits to the guards regiments. This is already the fourth or fifth shift of recruits brought to the palace, presented to His Majesty, as they arrive in St. Petersburg from different districts. I try as much as possible to avoid being present during this operation: it’s hard for me to see the autocrat of 80 million subjects busy with such an insignificant matter” 29. This truly “insignificant” matter was a unique form of relaxation for the emperor, a way for a couple of hours to step away from the need to make sometimes very difficult decisions.

In his younger years, the future emperor was portrayed by his relatives as a “strong middle peasant.” Incapable and lazy “due to his age,” he did not promise much in the future. This did not particularly concern the royal family, because the throne was to be inherited by his elder brother, Nikolai Alexandrovich. However, the latter highly valued his younger brother for his spiritual qualities. Over time, Alexander Alexandrovich “leveled out” and, according to a contemporary, during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878. “he was beyond reproach and conscientiously fulfilled his difficult duties; During this period, special traits of his character appeared - calmness, slow thoughtfulness, firmness of will and lack of intrigue" 30. The same memoirist actually repeats this characterization of the tsar, dating it back to the beginning of the reign of Alexander III: “Slow in deeds and words, not making quick decisions, conscientious performer of his duty, enemy of intrigue, frank to the point of harshness, sometimes rude, but valuable in sincerity.” 31. All these qualities determined the emperor’s attitude towards his work.

On the business papers of Alexander III there were many resolutions that went beyond the standard framework. Sometimes they were very sharp, so sharp that some of them cannot be cited for ethical reasons. Some of the tsar’s resolutions and “businesslike” remarks went beyond the scope of special research and became widely known. For example, after the English-inspired aggression of the Afghan tribes in 1885, Alexander III ordered them to “kick them out and teach them a lesson!” Afghan losses amounted to 500 people against 9 Russian Cossacks. Head of the Turkestan border detachment, General A.V. Komarov was awarded the Order of St. George, III degree.

I. Kramskoy. Portrait of Alexander III. 1886

Assessing the actions of Russian troops in the Kushka area, the emperor decisively declared: “I will not allow anyone to encroach on our territory.” And when the British began to prepare their fleet for a campaign in the Baltic, Alexander III, not succumbing to diplomatic blackmail, said: “There is no need to talk to them anymore” and gave the order to mobilize the Baltic Fleet. He outlined his principled position in the conflict of 1885 with the words: “The honor of my people is a matter of their life; if the treasury doesn’t have enough money, I will give all my money, my son’s money, and I am firmly convinced that I will not be the only one to do this in Russia.”

Faced with Russia's strong position, England retreated, something it did not do very often in the 19th century. All these and other events served as the occasion for the well-known toast of Alexander III: “In the whole world we have only two faithful allies - our army and navy. All the rest, at the first opportunity, will take up arms against us.” These words of the emperor are often repeated by today's politicians. And thank God that they remember these words.

The work schedule of Alexander III largely reproduced the schedule of his grandfather, when the working day was divided into three unequal parts: morning hours, pre-lunch hours (lunch began at 20 o'clock) and night hours. A lot of time was occupied by various completely obligatory traditional events, “performances” and social duties. The tsar actually did not have a personal secretary or any apparatus of assistants at all, and he had to handle a lot of “paperwork” himself.

In Gatchina, where Alexander III spent the autumn, winter and spring, his working day began at 8 am, when, after a short walk before breakfast, he received the ministers' introductions and reports.

Gatchina Palace from the Silver Lake

Officials arrived on appointed days or when called. The morning part of the working day continued until breakfast, which traditionally began at 13:00. “After breakfast, His Majesty studied in His office until 3 o’clock, and from 3 to 5 o’clock he walked in the garden with the Empress and his family in all weathers; then His Majesty usually rested for 15–20 minutes, at 8 o’clock he went to the dining table, and from 9 o’clock he studied again in the office until late at night (until 2 and even until 3 o’clock); During these hours, His Majesty occasionally went spear fishing in the lakes of the palace garden” 32. This is how the memoirist described the emperor’s standard working day.

Emperor Alexander III himself described his “Gatchina schedule” as follows: “I receive reports in the morning until breakfast. After breakfast I go for a walk and then start writing papers again. At five o'clock I go to have tea with my wife, this is the only time I see her. After lunch I want to read something, and then papers until three o’clock” 33 . The king meant “until the third hour” of the night.

In the summer at the Peterhof Cottage, this daily routine was generally maintained without any special changes. Empress Maria Feodorovna described her daily routine and her husband’s activities as follows: “Before lunch 34 I always sit upstairs with Sasha reading and writing until 1 o’clock, when we all have breakfast together... then we go for a drive or walk with the children, which gives them such pleasure that they beg to always be walked with them and can take long walks.

I.E. Repin. Reception of volost elders by Emperor Alexander III. 1885–1886 and.

Then at 5 o’clock we drink tea at Sasha’s and, while he rests a little before lunch, I mostly read something interesting... After lunch we ride, or ride, or go on a boat, as necessary, and at 1/2 10 we drink everything have tea together and go to bed before 12" 35.

Couriers regularly delivered mail abroad if the emperor was on a trip. It is noteworthy that in Denmark, the homeland of his wife, a small “own” house was purchased for Emperor Alexander III near Fredensborg Castle, which local residents immediately nicknamed “Kaiser Villa”. There he worked, with bourgeois thoroughness paying all the bills for the housekeeping of this house 36 . It may very well be that the decision to purchase “his own” house was made primarily for security reasons, since the emperor was working with top secret documents.

If the emperor traveled on the yacht “Polar Star” in the Finnish skerries or rested in Livadia, then every other day the couriers would bring him thick briefcases with business papers. In addition, regular “performances” continued. For example, “performances” in Peterhof were held on Wednesdays and Fridays in the Farmer’s Palace. Among those presenting themselves were diplomats, dignitaries and officers. The state machine worked non-stop, and the Russian emperor was one of its main drive belts.

Porcelain cup with a picture of the Kaiser-Villa. GMZ "Gatchina"

Under Alexander III, the style of business communication between the emperor and his immediate circle changed. Before Alexander III, Russian emperors had personal, close relationships with their closest employees, and even more so with members of their Retinue, and in general with almost the entire officer corps of the guard. They knew them all by sight and, thanks to the hereditary ability of the members of the Romanov dynasty to remember everyone who was introduced to them at least once, they unmistakably called everyone by their last name.

Previously, a fairly significant circle of people was invited to the royal table, and after dinner the sovereigns took an intimate part in the general, relaxed conversation that was taking place. Since the accession of Alexander III, the tradition has changed dramatically 37. Alexander III continues to develop the trend that emerged under Alexander II, associated with the division of the working day into working and private hours, trying to carve out time for what ordinary people call “private life.”

A few words should be said about the degree of influence of empresses on the working affairs of their husbands. If we talk about the wife of Nicholas I, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, he categorically did not allow his wife to go beyond the scope of her duties. And the empress herself had no such desire.

The wife of Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, was a strong-willed woman with strong convictions. There is reason to argue that she became the first married empress to try to interfere in political decisions. Thus, it is well known that under the empress back in the late 1850s. A kind of Slavophile circle was formed, the main “persons” of which were the ladies-in-waiting of the Empress A. Bludova and A. Tyutchev.

Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Photo postcard. 1890–1893

It was they who lobbied in every possible way for Russia’s policy of active intervention in Balkan affairs, which partly contributed to Russia’s entry into the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. In addition, the unconditional merit of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was her support of the idea of ​​​​organizing the Russian Red Cross Society. One of the initiators of the creation of this society was the Empress's maid of honor, Maria Petrovna Frederike. However, the political influence of Empress Maria Alexandrovna cannot be overestimated. Many children, a difficult relationship with her husband, the tragic death of her eldest son and her own illnesses - all this gradually plunged the empress into a closed, domestic world.

The wife of Alexander III, Empress Maria Feodorovna, periodically tried to interfere in her husband’s affairs. However, like any wife. So, of course, there was an influence, but it was minimal. The couple got along well with each other; perhaps they were the most prosperous couple in the series of imperial families of the 19th – early 20th centuries. But with all this, Emperor Alexander III “did not allow her interference not only in state affairs, but also in official affairs, and if there were even the slightest attempts on her part, he resolutely suppressed them” 38.

For Nicholas II, everything was more complicated: both in terms of making political decisions, and in terms of the influence of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on making these decisions. We will talk about this in more detail below.

The death of Alexander III in October 1894, despite the increasingly frequent and dire signs of deterioration in his health, nevertheless turned out to be sudden for Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. The death of the 49-year-old hunky emperor was hard to believe. 26-year-old Nicholas II was psychologically completely unprepared to shoulder the entire heavy burden of government duties. According to his confession, he believed that he had at least two more “quiet” years as Tsarevich.

Indeed, the fact that the diary of the 26-year-old Tsarevich in October 1894 describes in detail how he throws pine cones represents a striking contrast with what he had to do after the death of his father: “Even the day before, indulging in childish amusements, he, having become a monarch, “I immediately fell into the work yoke and distributed almost all my time between my various royal duties” 39.

In addition to his father’s funeral, marriage, arrangement of a new apartment, coronation, and the birth of his daughter, Nicholas II was immediately burdened with the entire burden of state affairs. Soon after her marriage, on February 4, 1895, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wrote to her elder sister Victoria of Battenberg: “...Niki has been busy with his papers all this time. He has so much work to do that we almost never get time alone." 40 A little more than ten years passed, however, Alexandra Fedorovna wrote almost the same thing to her sister about her husband (December 23, 1905): “Niki works like a black man. Sometimes he doesn’t even manage to go out to get some air, unless it’s in complete darkness. He is terribly tired, but he holds on well and continues to trust in the mercy of the Lord." 41 Another six years passed and again almost the same words (May 31, 1911): “We absolutely need this rest: my husband worked like a black man for 7 whole months. I was sick almost all this time. The calm, comfortable life on board a yacht has always had the most beneficial effect on us” 42.

At first, when making political and official decisions, Nicholas II “consulted” with his mother, uncles, and friends, but over time he developed the skills to solve state problems, and he began to gradually develop his own strategic course for the development of Russian statehood. The Tsar had a hard time, as he had to deal with a huge variety of problems - from radical revolutionary terrorism to the broad workers and peasant movement that resulted in the First Russian Revolution.

I. Galkin. Portrait of Emperor Nicholas II. 1895

Over time, he developed his own daily routine. Even if social events ended very late, Nicholas II rose at about 8.30 in the morning. Of course, there were options, like everyone else: “I was very sleepy and couldn’t wake up before 9 1/4.” For a very long time, the tsar had a schoolboy attitude towards the opportunity to “sleep longer” (as did many of us). When he succeeded, he was sincerely happy. But the king had a sense of duty, so on other days: “We got up early, thanks to which I read a lot and had time to take a walk. There were all three reports.”

