The Brilliant Age. The Court of the Empire – Igor Kurukin, Philip Taratorkin – Word – 2026 – ISBN 978-5-387-02097-1
The Brilliant Age. The Court of the Empire
49.99 €
In stock
The Brilliant Age. The Court of the Empire
49.99 €
Russia in the 18th century is not only Peter the Great with an axe at a shipyard and Catherine the Great on the white horse of history. It is also the vast world of the imperial court—with its own laws, intrigues, rituals, and secret mechanisms of power. It was here that the fate of the empire was decided: at the card table, at court balls, in the conversations of favorites and the whispers of valets. Here careers were forged and fortunes were squandered; here the guards elevated monarchs to the throne, and kinship with the imperial family opened the way to rank, wealth, and influence.
Igor Kurukin and Filipp Taratorkin describe the court as a world where parades and palace coups, court theater and secret politics, Baroque festivities and the strict discipline of a vast state machine coexisted.
How did thousands of people—from chief chamberlains to footmen, runners, and court cooks—live and serve? Why was a court portrait valued more than an order? How much did Empress Anna Ioannovna spend on jewelry? And did the court really sometimes rule the empire more powerfully than the emperors themselves?
This is the story of how a special world—vivid, brilliant, and cruel—operated behind the scenes of the Russian Empire. The state also financed schools and expeditions, buildings, the Kunstkamera, and printing houses—the "autocratic" reforms laid the foundation without which the subsequent emergence of the European-educated, intelligent man and citizen—the main cultural achievement of the 18th century—could not have been possible.
This publication will be of interest to lovers of Russian history, 18th-century art and culture, fans of historical series and court chronicles, as well as anyone who wants to see behind the facade of the "brilliant century" the vibrant, multilayered world of the imperial court, full of human passions.
Igor Kurukin and Filipp Taratorkin describe the court as a world where parades and palace coups, court theater and secret politics, Baroque festivities and the strict discipline of a vast state machine coexisted.
How did thousands of people—from chief chamberlains to footmen, runners, and court cooks—live and serve? Why was a court portrait valued more than an order? How much did Empress Anna Ioannovna spend on jewelry? And did the court really sometimes rule the empire more powerfully than the emperors themselves?
This is the story of how a special world—vivid, brilliant, and cruel—operated behind the scenes of the Russian Empire. The state also financed schools and expeditions, buildings, the Kunstkamera, and printing houses—the "autocratic" reforms laid the foundation without which the subsequent emergence of the European-educated, intelligent man and citizen—the main cultural achievement of the 18th century—could not have been possible.
This publication will be of interest to lovers of Russian history, 18th-century art and culture, fans of historical series and court chronicles, as well as anyone who wants to see behind the facade of the "brilliant century" the vibrant, multilayered world of the imperial court, full of human passions.
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