Saint Petersburg — a Military Capital

The foundation and the first years of Saint Petersburg were inextricably linked with the Northern War. This is also the reason why the military element was so important in forming the city’s image and appearance. This was demonstrated by the troops stationed in the city, their barracks, regimental cathedrals, riding houses (manège), monuments, and so forth. It was expressed in the city’s toponymy, folklore, way of life, and in many characteristics of everyday behavior. The image of «Pushkin’s Petersburg» is much admired and loved, and that perception is to a certain extent due to the fact that Petersburg was a «military capital.»

The views of Saint Petersburg at that time-paintings, engravings, and watercolors-seem to echo Pushkin’s words. There is so much admiration and joy in the works of Patersen and Ivanov, Rayev and Chernetsov: parades and the changing of the guard, soldiers marching through the city, or simply views in which one may almost invariably catch a glimpse of a figure in uniform. The military features in Saint Petersburg’s iconography were no accident; they reflected a fixed image that played an important role in the daily life and culture of the Russian capital. This military image was particularly significant in connection with Russia’s conflict with France at the time of the Napoleonic Wars.

Among the first buildings in Saint Petersburg were the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Admiralty, which were directly connected with the city’s military function. Subsequently, the buildings involved in the city’s military life had a special significance. Those were the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral (1827—1829, architect V. P. Stasov) and the Troitsky Cathedral (1828—1835, architect V. P. Stasov), which served as regimental churches for the Preobrazhensky Life Guards and Izmailovsky Regiments, and the barracks of the Cavalry Guards (1800s, architect L. Ruska) and Pavlovsky Regiments (1817—1819, architect V. P. Stasov), built in the Russian variety of the Empire style. Some of Saint Petersburg’s cathedrals became a sort of war memorial. For example, the Peter and Paul Cathedral kept Swedish and Turkish trophy banners, and Kazan Cathedral kept the trophies of the war with Napoleon and the war with Persia. The role of Kazan Cathedral as a war memorial was emphasized by the fact that Field Marshal M. I. Kutuzov was buried there, as well as by the monuments to Kutuzov and Field Marshal M. Y. Barclay de Tolly (1830—1837, sculptor B. I. Orlovsky), the great heroes of the War of 1812, which stand in front of it. Trophy banners adorned the Spaso-Preobrazhensky and Troitsky Cathedrals as well. The first was surrounded by trophy Turkish guns; the second had a so-called Glory Column in front of it, also made of trophy gun barrels.

The military image of Saint Petersburg is reinforced by various triumphal arches: the Narva Arch, built in honor of the victory over Napoleon for the return of the Imperial Guard from the foreign campaign of 1813—1814 (1827—1834, architect V. P. Stasov); the Moscow Arch (1834—1838, architect V. P. Stasov); and the General Staff Arch (1820s, architect K. I. Rossi), as well as by monuments honoring great commanders like A. V. Suvorov (1788—1801, sculptor M. I. Kozlovsky). This military image is further enhanced by obelisks and memorial columns dedicated to great victories, like the Rumyantsevsky Obelisk (1799, architect V. Brenna) in the city itself, the Chesmen Column (1774—1778, architect A. Rinaldi) and other memorials in Tsarskoe Selo, and the decorations of buildings, grilles, and street lamps, done in the Empire style and using military symbols. The General Headquarters Arch, with its complex of buildings and the Alexander Column (1830—1834, architect A. Montferrand) in the center of Palace Square, is a major architectural monument to the victory of the Russian Army over Napoleon.

The distinctive military character of Saint Petersburg is also reflected in the city’s toponymy. One can see the way the city changed in order to accommodate troops. Some of the names directly refer to the military sphere, like Furshtadtskaya Street, Konnogvardeisky (Horse Guards) Boulevard, and Semyonovsly Platz (referring to Semyonovsky Regiment). Other names are hidden military toponyms: Zakharievskaya Street was named after the regimental church Cavalry Guards, and Sergievskaya Street (called Chaikovsky Street today) was named after St. Sergey Cathedral, the cathedral of the Russian artillery.

