The Imperiia Project: a spatial history of the Russian EmpireMain MenuProjectsDashboardsData CatalogMapStoriesGalleriesGamesWho said history was boring?Teach Our ContentCiting the ProjectKelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5The Imperiia Project // Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
The Parquet Floor
12018-09-25T02:13:06-04:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f591plain2018-09-25T12:33:18-04:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5In the 1830s, the Naval Ministry regularly commissioned 100-gun ships, each requiring over 6,000 pieces of oak. For a few years, landowners in Kurland Province promised to supply the necessary timber, but the shipments never materialized. Kurland’s landowners - who possessed some of the finest forests in all Russia - had found a more lucrative market. Instead of selling their oaks to the navy, they sold them at great profit to the Moscow railroad project and to the parquet factories outfitting the luxurious estates of the imperial elite.