This website is part of The New York Public Library's Online Exhibition Archive. For current classes, programs, and exhibitions, please visit nypl.org.
Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825
1453 Through the Reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) The Time of Troubles to the First Romanovs (1598-1682) Peter the Great and His Legacy (1682-1762) The Age of Catherine the Great (1762-1801) The Reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825)

                                     

Explore this Section:



Russia's Globalization:
A Key

Events marked Russia Symbol are specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
Those marked World Symbol are important world historical or cultural events.
Engagement Symbol indicates specific points of sociocultural or military engagement between Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals.


Russia Symbol   A Global Empire’s Attention and Favor
    A Global Empire’s Attention and Favor
NYPL, Spencer Collection
Engagement Symbol   Russian Merchant to the Americas
    Russian Merchant to the Americas
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

Russia Symbol   Catherine in Her Later Years
    Catherine in Her Later Years
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division
Engagement Symbol  
    The Romanov’s Heirs Saluted by Venice
NYPL, Spencer Collection
Engagement Symbol   The Costume of Russia’s Many Peoples, on Paper
    The Costume of Russia’s Many Peoples, on Paper
NYPL, Spencer Collection
Engagement Symbol   Mughal Splendors
    Mughal Splendors
NYPL, General Research Division
The Romanov’s Heirs Saluted by Venice
Photographic Services & Permissions
Engagement Symbol    The Romanov’s Heirs Saluted by Venice

Angelo Nonni (fl. late 18th century)
Descrizione degli spettacoli, e feste datesi in Venezia [Description of the Spectacles and Festivities Given in Venice]
Venice: V. Formaleoni, 1782
NYPL, Spencer Collection

In an attempt to allay her Prussophile son’s anger over Russia’s broken alliance with Prussia, Catherine the Great sent the Grand Duke Paul and his wife to tour France and the northern Italian lands controlled by Russia’s new ally, the Habsburgs. In January 1782, the visitors – traveling anonymously as the “Count and Countess of the North” – were honored with a grand spectacle in Venice’s Piazza San Marco, complete with festival carriages. The trip provided the tsarevich and his cultivated consort an opportunity to acquire many fine and decorative art objects for his palaces.