For the first breakfast (at about 9 o'clock, which is not mentioned at all in the tsar's diary), Nicholas II drank tea in his office, and then until 10 o'clock he took a short walk in the park.

The tsar's working day began at 10 a.m. with routine reports from ministers. As a rule, there were no more than three reports in the morning, which took about three hours. Each of the ministers had “their own day” when they appeared before the emperor, reporting on the situation in “their” areas of responsibility and solving emerging problems. There were certain regulations for ministerial reports. The diary often contains the phrase: “The reports ended on time.” If there were fewer reports, the tsar tried to take a walk before breakfast to “clear his head.” Sometimes the king noted with relief: “Today was an easy day for me. There are two reports before breakfast,” but sometimes: “I was busy all morning until one o’clock.” The business workload of the working day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. could be very different and depend on the specific situation. The following entries appeared in the tsar’s diary: “Slept for a long time, read a lot and walked for 1/4 hour. I only received Kokovtsev” or “It was a busy morning from 9 1/2 to one.”

K.E. Makovsky. Waiting for an audience

After the ministers’ reports, “those who introduced themselves” were inserted into the daily routine. For example, at the beginning of his “labor activity”, on January 12, 1895, the tsar wrote: “I only had reports from Durnovo, Richter and gr. Vorontsova; Fortunately, he didn’t accept anyone.” There were collective and individual performances: “After the reports, I received 21 people,” “Before breakfast, I received 56 people. military and sailors in the Rotunda."

Schoolboy joy over the ministerial report that did not take place for one reason or another remained in the tsar’s diary for a very long time. Psychologically, the recordings were reminiscent of a schoolchild’s reaction to a suddenly canceled test. However, from a human perspective this is very understandable.

Breakfast was served at 1pm. Sometimes guests were invited to breakfast, sometimes the king stated: “We had breakfast alone.” By these “alone” we mean that breakfast was a tête-à-tête with my wife. If strangers were present at the breakfast, then in the diary the tsar punctually listed all the companions. As a rule, the daily breakfast was attended by the adjutant on duty, one of the ladies-in-waiting and one, rarely two guests (October 24, 1906): “They had breakfast: A.A. Taneyeva and Arsenyev (deux.).” Quite often, the Empress did not come out to breakfast either because of illness, or because she did not want to see guests who were unpleasant to her for some reason. For example, she almost always ignored breakfasts when the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna came to see her son. Such demarches greatly complicated the family life of Nikolai, who was forced to maneuver between his beloved mother and no less beloved wife. Of the children, only the eldest daughters were present at breakfast, but sometimes the whole family got together.

In passing, it must be said about the wings and general adjutants of His Imperial Majesty's Retinue, who, by virtue of their positions, were located next to the working offices of the emperors. The “Instructions” for generals on duty and aide-de-camp under His Imperial Majesty were officially adopted back in 1834. Their service at the Court followed a daily schedule. The watch lasted 24 hours. They were present at the daily divorce of the palace guard, receiving the “password” 43 from the guard and reporting it to the emperor. The adjutants on duty provided “connection” between the tsar and the people, collecting petitions from those present at the palace during the changing of the guard. This was done so that “the Emperor would not be stopped by petitioners.”

Emperor Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei at the parade in Peterhof

The petitions, without opening, were sealed in an envelope with the inscription “To His Imperial Majesty. Most humble petitions” and handed them over to the royal valet. Among other duties, the aide-de-camp had to immediately convey the king's verbal orders to the commander of the Imperial Headquarters 44.

For the Tsar, breakfast sometimes became a continuation of the working day, since as a sign of special favor, one of the “morning speakers” could be invited to the Tsar’s breakfast. For example, on January 10, 1906, the breakfast was attended by the commander of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment G.A. Ming, “promoted to gen. – majors with enrollment in the Suite. He talked a lot about Moscow and the suppression of the rebellion; he showed us samples of revolvers and guns taken by the regiment.” By the way, after one of these breakfasts, General Min will be shot on the platform of the Peterhof station by one of the Socialist Revolutionary terrorists.

After breakfast, according to the memoirist, “a small circle of close acquaintances gathered at Their Majesties’ house until about a quarter past three” 45 . Having moved to the Alexander Palace, after breakfast, Nicholas II walked - alone or with the children. The king valued these walks very much, and only the most extreme circumstances could force him to miss them. I appreciated it so much that even pouring rain was not a reason to miss a walk.

It was a time of leisurely conversations with loved ones and communication with children. It should be noted that during walks, Nicholas II tried to exert himself as physically as possible, either walking significant distances at a good pace, or skiing (“We skied down the mountain with... our daughters,” “We made a circle around the park and then skied down from Parnassus to skiing”, “I had a good time skiing with my daughters”), on a hill (“The children were sliding down the mountain on shovels”, “I went down the mountain with my daughters”), on a kayak, on a bicycle. In winter, Nicholas II cleared snow from the park paths while walking (“I walked and worked on the remnants of snow in the shady part of the garden”), and in the spring he chopped ice on the ponds with a crowbar. Quite rarely, the emperor went on horseback rides.

From 16 to 17 hours work resumed. This could be a report from a minister or a reception from some dignitary: “At 4 o’clock I had a meeting. Markevich on the Humane Society”, “At 4 o’clock I received Langoff”, “Before tea I received Grigorovich’s report”, “At 4 o’clock I received four governors”.

Nicholas II clears snow on a pond near the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

At 5 p.m. there was mandatory tea. Tea drinking usually lasted no more than half an hour. Tea drinking was a purely family affair: “I drank tea together with Alyx; Alexey was present as always.”

After tea, Nicholas II again worked from 17.30 until lunch, which was served at 20.00. During these 2.5 hours, one of the ministers could have been received: “After tea - Shcheglovitova,” but mainly at this time the tsar was working with documents. According to diary terminology, he called this work the word “read” or “study”: “After tea I calmly studied until 8 o’clock”, “I finished all the papers before lunch”, “I read and finished everything”, “I read everything”, “From 6 to 8 o'clock I read, there were a lot of papers,” “I read a lot after tea.”

At 20 o'clock lunch began, which lasted about an hour. As a rule, only adults attended the dinner. Only on the eve of the First World War did older daughters begin to be invited to the “adult table.” The meal companions changed. In 1904, the official friend of the Empress, Lily Den, often dined “with the kings.” In January 1905, flag captain K. Nilov was mentioned for the first time among those dining. In September 1905, among those dining, A.A. was mentioned for the first time. Taneyeva. From time to time a large group gathered for dinner. But always those to whom the “kings” were personally disposed. So, in September 1905, along with Taneyeva, four officers from the imperial yacht Polar Star were present at the dinner.

After lunch, time could be distributed differently. Everything depended on the emperor’s level of employment. The children went to their second floor, to the children's half of the Alexander Palace.

If the king remained with the guests after dinner, and these, as a rule, were “his own,” then everyone could look at “a huge collection of photographs of Gan from his trip to the skerries.” We often played billiards and dominoes. It is noteworthy that, as under Alexander II and Alexander III, political topics were completely excluded from conversations. This was considered incorrect, and besides this, everyone understood that the emperor was “filled” with politics during his “working” hours. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich testifies: “All topics about politics were excluded... There was a tacit agreement in the royal family that the royal concerns of the king should not disturb the peaceful flow of his home life. The autocrat needed peace" 46. Alexandra Fedorovna adhered to the same rule. Her maid of honor wrote: “She never talked about politics with her courtiers - there was a taboo on this topic” 47.

If the “kings” dined together, then often after the meal Nicholas II read his favorite books aloud to his wife. Alexandra Feodorovna received an insight into Russian classical literature during these evening family readings. Usually the tsar simply recorded: “After lunch I read aloud”, “After lunch I began to read aloud” Book. Skopin-Shuisky”, “A little out loud in the evening”. A.A. Vyrubova mentions that “The Emperor read unusually well, clearly, without haste, and he loved it very much,” and lists those read by L.N. Tolstoy, I.S. Turgenev and A.P. Chekhov. The emperor's favorite writer was N.V. Gogol. In recent years, the tsar often read to his wife the satirists A.T. Averchenko and N.A. Teffi 48.

Sometimes in the evening the “kings” went out to visit. As a rule, to the house of A.A. Taneyeva, who lived a few minutes drive from the Alexander Palace. For the “kings” this was a rare opportunity to spend the evening in an informal setting: “After dinner we went to Anya’s. She had Dens and officers from the yacht. We saw a funny little show by a ventriloquist. Then we played a common game and had a snack; home at 12 1/2".

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and A.A. Vyrubova on a walk in the park of the Alexander Palace. Tsarskoe Selo

Periodically, things piled up, and the tsar did not have time to read all the papers before lunch, then he went into his office and worked for another 2-3 hours: “I studied until almost 11 o’clock,” “I read long after lunch.” This sense of duty and hard work of the tsar was also noted by those closest to him: “Exceptional self-control gave the tsar the strength to spend whole hours tirelessly reading the reports and detailed notes presented to him. In this painful and uninteresting occupation for him, he considered the main thing to be the fulfillment of his duty and did not deviate from it. “I will never allow myself to go to sleep,” he said, “until I have completely cleared my desk”” 49. After the tsar completed his paperwork, he returned to the empress’s half and the day ended at 23.00–24.00 with evening tea. Nicholas II did not allow himself to sit at night studying documents. In general, he monitored his health very carefully, apparently remembering the sudden death of his father at the age of 49.

This is how a typical working day of Nicholas II went. Of course, the above “scheme” is not static. Along with the reports, there were the necessary entertainment events and inspection trips.

Nicholas II in his office in the Hunting Lodge. Crimea

The schedule was adjusted in these cases. With age, time of year and the political situation in the country, the nature of business and entertainment could change. However, if we generalize, it turned out that the “average” working day of Nicholas II consisted of four"morning" working hours, an hour and a half hours after breakfast, two hours after tea and periodic an hour or two after lunch. As a result, we collected at least eight to nine working hours daily.

How were Nicholas II's Sundays spent? As a rule, it also worked. True, it’s not as stressful as on weekdays. Nevertheless, allow yourself to have fun all day he couldn’t with his wife and children. Absolutely.

If we take four “random” Sundays of the king and distribute them “according to the seasons,” we get the following picture. “Winter” Sunday (February 17, 1913) included: 11.00 – church parade in the arena of the 1st Cadet Corps; 12.00 - returned to Tsarskoe Selo, had breakfast and went to the Great Catherine Palace for lunch cadet. At 2:00 p.m., the icon of the Pochaev Mother of God was brought in procession to the camp church in the Alexander Palace. From 15.00 to 16.30 there is a long walk. After tea I watched a movie with my son and his friends. Then he worked for an hour: “I read until 8 o’clock.” The day ended with a charity performance at the Tsarskoye Selo Town Hall, at which the Tsar was with his eldest daughters.

