Memorable Dates of Russia: Exhibition project “Maria Feodorovna. Danish Princess – Russian Empress. Memories”, marking the 175th anniversary of the empress, presented in Republic of Tatarstan

The exhibition project Maria Feodorovna. Danish Princess – Russian Empress. Memories, marking the 175th anniversary of the empress, has opened in the exhibition hall of the art gallery of the island-city of Sviyazhsk.

The project is based on archival photographs from the collection of the Gatchina Museum-Reserve, the State Archive of the Russian Federation and collections of Denmark and Great Britain, diary entries and memoirs, as well as images of memorabilia belonging to Maria Feodorovna. The exposition is a kind of lyrical essay, an attempt to create an integral image of one of the most interesting women in the history of Russia of the 19th – 20th centuries. The future Empress Maria Feoodorovna was born in Copenhagen and also died in Denmark, but most of her life was connected with the Russian Empire. A lot of trials fell to the lot of this seemingly fragile woman: the death of the groom, farewell to the Danish homeland, the early death of two sons, and then her husband, emigration and life as a “poor relative” in Denmark, the death of her sons and grandchildren, which she was never ready to admit. But these misfortunes did not break the whole, very religious nature of the Empress, who, despite her Danish origin, became truly Russian and wrote: “My heart was left in Russia”.

The project is a stand exhibition that can be installed in almost any museum or educational space. The presentation of the project took place in September 2022 at the Gatchina Palace.

The exhibition will run until March 1, 2023.