The Centennial of 1812: Art, Spectacle, and Historical Memory

• In Event: Remembering 1812: Russian Empire-, Nation-, and State-Building across the Centuries

Abstract

In 1912, the imperial regime celebrated, with great pomp, the centennial of the expulsion of Napoleon. Art, spectacle, and historical narrative converged in the Russian Ministry of War's commemoration of the centennial of the Battle of Borodino. Preparations for the celebrations were begun in 1910, when the Ministry created the Joint Committee for the Preparation of the Centennial Jubilee, headed by General Glazov, which helped found the Museum of 1812, built in Moscow to house an exhibition of paintings and artifacts related to the war. Many activities were also planned to occur at Borodino. In addition, another museum in Moscow was planned to house a large panoramic painting of the battlefield by the celebrate battle painter Frants Rubo. A number of ceremonies, parades, and performances were staged for the jubilee celebrations in Moscow and Borodino. Nicholas II and his family attended many of these mass gatherings in an attempt to recall a time when sovereign and people were seemingly united in the defense of Russia.

Author

• Andrew M. Nedd, Savannah College of Art & Design