“Spring” Sunday (April 21, 1913): At 10.30 at mass in the Feodorovsky Cathedral, after lunch I planted two trees opposite the church. Breakfast. During the walk, despite the fact that it was “dog cold,” I rode in a boat with my son. Then I drank tea with my wife (“the daughters went to St. Petersburg to visit Aunt Olya”). The second half of the day was spent at work: “I studied until lunch. I read it in the evening." Consequently, on this day only 3–4 hours were devoted to working with documents.

Nicholas II allowed himself what could be called a vacation only in the summer, when he and his family went to the Finnish skerries on the Shtandart or by train to Livadia. An ordinary “summer” Sunday (June 23, 1913) included: an hour and a half of morning work with documents, then at 10.30 there was mass, breakfast “with all the commanders.” The fact is that the “Standard” was accompanied by a whole flotilla of ships, from guard destroyers to support vessels, and the tsar considered it necessary to gather the commanders for breakfast in the “Standard” wardroom. After breakfast (14.15) we went ashore to play tennis. At 18.30 I went to the islands with my daughters and retinue for an evening picnic “on a flat rock”. They were entertained by the sailors, who “played two plays very lively, then began dancing with the local residents to the music.” At about nine o’clock in the evening “they sat down to dinner, after which the songbooks sang and danced... The ball lasted until 12 o’clock. We returned to the yacht at 12 1/2 o'clock." This Sunday the king worked only for an hour and a half.

The immediate environment was well aware of the required level of intensity of the emperor's work. And if he slowed down the pace of his studies, this was immediately recorded, and without any approval. In September 1906, A. Bogdanovich, according to the head of the Chancellery of the Ministry of the Imperial Household A.A. Mosolova, noted that the king, who spent three weeks in the skerries, had a good rest, since “he was not involved in business at all” 50.

On an ordinary “autumn” Sunday (October 13, 1913), when the family was still living in Livadia, the tsar “took a walk by the sea in the morning,” and “a lot of people” came to mass. After breakfast, the king took a long walk and returned home just in time for tea. After tea, work began. He accepted the “book. Shcherbatov on horse breeding matters” and “read” until lunch. The “kings” dined together, and they also spent the evening together.

Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna on board the Shtandart

Thus, it can be noted that Sundays differed from working days only in that the king did not have morning reports. However, they could be replaced on Sunday by entertainment events. The middle of the day was dedicated to walks and family. However, after tea, Nicholas II, as a rule, worked with documents for an hour or two.

When the royal family was “at the dacha” in suburban residences, and even more so far from St. Petersburg - in Livadia (Crimea) or Spala (Warsaw province), the daily routine changed somewhat. For example, during the velvet season of 1897 in Livadia, all members of the imperial family drank morning coffee at their place. Only at 12 o’clock did everyone gather for the grand breakfast in the large Livadia dining room. At 15 o'clock the family and retinue gathered again for a walk. At 17 o'clock we drank tea. At 20 o'clock the family and retinue had dinner and “stayed with their Majesties until 11–12 o’clock” 51 .

When Russia entered the World War in August 1914, the Tsar’s routine naturally changed. Among the speakers and those who introduced themselves, the proportion of military personnel increased. The emperor began to actively visit hospitals. In September 1914, his first trip to the front took place. In August 1915, Nicholas II assumed the duties of Supreme Commander-in-Chief and moved to Headquarters, where he set up his own work schedule. Literally a few days after taking office, Nicholas II at 10 o’clock in the morning received a “lengthy report” at headquarters, which lasted until breakfast. After breakfast he found time for an hour and a half walk. Paradoxical as it may seem, at Headquarters the Tsar turned out to be even somewhat freer in time regulations than in the Alexander Palace. His participation in military affairs was limited to listening to reports from the Chief of Staff, General Alekseev. As one of the eyewitnesses recalled: “As a matter of fact, the work of the Sovereign as Supreme Commander-in-Chief was limited to this hour-long report. Of course, there could be no question of his participation in the menial work” 52. In addition to the morning report, there were obligatory receptions for dignitaries who came to Headquarters and reading of business papers from 15.30 until lunch (at 20.00).

Arrival of Nicholas II at Headquarters. 1914

But even at Headquarters there was no day to day. Some days were, from the tsar’s point of view, very busy. For example, such a day happened to be September 6, 1915. At 10.00 there was mass, then a report so long that the tsar was even late for breakfast, which was attended by 40 guests.

Nicholas II with Headquarters officers

From 14.00 to 15.30 the tsar received the prince. Shcherbatova. He only had 30 minutes left for his walk. At 17.00 there was tea, after which the Tsar received Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich. From 18.00 - again an hour and a half report by General Polivanov. After lunch at 20.00 – another report. Then the king worked with documents until 22.30. At the end of the day, the emperor rightly stated that “it was a busy day.”

The Empress had her own “work schedule.” It must be admitted that Alexandra Fedorovna largely neglected her direct official responsibilities. More precisely, by her nature she “did not fit” into them. What the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna did completely organically - a charming smile, a sympathetic question - Alexandra Feodorovna did not succeed at all. Everything looked artificial and forced. The interlocutors felt that when communicating with them, the empress was simply “serving a number”, that communicating with strangers simply burdened her. Everyone understood this - both the empress herself and her interlocutors. Over time, Alexandra Feodorovna’s illnesses, which were predominantly somatic in nature, became an excuse for banal evasion from the usual “official” duties of empresses. All this did not contribute to the empress’s popularity, especially against the backdrop of her charming mother-in-law, who “worked” with visitors quite professionally.

A.P. Sokolov. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1901

As a rule, Alexandra Fedorovna got up at 9 o’clock in the morning. After the traditional eggnog in bed, she studied in her office and received introductions. After the reception, she sometimes took a walk through the park in a carriage with the children or with one of the ladies-in-waiting (Countess Gendrikova or Baroness Buxhoeveden). After breakfast until tea, Alexandra Feodorovna was busy with needlework or painting. After tea - again “manual work” until lunch or reception of those who introduced themselves. Children could come to their mother at any time, without any prior information about themselves.

According to tradition, the main duties of the empress are representative. She, like her husband, had to participate in many palace ceremonies, in which she had her own important role. For example, such ceremonies included kissing the hand - “baise mains”. It should be noted that the tsar was very worried when his Alyx “made her debut” as an empress in January 1895 at this court ceremony. He wrote in his diary (January 1, 1895): “On the other hand, it was easier now, because I was not alone - my dear Alyx began to work as ladies while I was cheating men.”

A very characteristic and slightly cynical phrase is “ladies to work” and “cheating men.” For the king it was a flow, a fluidity that did not affect either the mind or the heart.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her daughters. 1913

Such cynicism is one way or another born in any profession related to people, and helps against “burnout” in the profession. Professional cynicism does not come from personal cynicism, but is a specific fuse that allows you to extend your fruitful “life” in your chosen profession. Since the tsar did not choose his “profession,” a certain cynicism testified to his developing professionalism.

On January 22, 1895, Alexandra Feodorovna performed the “baise mains” (kissing hand) ceremony for the first time: “At 2 o’clock in the Winter Palace the ladies’ steelyard began - 550 ladies! My dear Alyx looked remarkably beautiful in Russian dress. The whole ceremony ended in 3/4 o'clock." The pace was really high, 550 ladies kissed Alexandra Fedorovna’s hand in 45 minutes. It is noteworthy that palace etiquette prescribed kissing the hand of the Empress by both men and ladies. However, starting from the reign of Alexander III, a “handshake in the English manner” was already allowed at the Court, unless it was a special “baise mains” ceremony.

In addition to numerous representative duties, most of which Alexandra Fedorovna successfully avoided, she gradually developed a circle of “her own” activities. At the same time, the powerful system of institutions of the Department of Empress Maria Feodorovna (named after the wife of Paul I) remained under the control of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (wife of Alexander III).

Nevertheless, Alexandra Fedorovna, back in the Russo-Japanese War, created “her own” hospital for wounded soldiers and officers.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with officers of the sponsored regiment. Livadia

During the First World War, she patronized an entire system of infirmaries under her jurisdiction and created a “School of Nannies” in Tsarskoe Selo, taking English institutions of this kind as a model. She patronizes the “House of Diligence”, in which girls from poor peasant families received working professions. She was concerned about the problems of tuberculosis, and on the initiative of the Empress, the first specialized sanatoriums appeared near Yalta. During the war years, Alexandra Fedorovna, as a mother of many children, began to deal with the problems of motherhood and childhood, putting pediatrician K.A. at the head of this “national project”. Rauchfus.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Kissing the hand. Livadia

All those who worked with Alexandra Fedorovna unanimously noted the great common sense and perseverance in achieving the set goal on the part of the tsarina: “She posed to her speakers many specific and very practical questions concerning the very essence of the subject, and went into all the details and in conclusion gave equally authoritative, how precise are the instructions” 53 . The empress's business potential was explained in different ways. Everyone recognized the presence of a strong will, certainty of judgments and views. Alexandra Fedorovna’s prudence was associated with the Anglo-Protestant upbringing she received, which imbued her with rationalism, as well as the high and persistent principles of Puritanism.

The Empress in her apartments on the imperial yacht "Standard"

However, the most important thing was that from 1905, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna began to get involved in politics. It should be noted that the spouses were very close in their worldview of autocratic power, therefore Nicholas II always listened with gratitude to the political advice of his wife.

Back in 1898, according to the Minister of War A.N. Kuropatkin, Nicholas II informed the minister that he “talked and consulted a lot with Empress Alexandra Fedorovna on the issue of reducing armaments” 54 . Then in 1902–1904. There was a period when the psychic Philip gave the Tsar political advice, not without consultation with Alexandra Fedorovna. In her letters, the Empress recalled for a long time the political “testaments” of the psychic, reminding her husband of them from time to time. In one of her letters to Nicholas II, she directly speaks about the impossibility of establishing a constitutional form of government in Russia: “Do you remember, and Mr. Philippe said the same thing" 55.

During the period of the political crisis of 1905, Nicholas II began to regularly turn to his wife for political advice, and even began to hand over the state acts he issued for her to review. Thus, the act marked February 18, 1905, which declared the inviolability of the autocracy, passed through the “censorship” of the empress.

The process of involving Alexandra Fedorovna in politics was completed by 1915. She did this as if forced, because, in her opinion, the country was “peddling” and her husband did not show the proper will in solving administrative problems. She felt this “will to power” within herself. And in full. According to an informed memoirist, Alexandra Fedorovna “was carried away by the idea instilled in her by the same Protopopov - to take upon herself the cross of Catherine the Great and eradicate sedition” 56 . How Alexandra Feodorovna’s intervention in politics ended is well known.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in her office in the Alexander Palace. 1907

After this, already in the Soviet period (in the second half of the 1980s), there was a single episode of the First Lady’s intervention in politics. This also did not bring much benefit to the “ruling” husband.

The working day of the emperors took place in their offices, which existed in all residences, on all imperial yachts and trains. Empresses also had study rooms.

