Exhibitions: The photo exhibition of the First World War opened in Peterhof

On June 26, in the Upper Garden of the State Museum-Reserve “Peterhof” opened the exhibition dedicated to the centennial of the First World War. The exhibition features photographs from the collection of the Museum-Reserve and the State Archive of the Russian Federation, which are the evidence of the life of Peterhof on the eve of the war.

Peterhof was far from the battlefields, but the emperor and the court lived here, as well as were held important political decisions. The photographs depicted episodes of the prewar life of the imperial family. And the first days of war – the war trophy demonstration – the German machine-gun, which in August 1914 was brought to Peterhof by Grand Duke Nicolai Nikolayevich junior – then Supreme Commander.

Peterhof was the place where high foreign guests as well as presidents of the French Republic were greeted. These talks have become significant milestones of military alliance relations, which entered the history of the First World War under the name “Entente”. The arrival of French President Raymond Poincare to Peterhof before the week of the starts of the war is the most important event in the July diplomatic crisis – the immediate precursor of the war.

Reportage photographs show the grand life of Peterhof: greetings of honor, the passage in a carriage through the park, the process of serving tables and décor of grand breakfast for representatives of French and Russian general headquarters.

The photo documents have also preserved the image of an unusual museum, which was open in Peterhof in 1930s. Two carriages of the royal train, where the last Russian emperor signed the abdication, became the museum of imperialist war and the fall of autocracy. The carriages were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.