The Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II.

LAZOVSKY, G. [Tsar Nicholas II].

$18,500.00

Item Number: 147804

Kiev:, 1896.

Rare portfolio of photographs by G. Lazovsky depicting the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. Quarto, original publisher’s blue cloth with black and silver titles and tooling to the front panel, 31 albumen prints on card mounts with the embossed blind stamp of the photographer and the mounts captioned in Cyrillic with printed slips, each image 6.25 inches by 9.125 inches. The series of photographs in this album cover the coronation festivities from the 10th to the 26th of May 1896. Only two of the images are from the Coronation day itself, the 12th, which are of the procession, as there was likely no photography in the cathedral where the coronation proper was held. Portfolio in very good condition. Photographs in near fine condition. The piece measures 10 inches by 13.75 inches. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. We have never seen another set.

The coronation of Tsar Nicholas II took place on May 26, 1896 (May 14, Old Style), in the Dormition Cathedral within the Kremlin, Moscow. As the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II’s coronation was a grand and highly ritualized event, symbolizing the divine right of the monarchy. The ceremony followed traditional Orthodox customs, including anointment with holy oil and the placing of the Imperial Crown on his own head, signifying his supreme authority. However, the event was overshadowed by the Khodynka Tragedy, where over a thousand people died in a stampede during public celebrations. This disaster foreshadowed the instability of his reign, which ultimately ended with the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917.