The royal offices were secure rooms, with a special security order. Since important documents were stored in them, no one could enter his office in the absence of the emperor. After the emperor left the residence the office was sealed until his next visit. Servants could only enter the emperor's office for cleaning purposes if accompanied by officials from the Palace Police. The interior design of the cabinets was determined by the personal choice of the monarchs.

According to an unspoken tradition, the office of the deceased emperor was turned into a memorial room, the appearance of which was preserved unchanged for posterity. It was a tribute to the royal parents. Only after a generation were changes and use of this premises for other needs allowed. The grandchildren could now begin redevelopment, preserving only the individual memorial premises of the former residential halves. Until 1917, there were two such “memorial zones” in the Winter Palace. This is the office of Nicholas I on the first floor, where he died on a camp bed in February 1855. Near the office, some rooms dating back to the Nicholas era were also preserved.

It is curious that, following this tradition, after the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917, his study in the Winter Palace was preserved as a memorial. The walls, furniture, etc. were covered with fabric. After the Winter Palace was “taken” by the Bolsheviks in October 1917, workers, soldiers and sailors destroyed all the memorial premises, outraged by the fact that the “temporaries” wanted to keep them intact.

K.A. Ukhtomsky. Small office of Emperor Nicholas I in the Winter Palace. Mid-19th century

The first owner Alexander Palace was Alexander I. All the living quarters of the royal family were on the ground floor. This tradition, despite numerous restructurings, was maintained until 1917. Cabinet of Alexander I located on the first floor right wing Alexander Palace. It was a spacious corner hall with six windows overlooking the garden 57. Under Nicholas I, this hall housed the office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. And at the end of the 19th century. The “Blue Living Room” was set up here.

Cabinet of Nicholas I was also located on the ground floor right wing Alexander Palace 58. The office windows overlooked the palace courtyard. The interiors of the office were preserved for almost 40 years, until renovation in 1896.

Alexander Palace. Lithograph based on a drawing by E. Mayer. 1840

Since the emperor lived in the palace as if he were “in the country,” ornamental plants were placed in a box in front of his desk. In 1843, the first electromagnetic telegraph apparatus in Russia was installed in the office of Nicholas I, connected to the office of the Minister of Railways.

E.P. Gau. Nicholas I's office in the Alexander Palace. 1845

Alexander III's office The Alexander Palace was located almost opposite the office of Nicholas I. Two windows of the office looked out onto the garden of the Alexander Palace 59. Descriptions of this office and its photographs have reached us, since its interior was preserved after 1917.

The office of Alexander III in the Alexander Palace. Before 1931

The office contained heavy oak furniture covered with dark blue leather. The desk was made of laminated wood with a bronze finish. Along the wall there was a giant ottoman 5 m long and 1 m 80 cm wide. The floor was decorated with a Persian carpet. In the corner by the window there was a telephone, which was used to call carriages, and children's furniture. Probably the eldest sons played in this office while their father worked. The walls of the office were decorated with paintings, mostly by the artist Bogolyubov, with marine subjects.

The office of Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Alexander Palace bore little resemblance to a working space, since it was decorated in the form of a living room.

The office of Nicholas II in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo. 1932

In 1895–1896 renovations began in the Alexander Palace, during which “half” of the young Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna were equipped. This “half” was located on the first floor left side palace During the renovation, his office 60 was made for the emperor. Two windows of the tsar’s office, like the entire half of it, looked out onto the courtyard of the Alexander Palace. After another office of the king was equipped, this room began to be simply called the “Old Office.” Like all the rooms in this half, the “Old Office” was designed in the then fashionable Art Nouveau style. It was here that Nicholas II received the morning reports of ministers and dignitaries.

Maria Feodorovna's office in the Alexander Palace

The walls are cabinet of Nicholas II were painted with dark green paint on top. The bottom of the wall was decorated with walnut panels. All the furniture in the office was also made of walnut.

Nicholas II's desk in the office of the Alexander Palace

Apparently, when decorating the office, the designers received instructions from the king. This is evidenced by the huge ottoman “like my father’s.” There was a huge Persian carpet on the floor. The office contained quite a lot of books (about 700 volumes), mainly on history, and publications dedicated to the House of Romanov.

Feather in the form of a snipe figurine. 1890s Russia

The desktop was made in the shape of the letter “G”. A lamp with a lampshade was mounted above it on a rotating rod; with the help of a special block it was raised and lowered above the table. The entire table is densely covered with family photographs and various objects. The emperor smoked a lot, so in his office there were many things related to the smoking process. Among them was a leather ashtray, which the children gave to their father in 1916. On the table were two smoking pipes - hemp and cherry. On the table near the ottoman was a lighter in the shape of an antique lamp. There was a crystal bell on the table; during intimate family dinners, servants were called with it.

The “new” office of Emperor Nicholas II. Alexander Palace

Among the tabletop portraits, it is worth mentioning the miniature portrait on bone of Alexandra Fedorovna by V. I. Zuev (1906). Also on the table was a drawing of the Empress’s elder sister, Elizaveta Feodorovna, with a portrait of Alexandra Feodorovna, dated “May 27, 1894 Nlyshskoe.” It is noteworthy that this drawing was made from memory, since in May 1894 Alexandra Feodorovna was still the Hessian Princess Alyx, living in England, but the issue of the wedding with the heir had already been decided. There was also a photograph on the king’s table with a portrait of A.A. Vyrubova.

Some time later they equipped second office Nicholas II, called the “Big”, or “New”, office 61. The office was really large - with four windows. It had a passage through the mezzanine to the half of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Dignitaries were also received in this office, and the empress, sitting on the mezzanine, could listen to these reports.

The ceiling of the office was made of mahogany. The walls are painted blue-green, and a lynx skin is thrown on the floor.

Some of the office furniture is covered with morocco, the other with fabric. In the office there was a billiard table, on which they played after a late lunch. During the war, military cards were laid out on the billiard table. There were many books and photo albums in the office. There were numerous photographs and drawings on the huge desk.

After the outbreak of World War I, secrecy in the imperial offices became much stricter. Since military maps with the operational situation marked on them were kept in this office of Nicholas II, “no one dared to enter his office: neither the empress, nor the children, nor the servants. The keys were with the Sovereign” 62.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna also had her own office in the Alexander Palace. Since its walls were covered with lilac fabric, this office was called “Lilac” 63. The furniture in the office was painted with ivory enamel paint.

“Lilac” (“Lilac”) office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. One of the corners of the office

Alexandra Fedorovna spent most of her time in this office. 5 o'clock tea was sometimes served here. The family gathered there in the evenings. The office had two windows overlooking the park. Near one of the windows, in the corner, stood a favorite family chair, depicted in many photographs. It was so conveniently turned towards the window that the light fell well on the book in his hands; a wall lamp-sconce was mounted above the chair, illuminating the chair in the evening.

Alexandra Fedorovna in her favorite chair in the “Lilac” office

It should be noted that the Empress’s “Lilac” office was divided into several cozy zones, each of which was illuminated by local electric lamps. There were two sofas in the office, one of them was a corner one. There was a shelf along the walls, completely filled with photographs dear to the empress. The white piano, which the Empress often played, fit well into the cozy interior.

L. Premazzi. Cameron Gallery and Zubovsky building. Mid-19th century

Heir Alexander Nikolaevich in the 1840s. occupied the Zubov wing of the Grand Catherine Palace. Previously, the residential half of Empress Catherine II was located there. The Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace was built according to the design of the architect Yu.M. Felten in 1779–1785. The outbuilding received its name after the favorite of Catherine II P.A. Zubov, since his apartments were located there.

The office of Alexander II in the Zubovsky wing of the Catherine Palace.

Photo from the 1930s.

Alexander II spent his honeymoon in 1841 in Tsarskoe Selo and specifically in the Zubovsky wing. By this time, two halves had been renewed there - the crown prince and the crown princess. The couple lived in these rooms until their death. Maria Alexandrovna spent her last spring season there in 1879, and Alexander II last lived in Tsarskoe Selo in 1880.

Half of Alexander II in the Zubovsky wing included 10 rooms: Front, Reception, Standard (Znamennaya), Arsenal, Pantry, Asian, Study, Toilet (restroom), Valet, Dressing room. Receptions and business meetings took place in the Office, Reception and Dressing Room 64.

A photograph of Alexander II's office taken in the 1930s has been preserved. The interior of the office of the Zubov wing was reminiscent of the interior of the tsar's office in the Winter Palace, the center of which was a massive desk.

“Turkish” (“Asian”) room in the Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace. 1850s

On the right wall there are many paintings depicting the king's wife and children. On the table there are two candelabra with four candles. Behind the king, on the wall, are many “military” watercolors. It is noteworthy that these watercolors are “author’s”. The fact is that Alexander II, being a good draftsman, sketched many sketches of military uniforms, some of them were apparently used when changing the uniform of the Russian army during the military reform in the 1860s. The royal desk was decorated with a bust of Emperor Nicholas I, who looked sternly at his son.

On the second floor of the Zubovsky wing there was half of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. And although the empress, when rebuilding “her” rooms, was guided primarily by the desire to create comfortable living conditions, she liked the preserved interiors of Catherine II, so the previous decoration of the halls was almost not affected.

E. Gau. “Mirror” cabinet of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Zubovsky wing of the Catherine Palace. 1860s

The personal chambers of Empress Maria Alexandrovna began from the main Chinese Hall. Her favorite room was the Mirror (or Silver) Cabinet, which had preserved its interior from the time of Catherine II.

During the reign of Alexander II, when decorating the interiors of premises, furniture in the “boule” style was often used, the fashion for which arose in Europe back in the 1840s. The furniture was decorated with horn plates and brass. Under the term "boule" in the 1860s. Apparently, this already meant not only furniture made in the traditional style and technique, invented by A.Sh. Boule, but also objects made of rosewood, inlaid with metal and having a very distant resemblance to the technique of the French court master 65. One way or another, it was this furniture that Empress Maria Alexandrovna preferred to see in her rooms. In the Winter Palace, until 1917, the interiors of the three working offices of the Russian emperors: Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II were preserved. At the end of the 1920s. they were destroyed, and to this day, with some losses, only the Gothic cabinet of Nicholas II has survived. The remaining offices turned into ordinary exhibition rooms of a huge palace. Only in the last decade, in the room in which Alexander II’s office was located, his bust appeared, installed at the site of the emperor’s death on March 1, 1881.

Boule style chest of drawers

Office of Nicholas I. Over the thirty years of his life in the Winter Palace, Nicholas I developed two work rooms. When on the third floor of the Winter Palace in 1826–1827. When they arranged the living half of Nicholas I, along with other rooms, the emperor’s study was also decorated there. After the fire of 1837, the interiors of the office were recreated in their original form.

