Information technology and history: Coronation albums of Nicholas II and Alexander II to be digitized in Yekaterinburg

Genuine Crown albums of Nicholas II and Alexander II plan to be digitized in the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. Unique exhibits for the first time were presented to the audience this year in the exhibition "In memory of the past for the future. Postwar gift of the Hermitage to the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts". This was told by the head of the sector of Russian Art Museum Ekaterina Korneeva.

"The museum's collection is the coronation of Alexander II’s album, released in 1856, and two volumes of the reign of the last emperor Nicholas II in 1899. This is a real bibliographic rarity, once again they do not try to open the scroll and not as binding and pages are very fragile. And the visitors were able to see the content of albums, it is planned to digitize them in good quality", - said Y. Korneeva.

She added that the public coronation albums are presented for the first time. Publications include the minute description of the process of the coronation of emperors, confirmation, the description of interiors, clothes, guests, as well as complete speech of speakers.

To digitize rare books will be used the unique technology. "Coronation of Album of Alexander II - giant. Dimensions - 90 cm. By 70 cm. To digitize, it will be put special ladders and new technologies. Inside the album of unique information - history and tradition of the coronation of the Byzantine Empire until the last of the Romanovs", - said the expert. 

Currently in the world there are only a few genuine coronation albums. "Initially, they produced an extremely limited number of copies, never sold. Just a few hundred books, but their number has been significantly decreased during the Revolution and the Civil War was fired. Only a few dozen albums are left in the world in museums, libraries and private collections", - summed up Y. Korneeva.