Crowns and crowns: what the Russian rulers wore

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In pre-Petrine Russia, autocrats were crowned with special crowns, the most famous of which was the well-known “Monomakh's hat”.

There is a legend that in the XII century the Byzantine emperor Constantine sent her and other regalia on a golden platter to the Kiev Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh, from whom, after many generations, this crown passed to the Moscow tsars. True, there is a version that the hat is a gift of the Uzbek Khan to Yuri Danilovich or Ivan Kalita, whom he patronized.

The hat could have been made according to their order by oriental craftsmen. It has been established that for the first time the grandson of Ivan III, Dmitry, who was never destined to become a monarch, was crowned with the cap of Monomakh in 1498. Initially, Monomakh's hat was decorated with pearl and gold pendants, later it was trimmed with dark sable fur and crowned with a gold engraved pommel with a cross.

The height of the hat with the cross is about 25 centimeters, its diameter is about 20 centimeters. 43 precious stones adorn the gold: rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls.. The weight of the cap is 993, 66 g. In general, Monomakh's hat is not so heavy.

Spare headdress of Russian monarchs (Kazan). The hat was made around 1553 for Ivan the Terrible immediately after the conquest and annexation of the Kazan Khanate to the Russian state and the consolidation of the title of the Kazan Tsar.

There is a version that it was made by the jewelers of the conquered khanate. Gold, silver, rubies, emeralds, pearls, fur were used in its production. The cap is crowned with a 90-carat yellow sapphire. By the way, in the modern coat of arms of Kazan, it is this headdress that crowns the shield.

Astrakhan hat … She is the crown of the "Big outfit". It was made in 1627 especially for Tsar Mikhail Romanov. The Astrakhan hat was named in honor of the conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate.

The hat is decorated with 177 stones and pearls. Today this crown is crowned with the coat of arms of Astrakhan. Sapphires (azure yacht) - 24, emeralds - 37, rubies (wormy yacht) - 19, diamonds - 35, red spinel (lal) - 9, pearls (gurmick grain) - 6

"HAT ALTABASNAYA" ("Siberian crown"). Made in 1684, for Tsar Ivan Alekseevich, after the conquest and annexation of the Siberian Khanate to Russia

The diamond crown of Tsar Ivan V Alekseevich is a precious crown, the former royal regalia, which is kept in the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin. This is one of two crowns, which were made around 1687 by Russian craftsmen of the Armory for the Large Outfits of the brothers-co-rulers. This crown belonged to Tsar Ivan V Alekseevich.

Since in 1682 two monarchs, Ivan V and Peter I Alekseevich, were on the throne of Russia at once, both tsars had their own "Big Outfits", and the complexes of already existing regalia were divided between them.

Since in this case the original Cap of Monomakh went to the eldest, Ivan V, a crown was hastily made for the coronation of Peter I, which partially reproduced the original.

Since much richer diamond crowns ("First Dress") were later made for both kings, the crown made in 1682 was attributed to the "Second Dress", hence its name.

crown of Catherine I

Real crowns, in a European way, appeared in our country during the time of Peter I, when in 1724 the first such crown was created for the coronation of the emperor's wife, the future Empress Catherine I.

Subsequently, this crown was altered several times in accordance with the tastes and requirements of the new emperors and empresses, until in 1762, especially for the coronation of Catherine II, the Great Imperial Crown was made there.

crown of Anna Ioannovna

Crown of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna - a precious crown made in St. Petersburg in 1730-1731, presumably by the master Gottlieb Wilhelm Dunkel. About two and a half thousand diamonds, rubies and tourmalines, skillfully selected in size, are mounted in the silver frame of the crown.

Most of them previously adorned the crown of Empress Catherine I, as well as a dark red tourmaline placed under a diamond cross of an irregular shape. It was bought in 1676 from a Chinese bogdykhan by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and subsequently decorated several royal crowns in turn. The weight of this unique one is one hundred grams.

And now about the Crown of the Russian Empire

The masters were given one condition that the headdress should not be heavier than two kilograms. Pozier and Eckart successfully coped with this task, since the weight of the finished product was 1993, 8 grams.

Despite the complexity of the product, the crown of the Russian Empire was created in a relatively short period of time - two months. Interestingly, the shape was chosen in the spirit of oriental traditions. The crown consists of two silver hemispheres, which were supposed to symbolize the union of East and West.

The laurel branch at the bottom is a symbol of glory, while oak leaves and acorns showed strength and strength of power. In terms of size, it can be noted that the height of the crown is 27.5 cm, and the length of the lower circumference of the crown is 64 cm.

This piece of jewelry has been inserted more than five thousand precious stones … Among them there were 4936 cut diamonds. The total weight of these diamonds was 2858 carats. In addition to diamonds, pearls were also used - in order to emphasize the beauty of the diamond lace, 75 large matte pearls were inserted in two rows.

Silver and gold were crushed from precious metals to make the crown. The crown is crowned with a rare gem - a noble spinel, red in color. The weight of the stone is 398.72 carats.

Interestingly, after Empress Catherine II, the coronations of Paul I, Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II were carried out by the great crown of the Russian Empire. Source: © Fishki.net

Maltese crown

Presumably it was made by Russian craftsmen at the behest of the Russian Emperor Paul I when he accepted the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta, or was brought by the Hospitallers from Malta. The crown is a gilded silver crown. Eight arcs support an apple topped with a white enamelled Maltese cross.

The Small Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire is one of the imperial regalia. The small crown was created by the jeweler Zeftigen for the coronation of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II in 1856.