One of Nicholas I’s long-term employees described the “upper” office, which he examined in detail during one of the meetings in 1841. Baron M. Korff wrote that the office faced “windows towards the Admiralty”, that “around the entire room there are half-cabinets on which there are books and briefcases. In the middle of it there are two huge desks, in a parallel direction; the third is across the room, with a music stand attached to one end. In general, the order is amazing: nothing is piled up, nothing is lying around; every thing seems to be in its place... In the whole room there are only two huge windows, like gates, and in the wall between them there is a large malachite clock with the same dial... All the furniture, chairs and armchairs, without exception, are Karelian birch, upholstered in green morocco; only one sofa and not a single Voltaire 66 » 67 .

The daughter of Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, in her notes describes her father’s “model” office of 1838 in a completely different way: “A bright, welcoming room with four windows, two overlooking the square, two facing the courtyard.

E.P. Gau. Large office of Nicholas I in the Winter Palace. 1860s

There were three tables in it: one for working with ministers, another for one’s own work, the third with plans and models for military studies” 68 . However, in Ukhtomsky’s watercolor, dated to the mid-19th century, this room with four windows is called the Corner Living Room of Nicholas I. By definition, there could be no windows into the courtyard in this room, since two windows overlooked the Admiralty and two windows overlooked the Spit of Vasilievsky Island. Apparently, this was Olga Nikolaevna’s mistake, since she wrote her memoirs many years later.

K.A. Ukhtomsky. Corner living room of Emperor Nicholas I. Mid-19th century.

The redevelopment of the imperial half in the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace is associated with the appearance second office Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich. This office was equipped with ground floor northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace. The “new” office was a small narrow room, devoid of decor, with a whitewashed ceiling and walls covered with dark wallpaper. Naturally, in the office there was a desk and the emperor’s famous folding camp bed. Passers-by, walking along the embankment, could well look into the emperor's office and be convinced of his asceticism 69 .

Nicholas I's office on the first floor of the Winter Palace. The camp bed on which the emperor died

True, this asceticism was somewhat demonstrative in nature. Baron M. Korf mentions that “Emperor Nicholas only in the very last years of his life moved into that small office where he died” 70 .

E.P. Gau. Office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1858

Winter Palace

After the death of Nicholas I in February 1855, his office on the first floor of the Winter Palace was preserved as a memorial. The memory of Nikolai Pavlovich was honored. In February 1865, when it was ten years since the death of Nicholas I, Alexander II and his sons visited their father’s office and prayed there for a long time. Then a funeral service took place in the Small Church of the Winter Palace 71. Alexander III also honored his grandfather. The memoirist testifies that “he treasured the memory of his grandfather very much. In his offices he always stopped and talked about him” 72.

The wife of Nicholas I, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, also had her own in the palace study. It was located in private part of her apartment on the second floor of the northwestern risalit.

N.G. Chernetsov. Office of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (Alexander II). 1837 Winter Palace

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna described the office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna as follows: “It was a beautiful corner room overlooking the Neva, covered with green damask and amaranth, always filled with flowers” ​​73 . Now this is hall number 185.

The interior of Alexandra Feodorovna's office was destroyed during the renovation of 1895–1896, when an apartment for Nicholas II was equipped on the second floor of the palace.

In the early 1840s. arranged an apartment in the Winter Palace for the eldest son of Nicholas I, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Alexander II. Among the rooms in its half there was also a mandatory study.

Half of the crown prince was on the second floor of the southwestern projection of the Winter Palace. In this “territory” at the end of the 18th century. Emperor Alexander I lived. His bedroom later turned into the office of Alexander II 74.

Watercolors from different years depicting this office have been preserved, from which one can determine how its interior has changed. In a watercolor of 1837 N.G. Chernetsov is the empty workroom of a young 15-year-old Tsarevich. It can be seen that the table is turned towards the window so that the light falls on it from the left side. There is a couch between two alcoves. In the space between the windows, on a trellis, there are figures of papier-mâché soldiers under glass covers. This “pre-fire” office is empty and has not yet been lived in.

« E.P. Gau, Cabinet of Alexander II. 1850s Winter Palace

E. Gau's watercolors depict the appearance of the office in the 1850s. In one of the watercolors we see the Tsarevich sitting at his desk with two children. The couch has retained its usual place, but the table has already been moved away from the windows. Portraits of people dear to the king appeared on the table. The number of figures under glass covers has increased. On the wall there are many paintings with battle scenes surrounding a small portrait of Alexander I. The fact that the Tsarevich really works at this table is evidenced by three massive leather briefcases lying on one of the half-chairs. There is a stack of books and piles of documents on the table. The depicted mise-en-scène itself was conceived by the artist as a brief moment of relaxation from business, when his children ran into the Tsarevich for a moment and he looked up from his studies with a smile.

E.P. Gau. Cabinet of Alexander II. Second half of the 1850s and.

Winter Palace

Next we mention a watercolor by E. Gau, dated to the second half of the 1850s. It depicts that part of the office that was located behind the emperor's back. There are portraits on the wall. The central place is occupied by portraits of the young Maria Alexandrovna and a portrait of Nicholas I. On the sides are smaller portraits - apparently of grandparents - Empress Maria Feodorovna and Paul I. The couch is in the usual place between the alcoves, and on the wall half-cabinet there is a bust of teacher V.A. Zhukovsky. There is an icon in the corner of the window. Behind the emperor’s back is a large mirror with two candelabra for two candles.

In the watercolor by E. Gau, dated 1857, we already see the office not of the crown prince, but of the emperor. There are still the same portraits on the walls. The couch was removed behind the emperor's back, and in the partition between the alcoves a half-cabinet appeared, on which were three figures of soldiers under glass covers. Five more figures are installed on the half-cabinet in the alcove. Headdresses are now also stored under glass covers. These were the Cossack shakos of Nicholas I. Later, the shakos of the eldest son of Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, who died in 1865, were added to them. On the table, framed with a rounded top, are watercolor portraits of Empresses Maria Alexandrovna and Alexandra Feodorovna by the English artist K. Robertson. On the half-chairs placed at the table are the same leather briefcases with documents. For documents, a round table on three legs appeared next to the table. The wall between the columns of the alcoves is occupied by a mirror.

E.P. Gau. Cabinet of Alexander II. 1857 Winter Palace

Photographs of Alexander II's office in the Winter Palace have been preserved. In Levitsky's photograph from the 1870s. we see Alexander II sitting at his desk. The number of watercolors and photographs on the table has increased. The portraits on the wall changed. The central place was occupied by a portrait of his father, Emperor Nicholas I, flanked by two portraits of his wife, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. A portrait of the grandmother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, is also visible. Opposite the table, on the half-cabinet, appeared a bust of the deceased eldest son, Nikolai Alexandrovich. The portrait of Alexander I is hung on the wall between the alcoves, and below it are portraits of his daughter Maria Alexandrovna and his deceased son Nicholas. Next to the table are the same half-chairs with documents and a round table.

Alexander II's study in the Winter Palace. Photos from the 1920s and.

In the photograph of the office, taken in the 1920s, the interior already has significant losses. The portrait of Nicholas I disappeared from the wall. It is replaced by a portrait of Maria Alexandrovna. Of the portraits on the wall between the alcoves, only Alexander I remains. There are a few photographs on the table. The most significant addition was the addition of another table, which was not visible in earlier photographs.

It is noteworthy that the assassination attempts on Alexander II left their mark on the interior of his office. A German correspondent, received by Alexander II in his office, drew attention to the fact that “under glass covers, next to the Cossack shakos, the late Emperor Nicholas I and Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich” is kept “a pistol, which turned out to be the same one from which Karakozov shot at the sovereign 4 April 1866. The pistol was double-barreled, and one of the barrels remained loaded” 75. It was into this study that Alexander II was brought to die, mortally wounded by a terrorist bomb on March 1, 1881.

Ink device in the form of a steam locomotive. 1871

The office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was located on the second floor of the southwestern projection of the Winter Palace. The Empress lived in the Winter Palace for almost 40 years, from 1841 to 1880. Naturally, during this time her chambers were renovated several times. At the same time, both the layout and interiors changed. One of the chamber-jungfers described these rooms as follows: “The fourth room is an office: the walls and furniture are covered with light blue damask with white patterns; the back wall is semicircular and there is a semicircular sofa along the entire wall; in front of him at one end there was a table and armchairs, at the other - chairs and stools, in the middle of the room, quite close to the sofa, there was a couch on which the Grand Duchess constantly rested. On the couch lay a cushion 3/4 arshin long, on a pink cover with cambric embroidery and a pillowcase trimmed with lace: it was placed under the back, and a small similar cushion was placed on the cushion of the couch under the head. The desk stood against the wall near the door leading to the bedroom... In the opposite wall there was a fireplace... There was no library at all. Subsequently, on the right side of the round sofa, a small door was made, hidden under the drapery, leading to the stairs to the lower floor, to the children's rooms; Along the walls of this staircase there were shelves for books; The staircase was illuminated day and night by Karsel lamps, since it was built inside the walls and was completely dark.

E.P. Gau. “Crimson” office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. 1860s

The fifth room, very large, corner, covered with red fabric with gold arabesques; a large desk with a gold writing set, there was also a grand piano and a beautiful round mosaic table... This room was called the front office.”

Office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Photo by Levitsky

Perhaps the only photograph of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, taken in her “living” office by photographer Levitsky, has survived. This is really a living office, in which the sick empress spent most of the day. On the wall are portraits of Alexander II and his deceased son. The Empress sits in a low, comfortable chair and does needlework. It is noteworthy that the office in the 1870s. lit only by candles. The empress had diseased lungs and gas lighting for her half was not recommended by doctors.

After the death of Emperor Alexander II in March 1881, the family of Alexander III finally left the Winter Palace.

Therefore, since 1884, with the permission of the Minister of the Imperial Household I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov and Chief Marshal of the Highest Court E. Naryshkin, foreign and domestic people began to be allowed to inspect the personal apartments of the late Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna tourists"(This term is mentioned in official documents. - I. 3.). Especially many tourists came from England and the USA 76. On excursions around the palace, they were necessarily accompanied by palace security officers.

In 1887–1888 emperor Alexander III on the third floor of the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace will equip its half. It included the following rooms: Entrance Hall, First Entrance, Second Entrance, Third Entrance, His Majesty's Dressing Room, Dressing Room and Bathroom, Cabinet, Corner living room, second living room, library, wardrobe, two walk-through rooms behind the wardrobe, duty room and buffet. There are 15 rooms in total 77.

It should be noted that the tsar visited these rooms very rarely, but the office was required simply by status. Count S.D. Sheremetev recalled that Alexander III “himself took me to show the details. He said that the Karelian birch furniture belonged to Emperor Nicholas, and that he collected the rest of the furniture from the Tauride Palace. A beautiful portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich caught my eye as an image unusual for the Winter Palace... and led me into a corner room with views of the Neva in both directions. He said here that this was the former room of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, her boudoir, and therefore he ordered her old furniture to be returned here (before that Alexey Alexandrovich lived there)” 78. It should be added that all the personal rooms of Alexander III in the Winter Palace were considered secret, and their layout was a state secret.

