Exhibition Themes > History > 104. Czar Alexander I
104. Alexander I, Czar of Russia (1777-1825). Funeral scroll. Manuscript on paper, Russia, (ca. 914 cm.), 1826. RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Georgii Mitrofanovich Kiselevskii Papers
This printed scroll (stolbets) depicts the order of the Alexander I funeral ceremony. The scroll is comprised of 18 sections, each 20 inches long and 3 inches wide. Each section describes a sequence of the mourning procession, for instance, a mourning procession being held on the occasion of a transfer of the deceased Emperor, Alexander the First, from the Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. After the Master of Ceremonies there will be His Imperial Majesty's Personal Convoy, etc.
This type of funeral ceremony was introduced by Peter the Great. The Tsar-Reformer had borrowed many details from Western funeral tradition such as horses, shields with coats-of-arms, helmets, gold spurs and swords. The last Emperor buried according to the adopted tradition was Alexander III (1881).
Purchase, 1966-1967
