History of things: Nicholas II coronation photo and commemorative mug

Each week, mos.ru and the Museum of Moscow discuss museum items as part of the History of Things project. This story deals with three items made in1896 and linked with the coronation of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia: a commemorative metal mug, a bronze medal with the images of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, and a photo by an unknown photographer showing the coronation of the last Emperor and his wife at the Moscow Kremlin’s Cathedral Square.

The commemorative enameled coronation mug with the monograms of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna, is part of the Museum of Moscow’s collection. The mug reminds us of the pompous 1896 coronation festivities and the Khodynka Field tragedy, a gloomy episode in Moscow’s history when hundreds of people were trampled to death.

122 years ago, on 14 May (26 May on the Gregorian calendar), Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna, were crowned at the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral in a traditional ceremony, similar to those involving their predecessors, grand princes and tsars of the Kingdom of Muscovy. After such ceremonies, Russian rulers came to be seen as legitimate heads of state by their subjects. Therefore the Romanovs travelled from St Petersburg, the then capital of Russia, to Moscow for the coronation ceremonies.

Large-scale preparations for each coronation ceremony were launched well in advance, with city authorities improving local streets, renovating old palaces and building new ones. Leading Moscow architects of that period did their best to spruce up the city. All buildings between Petrovsky Palace, the last overnight station of royal journeys from St Petersburg to Moscow, and the Kremlin were decorated. Columns, shields, arches, masts, gilded welcoming signs with monograms, flags, colour fabrics, fringes and green emblems were put up. The Kremlin featured very impressive illumination.

The Moscow Mint issued badges, commemorative medals, government awards and coins.

The coronation festivities lasted over a fortnight, from 6 May through 26 May, and were marred by tragic events on Khodynka Field. A festive open-air party was scheduled to be held on 18 May, four days after the coronation. In all, 400,000 gifts were prepared for ordinary people. Each gift was wrapped in a bright souvenir scarf, made by the Prokhorovskaya Fabrics Factory. One side of each scarf featured portraits of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, with the other side showing the Kremlin and the Moskva River. Each gift included sweets, sausages, ginger cookies and a commemorative cup. Famous journalist Vladimir Gilyarovsky wrote about these nice-looking multi-colour enameled mugs with white-and-gold ornaments and state emblems that were displayed at many local shops. , Everyone went to Khodynka to get one of these mugs rather than to attend the festivities.

People started arriving at Khodynka Field on 17 May, and a crowd of over 500,000 had gathered on an area of one square kilometre by the morning of 18 May. A terrible crush followed, killing 1,379 people and wounding about 900 more. The tragedy was caused by several factors, including the poor location of counters from which the gifts were to have been handed out.