The population of Saint Petersburg contained a large percentage of soldiers from the early years of the city’s existence. At certain times, up to a quarter of the population consisted of soldiers. During Alexander I’s time, approximately 50,000 residents of the northern capital (more than 10% of the population) wore uniforms. A historian of the city, I. I. Pushkaryov, wrote: «Now Petersburg seems to consist of four separate cities: a military city, a commercial city, and the capital of the province and the country.» The most important part of Saint Petersburg’s military population was the Imperial Guard.

The first Guards Infantry regiments-Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky-date back to Peter the Great’s «poteshny» regiments, which were made up young men of his age who began their military education and instruction with him in the 1680s. In 1696 these regiments took part in the Turkish campaign to take the Azov fortress. In 1700, before starting the campaign against Sweden, Peter the Great first named these regiment Guards. At the walls of Narva, the soldiers of the two regiments showed great courage. The Life Guards took part in all the campaigns of the Northern War (1700—1721).

In 1730 the old regiments were joined by two new Life Guards regiments-Izmailovsky and the Mounted Guards. The Guards Corps was not increased until the end of the 18th century. After Paul I became emperor in 1796, he formed the Life Guards Chasseurs Battalion, which became a regiment in 1806. Back in 1724 Peter I had formed a detachment of Cavalry Guards consisting of 60 officers for the occasion of the coronation of his wife Catherine. Subsequently, this detachment was assembled specially for coronations but was later disbanded. During the time of Catherine II, the Cavalry Guards were in permanent service at the imperial residence. In January 1799, the Cavalry Guards Corps was formed, and in 1800 it became the Horse-Guardsmen Regiment. The Horse-Guardsmen continued their service at the palace and coronations service but also took part in battles. They distinguished themselves during the battle of Austerlitz, when they attacked the French together with the Horse Guards. They took part in the War of 1812 and in the campaigns of 1813—1814. In 1796, a Life Guards Hussar Regiment was formed, which included two Cossack squadrons. They were the basis of the Cossack Regiment, which was formed in 1798.

The Guards Corps was increased in the years prior to the War of 1812. In 1808, the Finnish Battalion (which became a regiment in 1811) was added to it; in 1809, the Dragoon and the Ulan regiments; and in 1811, the Lithuanian Infantry Regiment. At that time, special Guards units were established, such as the Guards Equipage (1810) and the Life Guards Field-Engineer Battalion. In addition to these, the Guards included infantry and mounted artillery, a training corps, and some other units. The Guards were actively involved in action from the first day of the War of 1812 to the very last, and they covered their banners with glory. Almost all the regiments took part in the Battle of Borodino. As a reward for the courage shown during the battle, the Life Guards Lithuanian Regiment was named the Life Guards Moscow Regiment in 1817.

Many regiments of the Russian Army were awarded with St. George’s banners and standards, medals for bravery in battle, and silver trumpets for their victory over Napoleon’s Grande Armée. However, one of the most prestigious awards was to be included in the Guard. The Life Grenadiers, the Pavlovsky Grenadiers, and the Life Curassier regiments of His Majesty received this honor. From 1813, they became Life Guards regiments. The army’s headquarters, regiments, and various services and departments were stationed in Saint Petersburg and its environs. Military schools, such as the Page Corps and the Gentlemen’s Cadet Corps, played a significant part in the city’s life.

At first, from the time of Peter the Great, the soldiers of Saint Petersburg’s garrison, including the Guards, were accommodated in the houses of residents of the city. In the late 1720s, special large territories on the outskirts of the capital were allocated to the regiments. However, it was only after the War of 1812 that the construction of stone barracks buildings, designed by Saint Petersburg’s best architects, began.

The splendor of the Guard’s uniforms was an important element in the spectacular military ceremonies and parades of the time. Naturally, the parades of Saint Petersburg were the first, and they owed their magnificence to the Guards.

«Who does not praise the Guards?» wrote A. P. Yermolov, a hero of the war against Napoleon. «And how can one in all justice not praise them?»(1). The Guards’ privileged position sometimes gave rise to jealousy in the provinces among army veterans and even in Moscow.

