The Presidential Library features a new collection of documents dedicated to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov

March 29, 2024 marks the 395th anniversary of the birth of the second Russian Tsar from the House of - Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter I.

Marking this date, the Presidential Library has prepared a new collection Alexei Mikhailovich (1629–1676). It includes research, archival documents, memoirs, including writings by foreigners, about Russia in the 17th century, and visual materials. They illustrate the domestic and foreign policies of Alexei Mikhailovich, reveal the cultural features of the life of the tsar and his entourage. An important place in the collection belongs to editions of the Council Code of 1649 and its regional extracts, historical works on the uprisings of the era of Alexei Mikhailovich and studies that shed light on the relations of the tsar with Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum.

The essay by historian Ivan Kataev Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and His Time (1901) features a description of the appearance and character of Alexei Mikhailovich, who was called “the quietest”.

Archbishop Alexei Belkovsky writes about the extraordinary human qualities of the ruler in the book The Second Tsar from the House of Romanov Alexei Mikhailovich (“The Quietest”) (1913).

Alexey Mikhailovich was married twice. His first wife died, and he chose as his wife the daughter of impoverished Ryazan nobles, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.

The collection includes an ancient publication Description of the second marriage of the great sovereign, tsar and Grand Prince Alexei Mikhailovich to the daughter of the Duma nobleman Naryshkin, Natalya Kirillovna (1787). The author of the lines is “a seven-year-old boy of the Vyatka province, a native of the city of Orlov, Ioann Ternovo-Orlovsky”.

The wedding of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with Natalya Kirillovna is described as solemn and magnificent. On this day, the monarch “granted many favors, many were elevated to rank”. The sovereign granted the father of his wife, Kirill Naryshkin, “the most noble villages, which enriched him more than all the boyars”. In this marriage the future Emperor Peter I was born.

Of particular interest in the collection is the Collected Letters of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1856).

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the Zemsky Sobor in 1649 adopted a set of laws of the Russian state - the Council Code. In 2024, the monument of Russian law turns 375 years old. Alexei Mikhailovich was one of the most educated people of his time: he himself read petitions and other documents, wrote and edited many decrees, and was the first of the Russian tsars to sign them with his own hand. He directly participated in military campaigns, led foreign policy negotiations, and strengthened control over the activities of Russian ambassadors. In the second half of the 17th century, significant changes took place in traditional Russian culture: secular literature arose, including poetry, secular painting began to emerge, and “comedy performances” began to be staged at the royal court. Since 1652, Patriarch Nikon carried out church reform, which had a great influence on the further development of the public life of the Russian state. The Tsar, having supported the Patriarch, also took an uncompromising position in the fight against the Old Believers.

The Presidential Library's portal features the collection The House of Romanov. Zemsky Sobor of 1613 which includes about 900 depository items: official documents, memoirs, diaries, business and personal correspondence, newsreel fragments, photographs and paintings, audio recordings of radio broadcasts, popular science films, historical research, bibliography and much more.