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Ordering the Tsar's Household: Winter Palace Servants in Nineteenth‐Century St. Petersburg
Author(s) -
McCAFFRAY SUSAN P.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the russian review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.136
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-9434
pISSN - 0036-0341
DOI - 10.1111/russ.10720
Subject(s) - autocracy , crowds , deference , economic history , st petersburg , baroque , capital (architecture) , monarchy , history , ancient history , art , political science , archaeology , art history , law , politics , democracy , computer security , metropolitan area , computer science
During the “apogee of autocracy” Russian monarchs successfully deployed their baroque masterpiece, the Winter Palace, as a stage within which and from which they could convey messages about monarchy to the people who lived in their capital city. The importance of retaining the deference of urban crowds had been made manifest in the wake of the French Revolution. Chief among the intermediaries of the tsars' household were the middle and lower ranks of the people who worked and served in the Palace. This article describes the ways that city people entered and exited Palace service, rendering porous the border between the city and the Palace. The article also explores the living and working experience of Palace servants as well as the impressions of the imperial household that they may have carried into the city.