Naturally, the Guards liked to show off their uniforms. Every regiment had some distinguishing features of its costume. In the Guards Infantry, it was the color of their collars (white edging), which were given to the 1st Division in memory of Peter the Great’s naval campaigns. Officers of each regiment had their uniforms gilt-embroidered in a different manner.

It is interesting to note that certain liberties in wearing uniforms in Russia were permitted. It can be easily and plausibly explained by the conditions of daily life in the army, but in the Guard this was not merely military dandyism but a sort of practical buffoonery too. It became particularly evident after the Guards returned from the foreign campaigns of 1813—1814. After returning to Saint Petersburg in 1815, Alexander I seemed «bored and even angry. [He] became stricter and more demanding in matters of military discipline; officers were not allowed to wear civilian clothes, and special attention was paid to the observation of all rules of accoutrement.»(2)

On this theme, an extract from the memoirs of A. E. Rosen, an officer and Decembrist, is of interest: «I was never pedantic, although there was one occasion when I could have been considered one. I always was very strictly dressed, even at nighttime when I returned home after midnight along the deserted lines of Vasilievsky Island. I wore my cocked hat straight, strictly by the rules, although it often impaired my vision both in winter and in summer. Those who judged me by my uniform could call me a pedant, a show-off, or a fop, like those who went out of their way to seem different. I had another reason for dressing that way. During the first years of my service, in 1818, when N. M. Sipyagin was Chief of Staff, he, along with Count M. A. Miloradovich and N. A. Potyomkin and all the elegant generals, wore green gloves and hats askew; officers followed their example. One summer day, when the weather was warm, I was walking across St. Isaac’s bridge; my tunic was undone, and my white waistcoat was visible under it; I was wearing green gloves, and my hat was askew. I turned into Malaya Morskaya Street from Nevsky Prospekt and saw Emperor Alexander. I stopped, startled, embarrassed, and at a loss, and I just had time to turn my hat the right way round. The Tsar noticed my embarrassment, smiled, and shook his finger at me, but he did not say anything. I took a cab, rushing home, and wondered if I should tell my superior officer of the encounter or wait until an official inquiry was made. I did not say anything but worried about the possible consequences of the incident. One could be transferred into army regiments or kept under house arrest in the guardhouse for a misdemeanor like this. There were no inquiries about the incident, but after that I vowed to be very meticulous about my uniform, and kept to my word until the last hour of my service.»(3)

One manifestation of the military image of Saint Petersburg were the regiments of the Guard Cuirassier Division: the Horse-Guardsmen, the Life Guard Cavalry, and the Cuirassiers of His and Her Majesty. Casks and cuirasses remained an exclusive tradition of Saint Petersburg until World War I. Horse Guards and Cuirassiers were constantly present in the literature of Saint Petersburg.

Parades played an important part in the life of Saint Petersburg because of both their quantity and splendor. Such parades, which could include one regiment or the whole Guards Corps, marked national holidays or the most important events in the life of the Empire, the capital, or the Imperial family, or were part of the changing of the guard. Numerous engravings and paintings depict those ceremonies. Often parades took place on Tsaritsyn Meadow, which became the Field of Mars, as in Paris, during the reign of Paul I. It was also often used for military exercises. Every year it hosted large military parades and the so-called «Imperial Review of the Guards Corps,» after they left their winter quarters in the city for summer camps in the suburbs of the capital. The May Parade on the Field of Mars marked the end of the winter season of the city’s life, which began in autumn with the ball of the Naval Cadets Corps. In addition, various other celebrations took place there. For example, on September 23, 1829, there was a thanksgiving service in honor of the peace treaty signed with Turkey. This is how a witness described it: «At 10 o’clock in the morning, all the Guards troops that were in the capital, the army, and in military schools-the infantry, cavalry and artillery-were situated in two lines in columns facing the ambo that had been set up for His Majesty the Emperor. At 12 o’clock His Imperial Majesty, the Heir, and their entourage arrived at Tsaritsyn Meadow and attended the service on the ambo, which was surrounded by all the troops’ standards. At the end of the ceremony, the guns fired, the army and the people cheered, and the trophies that our troops had brought from Europe and Asia were driven around the square: the maces of pashas, weapons, keys to fortresses, and banners.»