The last royal offices were decorated in the Winter Palace during the renovation of the “royal” northwestern projection in 1895–1896. Among other rooms on the second floor of the palace they equipped two royal offices: Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The study of Nicholas II on the second floor of the northwestern risalit of the Winter Palace

Judging by the photographs, both of these offices are corner ones. Only the windows of Alexandra Feodorovna’s office overlooked the Palace Bridge and the Admiralty, and the windows of Nicholas II’s office overlooked the Admiralty and his own garden. These rooms were part of personal apartments, so it was, above all, cozy and convenient. Comfort took precedence over luxury. The “heart” of the office was an ordinary “L”-shaped desk, illuminated by a lamp under a fabric lampshade. Judging by the photographs, the tsar’s office was decorated with elements of the “Russian style”: the arched door was decorated with forged slotted hinges. Nicholas II worked in the office of the Winter Palace from December 1895 to the spring of 1904, i.e. seven and a half years.

Desk in Alexandra Feodorovna's office in the Winter Palace

Details of the interiors of these premises began to be taken away already in the summer of 1917, when A.F. moved into the imperial half of the Winter Palace. Kerensky. Then they urgently brought out stylish furniture and fittings specially ordered for the palace. Instead, ordinary office furniture was delivered to the royal rooms: desks, chairs from the palace reserves and the premises of the former Palace Department. The walls, upholstered in silk, along with the paintings hung on them, were covered with canvas. Only the office of Nicholas II was preserved as a “memorial” one. A.F. himself Kerensky was located on the third floor above Nicholas II's half, in the former apartments of Alexander III 79. From the Malachite Living Room along the northern and western sides of the palace, in the former chambers of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II, the offices and apparatus of the government, the office of the minister-chairman were located (in the corner room, the former office of the queen). In the library of Nicholas II, A. F. Kerensky usually held meetings with the military. The government premises ended at the Saltykov Staircase 80.

A.F. Kerensky in the “Gothic” library of Nicholas II

During the storming of the Winter Palace, the office of Nicholas II was seriously damaged. The photograph shows a broken cabinet and walls beaten down to the plaster. Since no portraits were removed from the walls in the “memorial” office, one of the portraits of Nicholas II (“Nicholas II in a jacket” by V. Serov.

Nicholas II's office in the Winter Palace after the assault

In total, the artist painted two portraits, one of which is now on display in the Benois Wing of the Russian Museum) was pierced with a bayonet 81.

V. Serov. Portrait of Nicholas II in a jacket. 1900

In the Gatchina Palace, during its existence as a country imperial residence, interior spaces were consistently formed four study rooms of Russian emperors: Paul I, Nicholas I, Alexander II and Alexander III. Nicholas II also had his own office in the palace when he was crown prince. Starting from Nicholas I, all the emperors' workrooms were located in the Arsenal Square of the Gatchina Palace.

Gatchina Palace

The appearance of these premises can be imagined from the watercolors of Premazzi, Ukhtomsky and Gau that have come down to us. Some of the interiors have survived to this day. It should be remembered that the fate of the Gatchina Palace was especially difficult. The palace suffered very seriously during the Great Patriotic War; its exhibits were transferred to other museums during the evacuation, and what was left was plundered by the Nazis. After the war, for many years the palace was occupied by various organizations, which also did not contribute to the preservation of its historical appearance.

During the era of the Tsarevich, and then Emperor Pavel Petrovich, over the long years of his life, the Gatchina Palace was formed two offices on the 1st floor of the Central building of the palace: “Oval” and “Tower”. These small rooms faced the park. On the 2nd floor (mezzanine) of the main building of the palace the office of Empress Maria Feodorovna was located. The windows of this office overlooked the parade ground in front of the palace.

Under Emperor Nicholas I, more four work rooms:“Corner” and “Big Military” offices of Nicholas I. “Oak” and “Big” – Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

"Tower" office of Paul I in the Gatchina Palace

Judging by the watercolor, the “Great Military” office of Nicholas I was the embodiment of asceticism, which the tsar demonstrated wherever he could. The office was a large empty room, the walls of which were decorated with “military” paintings. On the walls were hung watercolors by Pirate and Langla with tables of uniforms of Russian troops.

"Oval" office of Paul I in the Gatchina Palace

A map of the Gatchina Palace and the surrounding area was attached to a special stand. The emperor's desk was moved to the windows. There was a couch against one of the walls, next to the fireplace, and a washbasin next to it in the corner. The room is very ascetic both in decor and interior decoration. Monograms of Nicholas I are woven into the stucco ceiling. On the half-cabinet in the office, next to the bust of Nicholas I (sculptor Zaleman), there is a design for a steam engine for a steam locomotive of the Nikolaev Railway. Three office windows looked out onto the park.

The “corner” office of Nicholas I, located in the octagonal tower of the Arsenal building, was a kind of replica of the “Tower” office of Paul I.

The front offices of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - “Oak” and “Big” - are part of the front rooms of the residential half of the imperial palace. All these offices were preserved until 1917.

"Great military" office of Nicholas I in the Gatchina Palace

Alexander II and his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna had two offices in the Gatchina Palace. They were also located on the 1st floor of the Arsenal building. They did not have any special names and were simply called “offices”.

The office of Alexander II, according to the tradition that had developed under Paul I, was located in an octagonal tower, diagonally from the “Corner” office of Nicholas I. Its windows overlooked the parade ground in front of the palace. Decorated in green tones, the office contained a desk, two half-cabinets, and two cozy semicircular sofas, integrated into the geometry of the walls. Next to the sofas there was a small round table. The main decoration of the walls were small paintings depicting soldiers and officers in the uniform of various regiments of the Russian army. The office was heated by a fireplace.

“Corner” office of Nicholas I on the 3rd floor of the tower

Two windows of Maria Alexandrovna’s small office faced the current railway station. The office, decorated in greenish chintz, was decorated with portraits of the empress’s children. Luxurious bent furniture, made in the workshop of the Gumbs brothers, fit well into the interior of a small room, creating a feeling of comfort and homeliness. The empress’s desk does not give the impression of a “worker”; its shape fits so organically into the atmosphere of this “boudoir office”.

E.P. Gau. “Big” office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1876

"Oak" office of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

E.P. Gau. The office of Alexander II in the Tower of the Arsenal building of the Gatchina Palace. 1862

After a sudden departure from St. Petersburg at the end of March 1881, the family of Alexander III began to settle in the Arsenal Square of the Gatchina Palace. The emperor did not “touch” the living halves of his grandfather and father. He occupied the “mezzanine” floor of the Gatchina Palace, which had previously been completely unclaimed by top officials. This decision horrified Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was accustomed to the more comfortable and truly “palace” premises of the Anichka Palace. Then she wrote to her family in Denmark: “We moved suddenly, leaving the younger children there, because the little one had a cold and could not go out. Leaving my beloved, cozy house in Anichkovo for this large, uninhabited, empty castle, in the middle of winter, cost me a lot of tears, but hidden, because poor Sasha was so happy to leave the city, which had become disgusting to him after all the horror and grief what we experienced there" 82.

Arsenal building of the Gatchina Palace. Small windows – on the “mezzanine” floor

However, Maria Fedorovna eventually came to terms with and even fell in love with “her mezzanines.” However, to “fresh” people, the royal premises with low vaulted ceilings made a strong impression with their non-royal simplicity. Russian monarchs have never lived like this before.

Over time, on the 2nd, “mezzanine” floor of the Arsenalny square, entire five offices members of the family of Alexander III: the office of Alexander III, the office of Ksenia Alexandrovna, the office of Mikhail Alexandrovich, the office of Georgy Alexandrovich and the office of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.

Alexander III placed his office, of course, in an octagonal tower, exactly above the “Corner” office of Nicholas I. And if we take into account the fact that above, on the 3rd floor in the same tower, the “Reception” office of Alexander III was located, then a twisted staircase running inside the octagonal tower connected the three working offices of the Russian emperors, located one above the other.

Office of Alexander III in the Gatchina Palace

Judging by the photograph of 1940, the study of Alexander III was primarily functional; there was no trace of palace luxury there. And in the room with very low vaulted ceilings there was no space for “luxury”. The main place in the office was occupied by the desk, turned towards the window, in the space between the windows. Above the table is a lamp with a fabric shade. In the office there was another table, a sofa and two massive armchairs. Apparently, one had to be careful moving through the crowded office. The photograph shows that a wooden stool, shaped like a barrel, has been pushed under the second table. It has been preserved. At the exhibition dedicated to Alexander III, this stool was called a “pot stool. Second half of the 19th century."

In the Gatchina Palace, on the walls of the personal chambers of Emperor Alexander III, mainly paintings of the Itinerants, whom the emperor loved so much, hung. It was no coincidence that there was a portrait of K.P. hanging in his office. Pobedonostsev brushes K.E. Makovsky. This was not only the emperor’s teacher, but also the main ideologist of his reign, who “frozen” Russia after the liberal reforms of Alexander II.

Stool-vase from the office of Alexander III in the Gatchina Palace

Contemporaries, of course, were interested in everything connected with the tsar’s private, private life. Therefore, they listened with interest to everything related to this, including information about the tsar’s manner of listening to reports in his office, and everything related to the furnishings of the tsar’s office. At the end of 1888, Alexander III received Senator A.F. in Gatchina. Kony, who reported to the king about court cases for an hour and a half. The senator was “struck by the king’s furnishings: a low office, very small, on the writing table there is blue cloth, there is a sheet of dirty papier-buvard 83, a simple inkwell, next to a white cloth for wiping the pen, which Koni paid special attention to, since the sovereign had repeatedly He took it to wipe off the pen that he didn’t write, and during the conversation he made notes with this pen. During the conversation, the king stood up and began to walk around the room. Kony also stood up, but the sovereign ordered him to sit down” 84.

Memoirists also left mentions of the nature of the receptions in this office. The fact that Alexander III sat speakers in the chair in his offices was also mentioned by those who worked with the emperor constantly. So, A.A. Polovtsev, who had in the 1880s. weekly report to the king, each time he noted in his diary that the emperor “invites me to sit opposite him at the desk” 85. Count S.D. Sheremetev mentions that during a reception in his Gatchina office, Alexander III “always pulled up a chair so that I could sit down” 86, unlike his father, Nicholas II received “one-time” speakers in his offices only standing.

Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg

Anichkov Palace was one of the St. Petersburg residences of Russian emperors, along with the Winter Palace. From 1817 to 1825 Nicholas I lived there, calling the palace “Own”. From 1825 to 1855 Nicholas I lived there periodically. From 1855 to 1866, the palace was one of the residences of Alexander II. In 1866, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich settled there with Tsarevna Maria Fedorovna. Their children were born there, they grew up there and received their education. After the Tsarevich became Emperor Alexander III on March 1, 1881, the Anichkov Palace retained its status as a “personal” imperial residence. After the death of Alexander III in 1894, the palace remained with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna until the February Revolution of 1917.

