Imperiia: a spatial history of the Russian EmpireMain MenuAboutDashboardsData CatalogMapStoriesGalleriesGamesWho said history was boring?Map ShelfTeach Our ContentCiting the ProjectKelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5The Imperiia Project // Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
One monument isn't enough for you?
12021-01-29T09:50:53-05:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f593Guidebook noteplain2021-01-29T10:58:29-05:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5It wasn't enough for the imperial government, either. Here is a great collection of plans for monuments to Alexander II from the Yeltsin Presidential Library in Moscow (with notes in English)
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12021-01-21T12:26:03-05:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5Scribblings (the note pile)Kelly O'Neill7plain2021-02-02T10:13:27-05:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5
And there is a rather puzzling monument to Tzar Alexander II, who was presented in a rather dashing and imposing way, surrounded by a peasant, a Circassian, Bulgaria (yes, apparently all of Bulgaria), and Asia (again, in human form).
I could not, for the life of me, work out what a Bulgarian - let alone Bulgaria herself - was doing in Samara. But it turns out these are the glories of Alexander's reign: "the abolition of serfdom, the conquest of the Caucasus, the delivery of the Balkan Slavs from the Turkish yoke, and the acquisition of Central Asia." While standing in front of the monument I learned this from a charming German from the ship and was impressed. Later I realized he was shamelessly cribbing from Baedeker, page 358. Embed from Getty Images