The admiration that the spectacle of cavalry and infantry troops in their finest produced was natural not only for such lovers of parades as Emperor Alexander I and his brothers, but also for a disinterested observer. One citizen of Saint Petersburg wrote: «Who can deny that military movements, though mechanical to a civilian philosopher’s eye, are fascinating; that these masses of men forming geometrical figures, moving and turning into each other in a seemingly effortless magical way, and the pleasing brightness of the uniforms are a feast for the eyes, just as the sounds of music and thundering of canons are for the ears.»

From the early 19th century, military parades were made to mark the anniversary of a historical event. On May 16, 1803, the capital «restored the memory of the city’s founder.» The Guards regiments marched along the English Embankment to the Senate Square. At the head of the columns was the young Tsar Alexander I, who saluted when he passed the statue of the Bronze Horseman, and the troops followed his example. The Cadets of the First Cadet Corps meanwhile stood around the monument.

One was not only used to catching glimpses of soldiers on the streets of Saint Petersburg, but also to hearing the sounds of drums and flutes, the signals of trumpets, and the solemn music of army orchestras. The trumpet signals that could be heard where regiments were stationed were an integral part of the background sound of the city:

«Restless Petersburg
Is woken by drums.»

In the course of the 18th century, all the Guards regiments acquired not only drummers, flute-players, and trumpeters for signaling, but also various musicians who could form entire orchestras. «Army orchestras were increasing in size every hour,» wrote A. T. Bolotov (1738—1833) in his famous memoir. «They became the largest not only in the infantry, but in the cavalry as well, where no musicians, apart from trumpeters, were allowed.» In some regiments, there were one hundred or more musicians in the orchestras. A. T. Bolotov writes: «Regimental or battalion commanders boasted of their musicians, and they enjoyed not only wind instruments but string music as well; in some orchestras even horns were used, let alone many other instruments that produced more noise than harmony. In addition to that, regiments had equally large choirs. All this was paid for by the state, although this was not in compliance with the rules.»

Nevertheless, Paul I put an abrupt end to the introduction of music into army life. This is how A. T. Bolotov describes it: «Once the Tsar saw a crowd of musicians standing at the flank of the regiment. Paul I pretended that he did not know who they were and asked, «What sort of troops are those?» «They are musicians, Your Majesty,» someone replied. «What! Can all of them be musicians? There are a lot of them here!» he replied, feigning surprise. Then he approached the musicians and called out, «I want the two best musicians to come forward.» They did; and in the same way he called out the best clarinet-players and a bassoonist. «These will suffice. You can remain musicians,» the Tsar told the chosen ones. «The rest will become soldiers».

During the reign of Alexander I, regimental orchestras became larger again, though not as large as they had been in the previous century. From the 19th century on, there was a great variety of military music in Saint Petersburg, as each regiment had its own march. One could always tell the regiment by its tune. The oldest marches were those of the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky Life Guards regiments. The first one presumably dates back to the time of Peter the Great, which is why it is called «Peter’s March.» The Russian Guard entered Paris in 1814 to the sounds of the Preobrazhensky March.

In addition to various liberties with wearing uniforms, there were plenty of jokes about the regulation behavior of the Guards in Saint Petersburg at the time of Alexander I and Nicholas I. The latter gave rise to a series of anecdotes. A frequent character in such stories was the brother of the two emperors, Great Duke Mikhail Pavlovich. He commanded the Guards Corps and was very strict about officers? «jokes.» One can imagine the nature of these anecdotes from this example: «One day during a walk, Great Duke Mikhail Pavlovich saw an officer wearing galoshes. The Great Duke, indignant at such an impropriety, stopped him. „Galoshes? In the guardhouse?!“ he ordered angrily. The officer went to the guardhouse, left his galoshes there, and returned to the Great Duke. „What?“ he cried, seeing him again. „Have you disobeyed my order?“ „I’ve done as you told me, Your Highness,“ the officer replied. „The galoshes are in the guardhouse!“»