“Crimson” living room of Empress Maria Feodorovna. 1869

In this palace, an important role was given to the workrooms of Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. " Raspberry living room was considered the princess's office; judging by the lithograph of 1869, it was a luxurious secular living room. On a separate table under a glass cover was kept a rarity - a silver bouquet made by the Moscow jeweler Ovchinnikov “of roses, carnations, dahlias, lilies of the valley, carefully trimmed and mostly gilded,” received on the occasion of their betrothal in 1866.

The study of Alexander III in the Anichkov Palace was located on the 2nd floor in a corner room, two windows of which looked out onto the garden and two onto Nevsky Prospekt. This office was well known in St. Petersburg, since the emperor, when relaxing, loved to sit on the windowsill and watch the bustling life of Nevsky Prospekt. He looked at passers-by and at store signs. This was his form of relaxation. During the Anichkov balls, he invited interlocutors of interest to him to this office in order to discuss certain issues.

The office of Alexander III in the Anichkov Palace

According to the established order, no one could enter the emperor’s office in his absence. When the emperor left the residence, this room was sealed. The seal on the doors remained until the owner of the office returned. Alexander III maintained strict order in his personal belongings: “His desk was an inviolable shrine. No one dared to touch it; he removed it himself and jealously protected it from intrusion” 87.

Lower dacha of Nicholas II in Peterhof

Alexander III also had another, less well-known, office, which he built for himself on the “tower” of the 3rd floor, where he retired to study. The office had only two windows, a small table and sparse furniture 88 . The tsar valued this office because they tried not to disturb him there, because if he moved from the front office to the 3rd floor, this meant that the tsar wanted to be alone, solving strategic issues. The lower dacha became the main residence of Nicholas II in Peterhof. This was the only palace built specifically for the king’s family during the 23 years of his reign.

Nicholas II's office. Lower dacha. Peterhof. Alexandria. Photo 1927–1932

Naturally, there was a study room there for Nikolai Alexandrovich. In accordance with established traditions, the office was furnished with heavy carved furniture covered with green morocco. The cabinet walls in the lower part were trimmed with walnut panels. The upper part of the walls is covered with embossed leather. Opposite the king's desk was a chair with a high back for speakers. The Tsar’s own chair at his desk was the same as on the Shtandart: swiveling, with a semicircular back. The lighting in the office was mixed; along with electric lamps, there were candelabra with candles on the table.

V. Serov. Emperor Alexander III in the uniform of the Danish Royal Life Guards Regiment. 1899

On the wall of the office hung a portrait of Alexander III in a Danish uniform by V. Serov. This portrait was in the office of Nicholas II until the early 1930s.

E.P. Gau. “Naval” office of Nicholas I in the Cottage. Alexandria. Peterhof. 1855

The Cottage, built at the turn of 1820–1830, was equipped with the “Marine” office of Nicholas I. Three windows of the office overlooked the Gulf of Finland and resembled the aft cabin of a warship. Actually, that’s why it got the name “Morskoye”. The office furniture was oak and, as Nikolai Pavlovich liked, covered in green morocco. Along the walls there were half-cabinets on which stood busts of people dear to the emperor: his daughters and wife. The walls were decorated with paintings of naval battle scenes. The “heart” of the office is a long table covered with green cloth.

The office of Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Cottage. Photo before 1941

After the death of Nicholas I, this office was preserved as a memorial, since Alexander II preferred to live and work in the neighboring Farmer's Palace during the summer months.

E.P. Gau. "Big" office of Alexander II in the Farmers' Palace. 1860 State Museum "Peterhof"

Later, Alexander III worked in the Cottage, using the office of his grandfather, Nikolai Pavlovich. Naturally, works of art accumulated in the study rooms. For example, “a forged silver dish in the shape of a leaf of a marsh jug; in the middle is the flower itself, forged in flat relief with overlays of colored gold; At the bottom of the sheet, a honeycomb pattern is visible. On the reverse side there are 5 legs, in the form of snails emerging from shells.” This is the work of American goldsmith Tiffany. In this office there were several more things “from Tiffany”: “A spirit lamp forged from silver in the Japanese style, decorated with herbs, leaves and symbolic signs of Taikun, partly covered with dark green paint, partly superimposed on golden metal... An ashtray forged from silver, triangular shape. At the bottom there is a relief image of a mouse" 89 .

Imperial yacht "Polar Star"

Since breaks in the work of the Russian emperors were not provided for, all means of transport were also required to be equipped with work rooms.

In the last third of the 19th century. Three large yachts were built for the Russian emperors. The first experience of such construction was unsuccessful. The yacht “Livadia” was laid down on a slipway in England in 1880. The royal order was fulfilled very quickly, and three months later the yacht was launched. In September 1880 she left England. The imperial yacht was luxuriously decorated. The design features of the yacht (the “Popovka” project) made it possible to equip large cabins and salons for the royal family and Suite. The total area of ​​premises allocated for these purposes was 3950 m2. The height of the ceilings of the reception room and the emperor's office was four meters. There was even a working fountain built on the yacht, surrounded by a flower bed. This was the first electrified imperial yacht, illuminated by “Yablochkov candles” 90. However, despite all the luxury, the design of the vessel turned out to be extremely unsuccessful and the vessel was removed from the list of imperial yachts.

The new imperial yacht “Polar Star” was laid down in 1888 and launched in 1890. Naturally, the yacht was beautifully decorated, the unique interior interiors were not inferior in luxury to those of the palace. The yacht had high seaworthiness.

A significant part of the stern part of the ship was allocated for imperial premises. The imperial aft deckhouse was divided by a bulkhead into two parts: a vestibule and a smoking room. From the lobby, a gangway led to the first deck into the vast imperial dining room with 14 windows. Along the starboard side of the "Polar Star" there were: the empress's office with two windows, the empress's bedroom, the emperor's bedroom and the office of Emperor Alexander III 91.

At the end of the reign of Alexander III, the third ocean-going yacht “Standard” was laid down in Denmark. It was launched into the water already under Emperor Nicholas II. Since the yacht was built by the Danes, the interior decoration of the yacht was done by the Danish artist L. Monberg. To decorate it, many things were transported from old yachts: furniture and silverware from the yachts “Derzhava” and “Livadia”. By special order of Nicholas II, gilding was not used for interior decoration.

Imperial yacht "Standart"

On the yacht "Standard", so beloved by the imperial family, the imperial half was designed as a single block. It included premises for Nicholas II (living room, bedroom, study, bathroom) and two empresses - Alexandra Feodorovna and Maria Feodorovna. The tsar’s office on the yacht was not much different from his “land” offices. The same heavy furniture covered in morocco, the same electric lamps and sconces on the walls, the same many photographs. Among the “marine” details, we can mention the wall barometer. Another barometer stood on the king's desk. A rare interior detail was a large electric fan standing on a trellis. The emperor's desk was installed in a partition between two windows, “facing” them. It is noteworthy that along with electric lighting in the interior of the office there were also the usual candles in candelabra. The royal office has four windows. Exactly the usual windows, not portholes.

Nicholas II, while on a yacht, preferred to work with documents on deck in good weather. A wicker chair with a table was placed for him, on which he laid out his papers. Next to him, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was doing needlework.

Nicholas II's office at the Shtandart

Thus, over the decades, the Russian emperors developed a rather intense daily routine, which was literally passed on from generation to generation: a morning walk, morning reports before breakfast, breakfast, a short walk and again work until five o’clock tea, then a short rest and work until lunch . The evening was dedicated to social events. However, if there were still cases, then, according to an unwritten tradition, they were completed at night. The emperors clearly understood that the unfinished business today would be followed by an equally large pile of business tomorrow. Therefore, in their letters and remarks there was often a comparison of their work with indefinite penal servitude or service. When in Livadia, Emperor Nicholas II, checking new soldiers’ uniforms, made a forced march with full equipment, then at the end of it he was asked to fill out a soldier’s book, in which he personally indicated the period of his “service” - “until the grave.”

Nicholas II in soldier's uniform. Livadia

Accordingly, all imperial residences were equipped with “workplaces.” The state machine could not stop for a minute, and the “Highest Decisions” were one of the main impulses for its work.

Political history of Russia in the 18th century. gave many examples when temporary workers close to emperors and empresses determined the path of development of the country. However, by the second quarter of the 19th century. Gradually, a tradition developed that strictly limited the approach of trusted persons to the ruling officials. As a result, starting from Nicholas I, Russian emperors actually did not have full-time personal secretaries. The peculiarity of bureaucratic structures in autocratic Russia was such that ministers, having the right to personally report to the emperor, daily brought down mountains of problems and business papers on him. But the daily life of the Imperial Court presupposed the active participation of emperors both in social life and in representative events.

Since it was very difficult to combine the processing of business papers and representative duties, Russian emperors in the 19th century. solved this problem based on their ideas about the duration and intensity of the working day.

For Alexander I, during his 24-year reign, the role of “workhorses” was consistently performed by two talented officials. At the beginning of his reign, M.M. became the main “engine” of liberal reforms. Speransky. The son of a poor rural sexton, he made a brilliant career, achieving not only closeness to the emperor, but also real influence on political decisions.

Unknown artist. MM. Speransky. 1812 (?)

At the end of the reign, the role of secretary was played by General A. A. Arakcheev. A non-secular man who aroused almost universal hatred, he was, of course, honest and incredibly capable of work. The wife of Nicholas I, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, directly mentioned that Arakcheev “was necessary” for Alexander I “and worked with him every day. Almost all matters passed through his hands” 92. The result of such a close business relationship with the emperor was that Arakcheev was “feared, no one loved him.” And although Alexandra Fedorovna mentions that she “could never understand how he managed to remain in the favor of Emperor Alexander until his death” 93, this is quite obvious. It was a faithful, reliable and able-bodied “workhorse” that relieved the emperor of numerous business concerns.

J. Doe. A. A. Arakcheev. 1824

Arakcheev’s “secretary”, of course, did not completely relieve the tsar from the endless stream of paper. In addition, Arakcheev independently left his “secretary” post in September 1825. This was due to the personal tragedy of the devoted general. On September 10, 1825, on Arakcheev’s Gruzino estate, servants killed the mistress of General N.F. Minkin. They killed her for her undoubted sadistic inclinations. Shocked by what had happened, Arakcheev, without notifying Alexander I, transferred all the files “on serious health problems” to General Euler and ordered him “not to send anything” from the papers 94 . One of his contemporaries recorded that this is partly why, shortly before his death, Alexander I spent the entire morning (November 5, 1825) “working on a huge number of papers that had accumulated in his bureau” 95 .

Cavalry General Count A.I. Chernyshov. 1837

The degree of influence of these “secretaries” is indicated by the fact that it was M.M. Speransky largely determined the course of liberal reforms at the beginning of his reign, which was precisely A.A. Arakcheev put into practice the conservative course of the end of the reign of Alexander I.

