Royal Carriages

[Sergio]

I start this new topic to discuss about the Royal Carriages used by the Romanovs.

At this website we can see some carriages used during the Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II: http://www.romanovrussia.com/NIICorAlbum.html.

Carriage with empress Alexandra

[Sergio]

I found this great website with a Royal Carriages collection: http://www.kreml.ru/en/main/collection/museum/carriage/

You can see some photos and read informations about each carriage.


Present from Count Grigoriy Orlov to Empress Catherine II.


Summer "amusement" carriage, belonged to Tsarevich Alexis Petrovich, the son of Peter the Great.

[Merrique]

Such wonderful pictures.
You really do come up with some great topics Sergio.

[ChristineM]

In the museum of carriages at Tsarskoe Selo you will see the battered carriage in which Alexander II was returning to the Winter Palace when he was attacked by nihilists and subsequently murdered.

tsaria

[ChristineM]

Extracted from a 'Guide to Tzarskoye Selo -

COURT CARRIAGES OF THE 18th
THROUGHOUT EARLY 20th CENTURIES:

'This exhibition is currently operating in the former Imperial Stables which were built in 1824 according to the plans by the architect Vasily Stasov and Smaragd Shustov.   The exhibition features 23 imperial carriages by well-known Russian and Western European masters of the 18th and 19th centuries.   Already in the 19th century it became clear that the collection of court carriages was of historical and artistic value.   In 1860 Emperor Alexander II opened the Court Stable Museum in Saint Petersburg, thus bringing to fruition an idea that appeared as early as the reign of Emperor Nicholas I.   A special two-storey building was built according to the plans by P.S. Sadovnikov in Saint Petersburg specially to house the court carriages.  During the late 1920s the museum was disembled.   Part of the carriage collection went to the State Hermitage and 52 carriages were donated to the Catherine Palace Museum which already possessed 23 carriages.   Prior to the 1930s the collection of carriages at Tzarskoye Selo was kept in the Cameron Gallery, in the Grotto and in the former Imperial Stables.   Having survived the Blockade under the vaults of the Hanging Gardens of the Hermitage in Leningrad, part of the collection again went to the Catherine Palace Museum in 1969.   Most of the carraiges have been restored.   In 1971 an exhibition consisting of 14 carriages was opened in the Cameron Gallery.   The opening of the museum in the former stables was preceded by new reconstruction work during which 20 carriages were refurbished.   Today the exhibition features various vehicles:  carriages, phaetons, cabriolets, and sleighs which were used for formal appearances and the most lavish ceremonies held in the imperial court during the 18th and 19th centuries:  the coronation.   Three carriages created for Empress Catherine II by the famous Petersburg carriage master Johann Conrad Buchendal during the late 18th century are remarkable for their impressive size, lavish gilt carvings and wealth of interior decor.   The carriages from the mid-19th century are no less amazing in the quality of their workmanship.   These are vehicles created at the Court Carriage Workshop especially ten carriages produced for the coronation of Alexander II by the Petersburg masters Tatska, the Frobelius brothers and Yakovlev brothers.   The Tzarskoje Selo collection also contains carriages from the Nellis Carriage Works and uniquely constructed carriages produced by the Ivan Breitigam factory in 1873.   A special place is occupied by the carriage in which on March 1, 1881, Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded after members of the People's Will party threw a bomb at the carriage.   The last room of the exhibition contains sleighs which are comparable in their rich decoration 'The sleigh makes the man' as one Russian saying goes.   The exhibition features sleighs belonging to Emperor Paul I, and a ten seat sleigh for transporting the ladies-in-waiting of Empress Catherine II produced by the carriage master Johann Conrad Buchendal in 1793.'



Alexei's donkey cart is not in this exhibition.   However, the elaborate harness gifted to him by the King of Italy, can be found in the exposition in the Alexander Palace.

tsaria

[Sergio]

The carriage in which Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded, on March 1, 1881.

Tsarskoe Selo Museum

[Janet_W.]

Hardly a defense against terrorists, is it?  

As always, thank you Sergio.  

[helenazar]

Here are some photos from the carriage/sleigh exhibit at the Catherine Palace. These belonged to various Russian Emperors....



I also have a photo somewhere of the carriage which Alexander II was riding in the day he got assasinated, I will post it if I find it...

[grandduchessella]

Photo courtesy of palimpest

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/340/29103861kd.jpg

Vladimir Chernyshev, Hermitage curator of carriages, inspects the 1896 coronation coach of Czar Nicholas II on Friday, July 24, 1998 in Wilmington, Delaware. The coach is on display as part of the Nicholas & Alexandra exhibition. (AP Photo/Greg Nelson)

[James1941]

I read in one book that the carriage Alexander II was riding in when the first bomb was thrown at it was a special gift to him from Emperor Napoleon III. The Tsar had gone to Paris in 1867 to attend the Paris exposition. He and the emperor were riding back from a visit to the fair when a Polish patriot shot at him. It was a close affair. The tsar was furious and blamed France for harboring terrorist (the French public supported the Pole's fight against Russian occupation). Napoleon III, eager to have Russian support against Prussia, made profuse apologies. One way was the gift of this carriage which was supposedly armored to some extent. This is perhaps why the bomb did not destroy the carriage and kill the tsar. Unfortunately, he foolishly ignored the advice to get in a sleigh and race for the safety of the palace. Instead he went to see about the wounded and placed himself in harm's way.

[Marshall II]

I came across this and thought it was enlightening. Alexandra Feodorovna's carriage was a coupé coach built in St. Petersburg by Johann K. Buckendahl in 1793. The original, 512 cm long and 270 cm high, is made of oak, ash, birch, lime, iron and steel and is embellished with copper, brass, bronze, silver and gold, its interior is decorated with velvet and silk, with beveled glass windows. It is suspended on four C-shaped transverse springs and sits length- and cross-wise on straps, has seats for the coachman and pages, rear steps for the footmen and folding steps attached to the floor of the carriage. The exterior is upholstered with dark red velvet, applied with sequins, artificial diamonds, tassels and golden embroidery of trelliswork, flowers and foliage. The coach is surmounted by a copper-gilt crown set with pastes (originally aquamarines). The coach was renovated in 1826, 1856, 1894 and 1896 and most recently in 1992-93 through a grant of the Ford Motor Company for a Fabergé exhibition held at the Winter Palace in 1993, when it was carried up the Ambassador's Staircase in pieces and then reassembled to be shown alongside the Fabergé miniature replica in St. George Hall. 7

[James_Davidov]

Hi,

I love state carriages (not just the Romanov's), but information is hard to track down, except for English examples.  I just found the link below - jackpot!


http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?num=0&word=Carriages%20%26%20coaches&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=2&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&imgs=20&pNum=

[Marshall II]

Wonderful link! Thanks for sharing!