Another tradition of the Guards was a kind of corporate fraternity among them when they had to defend the honor of the regiment in the face of attacks from their superiors, including the Great Dukes. A well-known incident, usually attributed to the Cavalry Guards Regiment, took place during a foreign campaign. Great Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, commander of the Guards Corps saw that a regimental commander was riding wearing a cap, not a helmet, during the march. The Great Duke criticized the officer harshly and insulted the whole regiment, calling them «pantywaists and sissies.» Following this, the commander of the regiment handed in his resignation. The brigade commander and the division commander followed suit. The story reached Emperor Alexander, who immediately summoned his brother. After explaining the situation, the Great Duke went to the regiment and apologized, adding that, if this was not enough, he was prepared to give satisfaction to anyone who desired that. All the officers accepted his apologies, except one young cornet who said that the honor offered was so great that he could not refuse. The senior officers covered it up, however. Afterwards, the Great Duke favored the young officer, made him his aide-de-camp, and tried to help him when he got involved in the Decembrists’ uprising.

Rivalry was an important element of the life of the regiments stationed in Saint Petersburg. It took different forms: on the battlefield, regiments prided themselves on their courage; during marches, they took pride in their endurance; and in peacetime the rivalry was expressed at horse races and friendly carousals. The writer V. Krestovsky distinguished two types of the Guards officers’ behavior in the time of Alexander I: «In Cavalry Guards, Preobrazhensky, and Semyonovsky regiments a particular spirit and tone prevailed. The officers of these regiments belonged to high society and were noted for their excellent manners and sophisticated politeness and gracefulness in their interrelations. The officers of other regiments were rarely seen in society: they preferred an open life in an atmosphere of camaraderie. The Mounted Guards were neutral and observed mixed customs. But the Leib Hussars, Leib Cossacks, the Izmailovsky Regiment, and the Leib Chasseurs led a simple life with a spirit of dashing carelessness. The Ulan always got on well with these regiments, but they were particularly friendly with naval officers.»

«The language of the Guards» was, first and foremost, made up of professional military terminology. Nevertheless, it was also to some extent connected with everyday life «beyond the ranks,» as opposed to the «drill mania» that was particularly popular in Saint Petersburg in late 1810s and 1830s. This way of life was invariably associated with a dashing lifestyle, carousals, and cards.

The famous scholar Y. M. Lotman wrote: «The language of the Guards» is a peculiar phenomenon of the oral speech of the early 19th century. Its function is defined by the place of the Guards in the cultural life of the time of Alexander I. They were not a «brutal crowd of drunken brawlers» (as Fonvizin put it) in the age of Catherine the Great, nor were they Nicholas I’s toy. The Guards of the first quarter of the 19th century were a center of education, culture, and liberal thinking that had strong connections with, on the one hand, literature, and on the other, the Decembrists’ movement.«(4)

Here are some typical examples of the jargon, invented by the commander of the Life Guard Ulan Regiment, Count Gudovich:

«to dry crystal» — to get drunk
«to sweat on a leaf» — to play cards

This language, along with military folklore, was popular not only in military circles, but also became part of the vocabulary of the residents of Saint Petersburg.

Soldiers were carefully selected according to type for the Guards regiments. For example, the Preobrazhensky Regiment selected tall, dark-haired, brown-haired, or redheaded men, with no regard for good looks. Height and build were what counted. The Life Guards Mounted Regiment took handsome, dark-haired men; the Semyonovsky regiment, tall, fair, «clear-faced» men, if possible, with blue eyes to match the color of the collar. The Cavalry Guards took men of the same type, but they were thinner and more dexterous. The Chasseurs consisted of brown-haired, broad-shouldered, and wide-faced men; the Izmailovsky and Grenadier regiments took dark-haired men, the first of whom were the more good-looking ones, the second, the uglier ones; the Moscow regiment, redheaded men; the Pavlovsky (Paul’s) regiment, blonde-haired men of average height and upturned noses (in memory of Paul I); and the Hussars of Tsarskoe Selo, not too tall, dark-haired, slim men.