A.Gebens. Officials of the Imperial Headquarters. 1860

Nicholas I imagined his duties on the throne differently. He took over the entire departmental-bureaucratic structure of the empire. Numerous departments literally buried him under piles of business papers, and the emperor had every reason to call himself a “convict of the Winter Palace.” Of course, the emperor had a capable team of general administrators, but it was Nicholas I who made the “final” decisions, even on minor issues. It was he who created the style of business relations with subordinates that his son, grandson and great-grandson sought to imitate.

Of course, when Nikolai Pavlovich went abroad, he left his trusted employees “on the farm”, whose integrity and devotion he had no doubt about. In 1828, during the tsar’s long absences, a secret committee was created consisting of Prince. Kochubey, Count P.A. Tolstoy, and the head of his affairs was the manager of the First Department of SEIVK, State Secretary Muravyov. When Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich grew up, his father began to “pull” him into leading the country. The young Tsarevich was protected by the Secret Committee, which in 1849 included the Minister of the Imperial Household, Prince. Volkonsky, Prince. A.I. Chernyshev and gr. Bludov. To “get things done”, the Secret Committee included Secretary of State Bakhtin 96 .

Minister of Foreign Affairs N.K. Gears

Alexander II solved the problem of “busyness” by sharing his responsibilities with his younger brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, and ministers. In the early 1860s. Alexander II managed to gather around himself talented administrators who independently solved the problems that arose at the “tactical level”, while realizing that determining the “strategy” of the country’s development was the integral prerogative of the emperor. For example, the affairs of the War Ministry were managed quite independently by D.A. Milyutin.

Alexander III, based on his ideas about autocracy, tried to reproduce the style of business relations of his grandfather, Nicholas I. He had trusted persons next to him, but he passed all the “bureaucratic noodles” through himself. For example, his Foreign Minister N.K. Gire was essentially only the emperor's secretary, since Alexander III personally resolved all foreign policy problems that arose, determining the country's foreign policy course. Ultimately, Alexander III could not stand it and, literally “crushed” by endless paperwork, tried to create something like a personal secretariat.

Count I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov

Judging by the memoirs of General N.A. Epanchin, in the second half of the 1880s. Alexander III decided to secretly recruit several assistants “worthy of complete trust.” For this role, he naturally chose his closest associates: Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov, who served as Minister of the Imperial Court; Adjutant General Otto Borisovich Richter, who previously held the position of commander of the Imperial Headquarters, and Adjutant General Pyotr Aleksandrovich Cherevin, who headed the emperor’s guard. Their main task was to help the emperor “understand reports and reports” 97. It should be noted that Alexander III was associated with the above-mentioned persons for many years of joint activity and he was completely convinced of their devotion and decency.

ABOUT. Richter

It should be emphasized that all three supposed assistants of Alexander III were categorically against the proposal to form a secret secretariat of the emperor. Having reported to the emperor that they would carry out any of his orders, they considered it their duty to declare that such a decision seemed to them “not only inconvenient, but also dangerous.”

I.E. Repin. Portrait of a submarine. Cherevina. 1885

According to I.I. Vorontsova-Dashkova, O.B. Richter and P.A. Cherevin, the establishment of a secret secretariat will be impossible to keep secret. As a result, ministers will perceive the new order as a sign of distrust in them. In addition, there will be talk and gossip in society, “they will consider that the new order is a limitation of the autocratic power of the monarch in favor of the triumvirate; the impression will be that instead of an autocratic monarch, Russia is ruled by an oligarchy. But the sovereign insisted on his decision, and it was carried out” 98.

The personal secretariat was created and began to work. The emperor handed over to the generals those reports and reports on which he wanted to know their opinion. However, despite all the “conspiracy”, “you can’t hide an sew in a bag” and the work of the “underground” secretariat became known in society. Naturally, gossip began, “precisely in the spirit that was not difficult to foresee.” Members of the “secret committee” considered it necessary to report this to Alexander III. And the emperor was forced to agree with his comrades: “And you are leaving me,” he reproached them, but they could not do otherwise 99.

Secretary of State A. A. Polovtsev

In parallel, Alexander III agreed with Secretary of State A.A. Polovtsev asking him to send him brief extracts from the unofficial cases under consideration with his comments. This agreement was also strictly confidential. Moreover, both sides were interested in this. Polovtsev wanted to have an unofficial channel for informing the emperor about the background of the cases under consideration. Alexander III, in turn, did not want to cause another “wave” of discontent among the St. Petersburg dignitaries. January 1, 1883 A.A. Polovtsev wrote in his diary about the agreement “to write for the sovereign the briefest extracts from the memorials sent to him. This is a secret and was introduced only under the current sovereign to facilitate him in his many activities. The agreement with the sovereign is such that he destroys these pieces of paper after reading them” 100. Polovtsev sent his memoirs to the tsar weekly for at least 5–6 years, which was kept secret, since both sides maintained a strict regime of secrecy. In one of his conversations with the Tsar in March 1887, Polovtsev inquired about the fate of his memorials, adding: “I hope that you throw these sheets of paper into the fire.” To this, Alexander III replied: “No, I keep everything that you write to me, it is useful for me for reference, but no one sees it, these papers are under my key...” 101.

It should be recalled once again that the workrooms of the Russian emperors were part of secure premises, which no one could visit in the absence of the owner. The safes are not visible in the photographs, but the huge tables had lockable drawers for confidential papers.

However, despite these “confidential maneuvers,” Alexander III, until the end of his life, carried a cart of bureaucratic decisions, and a significant part of them only traditionally demanded the “Highest” resolutions.

It can be added that Polovtsev had a similar agreement with Empress Maria Fedorovna: “I am sending the Empress the first report this year on the most important affairs of the Council, in accordance with a secret agreement with her” 102. Although Polovtsev was terribly annoyed that the Empress did not read them.

Nicholas II strove to be like his father in everything. The basis of imitation was not blind copying, but the unity of their views on the power prerogatives of Russian monarchs. When in October 1894, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich overnight turned into Nicholas II, the ministers immediately “harnessed” the young tsar to the “bureaucratic cart.” When the emperor realized the volume of daily work and the level of responsibility that fell upon him, he simply fell into a panic.

His Power of Trebles I. Cartoon. 1905

Nevertheless, Nicholas II adapted quite quickly, trying to copy the style of his father’s business relations with his immediate circle. This also concerned the problem of the personal secretariat. Nicholas II never got a personal secretary. For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that timid attempts to start something similar at the beginning of the reign were nevertheless made. Thus, the chief manager of the Office for Accepting Petitions V.I. Mamantov mentions that in 1896 he began preparing small press releases for the Tsar, of course, at the request of the monarch himself. Moreover, this was done “semi-legally.” However, the space around the king was “scanned” by his entourage very carefully, and the official’s attempt to go beyond the scope of his direct duties was immediately stopped.

At the beginning of his reign, Nicholas II made attempts to involve friends in processing business papers. Thus, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the husband of the Tsar’s younger sister, directly mentions how they all spent the afternoon watching the reports presented to Nicholas II 103.

Over time, Nicholas II got involved in the work. And his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, in every possible way supported maximalist sentiments in ideas about the boundaries of autocratic power. She herself had a personal secretary.

The last attempt of Nicholas II to get himself a personal secretary can be dated back to the end of 1905. In a difficult internal political situation, the tsar was looking for a strong person on whom he could rely during the revolution. In October 1905, Nicholas II appointed General D.F. to the post of Palace Commandant. Trepov, who went down in Russian history under the nickname “general-ammo-don’t-spare.” It was he, the general, who during the first half of 1906 actually performed secretarial duties under the emperor.

Apparently, this immediately became known not only to the emperor’s immediate circle, but also to the liberal opposition. Caricatures of Trepov and Nicholas II appear in newspapers, in which the general is called “Trepov I.”

And the king had to explain himself. He writes a note to the Dowager Empress-Mother Maria Feodorovna, in which he says that “Trepov is irreplaceable for me, a kind of secretary. He is experienced, smart and careful in his advice. I give him thick notes from Witte to read and then he reports them to me quickly and clearly. This, of course, is a secret for everyone!” This is a very typical document. Here is the desire to rely on a solid person, and the reluctance to read the “thick notes” of S.Yu. Witte, whom Nicholas II did not trust, and the desire to keep Trepov's position a secret.

I.E. Repin. Portrait of P.A. Stolypin. 1910

Many contemporaries wrote about the role of General Trepov in the system of governing the empire at the end of 1905 - beginning of 1906. Gendarmerie General A.V. Gerasimov noted that Trepov, “constantly in contact with the tsar, being an intermediary between him and the ministers... enjoyed enormous influence and played a major political role” 104. The extent of Trepov's influence is evidenced by his constant reports to the tsar. During the entire reign of Nicholas II, not a single Palace Commandant met with the Tsar as often as D.F. Trepov. As follows from the diary entries of Nicholas II, in December 1905 the tsar heard 6 reports from Trepov, in January 1906 - 5, in February - 8, in March - 12. This time was the peak of the political influence of the Palace Commandant D.F. Trepov. Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsov mentioned that “the sovereign trusts Trepov positively; in him one can have either an active accomplice or a hidden but dangerous enemy... Trepov has an undeniable influence on the sovereign, and the sovereign listens to his voice more than to anyone from the entire palace entourage.” 105. However, the general’s “star” had set by the summer of 1906, when P.A. appeared in the political firmament of St. Petersburg. Stolypin, on whom Nicholas II placed his bet. At the beginning of September 1906, General D.F. Trepov died suddenly “very timely” for the Tsar.

Palace Commandant V.N. Voeikov

Under Nicholas II, the argument for the “ban on secretaries” was the same as in the time of Alexander III: a secretary could directly or indirectly influence the monarch, and could become necessary through the force of things. In addition, the personal characteristics of Nicholas II should be taken into account. He was a very “closed” person who did not want his intentions and assessments to become known to anyone. In addition, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who was very jealous of her husband’s autocratic prerogatives, did not want to share her influence over him with some secretary. The officials surrounding the king were also united in their rejection of a possible secretariat. Palace Commandant V.N. Voeikov directly indicated that the Minister of the Imperial Court V.B. Frederick “supported the king in this decision, not wanting the intrusion of an outsider between the sovereign and his first servant” 106.

According to the recollections of those in the “inner circle,” Nicholas II was so pedantic in the performance of his duties that he himself put stamps on the swap letters. Only in great haste did Nicholas II entrust this secondary duty to his valet. At the same time, the valet had to present his work so that the king could be convinced of its execution 107. However, some official documents and letters were written by offices. Thus, the head of the Own E.I.V. Office of A.S. Taneyev compiled “rescripts” for dignitaries. Minister of the Court - official letters to members of the royal family. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was in charge of correspondence with foreign monarchs and so on 108.