The Winter Palace, like all the other residences of members of the imperial family, was both in daily life and on ceremonial occasions closely connected with the army, especially the Guards. The system of rooms in the Winter Palace was from the very beginning clearly divided into three parts: private quarters, service quarters, and official halls. The official rooms of the palace occupied two suites, beginning at the Jordan Stairway and going west (the Avant-salle, the Nikolaevsky and Concert Halls) and south (the Field Marshal’s, Petrovsky, Emblem, St. George’s, Picket, and Alexander Halls; the Big (Spassky) Cathedral and the War Gallery). Usually these rooms were solemnly quiet, the silence occasionally broken by the occasional visitor: servants, palace attendants, and guards. On holidays, the halls were filled with noisy, brightly-dressed crowds; there the grand entrance of the Imperial Family took place and spectacular and splendid ceremonies were conducted.

The War Gallery had a special place among the official rooms of the Winter Palace: it was a unique artistic tribute to the heroism of the Russian army. The War of 1812 became a most vivid page not only in Russia’s military history but in Russian history and culture in general. The way the war was immortalized was unprecedented: there were medals in memory of the war, St. George’s banners and standards, new Guards regiments, various monuments of architecture, sculpture, works of art, and so on.

After the War of 1812, the «defeat and banishment of the enemy from Russia» was marked on December 25. On that day in 1826, the official halls of the Winter Palace were full of courtiers in their finest, generals and officers of the Guards, and numerous soldiers of Guards regiments. Many officers and soldiers of the Guards, who had medals for the War of 1812 and for the taking of Paris, were invited to the official opening of a new palace room that was named the War Gallery. The White Hall was bright with the different uniforms of the Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Hussars, and Ulans, while in the large Throne Hall the monotony of infantry uniforms was broken by bright spots of colored lapels and collars. After the church service, the gallery was sanctified, and then an unusual parade started. The veterans passed the portraits of their commanders to the sounds of a march. From the gilded frames they were looked on by those who had commanded them in 1812 and during the foreign campaigns of 1813—1814.

The War Gallery occupies the room created specifically for that purpose by K. I. Rossi, in place of six smaller rooms in the middle of the Winter Palace, between the White (later Heraldic) Hall and the Large Throne (Georgievsky) Hall. It was designed in a very short period of time, from June to November 1826.

There are 332 portraits of generals who commanded the Russian troops during the War of 1812 in the gallery. The General Staff laid the groundwork for the gallery, preparing lists of those who should be painted. People were included in the lists on one condition: they had to be generals who actually took part in action against Napoleon in 1812—1814. The famous English portrait painter J. Dowe was invited for that purpose. The talented artist worked with amazing speed; he had a confident technique and an ability to convey not only a natural likeness but also some psychological features of the subject portrayed. The work on the portraits started in 1819 and was completed in 1828. Apparently, J. Dowe himself painted only 150 portraits; the rest are the work of his Russian assistants, A. V. Polyakov (1801—1835) and V. A. Golike (died in 1848).

In the late 1830s, equestrian portraits of Alexander I and his allies, the Prussian King Friederich-Wilhelm III and the Austrian Emperor Franz-Josef I, were placed in the gallery. The first two were painted by a Berlin court painter, F. Kruger; the second, by a painter from Vienna named P. Kraft.

On the walls of the gallery, beside the portraits, there are 12 sculpted laurel wreaths with the names of the major battles of 1812—1814.

The War Gallery existed in its original form until the terrible fire of 1837, when the interior decorations of the Winter Palace were destroyed. Due to the courage of the soldiers of the Guards regiments, who were summoned to help extinguish the fire, all the portraits were carried out of the gallery. In 1838—1839, the gallery was redecorated after the designs of the architect V. P. Stasov, and since then it has looked as it does today. Many people took part in the restoration works: the painters and decorators Yakov and Vasily Dodonov, the sculptor A. N. Terebenev, and N. Ustinov and T. Dylev. The original appearance of the gallery is depicted in the painting by G. G. Chernetsov of 1827.

The opening of the War Gallery marks the beginning of the history of a distinctive memorial to Russia’s military glory in the Winter Palace, which manifested itself in the decorations of the halls and the paintings of battles and portraits of great commanders. The area from the Jordan staircase, across the official halls, and up to the Hall of the Mounted Guards Picket before the White Hall depicted the most vivid pages of Russian military history, of which the war of 1812 was the most important.

In 1827 a company of Palace Grenadiers was formed for the guard of honor of the Winter Palace. This unit was a kind of memorial to the exploits of the Russian Guards in the Napoleonic Wars. The company was formed in October 1827 from soldiers of the Guards regiments who had received special awards for courage in the wars with Napoleon. The first staff included 120 soldiers and under-officers, along with three officers that had started as privates and were awarded the Military Order for the Battle of Borodino. The company’s privileged position was confirmed by the choice of the banner that was given to it in 1830. It was a St. George’s Guards banner but was richly embroidered with a gilded thread. The inscription along the perimeter read, «In memory of the exploits of the Russian Guard.»

The members of the company had a special uniform. It consisted of a dark green tunic with red lapels. The lapels, shoulder straps, collar, and cuffs were richly decorated with gold lace and buttonholes. Owing to this abundance of gilded embroidery, the residents of Saint Petersburg soon nicknamed this unit the «golden company.» The grenadiers also wore tall hats made of bear fur. The appearance of the Palace Grenadiers resembled that of Napoleon’s Old Guard. Perhaps, this was done on purpose as a reminder of the victory over the formidable enemy: the victor appropriated the uniform of the most prestigious and fearsome military unit of the defeated opponent.

The choice of the well-known silhouette of Napoleon’s grognards seems natural for the design of a uniform of an honorary military unit. One can recall the obvious admiration of Denis Davydov’s words about Napoleon’s Guards: «Finally came the Old Guard; Napoleon himself was in their midst.… We mounted our horses and appeared at the main road again. The enemy saw our noisy throng, took up their arms, and continued on their way without any sign of haste. No matter how hard we tried to separate a single private from these closely ordered columns, they remained untouched, as if carved in granite, and ignored our efforts…. I will never forget the easy gait and fearsome bearing of those warriors, who had been through the ordeals of every kind of death. With their tall bear hats, blue tunics, white belts, and red plumes and epaulettes, they looked like poppies in that field of snow.… In the course of that day we captured a general, many transport units, and about 700 prisoners, but the Guards with Napoleon passed through a crowd of our Cossacks like a ten-gun ship before fishing boats.»(5)

The years of military confrontation between Alexander I and Napoleon not only failed to turn Russia and France into eternal enemies but served to reinforce their mutual interest in, and respect for, each other, which sometimes gave way to admiration for the recent foe. One could see busts and figurines of the familiar silhouette in the cocked hat, with arms crossed, on desks and bureaux in various studies, along with porcelain figures of Cossacks and glasses inscribed «Rejoice, Moscow! Russians are in Paris!» Alexander’s young brother Great Prince Nikolai Pavlovich designed new uniforms for the Russian army, using the uniforms of Napoleon’s army as a basis, and the famous series of engravings Martine. Although the military image of Saint Petersburg is very diverse, the confrontation with Napoleonic France is also reflected therein.

Georgy Vilinbakhov

(1) Записки о 1812 годе генерала А. П. Ермолова. М., 1863. С. 2.
(2) Шильдер Н. К. Император Николай Первый. СПб., 1903. Т. I. C. 59—60.
(3) Розен А. Е. Записки декабриста. Иркутск, 1984. С. 111.
(4) Лотман Ю. М. К функции устной речи в культурном быту пушкинской эпохи // Ученые записки Тартусского Государственного университета. Тарту, 1979. Вып. 481. С. 107—120.
(5) Давыдов Д. В. Военные записки. М., 1982. С. 213—214.